A lifestack is a list of things that help manage my life — ranging from consumption items to tools, from digital projects to foundational principles of how to operate in private and public spheres. Jack Baty has an excellent model here. A public-facing lifestack must omit a lot, but I like sharing my server setup and outdoors self.

Computing

All of my computing machines have hostnames based on literary and mythological owls. My daily driver laptop is named after a Greek figure transformed into a nocturnally bound owl; my desktop after a Welsh strigiformean goddess; my home server nodes after Ascalaphus (buried under a rock by Demeter, freed by Heracles, changed back into an owl by Demeter again), Blodeuwedd (turned into a gwdihŵ by Gwydion), and Glimfeather (from Narnia).

Daily driver laptop: Nyctimene

  • Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (20U9), Intel i7-10610U, 16 GB RAM
  • CachyOS with Niri (Wayland compositor); Ghostty terminal; fish shell
  • Doom Emacs as primary writing and coding environment; Neovim for SSH/remote contexts
  • Denote for note-taking; Magit for git; chezmoi for dotfiles

Daily driver desktop: Arianrhod

  • Lenovo ThinkStation P300, 32 GB RAM
  • Arch Linux with Niri; Doom Emacs and Neovim
  • An adjacent lava lamp and ceiling projector of the Milky Way to perform vibemaxxing

Secondary laptop: Cailleach

  • Lenovo ThinkPad T440p, 16 GB RAM, Intel i5
  • Runs StumpWM with minimal configuration; Emacs-focused
  • Dated with a good keyboard; a glorified word processor that theoretically presents a portal for zero distraction
  • May drop even StumpWM and create a TTY/Emacs-only console

Tertiary laptop: Lechuza

  • Apple Macbook Air 2020, 8 GB RAM, Intel i5
  • Runs Sequoia badly; has a broken keyboard
  • Will likely decommission and recycle the hostname

E-Reader

  • Kobo Elipsa with Kobo Stylus
  • Runs KOReader for a dramatically better reading experience than the stock interface
  • Native ePub support; Calibre server integration via built-in browser

Apple iPhone 13

  • iSH, Working Copy, and Scriptable for small projects and remote server access
  • Möbius Sync for Syncthing integration across the tailnet
  • Beorg for Org file editing and calendar integration
  • Journelly for on-the-go notetaking
  • Health tracking: Renpho, Welch Allyn, Garmin Connect

Home server: Parliament

Inevitably, the home server cluster is called Parliament.

Ascalaphus

  • Apple Mac Mini, 16 GB RAM; headless Proxmox host
  • Runs a variety of LXCs (Jellyfin, Calibre, Forgejo, Uptime Kuma, among others) and VMs (Home Assistant, Proxmox Backup Server)
  • Mirrored ZFS setup: zfslager (after the German above-ground storage; two mirrored 4TB disks) and zfskeller (after a German cellar; two mirrored 12TB disks)
  • Caddy reverse proxy with internal DNS at *.parliament.home.arpa; Pi-hole/Unbound at 10.0.0.53
  • Tailscale subnet router; SMB share from ZFS pools

Blodeuwedd

  • HP 600 G2 Micro, Intel i7, 32 GB RAM, 512 GB SSD
  • Second Proxmox node; main Docker host running ~20 containers including Paperless-ngx, FreshRSS, Pinchflat, Immich, and Dockge
  • Hosts a Debian VM for miscellaneous server work

Glimfeather

  • Raspberry Pi 3B with DietPi
  • Pi-hole and Unbound DNS; third Proxmox node for quorum

Backup

ZFS pools backed up via restic to S3/Glacier Deep Archive (bucket: owlbackups-restic). Both onsite and offsite backups, encrypted. Use Proxmox Backup Server locally to backup ZFS pools to datastores named after trees associated with longevity: redwood, bristlecone, and sitka.

