I worked at a truck wash. I would wash tractor trailers with a power washer, scrub the the tractors with a regular old wash mitt for a car and wash trailers with a brush of similar size as at a coin op car wash except with a handle l long enough to reach the top of the trailer while standing on the ground.

A group of 5 people would wash an entire truck in 15 to 20 minutes. My shift during school started on a Friday at around 5pm and would run till 11pm but usually ended up being midnight. Saturday was 3 till 11pm but again we were generally working till midnight and Sunday varried but we stopped accepting new trucks at 4pm. During the summer my shift started at 3pm and could run till 3am even though we closed at 11pm. There were many times we had 10 trucks in line at 11pm with two trucks in the wash bays during the summer and were turning new trucks away and leaving a couple parked till the morning to get washed.

During slower times we would take in degreaser jobs where we would use a pressure steamer to remove the grease from the entire truck so it could go in for some major work and the mechanic shop workers didn’t have to clean it off of deal with it. Degreasing trucks sucks…

Same…

Yeah, JMD is about 100:1 so it was actually really easy. I took a picture with 20,000 in Jamaica and sent that back to some people I knew. Made it look impressive but in reality only about 200 bucks.

VM ≠ Docker

Well on my last trip I was using 500’s for most purchases. I felt like a rich man. However I was an American in Mexico using local currency. I had quite a few US 100’s when I got there that was used to pay for my diving and lodging.

When I was in Jamaica it was mostly 1000’s.

In the US it’s usually 20’s when I have cash because that is what the ATM’s around here tend to give.

Most battery backups use off the shelf batteries with a sticker over the original information. Look up the battery and find a compatible replacement. If you can’t find the model number on the battery look at the specs for the battery and cross reference it that way. There are tons of different places that sell the batteries so just start searching.

Also most LFP batteries that match the original leaf acid batteries in size and voltage will not be able to output enough power unless the loading is light. To handle a full load on something similar to a 1500 va ups you need about 80 amps of available power most lfp batteries you get that will fit in a ups are rated at 1c so a 10ah battery can only supply 10 amps of power. That will require a custom battery build that will also need a bms and likely require a modification to the ups to be used and likely will not fit inside the case.

Domain about 10 per year (I pay for multiple years at a time), internet 55 per month with a static IP address

Beyond that I have a vpn that I use but was an early adopter so I have a lifetime subscription which cost me like a hundred bucks so call that 10 per year and getting less as time goes by, I have three other domain names not related to my homelab and webhosting also not related to my homelab. But by the time next year I should no longer be paying for any hosting. I bought a lifetime plexpass when it was like 125. Beyond that the costs are hardware and electricity and I just put an Enphase System Controller 3 and an IQ Combiner 5 on the house with 7.2kw of panels going on over the next few months and a couple IQ Battery 5P’s so my power use for my homelab is basically covered.

I was 18 and ended up on a DUI case. The defense attorney during selection asked if anyone had never drank before. Naturally since I was not of legal age yet I raised my hand and was soon removed from the jury. I wasted most of my work day plus the fuel to get there and got nothing for it.

My second jury summons was for an entire month of potential service. My wife had multiple doctor appointments per week that she would be unable to get to without me so I filed paperwork with the court and was released from duty.

You keep moving…

https://dailygalaxy.com/2026/05/albert-einstein-bicycle-quote-meaning/

Believe me, been there. I have dealt with depression for nearly as long as I can remember. I was always an outcast in school. I had family who were toxic, abusive, and downright nasty pieces of work. When my son died at 9 days old in 2002 I struggled to do anything and was nearly 400 pounds. Then I became a widower in 2019 when my wife died, I was heartbroken and while I was alive I wasn’t living.

