Because I am that much of a geek...
Mar. 21st, 2004 11:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feren.. I am looking at this remarkably affordable proximity badge system and seriously considering buying it for Z'ha'dum. I can pair it off with an automatic door strike and thus have a really nice keyless entry system that would still be perfectly secure should a power failure happen. It would also be a lot nicer than having to fumble around with a key for the deadbolt when it's late at night and I forgot to leave the porch light on.
Last night after school was pretty relaxing and good for my soul: I came home, vegged in front of the TV and then invited myself over to Heather's place around 8pm. Heather and Gary recently obtained a newly refelted eight-foot pool table and set it up in their heated garage, which has become their quasi-permanent recreation room and bar. After making my introductions to the other folks who were visiting I proceeded to drink too much, smoke too much and shoot pool. Apparently![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
arphalia is my good luck charm... every time she was on AIM and chatting with me I ran the table, and when she wasn't around I had my ass handed to me. Around a quarter to midnight I said good night to everyone at Heather's and drove home. Once I was back at the house I engaged in drunken telephone tomfoolery, with the topic of discussion ranging from serious to seriously amusing. Eventually I fell over for sleep at 1:30.
Right now I'm waiting for a phone call from the roofers -- the plan was that they'd call about an hour ahead of time to confirm their appointment. The appointment is scheduled for noon and there's still been no word from them, so I'm starting to wonder what's going on. I have a contingency plan for today, however, so I'm not worried about it in the least. I'll give them fifteen minutes past the appointment time, and if they don't show up I'll just make an early departure for the Northern suburbs. I'm planning to hit BD's withroho and genet, then we'll go back to the apartment with the express purpose of tossing back some gin and tonics while watching Babylon 5. I also will get to see the drawings that Genet put in my sketchbooks since she's doing me the honor of breaking them in -- I keep getting told these sketches are something to behold, and I've been waiting very patiently for the last few days. My breaking point has nearly been reached ... with all the teasing I've received about them my curiousity is positively killing me.
Let me be your armour
Last night after school was pretty relaxing and good for my soul: I came home, vegged in front of the TV and then invited myself over to Heather's place around 8pm. Heather and Gary recently obtained a newly refelted eight-foot pool table and set it up in their heated garage, which has become their quasi-permanent recreation room and bar. After making my introductions to the other folks who were visiting I proceeded to drink too much, smoke too much and shoot pool. Apparently
arphalia is my good luck charm... every time she was on AIM and chatting with me I ran the table, and when she wasn't around I had my ass handed to me. Around a quarter to midnight I said good night to everyone at Heather's and drove home. Once I was back at the house I engaged in drunken telephone tomfoolery, with the topic of discussion ranging from serious to seriously amusing. Eventually I fell over for sleep at 1:30.Right now I'm waiting for a phone call from the roofers -- the plan was that they'd call about an hour ahead of time to confirm their appointment. The appointment is scheduled for noon and there's still been no word from them, so I'm starting to wonder what's going on. I have a contingency plan for today, however, so I'm not worried about it in the least. I'll give them fifteen minutes past the appointment time, and if they don't show up I'll just make an early departure for the Northern suburbs. I'm planning to hit BD's with
roho and genet, then we'll go back to the apartment with the express purpose of tossing back some gin and tonics while watching Babylon 5. I also will get to see the drawings that Genet put in my sketchbooks since she's doing me the honor of breaking them in -- I keep getting told these sketches are something to behold, and I've been waiting very patiently for the last few days. My breaking point has nearly been reached ... with all the teasing I've received about them my curiousity is positively killing me.Let me be your armour
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Paranoid? Maybe.
Date: 2004-03-21 09:22 am (UTC)So long as the power failure scenario is taken care of, how do you "change" the lock? The site describes the system as having one or two 'master' tags that set the system. I assume you lock that thing up in a safe. How would changing the master tag work?
Maybe this isn't a big deal in a house, but sharing an apartment with a roommate that likes to make copies of the house keys and give them out to strangers from out of town, it concerns me.
Re: Paranoid? Maybe.
Date: 2004-03-22 06:22 am (UTC)I honestly don't know if this system would let you do that. With the commercial proximity access control devices you have a computer and some microcontrollers that you upload valid badge numbers to. Obviously that's expensive, so these folks opted to just have a master key that can do the adds/removes. I assume without the master key you are screwed and have to replace the entire reader (as that appears to be where most of the logic is controlled). Even if they have a pool of "master keys" that makes installing more than one of these sort of problematic because you end up having to keep track of which master key goes to which unit.
[but sharing an apartment with a roommate that likes to make copies of the house keys and give them out to strangers from out of town, it concerns me]
I imagine the landlord would have something to say about you installing an electric strikeplate and a badge reader in his or her hallway, regardless. I must admit that I am a big believer in giving out keys as well. The people I trust automatically got a key to Z'ha'dum once I finished installing the new lock set on the front door to eliminate the annoying way it was originally configured. Maybe I'm a hippy at heart, but I don't mind my friends being able to wander in and out of my place when I'm not around. However, if I had a roommate who didn't know my friends I can definately see how that would alarm them.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-21 03:11 pm (UTC)You drove home while drunk?
Shame on you.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-21 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-21 09:11 pm (UTC)seriously
-k
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 06:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 06:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 06:15 am (UTC)Which is a fairly standard range. The proximity system we use here at the office is a big-name commercial brand, and it only gets about 2-3" of range from the reader.
[you're planning on mounting the reader on, say, a 4x4 a couple feet from the door at pocket level..?]
That's almost exactly what I was figuring on. My plan is to rework the siding on the exterior wall next to the door in such a way to allow me to recess the reader for a clean, professional-looking installation. I figured right at hip-height would be good, that way I could keep the card in my wallet and just sort of wave my ass at the reader to unlock the door.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-22 06:58 am (UTC)Of course. The little teardrop-shaped badges at WREX (we called 'em guitar picks) were in the smaller 1-3" range so if it was in your pocket you pretty much had to hump the door to open it. (Granted, that was preferrable to the keypad we had before, which never ever worked when it was below 30F outside, which was exactly when we needed it to work...)
Overall, though, that's why I'm personally not a big fan of it. If I have to bump the door or touch my keyring to the wall to get it to go, I'd just as soon put a key in a deadbolt. Diff'rent strokes...
While the lawsuit claims that
Date: 2004-09-18 08:11 am (UTC)