DIY Computer Repair/Aspiring IT Professional

Linux, Networking, and Programming Enthusiast

Welcome! I offer freelance computer repair services in the Southern Oklahoma/North Texas area that range from hard drive recovery, parts replacement, network and end device troubleshooting, as well as installation/configuration of VM, Linux, or Windows servers, routers and switches (including Cisco products), cloud based services, IoT devices and really whatever you need in-between. In addition to this, I am also currently studying to enter the realm of Cybersecurity with an emphasis on Network Security and Analysis and am extremely active on the HacktheBox Academy platform with the goal of obtaining my CREST CPSA. I find developing the skills needed to be the first line of defense against some of the most sophisticated criminals on the planet to be one of the most amazing and rewarding feelings ever and fuels my drive to keep learning and growing everyday to better myself in this field.

What I’m working on

Back to the (home)lab Again! Cisco 3650-CX

Move over Packet Tracer! Today I'm implementing an actual Cisco managed switch into my homelab environment, my first real Cisco product (ironic considering the Github handle) and also my first managed switch! I finished the CCST Networking course over a year ago and I'm still over here using a Modem/Router/AP...

(Actually) OPNsense

Full article in the works! I posted a teaser article a few months ago about setting up OPNsense on an Optiplex 7010, but unfortunately that never came to fruition. The NIC that I ordered off of eBay never showed up, I ended up splitting up with the mother of my...

Navidrome on FreeBSD

Whew! It's been a crazy couple of weeks. Lots of OS installs, lots of configuration, its been a blast. Since I wrote the original draft of this article, I've spent a decent amount of time 'dancing with the Devil' (well Beastie the devil anyways!) and wanted to give this OS...

Adding Second Wifi with Aruba AP

Alright! I've been doing a lot of work on my home network lately, having implemented a Proxmox cluster, a Cisco switch, and an OPNsense firewall in the last couple of weeks here and today we're gonna add another addition to our home network: an Aruba access point! Specifically an Aruba...

Projects

Why I (Almost) Never Use File Explorers

2023 was a crazy year for sure, I started by deleting the Windows partition on my laptop (my only device at the time) and switched to Debian, then Arch Linux full-time to really dig down into Linux. But the real fun started when I discovered tiling Window Managers and decided...

Getting Hip to Tmux

This article almost feels overdue, but honestly already using a tiling WM made putting off learning/using Tmux pretty easy but use cases kept popping up, mainly when I'm learning coding on my laptop. I usually default to my study screen being half one terminal window running Zathura with whatever book...

The Revenge of Vimtutor: Actually Getting Good At Vim/Nvim

Anybody who knows me knows that I absolutely love Vim and NeoVim. Vim is one of the first programs that I install on any of my servers, pretty much all of my configs have basic vim key bindings added, if I'm not using a program that has them integrated by...

Trying Out NixOS (it's Awesome!)

So, I'm not a big distro hopper, I don't get super stoked to try out every new distro release or anything like that, and my Linux desktop experience has been relatively linear in the way that I progressed through distributions. Starting from the beginning, the Linux desktop distros that I've...

Experience

Freelance Computer Repair

Self-Hosted, Freelance Computer Repair
| October, 2001 - January, 2024

I've never worked in a professional tech position, but I'm definitely the guy that friends, family, and coworkers come to with their tech issues. Everything from doing system restores, to backing up pictures, basic hardware swaps, and OS optimization for whatever use case (while fighting the urge to put a Linux distro on their machine while doing so.) I love messing with tech, its what gets me out of bed in the morning and I'm passionate about breaking into the industry.