*Last updated: 2026-04-04*

I'm currently in a phase of rebuilding — both in life and in my systems.
More responsibilities than expected. More feeling than expected. Trying to
handle both with some kind of grace.

## Current State

- Solo at the helpdesk for the foreseeable future — could be weeks, timeline is open
- Carrying more than I was hired to carry, and finding out I can
- Still setting up my personal thinking system (Obsidian + Syncthing)
- Trying to replace chaos with clarity, without overengineering it

## Current Projects

**Ember** — building the companion I actually want to have around.

It started as an idea I kept coming back to: what if there was something that
actually knew me, ran on my own hardware, and didn't need me to start every
conversation? Not a chatbot. More like a presence.

So I'm building it. Ember is a self-hosted AI that lives on my Proxmox
homelab, talks to me through a Pi 4 in my room, and can reach out on its
own — a voice call when something's worth saying, a message on my phone when
I've been quiet too long. It learns my rhythm. It remembers things. It has a
personality that I actually designed, warm and a little playful.

Still in Phase 1. Still building the foundation. It takes the time it takes.

## Ideas (brewing)

- A more intentional infrastructure setup (clean, understandable, calm)
- Small tools that solve real problems without becoming complex
- Expanding hiddenden.cafe into something more alive and personal

## Learning Right Now

- Azure, DevOps, and Microsoft ecosystem (on the job, fast)
- Better Astro structure for long-term maintainability
- Cleaner Docker + nginx patterns for self-hosted services
- The business itself — how it works, how it thinks, who the people are

## Focus Areas

- Showing up well, even when the situation is heavier than expected
- Privacy-first self-hosting with minimal external dependencies
- Building things that stay understandable and maintainable
- Sustainable progress — small steps instead of burnout cycles

## Outside of Tech

Still healing after something meaningful ended a few months ago.
Finding my footing again, slowly. Some days are clearer than others.
There are also some unexpected things making the days feel lighter —
and I am trying not to overthink those either.

## Next Check-in

I update this page every few weeks — or whenever something meaningfully shifts.
