Hi I’m Dan! 👋

Thoughts of a Digital Hobo

HomePod Mini Stuck in Setting Up

I recently purchased an Apple HomePod Mini off of eBay to add to the ever expanding setup at our home. We already have 6 or so scattered around so adding another should not have been an issue. But, as with all things tech, sometimes it doesn’t go as planned. I plugged in the Mini and it powered up fine and my phone discovered it. I began the setup process and then things went sideways....

<span title='2021-12-05 10:05:00 -0600 -0600'>December 5, 2021</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;3 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;Dan C Williams

Monitoring TeslaFi in Home Assistant

When I had my Tesla Model Y I had it hooked up to TeslaFi. There were a lot of stats in there and I wanted to expose some of that data in Home Assistant for easy consumption. I also wanted to utilize the TeslaFi API to allow me to turn on the climate controls in my Tesla using Home Assistant and any voice control devices that I may be utilizing (Siri in my case)....

<span title='2021-07-27 10:32:00 -0500 -0500'>July 27, 2021</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;4 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;Dan C Williams

Building a Wireguard Router...Easier Than I Thought!

I have been seeing a lot of buzz about Wireguard. I had considered setting up a server at home for external access just for fun, but all of the examples I saw used NAT behind the Wireguard box and I wanted to route entire subnets without NATing. After I finally took some time and realized that Wireguard was just an interface and I would just be leveraging some iptables it all came together rather quickly....

<span title='2019-10-12 15:51:00 -0500 -0500'>October 12, 2019</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;5 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;Dan C Williams

The road to my PMP

…the method to my madness! As a life long technology practitioner I am often asked what training I did to gain my PMP in 2017. While I “only studied for 3 weeks” before taking the exam, I had a lot of experience that really made that possible. I thought I would write all of my notes here so I have an easy point of reference and maybe it will help someone on their journey....

<span title='2019-09-05 16:13:37 -0500 -0500'>September 5, 2019</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;2 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;Dan C Williams

You can't beat a good smoked pork shoulder

…so I wanted to share how I make one! When it comes to picking out a pork shoulder, I am not too picky. I just want something that is 8 to 9 lbs and has a good chunk of fat on the top. Once I have my pork shoulder I make up a brine consisting of the following ingredients. I mix the dry part separately first and save about half to rub on the shoulder after brining....

<span title='2019-08-31 11:13:59 -0500 -0500'>August 31, 2019</span>&nbsp;·&nbsp;3 min&nbsp;·&nbsp;Dan C Williams