Four-legged Family

December 28, 2011

There have been several topics mulling around in my head over the holidays, but I’ve had difficulty deciding what to write about next. Could that be writer’s block, or is it just that I have too many topics to choose from?  Yesterday, the decision was made for me when a good friend had to say goodbye to an 18 year old family member, her loving canine companion, Brandy. Brandy was a cool dog – even though I only met her for the first time last year, and she was already old, nearly blind, and at least a little deaf.

What is it about our four-legged friends that we become so attached? So many of us (me included) consider our furry companions to be members of our families. We involve them in family activities, or treat them like our children. Some people dress their dogs (NOT me).

Some of us take our dogs everywhere we go. Others leave them home, but feel guilty for doing so. We swear we’re going to only feed them what the vet says, and then instead they share our breakfast. (My Baby was most fond of popcorn… so is my parents’ toy poodle). Some people can’t stop at one dog. My son has three, my daughter two, and my sister four.

Things have been tough the last few years. The economy has affected many families. Unable to afford care for their pets, people are taking their furry family members to shelters. My last dog lived to be fourteen. Saying goodbye to her was the hardest thing I ever did. I can’t imagine how painful it must be to give up a dog because of financial troubles. It would be like dropping a child off at an orphanage.

 Speaking from my own experience, I can say the attachment is mutual. Dogs give unconditional love. Even if you forget to feed them, they still love you. After a hard day at work, we come home to “I’m soooo happy to see you!” They won’t lay on a guilt trip for working late (though they may have an accident on the carpet). My dog was my best friend – albeit in the worst times, I swear she was my only friend. She didn’t care about all that human drama stuff. She was just happy to hang out.

That's right. We consider them family because they consider us family too.

Giving

Tomorrow I’m taking part in a world-wide event called Help-Portrait. I’m volunteering to provide technical assistance (and whatever other assistance I can provide) to some Quad-City photographers who have volunteered their time to take portraits of local families.

Help-Portrait is about photographers finding people in need and providing them with a free portrait. How many families go without a family portrait because they simply can’t afford such a luxury? In this economic time, with people struggling just to put food on the table or a roof over their family’s heads, the last thing they think of is a family portrait.

Think of who you know who might enjoy having their portrait. Single parent families? Orphans? Elderly?

This is the time of year to give. The Help-Portrait volunteers are giving portraits. You don’t have to be a portrait photographer to take part. There are so many other things that go into putting on an event of this magnitude. Find your local Help-Portrait group and offer your services. Or… find ANY non-profit and offer your services. There are so many ways to give that only require your time and talent and don’t require a lot of money. Pick one…. and GIVE this Christmas!

Turning Over a New Leaf

Thirteen years ago I found myself alone (again, naturally), broke, and unable to provide even the basic needs for my children. My third marriage, doomed before it began, had predictably failed. In my need to provide hands-on parenting, I had gradually down-graded my employment from the 80 hour weeks of restaurant management to wind up as a temp receptionist. I knew I had to improve my situation, so I decided to go back to school.  Fourteen years before that, I had dropped out of college. I was a business major way back when, leaning towards marketing (though my mother wanted an accountant). My oldest child was just a baby, and I was working 3 jobs to make ends meet. At the age of twenty-three, I was too short-sighted to see that education was going to improve my life and income. I only saw that it took time away from money-earning activities and raising my baby girl.

So here I was, thirty-seven years of age, and returning to school. My new major was IT. In the months leading up to my first class, I took a continuing education course, studied for and earned my A+ certification. I sent out a round of resumes, knowing I couldn’t continue with school without some sort of income. I lucked out and was offered a paying internship with an IT services company – as a printer technician. And so I began my education, both in the classroom and on the job. I didn’t push straight through though. The internship eventually became a full-time job and required that I study for a round of certifications, so I took a year off school. That stretched into two years when I started a new job. Soon I realized if I didn’t get moving, I would never finish. I kept hacking away at it, part-time, and eventually I earned an associate of applied science, then my bachelor of science, and finally an MSIT. Twelve years and an awful lot of student loans later, I was finished. I’m not in my dream job yet, but I am working on getting there. Meanwhile, I teach a course at the community college where I started.

This is where the story is leading. Today we had staff development day for the college. The theme of the day was student completion. As I sat and listened to the chancellor talk about how we needed to find ways to help students complete their education, I couldn’t help but think about that twenty-three year old mother working 3 jobs and trying to take care of a baby girl. How many of our students find themselves overwhelmed with needs and fail to see what finishing something can do for them? A couple of things said today resonate with me. It’s not like I didn’t already know these things, but they were reinforced today. In this economy, some sort of college credential is required to earn a decent living. Even an associate degree or certificate can make a huge difference in the individual’s earning potential. 38% of adult Americans have college credentials – in comparison with higher achieving countries that boast 60% of their adult population with college credentials. And it’s not that students aren’t going to college – it is that they are not finishing.

