digital hobbies

Self hosting & big tech boycotting

Earlier in 2026, I couldn't stomach anymore what big tech and corporations were doing to the environment, to us, and to Palestine through collaboration with Israel. I quit Microsoft, Apple, Meta, Google and started building my own self-connecting ecosystem.

Now I self host and use ethical or open-source alternatives:

• Home server + Tailscale for “cloud” storage of photos, notes, documents, and more.
• Sold my iPhone and plan to switch to a de-googled Android or Linux phone, once hardware offerings improve.
• Proton mail + my own domain (kirloumur.com) for my email services.
• Bitwarden for my password manager.
• Pocket Casts for podcasts
• Tidal for music (though I plan to create my own digital library based on physical copies of music, just like the good ole days)
• Magic Earth for navigation (for time insensitive routes)
• F-Droid and direct .apk / .pkg rather than Google Play or App Store for application downloads.

By doing this, I am learning a ton about the digital infrastructure that make our digital lives as seamless as they are. I am learning about hardware, firmware, firewalls, storage partitions, coding, software, and more.

US home visit

Finally got my hands on the physical copy of my favorite childhood picture of myself and took a good scan.

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I was so happy to be back at my favorite yoga practice in the world, on my favorite class night, hearing my favorite words again, now painted on the walls as the practice flourishes just like these flowers.

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I had to, of course, get a haircut with my favorite Kalamazoo barber, Joey in Studio 3/31.

US home visit

I had an incredibly bad day of travel, where my first connecting flight was cancelled, resulting in rebooking that didn’t go through correctly, missing the baggage drop cutoff by the time the rebooking was corrected, having to pay 3200€ to have things rebooked, my bag being left behind in Germany due to tight connections, my last connection being delayed until the next day at 7am, requiring me to sleep at the airport with an airport-provided cot, throw blanket, and tiny pillow with a disposable medical cloth case… but I made it home.