Hi, I'm Pat!

I'm a systems engineer, freelance web developer and I've also owned a successful wedding photography business.

I'm experienced with Linux, Windows, Apache, NGINX, MySQL, PHP, JavaScript, Python and PowerShell.

I have a passion to constantly self-learn new technology that enables me to work smarter.

The purpose of O’Brien Labs is a way for me to share things I’m working on or just some quick ideas. Such as when I launch a new site, some simple code snippets, or even WordPress plugins I’ve made. I’m also constantly tinkering on projects (mainly with Raspberry Pi’s) and creating fun things with them. I’ve even shared some Halloween props I’ve built.

Over the years I’ve created custom WordPress plugins, as well as published 3 in the WordPress plugin directory. I’ve also created custom websites, and maintain about a dozen custom WordPress websites. I’ve also contributed a couple small patches of code to the WordPress core.

One of my larger projects I’m currently working on is a weewx theme called Belchertown, modeled after my weather station website https://belchertownweather.com. The theme offers live up-to-the-second updates of weather data from a personal weather station, as well as interactive graphs, updated radar, updated forecast data, light and dark modes and more! If you have a weather station, it’s free to download from GitHub.

Hopefully somewhere along the way something on the site is helpful for you.

"You can only become self taught if you're
curious about everything you don't know."
-Neil deGrasse Tyson

Disclosure: Some of the links on this website are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.