Being at a bit of a loss where to go next with my Home Lab I am looking around for inspiration. It struck me that maybe I need other people with which to exchange ideas and skills so that I can up my game and move on to the next level. Having just read a brief article about the popularity of hacker spaces, maker spaces and men’s sheds I though it sounded a promising avenue.
Having resumed my interest in mucking about with computers I have built up quite a nice home lab. There is: one full size PC with Linux Mint which is my main day-to-day workhorse another full size PC which is quite old and slow but a useful box for experimenting with 3 Raspberry Pi 4Bs 4MB which are the headless servers for various software such as Pi-Hole, Dokuwiki, Silverbullet, WireGuard, FireFly3 etc.
As expected storm Gerrit hit just as we were leaving. We said our goodbyes, paid the bill and set off. Although the weather was appalling most drivers were being sensibly and we made good progress for the first couple of hours. However, at Dorchester we joined a queue of traffic that lasted nearly all the way home. A journey that normally takes just under 4 hours took five and a half hours.
Overnight the weather has calmed down a bit and it is no longer drizzling so now we can see the other side of the bay. Getting a more substantial walk today seems a real possibility; we’ll see what it’s like after breakfast. The weather here on the Cornish Peninsula can change very quickly. The forecast is looking good until about mid afternoon with light winds and some sunny intervals, then it’s back to grey skies and heavy rain, but lighter winds than we have been having.
Still suffering from the previous night’s overindulgence we struggled to get up and out, but the dog has to be serviced. He is really good and has never let us down; but we don’t want to push it. He is being treated for an illness that makes him always feel hungry and thirsty. Within reason we can control his eating, but not his drinking, so he does drink a lot. As a consequence we need to ensure he can frequently go for a pee.
More relaxing day today. Lovely breakfast followed by a bracing walk along the coast. Not so bad with the wind behind, but walking into the wind was quite unpleasant because of the drizzle — dog enjoyed it though. Skipped lunch as we knew there would be a big evening meal, just had a cup of tea and biscuit. Spent the afternoon snoozing, reading, watching the surf and writing up this blog.
Having read of potential “travel chaos” on the roads we decided to set off in plenty of time for the four hour drive. The weather forecast was dry, average temperature but very windy. In the end the journey was uneventful, more traffic than usual but there were no delays and everyone seemed to be behaving themselves. Rather stupidly, due to a miscalculation, I drove for over three hours before taking a break at Lanhydrock, a National Trust property near Plymouth, where we were able to exercise dog and have a sandwich and drink.
For almost the first time since we were married (39 years ago) we are spending Xmas away from home and family. We have no surviving parents, so now the children have left home, (even in their 30s we still call them our ‘children’), we thought it would be nice to do something different on our own for a change. I remember when our parents were still around it could be fraught with controversy deciding where to go, or who to invite over the Xmas holiday.
About 2 years ago I decided I needed to do something to increase my cardiovascular health. It’s not as if I am a couch potato, I walked the dog every day, come rain or shine, for anything from 5k to 11k, on average about 8k, but was beginning to feel that my stamina was challenged. I read up on the NHS web site about exercise and found some Strength & Flexibility Exercises with a podcast that I thought would be a gentle introduction to a more formal exercise regime.
All my immediate family do regular exercises. My son has been going to the gym for many years; before he married he was a bit of an exercise addict, particularly weight lifting. He developed a huge amount of muscle which in my view looked rather uncomfortable. Fortunately he got over that period and now enjoys going to the gym just to keep fit. My daughter has always been sensitive to her weight and body shape.
It’s that time of year when the SAD kicks in and everything seems to go wrong. The months October to March seem interminable and I wish I could just hibernate. It’s a particularly difficult time at the moment because both my wife and dog are ill. The dog’s problem is self inflicted. We think that while we were out in the forest he found a rotten deer carcass that he took upon himself to devour.
I first began blogging many years ago with Google, but gave up and deleted my account when Google turned from “do no evil” to being very evil – by stealing my personal data. I vowed never to blog again until I could host the site myself. I realise this is not really going to stop data theft as all the greedy tech. corporations will still hoover it up as they attempt to feed their advertising algorithms and LLMs.