You have to find something to do, you have to get out and make a friend, you have to do anything you can to stop staring at the four walls around you. Exercise helps a lot, go for a walk in a park or ride a bike around town. Also set a schedule and stick to it, plan for 15 or 20 minutes of exercise, get up at the same time every day, go to bed at the same time too. Learn to cook it you don’t already know how and cook most of your meals. Dump the junk food, BTW pre made packaged food is junk food and so is fast food. Get in the shower every day, brush your teeth too. Go to the library and read a book. Learn a new skill. Talk to a stranger. Go help someone else just to do it. Pick up some trash on the side of the road. Do something… ANYTHING… different than you normally do. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results is a simple definition of insanity.

You also can’t rely on someone else to make you happy. You have to do that for yourself. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/wander-woman/202505/5-ways-to-discover-and-deepen-what-makes-you-happy

Tried Jellyfin. It puked when it saw my library.

I bought plex lifetime years ago when it was like 125.

I still hate the new plex app ui on roku. It’s clunky and sucks. The alternative is to break my library in sections and hope something else will maybe work.

I honestly would prefer library silence or less. Earplugs cause other issues for me so they are not an option, I have tried. I also prefer almost complete darkness.

I’m honestly looking to build a float tank to use for times when I am really struggling to sleep. When I scuba dive the only reason why I don’t try to take a nap is the risk of losing my regulator or running out of air.

My garden is about 10ft by 12ft. I grow two varieties of tomatoes on a total of four plants, two varieties of cucumber on a total of fourteen vines, two varieties of zucchini on a total of four plants, two varieties of winter squash on a total of fourteen plants, and I have seven small watermelon vines plus seven cantaloupe vines.

Attention and work to make it happen can depend on a lot of things. I am able to grow so much because I am using as much vertical space as possible. I have six large fence posts supporting two five foot by eight foot heavy wire panels that support my tomatoes and watermelon plus cantaloupe. I have two lighter gauge panels that are four foot by eight foot bent into an “A” shape to support my cucumbers and winter squash. I have some cheap tomato cages to support my zucchini. The ground has been covered with cardboard where all plastic tape and labels have been removed and it’s just the cheap brown stuff without printing. It was a full day worth of work to put everything in but the end result is relatively cheap fresh food and if you continue using the materials and replant seeds you save the cost goes down every year.

For watering I’m using a misting system that sprays water directly onto the planting areas that is controlled with a zigbee hose valve which is controlled by HomeAssistant. I had a couple soil moisture sensors but even though they said they were outdoor rated they all died… so for now I have to manually chose when to turn it on or off.

You will still have to worry about pests but diatomaceous earth (the super fine stuff) helps keep a lot of them at bay along with neem oil plus some dish soap in a sprayer. But you have to reapply after a storm and look for them every couple days.

Remember that your garden will be dependant on your local conditions. And you need to get started ASAP to maximize your growing season, a seed packet will show the minimum days to harvest but you will get food to grow on many plants for a few months. If you buy plants that are already started your time to harvest will be shorter than from seed unless you are able to eat the sprouts but you are not going to get food next week. The caveat is that plants cost more and will often be root bound so you need to get the roots freed up so they can grow.

It’s also worth getting a soil test done because some things need more potassium and phosphorus to produce food. And you may want to add a little fertilizer part way through the season.

Well. Let’s see…

My local community is dealing with a 150MW BESS facility that is scheduled to be built over the next 18 months so I’m trying to educate my other half on that so she can inject a little stability into the current group of doom and gloom. We have a ton of windpower nearby and a data center being built about 20 miles away with a few other BESS’ being built within about 40 miles.

I’m in the process of prepping the install of a new meter base, Enphase System Controller 3, Enphase IQ5 Combiner, and all the wiring for the system to function properly. I did some initial work last week to rebuild and insulate the exterior wall which has gained about 6 inches of thickness and is now insulated to R29. Hopefully on the 20th I can get the next portion done and everything finished for solar panel and battery installation.

I’m also working on a little project that will kind of recreate and reimagine one of the little slow MMO browser games. There was one I used to play called Aargh that was basically a big square map you could move around on and do little things or send messages to people. My version will have visuals for people using IPFS and more plain for regular users, and run almost completely using free Cloudflare services outside of IPFS assets. They are called slow MMO’s because you have a limited number of movement actions per day and you can not bank actions for later use. I’m still in the preliminary planning stage but I’m looking at two environments, one with actions that can move large distances around the map and another environment that is more limited and has a debuff which will prevent more actions if you do something wrong. It may never work and I doubt it will be popular but I think it will be interesting to try and build.

