I have a similar philosophy about home automation. Every few years I geek out and set up a bunch of crap and spend a bunch of money and waste a lot of time, and then it tends to fall apart fairly quickly and I repent of everything...

...except for the motion-activated lighting in our foyer and laundry room. $15, 15 minutes to install, no additional charges, no external services, no security issues, and just works year after year with 100% reliability.

"Any sufficiently advanced home automation is indistinguishable from a haunting."