1 00:00:00,180 --> 00:00:03,480 Lisa Stockdale: Welcome to Aging in Full Bloom with Lisa Stockdale, I am 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:08,250 your host, Lisa, and today we have a special guest on the 3 00:00:08,250 --> 00:00:10,860 phone with us, Marlon Buchanan. 4 00:00:10,860 --> 00:00:12,630 Marlon, how are you today? 5 00:00:14,500 --> 00:00:16,810 Marlon Buchanan: Hi, Lisa, I'm doing fine, thank you for having me. 6 00:00:17,230 --> 00:00:19,150 Lisa Stockdale: Of course, where are you calling from? 7 00:00:19,180 --> 00:00:21,670 We're always curious about where our guests are calling in 8 00:00:21,670 --> 00:00:22,300 from. 9 00:00:24,010 --> 00:00:27,340 Marlon Buchanan: I am calling you from Seattle, Washington, where right now 10 00:00:27,340 --> 00:00:28,630 it's wet like most people think. 11 00:00:28,630 --> 00:00:30,070 But we have beautiful summers, 12 00:00:31,390 --> 00:00:33,280 Lisa Stockdale: Seattle and it's wet. 13 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:36,580 Well, thank you for calling in. 14 00:00:38,680 --> 00:00:42,460 I understand that you have written a book called While 15 00:00:42,460 --> 00:00:45,010 You've Written a book about smart homes. 16 00:00:45,160 --> 00:00:47,440 A manual called the Smart Home Manual. 17 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:48,520 Is that accurate? 18 00:00:50,560 --> 00:00:52,060 Marlon Buchanan: That is correct, yes. 19 00:00:52,570 --> 00:00:55,120 The Smart Home Manual, the full title and the subtitle is 20 00:00:55,120 --> 00:00:57,430 How to Automate Your Home to keep your family entertained, 21 00:00:57,430 --> 00:00:58,570 comfortable and safe. 22 00:00:58,810 --> 00:01:02,200 Lisa Stockdale: Ok, say it one more time and slow down for us. 23 00:01:03,310 --> 00:01:07,750 Marlon Buchanan: Sure, I know I always thought that the smart home manual how 24 00:01:07,750 --> 00:01:10,540 to automate your home to keep your family entertained, 25 00:01:10,540 --> 00:01:11,980 comfortable and safe. 26 00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:17,680 Lisa Stockdale: All right, tell us what is this idea of a smart home besides 27 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:19,570 what you have just described? 28 00:01:20,320 --> 00:01:21,790 Is it like a smart phone? 29 00:01:23,950 --> 00:01:26,920 Marlon Buchanan: Well, it's like a smart phone, and that it allows you to do 30 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:28,630 more than what a regular phone would do. 31 00:01:28,630 --> 00:01:31,420 So smart home allows you to do more than what a regular 32 00:01:31,420 --> 00:01:32,650 home would do so. 33 00:01:33,370 --> 00:01:36,820 And in my terms, it's where things are automated for you. 34 00:01:36,820 --> 00:01:38,830 Like maybe your lights come on and off without you having 35 00:01:38,830 --> 00:01:39,880 to do anything. 36 00:01:40,480 --> 00:01:43,000 Your alarm is armed at the right time, but it's already 37 00:01:43,360 --> 00:01:46,180 your floor is automatically cleaned by a robot vacuum. 38 00:01:46,180 --> 00:01:48,700 But it's just a house that does a little bit more for you 39 00:01:48,700 --> 00:01:50,200 without you having to do anything. 40 00:01:50,740 --> 00:01:52,390 Lisa Stockdale: How do you get there? 41 00:01:52,420 --> 00:01:54,130 How do you make all that happen? 42 00:01:56,630 --> 00:01:59,590 Marlon Buchanan: It can be a journey, but there are nice little baby steps 43 00:01:59,590 --> 00:02:00,940 that you can take to get there. 44 00:02:00,940 --> 00:02:04,960 So there's there's the market is full of all kinds of 45 00:02:04,960 --> 00:02:06,000 different smart devices. 46 00:02:06,020 --> 00:02:08,320 In many ways. I think the hardest part is picking the right 47 00:02:08,320 --> 00:02:11,950 ones for you. But for most people, I'd recommend they start 48 00:02:11,950 --> 00:02:17,350 simple with some smart lighting or a smart plug or a voice 49 00:02:17,350 --> 00:02:22,210 assistant, which I think is especially important for for 50 00:02:22,210 --> 00:02:22,740 seniors. 