It makes it much easier to use and if you only use a little bit at a time it keeps you from tossing out pieces that have spoiled. If you use a micro plane just gently work the ginger back and forth, don’t press hard and you can get as much or as little as you like.

Find an Asian market. Go to their international isle. Look for grace brand or wildwood brand.

The issue is that it’s nearly impossible to get scotch bonnet peppers and habanero are not the same.

Also authentic jerk is smoked over pimento wood (pimento is what they call the allspice berries) so even having everything else authentic doesn’t guarantee it’s going to taste the same.

If you insist on doing your own https://jamaicacafe.org/jerk-chicken/ is pretty much it. And use real fresh ginger, not the pre mushed paste in a tube (if you get a micro plane and freeze the ginger you can quickly grate what you need) and it must be scotch bonnet peppers.

My late wife was from Jamaica.

Also try the Saturday chicken soup https://originalflava.com/soups-and-stews/chicken-saturday-soup/ get some packets of pumpkin soup and use that powder instead of the chicken soup they suggest and use knorr bullion powder for the broth.

I have one question. Are you using an of the shelf router or something like OpnSense?

If the answer is no then you have found a good place to get started. As you begin to self host you will need to look at securing your new toys.

You will gain a ton over a consumer router. They are often just powerful enough to get the job done today. They rarely get updated and if the product is end of life you can only hope a project has picked it up or replace it with similar risks. Building your own you can shoot the specs to a point where you have room to run other features and last a long time. You can run something like CrowdSec, multiple vLan’s, time server, DNS servers with multiple upstream servers and ad blocking similar to piHole, Caddy, ACME client, captive portal for guest networks, Intrusion Detection, and a lot more.

Then you will not only have some understanding of the function and use while you expand your self hosting journey to all those fun services you will also have the flexibility to secure your network when you begin to integrate those things into your home and life.

I’m running my own router using OpnSense, server running TrueNAS, smart home with HomeAssistant and fairly complex network of devices. I have a 10Gbps fiber backbone and a 48 port switch for my 1Gbps ethernet. It can be addictive especially when you are rebuilding a house.

After that figure out what you need, want, and desire. But keep your router as a separate device from everything else. And remember that what you think you need will only work for today, software is only going to get more complex and need more horsepower to keep it going.

For hardware there are two schools of thought, newer lower power devices and older stuff. The choice is spend now or over time. My used X10SLL-F with a xeon E3-1226 v3 router, my X10DRH-C with a pair of E5-2683 v3’s and my desktop Ryzen 5800X which is currently also my Frigate NVR host along with other miscellaneous hardware draws along with the other devices in the house (fridge, deep freezer, smarthome stuff, and the like) draw about 1100 watts. So my baseload is about the same as any other us household.

I worked in a casino in the late 90’s. I dealt with supplying the coins and payouts for all the slot machines. When a machine would have a jackpot I could have the payout and paperwork printed and waiting before the techs could get to the machine. Everything would show up on my computer screen, including when there was a machine fill done.

Now ask yourself what prevents the machines from being “tighter” or “looser” at the push of a button or click of a mouse.

Every single game is designed to make the house a profit. The only way to truly win at gambling is to own the casino or not play.

I’m waiting for Tau day. Better to wait and have twice as much pi.

If it’s a 1U they can sound like a jet engine. The Noctua 40MM fans can be swapped in and cut the noise a good bit.

You can also build a shroud to place over the case, the idea is to allow the air to flow but use something like deep pile carpet to line the inside and absorb the sound created.

It will never be silent but you can get the sound to the point where it won’t rot your brain.

And I am now an Enphase Certified Installer. The area where I need to work is mostly prepped and the last bit of prep work will be done tomorrow.