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.

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.

I personally don’t see any reason to spend time defining labels. The people causing harm don’t even care about the definitions of the labels they use. It’s their actions which are causing harm and and our time is better spent addressing their actions.

If we aren’t spending our time addressing their actions then we are being distracted from the harm they are causing. That benefits and enables their harmful actions while doing nothing positive for us who want a liveable future.

I like calling people by their actions instead of any label. In this situation I would call them Wealth Hoarders. I think that covers the many labels of the rich on varying scales of wealth ownership without singling out any specific group.

I find the over use of labels to be a tool for distraction. It’s easy to argue the definition of a label and ignore the actions that are actually happening. Describing a person’s action leaves less room for debate and returns the focus back on shitty, unacceptable and unwanted behaviour.

As a nice bonus, describing shitty peoples actions and behaviours to them makes them visibly uncomfortable. At least from my experiences.

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.

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.

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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…

When I get the motivation again I will give this a try. A while ago I was wondering if a tool like this existed so it’s nice to see it pop up now. Thank you for this.

For verification I used the built in certificate manager in Nginx Proxy Manager. I generate an API key from Cloudflare for a DNS zone:zone:edit key with the domain I am using. Then I chose DNS verification in Proxy Manager and put the API key in the edit box. This has been successful every time.

Do you use Cloudflare Tunnel or are you using Cloudflare as a Dynamic DNS? I’ve had issues with certbot but I think I just wasn’t using it properly, what process did you use for DNS verification?

I’ll give your suggestions a try when I get the motivation to try again. Sort of burnt myself out at the moment and would like to continue with other stuff.

I am actually using the Cloudflare Tunnel with SSL enabled which is how I was able to achieve that in the first place.

For the curious here are the steps I took to get that to work:

This is on a Raspberry Pi 5 (arm64, Raspberry Pi OS/Debian 12)

# Cloudflared -> Install & Create Tunnel & Run Tunnel
                 -> https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/get-started/create-local-tunnel/
                    -> Select option -> Linux
                    -> Step 4: Change -> credentials-file: /root/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.json -> credentials-file: /home/USERNAME/.cloudflared/<Tunnel-UUID>.json
              -> Run as a service
                 -> Open new terminal
                 -> sudo cp ~/.cloudflared/config.yml /etc/cloudflared/config.yml
                 -> https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/configure-tunnels/local-management/as-a-service/
              -> Configuration (Optional) -> https://developers.cloudflare.com/cloudflare-one/connections/connect-networks/configure-tunnels/local-management/configuration-file/
                 -> sudo systemctl restart cloudflared
              -> Enable SSL connections on Cloudflare site
                 -> Main Page -> Websites -> DOMAINNAME.COM -> SSL/TLS -> Configure -> Full -> Save
                    -> SSL/TLS -> Edge Certificates -> Always Use HTTPS: On -> Opportunistic Encryption: On -> Automatic HTTPS Rewrites: On -> Universal SSL: Enabled

Cloudflared complains about ~/.cloudflared/config.yml and /etc/cloudflared/config.yml not matching. I just edit ~/.cloudflared/config.yml and run sudo cp ~/.cloudflared/config.yml /etc/cloudflared/config.yml again followed by sudo systemctl restart cloudflared whenever I make any changes.

The configuration step is just there as reference for myself, it’s not necessary for a simple setup.

The tunnel is nice and convenient. It does the job well. I just have a strong personal preference to not depend on large organizations. I’ve installed Timeshift as a backup management for myself so I can easily revisit this topic later when my brain is ready.

Nginx Proxy Manager has been handling certs for me, I’m not sure how it handles certs since it’s packaged in a docker container. I can only assume it does something similar to Caddy which also automatically handles certificate registration and renewals. So probably certbot.

All I know is that NPM has an option for DNS challenges which is how I got my certs in the first place.

That’s what I thought. NPM is handling the certs just fine.

Could it be that I’m setting up the reverse proxy wrong? Whenever I enable SSL on that reverse proxy, the connection just hangs and drops after a minute. I’m not understanding why it’s doing that.

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.

I’ve been unimpressed with the Christmas holidays since leaving my first job as a grocery store worker as a highschool student. My family has finally stopped buying me presents except for my mom who insists on buying me some sort of useless novelty item that’s functionally impractical. Last year it was a bulky multi-tool pen that was too heavy to write with… Capitalism really sucks the humanity out of everything, especially the holidays.

Not too excited about the family dinner together. My parents and sister will spend the day talking constantly at and over each other while I’ll be mostly mute, answering yes/no questions occasionally. I just don’t have the energy anymore to correct all thier wildly incorrect assumptions and unnecessary views they have about me based on the useless labels they’ve applied to me.

The brain has been highly uncooperative over the past weeks but over the last week I’ve made a lot of progress on a local community project I’m working on. I have most of the groundwork prepared. I’ve also got a good starting point and mostly clear direction for it as well.

I’m in the process of learning how to self host a lemmy instance. I’m hating every moment of it but I’m making progress. It’ll be worth it in the end. After I set up a proper community page I’ll be ready to start promoting the idea locally.

I’m still considering creating a related community on another instance. I’m trying to craft this project in a way that is easily accessible and adaptable to the needs of any local community.

At the speed I’m going, and with all the holidays here, I’m hoping to be ready within the first couple weeks of January.