At Home with Tech

Unlock the power of all your technology and learn how to master your photography, computers and smartphone.
June 28, 2026

How Clouds Transformed My Boring Sunrise Timelapses into Pure Magic

Watching any sunrise is a meaningful experience, but I’ve learned that recording a timelapse video during a cloudless dawn doesn’t generate enough action.  Clouds have to be in the shot for the timelapse to feature their secret dance. Here are a few examples.

I’ve effectively stopped taking photos and videos of sunrises. Why? Because every close-up shot of the early sun is the same.

Instead, I now focus on showing how the environment reflects or responds to first light. So that requires a wider angle shot where the sun isn’t necessarily center stage.

That creative approach is much more interesting to me.

The Dance of the Clouds

Often, the key ingredient is how the clouds are positioned and move throughout a sunrise. Their sped-up motion becomes the anchor for the entire scene.

Cloud support is always part of any successful sunrise timelapse video I record. 

But there are many variables… How much cloud cover is there? How fast are they moving? In which direction? What are their colors?The permutations are endless. 

Waking up at 4:30am on Vacation?

Which is why I always choose to set up my tripod for a summer sunrise timelapse whenever I’m on vacation in Cape Porpoise, Maine. (This is not a ‘once and done’ creative exercise.)

The place we stay offers a spectacular view over the mudflats near the ocean. So, if the weather forecast looks good for the next day, I set my wakeup alarm for 4:30am.

Yes, it may be counter intuitive to get up wicked early on a vacation morning. But that’s what it takes to capture the amazing colors in the sky before the sun shows up at 5am. And let me tell you… it’s worth it.

My DJI Osmo Glows with the Sun

I’ve been using my little DJI Osmo gimbal camera for my ongoing sunrise project over the past five summers, and I’ve found that each of my sunrise timelapses looks entirely unique. That’s because every morning brings a different cloud formation.

Of course, you can’t have total cloud cover. Alternately, you need some clouds in place. Otherwise, you’ll just have that little glowing ball moving slowly in an empty blue sky.

Nature Calls the Shots

I run my sunrise timelapses for an hour, auto-snapping frames at 3-second increments. That generates a 40-second video. 

A lot can happen in the sky across an hour. So, what you start with may evolve into something entirely different that can make or break your results. But there’s nothing you can do… other than observe.

Nature is in control.

Which means you’re not going to get what you hope for every morning. But I’m pleased to report that I had some success this summer in Maine. And I have a new crop of Cape Porpoise mudflat sunrise timelapses to share with you. Here are the highlights.

Start Your Day

My ‘skill’ in capturing these stunning moments is mostly just about being able to stumble out of bed and show up on time to witness nature present its magical morning show. 

And if the clouds should decide on a ‘pleasing’ sequence for a timelapse, you’re in for a treat.

What better way to start your day.

Leave a comment
June 21, 2026

The Art of Managing Your Shared Work Calendar

Maintaining control of your calendar at work can be harder than you’d think. If you’re looking for ways to help reduce friction in your schedule, here are my suggestions.

Part of an occasional series about solving technology challenges in the workplace *

Does your job involve lots of meetings? Does your daily schedule get regularly consumed by meeting invites? Do you find this interfering with the rest of your work? If so, then it’s time to take a more proactive approach to managing your shared work calendar.

This is something of an art that each of us must ultimately curate for ourselves. And no matter where you are in your career, it requires ongoing attention and perhaps a few reminders. 

So, here are my best practices. 

Block ‘Focus Time’ for Your Own Work

Everyone usually has a plan regarding what they need to accomplish on a given day or week. But if you leave your calendar wide open, you may find a deluge of meeting invites redirecting your focus away from immediate priorities.

That’s why blocking time for yourself in your shared calendar is critical to maintaining the right balance in how you spend your time.

This is about actively architecting your day to optimize your own output instead of passively responding to a myriad ofother tidal forces that can drain your effectiveness.

Make Yourself Available Too

But if the nature of your job requires ongoing collaboration, then you also need to make yourself sufficiently available for these other meetings. Blocking off too much time can isolate you and frustrate others.

As in many other parts of life, this comes down to finding the right balance. So, it’s important to leave enough availability on your calendar for your colleagues to utilize. 

How much time should you leave open? Well, only you can determine that. You’ll quickly discover if it’s not the right amount. Otherwise, you may find colleagues double booking your schedule. 

