Wednesday, December 03, 2008

yeah yeah back off I know

Do I have anything interesting to say - well that depends. I have been busy - I have been concentrating on changing my life, making me a better person, jazz like that. So while I am not quite ready to spill those beans I am going to throw a link out for those that may be looking to change their own directions. I wish I was in a place where I could pursue something like this, alas I am not but who says you aren't. Take a look and see Change Your Life

I promise I am returning and I ahve a lot to say.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

i know i know

It has been awhile since I have attempted to put anything of value up on my blog. I had a quick story back in February on dealing with my son but really nothing since December.

I am still making the long haul from Seattle to Germany on a regular basis - literally every two weeks. Lufthansa is adding a new direct from Seattle to Frankfurt at the end of this month so I plan to start taking that. It cuts almost 4 hours out of my flying time - definitely worth it.

I have been working hard and the office rewarded me for it. I was recently promoted to Director level within my consulting firm. It brings some new challenges and some changes. The title is only a couple weeks old and I have been back in Germany since being upgraded - so I haven't really had to act "Directorish". This will of course change over the next couple of weeks.

Next I am in Amsterdam all week for Blackhat Europe. The first couple of days I will be in class learning Reverse Engineering: Application in Malicious Code Analysis. I am really looking forward to the class. It should be interesting and allow me to be more successful in my on reverse engineering assignments. I wrap that up and zip back to the States on the 29th.

I will be in Seattle for a week (time to practice being a manager) then I am off to San Francisco for RSA. There I will get to practice my new Director skills as I begin the process of moving IOActive forward in their information security offerings (glamorous words for me being a sales guy for a week). I will also be there as a technical resource to help the real sales people discuss what we can do as a resource for an organization. I am really excited about this. I have begun to make some new contacts and I am really looking forward to increasing the range of discussions and add my own input to the security community.

After that long week I will be back in Seattle reviewing what I learned at RSA and preparing for a trip back to Germany. If you don't follow me on Dopplr let me know and I will add you. My travel schedule is crazy....

I am considering starting a new blog that I can use more as a sounding ground for my security interests and what I am learning as an InfoSec manager. This will allow those that don't really care about where there credit card numbers go to rest to read about me versus my security minded opinions. I will let you know when it goes live.

Update: I went ahead and started the new blog. You can find it here at Were I taking this seriously...

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

sometimes Dad isn't right

So this post started off as a comment for one of my favorite ExPat blogs here in Germany.

A few years back when my son was learning his colors, his brilliant father saw an amazing opportunity to screw with his mind. I decided that I would mistakingly teach him that blue was purple - there was ample opportunity to reaffirm this behavior as he was a fan of Thomas the Train - a very blue train.

So I would privately giggle to myself when he would call out purple while mom quizzed him on his colors. Mom would patiently explain that it was blue, he would look puzzled briefly and they would move on. I thought how funny - heh heh dad messing with the little one's head. Father's take perverse pleasure's in warping the minds of youth today. I am sure my father madly giggles (ok so he guffaws) whenever I tell him of something that my own son has done to me recently.

Well one Friday night we were shopping in Barnes and Noble (the married couple with kids date night) and I was sitting reading a magazine while my son played with Thomas (the very blue train).

A young girl of 5 or 6 approached with her brother and began to play with the giant Thomas the (very blue) train set. She began to tell her brother the colors of things. Finally reaching Thomas she said "blue". My son stopped and looked at her "No that's purple!" I at this moment looked up from my magazine to see the glare coming from a young woman deciding that this little boy was in need of a solid 'put in his place'. "No!" she said, "this is blue! dummy." My son's upper lip trembling replied, "No it's purple - daddy tell her that it's purple." Ah geez why are we dragging the old man into this?

I looked upon the children over the top of my magazine. My eyes were instantly met by a little girl with her arms crossed, and a glare any woman would be proud of. My son stood there, a look of deep concern upon his face (this is a positive thing - he is learning who wears the pants early.)

"Well son this little girl is correct. The train is blue not purple." The little girl looked at me as if to say, "are you an idiot teaching your kid this crap."

I looked at my little man. A look of defeat flashing across his face and then he turned to me and said, "daddy your an idiot." Okay so he said I was a dummy. Ahh the mouth of babes.

I heard a slight giggle from the bookshelf down and his mother covered her mouth as she stepped away. An evil smile on her face. "Yes, son your dad is an idiot."