I have a few small services I’ve been hosting on a Raspberry Pi 5 but ever since I saw a list of no JavaScript/CSS/HTML sites, I’ve been interested in hosting some simple pages just for myself. I’ll probably look into something that can create simple pages with markdown because it’s something simple that I’m already comfortable with.

I created my own script/tool using rsync to handle backups and transferring data.

My needs are quite smaller with just a computer and two Raspberry Pi’s but I found rsync to be really useful overall.

My backup strategy is to make a complete backup on the local device (Computer / RPi4 / RPi5) then copy all those backups to a Storage partition on my computer, then make a whole backup from the partition to an externally attached SSD.

The RPi’s both use docker/podman containers so I make sure any persistent data is in mounted directories. I usually stop all containers before performing a backup, especially things with databases.

Everything in the docker containers is either hit or miss when it comes to restoring. The simple docker images restore as it they were untouched and will launch like nothing happened. I have a PieFed instance that must be rebuilt after restoring a backup. Since PieFed’s persistent data is in mount points, everything works perfectly after a fresh build.

I can send a link to my rsync tool if that’s any interest to anyone. I’ve found it super useful for backups and minimizes so much headache for myself when it comes to transferring files between different network connected devices.

Aah, I just noticed that they were eating all the beans sprouting in my garden. I had some beans from last year that went moldy on the bottom of the container because I didn’t let them dry properly. I just threw a bunch of good ones into the garden and lawn randomly.

Also, I don’t remember buying 4 kilograms of clover seeds but I found them in a bin in my closet. I’ve randomly tossed those out into the lawn and garden to attract more pollinators in general.

I’ve also done the same with some native chickweed seeds too. I’m secretly at war with everyone’s silly, plain, green lawns.

I made a garden with a bunch of seeds I picked from a nearby hiking trail and the bunnies seem to really enjoy whatever is growing in there too. They at least have some variety.

I am able to walk around this one without it hopping away. I just have to give it a good 3 meters of space as well as not looking in it’s general direction as I move around.

I’ve been secretly spreading clover seeds and beans in certain areas of the lawn to keep the bunnies happy and coming back.

I have a computer and 3 devices I wanted to transfer files between but every available solution was either too awkward which made things annoying, or too bulky with more than what I needed.

I ended up writing a long script (around 1000 lines but I’m generous with spacing so I can read my own code easily) using rsync to deal with transferring files and whole directories with a single command. I can even chain together multiple rsync commands back to back so that I can quickly transfer multiple files or directories in one command. Instead of trying to refer to a wall of text full of rsync commands, I can make something like this:

alias rtPHONEmedia="doas rtransfer /home/dell-pc/.sync/phone/.sync-phone_02_playlists /home/dell-pc/.sync/phone/.sync-phone_03_arbeit /home/dell-pc/.sync/phone/.sync-phone_04_albums /home/dell-pc/.sync/phone/.sync-phone_05_soulseek /home/dell-pc/.sync/phone/.sync-phone_06_youtube"

This will copy everything from a specific folders on my phone, and store them neatly organized into my storage partition on my computer SSD. This also includes all the necessary information including SSH username, address and ID keys.

I can then run alias rtARCHIVEfull="doas rtransfer /home/dell-pc/.sync/computer/.sync-computer_01_archive-full" to quickly copy that storage partition on my computer to my external backup SSD.

I use it so often. It’s especially nice because I can work on a file on my computer and quickly update the file to the remote address location, putting it directly where I need it to be immediately.

Ah yeah, I’ve heard of Proxmox but have never looked into it. From my experiences, HA is quite flexible so some questions are never that simple. Still worth all the effort though :)

How do you have HA set up? For example I currently have a Raspberry Pi 4 and installed a HomeAssistant Docker image.

Since I’m not using HA addons, I’m free to use any Docker image that supports Raspberry Pi’s ARM architecture. I use a simple file server which is more than enough for my needs.

If you’re using an HA setup where that’s not possible, someone else may be able to suggest an HA addon that would fit your needs.

I pretty much just went crazy with the egg shells and added a bit more mulch to balance it out. My parents eat eggs every morning and just put them in an uncovered container to dry out.

I didn’t think to treat the egg shells but I will keep that in mind for the next time. All I really did was spend some time with my pestle and mortor in the sun and grind them down.

