Erick Ruiz de Chavez
Software Engineer at Bloomberg. Software architecture, automation, & mentoring. Audiobooks, sci-fi, movies/TV, casual gaming, self-hosting. Opinions are my own.
author: @erick@erick.sh
avatar: 🐼
2026-05-16 11:44 +0000
New weekend project done: resuscitate my #smolweb #gemini capsule and make all my posts available in #TinyLog format.
To serve the capsule I am using Agate (https://github.com/mbrubeck/agate[1])
For the TinlyLog, I made (vibed) a python app that works in almost the same way as my Bluesky crossposter; it connects to my GoToSocial via websocket and updates the .gmi file every time I add, edit, or delete something.
1: https://github.com/mbrubeck/agate
2026-05-15 15:25 +0000
This is going to gain me some unfollows, or at the very least some side-eye/eye-roll looks.
The more I use #LLM tools in my day to day, the more I like them. Not to #VibeCode, but to use them as an actual #assistant.
I already wrote a couple of #automations for my team to improve our workflows and improve #consistency and #quality. One we are all actively using to interact with Jira, by following our team standards when writing epics, stories, spikes etc., as I said, it helps keep the content consistent and aligned.
I am also working on an automation for me that could eventually become another team-wide one that gives me a high-level status of all my pull requests, pending #CodeReviews, issue status, etc. and gives me a brief paragraph with how my day is going and recommends what should be my focus (based on the given priorities).
Do I need LLMs for this? No, but as a good engineer, the less I have to worry about some things, the more bandwidth I have to worry about other important things.
Could I do something like this with standard scripting? Most of it yes, but there is a very nice result of using LLMs that would be extremely hard or time consuming with standard tools; they are especially good at adapting to small edge cases and unforeseen or unimplemented features.
I also have to say I am not a stranger to vibe coding. I've done it, and I really like it for those little personal scripts and one-offs that used to take so long with so little gains.
Anyway, if you want to unfollow, block or just eye-roll me, I won't hold it against you.
2026-05-15 12:30 +0000
I just discovered Terminal Trove and I feel like a kid on a toy store :party_blob:
https://terminaltrove.com/[1]
#terminal #tui
1: https://terminaltrove.com/
2026-05-15 06:39 +0000
OMG... already getting tired of the new rants this week: #Anthropic rewriting #Bun.
#AI has been all around us for more than 20 years and is not going away. Software rewrites have been happening behind scenes for even longer than that and again they are not going away.
If you don't like #LLMs, don't use them. If you don't like Bun, don't use it. If you don't like #Rust... guess what... don't use it!
Just get over it. Move on to your next rant.
2026-05-14 11:45 +0000
A few days ago I disconnected my GtS account from the Bridgy bridge, mainly because I am not a big fan of not having full control of my bridged account. I've also noticed that interactions are not really as transparent as I would like.
So, I started posting to bsky and crossposting the content back to my GtS. This has been working fine but again, it didn't feel as good.
Last iteration now is a small python app that cross posts my GtS public content (including images) to Bsky. The app is aware of the limit differences so it is supposed to handle them transparently by creating threads. It is also supposed to handle edits and deletes.
Notice that I keep saying "supposed" because I haven't really done a thorough testing 😜, but we'll see how it goes.
#python #programming #selfhosting #crossposting
[continued]
Oh! I forgot to mention that even though my initial approach was to do polling (every five minutes), in the end I went with a websocket connection, which means it works instantly :cool_doge:
#python #programming #selfhosting #crossposting
2026-05-12 10:30 +0000
I just read on some forum a message from an angry user complaining that an app added an optional mcp server to their CLI; the user assumes that just because the tool has MCP it is now sending and exposing their data to all the LLM tools out there.
Ignorance at its best 🤦♂️.
2026-05-11 01:45 +0000
Almost done moving all my devices (and family devices) to the new AdGuard Home installation.
Pretty happy with the performance, but it's been less than 24 hours, so we'll see how much or how little attention it needs 🤞.
2026-05-10 11:15 +0000
A few days ago one of my services started spamming my AdGuard DNS service to the point where I ran out of queries in 4 days.
I ended up migrating to a self-hosted AdGuard Home and I found the culprit, plus got it seems to be working nicely which means I don't need to renew my subscription.
