I have officially started my new job!!!

Guess My Learning to Code Project is Going to Have to Go on the Back Burner…

I got a fantastic phone call on Sunday evening letting me know that the Vodafone store in Bridlington still wanted me to be their assistant store manager and that I could start this week. As of Wednesday, I will once more be gainfully employed! How amazing is that? I really can’t say much more about it at the moment, and I’m not sure what I’ll be able to say in the future.

This will most likely have a bit of a knock-on effect on this blog, as I won’t be able to write daily as I have for the past three months—except, perhaps, on the odd day where I thought I had enough posts prepared or couldn’t find anything I could share with you all. I’m still planning on keeping the blog updated, but posting may become more sporadic. I will, however, try to write at least one post a week.

If at all possible, I shall try and post reviews of some of the gear that we stock so you can see my honest opinions about the latest tech out there. If not, I’m sure I’ll be buying a few more bits and pieces over the coming months. I know there are a few things I want to play with when I get the opportunity, such as:

• Raspberry Pi 4 Model B (8GB RAM): I’m interested to see what I can do with this tiny ARM-based computer. It already has more RAM than my Mac Mini, and I can get a 256GB Micro SD card for £27 and have the same amount of storage. I’ll chuck on Home Assistant and the Portainer plugin for Docker, and I’ll have myself a nice little virtualization and smart home setup.
• YAGLA Mini Plugs (4 pack): I found these a few weeks ago after trawling through the Blackadder Tasmota Device Repository to find smart sockets I can control via MQTT. I think I’ve said it before: I don’t want my devices having to connect to a server halfway across the world to work properly. Not only does that give my information to someone who doesn’t need it, but if our internet goes out, we won’t have a smart home.
• TCP Smart 4-Gang Extension Lead: Another product on the Blackadder Tasmota Device Repository—great for places where I can plug in a smart plug and need more than one socket, like behind the cupboard the fish tank is on. All four sockets can be controlled separately. The only downside is that all the USB ports are controlled together, but at least they can be remotely operated too.
• Sonoff iFan03 Ceiling Fan & Light Controller: This little gadget will go nicely with the ceiling fans I have in mind for the living room and bedroom. Not only does it act as a light switch (that I’ll probably leave turned on or unconfigured and just use smart bulbs), but it also controls the fan speed. Pair that with the next gizmo on this list, and I can have it automatically turn on the fan if it gets too warm.
• Sonoff RF Bridge: This little doodah receives signals for various RF devices, such as wireless doorbells or certain smart plugs. My plan is to have it send me a notification via Home Assistant when the doorbell rings. I’ll eventually be replacing the doorbell with a smart one, but I’ll keep this around because the remotes can control scenes in Home Assistant—for example, a "movie night" scene.
• Tuya RM Mini IR Remote Control: These are similar to the Sonoff RF Bridges, except they control infrared devices. I’ll be popping one of these in almost every room. Imagine being able to tell Siri to play your "cooking playlist" and it automatically turns on your speaker and starts playing your music! I’ll also put one in the living room so we can turn on the TV and soundbar in one go.

As you can see, the first few things I want to buy are all smart home-related, but I do plan to buy some other things for the house first—like a new TV for the living room (the one we have is borrowed from Abi’s folks as the cats broke the last one), a dishwasher (which could mean a slight remodel of the kitchen), a new sofa, and a few other things I’m sure Abi has on her more sensible list.

I am hoping to get the Raspberry Pi soon so I can start playing with it and hopefully convert the Mac mini into just a file server. That does mean I’m going to have to find a couple of Thunderbolt 2 hard drive enclosures and some USB 3 hard drives with decent capacity, as both my network drive and the USB drive I currently have seem to be on their last legs. I just hope they can last a bit longer so I can get the data off them.

I hope to see you soon in Vodafone’s Bridlington store—just give me a bit of time to get through my training! Make sure to let me know that you read my blog. I won’t be able to get you a discount, but I’ll make sure to get you the best we have to offer in-store, and it’ll be nice to meet you all the same.

Thank you again for your support over the last three months; I look forward to bringing you my thoughts in the future, even if it’s not quite as often!