August 18, 2026
I have finally set up my website properly, something I’ve been meaning to do for a while.
I’m now hosting this via K8s, hosted on a smaller plan with a x2 2GB memory nodes. The setup is overkill, but it allows me to scale as necessary.
Technologies
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| Layer | Technology | Key Responsibility |
|---|
| Ingress & Security | Cloudflare Tunnel + Access | Zero open inbound firewall ports; identity-aware SSO protection (@conordot.com) |
| Source of Truth | GitHub (conordot/kubernetes) | All infrastructure and application state is stored declaratively as code |
| Deployment Engine | Argo CD (AppProject) | Continuous GitOps reconciliation, RBAC isolation, and policy enforcement |
| Runtime & Compute | UpCloud Managed Kubernetes | Isolated VPC cluster hosting workloads in dedicated namespaces (blog) |
Diagram
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The below images were generated using an LLM -> Mermaid, and modified using Excalidraw. Excuse any mistakes as a result.
...November 21, 2024
I picked up a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x Snapdragon X (14″, Gen 9) laptop a few days ago as part of the Black Friday deals, I managed to get it foraround $1900.
This is a quick post to outline my thoughts on it.
My use-cases and software
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- Docker Desktop
- Kubernetes
- VMs
- Infrastructure-as-Code (Terraform and CDK)
- Studying (LaTeX, ProctorU for exams)
Design and Build Quality:
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- Great build quality, solid top cover and keyboard materials.
- Design is nice and clean, typical Lenovo design that works well.
- Weight and size is slightly larger than my previous Slim 7i Pro, but not too bulky.
Display:
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- 14.5" 3K UHD OLED Touchscreen display, with 90 Hz refresh rate.
- So far I’ve been very impressed with it.
- I’ve turned down the brightness and set it to 60 Hz for the battery life (not that I need to).
- Day-to-day tasks are very snappy. Definitely the smoothest Windows experience I’ve had.
- Applications that require multi-core performance have been pretty smooth so far (no complaints) although I haven’t tested it too much.
- Kubernetes and Docker worked with no hitch.
- Using WSL2 for some initial Kernel compiling has worked fine (no issues).
- No real gaming experience so far, but I didn’t purchase this machine to do that as I already have a gaming desktop.
- I did launch Factorio briefly on the machine and that had no issues, though I suspect because Factorio is not that demanding.
Battery Life:
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- Very impressed so far. Claims of anywhere from 12 to 16 hours. I’d say that figure is pretty spot-on for most tasks (non-performance).
- Performance-related tasks obviously shorten that, with an hour to two expected and in-line with similar laptops.
Keyboard and Trackpad:
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- Keyboard quality and typing experience have been excellent. The keyboard feels sturdy and the travel on the keys is very nice.
- Trackpad is fine. Definitely not a MacBook quality trackpad but it functions well.
Ports and Connectivity:
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- Lacking. In total there are three USB-C works, one of which is used for power. This is not as big of an issue for me as I’m always with an Adapter anyway, but it is frustrating for most.
- Lack of audio input is definitely a bummer.
Software and Features:
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- Windows Hello works well and haven’t had any issues.
- Being ARM, compatibility is an issue to watch-out for. I’ve personally had a pretty positive experience with most software
- Docker + Docker Desktop, and Kubernetes integration, works fine.
- WSL2 works excellent.
- All the native applications have ARM versions (Spotify, Obsidian, Vivaldi, VSCode).
- Hyper-V works for some VMs, though you need to disable Secure Boot and limit the Virtual CPU’s to 1 to get it to launch. I have an Ubuntu 24.10 ARM64 VM working with no issue and plan on playing around with other images.
- Guardian Browser worked during the pre-checks (used for exams).
- LaTeX (via WSL2) works fine with no issues rendering from a very quick test
- I have been able to dual-boot Ubuntu 24.10 as well (take a look here if interested https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-24-10-concept-snapdragon-x-elite/48800#p-121153-what-works)
Price and Value:
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- The normal retail price is anywhere from $2400 to $2900 (AUD) depending on your retailer and specs.
- I managed to get it for $1900, which I think is a pretty good value for 1TB disk and 32GB RAM particularly compared to other options.
Pros and Cons:
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PROS:
...November 12, 2023
Been a little while since I made a post.
I’ve spent the last week in NZ, coming back to visit family.
I went to Invercargill, the southern-most city in New Zealand at the base of the South Island. I’ve never been but I’m pleasantly surprised. The weather was surprisingly pleasant, the people lovely, wide roads and a really relaxed environment.
I also popped out to Bluff which is roughly 20 minutes away. It’s a very small town, but has amazing sights and super friendly people living there. It’s well known for the Seafood in the region, especially Oysters. Grabbing lunch and a view from the top of the hill is well-worth the time.
...June 19, 2023
I recently finished the book Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less - by Greg McKeown.
I enjoyed it and found it quite useful. The book definitely could have been shorter (it’s roughly 250-300 pages), but I think some of the lessons are useful and can be applied personally. It’s similar in nature to Atomic Habits.
Summary of some good points in the book (some overlapping concepts):
- You can’t do it all. You need to prioritize items and learn to say no.
- Evaluate what is essential in your list or tasks (when it calls for it). Eliminate everything that isn’t.
- Small incremental wins are more important than big flashy ones. Small steady progress allows you to more accurately capture essential tasks
- Create meaningful routines that reward steady progress.
- You are the one solely responsible for managing your buckets of tasks. If you don’t do it, your boss, friends, family, etc, will make that choice for you and that can be where issues arise.
June 18, 2023
I recently decided to migrate to NixOS for my main laptop. I utilize a desktop with Windows (mainly for gaming), but the laptop I use more for development, learning and day-to-day usage.
I made the switch from:
- Windows 11 - for the vast majority of my laptops lifecycle.
- Manjaro
- ArchLinux
- (Now) NixOS
Each of the Distributions I thoroughly enjoyed.
Manjaro - My first venture into non-Debian-based distributions for full-time usage. I’ve used Fedora too, but only for temporary testing. I enjoyed Manjaro. There are definitely some valid concerns against it’s recommendation and usage (https://github.com/arindas/manjarno is one brief page of issues), but I think some of the issues are remediated/less prevelent, and some of the other points are probably not as much of an issue for the average user (Manjaro repository vs AUR for example).
...May 15, 2023
New Site
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Created and hosted my new site. Basic web site using Hugo to statically generate my content.
- Public-facing content is deployed from Github Actions
- Private-facing content is deployed from Buildkite, via an agent hosted in my homelab.
IaC
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Public:
Private:
- IaC is handled via Ansible from the initial clone, to the application deploy.
- Everything resides in a single mono-repo.
Goal
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The goal is to host a minimal set of homelab tools that can be recreated a moments notice. I’m using Alpine for all my images, and looking to shrink future services.