Writing

May 5, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #8: Orchestrating Docker from a Satellite Connection

What changes when your internet costs money per byte and takes 600ms to respond. Image caching, Portainer as a lifeline, and the deploys you learn not to do.

docker satellite off-grid devops portainer self-hosted infrastructure

Apr 28, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #7: The Cost of Clever — What Broke and What I'd Do Differently

A failure retrospective from running AI agents, Docker infrastructure, and self-hosted services from a Yukon cabin. No sugarcoating.

failures lessons self-hosted ai-agents docker off-grid devops

Apr 21, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #6: Self-Hosted Memory for AI Agents

How I built a shared memory layer for multiple AI agents using Postgres, pgvector, and a custom API — and what happens when two agents disagree about reality.

ai memory postgres pgvector self-hosted off-grid

Apr 14, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #5: Tailscale as an Ops Strategy, Not a VPN

How a mesh network replaced firewalls, public IPs, and most of my security anxiety. Zero exposed ports, full access from anywhere.

tailscale networking security self-hosted off-grid devops

Apr 7, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #4: What $250 in Hardware Actually Runs

A mini PC in the basement runs my entire operations stack. Here's the real math on self-hosting production services on minimal hardware.

self-hosted infrastructure elixir hardware off-grid

Mar 31, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #3: Running Elixir in Production from a Cabin

What changes when your Phoenix app runs on finite power, satellite internet, and hardware you can physically touch.

elixir phoenix devops self-hosted off-grid

Mar 24, 2026

Off-Grid CTO Dispatches #2: The AI Agent Team

How I run a seven-agent AI team for coding, DevOps, research, and writing — what worked, what broke, and the operating rules that fixed it.

ai automation agents workflows productivity

Mar 17, 2026

Off-Grid Operator #1: The Stack

How I run production infrastructure from an off-grid cabin in the Yukon — servers, connectivity, power, and why it actually works.

infrastructure self-hosted off-grid tailscale devops

Mar 4, 2026

I built a self-hosted memory system for my AI tools

How Postgres, pgvector, Ollama, and an MCP server turned into a persistent memory layer for every AI tool I use.

ai elixir self-hosted open-source

Feb 7, 2026

Leaving the startup

After two years at a voice/AI startup, I went back to consulting.

career consulting startups

Feb 6, 2026

AI agents that actually work

Most AI agents are demos. Here's what I've learned running one for real.

ai automation tools

Feb 5, 2026

Software that lasts

After 25 years building software, I think durability matters more than scale.

software philosophy craft

Feb 4, 2026

Hello, World

First post. Why I finally built a personal site after 25 years of building them for everyone else.

meta personal