Gear

This page is a tour of the hardware, apps, and smart home tech that power my day-to-day life. This includes what I use daily, the contents of my home lab, the infrastructure powering my house, and what I carry when I travel.

Last updated: June 8, 2026

My Office

Daily Trappings

My office is set up with everything I use daily connected to a Thunderbolt dock. I can connect either my personal or work laptop to the dock with one cable, allowing me to swing my monitor, webcam, keyboard, mouse, etc. between laptops while minimizing change.

  • Chair: Herman Miller Mirra 2

  • Desk: UPLIFT V2 Standing Desk

  • Desk Automation: Upsy Desky (ESP32 Controller)
    An ESP32 board connected to the desk’s controller; lets Home Assistant raise/lower the desk.

  • Monitor: Apple Studio Display (27″ Retina 5K)
    5120×2880 @ 60Hz, P3 color, True Tone, 12MP Center Stage potato camera.

  • Monitor Arm: Ergotron LX
    Full-motion desk arm; keeps the Studio Display at eye level while freeing desktop space.

  • Tablet Arm: Viozon Laptop / Tablet Arm
    A height-adjustable arm clamped to my desk to hold my iPad Pro. It fits 12–17″ devices and also includes a removable VESA 75×75 / 100×100 plate.

  • Dock: OWC Thunderbolt 4 Dock
    3× TB4 (up to 40 Gbps, 96W charging), 4× USB-A, GbE, SD UHS-II, audio in/out.

  • Webcam: Insta360 Link
    4K @ 30 fps (1080p @ 60 fps), gimbal AI auto-framing, HDR video, hand-gesture zoom. In other words, this camera keeps me in frame and physically follows me on a gimbal.

  • Keyboard: Keychron Q3 (QMK/VIA)
    Gasket-mount aluminum, hot-swappable switches, south-facing RGB. And heavy. Very heavy.

  • Trackpad: Apple Magic Trackpad

  • Printer: Brother HL-L8430CDW
    Color laser, 33 ppm, 2400×600 dpi, Wi-Fi dual-band, Gigabit Ethernet, AirPrint, 2.7″ touchscreen.

  • Charger: Anker MagGo Magnetic Charging Station
    Qi2 15W MagSafe Wireless Charger with 3 AC and 4 USB ports. I use it to charge my phone and power other random things.

  • Speakers: Sonos Play:1 (stereo pair)
    I actually have an extensive Sonos system around the house.

  • Smart Button: Aqara Zigbee Wireless Mini Switch
    Single/double/long-press mapped in Home Assistant to control lights.

  • Stream Decks: Stream Deck (15 keys) & Stream Deck XL (32 keys)
    I have them mounted in a stacked bracket. The smaller one is an app/mode switcher, while the larger one changes buttons based on the current app context. For example, Zoom has buttons to mute and toggle video while Slack has buttons for key people and channels.

  • Key Light: Elgato Key Light
    2,900K – 7,000K edge-lit panel (2,800lm max), desk-mounted, Wi-Fi/app control. Tied into Home Assistant and can automatically turn on when my camera does. I also have it flash at both 29 and 59 minutes past the hour so I have a visual indicator to wrap up meetings.

  • Light Bulbs: Govee H600A RGBWW bulbs (3×)
    Light bulbs in the ceiling fan that can provide atmosphere.

  • Floor Lamps: Govee H607C RGBIC floor lamps (2×)
    Lamps that light the back wall behind me.

  • Projector: Govee H6093 Star/Aurora projector
    Ambient back wall lighting I use sometimes for fun.

The Compute

  • Laptop: MacBook Pro 16″ (M1 Max, 2021)
    10-core CPU, 32-core GPU, 32GB RAM, 2TB SSD.

  • Phone: iPhone 17 Pro Max
    1TB storage, A19 Pro, USB-C.

  • Tablet: iPad Pro 11″ (M4, 2024)
    2TB, nano-texture OLED, 5G + Wi-Fi 6E, Magic Keyboard case.

  • Watch: Apple Watch Ultra 2
    49mm titanium, cellular, Action Button, up to 60h battery.

Coffee

  • Pour-Over Brewer: Chemex
    First cup in the morning.

  • Coffee Grinder: Baratza Encore
    Grinds beans for the Chemex. Simple and reliable enough that I haven’t replaced it.

  • Coffee Scale: Acaia Pearl S (2022)
    Weighs coffee and water for the morning pour-over.

  • Espresso Machine: Gaggia Cadorna Prestige
    For the second cup, or when we want something milk-based.

  • Kettle: Cuisinart GK-1
    Gooseneck electric kettle for pour-over.

  • Mug: Ember Mug 2 (14oz)
    Keeps coffee at 140°F all day, especially on the charging coaster.

3D Printing

  • Printer: Bambu Lab P2S with AMS 2 Pro
    Enclosed CoreXY FDM printer, 1000mm/s max speed, 256 × 256 × 256 mm build volume, multi-color printing via AMS 2 Pro (4-spool automatic material system).

  • Ventilation: VentoBox
    HEPA + activated-carbon filtration driven by a 7530 blower, with single-pass exhaust and multi-pass recirculation modes.

  • 0.4mm Nozzle: Bambu hardened nozzle
    The nozzle that stays installed most of the time.

  • 0.2mm Nozzle: Bambu stainless steel nozzle
    For tiny text, fine details, and other prints where resolution matters more than speed.

