Five Years Later
It has been almost five years since I last posted anything here. My last post was in November 2021, and looking back now, that feels like a completely different point in my life.
At the time, I was working as an Application Analyst. In 2022, I moved into an AWS Ecosystem Team Lead role, and by 2025 I had moved into my current position as an Infrastructure as Code Technical Manager and SME. My work has changed quite a bit along the way. I went from application support, to cloud infrastructure, to spending most of my time around automation, standards, architecture, and technical leadership.
A lot changed outside of work too. My son was born in January 2020, I got my EMT certification in August of that year, and I spent some time with the local rescue squad.
In 2022, I got married, and a seven-year custody dispute finally came to an end with true 50/50 physical custody.
My daughter was born in March 2023. That same year, I was given school placement. In July, I completed the last nighttime police academy offered at the local community college, and a few months later, in October, I joined the local fire department.
I started the nighttime fire academy in January 2024. It took a little over a year to finish, and in February 2025 I became a certified firefighter.
Then February 2026 happened.
While operating at a brush fire, I had a heart attack and went into cardiac arrest. I received CPR, was shocked multiple times with an AED, and was taken to the hospital where a completely blocked LAD was opened and stented. That turned into an ICU stay, kidney failure, dialysis, and several months away from the fire department while I recovered.
That was not on the schedule.
Thankfully, I recovered well enough to eventually return to full firefighting duties.
While all of that was happening, the home lab also changed quite a bit.
This was my network in 2021:
At the time, the setup centered around an EdgeRouter X, XenServer, a Debian PC acting as a network tap, a FreeBSD VM, VLANs, and a dedicated malware analysis network. It was already much more complicated than a normal home network, but compared to what it looks like now, it was fairly simple.
This is the network today:
There are now two separate Internet connections. The normal home network uses 2 Gbps fiber, while the lab has its own 1 Gbps coax connection. The lab side now includes OPNsense, Proxmox, multiple management and data VLANs, Windows Server, dedicated Logstash systems, a Debian network tap, Cisco switching, and several separate management networks.
The home network has expanded too, with dedicated wireless networks, an isolated IoT network, a separate VR network, WireGuard connectivity, and a 10 Gbps connection to my main desktop.
Looking back at the 2021 diagram, I remember thinking that setup was pretty elaborate.
Apparently I was just getting started.