I’ve been wanting to write and publish for a while, but I’ve been overly critical about what’s worth sharing or not.
I often consider things that, in hindsight, prove to be unnecessary, such as:
It has to provide value
I learned that sharing my personal experiences in itself have value. It brings up visibility on my interest that might resonate with other people too.
It has to be worth other’s people time
We’re clearly bad judges of our own creations. We should just put them out there and let the world decide. – Derek Sivers
I could not possibly know what’s worth other people’s time. It’s an imaginary audience in my head that put unnecessary pressure on me. Publish and let people decide.
It has to be structured, easy to read
At this point, it doesn’t matter how my posts are structured. The goal is be comfortable on publishing and sharing stuff. The goal is to keep on sharing. It could be a single sentence or a well-thought of piece. It doesn’t matter.
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In general, writing does not have to be for other people. However, the thought that someone else might read it forces me to structure my writing enough that it makes sense. If I were writing solely for myself, I would write things that would not make sense even to me a few weeks, months, years from now.
Writing for other people is just an excuse to force myself to extract clarity out of what’s inside my head.
One of the hobbies I picked up this year was to be an Internet Service Provider (ISP) wannabe using Fiber to the Home (FTTH).
I was just so fascinated with FTTH technology and how accessible acquiring the equipment needed to implement it. It’s expensive, but not out-of-reach expensive. Imagine the jump of technology from CAT6 (4 pairs of copper wires) limited to 100 meters, to a single strand of fiber than can support over 100 km length at faster speed! It’s super fascinating for me.
I kept researching how it works. Knowing myself, I will only learn if I put skin in the game.
In the process, I learned a ton of new acronyms:
OLT: Optical Line Terminal
EPON OLT on my server rack
This is the most expensive part of this hobby. OLT is like the network switch for fiber. It allows transmission to multiple ONU (more on this later).
I chose the cheapest OLT I could find, specifically looking for a local supplier so I can quickly get a replacement if ever it malfunction.
I got a HiOSO HA7302CST. It’s an EPON OLT that has 2 PON ports that can connect up to 128 ONUs.
PON: Passive Optical Network
9 dBm EPON Module
PON is what the technology is called. It’s passive, meaning it does not require electrical components to split or combine the signal. It literally uses light to transmit data.
There are 2 common types of implementation. EPON and GPON. EPON has symmetrical speed, GPON have faster downstream speed. GPON is what PLDT, Globe use as it has more capacity per fiber line. EPON is generally cheaper.
ODN: Optical Distribution Network
Planning the layout of my NAPs
ODN is how the fiber are physically laid out.
We have a couple of properties in the same village. What I did is I installed a 1:8 NAP on each property to provide internet service to the house itself and it’s nearby neighbors.
NAP: Network Access Point
First ever NAP installation. Daming excess wires!Improved later on
NAP are the boxes where the signal from PON is split. It can be split on different ratios with different signal loss depending on how large the split is.
Splitter Type
Insertion Loss (dB)
1:2
4.0
1:4
7.4
1:8
10.5
1:16
13.5
I opted to use 1:8, since I’m not seeing myself acquiring a lot of subscribers.
ONU: Optical Network Unit
A patched Converge 5v5 modem connected to my EPON
ONU are the modem that converts the signal from fiber and make it available through Ethernet and WiFi.
Connection information from ONU to OLT
I learned that Huawei EchoLife HG8145V5 is very popular modem in Facebook Marketplace because it’s what the major telecom uses. Unused modems from disconnected/terminated subscribers are being sold in the second-hand market.
It’s possible to reuse it outside the telecom’s network because there’s an exploit for Huawei modems that allows root access to the device and convert it from GPON to EPON ONU. This was fascinating too!
SC-UPC / SC-APC: Subscriber Connector
There are two types of subscriber connectors. SC-UPC (Blue) and SC-APC (Green). The difference is how their end is polished (angled vs not angled). It can be interchangeably used, but it will incur a notable signal loss.
Terminating a fiber line
I learned how to terminate it myself. So much easier than terminating a CAT6 cable.
Loss Budgeting
Optical Power Meter to check signal strength: -5.02 dBm
From the OLT, you start with the PON module signal which in my case is 7-9 dBm depending on the module. The loss must not to be more than -27 dBm when it reaches the ONU.
For every split and every termination, there will be signal loss incurred.
A computation is required to get an estimate of the final signal strength. I learned that it’s called loss budgeting — making sure that the signal does not go below the threshold from OLT to ONU.
