My father’s side of the family is full of artists.
In my apartment, I have photos by my father (portraits and otherwise), paintings and illustrations by my cousins, a watercolor by my paternal grandfather, and a vase that a cousin and my aunt made me as a birthday present. I also have drawings by my nieces, one of whom has remarkable drawing skills for a six-year-old, suggesting that the family trait continues.
(My mother’s side of the family is less visual, but I have an afghan my grandmother knit, which gets used by favored guests. My grandfather did woodworking in his later years - my sister has the elaborate dollhouse he made us, and I have a simple wooden box I can’t bring myself to get rid of.)
Now I have this:
The EnergyHub Home Base, aka the device I spent most of 2010 working on.
I’ve had websites I worked on that I could call up from home, of course, but this is the first physical/digital hybrid project that I’ve worked on that is a consumer product - not designed for use in the office or in a commercial environment, but for the home. And now it’s at my home - I’m one of the guinea pigs to whom new releases get pushed out before we spring them on paying customers.
The difference between using the device at home and testing it in the office is useful, and humbling - I’ve already caught several things I think we can quickly make better in the setup process. Living with the Home Base, like with every other new smart device I add to my collection, enriches my understanding of what makes something a device you want in your home, and what’s annoying. But I have to also admit that I like having it there because I like having something I can point to, something I’ve added to the family gallery. That it will not last as long as the portrait my cousin did of me aged 18 that still hangs in my living room today is a topic for another time.