51 00:02:22,750 --> 00:02:25,840 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah, yeah, I can see how we could be moving in the 52 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:30,850 direction of assisting seniors and helping them stay home 53 00:02:30,850 --> 00:02:33,490 longer, and we all know that that is indeed where they want 54 00:02:33,490 --> 00:02:39,910 to be. So when did the the book publish? 55 00:02:41,870 --> 00:02:48,590 Marlon Buchanan: The spa menu was published at the end of 2020. 56 00:02:48,740 --> 00:02:51,500 Ok. Seems like forever ago right now, but at the end of 57 00:02:51,500 --> 00:02:52,090 2020. 58 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,730 Lisa Stockdale: Well, it's been a long couple of years for all of us, hasn't 59 00:02:55,730 --> 00:02:59,840 it? But the technology that you reference, I suspect, is 60 00:02:59,840 --> 00:03:01,280 all still relevant. 61 00:03:02,510 --> 00:03:06,740 Marlon Buchanan: Yes, it is, and a lot of the things you can do with a smart 62 00:03:06,740 --> 00:03:09,170 home, they've just incrementally improved over that time. 63 00:03:09,170 --> 00:03:13,160 But the technology and the steps and the advice that is 64 00:03:13,160 --> 00:03:16,040 given in the book and the things I just mentioned are all 65 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:17,390 still very relevant. Yes. 66 00:03:17,600 --> 00:03:19,480 Lisa Stockdale: Share some of the advice with us. 67 00:03:19,490 --> 00:03:23,540 Give us the top your top three tips for how to make our 68 00:03:23,540 --> 00:03:25,010 homes smart. 69 00:03:26,830 --> 00:03:31,120 Marlon Buchanan: Well, my top tip is to actually make sure you have a good 70 00:03:31,120 --> 00:03:32,920 home network going first. 71 00:03:33,700 --> 00:03:36,670 A lot of people will get devices and then if they have some 72 00:03:36,670 --> 00:03:39,220 Wi-Fi, that doesn't work well, your devices aren't going to 73 00:03:39,220 --> 00:03:42,070 work well. So the first thing you want to do is make sure 74 00:03:42,070 --> 00:03:45,640 your home network is in really good shape, and that's a 75 00:03:45,640 --> 00:03:46,960 step a lot of people skip. 76 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:50,650 Lisa Stockdale: Well, how is it that an issue of hold on, hold on, let's 77 00:03:50,650 --> 00:03:53,890 stop there for a minute? Isn't that an issue of just 78 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:56,680 getting the right cable company or is there more to it than 79 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:57,220 that? 80 00:03:58,630 --> 00:04:03,220 Marlon Buchanan: There's definitely more to it than that, so a cable company 81 00:04:03,220 --> 00:04:05,950 or whoever is going to provide your internet, they'll 82 00:04:05,950 --> 00:04:08,050 definitely help you with your internet connection and 83 00:04:08,050 --> 00:04:10,750 sometimes they have products they'll sell you to help you 84 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,270 with your home network and wi fi. 85 00:04:13,510 --> 00:04:16,000 But sometimes they don't, and a lot of times their products 86 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:20,740 aren't the best. So what you really want to do is figure 87 00:04:20,740 --> 00:04:24,460 out like how many devices you're going to have, how big a 88 00:04:24,460 --> 00:04:25,750 home do you have? 89 00:04:26,140 --> 00:04:28,550 Where are you going to place your Wi-Fi router? 90 00:04:28,570 --> 00:04:31,450 Does it reach your entire house or do you need to get some 91 00:04:31,450 --> 00:04:35,710 type of mesh system or some type of Wi-Fi extenders to make 92 00:04:35,710 --> 00:04:37,300 your Wi-Fi a lot better? 93 00:04:37,480 --> 00:04:41,200 And then what they won't help you with as much sometimes is 94 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:44,080 the security and you want to make sure your home network is 95 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:45,040 really secure. 