$ whoami

Hi, I'm Nick.

MSP tech by day, maker of flying things by night. I've been fixing computers ever since my dad handed me a broken one at 13.

about

When I was 13, my dad gave me a hand-me-down PC that didn't work. Getting it running was the best present I could have asked for. These days I do MSP work for small businesses: networks, servers, CCTV, and access control, the stuff people only notice when it breaks. Off the clock, I'm 3D printing, building RC planes and drones, and running a homelab that's always one experiment away from needing a rebuild.

Currently: learning AI tools, starting with getting one to help build this website.

projects

Ending My Subscriptions

Netflix, Hulu, Spotify, Google Drive, 1Password, Adobe: almost all canceled. Plex handles movies, TV, and music. Synology Drive holds my files, Vaultwarden keeps my passwords, Immich took over my photos, and Stirling PDF does the PDF work. Affinity covers the rest of what Adobe did, mostly editing my film scans. All of it is reachable from anywhere over my own VPN, without opening a single port at home.

The servers are louder than the apps ever were, but the monthly bill got a lot quieter.

Homelab · Self-hosting · Docker

From Plastic to Metal

Print it in PLA, build a mold around it, burn the plastic out, and pour aluminum where it used to be. Lost-PLA casting turned my 3D printer into a foundry, and some of those aluminum parts are now in real use.

3D printing · Metal casting

Sickeningly-Fast FPV

My FPV drones keep getting faster. The quickest ones top 200 mph, and every build is a little more ambitious than the last. That's how I like it.

FPV · RC · Drone builds

The Darkroom

When I need to slow down, especially in winter, I shoot 35mm and medium format film and make enlarged prints in the darkroom, the old-fashioned way. No screens, no undo button.

Film photography · Darkroom

contact

Want to say hi? Drop me a line.