Back to the Lab

I love to tinker, whether banging together a treehouse for the kids or building an overly elaborate IoT sensor for my homemade cold plunge. Here are some of my projects (in various stages of completion).

CAT. NO.: GF1-04
FORMAT: LONG FORM
ISSUED BY: GRAY MARKET RECORDS

I believe everyone needs some projects outside their day job, whether it’s restoring old cars, building furniture, or experimenting with a “side hustle” app. I keep an (overfull) docket in an effort to learn, use different skillsets, and generally keep life interesting. Here are some of my favorites.

The coat closet data center

Yes, there’s a “data center” in my coat closet, between the dog food container and winter coats, I have a homebuilt server that powers our home automation system (over 200 sensors and automated switches and counting), runs local LLMs, and allows me to experiment with various technologies. In fact, it’s serving you this page right now.

The coat closet data center, wedged between the winter coats and a vacuum Winter coats on the left, vacuum on the right, data center in the middle

Cold plunge + dashboard

Perhaps it’s nothing more than “bro science” and placebo, but a good friend got me into cold plunging a few years ago with a castoff cooler. Picture something much larger than your typical Igloo, that fits a human rather than case of brews.

Add a filtration and cooling system I designed, and you’ve got yourself a post-run recovery and “daily dose of doing hard things” system.

The homemade cold plunge with its color-changing interior lighting Mood lighting, included

Why stop there, when you can add interior lighting that changes color depending on time remaining, automated ozone injection to keep the water fresh, and a “dashboard” controller I designed and built that monitors plunge parameters, acts as a timer, and sends data to a time series database via ESP32 hardware and sensors, and a custom 3D-printed case.

The plunge dashboard: water temperature, air temperature and humidity, last plunge, and a history bar chart 46.0° and counting

Bicycles

If riding a bicycle doesn’t put a smile on your face, even when you’re feeling a bit down, you may want to call your doctor to verify you still have a heartbeat.

I love building and tinkering on bicycles, including our “Clown Bike” folding tandem, and my current project of building a “forever bike” from the frame up. This bike of course leverages the lessons I learned from the last “forever” bike ;-)

The Clown Bike folding tandem, loaded for touring, parked beside a canal towpath The Clown Bike, somewhere on the C&O Canal Towpath

Work/shop

My grandfather built his own house over several years, scrounging parts and bribing buddies with a six pack to teach him the various trades. He scrounged the main structural beam from a demolished movie theater, and to my knowledge, the place is still standing after almost 100 years.

I tried to follow in grandpa’s footsteps, building out our workshop/gym/bicycle repair center/office from studs, learning plumbing, electrical, tile setting, flooring, permitting, and construction management along the way.

The workshop electrical panel and network enclosure in the open stud wall before drywall Panel and network enclosure, pre-drywall

My joint only has a decade under its belt, and the project very much exemplified the old adage that “There’s fast, cheap, and high quality, pick any two” (hint: even after 4X’ing my worst-case time estimates I still blew out the timeline).

Large-format floor tile laid out with leveling clips, a level, and a rubber mallet I’m not fast, but I’m cheap and good(ish)

Radio

Radio was the O.G. of technology revolutions, and I still find it exciting to key up a transmitter and talk to someone several miles away. I’m a licensed “ham,” and have radio setups in the RV, truck, and house. I’ve also played with some of the interesting digital radio developments like MeshTastic and LoRA. 10-4 good buddy!

Deliverables 2.0

It’s still in the incubation stage, but I’m working on a better way to deliver strategy project outputs. 40-page static PowerPoints are so 2009.

In the field

A sound mind is nothing without a sound body. Here are some of the things I enjoy, ideally with family and friends, in order to keep the body moving, the blood flowing, and my connection to the natural world strong:

Ultrarunning. I’m not coordinated enough for pickleball, but ya boy can keep shuffling in a forward direction for a pretty long time. I’ve done 101 miles in one session and haven’t yet found the point where I keel over.

Pat running a trail ultramarathon course on a paved stretch in autumn Still shuffling forward at the Looking Glass 100K

Scuba. The undersea world is wild. Move in 3 dimensions, see totally foreign flora and fauna, plus no phones or talking. What’s not to like?

Three divers hovering above a shipwreck, bubbles rising toward the surface Underwater with my Buddies

Camping and hiking. Whether “glamping” in the motorhome or pitching a tent while on foot, bicycle, or kayak, spending time outside staring into a campfire like people have done for a zillion years is balm for the soul. I try to do it as often as I can.

A one-person tent beside a fully loaded touring bicycle at a forest campsite Home for the night