96 00:04:46,580 --> 00:04:47,840 Lisa Stockdale: And how do you do that? 97 00:04:49,700 --> 00:04:52,220 Marlon Buchanan: Well, you want to make sure that you've got good settings on 98 00:04:52,220 --> 00:04:53,990 your firewall, you want to make sure your firewall is 99 00:04:53,990 --> 00:04:56,330 turned on, that you've got a good router that has a good 100 00:04:56,330 --> 00:04:59,630 firewall. There are particular settings that you want to 101 00:04:59,630 --> 00:05:01,730 make sure that all your Wi-Fi, you want to make sure that 102 00:05:01,730 --> 00:05:05,360 you're using the later Wi-Fi security standards. 103 00:05:06,290 --> 00:05:11,390 You want to make sure that you have a good strong password 104 00:05:11,390 --> 00:05:13,340 for your for your Wi-Fi connection. 105 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,900 And there's a lot of more advanced things, but those those 106 00:05:17,900 --> 00:05:19,940 are the basic facts you definitely want to want to make 107 00:05:19,940 --> 00:05:22,370 sure you've done for your Wi-Fi network and for your for 108 00:05:22,370 --> 00:05:23,120 your home network. 109 00:05:23,240 --> 00:05:27,440 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah, and this is becoming more of an issue for a lot of 110 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,650 Americans as they work from home these days, right? 111 00:05:31,460 --> 00:05:34,190 You need a strong internet connection when you're doing 112 00:05:34,190 --> 00:05:35,240 those Zoom calls. 113 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:40,430 Nothing worse. I've got an office full of people sitting 114 00:05:40,430 --> 00:05:46,160 here smiling at me as I say that or if you are an older 115 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,000 American or older adult and you are, you use those that 116 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,760 technology to communicate with your children who are out of 117 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:54,680 state or your grandchildren. 118 00:05:55,490 --> 00:05:58,700 You don't want to constantly be getting dropped or booted 119 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:02,930 out. And I know even in our own home, when I started 120 00:06:02,930 --> 00:06:06,650 working from home more in recent days, all of a sudden we 121 00:06:06,650 --> 00:06:09,650 started having internet problems. 122 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,090 My son is a college student and he's at home right now, and 123 00:06:14,090 --> 00:06:16,490 he would be downstairs in his office and I would be 124 00:06:16,490 --> 00:06:20,690 upstairs in my office and we were like, What is going on 125 00:06:20,690 --> 00:06:21,730 with this cable company? 126 00:06:21,740 --> 00:06:23,120 It had nothing to do with that. 127 00:06:23,420 --> 00:06:26,300 We actually went to Wal-Mart and bought this little thing 128 00:06:26,300 --> 00:06:29,600 that we plugged in, and it was about $50 and life got 129 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,670 better. Life got better. 130 00:06:31,670 --> 00:06:34,970 But who knew what was that little thing that we bought at 131 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:36,800 Wal-Mart? Do you have any idea? 132 00:06:38,740 --> 00:06:40,570 Marlon Buchanan: It was probably a Wi-Fi extender. 133 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:40,930 Yes. 134 00:06:41,370 --> 00:06:42,830 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 135 00:06:43,270 --> 00:06:47,650 And it was a cheap, inexpensive, quick remedy, but we had 136 00:06:47,650 --> 00:06:50,530 to educate ourselves on what was going on because we really 137 00:06:50,530 --> 00:06:52,990 didn't. We thought it was the cable company when the cable 138 00:06:52,990 --> 00:06:53,830 company and all. 139 00:06:55,740 --> 00:06:58,740 Marlon Buchanan: Yeah, and there's I mean, that is common, there's a lot of 140 00:06:58,740 --> 00:07:01,650 little different problems you can have with your wife or 141 00:07:01,650 --> 00:07:04,230 with your home network, but you really want to get those 142 00:07:04,230 --> 00:07:06,360 solved before you start adding devices to it. 143 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,660 And I'm not just trying to sell my book, but there is a 144 00:07:09,660 --> 00:07:12,930 whole chapter on kind of diagnosing what the actual 145 00:07:12,930 --> 00:07:15,780 problems are with your home network and what are some of 146 00:07:15,780 --> 00:07:17,200 the things you can do to fix it? 147 00:07:17,220 --> 00:07:19,950 Yeah. And one of those things is what you guys ended up 148 00:07:19,950 --> 00:07:20,340 doing. 