Welcome to the future – a new Google Nest Aware doorbell (and a new chime too!)

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Joel

I’ve been back and forth on getting a webcam / smart doorbell for a while now. Plenty of friends and coworkers have done it. I didn’t think we necessarily had that constant flow of people at our front door, so why would we need it. However, I finally came around after I found out more people at work had them. That’s right — peer pressure. It’s not just about drugs and bullying teenagers who recently moved from Newark to Reseda California.

After dallying with Amazon’s Alexa, I’ve been moving to Google’s ecosystem. You’ll see below the original doorbell and chime. I went in with the Nest Aware doorbell, and it’s a pretty good product. Installation itself was pretty easy. However, I was surprised to discover that the actual chime components were broken. They’ve always worked, but poorly. I decided that, you know, while I’m here, might as well fix it.

I ran to Home Depot to get a replacement chime. Easy enough to find, but then it turned out that trying to mount it horizontally wouldn’t work, so I ended up hanging it vertically. Not an issue, since they can mounted either way, except now I would have to paint the areas that had been covered by the old chime. One project always leads to 3 or 4. Hours later, after the paint had dried, new doorbell, new chime, and everything was mostly awesome again.

I’ll admit the 35 degree angle on the doorbell isn’t great, as it picks up activity inside the dining room. I’m considering purchasing and installing an after-market mount that will angle the doorbell at least 45 degrees. Future enhancement, people. For now, let’s enjoy what we have.

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This is a big month for us – major renovation updates for the Ipes

Posted on February 8, 2020 by Joel

It’s finally happening. We’ve talked about it for a few years, but we’re finally doing it. Updating the main areas of the house! There have been a few things that always bothered since moving in, both big and small. The yellow color scheme in the house, meh. The inadequate lighting in the house, huge. We’ve tried to accommodate, but we were ready for a change. Goodbye yellow. Goodbye table lamps and floor lamps.

In February, we hired electricians to come out and install recessed lights in the upstairs hallway, downstairs hallway, and family room. It took two days, but it’s been so worth it. We got rid of all of the lamps, and it’s so much better! I also used this opportunity to replace the existing toggle switches with Lutron switches and brand new faceplates. We also selected a Benjamin Moore grey-brown (“greige?”), and hired painters that we’ve used before to paint the entire main areas top to bottom. Specifically, the two story foyer, two story family room, the kitchen, the sunroom, and a bright white refresh of all ceilings. If you look at one of the ceiling photos below, you can see what a difference a fresh coat of paint can make.

It was a busy week of adding ceiling lights and painting, but we had a little more to go. Part of adding new recessed lights included removing all of the few brass ceiling light fixtures we had, and replacing the much-hated florescent light in the kitchen with pendant lighting. Here, we had electricians remove the existing fixture, move the ceiling box, and add a 2nd ceiling box. We ordered 2 pendant lights and a matching chandelier for the kitchen, and Josh & I installed them on a Saturday afternoon.

I gotta say I love them. Huge difference. Josh and I did a great job.

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I picked up the new Sony WF-1000XM3 wireless earbuds, and they’re really nice

Posted on February 4, 2020 by Joel

I’ve been using a pair of wired Klipsch earbuds for a long time now. I find the audio quality is very good, and the mic works well for calls. Frankly, I haven’t been using them only for music — I use them ever day for audio / video conference calls too. They work great!

When do they not work great? When I’m commuting! Although you don’t have to charge them, wires get caught on all sorts of things — seats, your bag strap, and even other people. Ugh. Got fed up, started looking into all sorts of wireless earbuds. After much deliberation, I settled on the Sony WF-1000XM3. They’re large and stick out of your ear somewhat, but you get noise-full cancelling, better drivers, and good Bluetooth connectivity. You should install the Sony Connect app on your mobile device so you can configure and update the earphones.

So far, they’ve been really nice. At times, I’ve had issues with the noise cancelling very noticeably adjusting to my current location, indicated by a beep and the levels changing. I found a way to disable the audible notification so it’s less obtrusive. The only real con that I’ve found is that the mic isn’t very good for phone calls. This is best for consuming audio, not for calls. If you’re looking for something that does that better, I’ve read a lot of good detailed reviews for the Jabra Elite earbud models. I probably would have been happy with the Jabra Elites, but I decided to prioritize audio clarity/quality.

