In the self-hosting world, we talk a lot about "owning your data." What we don’t talk about is the actual, crushing weight of that ownership. I have the scars to prove it. In previous projects, I’ve watched databases swell to 100+ million rows because I used
I’ve always said that I’m an "accidental" engineer. I build The Hangout Spot because I want the friction removed from my social life, and I self-host it on a $15 VPS because I want to own my data. But this week, I learned that owning your
💡Update (March 23, 2026): Since I first drafted this, The Hangout Spot has grown from a 30-person beta to over 100 active users. While the architecture below was my "Day 7" reality, I've implemented clever new tricks (which I'll be sharing in my next
By day, I’m a Marketing Director for an e-com brand. My life is ruled by calendars, KPIs, project management tools, and rigid organization. I have to be "on" all the time. Because I spend 40+ hours a week being hyper-organized, I am famously terrible at planning my
In my last post, I introduced the "why" behind this blog and the new server I built to dive headfirst into the world of AI. Today, it's time to get our hands dirty. I want to show you how I turned a bare Ubuntu container into
It all started with a Raspberry Pi and a classic Nintendo 64 game. I recently turned a Pi 4 into a retro gaming emulator, and with my marketing team heading into our busy season, I thought it would be the perfect tool for some fun, low-stress team building. The idea
If you want to pinpoint the exact moment my tech journey began, you’d have to ask my parents. They have a Polaroid of me, age three, standing on my tippy toes to press the power button on our family computer. Apparently, I was so obsessed with playing games on