2024 Reflections, Realizations, and Relentless Printing
Reflecting on 2024: A year of growth, creativity, and connection. From diving into 3D printing with the Bambu Lab P1S to upgrading our coffee game and building a homelab, it’s been a journey of learning and projects. Highlights include vacations, family moves, and meaningful conversations.

It was January and the rent went up, as it always does, but not by much. I was planning a vacation and decided to pay for ChatGPT for the first time. It felt strange at first, like paying for air, but I was using it so much that it seemed unreasonable not to pay. I also paid a bit for API access to use Daniel Miessler’s Fabric Framework, which is brilliant and I ended up using all year.
Towards the end of January, I ordered my Bambu Lab P1S 3D printer, the Combo edition with the AMS (Automatic Material System), and it immediately became very useful. I’ve used it every week, sometimes every day, ever since. It’s sad to see it selling for half the price now, but that’s how it is in the tech world.
By February, I was completely immersed in 3D printing. I designed and printed organisers for my filament spools, and they became quite popular on Makerworld. It’s always satisfying when something you create gets recognised.
In March, I started focusing on note-taking systems. I read a lot about it during the holidays, looking for better ways to organise my thoughts. By the end of the month, I had moved all my Day One journal entries to a WordPress website that I hosted on my laptop. Now, I take notes in Apple Notes on my devices and then transfer them to WordPress later. The container is backed up on my NAS, which keeps everything safe and secure.
Spring Break and Coffee Perfection
April was my holiday month. You can see some photos of it in the travel section of the blog. At the end of the holiday, we even received a nice gift from the crew - a small but meaningful gesture that made the trip even better.
In May, we bought a DF83 G-iota Pro83 V2 grinder, inspired by the fantastic coffee we drank on our holiday. Expensive? Yes. But was it worth it? Definitely, yes. This grinder has completely changed our coffee experience and gives us a really precise and consistent cup of coffee every time.
Summer of Learning and Printing
June was another busy month. The P1S continued to print gifts for family and friends, and I discovered Polymaker filament - I now think it’s the best brand.
We also went on a Christian retreat in the Eifel called “Rüstzeit”. It was a time of deep conversations about ethics, politics and personal growth. We talked about everything from the Gaza Strip to how to deal with stress in difficult times. It was a great experience.
In June, I also started setting up my home lab. I bought a mini HM90 forum, but it didn’t work. After returning it, I opted for a less powerful but reliable i5 12th gen system, which became the foundation for my home lab and Nextcloud setup.
Quiet Summer Days
July was a quiet month, with cooler weather than usual in the Netherlands. We bought a walking pad to keep fit on holiday. We used it a lot until we fell ill in December. But it was worth it: we got fitter and a bit lighter, even if we still have some catching up to do.
We didn’t spend any money in August. Instead, I revisited the Fabric Framework, attended some AI courses (mostly disappointing buzzwords) and caught up with old friends. This made me realise that we need to make more of an effort to keep in touch with people.
Fall Transitions and Family Moves
Apple released new versions of its products in September. And so we replaced our ageing Apple Watch 4 with the new Apple Watch 10. Apart from a family member’s big move, which we helped with, October was largely quiet. It’s amazing how one person can accumulate so much stuff.
Then Black Friday came in November, and with it came the network upgrades. I bought a Unifi Gateway Ultra, U6+ access points and Switch Lite 8 PoE units. It took some time to set everything up, but now I have a stable, secure system that separates my home lab from other devices.
We also sold our second car, a Polo, to the garage. The payment of the proceeds from the sale has been delayed by bureaucratic hurdles, but hopefully that will be sorted out soon.
Ending the Year with a Smile
December ended with an entertaining live event by Sorted Food called “raitor at Culinary Castle”. It was a fantastic weekend. At the final dinner with friends and colleagues, we must have caught a bad cold. This put us out of action for more than a week. Fortunately, we recovered in time for the holidays, which we spent visiting family and friends all over Germany.
If I had to summarise 2024, it was a year of growth, acquisitions and important moments. Looking to the future, I hope 2025 will be less about things and more about experiences. Thanks for reading. Here’s to another year of learning, creating and connecting.