2026-05-08 12:16 +0000
Finally, after several years of using mostly WiFi for my desk setup, I decided to get a small unmanaged switch and connect the dock to the network using the ethernet port.
I still mostly use WiFi around the house for most devices, but I guess it is going to be nicer when working from my desk.
2026-05-03 19:45 +0000
In the last couple of weekends I watched:
- Project Hail Mary ★★★★★
- Thunderbolts ★★★☆☆
- M3GAN 2.0 ★★☆☆☆
- Nuremberg ★★★★☆
- Exit 8 ★★★★☆
- Michael ★★★★★
- Devil Wears Prada 2 ★★☆☆☆
Don't ask me for reviews or more details, I suck at doing deep analysis of movies; this is just how I felt after watching them and it is absolutely subjective.
★★★★★: Loved it! Would watch it again (if I haven't already)!
★★★★☆: Enjoyed it. I'd probably watch it again if nothing else is calling my name.
★★★☆☆: It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. Watchable, but forgettable in the details.
★★☆☆☆: Meh. Not in my list of recommendations.
2026-05-02 08:42 +0000
I've been very absent lately, but I am not gone; server is still up and running and I am still paying attention from time to time.
2026-04-19 18:34 +0000
Yet another successful #selfhost migration, this time from the RPi to a more powerful ThinkCentre M920x I got on eBay for a very nice price (I think :P)
2026-03-29 12:26 +0000
Travel question!
What’s the tipping situation like in Ireland (Belfast)? I’ll be there in a few days and don’t want to be rude.
Thanks!
#Travel #Question #Tipping #Ireland
2026-03-24 13:13 +0000
I’m really excited about a program run by my company’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO) that brings teams of engineers together to contribute to open source projects.
It’s been a while since I’ve been active in open source, and this feels like a great way to get back into it, learn some new languages, and meet new people. If I get selected, I’ll be collaborating for about two months (it kind of feels like an internship 😜).
2026-03-24 12:17 +0000
Que chula es Puebla 😅.
Aprovechando unos días para visitar a la familia ☺️ y disfrutar de la comida 🤤.
2026-03-11 12:51 +0000
If you have a home server, you have probably experienced one of those moments when something goes wrong while you are away and you have to wait a long time until you get back home to do a hard reboot.
For this reason, I implemented a simple yet effective way to reboot it (a hard reboot if needed) while I am away; or just too lazy to go downstairs. My Pi is now connected to a smart outlet that I can control through an automation in my Hubitat hub.
When I trigger the automation, the hub sends a request to the Pi to schedule a shutdown in 1 minute. Ninety seconds later Hubitat turns off the outlet. One minute after that Hubitat turns the outlet back on.
Every step in the process sends me notifications via Pushover; including one scheduled using an @reboot cron job to let me know that the Pi is up and running.
I am very happy with the initial test results; everything worked smoothly. Hubitat does not care if the Pi is completely unresponsive because it simply cuts the power. If the Pi was unresponsive, this brings it back online. If it was responsive, then it performs a proper shutdown followed by a clean power cycle.
#SelfHosting #homelab #hubitat #pushover
2026-03-10 17:32 +0000
We had an informal lunch today with several teams involved in a project. It was nice to meet so many new people; we had pizzas 🍕 and some very nice views from one of the new floors.
2026-03-10 13:25 +0000
I grabbed some tamales 🫔 for the team this morning while walking to the office 🤤
2026-03-02 13:59 +0000
I took this short video a few days ago and completely forgot to share it 🥶🌨️🧑💼🚉
#ShortVideo #snow #TrainStation
2026-02-13 13:35 +0000
Happy Friday! 😊☕️
2026-02-11 13:02 +0000
What did I miss with #discord and #matrix? Is it a new drama or just revival of an existing one?
Also, I’m surprised at how many people look into #selfhosting up matrix servers for small groups when, in my opinion, #DeltaChat is way better and easier to use.
2026-02-09 13:21 +0000
I just realized that I haven’t mentioned my most recent watch update. I got a Pebble Time ⌚️ in excellent conditions on eBay and have been enjoying it for almost a month now.
