site updates – snand.org

latest projects..

snand is exploring meshtastic. end goal here is to integrate it into the Chamboard, no idea how yet but I’ll either get there, or figure out why it’s a terrible idea. either way, super fun tech to play with and cheap; I’m less than 20 bucks into the hobby right now and I have successfully connected to about 30 nodes so far. I highly encourage anyone to pick up something like a Heltec v3 and join me in the fun. no need for a case, you can print one (or I can print one for you), but a battery wouldn’t be a bad idea, I had one of these leftover from another project, worked perfectly and gives me about a day of runtime. so, first run out of the gate for off-grid communication has been a wild success. I might even build some devices for Many Point this year so our whole family can stay in touch even if cell signal sucks.

snand is also working on our backup platform. I previously build a lego housed Raspberry Pi backup server but it fell off the shelf and did what legos do. clearly I needed a better case, but then once I had it put back together, I found that for some reason I put ubuntu on it, which let’s face it, is completly unacceptable. really needs to be debian or raspbian, so I might as well formalize it as a project. let this be the formal introduction to snand’s newest project, theirhouse – named for TheOffice (since all my home infrastructure is Dunder Mifflin themed), warehouse was just too obvious and generic and theirhouse captures the spirit of the project. watch snand and/or the repo for project status, just starting it right now.

additional things going on:

basement continues – I’m getting close
job hunt continues – ditto*

all in all, things are going pretty well in the snand house right now; not perfect, but considering the world situation right now, we are pretty ok.

update- *job search has just taken off. I feel great.

our first comment spam

aw, seems like snand is finally taking off, we’re heating up in the charts, to the point where we are starting to get comment spam:

So, if you need a VIP hairstyle, you know where to go!

in the end, it turned out ok.

lit a fuse today (metaphorically), no idea what’s going to happen. something needs to blow up though.

all that aside, I made a decision this weekend. I’m both feet in on my kids scout troop, it’s been so amazing for my boys, thanks to this fantastic troop we stumbled across years ago. I had a rough scouting career as a kid, something not uncommon with the troop I came from. this one though, it’s everything that my troop wasn’t, plus a whole lot more.

I honestly cannot thank our troop leaders enough. and so, to start to try, I have recently signed on as an ASM. I’ve been involved and helping here and there, but this is now official. I’m once again officially part of the scouts, an Assistant Scoutmaster. I’ve got a ton to learn but I can’t wait to do it. there’s 61 (soon 67 and growing) kids I get to help become the awesome people they are.

I hope this site evolves in that direction. much better content than my political hopelessness.

before I go, I want to reflect on a moment of joy I had tonight. after the scout meeting, my dorky son has his laces untied, so I was of course stepping on them. he tried to run away but I was able to sick one of his friends on him to chase him through the church lot, trying his best to trip the kid. I was laughing one of those laughs that is so genuine and full that it made the muscles in my head hurt.

I needed it. No matter what happens when that thing blows, today ended just how a dad’s night should end. I’m feeling great.

happy thanksgiving

there’s a lot I’m thankful for still, less than usual but I do get to see some family today, and head up north for a small break, and I just started a new job that at least feels familiar and is going well. I’m also grateful that I’m able to continue my projects and work. on that note, here’s the current positive update:

gave into black friday and ordered some stuff (I mean, I was able to do it before the hellday and entirely online because I refuse to partake in the retail horrors otherwise).

replacement doorbell – new video doorbell, no subscription necessary (stupid ring)
tv mount – telescoping, adjustable angle mount for basement
mom board – raspberry pi and e-paper screen components for a momboard type project (only much cheaper and simpler since yours truly is setting it up)
new office gadgets – replacement bluetooth speaker (lost my “work” one in the flood), a cheap docking station (I hate plugging dozens of cables in and out)

I also managed to find an old iPad and setup my office christmas decoration (playing Christmas Vacation on repeat for the entire month of December). I also discovered my work laptop has some bad ports so a brand new one has been ordered (new job, new computer and they are worried about the coming tariffs so are slightly more willing to replace hardware right now). this morning I spent a little more time in the basement, chiseling off the junk the builders left adhered to the floor (I don’t want bumps telegraphing to the surface with the new floor). finally my snand project is taking shape, and with the learning I have been putting into it for my new job, I’m getting pretty close to an official release.

so, much going on, things going in the right direction (for me and this family anyway). lots to be thankful for.

check it out…

figured I needed a professional profile on the tubes: https://www.gradyp.com/

honestly, came out exactly as I pictured and is crammed full of easter eggs. more to come for sure but a weekend of work well spent.

update- been hard at work on it today, nearly done, it looks like I want it, It’s as modular as I want it, now it just needs content. I did add some old videos from my career, I’ll dig around and find old photos next. added some tooltip functionality so I could add some context but keep the layout clean. should work well for my plans, which is just a static site to host my professional artifacts. honestly, I’m really proud of how this turned out, it came out exactly as I envisioned.

