• On the Road

    On the Road: Home Just Isn't the Same

    There’s a Blues Traveler song about how when you go home it’s never the same that you remember.  This is because you change but also because places have a habit of being trapped in time in your memory while not in reality.  In my last two trips to Dahlonega, my home town, I have not seen a single person I know.  Or have I?  Would I recognize any of them?  I have a feeling I would remember them as they were, like I remember the town as it was, rather than knowing them for who they are.

  • On the Road

    On the Road: DC

    There are few cities where it is hard for me to stay on-task.  This is one of them.  I want to leave the job early every day to go to some museum or another.  I came here once in college and loved it and it turns out I still do.  Every time I come here I want to hit memorials, the Smithsonian, etc.  It’s a learning experience in the history of American Civics.  Miss Connor would be proud.

  • personal

    Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

    I originally posted this at http://www.318.com/TechJournal While attending DefCon, a hacking conference in Las Vegas, Three18 staff members learned of Ciscogate. Ciscogate revolves around the plight of Mike Lynn. He was a researcher for Internet Security Systems Inc (ISS) until he resigned last week after giving a speech at Black Hat, an Information Technology security conference in Las Vegas. Due to the presentation and the speech Lynn gave a suit was filed against him by ISS and Cisco. Cisco hired people to go through the CDs given out by Black Hat containing all of the presentations and replace them with CDs absent the presentation. The first appearances of the case…

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Waco

    Where are all the damn religious nuts?  I expected them but they aren’t here.  The first time I was in Waco was in college when we passed through on a road trip.  But this is different.  I’m here for business this time.  The last time there was no cold water (although there was more than enough hot water).  This time there’s air conditioning, cold and hot water and even little mini-bar that’s way overpriced.  Funny how your travel changes over time.

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Albuquerque

    Is it me or are people here a little strange.  On the outside they seem like loners that want to keep to themselves but then there’s a strange dichotomy where they also seem likely to wear a crystal around their neck and build houses out of recycled tires.  Cool town, if a bit desolate.

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Nashville

    Country music is sure big in Nashville.  It seeps into everything else.  Luckily, I grew up with country music and to some degree like a lot of it.  If you find yourself in Nashville though, the thing that stands out to me most is the might quantities of fried food that get consumed here.  Once again, lucky for me, I grew up with that too and love it.  Just can’t eat too much of it, which is hard to do here… PS – Too many Tennessee Volunteer fans.  Don’t they have jobs or something?  Note to self: look into the unemployment rate here and see if an overabundance of fans…

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Montana

    The sky here goes on for-friggin’-ever.  The people are nice and a big country, like back home.  I like it here.  Not a lot of Mac guys though…  Nor are there a boat-load of people for that matter…

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Vegas

    I’m sure I’m gonna’ catch a lot of crap for this, but I can’t stand Vegas.  There are simply too many people there to get lost in a debaucherous trip.  Luckily most businesses there operate off the strip, but most conferences do not.  So in the middle of trying to get things done you have to deal with drunk people crashing into your door trying to get to their room.  The whole city is built around the idea of a devil’s playground, which just doesn’t jive with me.  This isn’t to say I don’t like the people that live there.  To be honest, I really do.  But it’s the city itself…

  • On the Road

    On the Road: New Jersey

    Jersey is weird.  There are a lot of different communities that are close to one another but all very different.  There are parts that are basically an extension of Philadelphia and others that are basically an extension of New York.  Then there is Atlantic City and the Shore.  And if you’re there and you don’t go see Lucy the Elephant then you just don’t miss what you’re missing.  But don’t forget, if you end up there, make sure to clean up your aunt’s floor…

  • On the Road

    On the Road: Travels with Charlie

    I travel a bit for work, and so a part of this blog is going to be dedicated to those travels.  To start this off, I thought I’d cover a little of how I like to travel rather than little notes about where.  So when I fly I like to be unencumbered with my bags.  So I almost always check my bags.  Then when I see people running up and down the isles trying to get their gargantuan bags crammed into little cubby holes I can laugh at them…  Of course, this means I have to wait for my bag to come out on the carousel but that’s a small price to pay for…