Eating my own words (again)

I've spent a little less than half my career self employed and the other half working for companies, so I'd like to think I know something about the pros and cons of both types of work. In the last two companies I worked, I said at the end of my tenure that I'd never work for anyone again and would always be self employed. That didn't work out for a number of reasons causing me to eat my words.

Being self employed sounds great as I didn't have a boss, no reviews, I could work my own schedule, and no one was looking over my shoulder. That was only partly true; as a contractor I always had to work on someone else's schedule and meet deadlines. In addition, I was sometimes the only person doing my type of work meaning I had to handle all the support, deal with all the issues, and sort of be on call all the time. Also any time I took off, I didn't get paid for meaning that it could be very costly (depending on the contract I could get paid for some vacation, but I always felt guilty about taking time off). Being self employed also means sending out invoices, hoping you get paid on time, stressing over raising rates, and crossing your fingers that your contract isn't terminated without notice.

One of the things that I missed when I was self employed last was working with other developers doing the same type of work, i.e. iOS or Mac development. This made it hard to learn new things as there was no one around to push me or show me better ways. No one was looking over my code and since I'm not perfect, I likely kept making the same mistakes over and over again.

This past April I started a new job and now work on a team with another 14 iOS developers. I pretty much learn something new everyday and know that I'm not alone when it comes to figuring out problems or tackling the work. Of course, I do my best at work, but it is much easier to leave work at the end of the day.

As much as being self employed sounded great, this change has been good to me and has lowered my stress. It has also given me opportunities to learn new skills and hone my existing ones.

Those words about never working for someone else sure tasted good!

Fixing Battery Drain in Kwikset Locks

Almost 10 years ago I installed Kwikset Z-Wave locks on our doors. They had been working well for years, but I noticed that the batteries drained faster than I had expected. I attributed this to buying refurbished or b stock locks and just tried to get batteries that lasted longer. Last December I decided to replace the locks with new ones that hopefully drained the batteries slower.

The locks appeared to drain slower initially, but I wasn't get the year out of a set of batteries that I had read others could get; I could get a few months. After one of the updates to Home Assistant, I noticed in the Logbook that it recorded Z-Wave commands. In the list of commands were a bunch of "lock" commands sent to one of the locks; about once every 30 seconds at night.

Ah ha! It finally dawned on me. In my Node-RED automations, I had it setup to lock the garage door lock at night if the door was closed. This was repeated every 30 seconds. I had thought that if the lock was locked, nothing would happen. That was not the case as Home Assistant happily sent the command causing the lock to wake up every 30 seconds. The fix was quite simple: before sending the lock command check the state of the lock as Home Assistant stored this without having to poll the lock. With this simple change I stopped seeing the Z-Wave lock command and knock on wood, the batteries are lasting longer!

Review: Ryobi Hobby Station (and a missed opportunity)

I love having the right tools for the job whether it is software tools or physical tools to tackle projects around the house. As I've mentioned before, I really like the Ryobi 18V One+ line of tools. I have a number of the tools and keep adding to my collection. While the tools may not be contractor grade, they are more than enough for my uses.

Last year they announced a number of new tools in their collection including a new Power Source that can charge batteries from USB-C as well as power USB-C devices. Unfortunately the product isn't available and I check Ryobi's website every few days to see if the "Coming Soon" button changes to "Buy Now".

A few weeks ago when I was checking the site, I noticed the Hobby Station which takes on of Ryobi's rotary tools and turns it into a drill press and holds the tool making it easier to use. This was a little expensive for what it was, but I decided to order it. Even though I don't own any of the rotary tools that Ryobi says works with it, I though that I might be able to use my P460 Rotary Tool Station with it if I screwed off the top housing. What I didn't realize at the time is that the diameter of that housing and the diameter of the tools that are designed to work with the station are different.

The Hobby Station arrived and I quickly set it up. When I put the tool in the holder, I found my mistake where the tool was too small. However, that didn't deter me. I screwed the tool in place and it gripped the rubber and seemed fairly secure. Perfect, I didn't have to return it!