General computing services

  • Syncthing: Indispensable for keeping Org files, articles, and documents aligned across all machines and phones
  • Amazon S3 Glacier Deep Archive: Cold storage via restic
  • Bitwarden Premium: Passwords, attachments, secure sharing; using rbw as CLI client rather than the Electron desktop app
  • 2FAS Auth: Two-factor authentication
  • Mullvad VPN: Best commercial VPN in my view
  • Tailscale: WireGuard-based mesh VPN tying Parliament together
  • Firefox with Multi-Account Containers: Primary browser and has been for decades; completely replaced Chrome as a portal to teaching job after the Sonatype-2026-003775 AUR supply chain incident convinced me to audit my setup
  • DuckDuckGo and Startpage: So-so replacements for the other graph-climbing distributed computing system
  • Dropbox: Still in use for file sharing with people not invested in the self-hosting universe
  • YouTube Music: Replaced Spotify Premium. Mostly for Mexican Doomer, double B-sides, and Alice Coltrane deep cuts. But mainly to play “Black Sail” by Chastity Belt on repeat.

The streaming compensation problem remains unsolved. SoundCloud, once a plausible alternative model, quietly updated its terms in 2024 to allow AI training on independent artists’ uploads while protecting major label content — the opposite of artist-first. I remain a Lanier sympathizer on data dignity: his framing of AI as collaboration-of-humans rather than autonomous entity, and his insistence that contributors to that collaboration deserve acknowledgment and compensation, still strikes me as correct. The infrastructure to actually implement it remains politically inert, as it has been since Who Owns the Future? in 2013.

General software

Emacs

My digital life revolves around Org Mode. I use Doom Emacs and have mostly stopped tinkering with it, which is an achievement.

  • Denote: For notes, seedlings, and evergreens; replaced Org-Roam
  • Citar: Bibliography management and reference insertion
  • Org Journal: Dailies and fleeting notes
  • Org Modern: Makes things prettier and more professional
  • Org Chef: Recipe capture
  • Magit: Git in Emacs; I do almost all my pushing and pulling here
  • ox-hugo: Org-to-Hugo export for this site

Configuration and security

Server services

  • Audiobookshelf: Self-hosted audiobook and podcast server
  • Calibre Web: E-book collection management
  • Dockge: Docker container management with a sensible GUI
  • FreshRSS: RSS and Atom feed aggregator; primary way I consume the web
  • Home Assistant: Security cameras and smart home without Sting’s involvement
  • Immich: Photo and video management; an extraordinary piece of software
  • Jellyfin: Personal media server with VAAPI hardware acceleration
  • Kiwix: Offline access to Wikipedia, Project Gutenberg, Khan Academy
  • Linkwarden: Self-hosted bookmarks manager
  • Navidrome: Personal music streaming; great for burned CDs of yesteryore
  • Paperless-ngx: Digital document management; iOS app makes it painless
  • Pinchflat: YouTube media manager; downloads playlists so nothing is lost
  • Uptime Kuma: Service monitoring (LXC 112)
  • Maybe OS: Promising wealth tracker; still in development
  • Fasten: Self-hosted medical records; promising but not yet committed

Website

  • This site is Compass Rose, built with Hugo and PaperMod, deployed via Netlify, authored in Org Mode via ox-hugo and occasionally in plain Markdown. Github hosts it.

Fitness

Hiking & backpacking

I favor a semi-light approach to backpacking: influenced by ultralight principles but not beholden to them. Leave no trace and stay off the wildflowers.

Bags

  • Deuter ACT Lite 65+10: For specialized backpacking, international travel, and hostel trips
  • REI Co-op Trail 40 Pack: UL expeditions and day hikes

Shelter and sleep

  • Six Moon Designs Lunar Solo (26 oz): Main UL tent with trekking pole setup
  • REI Co-op Magma Trail Quilt 30: I enjoy a quilt over a sleeping bag in most conditions
  • Zero-degree UL sleeping bag for winter and late-season

Water and food

  • Tiny MSR stove and 500 mL titanium cup
  • Katadyn BeFree: Main water filtration
  • Chlorine dioxide tablets as backup (Portable Aqua or Katadyn Micropur M1)
  • Nalgene bottles; 1L gas station water bottle
  • Dehydrated foods; calorie-dense bars; nuts; dehydrated blueberries and cherries
  • Rope system for food storage; bear canister when conditions require it

Clothing and footwear

  • Trail runners in most conditions
  • Waterproof socks and boots for marshy trails and stream crossings (e.g. Uintas)
  • Merino wool base layer and socks
  • Black Yak hiking pants; rain jacket
  • Anti-microbial underwear