149 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:26,490 Lisa Stockdale: Ok, and talk to me about the safety in terms of the computer 150 00:07:26,520 --> 00:07:28,140 is what you're talking about. 151 00:07:28,140 --> 00:07:31,770 Does it help keep the hackers out and keep your password 152 00:07:31,770 --> 00:07:34,530 safe and your account information safe? 153 00:07:34,530 --> 00:07:36,060 Or is that something different? 154 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,870 Marlon Buchanan: It's part of it, but there's definitely a lot more you need 155 00:07:40,870 --> 00:07:44,020 to do when it comes to keeping your home computer safe. 156 00:07:44,020 --> 00:07:47,380 So I mentioned making sure your your router has a good 157 00:07:47,380 --> 00:07:50,230 firewall that will help with people trying to get to your 158 00:07:50,230 --> 00:07:53,590 network and having good passwords so people don't connect 159 00:07:53,590 --> 00:07:55,570 to your network that way and then they can get to your 160 00:07:55,570 --> 00:07:59,710 computer. But you know it's good to have a good antivirus 161 00:07:59,710 --> 00:08:03,610 program, a good firewall on your actual computer, and most 162 00:08:03,940 --> 00:08:06,700 modern versions of Windows come with that now. 163 00:08:06,850 --> 00:08:09,760 Windows Defender So you can you want to make sure and get 164 00:08:09,760 --> 00:08:11,620 that, get that set up. 165 00:08:12,370 --> 00:08:16,780 And then really, it's more about what you do while you're 166 00:08:16,780 --> 00:08:19,420 on your computer, being careful about what you click on, 167 00:08:19,420 --> 00:08:23,950 what websites you go to, what programs you download, what 168 00:08:23,950 --> 00:08:26,620 questions you answer when someone calls you on the phone 169 00:08:27,310 --> 00:08:30,460 and making sure that they are who they say they are. 170 00:08:30,550 --> 00:08:34,600 Those are the more ways that you're you're more susceptible 171 00:08:34,600 --> 00:08:36,400 to having something happen to your computer. 172 00:08:37,510 --> 00:08:40,480 Lisa Stockdale: How do you know which websites to avoid? 173 00:08:41,350 --> 00:08:44,200 I mean, I hear people tell us this all the time, but they 174 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:49,180 don't. I mean, are there clues that this might not be a 175 00:08:49,180 --> 00:08:50,980 good move? How do you know 176 00:08:52,420 --> 00:08:55,300 Marlon Buchanan: There are clues if you are? 177 00:08:56,830 --> 00:08:59,830 One thing to check is if you're using one of your standard 178 00:08:59,830 --> 00:09:06,010 browsers like Chrome or Firefox is, there's usually most 179 00:09:06,010 --> 00:09:09,600 sites today are secure sites, and there's a little there's 180 00:09:09,610 --> 00:09:14,380 a little padlock icon that's near the next to the website 181 00:09:14,380 --> 00:09:16,480 address at the top of the browser. 182 00:09:16,930 --> 00:09:19,210 If you click on that, there's usually more information 183 00:09:19,210 --> 00:09:22,510 about whether or not the site is really secure. 184 00:09:23,590 --> 00:09:24,970 And so that's one way. 185 00:09:25,480 --> 00:09:28,750 Another way is just be careful about clicking links and 186 00:09:28,750 --> 00:09:30,700 emails you want to make. 187 00:09:30,730 --> 00:09:35,290 I prefer most of the time to type out a URL because just 188 00:09:35,290 --> 00:09:37,930 because it shows you one link in the email doesn't mean 189 00:09:37,930 --> 00:09:40,180 that's what you're actually going to get taken to. 190 00:09:40,210 --> 00:09:44,730 Yeah. And so, you know, it's a very bad. 191 00:09:44,740 --> 00:09:46,900 And then there are things that are more automated, which is 192 00:09:46,900 --> 00:09:48,480 what people probably really need. 193 00:09:48,490 --> 00:09:51,730 So I was talking earlier about a router firewall. 