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.
Thanks to the magic of ChatGPT and Google Veo 3, I have created this silly video that I’m certain will never be a holiday cartoon classic. Still, my experience shows how easy it is today for anyone to generate usable AI video content. Here’s how I did it.
If I had a brother from another universe, and he somehow found a way to send me a fun holiday selfie video riffing on the famous poem, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, it might resemble an AI video creation exercise I just completed.
And the way I imagine it, my brother might look like this (thanks to Google Whisk).
And of course, he would also be interested in blogging about tech and gadgets.
Here’s how I brought my geeky fantasy to ‘life.’
ChatGPT Wrote the Lines To create a new poem for my brother to read, I put “A Visit from St. Nicholas” through ChatGPT and asked it to write new verses focusing on solving home tech problems. Almost instantly, I had several versions, which admittedly needed more work. So, I moved some lines around and polished it.
Google Whisk Generated the Environments Then, I got to work creating the scene locations for my brother.
Again, I used Google Whisk’s text-to-photo functionality to place him in different environments throughout the poem. As you’ll see, this plays like a cartoon, and I leaned increasingly into the absurd.
Ingredients to Video Once I had all my key-frame photos, I used them to guide the video scene creation process using Google Veo 3 and Adobe Firefly for Video.
The hardest part was maintaining the consistency of my brother’s voice. (Sometimes, the AI wanted to give my brother a deeper voice and a British accent.)
Here’s my finished creation, complete with its AI script, AI video generation, rough AI edges… and human-powered humor.
The Future has Arrived With more time and additional money (yes, AI video creation consumes lots of ‘credits’), I could have created a more ‘perfect’ version by regenerating certain scenes multiple times to get better results.
But that wasn’t my goal here (perhaps for my next AI video project). For the record, I spent about twenty bucks to generate the clips. And then, I did the video editing myself.
AI video creation for the masses is remarkable, but it’s still far from perfect. That said, just the idea that I can ‘easily’ create this silly bit of nonsense from my keyboard forces me to update my entire view on video production and the need the skill up. (Why do you think I gave myself this assignment?)
‘Twas the Night before Fun-day You may have noticed the reimagined poem in my video is shorter than the original. That’s because I didn’t feel the concept would hold together if the piece ran too long. (Remember, less is more.) So, I removed some of the lines.
If you’re interested in reading my entire tomfoolery, here it is. Enjoy!
Holiday Ode to Mr. Tech
‘Twas the night before Fun-day, when all through the house, Not a gadget was syncing – not even the mouse. The cables were laid with questionable care, In hopes that the Wi-Fi would reach everywhere.
The tablets were charging beside every bed, While buffering circles spun round in our heads. And I, bathed in blue light, lay still for the night, Dreading the thought there’d be no Wi-Fi tonight.
When out on the network there was such a clatter, A chime from my phone said that something’s the matter. Away from the bed I flew like a flash, Past blinking red lights and a network crash.
The glow from the router on new-fallen snow, Gave cold bluish shine to the yard down below. When what to my wondering eyes should appear, But a bright sleigh shape drawing steadily near.
With a happy driver, so steady and in check, I knew in a moment it must be Mr. Tech. More rapid than updates his drones now they came, He tapped and he typed and he called them by name.
“Now, PING! Now, PIXEL!Now, BUFFER and BEACON! On, COOKIE! On, CACHE! Let the signal awaken! Go, REBOOT! Go, RESET! Make connections robust! On, ROUTERand MODEM – Restore all our trust!”
To the top of the roof! To the peak – Hold it steady! No dropped connections, no dead zones – Nowwe are ready! Like data at full bars that zips through the air, They landed atop with precision and care.
Quick as a reboot, I heard a low tone, The soft little thump of each careful drone. As I held my breath there and turned round just so, Down the chimney came Mr. Tech with a glow.
He was dressed all in fleece from his head to his toe, With a tool kit of dongles and cords in a row. A satchel of gadgets hung low on his back, A tech on a call who’d prepared for attack.
His eyes – how they twinkled! His grin – calm and bright, Like someone who’s fixed this exact thing all night. He glanced at the modem, the router, the node, And nodded once softly – Yes, I know this code.
He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, And restarting each device, no need to smirk. He reset the router, adjusted the mesh, Labeled each cable with meticulous zest.
The tablets and laptops all hummed with new life, And no more spinning wheels, no buffering strife. He checked every signal, each access point near, Then gave me a nod that all problems were clear.
He sprang to his sleigh, to his drones gave a beep, And away they all flew, no glitch left to keep. But I heard him exclaim as he vanished from sight, “Happy Fun-day to all – And to all a strong Wi-Fi night!”
