So, my mom came through and got me an Amazon Echo for christmas! Well– she ordered one for me. It won’t ship until like January 3rd.
But I’m already preparing my home for the 21st century.
I installed a Lutron dimmer switch for my dining room chandelier. Once I have Alexa in place, I’ll be able to control the lighting (with dimming). It also works well as just a modern wall switch.
I also got a Hue bulb starter kit (3 color/white LED bulbs and a bridge). I’ve set them up in the 3 lamps that I have, and already have them linked to my iPhone.
It’s already pretty awesome, but with Alexa it will be awesomer!
I can change colors, moods, brightness, etc all from my phone. And I can even make changes through Siri!
Last night was all “Siri, turn down bedroom lamp”, and Siri is all like “Okay, I’ve turned down your bedroom lamp to 68%”.
I also played around with mood lighting in the bedroom. A dim red looks cool!
Andnive even set up routines– like turning on my living room at 5pm and off at 10:10. And having my bedroom light turn on at 7:05 while I’m in the shower.
Alexa will also with my Nest thermostat.
I am looking forward to exploring home automation. Possibly even doing my door lock with Sesame if I can figure out how to mount it appropriately with my door configuration.
Squeeee!!
Mangina Monologues 
Well this sounds very interesting…But…where is Woofy Wednesday? I guess you’ve been spoiling us CB. mwg
We love our hue lights 🙂 most fun thing we’re done for our house in years.
Yeah – on my phone all I have for remote stuff is Skybell for my doorbell and the Joule Sous Vide app. That I can control both from remote is awesome.
Please keep us posted on how you end up using Alexa the most. I got an Echo Dot for Xmas. I’ve already determined I need a bluetooth speaker for music (which I’ve read is also true for the regular Echo), and the way my apartment’s light switches are wired, I could definitely use some sort of smart bulbs or plugs. Not sure if I want to go with Hue, or other types that don’t require a bridge. I’d definitely want a Nest if I wasn’t in an apartment.
Very cool! I’ll be eager to hear how you like using Alexa, and more importantly, anything you DON’T like about it.