194 00:09:51,730 --> 00:09:55,540 Some firewalls have features where they keep updated list 195 00:09:55,540 --> 00:09:58,330 of bad sites and they warn you when you're going to go to 196 00:09:58,330 --> 00:10:01,630 them. Mm-hmm. So that's another good feature to get for 197 00:10:01,630 --> 00:10:02,740 your for your router. 198 00:10:03,130 --> 00:10:05,090 Lisa Stockdale: I did not know about the padlock. 199 00:10:05,110 --> 00:10:06,640 Did you know about the padlock, right? 200 00:10:06,670 --> 00:10:09,970 Oh my gosh. We think we're tech savvy. 201 00:10:10,390 --> 00:10:11,540 We're idiots, aren't we? 202 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:15,100 We don't know much about this stuff, but but we're probably 203 00:10:15,380 --> 00:10:16,300 Marlon Buchanan: Too much for 204 00:10:16,300 --> 00:10:17,320 Lisa Stockdale: In the majority. 205 00:10:17,450 --> 00:10:19,450 Marlon Buchanan: There's too much for any one person to know. 206 00:10:19,450 --> 00:10:20,620 So yeah, definitely. 207 00:10:20,620 --> 00:10:22,060 You should definitely not feel bad about that. 208 00:10:22,300 --> 00:10:25,990 Lisa Stockdale: Well, I'm I'm happy that we're educating our audience and 209 00:10:25,990 --> 00:10:28,780 that we're putting the information out there because these 210 00:10:28,780 --> 00:10:31,660 are easy things that we can do. 211 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:35,290 And as you say, and I only know because we have I work for 212 00:10:35,290 --> 00:10:38,410 a company that is tech savvy and our I.T. 213 00:10:38,410 --> 00:10:41,950 people are always warning us about don't open links and in 214 00:10:41,950 --> 00:10:46,480 emails because you never know where you might be going or 215 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:49,510 what they might be looking at or what the intent or the 216 00:10:49,510 --> 00:10:50,680 purpose is. 217 00:10:51,910 --> 00:10:54,400 So that's definitely good advice. 218 00:10:55,870 --> 00:10:59,200 What else is burning a hole in your pocket to share with 219 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:00,610 our audience today? 220 00:11:02,500 --> 00:11:05,200 Marlon Buchanan: Well, you ask me what my top three tips are for starting a 221 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,830 smart home, and we got really stuck on some of the home 222 00:11:08,830 --> 00:11:11,260 network advice, which is, like I said, really important to 223 00:11:11,260 --> 00:11:12,430 get into a smart home. 224 00:11:12,940 --> 00:11:16,300 But I think the next step would be just the I know people 225 00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:18,370 don't want to do the thinking planning, they just want to 226 00:11:18,370 --> 00:11:21,520 do the doing. But is to actually think about what you want 227 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:24,310 to get out of your smart home, like what are the things you 228 00:11:24,310 --> 00:11:27,340 want to do? And there are lots of different places you can 229 00:11:27,340 --> 00:11:30,340 do. Some research that you want is your primary goal safety 230 00:11:30,340 --> 00:11:33,220 and security? Is it making things easier for you? 231 00:11:33,220 --> 00:11:37,180 Is it? Is it conversing with other members of your family? 232 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:38,950 Is it so you can watch TV? 233 00:11:38,950 --> 00:11:41,920 Easier to think about those things because those affect 234 00:11:41,920 --> 00:11:44,490 which devices you'll you'll want to buy. 235 00:11:44,500 --> 00:11:47,050 So that would be another piece of advice I would give for 236 00:11:47,050 --> 00:11:49,630 everybody just to give a little thought to what you want to 237 00:11:49,630 --> 00:11:51,910 get out of your smart home or just thinking about what you 238 00:11:51,910 --> 00:11:53,290 want to get out of your home. You know, you have to think 239 00:11:53,290 --> 00:11:56,890 of it as a smart home because as I tell people what we call 240 00:11:56,890 --> 00:11:59,980 a smart home now, it's just the regular home of the future. 