So, we’ve had major changes in our lives recently. Our house, and everything I’ve bought, been gifted, found, printed, framed, built… All of those things, mementos or not, are gone. Burned to ashes and unrecognizable hunks of melted debris.
So - if you could (or had to) start over - how would you plan your homelab, network, minirack (those new-fangled not-quite-a-rack) or something else?
I’m so sorry for your loss @CrustyB Hopefully all of your family, love ones and pets are ok?
I wrote a guide on this a few years ago before building my home lab. It covers labs of all sizes:
You will find more related posts here as well: homelab | LinuxBlog.io
I also frequent these 3 sub Reddit: /r/selfhosted/, /r/homelab/, and /r/minilab/.
I’ve never had to start over as an adult. However, age 14, we lost the entire roof of our home in a hurricane. That was devastating, but we were able to salvage a lot, as such, I’m really gutted to hear that you lost your home.
So must-haves for me are:
(in case you cannot access your home)
(hopefully we can soon) (especially in non-concrete homes) (no AC in my homelab/office) (cameras can alert you of potential emergencies)Have started over many times, un/fortunately. I do not regret it. Not fun usually. Was not always by force of circumstance after the first times. I stand beside you. Let go. The items might be taken but you might not have let go yet. I would start with letting go and do not move on until then.
Rather than give suggestions… I would walk through it with you, in some more meaningful way. Know that regardless of the exact details, many understand what you are going through. No one has time anymore, but since you seem aware of what is going on, somewhat ( but sound to be in shock still ) and you might now join the ranks of some of the strongest and best individuals on the timeline, those who overcome adversity with open eyes… I would make some time, and be in the background until you land. DM if interested in that kind of direct psychological support in some way. Not everyone has the chance to let go and be reborn except for their mortal defaults. It is not common knowledge. There is an ability to “time travel” in your own individual evolution here.
I was born near there so I am not totally detached. And my dog who I just had to put down recently was rescued from pretty much exactly where you were. I have a Los Angeles shaped pain already; no pain is comparable, so I share your feeling of loss. Pardon my being forward, but seize this opportunity. And I would make myself available more than for parts lists. Though I hopefully have awesome suggestions since I think about this and prototype wise houses.
If you are strong, honest, and find the thread of ‘why’ for your self, what still matters, always mattered, matters more and more… you will be 10x better than ever. Avoid replacing things until you can give a reason for “why that” from all kinds of angles. Rethink. Reimagine. Ask yourself ‘why’ more and do not be surprised when one day you are extremely grateful for this. Embrace impermanence and do something more worthwhile than fill the time and space. Be like a phoenix and it will have been the best thing that ever happened. Bounce; do not go splat. I have seen this many times; it crushes some, and unleashes others. Have a preference which group you are in?
I think this was my first post here after lurking for a while. Hello, World.
Meant to reply earlier - but, yes, most definitely still processing. I’m not even replacing the old drip coffee maker. Got a 3-cup Bialetti Moka pot. Just feels, like you said, a good time for intentional changes.
I’ll ping you once where more settled in and stable. Appreciate your candid thoughts! 
I look forward to that, @CrustyB… and I am proud of where it sounds like you are headed. I hope you land in your best self.
For the record, I last left a Downtown loft, overlooking parks and museums, above ever-raging parties I never went to. Once resettled, I never got a Kuerig coffee maker again. I had burned everything, literally; or gave it away, or sold whatever else that could not fit in one vehicle. Most of what I kept, I lost, seemingly chased across the continent and back again, and rebuilt a life completely differently… with my wife and my wits. I would say my story is only at the start still, just ever-deeper than the first step.
I can only think of a handful of lifestyle elements I kept… more the ones I could not shake, because they are somehow part of me. Easy to notice, surrounded by nothing else but what cannot be lost, and must be cherished, and is.
‘Computers’ are one ( obviously ) and everything involved in their best expression. Coffee is another, actually. Now I have a boiling kettle in my ‘study’ I guess you can call it, with my small lab outside ( let’s be real, the whole house is a lab for developing life ) and two fine-mesh tea steepers ( so every morning I am brewing the next cup before I start the first, to brew the third without waiting for cup two ) … and drink Supreme by Bustelo straight, by the 20oz travel mug.
By the way, I post this on its own versus edit my prior post, because it is worth it on its own:
Though I showed the Yoassi steeper, there is a much better YEXCULL one and it matters.
They are both extremely inexpensive and seem identical, but there is more space between the dots on the Yoassi and a much higher resolution mesh on the YEXCULL which absolutely affects the taste…
I cannot find the YEXCULL right now, and like with most of these brands lately they seem pretty arbitrarily named… I am sure there are others better than both these I mentioned here.
On the topic thought, it is little things like this which get the focus when all you have is being cherished, or at least thoroughly experienced and enjoyed.
Even though my life is extremely high-stress, and would kill pretty much any other I can think of now to try to do and be ( hopefully we all feel the same and are at our own cutting-edge dangerous point of being seriously involved in life ) I still get the opportunity to notice that my life itself, the world created with my partner, the experience I created for my self, is true. That word ‘true’ is very hard to find. It is like when you have a test suite and you can see and know that each piece of this is right. And any time any part is wrong, I will feel it right away, and change. When we are surrounded by prior lives spilling into this one and have not taken a leap and started over fresh, it is almost impossible to know for sure. And for those with heritage or inherited value worth keeping… and protecting under lock and key… we still need to endure the time of being stripped down to the metal to truly know who we are.
Sending some thoughts your way as you go through the jungle of change @CrustyB
It’s been a few months since the massive L.A. area fire; multiple different areas around the country have faced fires. I live in South Carolina, which was bashed pretty badly by a hurricane last fall, but not as bad as a few areas in Western North Carolina and Eastern Tennessee, where entire roads and communities were completely wiped out. If that wasn’t hard enough, a few forest fires hit some more areas not far from the ones that were devastated by that Fall 2024 hurricane.
All I can say is that those of us able to offer either physical or financial assistance at any time, it’s probably worth it.
A LONG time ago, many years ago, New Orleans was smashed with a terrible hurricane. Though it’s been years, probably close to two decades ago, a few really poor localized areas of that region were never rebuilt or repaired; that’s what some “poor” communities have to deal with any time there is an “event” that causes damage.
I have limited ability to physically or financially help at this point in my life, so I occasionally do what I can do: write and communicate about things that actually matter to communities.
