A (mostly) unstructured stream-of-consciousness dedicated to life, tech and infosec minutiae.

Captain's Log (June 03, 2021)

I’ve been toying around with the idea of doing some infosec-infused Twitch streaming. By “infosec-infused” I mean playing a game of some kind while having a casual infosec chat (as opposed to live-streaming myself doing a CTF or something). I’m shellsharks on Twitch if you want to catch any of my future streams though!
I’ve (finally) made the effort to configure my shellsharks domain email. I’ve used the Zoho free-tier for basic e-mail with my custom domain which I definitely recommend. So feel free to email me anytime!
I mentioned in an earlier log entry that I was on Clubhouse. I’ve been thinking of doing some open-forum infosec chat rooms there. We’ll see what engagement looks like with something like that.

So the podcast is live! I’ve got two episodes up and I think they’ve gone pretty well. I’m still working on finding some footing in terms of format and content but I plan to just discover that as I go.
- Episode 1 - Colonial Pipeline Hack & More
- Episode 2 - Getting Into Infosec (Part I)
For hosting, I went with PodBean which I have been pretty happy with so far. Time will tell if I want to use them long term.
Reddit wasn’t overly responsive to the podcast. Oh well! ¯\(ツ)/¯

I recently worked as a virtual teaching assistant (vTA) at the SANS Purple-Team Summit (2021) for SEC504. I’m relatively experienced in the world of SANS trainings and have participated as a course facilitator a number of times but working as a vTA was a new experience. It was fun and rewarding to help the students in that class througout the week!
I recently became re-acquainted with the concept of Chaos Engineering (of Netflix origins circa 2010 - think Chaos Monkey). Though I haven’t really been learning anything specifically in this domain, I think it’s a cool area to be in so it’s definitely on my radar for the future…

In a continuation of my AirPods Max saga - I’ve picked up a new pair. Most of my original gripes have been resolved through firmware updates so I’ve been pretty happy with them so far. They work really well with moving from one device to another, the active noise-cancellation is unbelievable and the sound is pretty good to my ears so I’m thinking I will hold onto them this time.
I also finally received my new M1-enabled iPad (11-inch model). It’s similar in a lot of ways to my previous 11-inch model so there really isn’t much to say. I don’t have any apps or workflows that really take advantage of the power the M1 brings. I look forward to WWDC next week as I expect they will unveil some potentially interesting things in the world of iPadOS. (Here’s to Xcode making its way to iPad soon!)

With both my AirPods Max and AKG K240 Studio (which I use for podcasting) headphones sitting on my desk, I’ve started shopping around for a headphone stand that fits the vibe of my workspace. Haven’t found anything yet though…

I finished up Disney’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I can see how for some those two characters are kinda random and not overly compelling relative to some other characters in the Marvel universe. I really enjoyed this arc though.
I started watching Disney’s animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch. The Bad Batch is a spin-off from the previous animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Like the Clone Wars series, I really enjoy the tie-ins that are made to the original movies. I’ve learned quite a bit about the smaller characters - everything from Toydarians to the Rancor! It’s just fun to see how they weave in all the lore and interesting elements from the original films.
I finished The Good Place. It was overall a really great and super funny show. Not sure I completely agreed with how it ended though.

I’ve recently decided to get into some retro-ish gaming, playing some Neverwinter Nights on Steam. I played quite a bit of NWN growing up so it’s been fun revisiting this title. With cross-platform online multi-player, it has a lot of co-op potential!

I recently accepted a position at Salesforce. Wooo! In this new role, I’ll be doing third-party security, supply-chain security and some application security. Third-party security is something I have tangential experience in. As such, there is a lot for me to learn. GDPR anyone? I’m excited about getting into something new for the first time in years though!
Check out my Trailblazer.me profile!
Spring and Summer means brewery and winery hopping! Here’s a few from the past month…
- Wheatland Spring - Good beer in a quaint little spot. I really like their bottle/can design and logo too.
- Bear Chase Brewery - Pretty good beer selection and a great view - kinda reminds me of a ski slope without the snow. They also have pretzels + beer cheese dip which was… yum.
- Quattro Goombas - This is definitely my go-to spot. Close-by, has wine and beer - oh, and they have wine slushies…. amazing. They also have really great pizza.
- Dirt Farm Brewing - The beer selection is just OK but the views and grounds are amazing. They also used to have boiled peanuts which are my all-time favorite food. Though this past visit they only had food from a third-party food truck.
- The Bruery - Not a place I’ve *visited* but as a member I’ve been ordering a lot of very compelling brews. They just don’t stop!
- Hill High Marketplace - Amazing selection of craft beer + delicious pies. Easily my favorite place in all of Loudoun county.

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