Notes for July 2025

I guess the end of the month is close enough that I can call this a monthly update. It’s certainly been , so I want to get it behind me as soon as possible and start planning for a holiday break.

Development

I have decided to throw away some of the AI-enhanced code I’ve been writing and focus on different things, so my AI news summary generator was put on hold until I finish migrating to an Azure ARM instance.

I am also trying to make an effort to write less Python and go back to or even , since I think I need to challenge myself a bit more and avoid relying on AI.

Homelab

After the I had to do last weekend, I have been tidying up and reorganizing things. Among other things, I decided to design and print out some holders for the mini-PCs so that they could be stood on their side and thus have better ventilation:

OrcaSlicer plates for both mini-PC holders
OrcaSlicer plates for both mini-PC holders

This hasn’t done wonders, but has indeed lowered their idle temperature a bit.

I have also been planning for a few more changes around the house. I decided to get into the 10-inch rack craze with a twist–2U braces designed for mounting equipment vertically in narrow closets:

2U vertical mounting brace for network equipment
2U vertical mounting brace for network equipment

These will allow me to hang (at least) two pieces of equipment in some of the utility closets and are likely to be a simpler (and much better ventilated) solution than a full rack.

Depending on the available height, I might have multiple “shelves” with more gear, and even mount these on existing shelves.

Books & Media

I seem to have picked mostly long novels to read over the summer, and as a result I’ve been plodding through Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed – it is by no means a bad book, but it does feel slow (even if it manages to hold my interest throughout). I intend to pick something shorter and snappier for the next one, although I still have quite a few similarly-sized books in my queue…

And speaking about long books, Apple TV’s Foundation is back, and I am quite enjoying it, although purists will find the new Hober Mallow… different. But the plot so far is at least self-consistent and has enough new twists to be entertaining.