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Who doesn’t love dinner & a show? – Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in State Theater in New Brunswick

Posted on December 28, 2019 by Joel

In December, we got tickets for my family and in-laws to see Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. The show was being performed at the State Theater in New Brunswick. We picked up my in-laws, and drove in. We had decent seats up on the balcony area, and the show was entertaining. I’ve never seen the show before, so I’m glad I’m finally all of these famous shows in my 40s.

After the show, we walked over to Delta’s for dinner. I do like soul food, and it had been a while since we’ve been there.

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A Friday evening in New York with family and friends

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Joel

Nums and Luke went to see a Broadway show on a chilly Friday evening in December. I hung out with my friend Gary at his place, then we grabbed a cab up to Times Square to meet these two for a late dinner and drinks at Dos Caminos.

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Lower Manhattan at night

Posted on December 20, 2019 by Joel

A picture of lower Manhattan at night, Christmas/holiday time, a view from Exchange Place

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A 1998 fireplace transformed into a modern fireplace

Posted on December 14, 2019 by Joel

I never thought about it very much, but our fireplace was very 1998. The green marble, the brass handles, the oak colored mantle etc. We didn’t like it, but I figured we would change it all out far in the future when we redecorated the house. You know, painting the house, new fireplace, new mantle. But that’s huge, and would be far in the future.

My wife didn’t want to wait that long, and did some research. Not only that, she took on the entire project of painting the fireplace, including the marble. I get very nervous about screwing up something big like this, and doing irreparable harm, but she jumped right it. I think it looks great.

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The kids and I went to a trampoline park

Posted on December 8, 2019 by Joel

Wow, jumping on trampolines is tiring. Also, climbing rock walls is a lot harder than I thought.

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My 25th high school reunion

Posted on November 30, 2019 by Joel

Members of my high school class organized a 25 year reunion at a bar on the Lower East Side during Thanksgiving weekend. I skipped all prior reunions, and felt bad about each and every time. Then the next reunion came around, and I skipped it anyway.

This time around, I thought I should finally attend. I was reluctant, because… I wasn’t sure if I would have a good time, plain and simple. Many years ago, maybe a decade, I met up with a bunch of my former elementary school classmates from our little town, and I had a fantastic time. Those are the people I had known the longest, and shared deep memories of our times up through 6th grade.

Once we got to junior and high school, everyone got separated. I rarely saw my former hometown classmates, and while I did have a few core friends from that era, I never felt like I belonged with the larger crowd. They had money, and they all hung out together. My family didn’t have money, and I suppose I didn’t know or do enough to try to be more outgoing and fit in with all the cool kids. Most of my interactions were focused on the various clubs and orchestra.

I should have worked out to be more outgoing, gone to parties, etc, etc, but my parents would never have let me go, and besides, I was a shy and self-conscious teenager.

So, 25 years later, I thought I’d show up finally. And you know, I basically wandered around, trying to recognize people. Yes, I saw a few, and we caught up briefly and we all declared it was so good to see everyone.

Cool cool cool.

Later I did find some of the old elementary school crew, and it was so nice to see them. The laughs and smiles came natural. Unfortunately and as expected, none of the non-hometown friends I grew up with showed up.

I stayed around for the group photo, surveyed the scene one more time, said some goodbyes, and left the premises. I feel like I’ve lived a completely different life, become a different person, made completely different friends, in the past 25 years. Once I left high school, moved away from everyone to go to university, everything changed.

I closed one book, and moved onto the main story of my life. When I looked around that room, I saw aspects and touchpoints of my old life, and I could recognize those memories briefly as though looking through a haze. But I barely remembered them. The next 25 years led me down a different life — living life away from parents with a feeling of independence, my first relationships, love and heartbreak, internships, a career, international travel, marrying the love of my life, starting a family…..

And even more heartbreak.

Most of all, I’m not that shy awkward teenager anymore. I become more than I was before. I looked back that Saturday night, and I don’t recognize it anymore. I don’t recognize that version of me anymore.

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Thanksgiving with the Ipes in 2019

Posted on November 28, 2019 by Joel

We had a nice family affair for Thanksgiving this year. We hosted this year, and invited both my sister and her family, and my in-laws over for Thanksgiving. Since we had slightly larger gathering, we made both a turkey and a honey ham (first time making a ham, actually.) It all went well, and I like that we’ve hosted so often since we moved into a bigger home.

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