If you ever had a Pebble in the past and somehow missed they are coming back, this is the time to catch up!
#pebble
[continued]
A bit more context about why I got this his pebble at this time.
I used to have a Pebble Steel years ago (before Apple Watch), but I eventually switched to an Apple Watch and gave my Pebble away (big mistake).
I’ve always liked Pebble, so I was sad when Fitbit acquired them, and even more when Google acquired Fitbit.
When I saw the news about Pebble coming back, I started following the updates again. The Round 2 announcement was what finally convinced me to jump back in. It looks like exactly what I want: light, thin, great battery life, and focused on notifications. I already preordered one
To make sure I’d still enjoy the Pebble experience, I grabbed a Pebble Time from eBay in great condition. It arrived with PebbleOS v4.4.3-rbl, and it works perfectly with my iPhone using the Pebble app from the App Store. As I said before, I’ve been using it for about a month now and I’m loving it. The Apple Watch will probably just become my “gym tracker” going forward (as far as I decide to keep it).
#pebble
2026-02-09 12:18 +0000
I’ll need to catch up some time soon. Spent almost all of last week in bed due to a very bad cold 🤒.
I finally started feeling better yesterday. Today I’m back to work (from home); also lots of catch-up to do 😬🤧.
2026-02-02 13:29 +0000
This weekend I finally spent some time getting Minecraft properly configured on our steam decks, and a small server at home.
As usual with many other experiments, you just need to be in the right mood to get everything up and running the way you like.
[continued]
By the way, the right mood was me being all tired after having to spend an hour clearing the driveway entrance after the f*** city plow blocked it completely 😤.
2026-01-28 10:57 +0000
It's Always DNS ™
(Which reminds me, I have to print that same sticker I designed months ago)
#ItsAlwaysDNS
2026-01-26 11:17 +0000
I’ve been using Ivory and Mona for quite some time now, switching between them from time to time.
I just discovered Mona’s auto-translate feature and WOW 🤯. I can now read posts that I would usually just skip, without having to do anything.
👍
2026-01-26 10:21 +0000
And... we got some #snow yesterday ❄️. Here are some stills i took with my doorbell during the day.
2026-01-24 09:25 +0000
And I am beginning to think that one of the best #selfhosting decisions this year is going to be moving to self-hosted Pangolin.
I think I already said this, but here it comes again. I have no problems or issues with running Cloudflare Tunnels, but once I got Pangolin up and running (which was also very simple btw), the configuration was way simpler and easier to understand. Heck, I even got SSH working for my Forgejo instance in breeze!
This is opening new possibilities 🤔 :cool_doge:
2026-01-24 09:20 +0000
It is so satisfying to run your own services, especially when everything is working as it should.
One of my best decisions last year was to migrate my previous setup from installing standard packages and running repos directly on the host, to run everything using Docker containers.
Updating, backing up, fixing, migrating, etc. is SO simple!
Cannot recommend enough! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
#selfhosting
2026-01-24 01:14 +0000
Took a bit longer than anticipated, including a trip to the grocery store to get ready for the snow storm, but all my services are back online and now behind Pangolin :)
2026-01-23 19:43 +0000
I am going to start moving my main self-hosted domain from Cloudflare Tunnel to self-hosted Pangolin.
Wish me luck 🤞!
2026-01-23 17:38 +0000
Ok, that wasn't that bad. Apparently Microslop was down, but who cares :troll:.
On other news, we had our team's summit yesterday to showcase our 2025 highlights and share 2026 priorities. It was nice. A bit slow at times, but overall pretty nice.
Today, working from home to get ready for The Big Snow™.
And on the self-hosting front, I was able to get Pangolin up and running without problems and I am in the process of moving away from Cloudflare Tunnels. I don't have anything against CF Tunnels, but I do love how easy (and cheap) it was to setup my own :cool_doge:.
2026-01-23 17:28 +0000
Need to catch up with my feed, been a couple of days out.
2026-01-21 12:25 +0000
-12 °C / 10 °F and getting colder as we get closer to the weekend
🥶🥶🥶🥶🥶
2026-01-12 17:09 +0000
I am (yet again 🤷♂️) testing dark mode on all my devices, and surprised at how tolerable it has been today. Most of my previous attempts failed just after a couple of hours.