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I’m now an ISP for a couple of houses in village. It’s mostly family and friends. No plans on expanding, just wanted to scratch an itch and learn about the thing. Fun stuff!
My Mom asked for a CCTV at their place. There were disputes were a CCTV would have been beneficial to quickly sort out the issue.
I initially setup the “easy” kind of CCTV. An IoT WiFi-based camera, but it turned out not to be reliable. It saves its data on a MicroSD, and it easily burn out after a couple of months, wireless connection gets disconnected intermittently, and the camera itself is unpredictable and hangs from time to time.
I switched to PoE-based solution which is far better that what I initially installed.
Network Video Recorder
With PoE Camera, it does not have it’s own storage. The data has to be stored somewhere, which is the NVR (Network Video Recorder)
I have an existing server for Crystaldrin Network which serves various purposes including a NAS (Network Attached Storage). I was looking for something I could virtualize and use the same storage already available.
I explored a couple of software solutions and I decided on Synology’s Surveillance Station. The good things is, it’s Linux-based, and there’s a community that allows it to run in a virtualized environment: https://xpenology.com/forum/
I chose to emulate DVA3119 since I had a unused Nvidia GTX 1060 3gb lying around which would allow me to use deep learning features such as facial recognition and object detection.
The GPU gets successfully detected by the virtual machine after booting it up.
Object Detection
This is where things got exciting for me. I think the usefulness of a CCTV comes with the ease on how easy it is to find what you’re looking for.
Surveillance Station’s interface itself is very intuitive. It also have a mobile app so it can be accessed remotely.
What’s more is they added features that can detect objects (e.g. plate number, people, vehicles). With this info, you can filter by time and date and/or people and/or plate numbers.
Backup Power
To make it more enterprise-y, it has to be somehow resilient to power interruption. Since the camera are powered over ethernet, I only have to have a backup power for the PoE switch.
I used SNADI 1kw with a 12V 100Ah LifePO4 battery. Based on my computation, it should run around 6 hours without power from Meralco.
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This was a fun project. I get a lot of satisfaction finding uses for old hardware. This project is definitely one of those.
For more than a decade now, I’ve been using WordPress. Using is a keyword here. I’ve been using it without contributing back.
WordPress has reached 20 years this year, primarily due to the thousands of volunteers who contribute to its continuous development and maintenance, keeping it alive.
Looking back, it was working on WordPress-based projects that opened a lot of opportunities for me. The projects and jobs I got from it put me in a position where I could provide a comfortable life for my family.
I could say that if it weren’t for WordPress, I would not be where I am at now.
Applied as a speaker for WordCamp Cebu 2023
I had the intention to give back for a long time but I did not know where to start. When I saw that WordCamp Cebu was looking out for speakers, I applied.
My topic was not even about promoting myself, or any of my work or expertise. It was about how I personally use WordPress and why I think it’s the right choice for a CMS as it guarantees that you own and control what you produce.
As a speaker, I had the chance to meet Drew, the lead organizer of WordCamp Manila, and Dreb, the lead organizer of WordCamp Davao, at the welcome dinner. It was super fun to hang out with them, an experience that becomes increasingly rare as I grow older. It felt like being around with my kind of people.
Attended WordCamp Asia 2023
Pinoy delegates at WordCamp Asia 2023
The following month, WordCamp Asia took place. I connected with more people, and it was surprisingly easy to get along with them. It felt like WordCamps attract a certain kind of people who are open and inclusive by default.
The after parties were so enjoyable that the people I was with expressed a desire to bring that same fun back to our local community.
We started casually talking on organizing WordCamp Manila. No concrete plans yet, but it planted a seed with everybody about making it happen.
Helped organize WordCamp Manila 2023
WordCamp Manila 2023 Organizing Team
After coming back home, I started getting more involved with the local community. I did another talk in a meetup, I volunteered, and I was always present in-person and in our weekly calls.
It’s just amazing how one thing always lead to another.
Getting involved made me realize that community work is a key factor in sustaining WordPress’ longevity. With organizing a WordCamp event, even if we inspire just a single person to contribute back, it will help WordPress. And I’m hoping that we did.
What’s next?
I work with very talented people who’s an active contributor to WordPress. I’d like to explore more ways to contribute back, especially to Core and Hosting, which is directly tied to my work at Human Made.
No concrete plans yet, but let’s see what happens.
