Here’s a link to the pool stuff:
Here’s one of my door open/closed pistons. Using a screen shot instead of the photo button so you can see the current variable value that sets the piston state, as well as the expression used to set it. I have the expression build split into several steps to make it easier to modify, but you could do it all in one too.
For the Office Occupied thing, it’s just a virtual switch that I turn on and off with a minimote or voice. We have a guest room and office that sometimes doubles as a guest room, I set them to occupied when someone is staying with us to disable or modify a handful of automations to deal with guests potentially being home when my wife or I are not.
Here’s another example:
