I'm running a proxmox server on a Lenovo M920x Tiny PC. This runs startOS and home assistant, currently (but I have a few other things to run, also). I am still figuring out a few things before I start syncing the necessary BTC node. 

I low-key detest lightning at this point. I am not sure what lighting setup I'll end up with, yet. But, I will definitely be running my own BTC node and mempool instance for the purposes of privacy.  

 I'm at the same stage, the barrier to entry for getting my own lightning node setup is ridiculous, and I consider myself pretty tech savvy. There needs to be a LOT of improvement to make this easy for the masses. 

 Yup. 

I also make my life way harder that it has to be by trying to muddle through learning proxmox layered on top of startOS on top of TOR... 😅  

 Sounds it. One thing I need to learn and figure out is how to access the node from a distance as I do travel a bit 

 I’m sure you have already, but have you looked into @Alby? I know they’re coming out with some new interesting integrations for all of that. 

 I'm... Not a huge fan at this point. We'll see what happens.