Still is. I’ve seen almost exactly this exchange on Lemmy at least three times.

Whether it’s cold or whether it’s hot, there will be weather, whether or not.

I also use Reolink, including both the NVR and doorbell, and have been very pleased with it.

No clue - it’s from the first few seconds of a music video. I’ve never been anywhere near that. Others in the comment section seem to be more familiar, though.

I think that’s probably a stretch, but I enjoy the theory.

I have three cats, one of whom I adopted in the same go as I did Maze. The other is probably a decade younger. Plus my wife, my kid and I definitely give her plenty of our time. She may be lonely, but she’s not alone. Thank you though!

Back in my home town, they built something that was clearly a cell tower, then just … Essentially glued a few fake pine tree branches to it.

They didn’t even bother to make the tower look vaguely trunk-like. It’s still matte grey and you can clearly see the antennae attached to the top. When I say “a few fake pine tree branches,” I’m not exaggerating; it’s been a few years so I don’t remember precisely, but it’s no more than five throughout the entire height of a cell tower. Mostly clustered together.

It’s odd. Maze has outlived three of my dogs now. She didn’t react like this to either of the previous two, though she appeared to be affectionate towards them when they were around. I never really saw her interact much with the third, but as I’ve mentioned to you before (thank you for all the support, BTW), she was cuddling with me when the third was gone before I realized he was gone.

She hasn’t voluntarily left me alone since then. I even have some pictures of a few nights after he was gone when she was laying next to me and, no matter what position she took, wouldn’t remove her back foot from me. I lock the cats out of my bedroom, but almost every day as soon as I get up, she comes running to sit with me.

I did try to read the books but, though I enjoyed The Hobbit, I didn’t make it through the first LotR book; as such, the movie depiction is the only one I really know. Not to say that makes it more accurate or anything, just my only experience with it.

No, actually.

Well, you’re not wrong, but if you don’t want to look evil it’s not the best choice.

Perhaps you would also enjoy Changing Lanes. (Trailer)

See, that’s exactly right.

For example, at the moment the door to my garage - which has one of the smart locks I mentioned - doesn’t always latch properly. Especially when closed by a distracted five-year-old. The lock will usually mark itself “jammed” if it can’t find the proper landing place, but it won’t always. So, until fixing the door, I can’t trust it even if I automate it. (For this one I installed a camera in my garage so that I can at least make sure the garage doors are closed; we live in a safe area so that’s enough to satisfy me for the time being.)

Another issue is that we have - I believe - eight external doors. I don’t want to maintain the batteries for eight external locks (the ones I have use four AA each), so I can’t be certain all of them are locked without checking.

We only use three with any frequency, though, so I installed smart locks on two of them and make sure to check the third and at least glance at the others every night on my way to bed (The dumb one is one I consider fairly protected, as it’s in my back yard, and also it’s immediately below where I sleep, so it doesn’t worry me too much.)

But yeah. Routine and automation are my thing. I’m still working on it in this house, though.

Thanks!

Judgemental or not, you’re not wrong. Enabling one’s anxiety will not reduce said anxiety. I knew that when I set everything up and I think about it every time I check.

But I’m physically limited (not disabled, just enough to make things harder) and my general concern about the state of my home isn’t going away, so being able to check things without getting up is an immediate comfort that sometimes lets me get back to sleep more easily, even if long term it’s damaging to my psyche.

Thank you for the apology, though it was unneeded, and the empathy.

No doubt!

This is most of why I’ve installed any “smart” devices in my house. If I’m up at 4am with anxiety, I can check most things that inspire it for me (are my door locks engaged, can my cameras see anything concerning, is my young kid in bed and breathing, etc.) without getting up. Some of those I can even rectify remotely; for example, I can lock my doors through the app if someone forgot to.

As a result, I’ve developed a new thing about which to worry: what have I forgotten to check?

https://youtu.be/NP7SfpcsVhE

edit: Better image source.

They already did thrice.

One time, I bought a giant picture of a spaceship taking off. I brought it home and proudly showed my then girlfriend and our mutual friend, who was visiting. The friend said “nice! Where’s it going?”

I didn’t know the destination of this particular space flight. I had impulsively bought it at a thrift store and done no research. I thought about it for a minute, then said " … Space?"

Turns out she was asking where I was planning to hang the picture in the house.