Later I thought about the main nut holding the tool in place digging into the rubber and didn't like it. So I looked for a reducer bushing and thought I found an irrigation one at Home Depot, but realized that the threads probably wouldn't match. Not deterred by this, I asked my son if he could design a part and I could 3D print it. After a number of test prints, we had a working bushing! While it isn't an exact fit, the plastic is soft enough that the threads of the tools can dig into it and provide a fairly tight fit.

Now that I had a working hobby station, what do I think? For starters, the drill press has limited utility. With my solution, there is a bit of wiggle in the tool and frankly, how often have I needed a drill press? The station does hold the tool and make it easier for me to just hold the working piece. The angle adjustment is somewhat useful as I can see myself using it facing straight down or at a 90 degree angle. I don't know how much I'll use the fence that comes with it or use the vacuum attachment.

Pros

• Convenient way to hold a rotary tool
• Flexible angles to hold tool
• Appears well made

Cons

• Only works with some rotary tools
• Drill press has limited utility
• Over priced

Summary
This tool is definitely over priced and has limited utility for many people. It isn't a precision instrument which is needed for a drill press. It does seem like it is built solidly and will work for my needs; holding the rotary tool while I work on something is very useful for me.

Unfortunately I can't recommend this to others; I will keep mine, but there are probably better solutions out there. If Ryobi had included a reducer bushing to fit their other rotary tools, it may have been a more compelling purchase and would definitely increase potential buyers.

Review: Costco Optical

I've been wearing glasses or contacts since I was about 12. As I've aged, my eyes have gotten worse and my glasses prescription has become more complex. For the last 20 years or so, I've bought my glasses from the optician associated with my optometrist or ophthalmologist. Vision insurance paid for some of the cost, but had to be used at certain locations. Even with insurance, my glasses cost a lot so I had to wait every 2 years before getting a new pair; I believe my last pair of glasses cost over $600 out of pocket with insurance picking up about the same. That's just crazy for a pair of glasses!

My parents have been using Costco Optical for years and have generally been satisfied with them. This year after my eye exam, I wasn't eligible for insurance to cover anything on my glasses, so I decided to try out Costco. My ophthalmologist warned me about their lenses and said they weren't as good as the ones her optician sold. How many companies actually manufacture lenses? I know that Luxottica basically has corned the market on vision insurance, frames, lenses and retail outlets! I figured I didn't have much to risk trying out Costco; they do have their own lab in Chula Vista (south of San Diego) and computers do most of the work grinding the lenses.

A few weeks ago, we went to Eyeglass World to buy my son new glasses (he wanted the same ones he already had so that was easy). My wife and I looked at frames and they had a decent selection of frames. Going through the numbers, 2 pair of glasses for me (regular glasses and computer glasses) would have been $700, I believe. We decided to visit Costco to see what they could do. Costco's frame selection isn't as large, but we both managed to find frames that we liked. I found "designer" Oakley frames that were about $85 (frame only) vs the standard frames that ran about $50; definitely lower priced than other places, but the frame price is only a small fraction of the cost of a pair of glasses for me.

My wife picked out sunglasses and regular glasses; I picked regular and computer glasses. Both of us have pretty bad eyes and need progressive lenses in high index material that tends to drive up the price. I like transitions (darkening) in my regular glasses so that adds to the cost. By the time we were done with our glasses, it cost us $700 for 4 pair of glasses (my wife had about $150 in insurance benefit)! Wow, after we paid I told my wife that if the glasses work out, there will never be a reason for me to wait for insurance to kick in to buy new ones!

I've been wearing the glasses for a few weeks now and it took a little getting used to the computer glasses (the other glasses are about the same prescription as my last ones). I'm pretty impressed with them; I can see well and I really like the frames. The optician I went to had 1 or 2 men's styles and nothing like what I got. I'm really kind of surprised how much I like my glasses. They seem well made and the prescription seems on target.

Pros

• Excellent price
• Backed by Costco
• 90 day guarantee to make it right (i.e. wrong prescription, made wrong, etc.)

Cons

• Limited selection of frames
• Limited choices on lens options (Costco offered 2 types of Transitions; Eyeglass World offered 4 including 1 that would change while driving)

Summary
If you wear glasses and need new ones, I would definitely check out Costco. The price is truly amazing and I couldn't be happier with the quality of the lenses.