A running list of the things I keep coming back to. Mostly a place to point at the stuff I’d otherwise repeat in conversation.
Mindset#
The principles I actually try to work and live by, with the receipts.
How I build#
Simplicity, not “simple.” Simplicity is expensive. It’s what’s left after you pick one way to do a thing and delete the rest. Every app in home-ops has the same shape for exactly this reason: uniformity beats cleverness, and clever is what pages you at 3am.
If it isn’t in git, it doesn’t exist. The cluster reconciles from a repo, the dotfiles from chezmoi, the host from Ignition. Nothing important lives only inside a running machine, because running machines are disposable.
Test before you trust. Infrastructure changes get exercised in a throwaway VM before they touch the real host, and Terraform gets a plan before an apply. I learned that one the expensive way.
The basics, elevated. 3D printing taught me the lesson I keep coming back to: the basics, done well, beat clever solutions almost every time. The printer is dead; the mindset stuck.
How I live#
Own the stack. Where I can run it myself, I do: FreshRSS instead of a feed service, Jellyfin instead of a streaming subscription, my own DNS. Renting is convenient right up until the terms change.
Privacy is the default. GrapheneOS on the phone, self-hosted services at home, nothing handed over just because it’s easier.
Repair before replace. The Framework is repairable by design, and the server is older hardware doing real work. Buy for years, not for now.
Write to think. I don’t write because I’ve got it figured out; I write to find out whether I do. Half of learning is explaining it, and this site is where that happens.
Blogs & people I read#
Pulled straight from my FreshRSS subscriptions.
Friends and fellow homelabbers
- Budiman JoJo - Kubernetes, Flux, and homelab notes.
- JJGadgets - home servers and rabbit holes.
- Mircea Anton - platform engineering and homelab.
- tyzbit.blog - infrastructure and self-hosting.
Money and the long game
- Frugal Professor - spending less, on purpose.
- Mr. Money Mustache - the original financial-independence rabbit hole.
Engineering
- Xe Iaso - systems, Go, TLS, and consistently good writing.
Hardware#
- Framework Laptop 13 - Ryzen 5 7640U, 30GB RAM, 2TB WD_BLACK SN770. Repairable, upgradeable, and easy to live with.
- MoErgo Go60 - split ergonomic keyboard. The single biggest typing upgrade I’ve made.
- Pebble Time 2 - e-paper smartwatch with always-on and real battery life, instead of another nightly charge.
Clothes#
- Merrell Jungle Mocs - slip-on, comfortable, and the pair I reach for by default. They’re awesome.
Warhammer 40,000#
- The painting backlog everyone warns you about. I’m in it.
- Orks are the correct faction. Red ones go faster, and the whole army runs on the Waaagh! - belief as a load-bearing material.
- Tau are just a bit too weeby for me.
- I inhale far too much Tamiya Extra Thin.
Kitchen & food#
- Food Wishes - Chef John.
- Budget Bytes - cheap, reliable recipes.
- Good Eats - Alton Brown; the show that taught me to actually understand cooking.