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I did all this with the pure intention to contribute back, not expecting anything in return. I felt like it’s time for me to give back. However, I still ended up gaining more than I gave – new friends.
I first learned about this word when I attended Vipassana back in 2016.
I don’t only remember it, but it’s ingrained in my head because it’s the word that’s used to break the hours-long meditation sessions that happen a couple times a day for 10 days. I began to yearn for it, especially when back pain becomes unbearable from sitting up straight, or there’s a mosquito right on my nose sucking out my blood, and we’re instructed to just observe. Observe our breathing. See how everything comes and goes.
Anicca means impermanence.
The word resonated with me so much I had it tattooed on my right forearm. When I learned that it is transliterated as “anicca” from Pali, I knew it’s going to be the name of our baby girl.
And here she is.
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Nothing in life is permanent. Being aware and accepting this fact will only help us prepare, and face the things that will come and go.
It’s a belief that makes me balanced. It’s a belief I want to introduce to my kids and see if it’s going to resonate with them too.
One of the reasons why I don’t publish regularly is I pre-judge what I write if it’s publish-worthy.
At Human Made, we use a WordPress Multisite. Each area/interest of the organization has it’s own site. This fits nicely with my internal structure. I have multiple interest with varying degrees, and only work on those interests only when I feel like working on it.
What I did is convert this personal site to a multisite too and started creating sites for topics I’ve been putting my energy on. This removes the hesitation if it’s worth posting since it will be in it’s own little space. I can be as technical as I need to be. The audience is my future self, and probably my kids if they also happen to stumble on the same interest.
I’m actually writing this on Jan 2nd already, but family stuff happened and I’m okay to back-post to fulfill my new year’s resolution which is to publish everyday.
Publish everyday, no matter how insignificant my update is. Why? I feel like I’ve been keeping too much stuff inside my head. Stuff not written down only fills in my limited head space. Once I write it down, I’m free to let go of it. Or look back with what I published when I feel like I need to.
Bad start, but it’s okay
Here’s to a bad start of posting late in the first day of the year. But forgiving myself and still doing it anyway.
For a couple of months now, my days are mostly filled work and family time. I feel guilty with the amount of time I’m spending at work. What I do is every time not spent working is spent on family.
No time to slow down, let alone to stop.
This has been detrimental to me on multiple aspects.
Mentally
With my days filled, there’s minimal wiggle room for exploration and mistakes. This puts unnecessary pressure to myself. With pressure, I don’t operate optimally. Even the simplest tasks take a long time to get started and push to completion.
Emotionally
Even if I’m physically with my family, I cannot be fully present. At the back of my mind, there’s this anxiety of things I need to do.
Not being fully present makes me feel more guilty.
Failing to deliver things on expectations I set hits my self-esteem. A lower self-esteem results to failing to deliver more.
It’s a downward spiral that takes a lot of self-awareness and willpower to get out of.
Physically
With feeling limited of time, exercise was one of the first thing that went away. Without exercise and pushing myself hard, I felt weaker and unprepared for day-to-day challenges. I easily get ticked-off, I easily give-in.
It’s counterintuitive to slow down when I have a lot of things on my plate. But it’s exactly what I need when my days are filled.
If your brain is a highway and you are filling yourself with work, after a while you start to slow down. Your mental rush hour gets longer and longer. You find yourself struggling to accomplish even the simplest tasks.
Today, I took time to stop and reflect where I’m at.
One of the first steps to get out of this rabbit hole of always pressured, always in a rush, and failing to manage expectations.
While doing a weekly review earlier today, I realized most of the stuff in my plans are for other people. I don’t have a day where I get to do things I’m naturally drawn to do. I fill all my days with things I have to do — which I actually don’t have an issue with, but leaves me unfulfilled.
Maybe this is also why when I share that I’m planning to try something new, I get a laugh instead of support. I can’t blame them. My want-to-dos only has been increasing. I should explicitly make time for it.
I’ll try this: I won’t plan work stuff on my Saturdays. I added a note in my weekly planner and calendar to remind me to do things for myself.
What do you want to do that you don’t have to do?
It’s important to have a day where you’re not busy. To think, to plan. If you’re always anxious about your have-to-dos, you won’t get any thinking done. You’ll just react to things without a direction. This will leave you astray, unfulfilled, sad.
Try it on Saturdays. Go to your office with no agenda. But to think, to do things you feel like doing. Without pressure.
