Boxing Day!!!

By Tim Naylor -
If you are like me, you got everything you asked for, and a bunch of stuff you did not even realize you could have asked for, and some cash!!! You also, realized way to late to ask, that there were a few things you should have asked for but did not.

So if you are going on a Boxing Day buying frenzy like  I did, here are a few things to think about.

First, anything from my gifts for geeks list would still be great!

This shirt from amazon is almost as cool as the one I got, but the sentiment is the same:
My first order was the one that everyone was too scared to get because they were afraid to get it wrong:
This digital soldering station with all the tips, and a heat gun for desoldering and melting shrink tubing will be getting a review shortly, and set me back less than $60.

I also picked up the 3rd hand from my gifts for geeks post again, because even though I spelled it out, people felt that was a little too personal of a decision.

next, can you ever have enough SD cards?
I have several fruit pi boards with varying distributions at any one time, and I am always wanting to keep one for fear of losing some work.

These Samsung cards have been reeeeeeealllllly good to me, they are super fast at up to 100mb/sec and only $13 for 64gb, it's a no brainer:

I also picked up some dash buttons to try some automation like Rob from the hookup https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBuEvGLKxmI 
but I am hoping to use them for extra "toggle the lights" buttons for out of the way spaces with some automation magic. look for that in a future vlog.
You can find one for something you would buy anyway, order the dash button for $5 and then get a credit for the cost of the button when you use it the first time.  Or you could get this button even though you don't have a cat or want anything like this product, just because it is a cool looking hot pink button that says "Comfort Zone" ... I feel like I may have revealed too much ... 
The point is:
Boxing day is great! Getting cool stuff is great! and the list of projects to come has become vast.
I got some ESP 01s to play with: https://amzn.to/2RjsJCH
some capacitive touch buttons
A new shiny Raspberry Pi zero W with a case, and power supply and all the cables ... 
I have holiday lights to put up
A smart light bake off to film
Switches to replace
Right now I am working on a vlog about micropython on the esp8266 and python3-function for node-red and why since Hass.io plugins use python, we should all be learning this wonderful language.

Lots more to come, hopefully very soon!

Comments

Francis Smith said…
Experts suggest using a soldering iron with a soldering station. But if you’re set on saving as much money as possible, you can get away with using the Vastar soldering kit. Find Soldering and Electronics PDF Manuals here.
March 3, 2021 at 3:34 PM
Unknown said…
I would recommend to check the best soldering stations under $100 here. I found it very useful.
October 8, 2021 at 1:23 PM
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