IT Specialist · Topeka, Kansas
Helpdesk support, Windows systems, and cloud infrastructure by day.
A fairly involved homelab by night.
I've been building things on the web for over 20 years — starting with forum software and SEO in the mid-2000s, and these days leaning more toward self-hosting, virtualization, and digital archiving.
| Site | What it is |
|---|---|
| 🧑💻 sheley.org | My home base: IT toolkit, homelab write-ups, hardware price trackers and a bit of forum history |
| 📦 latestat.com | Latest versions and end-of-life dates for 480+ products, with a free API, curl output, README badges and calendar feeds · repo |
| 🖥️ oldpcguy.com | Plain-English guides for keeping an old Windows PC or laptop running: Windows 10 after support, speed-ups, Linux, buying used and recycling |
$ curl latestat.com/php # is my PHP still supported?Real listings, not MSRP — each tracker is sorted by its own $/unit "best value" metric.
| Tracker | Tracks |
|---|---|
| 💾 Disk & SSD | $/TB across new, used, and renewed drives |
| 🧠 RAM | Desktop, laptop, and server ECC memory |
| 🎮 GPU | For gaming and local-LLM builds |
| 🗄️ NAS Enclosures | Synology, QNAP, TerraMaster, ASUSTOR, UGREEN |
| 🖥️ Servers | Used enterprise rack/tower servers |
| 🔌 Network Switches | Managed/unmanaged, by $/port |
| 📦 SFF / Mini PCs | Small-form-factor Proxmox nodes |
| ☀️ Solar Panels | DIY panel pricing + real install-cost benchmarks |
Infrastructure & Systems
Homelab & Self-Hosting
Web
Everything runs on Proxmox — a mix of VMs and LXC containers.
- 🎬 Emby — movies, TV, and archived YouTube channels
- 📸 Immich — self-hosted replacement for Google Photos
- 📥 Pinchflat — automated YouTube channel archiving
- 💾 3-copy backups, because one is none, two is one
📖 Media Lab setup · Data hoarding & archival
| Page | What's In It |
|---|---|
| 🏠 Home Assistant OS on Proxmox | VM setup, USB coordinator passthrough, snapshot strategy |
| 💾 TrueNAS Scale on Proxmox | HBA vs. by-ID disk passthrough, pool creation |
| 🧱 pfSense & OPNsense on Proxmox | Router/firewall virtualization |
| 🛡️ Pi-hole & AdGuard Home on Proxmox | Network-wide ad blocking as an LXC |
| 🐳 Docker on Proxmox & Windows | LXC vs. VM, Docker Desktop, 50-command cheat sheet |
| 🧭 PegaProx Setup Guide | Multi-cluster Proxmox/XCP-ng dashboard |
| ⚓ Dockhand Setup Guide | Portainer-alternative Docker dashboard |
| 📰 Proxmox Updates | Release/news roundup |
| ⚖️ Best Mini PC for Proxmox | Real pricing across 3 hardware tiers |
| 🆚 LXC vs VM on Proxmox | Real CVEs, a debunked benchmark, a decision framework |
| 🆚 Proxmox vs ESXi | Post-Broadcom licensing, and where each one still wins |
| 🍊 Orange Pi 6 Review | Researched spec breakdown of the newer Arm SBC |
| Guide | What's In It |
|---|---|
| 🛠️ The Essential IT Toolkit | 54 tools I actually use, sorted by category |
| 🤖 AI Prompting Guide | Beginner-friendly intro to prompts, chatbots, and agents |
| 🔌 Public API Finder | Searchable directory of free public APIs |
| ♻️ E-Waste & Metal Recovery | Responsible recycling + local pickup in Topeka |
Before IT was my full-time career, I spent years in the online forum world:
- Founded vBulletinSetup, a vBulletin support community and services business, later acquired by Crowdgather
- Ran Admin-Talk.com, a webmaster forum for community administrators
- Was one of six core members of Think Big Topeka — the 2010 grassroots campaign that got our city temporarily renamed "Google, Kansas," and prompted Google to rename its own homepage "Topeka" for April Fools' Day
📖 vBulletin & forum admin history · The Think Big Topeka story
🌐 sheley.org · 📦 latestat.com · 🖥️ oldpcguy.com · 💼 LinkedIn