My Homelab Finally Has a Job to Do

How graduation, a live portfolio telemetry feed, and an application project turned my homelab from an occasional place to tinker into infrastructure I use regularly.

What the WGU Six-Month Stories Leave Out

My three-year WGU journey, the preparation and experience hidden by six-month headlines, and why life does not stop when you go back to school.

Cloud When You Need It: My First Terraform Disaster Recovery Project

Why I chose on-demand AWS recovery for my capstone, how I used Terraform for the first time, and what a 3-minute, 55-second recovery test taught me.

The One-Minute Install That Became a 48-Hour Troubleshooting Marathon

Why I chose Omarchy as my Linux daily driver, how a quick installation became a 48-hour troubleshooting marathon, and how that experience helped inspire WakeTrail.

The 20% That Makes You 80% Effective

Why mastering six core skills will accelerate your cloud career more than chasing every shiny new tool.

Tailscale vs. Twingate: Why I Chose the Simpler Tool for My Homelab

Why I picked Tailscale over Twingate for my homelab, the same reasoning behind choosing k3s, and what I gave up by keeping it simple.

What I Learned About Myself From a Strengths Assessment

How understanding the way you naturally think might change everything.

Seek Always a New Horizon, Embrace the Journey

The story behind my two mottos, and why a moving horizon and an unfinished road belong together.

From Carpenter to Cloud Engineer: Why Career Change at 40+ Is Possible

A reassuring story, based on my experience, that a midlife career change is possible.

My Journey Through the CompTIA Trifecta

What I learned by completing the CompTIA A+, Network+, and Security+ certifications.