241 00:11:59,980 --> 00:12:01,650 They're all do them all do this. 242 00:12:01,660 --> 00:12:04,030 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah. So that makes sense. 243 00:12:04,030 --> 00:12:09,610 Maybe make a list, prioritize and figure out what's 244 00:12:09,610 --> 00:12:10,750 important to you. 245 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:12,910 Be number two. What's number three? 246 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,240 Marlon Buchanan: Number three is to start simple. 247 00:12:17,290 --> 00:12:19,930 I recommend most people, like I mentioned earlier, get just 248 00:12:19,930 --> 00:12:24,790 a maybe a smart bowl to play with that, get a voice 249 00:12:24,790 --> 00:12:28,210 assistant. Things that are easy to use and can give you 250 00:12:28,510 --> 00:12:31,120 some immediate positive feedback as soon as you get it. 251 00:12:31,360 --> 00:12:32,770 So you have some fun with them. 252 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:34,780 You don't get frustrated with using them. 253 00:12:34,990 --> 00:12:38,260 But my third tip would just be to start simple and play 254 00:12:38,260 --> 00:12:41,080 with it, get more comfortable and then start adding little 255 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:42,210 pieces as you go. 256 00:12:42,220 --> 00:12:44,650 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah, baby steps, as you said. 257 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:47,800 Don't be intimidated by the technology. 258 00:12:47,800 --> 00:12:50,800 It's here to stay, so we might as well embrace it and 259 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,240 figure out ways to utilize it that make us happier, safer 260 00:12:56,200 --> 00:12:58,690 and life a little more comfortable. 261 00:12:59,990 --> 00:13:01,010 Marlon Buchanan: Yep, that's right. 262 00:13:01,100 --> 00:13:04,490 Lisa Stockdale: All right. Hey, you also have a website, I want you to share 263 00:13:04,490 --> 00:13:08,660 that with our audience if they'd like to go that route 264 00:13:08,660 --> 00:13:10,100 before they buy the book. 265 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,730 Marlon Buchanan: Your website is called Home Tech Hackers. 266 00:13:15,610 --> 00:13:18,120 And don't worry, it's not a scary site, it's not going to 267 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,500 hack you. It's just just hacking is just a way that people 268 00:13:22,500 --> 00:13:24,510 use to say when they're just playing with technology to 269 00:13:24,510 --> 00:13:26,550 make it work for them. So that's that's the hacking. 270 00:13:26,550 --> 00:13:27,690 I mean, in that. 271 00:13:28,020 --> 00:13:30,990 And I'm there. You'll find lots of free resources and 272 00:13:30,990 --> 00:13:33,090 articles about how to do a lot of the things I just 273 00:13:33,090 --> 00:13:35,760 mentioned. So even if you didn't get the book, there's 274 00:13:35,760 --> 00:13:38,400 actually lots of articles on there to about how to do it. 275 00:13:38,400 --> 00:13:39,750 There's checklists. 276 00:13:39,750 --> 00:13:42,120 So when we're talking about make a list of what things you 277 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:44,940 want to do, they're checklists on there that you can get 278 00:13:44,940 --> 00:13:46,590 for free. That'll help you do that. 279 00:13:46,860 --> 00:13:51,390 And there's also some links to some of my other other 280 00:13:51,390 --> 00:13:54,810 books. I do have another book that I just released earlier 281 00:13:54,810 --> 00:13:57,470 this year. That's about the reason. 282 00:13:57,480 --> 00:14:00,150 One of the reasons I can talk a lot about home networks is 283 00:14:00,150 --> 00:14:02,640 because the latest book I released is the Home Network 284 00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,370 manual, which is about setting up and upgrading and 285 00:14:05,370 --> 00:14:07,800 securing your home network, so you can find out more 286 00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:08,910 information about that. 287 00:14:08,910 --> 00:14:11,610 But the website itself just has a lot of stuff about smart 288 00:14:11,610 --> 00:14:14,490 homes, home technology in general and how to make it easier 289 00:14:14,490 --> 00:14:15,000 for you. 290 00:14:15,450 --> 00:14:19,530 Lisa Stockdale: And I'll just tell you until you emailed me and asked if we 291 00:14:19,530 --> 00:14:21,720 were interested in having you on as a guest, I didn't know 292 00:14:21,720 --> 00:14:23,580 there was such a thing as a smart home. 293 00:14:24,390 --> 00:14:28,740 So this is great information I didn't ask you, but I'm 294 00:14:28,740 --> 00:14:31,740 curious what you do for a living and how it is, you know, 295 00:14:31,740 --> 00:14:32,880 all this stuff? 