Bob Rhodes and his wife's "other hobby (other than home automation)" is hot air ballooning. And ActiveHome has been an invaluable tool helping them along with this hobby. Here's what Bob told us.

"We normally fly in the hour or two right after sunrise or before sunset. We are usually getting up in the dark, or returning home in the dark." That's where ActiveHome comes in handy. Bob used ActiveHome to set up macros that would start around 4:30 in the morning for those "wakeup" trips, and another one for those "evening" trips.

The wakeup macro turns on the bedrooms lights, starts the coffee, turns on the hot water heater, and starts the heaters on the propane tanks during the cold seasons. Then Bob has to check the FAA weather site and make sure it's okay to be up there. Once he's out of bed, Bob takes his SlimFire Remote, aims it out his bedroom window, and turns on the lights in his trailer. Of course as Bob put it, "This is a condensed list."

Then once everything is loaded and the Rhodes are on their way to their launching site, ActiveHome turns off the lights, the coffee pot, the heaters, and shuts everything else down. And if they're doing an evening flight, then ActiveHome can start everything up and have the house ready for them when they arrive home.

"I can even have the hot water ready in our tub so that I can sooth my aching bones," Bob tells us. "That balloon is heavy loading into the trailer." But thanks to ActiveHome, most of Bob's work is done before he even walks in the door, and he can enjoy his hobbies completely unfettered.

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