An Information Security Place

My pastor writes a blog on our church website that I follow, and today’s message was very good.  Here’s an excerpt:

Life is a long series of “moving-up-a-level” experiences. We move from kindergarten to first grade, or from middle school to high school, or from engineer to project manager, or from club member to club president, or from team member to team captain, or from salesman to sales manager, or from second string to first string, or from busser to waiter. 

In this “moving up” process we spend a lot of time and energy desiring to move up and wanting more responsibility and more money and more control and more recognition—and we spend very little time and energy considering the struggles that are coming with that new level. At new levels there are new challenges.

 

This really struck me.  Almost everyone thinks about the next level and what it would mean for them.  Like Pastor Dave says, it means more money, more control, more power, more fame maybe.  But if we would just stop to see what bad things that new level involves, we might not be so eager to make that climb.

Now, Pastor Dave is in no way saying we shouldn’t strive for the next level.  Look at this quote:

There is nothing wrong with desiring a new level in life—just be sure you are prepared for the new devils at those new levels.

Obviously this is written from a Christian perspective, so you will have to apply the term "devil" to whatever your belief system happens to be.    "Devils" can be a term that can be used for any issue that arises when you move on to new challenges, no matter if you are Christian, Buddhist, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, or whatever.  But the message still applies.  Moving up brings new challenges.  Those can be exciting, but you might want to make sure you are prepared for those challenges before you start the climb (or even start looking for the ladder).

From a personal perspective, I can say that I made the climb early in my career.  I started in IT during the golden age of the 90’s.  If you had a CNE or a even a MCSE, you could pretty much write your own ticket.  Everyone needed a network admin, network engineer, webmaster, etc.  Everyone was growing, and they needed more people to grow with them.  So I sought and got promotions very quickly.  I learned a lot from those experiences, and I don’t regret any of it.  However, I know now through hindsight that I was not prepared for some of those jumps.  I struggled through a lot of those new jobs and levels.  I happen to learn better through doing, so it was good for me.  But not everyone learns that way.

So basically, use caution when seeking that next level.  Be patient and honest with yourself.  Sometimes delayed gratification is better.  Always seek to better yourself, but make sure you are doing it in a smart way.

Vet

I was in Dallas a few weeks ago for a few sales call, and I met my sales guy in local McDonalds parking lot.  I needed to jump online real quick (still can’t get a broadband card OK’ed), and I noticed that the McDonalds had a AT&T WiFi sign on their front window.  I decided to try it since I have AT&T broadband at home, and I’ll be darned if it didn’t work.  Had a nice sign on page where I could input my broadband user name and password.  Very nice. 

Of course, there are not a whole, whole lot of Micky Dee’s that have WiFi.  So I usually find myself in a Panera Bread because, unlike Starbucks, they have free WiFi.  However, Panera’s are not near as prevalent as Starbucks, which often leaves me in a quandry (in my not-so-humble opinion, Starbucks should pay for my Internet access if I buy a coffee and a scone - believe me, I very rarely leave a Starbucks without at least having a tall non-fat no-whip mocha). 

But a few months ago I heard that AT&T was getting in on the action at Starbucks as well, and they supposedly were offering free WiFi to AT&T broadband customers.  SWEET.  So I went to few Starbucks over the last few weeks, but I never saw an AT&T WiFi sign.  Oh well.  I figured it was taking them a while to get it all in. 

Well, being the dumba&& that I sometimes am, I never just tried to see if they had it going by simply connecting to wireless and seeing if I saw an SSID out there.  So a couple of weeks ago I decided to give it a go.  And there was not an AT&T SSID anywhere.  Dang!  Oh well, I guess I’ll have to wait some more. 

But I really needed to get on the Internet (I had a proposal that was due, and I was about to be on the road for 4 hours), so I hooked up and prepared to shell out some money to T-Mobile.  And then, what did I see up in the top right-hand corner of the T-Mobile page (kinda small and inconspicuous, BTW)?  There was a AT&T Broadband image that beckoned me.  I clicked, signed on (just like McD’s), and I was on.  OH HAPPY DAY!! 

Now, I have not tried this at any other Starbucks yet, but my assumption is that it was not just this little Starbucks in Ennis, TX (25 miles south of Dallas on I-45).  So I am happy.  Now I can go to Starbucks, buy my mocha, and then surf to my heart’s content.

Vet

This is messed up… and hilarious!

[youtube gk9qKdYtF3U Achievement Whore Video]

Vet

My wife and sister-in-law managed to convince my father-in-law to dig through the storage closet and pull out their old Classic Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).  They have a bunch of games like the original Mario Brothers, Duck Hunt, Dr. Mario, etc.  I am posting this at almost midnight Central time, and they are still playing.  I am trying to decide whether to go back or go to bed.

Anyway, this thing brings back all kinds of memories of my childhood.  I remember putting my original NES on layaway when I was in high school.  I think it was just over $100 back then, and I only earned about $200 / month, so it was quite the financial decision.  Waiting for a month to get that thing just about killed me!

When I did get it, I did nothing but play.  I was a Zelda master and a Mike Tyson ass-whipper back then.  I would stay up all night with a friend competing to see who could beat different games the fastest.  We would start right after dinner (around 7pm) and would not stop until the sun came up the next morning.  Remember those days?

Good times, good times…

Vet

I might adopt this as my theme song. Do I have to pay royalties?

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Remember the crazy video last year of the house with the Christmas lights timed to music? Well, they have now opened a business doing custom light shows. Crazy.

Vet

Working on NSM today.  Pretty sweet util that integrates the configuration of Juniper’s NetScreen security products into a single console.  They have most of their security products on it now.  SSL VPN is still not there, but it is coming.  Very cool stuff.

Vet

Thanks to Pito at salas.com for the link to this site.  Very sweet looking speed test site.  And you can choose speed test servers all over the world.  Of course, they could be downloading malware on your PC, but hey, it is still cool!

Vet