Is this the year of dark mode for me? 🤔
2026-01-11 01:34 +0000
A couple of days ago I got #NocoDB running on my #HomeServer and so far I’m pretty happy with it!
Among other uses I’m finding for it, it already replaced the personal CRM (Monica) I was using as all I really need are a list of contacts, notes for each contact, and a custom reminder for each of them. Most of these are done with a couple of tables and a view, and for the reminder I’m using my Node-RED instance.
Highly recommended!
#SelfHosting
2026-01-04 14:05 +0000
I just discovered you can follow Lemmy communities without having to create an account on a Lemmy server, which kind of make sense. I have no idea if my timeline is going to get flooded with content from a couple of top communities I decided to follow, but it is a good experiment.
[continued]
Ok, I see how this works! Pretty much the same way Fedybuzz's Relay. So I can use my "relay" account to follow the topics and then I can just go to my federated timeline whenever I feel like reading those topics 👏
2025-12-29 10:59 +0000
As usual, doing everything except getting ready to work 🤷♂️
2025-12-11 11:18 +0000
Ok, time to get ready or I am going to be late (again) to take my train 🚆.
Plus I want to inflate one of my tires that is low (but not that low) AND clean the inside of my windshield.
Am I going to have enough time to do all of that AND make it in time 🤔? Probably, if I stop typing NOW 🏃♂️.
[continued]
I was on time… until I decided to stop for breakfast 🫣🤦♂️. Thankfully I had a backup plan (wait for the next train😅).
2025-12-08 13:31 +0000
OMG... As far as I remember, it's been quite some time since we've had this kind of cold this early in the Fall/Winter transition 🥶.
-4ºC, feels like -12ºC (24ºF, feels like 10ºF)
2025-12-08 12:58 +0000
Bit of a personal update.
This year I decided to indulge and fall victim to the smart gym marketing, and got myself a Gym Monster with all the bells and whistles.
I've never been a fan of gyms (or any kind of exercise actually), but I decided I was way overdue to start taking care of myself, so, I got this literal monster that came IN A PALLET!
Anyway, I've been doing a beginner routine 3 times per week for a couple of weeks now and so far so good! Not feeling over tired or physically bad, so that is a huge improvement over all my previous experiences!
2025-12-05 13:18 +0000
Yesterday I did a bit of playing with my local GtS instance and ended up migrating to a new one (this one) 😄
#GoToSocial is so nice for #SelfHosting your own #ActivityPub server, you get so much flexibility and power on a very lightweight package.
2025-11-14 14:15 +0000
Everything was going amazingly well at the DMV until it was my turn at the counter.
The appointment was very easy to schedule online, I did not have to stay in line, just check-in on my phone and straight to the waiting area. Then, not even 8:15 am and the person that receives me at the counter was already surprisingly rude and unhelpful.
The whole thing ended up being a waste of everyone's time because I was missing a document that was never asked to bring with me in the first place.
#dmv #rant
2025-11-14 12:28 +0000
For whatever reason (I think I know why) I wasn't able to renew my DL online and had to make an appointment.
DMV visits are in the category of those I am definitely not looking forward to.
2025-11-07 12:24 +0000
Someone: “I didn’t picture you as a hat person.”
Me: “I’m not a hat person. I’m a ‘my hair and I fought this morning and the hat won’ person.”
#Humor #BadHairDay
2025-11-06 09:45 +0000
Looks like there is some progress on the sleeping front.
Given that I went to the office yesterday I had to stay awake later, which means a) I was way tired when I got home, and b) I woke up much later today.
I should be back to "regular" hours in a couple of days (assuming I don't mess it up again over the weekend).
2025-11-05 08:55 +0000
Again went to sleep VERY early yesterday, and again woke up VERY early today 😔. I just hope I don't turn into a zombie 🧟♂️ after lunch.
2025-11-03 19:05 +0000
Finally catching up with the last season of #WhatWeDoInTheShadows 😂🧛♂️
2025-11-03 13:09 +0000
Let's see how long I last today. Barely had any sleep last night because I took a few "short naps" during the day 🤦♂️.
2025-11-03 10:28 +0000
Welp... apparently I am back 🤷♂️.