Over the last couple years, I just sort of threw all the trimmings back into the garden, especially the tomato plants. Then I just started throwing all my food scraps in there because why not. I’m sure all the bugs appreciate it and their poop is good for the plants too.

I also covered the garden bed with leaves last year to protect the soil, and when that breaks down it should add more nutrients to the soil too. Trying to copy what a forest does with their leaves for the winter.

The weather has slowly been warming up so the most I’ve been able to do is prep the gardens with compost and used mulch from the mushroom farm nearby.

I am trying to start my seeds with some compressed soil blocks I made. I used some backyard soil, compose, mulch and a bunch of crushed eggshells from my parents. I managed to get a couple peas and beans started with my first attempt before remaking the remainder to be less soil dense. We’ll see how it goes the second time around.

My collard green from last year survived this long winter. Happy to see it thriving.

I can’t wait for a stretch of warm weather. I’m too lazy to properly compost so I’ve been burying all the veggie scraps in my garden beds all winter and spring. I know once it’s warm it’ll break down real quick but for now it’s just kinda there…

It’s finally nice out. It’s been a long, cold, windy and rainy spring. Planted some seed starters for my garden, hopefuly I get to see some sprouts soon.

It was also such a nice day today that I went for a hike. Everything is getting so green now.

I took the opportunity in around 2016-2017 to live in Germany for a year on a work and travel visa. As the name implies, I was allowed to live and work in Germany as a way to support myself while I stay in Europe. I chose to stay in Berlin.

During the first couple weeks I went out with a couple people I met in my hostel. Went to a club that was this tiny, cramped little hole under a bridge called Golden Gate. First time being at a techno party ever. The vibe was so chill, the music was amazing and it was very obvious the people there were just for the music.

It felt so comfortable. I ended up going to so many different clubs and parties during my time there. Honestly one of the best years of my life and I’m grateful I had the opportunity to go.

I’m pretty autistic and loud noises really shut down the social part of my brain. I usually spend my time dancing and enjoying the music by myself in the crowd.

It must show because so many people come to dance by me, women especially. I never really say a word but the company is nice either way. Multiple times, women who were being bothered by guys would come dance by me so that the annoying guys will go away. Which is fine by me, even without saying a word, I can help people and it still feels good to me. I’m sure they appreciate it too because I assume they are there for the music too.

I tend to stick to smaller warehouse techno parties, they seem to keep out a lot of people who go to clubs to be showy rather than enjoying the music. I find the vibe to be overall more enjoyable.

I’m not too worried for my friend, she goes to parties and metal shows by herself all the time. I know she can handle herself. I think more than anything, she is just happy to have a safe person nearby.

This isn’t something unknown to me, I’ve helped so many other women that have come and gone in my life with creepy or manipulative men. It’s really nice when my friends show appreciation for me being there for them. I’d much rather spend my time being with them in the moment though.

Had a really nice weekend. Was going to a techno party with a friend but she also wanted to visit a friend for their birthday. So she invited me along to the birthday party before heading off to the party.

Everyone at the birthday party was super nice. It was very diverse group so I didn’t get overwhelmed by my autistic anxiety and was able to mix right in. Played a few games and had a really nice time.

After that we went to the techno party and had a really nice time, mostly anyways. There was a guy that was trying to get with her and not taking the hint that she is gay. Tried getting in between us by thinking I was competition. Physically placing himself between us or blocking her line of sight to me. I made an effort to stay near her and visible to her which she seemed to really appreciate. After she finally shook him off, she gave me a huge hug and a kiss on the cheek in appreciation. I even asked her if she wanted help next time but she seemed fine dealing with him herself. Just seemed happy I was there and able to tell that I saw what was happening and was acknowledging what she usually has to deal with.

Spent the morning and afternoon afterwards at her place chilling, talking and her showing me a bunch of stuff that she enjoyed sharing. We are so opposite of each other but are also so accepting of each other and our own flaws. Such a relaxed and easy going friendship and I’m so happy to have met her.

My aunt died just over a week ago and processing all the family weirdness has been a trip.

Getting super uncomfortable with the religious views on… Well everything. Even when it came to doing good deeds, it somehow ended up sounding like righteous bragging. All centered around themselves and not about the person who recently died. This big display of how good and helpful they are seems to really take away from the genuinely good deeds they are doing.

Or maybe I’m doing something wrong. Some of the more memorable good deeds I’ve done usually come with a bit heartbreak. Realizing how fortunate I am does not make me want to brag. Those memories stick for a long time too.

