Hi Everyone!
So I’ve made a few posts already, but I haven’t officially introduced myself. So I figure I’ll give this a whirl.
A few basic stats about me: I’m 28 years old, live in northern virginia, am originally from southern georgia. I am a US Navy Veteran, severed 5 1/2 years in the Navy as an IT, have worked with the State Department and GSA both as IT’s. Personally I’m all into gadgets and gizmos and home automation.
However, I, like most folks, am not overflowing with money, so my budget is small. So my goal for the last year or so has been to make the most efficient smart home for the cheapest prices. So I don’t use Smart Things exclusively and prefer to use products that are free or cost little. So I’ve been using IFTTT, Eventghost, Jarvis (ai-dot.net), philips hue lights, and now smart things to make things work for me.
I’ve got pretty big dreams for what I want out of a smarthome, so I’m just building it bit by bit until I get to where I want to be with it. In the next five years I’m looking at a high end fully decked out smart home capable of high end security functionality, each room segregated to allow for individual and private communication and control as well as global (house) communication and control, and fully automatic bathroom capable of pre-heating a shower or bath at a specific time, allowing for a digital mirror with readouts of physical stats for the individual person standing on a metallic tiled floor, and from there managing weight loss or gain by personalizing meal plans and work out routines for each individual, additionally ordering the specified foods in those meal plans online automatically and having them shipped to our door.
That’s a lot already, and I’ve just scratched the surface. There’s a lot more I’d like to do, but what interests me the most is having a fully automated communication system throughout the house that allows me to communicate with Jarvis (my house) both when inside or outside. Outside, I’d like jarvis to tie in with google and life360 to provide accurate mobile tracking while also notifying me of local emergencies and crimes. I’m not sure if I want to use Google Glass yet or not, probably not, but this could be used to enhance this feature.
Anyways, it’s nice to meet everyone! And I hope some of the ideas I bring to the table aren’t too far out in left field for you. And I would LOVE to see what ideas you have as well!!! 
-Eric