  • 0.6mm Nozzle: Bambu high-flow tungsten carbide nozzle
    For bigger, faster parts where fine detail matters less.

  • Textured PEI Plate: Bambu Textured PEI Plate
    The normal build plate.

  • Frostbite Plate: CryoGrip Frostbite plate
    For prints that need more grip.

  • Printer Stand: BIQU Panda Den
    A steel pedestal from BIQU’s Panda-Verse ecosystem that the P2S sits on top of. Filament purge waste (“poop”) drops directly from the printer’s chute through a trapdoor into a pull-out collection drawer below; two additional drawers hold tools, nozzles, and spare build plates. Rear slot accepts other Panda-Verse accessories.

  • Filament Dryer: Creality SpacePi X4
    Dual-chamber dryer, holds 4 spools, up to 85°C, 360° hot-air circulation, active dehumidification, dry-and-print passthrough ports.

Home Lab

My home lab lives in a rack in the corner of my office. I use it to power my smart home through Home Assistant, experiment with new technologies, learn new things, and generate ambient heat and white noise. The primary thing running here is Proxmox, with everything else running as LXC containers or VMs on top of it.

Proxmox VE Cluster

I’m not doing anything fancy like Ceph or NAS here. I have all nodes using local storage with scheduled sync jobs between each host for “backup” or migration purposes.

  • 2× GMKtec EVO-X1
    Ryzen 9 PRO 6950H, 32GB RAM.

  • Intel NUC Skull Canyon
    i7-6770HQ, 32GB RAM, dual NVMe.

Peripherals / Gear

  • KVM: PiKVM V4 Plus
    This is super handy for long debugging sessions. Along with KVM, it can also attach virtual media and serial ports to attached devices.

  • Monitor: UPERFECT 18.5″ 120Hz IPS Monitor
    Portable monitor for when I need a second screen at the rack.

  • Keyboard: Keychron K2
    My previous daily driver; lives in the lab as a backup.

Storage & Power

Home Infrastructure

  • Primary Internet: Google Fiber 3Gbps
    Main WAN connection.

  • Backup Internet: T-Mobile 5G
    Backup WAN for outages.

  • Router: Ubiquiti UCG Fiber
    10G SFP+ fiber/copper WAN, four-port 2.5GbE switch, UniFi OS with network/security management. Handles failover between Google Fiber and T-Mobile.

  • Wi-Fi: ASUS ZenWiFi Pro ET12 (mesh × 3)
    Tri-band Wi-Fi 6E with 2.5GbE ports.

  • Weather Station: Tempest Weather Station
    Real-time wind, rain, UV, lightning; feeds Home Assistant.

  • Dashboard: TRMNL 7.5″ E-Ink Dashboard
    Shows family calendar, live weather, Houston Astros schedule, dad jokes.

  • TV Tuner: HDHomeRun FLEX 4K
    4-tuner ATSC 1.0/3.0 network TV; DVR via Channels DVR.

  • Zigbee Coordinator: ZigStar UZG-01
    Freestanding Zigbee coordinator with Wi-Fi, PoE, and Ethernet; connected to Home Assistant via Zigbee2MQTT.

  • Z-Wave Controller: Nabu Casa Home Assistant Connect ZWA-2
    Z-Wave 800 series USB stick with Z-Wave Long Range (up to 1,500m), S2 security, SmartStart QR pairing; integrates with Home Assistant via Z-Wave JS.

Entertainment

  • TV: LG C3 65″ OLED TV
    4K OLED evo panel, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, G-Sync + FreeSync Premium, webOS.

  • Gaming Console: Nintendo Switch 2
    Docked to the LG TV.

  • Streaming Device: Apple TV 4K (3rd Gen)
    A15 Bionic, 4K HDR10+ / Dolby Vision, Thread border router.

  • Soundbar: Sonos Arc (Gen 1)
    11 drivers, Dolby Atmos, eARC.

  • Surround Speakers: 2× Sonos Era 300
    6 drivers, Dolby Atmos spatial audio; rear/height channels.

  • Subwoofer: Sonos Sub (Gen 2)
    Wireless force-canceling subwoofer.

  • TV Lighting: Govee H6604 AI Sync Box Kit 2
    HDMI 2.1 sync box with 11.8ft RGBWIC strip; AI-driven lighting reacts to on-screen content.

Audio Gear

  • Earbuds: AirPods Pro (3rd Gen)
    ANC, Adaptive Audio.

  • Wireless Headphones: Sony WH-1000XM6
    Over-ear ANC, LDAC, multipoint.

  • Closed-Back Headphones: AKG K550
    Closed-back studio reference cans.

  • Semi-Open Headphones: AKG K240 MK II
    Semi-open classics with mini-XLR cable.

  • Open-Back Headphones: Philips Fidelio X2/27
    Open-back over-ear, 50mm neodymium drivers, 30 Ohm impedance.

Camera Gear

  • Mirrorless: Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark II
    16.1MP Micro Four Thirds, 5-axis in-body stabilization.

  • 360° Camera: Insta360 X5
    8K30 360° video, 1/1.28″ sensors, waterproof to 49ft, replaceable lens guards.

  • Action Camera: Insta360 GO 3
    2.7K, 35g, mounts anywhere, comes with a flip-screen Action Pod.

Travel Gear

Apps & Services