Don’t Get Double Booked

If these double bookings conflict with your own ‘focus time,’ well, that’s easy enough to manage.

But what if they conflict with other important meetings? Well, of course you can’t attend two meetings simultaneously. 

So now, you’ve got to figure out how to repair your schedule.

Pro Scheduling Tips

Here are a few more scheduling tips to help optimize your work calendar.

  • Choose the Best Times for Your Own Meetings
    All time slots throughout a day are not created equal. If you’ve got your own meetings to schedule, it’s important to pick the times that work best for you. (Everyone has a sense when they’re most effective during the day.)
  • Avoid Scheduling Meetings at the End of the Day
    If you can help it, try not to take that very last slot. Sure, it might be the only time that everyone has open. But no one will appreciate this. I recommend you wait a day to find a better option. Everyone will be in better spirits, and that alone can drive a meeting’s success.
  • Don’t Miss Lunch!
    If you’re not careful, you can easily find yourself without time to grab a bite to eat. So scheduling time for your own lunch is critical. There’s nothing worse than a mid-afternoon meeting on an empty stomach.

Playing Both Defense and Offense

Yes, you’ve got to protect your calendar for your own priorities. But if work is a team sport, you’ll always want to actively engage with others and satisfy group requirements. So, your success also flows through all those other meetings.

When you reduce friction in your schedule, then you can focus on doing your best work.Said another way, the more you can successfully manage the ‘when,’ the easier it will be to accomplish the ‘what.’

* Related topics I’ve written about:
Working from Home Sounds Great Until You Notice What’s Missing
5 Ways to Ease the Pain of Returning to the Office 5 Days a Week
How to Master your Zoom Meetings to Increase your Impact at Work
Don’t Miss this Important Part of an Effective Work Email

Leave a comment
June 14, 2026

Honoring Fatherly Efforts

Fathers often work hard to keep it together. And sometimes that includes managing a myriad of tech to make the home run smoothly. Here’s my ode to honor that endless journey.

Gifts are cool. But I don’t really need a present on Father’s Day. Simply spending time with my family is all that I want. Though it would be nice if all my tech behaved too. Then I could really kick back, if just for the one day.

Perhaps the real present I crave is the gift of a smoothly operating home ‘system.’ All status lights glowing green. But 24 hours for that kind of tech Zen is hardly enough. 

The good news is my tech reality at home is not so dire. My little kingdom operates well enough. But there’s always something to do. Technology is rarely a set it and forget it proposition.

As I consider all this, I think I may be blurring the meaning of Father’s Day to include the larger ecosystem of my tech accessories and digital minions. Do I somehow want them to honor my fatherly efforts as well?

Of course, that’s not how it works, at least not yet.

But this larger topic has inspired me to create another… poem. *

Buckle up. (This one’s really silly.)

Smart for One Day

I rule my domain like a Wi-Fi crazed king,
I monitor, update, and manage each thing,
The sprinklers, the HVAC, the hot water too,
If it beeps, then it answers to you-know-who.

The router is moody? The system is slow?
The bandwidth gets tight. Where did all of it go?
My son streams in 4K. My wife on a call,
And now it’s my job to untangle it all.

I just want one morning where nothing has crashed,
Where no pings or notifications have flashed,
Where the AC runs coolly like it should do,
And sprinklers don’t ambush me out of the blue.

I want my warp engines to purr without fail,
I want all my updates to roll out and sail.
I want my smart home to be smart for one day,
Without rebooting in a glitchy display.

Just gather the family and let the day flow.
And bask in the warmth of the people I know.
Just my wife and son and a house running right,
And maybe some cake to enjoy with delight.

A fork with chocolate cake is all I need,
A generous slice is a glorious deed,
And maybe my son tells a joke that’s so bad,
It makes it the greatest day ever for Dad.

So here is my wish, and it isn’t that tall,
One day where my tech doesn’t fumble and fall,
Where we laugh and slow down and revel in this,
The geekiest, sweetest of Father’s Day bliss.

* More At Home with Tech poetry:
My Ode to the Fading Winter
I Made this “Holiday Ode to Mr. Tech” Video Using AI
Ode to the Distant Tracks at Grand Central Terminal
Ode to the IT Guy on Father’s Day

Leave a comment