You list an education qualification in your post which has nothing to do with your stated intention. Yes, you’re learned and probably smart but why do you want to be a sysadmin?

Have you ever coded anything? Do you want to learn that? Do you want to use your humanities degree to be a caring supporter of stupid system users? Are you even aware of the credo of the bastard operator from hell?

Sorry…saw your post and just wanted to take a piss…you’ll be fine if you want to do that but it’s probably not just like “installing linux” on a computer.

My wife likes AnyList so I use it too. If you’re looking for privacy-focused group lists I would suggest Home Assistant to-do lists (assuming you’re running Home Assistant already).

Don’t sweat the RAM. The M series really are different than the intel forebears. You’ll be fine with all of your considered options.

You will want a download client - I prefer SABnzbd. You might want automators like sonarr, radarr. Someone will come along with a helpful start-to-finish guide for a complete automation setup. I set mine up so long ago I can’t recall what workflow I used.

The cheap-as-dirt meross does, it has an open/closed sensor.

Most openers have a dumb switch interface. A simple close-to-change circuit - I’ve never had one that wasn’t that way. If MyQ is so complicated (serial interface!?) then it needs to go anyway.

lol, just get a dumb opener and a shelly relay or use a meross unit. Super cheap and flawless local control that is cloud-connected if you want it.

I wrote it to automate my workflow - I’m in sales. I enter site details at the customer location and my app crunches the numbers to pre-fill all relevant documents (contract, financing, etc) in PDF form. I also use it as a presentation device to explain service and product details/specs using pictures, videos and PDF documents.

No more paper, no more fiddling around with calculator and rate-cards. I do a little data entry and basically my job is done.

Oops, I’m sorry - I should have mentioned that it’s not on the App Store. It is chock full of company proprietary documents, photos and sales formulae. I wrote it just for myself.

The one I wrote myself to automate tasks at work. It has saved me hundreds of hours of tedium and makes my job so much easier. It only cost me a few weeks of learning (I am not a developer, just a tinkerer) to get it done. It lives happily on my phone and iPad and I use it every day.

I have quite a few Shelly devices, mostly relays. I Like them very much but they are not ideal if your target is HomeKit. There are work-arounds out there but they do not specifically support Apple ecosystem.

The HR department at your company is the company’s advocate they are not your advocate.

If you haven’t already go get Reamde by Neil Stephenson. Slightly similar but less campy vibe - also enjoyed.

Streaming videos on my phone using speaker for audio while at the restaurant eating lunch. I figured for sure, everyone would want to get in on that awesome stand-up comedy action or zany talk show that I enjoy with my meal. It turns out that (gasp!) some people even think it’s rude…LOL.

Double Feature: Ender’s Game (2013) and Starship Troopers (1997) - then we serve them a sumptuous shellfish tower to discuss their surrender over dinner.

TWA as a very young kid - I kept trying to pronounce it as a word and my dad was giggling and my mom and sister kept shushing me…I did not know why at the time.

I am not in the tech field but I love coding and learning new languages. I have for the last 25 years. When my actual (blue collar) profession starts feeling drab or boring my mind naturally starts drifting to find some problem to solve or some way of automating things just to keep me happy and engaged.

Batch scripts on MS/DOS, my first (floppy disk installed) Slackware box. REXX in OS/2. I worked through the animal books and played with Java, Perl, C - actually building tools that work and accomplish things.

Diving in to a new language or project is like discovering a new author you didn’t know about and the hours of joy it will bring me are fantastic and fulfilling. I guess you could say my hobby is learning.

I wrote a great iOS app to help me with things in my job and I use it all the time which saves me literally hours, making my work happier and more profitable. Best hobby ever and totally cheap too!