I’m thinking of going to a lot less family functions in the future.

Also, I’m finally at the point with my website where I can go promote it locally, the library said they’d be happy to put my poster up on the community board.

I got a bit delayed because I found out the hard way my backups weren’t complete. Fortunely I found this out on my computer and not my server. I also had an external backup so nothing important was lost, except some time. Also reworked all my backup scripts and thoroughly tested them. I feel a lot more confident about them now.

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I’ve finally figured out how to install frogcomposband in a docker container. It’s a fork of a game called Angband that’s played in a terminal window. Angband itself has a long history. Somewhere around 30 years if I remember correctly.

It’s setting is closer to lord of the rings but it has the insane complexity of a pen and paper, dungeons and dragons type game. A huge amount of races and classes to play and even the option to play an impressive amount of different monsters or enemies.

I think what I’m enjoying about it is that the graphics are just coloured numbers, letters and symbols. The playable character is just the @ symbol. It leaves room for the imagination to fill in the blanks which feels very calming.

When I was going through my Baldur’s Gate phase, I noticed my brain was in complete overdrive after playing a session. I think processing the crazy details in that game was too much for my brain.

Now when I shut off the game I’m not overwhelmed and I still get my role playing game fix. It’s nice.

I had the opportunity to live in Berlin for a year. I made friends with a group of Yemen students. All of these people had friends, family or relatives bombed to death. Over the course of 2 weeks, one person lost 3 relatives to the bombings…

These people were sent to Germany to study and be as far away as possible from the horrors at home. Away from friends, family, everyone.

I was told that after flying to somewhere near Yemen, it would have taken another 16 hours to travel by road to get home. Their parents refused them coming to visit because it was just too dangerous.

I don’t know how they managed to hold their shit together and carry on even as their families were getting bombed back home.

It broke my heart and I felt powerless to even attempt to comfort them. I’m sure they felt a sense of powerlessness that’s beyond anything I could understand at that time.

My parents were away in Flordia visiting some family while they still could so I had the house to myself. It was wonderful. No tv noises, no news, no political talk, no constant misunderstanding/misinterpreting each other. It was peaceful. They got back last Saturday so it’s back to the same old routine.

I also had a vasectomy while they were gone so it was nice to have some quiet time while I recovered. The pain is practically gone now and soon I’ll forget it even happened. Happy to have gotten it done. Feels like a lifelong weight had been lifted off my back.

The birds are starting to return. I can hear the mourning doves in the morning now. I’m looking forward to the return of our pigeon family that like to nest in our balcony planters. They’ve been returning for years now and we think the children have also started nesting in our other planters. Thankfully they are super chill around us so they usually just watch us when we are out on the balcony.

I had a nice weekend which was needed. Met up with a friend to go to a techno party. One guy who came and danced with us for a while called us cute. I’m guessing he saw us having a good time enjoying the music and talking to people and it seemed like he enjoyed our vibes. It was a super nice compliment for both of us though.

After the party my friend and I went back to her friend’s apartment to chill until the morning when I could catch a train back home. We talked and shared music while she sketched away. It was so chill and a nice way to unwind.

When she dropped me off at the station, she gave me a hug that felt a little extra, like there was a little appreciation behind it. I think she was happy to have someone who was able talk and laugh about some small mistakes which she was able to learn from throughout the night.

I treat her like a person just as I would with anyone else. It makes me feel good to have that affect on people. It also makes me a little sad that this type of treatment towards other people seems to be rare… It really takes far less energy to be accepting than it does to wake up angry and bitter at innocent people.

Other than that, I’m really growing tired and frustrated with technology dependence we are being cornered into using. Technology is a constant source of frustration and yet it feels like the majority have normalized the use of technology and headaches it comes with. It feels absurd and it’s exhausting.

I’m trying hard to enjoy the moments and people that bring me happiness but there are times where my mind wanders towards the future. It gets so hard to breath in those moments…

For the moment I’m not saying much specific about it. There’s no real big reason, it’s just sort of how I like to do things. My parents always joked that I’d come back married one day and not even mention it.

I can try to message you when I’m satisfied with the progress of it. Otherwise I’ll be around these posts in the future. After learning this much about networking, I’ll feel pretty relieved. I’ll be ready for the bigger and more important steps that come next.