---
title: "Project Log: Docker Dreams and YAML Nightmares"
date: 2025-11-05
description: "A totally serious update on my local lab, featuring unexpected container drama, a misbehaving reverse proxy, and lessons in patience."
tags: ["homelab", "docker", "networking", "humor"]
categories: ["DevOps"]
draft: false
---
> Sometimes the difference between a 'production-ready stack' and 'why is my NAS on fire?' is one missing space in a YAML file.

It started innocently enough:  
a single `docker-compose.yml`, neat and tidy, humming along like a well-trained orchestra. Then I added *one* new service—my self-hosted note app—and everything fell apart.

### The Symptoms
- Containers refusing to start with no useful logs  
- DNS loops that made my router question its purpose  
- My wife asking, “Why is our TV buffering when you touch the server?”

### The Diagnosis
Turns out, I nested a volume mount under the wrong key.  
YAML: 1 — Human: 0.

### The Fix
A humble indent.  
Four spaces, to be precise.  
Suddenly the world made sense again, DNS was stable, and my cat stopped judging me.

### Lessons Learned
1. **Version control everything**, even your test Compose files.  
2. **Automate backups** before you “just try something real quick.”  
3. **Celebrate small victories**—sometimes the win is just getting your network back online before dinner.

---

If you read this and thought, “I’ve been there,” then welcome to the club.  
Homelabs teach patience, humility, and the thrill of a perfectly clean `docker ps` output.

*Stay tuned for next week’s adventure: rebuilding my reverse proxy after a 301 loop ate my weekend.*