mbjones

These past few weeks have been busy, busy, busy.

Last week I spent 7 days/6 nights in Las Vegas attending two different computer conferences. The first, Blackhat, was on Wednesday and Thursday. It’s a computer security conference and is quite expensive and formal but quite good as well. Lots of vendors and companies show up and there is a lot of good information disseminated among the attenders.

The second conference is plainly put, one of the best conferences I’ve been to. It’s called Defcon and ran from Friday through Sunday, 10am to after midnight most days. Lots and lots to see and do. It tends to center around computer security but has sessions involving physical security and a range of other things. For example, two of the more intriguing sessions I went to were on corporate espionage techniques and urban exploration principles. Both were just fascinating. A bit of the computer security info from Blackhat is replicated here but is generally better as the speakers are more laid back, open and willing to talk. People watching is also amazing here. There were about 10,000 attendees from what I heard and it’s the oddest mix of academic types, “feds”, and serious hackers. And the setup is also just different. For example, they had a “chillout room” setup for people to meetup with others and relax with different DJ mixing beats all the time.

I also was blessed to be able to spend time with some old friends while there. Thanks to the hospitality of Brian Clifton and his wife, I was able to enjoy a home cooked meal and a trip to In-N-Out with them and Tim Hearon. Lots of good eating and a trip to the airforce base also rounded out my time in Vegas. Much to the dismay of some of you though, I didn’t win any money. I didn’t lose any though either — I made it out with out playing on a single machine or table.

This past weekend was quite busy too. My girlfriend’s BFFE (that’s best friend forever and ever) got married and she was the maid of honor. So, Thursday night I had a rehearsal dinner to go to and then Friday night a wedding. They were both fun though (especially dancing at the wedding).

Here’s to a slow coming week though.