Ditty bag

  • Curated first-aid kit: ibuprofen, anti-diarrheals, prescriptions, super-glue, KT tape, Israeli bandage
  • Spoon with spork feature
  • Backcountry bidet, trowel, hygiene gear
  • Emergency items: mirror, foil, cordage, emergency blanket, matches, whistle, fishing line and hooks

Knives

Safety and navigation

  • Bear repellent (responsive to conditions, not every trip)
  • Garmin inReach Mini with flexible subscription
  • Suunto A-30 compass

Home

  • Yamaha acoustic guitar from my dad and sister
  • Casio PX-870 Keyboard, 88 velocity-sensitive keys: My wife is a very good piano player; I am working on it
  • Audio Technica LP120 (from 2006) with speakers and mixer. Some favorites from a very modest vinyl collection:
    • The Beatles Love Songs (scratched and warm and a little lumpy around “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”)
    • The Copland Album (Prairie Night from Billy the Kid remains one of my favorite stretches of American melody)
    • Switched-On Bach (a replacement of an original I beat up in the 1980s and once tried to fix with school paste in the grooves; I was eight)
    • A Love Supreme
    • Eden (Talk Talk)
    • Con Todo el Mundo (Khruangbin)
    • Ravel: Bolero – Ma mère l’Oye – Pavane pour une infante défunte – La Valse
    • 아침이슬 (Morning Dew, a double vinyl by Yang Hee-Eun released in 1987)
    • Seagull Music (from my mom’s classroom)
  • Hakko soldering station
  • Various Arduinos
  • Roku Onn Smart TV: dumb, likely listening, and the spy-iest thing I probably own
  • Entertainment: Netflix, HBO Max, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, Jellyfin for personal collection
  • AKORN Kamado Charcoal Grill, Sapphire (housewarming gift from my dad)
  • Vermiculture and composting system

Social media

To free yourself, to be more authentic, to be less addicted, to be less manipulated, to be less paranoid … for all these marvelous reasons, delete your accounts.

— Jaron Lanier, Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now

  • Facebook: Technically exists, deactivated for a long time
  • Github: Most projects now private; also self-host Forgejo on Parliament
  • Instagram: Currently private, focused mainly on hiking. Meta is a noxious spy and algorithm manipulator, but I haven’t pulled the plug yet.
  • Twitter/X: I don’t post or like anything. Occasionally tune in for a handful of interesting accounts.
  • Bluesky/Mastodon: Have accounts on both; never post on either.

Edification

Knowledge management

Digitally: Denote, Journelly, Org Journal, Citar, Calibre, and Zotero for notes, references, and sources.

Analog: A Moleskine for daily fleeting notes, many of which get integrated into my monthly Org Journal file. I also use a bastardized version of Speedwriting shorthand in the Moleskine — rusty, but useful.1

Longer fleeting notes live in Org Journal and Journelly. Some become seedlings, which occasionally grow into posts here.

Daily short-form entries are called “Facta diei” — a short diary format listing daily actions, inspired by George Harrison’s diary style in the late 1960s. The stand-out entry:

George Harrison’s Diary Entry on 10 January 1969

YouTube channels

I subscribe promiscuously under a pseudonymic account. Some I’m comfortable sharing publicly:

Podcasts

Not a huge fan of podcast culture, but these have earned sustained attention:

Everyday carry

  • Small cross-body Samsonite shoulder bag
  • Green Maxpedition Medium Fatty Pocket Organizer:
    • Emergency blanket; battery pack; USB cables
    • Pens, mechanical pencil and lead
    • Band-Aids and basic first aid; flossers; toothpaste
    • Cash in several currencies; backup keys; basic documents
    • Backup prescription pills
    • Emergency cloth tablets
  • Moleskine notebook (small)
  • Prescription sunglasses
  • Sunscreen

  1. I’m aware that psychophysical experiments on shorthand systems show highly mixed results regarding speed, comfort, and recall. My interest at the time was simply to learn something new, and Speedwriting’s resemblance to longhand appealed to me over something like Gregg. The nerds on /r/shorthand have interesting discussions on the tradeoffs. ↩︎