I do not want do this as a job, that’s not at all the point, but I guess I do need a professional profile out there since I am supposed to be one. If I am hosting a resume in public, I need to at least look the part.

new site vacation compatible workflow

someday snand may become modern, but then again, this garbage is supposed to be as simple as possible. I’ve got my professional side, gradyp.com up and running via GitHub pages though. I’ve plumbed my backend so that I can build and update this site all via markdown and since GitHub pages automatically builds when I push to the repo, I can essentially live edit the site in obsidian and it’s pushed within a couple minutes.

it’s not going to be snand, it’s my professional profile. I just feel like I’ve been at my current gig long enough that I need to get my profile back in order. May as well polish up the resume while I’m at it.

nothing there yet but been fun getting it going.

weekend project.

I’m trying to focus my efforts a bit, so I’m going to make a plan. I want to get a start on rebuiling my snan, I am not going to set a goal to finish it, but I think I can at least figure out the plan. secondly, snand needs a new landing zone. I used to keep webster alive, my little docker desktop VDI, but truth be told, I probably only need a SSH connection. I’ve abandoned portainer in favor of lazydocker, gotten snand fully scriped for installs and updates, really I don’t need anything but a CLI for maintenance occasionally.

wonder if I can do that through cloudflare? if not, I suppose I could just do soemthing with my router, I mean it is my VPN endpoint which is how I connect now. Still, would be nice to have an open, secure portal to do maintenance from anywhere.

so, those are my goals. make a plan for the snan, and figure out and bring up an SSH host, securely.

monday the wardrobe comes so I can keep going on the basement. I may also add to the list, last coat of paint in the excersise room, and put up the corner wood shelf.

ok, so these are my goals:

make a plan for the snan
POC a secure SSH host
finish painting workout room
install custom wood shelf in workout room

this is my blog, so I can write stream of conciousness like this. deal.

I’m asking for trouble.

but comments are open, you don’t have to login anymore. I mean, I’d like you to, but you don’t have to. I will be moderating though.

update- might as well make this an official launch. ladies and gentlemen, welcome to snand 1.0. I am officially calling this my first release. it’s a pile of crap, but it’s absolutely built and is maintained by what you see in this repo.

probably time to update the version and so forth, maybe start taking my commits a little more seriously. this is an absolute work in progress so version 1 will likely be here for quite some time, but I think it’s time I take this out of beta.

the snand has landed..

speaking of never finishing projects, my lazy bum decided to get some stuff done today. I was going to wait for a full migration of immich but truth is, it’s to where I’d like it to be, I can take a backup of the existing site and archive it away. so, I cut over to the new site. immich.snand.org is officially live in it’s new tiny home along with this here site.

I’ve also made some progress on the basement. we put the first coat on the exercise room, it’s a perfectly named pink for a workout rooom: “secret scent”. won’t be a secret much longer. honestly though, I love it, exactly what I was hoping. maybe a little more vibrant that I’d hoped but I feel like it’s going to compliment the blue in the rest of the basement. hopefully will look like a warm white (which was the point).

in addition I’ve got the rest of the drywall up so I’m ready to do the feature wall, and I’m probably 1/3 of the way through the other feature wall print. I also bought the lumber for the shelf in the workout room, ordered a big wardrobe for the back and figured out the plan for the desk.

been a productive one. saving some electricity now too.

this is why I never finish projects

I’m sure everyone is sick of the WordPress vs. WPEngine drama but as this ‘project’ is based on open source, I feel like I need to be prepared. WordPress isn’t ubiquitous because it’s so awesome, it is because it’s just default. the world wants to move on from PHP it seems.

I don’t personally care, I don’t even personally care about the framework, the only reason I use it is to avoid working directly in HTML. that said, with the drama I am considering a move to either Ghost or Hugo. admittedly, I’m drawn to hugo since it’s static, secure and driven by markdown, pretty much taylor made for snand.

I’ll be playing around for a while, but guessing by Christmastime I might be ready to migrate. let’s see how this POC I’m about to setup works. wish me luck and keep your eye on this site for updates. I’ll have the POC up shortly.

update- what is wrong with me? I’m mid-migration. snand is nearly re-homed to the new smallbox, and here I am looking for more ways to completely refactor the project once again. dude, finish migrating immich, shut down the old host, clean up the snan (rebuild actually, why does it have a desktop interface for crying out loud?), finish the basement and then refactor this project. there is no rush, this is all at my leisure.

consider my consideration considered. nope, ain’t moving right now. I’ve got plenty to do with this ‘project’ and I can always plug a new framework in later if I need to. for now I’ll stick with the insecure, outdated mess that is wordpress (I kid because I love).

ok, sanity has prevailed. I’m nearly there with the migration, that will feel good to check off the list.