I’ve been tinkering with technology since I was old enough to reach a keyboard. I built my first website back in the Drupal days — yes, the one with the bottom toolbar I wrote in JavaScript, no, I don’t know why either of those things are connected — and I’ve been collecting projects, half-finished hobbies, and opinions since. I’ve been running a homelab since 2015, I bind books sometimes, and I spend far too much time hopping Linux distributions.

I grew up in Goa and did my uni in Hyderabad. These days I live in the UK, I work in technology, and I’m endlessly curious about everything from system administration to Stoic philosophy. I like building things, reading about things I don’t yet understand, and collecting opinions the way other people collect vinyl records.

Here’s a rundown of the things that make up my days.

1. What I read

I read reference material, self-help books that actually help, and anything funny enough to make me snort in public. My magazine rack is a chaotic mix of tech, fitness, art, and writing:

Digit, Chip, Writing, Writers Digest, Rolling Stone UK, Leisure Painter and the Artist, Men’s Health, Too Long, Moneyweek, DataQuest, Open Source for You, Running for Beginners, Artist’s Drawing and Inspiration, Learn Hot English, Money Magazine, Cycling Weekly UK, Runner’s World, PC Gamer UK, Retro Gamer, Creative Artist, Men’s Fitness, Healthy Men’s Handbook, Paint & Draw, 1001 Road Bike Tips, Linux Format Annual, Linux Made Simple, Get Into Art, Total Bike Repair & Maintenance, Ride Fit, Hackers Manual, Linux & Open Source Annual, Coding Academy, The Python Book.

I also read a lot of technical documentation, Linux man pages for fun (don’t judge), and the occasional philosophy book. Seneca and Marcus Aurelius are my go-to comfort reads — there’s something calming about reading two-thousand-year-old advice when your Wi-Fi goes down.

2. What I write

This blog, mostly. I’ve been writing online since 2009 — started on WordPress, migrated to Hugo, and somewhere along the way decided that my notes were worth keeping public. I write about technology, spirituality, personal development, and the occasional rant about something that annoyed me.

I’ve also written technical documentation, project proposals, stakeholder matrices, and enough performance review self-assessments to fill a small library. If there’s a document that needs writing, I’ll probably end up doing it.

3. What I listen to

My taste isn’t coherent and I don’t pretend it is. One minute I’m listening to Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, the next I’m deep in a Beyoncé B-side, then suddenly it’s 50 Cent on repeat because why not. The artists I keep coming back to are Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Barbara Pravi, Michael Jackson, Pharrell Williams, Shakira, Kylie Minogue, Gwen Stefani, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Camila Cabello, Amy Winehouse, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Adele, Blackpink, Twice, Usher, Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, Dua Lipa, 50 Cent, Eminem, Shania Twain, Bryan Adams, Nelly Furtado, Ricky Martin, Lalisa, Lily Allen, Robbie Williams, and Elton John.

Some of my favourite songs are Legends Never Die, Points of Authority, Genie in a Bottle, Controlla, and Shutdown.

4. What I play

Quake 3 Arena, Unreal Tournament, Road Rash, Prince of Persia, and Need for Speed.

I grew up on these games — the kind of stuff you’d install off a CD-ROM and play until your parents told you to turn the computer off. Quake 3 Arena was my gateway into competitive gaming, and I still think it’s one of the cleanest, most satisfying shooters ever made. Unreal Tournament came later, and while it had its moments, Quake always felt more precise.

Road Rash was fun to play as well — brutal, dumb, and absolutely brilliant. Prince of Persia was the first game that made me think about level design, and Need for Speed was pure arcade adrenaline. I don’t play as much as I used to, but when I do, it’s usually something from this era.

5. What I follow

Formula 1. That’s it. That’s the list.

I’ve been following F1 for years — long enough to remember when the sport felt different, when the rivalries meant something, when the cars sounded like something you’d want to hear at 3am. I follow the teams, the drivers, the technical side of things. I watch the races, I read the analysis, and I argue about it with anyone who’ll listen.

It’s the only sport I follow seriously. I don’t watch football, I don’t care about cricket, and I couldn’t tell you who’s winning the Premier League this year. But F1? That’s different. It’s engineering and athleticism and drama all wrapped into one.

