Month: April 2020

We bought a Traeger

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Rachel and I have been talking for the past few years about “getting a smoker”. With some many things going on, and such busy lives, it never seemed like the right time to do it…until now.

What else are we doing? Why not learn to do it right when we have nothing else to do?

So I returned to my “research phase” of smokers. I contacted the people that I know that have used smokers for years, as well as a couple of people that are new to it. The idea was to determine the pros and cons from people of varying experience levels so that I can go into this with as much knowledge as possible. The results determined that we should spend the money on a good unit, and not to buy one that’s too small (we might regret it).

There’s a lot to learn about smokers, and unlike BBQ’s the shapes and sizes really are a lot different.

There are vertical and offside style smokers. The offside style smokers tend to use wood pellets for fuel and smoke, while the vertical units seem to use more electric and propane usage.

Interestingly I kept reading that the vertical units might have a better heat range and moisture control…but I was really more interested in the offside smokers and their usage of pellets for smoke flavor.

After hearing about how you can’t go wrong with Traeger, and the amazing app they have (so amazing that other smoker brands recommend it). Then hearing how well built they are…I had to check them out…so I went and took a look at them over at Strodes Deli & BBQ in Brantford.

The very first determination was that the model we were looking at was smaller than I initially thought we would want…so we went a little bigger for our first unit. Our purchase wasn’t determined by “features” per se, but by the size of the smoking area.

Ultimately we settled on a Traeger Pro 575.

I would consider this to be a medium sized smoker, and as advertised…it fired right up and just did what it was supposed to do. The initial fire up was perfect with no issues, and and hour and a bit later we were good to start putting food on it.

Which is when I ran into a small issue with connecting the app to my grill and my wireless network. Yes…it’s actually a feature.

(warning IT speak to follow)

There are lots of people complaining about this one, and having gone through the same thing I think I’m able to explain it a little better now. So if you buy a Traeger grill that allows you to connect to your wifi (and you are having issues)…here’s what you’ll need in order to set it up successfully.

  1. a wireless G network running 2.4ghz
  2. a visible wireless name (no ssid hiding)
  3. a password to connect to your wireless
  4. an ios or google device with the Trager app loaded

When you open the app you’ll click to connect to your grill. It will ask you which wireless network you want to connect to which is where lots of people (including myself initially) get thrown off.

Accept the message that pops up, so that the grill will connect to your phone directly.

Think of it this way….the wireless unit on the grill doesn’t have a way for you to connect to your wireless network from the grill, so it connects to your phone. When you enter the information on your phone, you are likely creating a small file that the phone will then hand off to your grill (which will give it the login / password to connect to your network)…this is why the very first step is to connect from your phone directly to the grill.

When it gets to the next step…move indoors away from your grill and closer to your wireless network. This lets you phone get a stronger wireless signal for the first step…a firmware update.

I can’t belive there are firmware updates for a smoker…but there are. This will take approximately 5 minutes, but once it’s over…you can rename your smoker to a more civil name and then you are complete.

The Traeger is definitely a solid unit, although others will have more accessories that will come with them. It’s one of those items that I feel like the name is worth paying the extra little bit for.

Update April 27th,2020

I’m not even kidding with this one…but you can connect the Traeger 575 to your Alexa app so that you can control the temperature and get temperature updates with your voice. I’m NOT going to do this as the app works fine for me…but it’s hilarious to think that at some point down the road we can ask Alexa to fire up the grill and tell me when it’s ready to start cooking.

Home Automation

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Earlier this year I bought a couple of Alexa Echo Flex units to play with.

The idea was to get an idea of how home automation is finally starting to evolve.

The notion of home automation isn’t new, but with the evolution of wireless technologies, and the ever evolving world of personal assistants and home tools….well…it get’s very interesting indeed.

It was the Amazon Alexa Flex units that actually really intrigued me. They are smaller units that plug directly into a wall outlet, and as a result they blend directly into the background very quickly and easily. Due to their smaller size the sound quality that comes out is okay for voice command and acknowledgements…but not great for music.

BUT

They do have the option to connect to bluetooth speakers…which changes things drastically.

Next I purchased a pair of Teckin outlets from Amazon. They use the SmartLife application which is pretty alright, and works as an interpreter between the outlet devices and Alexa.

Basically…you tell Alexa what you want and it looks to see what it’s connected to in order to accomplish the demand. I created a group called Living room and Fireplace room and was able to use voice command to turn the lights on and off.

You can get very complex using the SmartLife app…it’s a very interesting tool.

The next add was an Amazon Echo…a bigger unit with much better sound, as well as a pair of Teckin wireless LED lights. So now I can go to bed…say goodnight and all of the lights in the house will turn off…I can even have Alexa arm my security system…

Pretty slick.

Frustration has set in…

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Work has been eerily quiet, which has allowed me to work in a bunch of things that I’ve wanted to document and get off of my work cheat sheets & quick reference guide and into “my work tome”.

Having the kids at home while Rachel and I work is quite frankly…exhausting. Perhaps the most frustrating is that I’ve returned to the “local IT guy” for both Rachel and the kids.

It continually amazes me how IT people look at things strictly from the IT perspective, and not from a usability perspective. No…not everyone understands the limitations of citrix, and what exactly is the point of sending people home with a monitor if you are forcing them to use Remote Desktop Access to work on everything? Isn’t this supposed to be easy and make sense? It’s not about how cool it is, or how the technology works. IT needs to realize that it’s all about workflow. It has to work smoothly for the end user….

Sending out 10 emails about a new phone system doesn’t help anyone. Send ONE email to everyone outlining how to set it up…and then follow up with a one on one email with the private information that each user needs. Keep it simple for the end-user!

The kids don’t seem to have it any better. The school board is…struggling…and attempting to figure it all out. Kudo’s to the teachers that are at least trying…although Rachel and I do wonder how it’s possible that our youngest has the most complicated work flow.

The school boards are in a tough spot…it would have been nice for the technical group that overseas this to send out a high-level list of requirements for the end devices that the kids are supposed to use for the lessons. I do understand that there will be the odd thing missing here and there…but working through a lesson and then determining that I need to download Google Slides after the fact is frustrating.

Which ironically makes me wonder if the kids are getting any basic education with regards to the Google tools and hardware they use at school. Until recently our oldest was using Google Slides for projects at school, but wasn’t even aware of Google Pages until I sat and explained that each Google tool has a specific use…and that…yes…you COULD use Google Slides for a project, it’s a whole lot more work to format, and won’t translate to paper very well.

The truth is overall I’m impressed with how smoothly we’ve been able to adapt technically from being onsite with school, to working remotely.

I’m sure all of us with kids are struggling in different ways. For us the struggle between schoolwork and free time is very real, especially with both parents working out of the house.

Like all of you out there on the interwebs…we’re all living cat posters…we’re just “hanging in there”