I turned over a new leaf. It wasn't easy - but I'm doing it every day. Now - how do we make it easier for the next generation to do that?

Saturday Night on the Iowa Side

It’s really cool when I show up to see a band and find a whole bunch of my friends already there! That happened this weekend at Purgatory Pub in Bettendorf… but before that, I paid a visit to the Hawkeye Tap in Northwest Davenport to check out a little known band called Secret Squirrel.

Secret Squirrel is unique in this area – they have a horn-driven sound, and could very easily have a big band sound.  Saturday night there were 9 members in attendance, well, 9 and a guest drummer. I’ve heard they sometimes have twelve onstage. Twelve – wow! Saturday’s showing included trumpet, trombone, two sax players (who also doubled on flute and what appeared at the distance to be a clarinet – though I didn’t get to hear that played), keyboards, guitar, bass, drums – and a singer. I was surprised to see nine on the small stage at the Hawkeye. These guys and gals know how to put it together and make the most use of the space allowed, that’s for sure.

I heard some horn-intensive songs, like Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and their rendition of Moondance. Something I didn’t expect to hear was Queen’s “Tie Your Mother Down”. An even bigger surprise was that last song was the best I heard while I was there. Who’d have imagined a band with all those horns could rock Queen the way they did?

The guest drummer was David James Genac (also known as “Vid”) he’s a cool cat drummer who I’ve seen do guest shots with other bands, and has been a regular in bands such as Tri-Polar XXXPress, The Knock-offs and Nervous Rex. Vid told me during the break he’ll be doing another show with this massive band on November 26. I guess I should have asked where…

I left the Hawkeye and trekked to the east end and then some, winding up at Purgatory Pub in downtown Bettendorf. Yes, I know I just saw Wicked Nature last week, but was curious to hear how they sounded in the much smaller room at Purgs. Whoa boy! It was loud, but it was a good loud. And the crowd there was huge! Wicked Nature packed the house. There were a number of local musicians in the house, including a contingent of the Skynny Skynyrd crew – better than half of the 9 member band.  Also spotted was Jeff Hazen of Simon Says Uncle. I’m sure there were plenty of others – the crowd was just so big I couldn’t see them all!

Here's a little video of Wicked Nature: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uR3m60ihbbI&feature=youtu.be

What's your passion?

What’s your passion? You know, that topic that gets you fired up. Something inside you awakens and makes you want to DO something. Everyone should have at least one passion. These are the things that make us interesting.

You may not know this, but for roughly 13 years or so, my passion has been internet safety. Wha…?? (My musician friends just did a complete 360 in their chairs).  As a founding member and vice president of Predator-hunter.com, I was deeply involved with finding ways to keep kids (and to some extent adults) safe online. At one time, our organization was large (at least as big as Perverted Justice was a few years ago – maybe bigger). We had people trolling the net looking for trouble to report – reports always went to NCMEC. We worked with some law enforcement groups, helping provide technical work on cases. We even helped a young hacker called “OmniPotent” get his valuable evidence to the proper authorities, bringing down a pedophile judge. We built a training site for teaching law enforcement how to use tech tools. We provided awareness training for parents. I worked for a while with Laura Chappell, presenting information to parents, teachers and anyone who would listen about internet safety for kids.

These days, there is little need for organizations like Predator-hunter. And groups like Perverted Justice have given internet safety organizations a bad name. Sorry PeeJ folks – your program started out with the right idea. It just became - umm – perverted along the way. Most law enforcement agencies have their own training available – or have personnel who have experience with the tools they need. Computer forensics has come a long way in the last 13 years. It’s difficult to get parents to an internet safety training presentation these days, as most parents of teens in 2011 have some experience with computers and don’t think they need more information. Organizations like NCMEC have improved their own education programs and created great education modules that schools can use to educate kids on everything from school yard bullies to the dangers of sexting. There’s so much information out there, one could get lost for days.

I still believe in keeping kids safe. I’ve just decided there are so many other people out there doing the work, I can focus on something else for a while. Thanks Michael Vaughan, Amy Baglan, Laura Chappell, Gary Dimmock, Wendell Krueth (rest his soul), and all the other people I worked with over the years… I’m still here, but in a different capacity. Internet Safety will always be a topic that will get my attention.

Music Recap...

