I am not dead

It has been quite some time since my last post. To be honest I have been a bit busy. This term I had two classes that I felt were disproportionately heavy in the workload. Too many projects and reports and not enough time or feedback from the teachers. I also have been very busy at home as I was a single dad for over a week while my wife enjoyed a luxury cruise. I have also been working on a doll bunk bed for my neighbor's daughter and planning a dress up  wardrobe project for mine.

Maintenance around the house and finally getting to the back log of photos and videos from the holidays has eaten up the remaining bit of my days. I should be proud of all the things I am able to get done. I should take comfort in the fact that I am accomplishing more than most but all I can see is the mental list of all the other things left to do. As I get older and as I break down I also see all the things I used to enjoy doing like soccer slipping away.

Here is the catch though. I sit here, done with this term a few days early, because I put in the extra hours. I should take a break. I should start on the next task but instead I sit here torn as to which direction I should go. It makes me anxious. I feel my skin crawl. I need a cigarette. It is too bad I quit.

I will get over the initial indecisiveness and put my head down, barreling through to the next thing on top of my list, as I add three more to the bottom. It is what I do. I really should clean out the garden.

Encourgement or How to Make Dreams a Reality.

When I went back to school I did so to prove to myself that I could finish this time around and to better my family's future. I wasn't looking for a pat on the back or for a parade in my honor. I was doing what I was supposed to. I was being a productive member of society who took care of his responsibilities.

What I didn't expect to discover is how simple deeds and words of encouragement can not only motivate you but lift some of the weight and burden off of your shoulders. There are times that the work load is hard or very large. Trying to balance family, school, and a job can be difficult. I tend to put off my own enjoyment and interests because there just isn't enough time. Having someone beside you that passionately shares your achievements while at the same time being there through your struggles has a tremendous impact.

I used to see myself as an independent person who did things regardless of what others thought. Things changed as I got older, as things often do. I find myself not necessarily craving the recognition, when I got my AS diploma mailed to me I filed it away and went right back to work on getting my BS, but just the thought of someone wanting to make a big deal out of what I have done is nice.

Having people like that, who can change the way you see yourself and the way you sometimes see the world, makes me realize how truly lucky I am.

New toy

Short one today...just testing out my new phone. I got rid of my old Droid Eris and got an iPhone.

So far I like it. Processing power and speed alone makes a huge difference.

A big plus is the blogger app. I can now blog on the go or in a pinch.

Well off to tweak settings and get things set up how I like them.

Principles of Speech and it's impact

During my time in college I have taken classes that were intimidating because of the amount of work involved or the complexity of the subject. Few classes however have terrified me. None more so than Principles of Speech. As the name might suggest it was a class on public speaking. I have spoken to large groups before in my career but these were usually in a supervisory role and with people that I have built relationships with. Trying to build an instant rapport with an audience can be quite intimidating. I had to really push myself and take a very large step outside of my comfort zone.

The class was well worth it though and I was able to give a final speech to a large group of fellow students. Some I knew but most I did not. So not only did I have to worry about a grade and speaking to strangers but I would then have to see these people afterwards at some point in my college career. This is part of that speech:

I believe in the power a speech can have on its audience. With the right words, the right delivery and the right speaker, a speech can change the outcome of history. We see that no clearer than the speeches given by commanders to their troops on the eve of battle. I have selected General Patton’s famous “Blood and Guts” speech, which he delivered to the Third Army on June 5^th, 1944, the eve of the Allied invasion of France, code named “Overlord”.

            General Patton concluded his speech with:

From time to time there will be some complaints that we are pushing our people too hard. I believe in the old and sound rule that an ounce of sweat will save a gallon of blood. The harder we push, the more Germans we will kill. The more Germans we kill, the fewer of our men will be killed.

There is one great thing that you men will all be able to say after this war is over and you are home once again. You may be thankful that twenty years from now when you are sitting by the fireplace with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the great World War II, you won’t have to cough, shift him to the other knee and say, 'Well, your Granddaddy shoveled shit in Louisiana.'

No, Sir, you can look him straight in the eye and say, 'Son, your Granddaddy rode with the Great Third Army and a Son-of-a-Goddamned-Bitch named Georgie Patton!’

This conclusion to his speech was complex in its message and effect. First it took on the question that some soldiers might have had about being pushed too hard. He stated simply that the harder they pushed the more likely they would survive and fewer of their friends would die. Next, he assuaged their fears. He kept it simple, primal. It is us or them. He finished it by filling them with pride. Do you want to be a part of history and say you rode with Patton to victory? I particularly like this one because it has not been romanticized or filled with generalized rhetoric as some other battle speeches from history have been. He spoke in a language and a frankness that his troops could understand and respect.

I realized something after this speech. Right after I was done I was relieved and excited, knowing I could do it. Months later, as I sat in my cubicle and reflected on Patton's words, I came to the realization that his words reflected how I lived my life.  I constantly push myself to try new things and strive for greater achievements. I admit that I don't have the same motivation as the boys he was speaking to did. I do not have guys from the neighboring cubicles shooting at me. The principle is the same though. I want to have that fireplace moment with my grandchild and inspire them. I want to look back and, regardless of what I achieved or how many times I failed, see a life full of pride and not regret.

The problem with single password use

Found this article today over at Seculert about the Ramnit worm. It has been discovered that it has stolen over 45,000 Facebook logon credentials. It is suspected that the attackers are logging in to victims' Facebook accounts to transmit malicious links to their friends to spread the worm. The attackers are gathering all of this data in an attempt to compromise other web based services.

I bring this up to make a point about passwords and their effectiveness. As people become more connected and use more sites and services they tend to accumulate log on names and passwords. In an attempt to cut through the clutter and make it easier most people use the same name and password. They know about using stronger passwords, 8 characters or greater, upper and lowercase mixed with numbers, and nothing easy to figure out based on the person like birthdays or favorite foods but they don't think about the fact that if someone gained access to one site they could gain access to all sites.

Take a look at your password inventory and see how secure you really are. Is your user name/password the same for your hotmail account and your bank account? I know it can be a pain to have lots of different usernames and passwords. Where I work I have several, that get changed every 60 days and have to be unique for 8 times before being used again. I also have accounts for all sorts of things as well. I find that a theme is very helpful in creating and remembering these. You do have to be careful though that the theme isn't too easy to decipher, much in the same way using your birthday for a password is a bad idea. My last bit of advice is to change them often. Even if your password has been compromised at some point a dead password is a useless password.

Here is a great article to help you get started:
Create Strong Passwords

Maiden Voyage

Welcome to the launch of my first blog. I have been thinking about doing this for awhile now and have always found a reason to put it off. I originally wanted to start a blog to document my journey as I returned to college while looking for a new job and raising my infant daughter. It would also be a way of dusting off my general writing skills. Needless to say life tended to get in the way and I find myself with an associate degree, a few certifications, a new job, and a daughter who has become more self sufficient.

I have started motd # while continuing my education towards a bachelor's degree. I will post things I have worked on, information about technology that interests me, and anything related to the network security field. I hope that the information is as useful to others as it is to me.