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I herded geese as a kid.
There is a point in every developer's life where you either put a server in your apartment or go raise geese on a farm. I have done the geese already, so the server it is.
I set it up today on a machine I built in 2017 for a blockchain project. It cost me $2,700 back then. i7, 32GB of RAM, a 1070 Ti with 8GB. For nine years it has been alternating between sitting in a corner and doing real work, and the thing still holds up. It runs everything I am throwing at it now, which says more about how often we replace hardware than it does about the hardware.
The new project needs a TTS model. I added up what the infrastructure would cost through APIs and the arithmetic was not subtle. Hosting at home does not make development free, but it moves the number far enough that I stopped arguing with myself about it.
Meanwhile claude_mate is at 7 stars, 2 watchers and a fork. More interesting news soon.
github.com/vlgutv22/claude_mate
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$10K earned on Contra. 🎉💸
Grateful for every client who took a chance on me. This is just the beginning. More great products, more real partnerships, more milestones to hit. 🙌
Thank you to everyone who's been part of it. Onward. 🚀
#10k #contraearnings #Freelance #Webflow #Framer #Webdesign
Congratulations nice job 🎉🎉
🤖 Taking 3 automation projects at a symbolic price this month
I'm a junior AI automation engineer building in n8n and Make. I'm growing my portfolio, so for the next few projects you pay a small fee and get a working automation plus a short handoff doc.
What I've already shipped:
A Google Maps review analysis for Yabko, a Ukrainian electronics retailer: 5,744 reviews across 132 stores, classified by topic and store with AI, ready for their marketing team
A paid Telegram bot for D&D groups: attendance checks and session reminders, running live in n8n
A merged PR in an open-source AI companion project (digital-companion-core)
Good fit if you have:
A repetitive task between Google Sheets, Gmail, Telegram, a CRM or forms
Leads or reviews you want sorted by AI instead of by hand
A small bot idea you never got around to building
Not sure it's worth it? Send me the task, I'll build a quick demo first so you can see it works before paying anything.
Portfolio: https://github.com/RimmaMaevaL
This summer my dad wanted a new fence and deck. The quotes took over a week. Looking at it from the carpenter's side, the hard part isn't the calendar, it's driving out to measure before you can even write a quote.
So I built Karlsson Staket & Altan, a made-up solo carpenter in Kristianstad, Sweden, where the customer does the measuring by drawing.
For the customer:
Search the address and draw the fence or deck on a satellite map – length and area are measured automatically
Shape it in 3D: height, material, railings, stairs
Instant price with the Swedish ROT tax deduction
Pick a build week with live availability and get a booking reference and a calendar file
For the owner
A 12-week season board with drag-and-drop and capacity per week – full weeks disappear for customers
Material lists calculated from the drawing, merged into one order with stock deducted and rounded to full packs, plus a shopping list
One page per project: quote, booking confirmation, work order and draft invoice
Adjust the customer's 3D model and send it back with a comment to their personal project page
How I built it
I planned first: chat mode in Lovable, a starter prompt written with Claude Opus 5.5, a hand-drawn design sketch, and a plan I approved before any code. Version 1 stopped at a price, nobody actually got booked, so I kept iterating in small steps. The hardest part was the 3D model. It was bout 10–15 hours in Lovable, using Lovable Cloud and Google Maps, with prices recalculated on the server.
Try the guided tour: https://karlsson.lovable.app/demo (demo mode, nothing is saved)
Note: the project photos are AI-genera::ted, and the before/after numbers on the site are estimates, not measured data.
love the 3D part - something I rely heavily on in this commercial app/system I built https://fairdinkummechdecks.com.au
fairdinkummechdecks.com.au
Fair Dinkum Mechdecks — Design to Delivery
Draw standard or custom HVAC platforms, place equipment, check loads and clash zones, price the job and share an interactive 3D client review from one Australian-built estimator.