TECHNOLOGY

I Only Wanted an Auto-Off Switch, a Conversation at the Supermarket, and More

Another day in the tech life, I guess

Yeah, I probably should fix that tilted light shade — photo by author

“You left it on again.”

That’s my wife speaking. Unlike Bill Clinton, I know very well what “it” is: it is the garage light. The switch for it is at the door leading out of our kitchen and, much to my wife’s annoyance, I often forget to shut it off after going out there for something.

What can I say? I’m a busy dude with things on my mind. Besides, it’s an LED bulb; we both could be dead before it burns out and it costs almost nothing to run.

She isn’t buying any of that. So, since she won’t buy, I will: I decided to look for a tech solution.

Motion sensor?

I could put a motion sensor out there in the garage and have that trigger the light on and shut it off after some period of no motion. That seemed like overkill to me. All I really wanted was a switch that would automatically go off after a bit of time.

They make things like that. Here’s one at Amazon (not an affiliate link). Gosh, that’s ugly! There’s a fancier one too, but that seems like overkill.