296 00:14:34,470 --> 00:14:37,380 Marlon Buchanan: Well, my regular day job is I'm an I.T. 297 00:14:37,380 --> 00:14:41,190 director, so I know people at the company are dealing with. 298 00:14:41,190 --> 00:14:44,460 So I have to tell people at my company all of this kind of 299 00:14:44,460 --> 00:14:46,770 stuff. Someone I.T. director at the University of 300 00:14:46,770 --> 00:14:50,670 Washington and that's my day job and I'm also obviously an 301 00:14:50,670 --> 00:14:51,240 author. 302 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:57,180 Lisa Stockdale: Yeah. And were you self-published or did you have somebody 303 00:14:57,180 --> 00:14:58,410 else do it for you? 304 00:15:00,150 --> 00:15:02,940 Marlon Buchanan: I self-published, but I did work with a team. 305 00:15:02,940 --> 00:15:05,370 I have a couple of editors that I work with and some 306 00:15:05,370 --> 00:15:07,590 designers for the cover and other things, but it is 307 00:15:07,590 --> 00:15:08,280 self-published, 308 00:15:08,730 --> 00:15:12,090 Lisa Stockdale: And it makes another wonderful point that if you've got 309 00:15:12,090 --> 00:15:15,810 information like this to share, you're making complicated 310 00:15:15,810 --> 00:15:21,000 stuff user friendly, consumer friendly and we need that, 311 00:15:21,300 --> 00:15:24,240 that there are ways to get the information out there 312 00:15:24,270 --> 00:15:27,870 without all the traditional paths that we think of. 313 00:15:27,870 --> 00:15:33,420 So thank you for being so innovative and sharing with your 314 00:15:33,420 --> 00:15:35,580 expertise. It means a lot. 315 00:15:38,030 --> 00:15:41,090 Marlon Buchanan: I am happy to do so, that is exactly my goal is to make this 316 00:15:41,090 --> 00:15:42,410 stuff easier for people. 317 00:15:42,440 --> 00:15:47,240 Lisa Stockdale: All right, we will be sure to share your website when this 318 00:15:47,240 --> 00:15:52,340 podcast publishes parting thoughts or did we about cover 319 00:15:52,340 --> 00:15:52,700 it? 320 00:15:54,580 --> 00:15:58,270 Marlon Buchanan: Only that I have is don't don't be afraid to step through 321 00:15:58,270 --> 00:16:01,240 it. This is all stuff that's very important for everyone 322 00:16:01,690 --> 00:16:03,370 gets more important with the pandemic. 323 00:16:03,370 --> 00:16:05,050 It's more important with life as it's going. 324 00:16:05,050 --> 00:16:08,140 So my only parting thoughts are you can do it. 325 00:16:08,170 --> 00:16:08,950 Just give it a try 326 00:16:09,460 --> 00:16:12,070 Lisa Stockdale: That that's a good parting thought you can do it and you 327 00:16:12,070 --> 00:16:13,330 make a good point. 328 00:16:13,570 --> 00:16:17,560 Life is different since the pandemic, and it's probably 329 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,720 going to. We're probably changed forever on some levels. 330 00:16:21,730 --> 00:16:23,680 And so we have to acclimate. 331 00:16:23,730 --> 00:16:25,120 We have to be in the know. 332 00:16:25,120 --> 00:16:29,770 We can't be afraid and stand in the shadows because that's 333 00:16:29,770 --> 00:16:32,770 not how we get where we're going and where we're going is 334 00:16:32,770 --> 00:16:34,410 we're aging in full bloom. 335 00:16:34,420 --> 00:16:36,580 Thank you for being our guest today, listeners. 336 00:16:36,580 --> 00:16:38,260 We hope you enjoy the show. 337 00:16:38,290 --> 00:16:42,000 I'm sure you learned a little something along the way to 338 00:16:42,010 --> 00:16:44,230 next time. May the road rise to meet you. 339 00:16:44,260 --> 00:16:46,240 May the wind be forever at your back.