6. What I use

The tools that get out of my way: Zed for editing, Git for version control, Homebrew, Snap and Flatpak for getting things installed, Waterfox and Librefox for browsing, Hugo for this site, Pandoc and LaTeX when I need to produce something that looks proper, Colima and Docker for containers, Alacritty as my terminal, IINA and Kodi for media, The Unarchiver because macOS still can’t open a RAR, Lulu for firewall rules, LibreOffice because proprietary office suites are a tax on productivity, Macs Fan Control because stock thermal management is more of a suggestion, Syncthing, KDE Plasma and Lomiri.

I’ve tried every Ubuntu flavour, plus Bazzite, PostmarketOS, Mobian, Armbian, Droidian, GUIX, Tribblix, OpenIndiana, and FydeOS. I collect operating systems the way other people collect shoes.

My homelab runs on a mix of Docker containers, Ansible for configuration management, and enough Raspberry Pis to power a small developing nation. I’ve done everything from setting up basic web servers to running full CI/CD pipelines. Terraform is my go-to for infrastructure as code, and I’ve spent more evenings than I’d admit tweaking Ansible playbooks.

7. Who I like

Lewis Hamilton, Karun Chandok, Barack Obama, Jay Shetty, Romesh Ranganathan, Jimmy Carr, Robert Kiyosaki, Steven Bartlett, Dr Rangan Chatterjee, Naomi Schiff, Michael Jackson, Remo Fernandes, Sadiq Khan, Nimesh Patel, Mehdi Raza Hasan, Donald Glover, Count Binface, and Jack Kelly. No particular order. Some I admire, some I find interesting, some I just enjoy listening to.

8. Where I donate

I donate to Cancer Research UK, Barnardo’s, the British Heart Foundation, Midlands Air Ambulance Charity Shop, and The Salvation Army in West Bromwich and Oldbury.

I also do my bit through TKN Canada. I’ve volunteered at community events, helped with local projects, and done my share of things that nobody will ever write about. That’s the point.

9. What I watch

Movies: The Untouchables.

TV Series: Friends, Friday Night Dinner.

10. What I eat

Fish Pie, Chicken Tikka Masala, Chicken Madras, Fish and Chips, Sweet and Sour Chicken and Rice, Goan Fish Curry Rice, Ros Omelette, Butter Chicken, Veggie Lasagna, Xacuti, Prawn Biryani or Pulav.

11. Devices I use

  • Xiaomi Note 9 Pro – Android 12
  • Fairphone 5 – PostmarketOS Edge
  • OnePlus 6T – Ubuntu Touch
  • Macbook 16 Pro Max 64GB – macOS Tahoe
  • Synology Disk Station DS916+ – DSM 7.x
  • Asus PN50 Mini PC – Proxmox Linux
  • Acer Laptop – Bazzite
  • Macbook Air 13 – Bazzite
  • Pixel Slate – FydeOS
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab A6 SM-T585 – crDroid Android 14
  • Previous Devices
    • Xiaomi Poco M3 (Hard Bricked) – Ubuntu Touch
    • iPhone 15 Pro Max (Sold) – iOS
    • Pixel 9 Pro XL (Sold) – Graphene OS
    • Xiaomi X3 NFC (Sold) – LineageOS MicroG
    • Nexus 6 (Broke) – LineageOS MicroG
    • Nokia 640 XL (Lost) – Windows Phone
    • some HTC (Soft Bricked) – Android
    • Nexus 7 (Stolen) – stock Android
    • Micromax (Broke) – Feature phone
    • some Nokia (Broke) – Symbian
    • O2 XDA Flame (Sold) – Windows Pocket PC
    • HP iPAQ (Sold) – Windows Pocket PC
    • Sony Ericsson P910 (Sold) – Symbian
    • Panasonic (Lost) – Feature phone

12. What I listen to on podcasts

  • TLDR Podcast
  • Jay Shetty

13. What I watch on YouTube

YouTube is my default search engine and my default entertainment. I watch everything from Linux tutorial videos to Formula 1 highlights, from book binding tutorials to stand-up comedy clips. The algorithm knows me better than I know myself at this point.

14. Favourite Brands

  • Aston Martin
  • Williams Racing
  • Lava Mobile
  • Nothing
  • Fairphone
  • O2 XDA
  • Sainsbury’s
  • Tesco

15. How to find me

You can find me on GitHub as shafiqalibhai.