Weekend HomeLab Adventures

I woke up early today, determined to finally get Nostr up and running and join the network. After all, ChatGPT—my AI guide for most things—told me everything would be fine and estimated it would only take 30 minutes to an hour. You're probably thinking it should have taken 15–20 minutes tops. Well, I’m self-hosting everything. Little did I know what self-hosting everything really involves. Remember, I’m not a coder, network engineer, or anyone working in the computer industry. I have some basic computer knowledge and skills, but I’ve been branching out more with the help of AI. I’ve written about...

Publish an App?

I use Google’s Blogger as a backup for my main blog. I’ve had that Blogger account for over 20 years, and since it’s free and supports custom domains, I figured — why not use it for archival purposes? I used to rely on IFTTT to automate this. When I posted something on my main blog, it would trigger a webhook that sent the post to Blogger via IFTTT. It worked — most of the time. But lately, IFTTT has become unreliable. Since they use a shared API for Blogger across all users, even my modest 3 or 4 posts a...

🎓 Congratulations to My Nephew

My nephew Maxwell has graduated from high school! It’s incredible to see how much he’s grown and matured over the years. I still remember when he was little—there are posts and photos of him from those early days right here on my blog at mitchelltribe.com. I’m so proud of him and wish him all the success in the world as he steps into this new chapter. With this milestone, he now joins my oldest niece, Alexus, and my oldest nephew, Landon, as high school graduates. 🎉

Quest to Pare Subscriptions

In my continuing battle with subscription fatigue, I’ve decided to drop my SiriusXM satellite radio service — they wouldn’t match the rate I had before, so I let it go 👋. For two years, I paid just $6.98 total (taxes included). It wasn’t the top-tier plan, but it suited my needs, especially since I used it two to four times a week. That subscription ends next month. I’m also parting ways with my free Netflix access, which came bundled with a Verizon Peacock deal last year. That runs out in July, and honestly, I’m not sure I’ll pay for Netflix...

Learning Faster with AI

I’ve never been more productive with computers than I am right now. I have several projects in progress, and all of it has been made possible with the help of AI. I know AI is a hot-button issue depending on who you talk to—ranging from environmental concerns to broader ethical debates. But for me, it has made a real difference. It’s helped me get the most out of my technology, and honestly, if this had existed 10 or 15 years ago, I might have ended up in a completely different career. So, what has it helped me with? Well, I’ve...

Not a Throne, but a Cross

“Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28–48 (ESV) (Luke 19:28) And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (Luke 19:29) When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of the disciples, (Luke 19:30) saying, “Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here.” (Luke 19:31) “If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ you shall say this: ‘The Lord has need of it.’”...

My Experience with MXRoute and MXGuardDog: Affordable Email Hosting Solutions

This post details my experience with MXRoute and MXGuardDog for email hosting and spam filtering. I've been using MXRoute for my email hosting since January 2025. When I started looking for a new web host, my previous host included email in its shared hosting plan, which worked well initially. However, I explored several alternatives, including Fastmail, but found it too expensive for my needs. I also considered using my paid ProtonMail account. While I could have used it for myself, it would have introduced complications for my parents, who are in their 70s and not very tech-savvy. Therefore, I began...

There’s nothing more frustrating than waking up and thinking, I’m going to do a simple task to start the day. 😤 I planned to clone my nearly full 2TB NVMe drive to a new 4TB drive. I grabbed my external drive case, connected the new drive, and launched EaseUS Clone Disk. The first 566GB copied without issue. Then, suddenly, the speed dropped to a crawl. 🐢 Around 70%, I got the dreaded blue screen of death and a reboot. After three failed attempts with the same result, I tried installing the new drive and cloning in reverse. One more blue...

Subscription Fatigue

I canceled my Paramount+ subscription on Saturday, just before the renewal day yesterday, and I’m thinking of dumping a few more. I canceled Apple TV+ a few months ago. There are TV programs I like on both, but I just can't justify it anymore. These subscriptions are like vampires, siphoning a few dollars here and there until my budget is bled dry. These little charges are starting to eat away at my budget. There have been numerous articles about how our society is turning into one big rental/subscription economy, where we don’t own anything—we just rent it. To keep track...

Archie Bunker Changed—Some Never Will

All in the Family is one of my favorite TV shows. I watch it almost every night and own the entire series on DVD. Why am I telling you this? Because lately, as I’ve been watching it, I’ve been thinking a lot about what’s going on in this country politically. And you know what? Trump is like Archie Bunker—but worse. The character of Archie Bunker and Trump have a lot in common. Both are New Yorkers. Both have racist tendencies—though I believe Archie’s stem from ignorance and learned behavior, while Trump's words and actions often suggest a belief that people...

Drowning in Spam

I've had a Hotmail account for nearly three decades, and for most of that time, I’ve also maintained a paid Exchange-hosted email tied to one of my domains. That Exchange service is set to expire in a couple of years, and honestly? I won’t be renewing it. Why? Spam! Both accounts are bombarded with spam, and it seems to come in waves. Some days, things are fine. Other days, my inbox looks like a dumping ground for phishing attempts, fake invoices, and outright scams. It’s as if Microsoft takes a vacation from spam filtering every so often, just to remind...

My Cousin Cindy

My mother told me today that my cousin, Cindy Shaw Rounds, passed away in her sleep in Jacksonville at the age of 63, either last night or this morning. I will miss her greatly. I often saw and spoke with her at funerals for my great-aunts, uncles, grandparents, and at family reunions. I also have fond memories of staying with her and my other cousins in Jacksonville for about two weeks when I was a preteen while my dad was working there. I will cherish the memories I had of her. 

The Road to Retirement

I was thinking the other day after my doctor said the colonoscopy went well. He removed one polyp, and it was likely benign. The pathology results confirmed that it was indeed benign. The doctor also mentioned that I won’t need another colonoscopy for seven years—just two years before I retire. I'm planning for retirement in the next decade and thinking about how to balance savings, Social Security, and other income sources. My goal is to live off my savings and retirement funds (hopefully without exhausting them) before transitioning fully to Social Security and other financial resources. Speaking of Social Security,...

Self Hosting

Trying to self-host is a lot of work. I’m not a techie—just a wannabe techie with some computer skills. Mainly, I have enough knowledge to recognize patterns and handle simple tasks. With the advent of ChatGPT (which I’ve found to be the best so far), I’m trying to step out of my comfort zone and learn new things. However, I’ve had to rely on ChatGPT for Portainer YAML files, Docker, Docker Compose, and setting up my Raspberry Pi 5 in a Pironman 5 case. I assembled the hardware myself, but when it came to the software, I needed ChatGPT’s help....

Blogging today

Blogging today is both more complicated and less complicated than in the past. What do I mean by this? Technically, there are more choices than ever before, which makes things both simpler and more complex. Options like WordPress, Google's Blogger, Bear Blog, Micro.blog, Hugo, Write.as, Scribbles, and many more exist today. The less complicated part is actually writing. Not that the topics themselves aren’t complex, but once you pick a platform, there’s little to no setup. In the past, setting up a blog required a lot of effort. Then Blogger came along and made it easy. Then Google bought Blogger,...