Adrian Lansdown's personal site 2025-06-14T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/ Adrian Lansdown adrian@adrianlansdown.com 2025-06-14T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/Trying-Faff-Coffee/ <p>Trying out Faff Coffee as an quick coffee option when traveling. Had not considered how much plastic packaging it would create.</p> <p>![[assets/attachments/faff-coffee-10-pack.jpeg| A photo showing ten black packets labeled “Single Origin Coffee Bag” with “1 Big Bag” and “FAFF” branding, each containing 15g of coffee, arranged on a wooden surface.]]</p> 2024-11-13T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/2024-11-13-podcast-downloader/ <p>I have the need to backup a podcast that I've made. While I have the source files I really wanted to save the files that were published. Wanting a project to try out Deno, clearly this was my time. It's a very simple thing that downloads the mp3, images and creates json files with each episodes data. https://github.com/yayadrian/Podcast-Archiver</p> 2024-11-03T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/getting-nest-thermostat-into-home-assistant/ <p>The battle of getting my Nest Thermostat into Home Assistant been going on for some time. I've previously used the Google Nest integration, but it was a bit hit and miss and the key feature in the UK was that it didn't expose the Hot Water function.</p> <p>After quite some playing it seems the best way if you want to have access to the Hot Water function is to use <a href="https://homebridge.io/">Home Bridge</a> and the <a href="https://github.com/chrisjshull/homebridge-nest">Home Bridge Nest Plugin</a> integration.</p> <p>It's not the simplest process to get setup and only seems to work if you use Chrome or Edge to get the Nest account cookie. Trying with Firefox and Vivaldi never allow me to log in.</p> <p>With this setup I can now see:</p> <ul> <li>Hallway Thermostat (Climate Thermostat, Eco Mode, Hot Water)</li> <li>Upstairs Thermostat (Climate Thermostat, Eco Mode)</li> <li>Home Occupied - Simple on/off switch</li> </ul> 2024-04-04T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/Syncing-Plex-and-JellyFin-watched/ <p>I’ve started using Jellyfin more often which is going well but it leaves me with unwatched videos on my Plex server. As always seems to be the way someone has already solved this problem with the creation of JellyPlex Watched. It’s a simple docker container that looks at Plex, Jellyfin and some Emby and syncs up the watched status.</p> <p><a href="https://github.com/luigi311/JellyPlex-Watched">https://github.com/luigi311/JellyPlex-Watched</a></p> 2024-02-11T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/Social-climbing-Leicester/ <p>The kids got a gift voucher for a Kids sessions. We did the 5-8 year old session which is on Saturdays 11:30 - 12:30.</p> <p>Short queue when we arrived but quickly sorted the kids for their class.</p> <p>They thankfully take safety seriously, so there are a few forms to complete and an induction tour, but the staff were friendly and helpful.</p> <p>Josh, who ran the kid's session, was great with the kids and quickly got them climbing along and up the wall.</p> <p>⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4 Stars</p> <p><a href="https://maps.app.goo.gl/wEZCWEMX9Vbg1PyJA">My Google Review</a></p> 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z https://adrianlansdown.com/posts/2024-01-01-default-apps/ <p>Inspired by <a href="https://defaults.rknight.me/">App Defaults by Robb Knight</a> which came from <a href="https://listen.hemisphericviews.com/097">Hemispheric Views 097 – Duel of the Defaults!</a> and this <a href="https://gabz.blog/2023/11/03/my-defaults.html">post by Gabz</a>.</p> <p>Here is my big list of the apps I use in the various categories as written by Adrian:</p> <ul> <li><strong>📨 Mail Client</strong>: Either web-based or just started using FastMate</li> <li><strong>📮 Mail Server</strong>: Mostly Fastmail with a few hangovers in Gmail</li> <li><strong>📝 Notes</strong>: Drafts and Obsidian; OneNote for Work, but not by choice</li> <li><strong>✅ To-Do</strong>: Omnifocus</li> <li><strong>📷 iPhone Photo Shooting</strong>: iOS Camera</li> <li><strong>🟦 Photo Management</strong>: Photos.app</li> <li><strong>📆 Calendar</strong>: Fantastical</li> <li><strong>📁 Cloud File Storage</strong>: OneDrive and some iCloud Drive</li> <li><strong>📖 RSS</strong>: <a href="https://readwise.io/read">Reeder by Readwise</a></li> <li><strong>🙍🏻‍♂️ Contacts</strong>: Contacts.app</li> <li><strong>🌐 Browser</strong>: Arc</li> <li><strong>💬 Chat</strong>: Slack</li> <li><strong>🔖 Bookmarks</strong>: Still using Pinboard but this will likely change</li> <li><strong>📑 Read It Later</strong>: <a href="https://readwise.io/read">Reader by Readwise</a></li> <li><strong>📜 Word Processing</strong>: Microsoft Word</li> <li><strong>📈 Spreadsheets</strong>: Microsoft Excel</li> <li><strong>📊 Presentations</strong>: Microsoft PowerPoint and iA Presenter</li> <li><strong>🛒 Shopping Lists</strong>: Drafts and Reminders.app</li> <li><strong>🍴 Meal Planning</strong>: n/a</li> <li><strong>💰 Budgeting and Personal Finance</strong>: YNAB – because, You Need a Budget (3 year running and still a life changer)</li> <li><strong>📰 News</strong>: Mastodon only</li> <li><strong>🎵 Music</strong>: Spotify</li> <li><strong>🎤 Podcasts</strong>: Overcast</li> <li><strong>🔐 Password Management</strong>: 1Password</li> <li><strong>🔔 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_Quiz">Hard Quiz</a> Special Topic Interlude</strong>: Home Automation (Something for Which I'd Be the Subject Matter Expert in the Room)</li> </ul> <p>That's the list for 2023.</p>