Thought Blocks

Replacing my Rachio with a Custom Sprinkler Controller, Part II: Software

Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My Rachio sprinkler controller unexpectedly died so I decided to build my own using ESPHome and Home Assistant.

Replacing my Rachio with a Custom Sprinkler Controller, Part I: Hardware

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

My Rachio sprinkler controller unexpectedly died so I decided to build my own using an off-the-shelf microcontoller, ESPHome, and Home Assistant.

Dynamic weather in Home Assistant

Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I wasn’t using my weather dashboard in Home Assistant, here’s what I did to make it fun again.

Dollar backed stablecoins: Familiar assets in need of regulation

Sun, 17 Oct 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Their name and use may be new, but dollar backed stablecoins are really quite familiar. Read on to see how and why the government thinks it may be time for regulation.

Stablecoins: What are they and why do they matter?

Wed, 15 Sep 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Bitcoin and Ether are widely recognized as cryptocurrencies. But stablecoins? Not so much. Yet they have the potential to be more widely used, and maybe more important, than Bitcoin.

Subscription Pricing: Subtle persuasion that works

Sun, 16 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Products and services sold as subscriptions are more popular than ever. Here’s a quick look at how a few subscription services are designed to maximize appeal …and company revenue.

Building an activity tracker in Home Assistant ...that your kids want to use

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Getting kids to do chores is always a battle. Here’s a way I incorporated chore tracking in Home Assistant that was also designed to motivate them.

Energy monitoring in Home Assistant - with or without power meters

Wed, 13 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Aside from my monthly utility bill, understanding my home’s energy consumption has always been fairly opaque. Setting up energy monitoring in Home Assistant has brought real-time insight.

The utility of a network diagram

Thu, 17 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

While network diagrams are essential in a corporate setting, outside of that context they are often unknown or under appreciated. If you have a connected home or self hosted environment creating one may be worth your while.

Smart heating?

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Note: This is a update/sub-post to a broader blog post on smart heating I published earlier in the year. In the event you may not have arrived here directly from that post, here is the original posting: http://mwunderling.com/blog/smartheating.html.

In November I picked up a few Shelly 1PM relay switches. They were on sale and I had been wanting to experient with a few different applications of their use. The smart plug + space heater solution I had been using to heat my office was fine, but I really wanted a more integrated solution (minus the bulky smart plug) with energy monitoring built-in. The Shelly 1PM installed internally to the wiring of the space heater could accomplish just that.

Silencing unknown callers in iOS: a step in the right direction, but not yet truly useful

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

No one likes spam. It used to be just email, but in the last few years spam calls have increased exponentially. iOS has a feature promising to make these call types less bothersome, but is it right for you?

Automation ideas for Home Assistant

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Once you start down the home automation ~~rabbit hole~~ path, you’ll find a seemingly ever expanding set of automation opportunities. So if your are looking for ideas or just curious to see what is possible, here’s a list with the how-to details on a few of the more useful automations I have done around my home.

Traefik 2.x configuration

Sun, 05 Jul 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Getting started with Traefik 2 can be a handful (…even if you are migrating from v1). It’s high configurability, an element that makes Traefik a truly powerful reverse proxy, also makes comparability across setup guides difficult. And since no two systems are seldom alike, multiple guides often need referencing to complete a setup. The process is supposed to be easy, it’s certainly billed as such….

“Traefik is an open-source Edge Router that makes publishing your services a fun and easy experience”

Alexa, turn the lights on

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Lights are things not normally given a name. And even if you did name them just so Alexa can understand specific on/off requests, the chance of everyone in your home remembering them is pretty close to nil. So if you are using Home Assistant, why not make Alexa room aware so she can understand more natural speech from everyone.

Hosting a Minecraft server

Wed, 15 Apr 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Covid-19 has pretty much turned everything upside down. So if you are looking for a simple diversion or just a quick easy project, why not setup a Minecraft server with multi-player support? Its been great for my kids and I

Smart heating? (Updated 2020-12)

Thu, 13 Feb 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I needed a reliable method to properly heat a detached home office. The process had to account for whether someone was home, if the space was in use, and the time of day to create an efficient solution that would not waste dollars and energy. Here is the solution I was able to creeate

Container management on QNAP

Mon, 06 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

I have two QNAP NAS’s running a variety services in Docker. Container Station is QNAP’s implementation of Docker and having it installed on both machines has really expanded what I can do with these devices. Thumbs up to that, but I do have a few tips beyond Container Station that will help you run your containers more efficiently (…at least, this is what works for me).

1) Store your persistent data in a location other than Container Station’s default folder.

Ok, so this first item is more like a soft tip… You may already know Container Station creates a shared folder named “Container” when it is installed. Inside this folder is another folder with special permissions that contains all the data files for Container Station to run + any container images. Because of this, I’ve found it easier just to keep my persistent data separated from this folder (I use /share/docker/). This seems to avoid any potential permission conflicts and makes backup configuration a little easier. YMMV.

Portainer setup

Sun, 05 Jan 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Prerequisites:

Container Station: If this is not already on your device then install it from the QNAP App Store. Setup with all default options.
Portainer Container: If this is not already up and running see my “Three Tips” post for ideas how to create the container. Also, create the admin user if you have not already done so.

Main Setup

When you log into Portainer for the first time it will prompt you to connect to a Docker endpoint. For our purposes that endpoint will be Container Station. If Portainer is running on the same machine as Container Station choose the Local option. Otherwise, choose Remote.

Endpoint Setup

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Hi. I’m Mark and thanks for visiting!

About this site:

This is my personal website. It has two parts. My blog, which is what probably led you here, is for posts that I feel like writing about. Topics have typically fallen into the technology and finance buckets, but I don’t have a hard fast rule on that. My resource pages often have supplemental information on things I have written about, but they also serve as a collection of resources for subjects I am invested in. Others may find them useful as well, I certainly have more than once, and having them here helps to declutter my personal notes.