11/14/11

Looking back – I find it interesting that my post from Friday drew more traffic from Russian networks than US networks. Hmmmm…

I had a busy weekend folks! Busy enough that writing a blog had to wait for Monday. Saturday night I headed out to a couple of local venues to get some shots of two local bands. My first stop was ThePub Davenport, to see Wicked Nature. Last spring, WN lost a key member. Their guitarist Steveo passed away and left them not only with a hole in their lineup, but in their (and their fans’) hearts as well. Their newest member, seasoned guitarist Mitch Bergeson stepped in and has found his place with the band. Mitch has been around for a long time, most recently from Mr. Tripod and Tri-Polar XXXpress. It’s good to see Mitch found a great home and Wicked Nature found a good match.

The photography – well…I decided at the get-go that I wasn’t shooting video Saturday night. After a long day of yard work, the prospect of holding a cam above my head for 5-10 minutes at a time didn’t excite me at all. I did take some still shots, and was actually pretty pleased with some of the shots of WN. The LED bar lights weren’t exactly flattering, and definitely did not provide any drama, so I wasn’t expecting what I did get. I prefer not to use a flash, but to allow the stage lighting to provide what is needed. 

11/17/11

Now it’s Thursday, and I still haven’t finished my blog from Monday. How time flies when you’re having fun, eh? Seriously though – it has been a busy week.

After ThePub, I took a swing by Hawkeye Tap. Simon Says Uncle was playing there. I’ve seen them twice before and thoroughly enjoyed what I saw. I thought maybe I could get a few shots Saturday night, and see a little more of their show. I also saw this as a great opportunity to get a feel for good camera locations in the bar for the 1^st Impression gig on November 26th. Unfortunately for me (but good for the band), the place was packed. I wasn’t able to get any good shots. The crowd was thick and the lighting was a little dark for shooting without a flash. I did get a couple of mediocre shots, which I posted on Facebook for the band and friends.

A quick catch-up on my week includes an evening at Steve McFate’s acoustic open-mic at Salute on 7^th.  I absolutely enjoy catching these when I can. Steve puts on more of an open jam than a structured open-mic. It’s never fails that some cool folks show up. This week included Shawn Harris (Andy and Zach’s nephew) of The Harris Collection, Lee Blackmon, Lyle Harris, Jackie Madunic, and Jon Moss (son of Mark Moss), among others. The younger generation of musicians showed off some crazy cool skills. And we saw some interesting combinations of musicians as well. It made for a lot of fun. Those open-mic nights are every other Tuesday, at Salute on 7^th in Moline. The next one will be November 29^th. Maybe I’ll see you there.

Contingency Planning

Today was the Iowa Contingency Planners’ annual conference. One of my many hats is business continuity/disaster recovery. So I toddle off to meetings 3 times a year, and once a year to the conference. Contingency Planners is a diverse bunch. Many of us are IT or started in IT, but there are HR people and accounting people as well as first responders and government types. After a few years of business continuity planning, I honestly believe the planner starts sinking into your skin. One day I was driving to work and noticed a plane approaching the Davenport airport – the approach path was directly over our building. Mental note: time to include plane crash in the BCP (the airport built a new runway, and that changed approach paths for jets). I tend to have a heightened awareness of impending issues, thanks to this part of my job.

The first speaker today gave us a presentation on Crisis Communication. She spoke mostly about the reasons our organizations need to be prepared to communicate in crisis situations, and how to prepare for that inevitability. There was quite a bit of discussion about Twitter, Facebook, and bloggers. It seems that a year ago quite a few people were skeptical that Twitter would ever amount to much. The speaker specified fifty-something men – but I’m sure there were others as well. Fast forward to this year, and hurricane Irene. Twitter was one of the biggest sources of information – and people took to Twitter to look for information. The governor of New Jersey tweeted updates regularly in order to make sure the correct information was being communicated. With all of the communication avenues technology gives us, it is very easy for misinformation to be spread – and for the public to express their anger and frustration about not getting information in a timely manner.

I was a little disappointed that the speaker categorized all bloggers as young men sitting in their mothers’ basements in their boxer shorts. Ma’am, there are a lot of bloggers just like myself who are indeed living in the real world. I also tweeted about your presentation – and your comment that people who tweet couldn’t have anything interesting to say.

FEMA gave their presentation just as the Emergency Alert System test started… I suppose they planned it that way so we could hear the EAS test. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on in the background during a disaster, sit in on a FEMA presentation or after action. Talk about organized chaos! There’s the Emergency Operations Center, meetings with state agencies, procuring resources and supplies, Information Technology needs, media to keep informed, governors promising the moon, presidential tours… it goes on and on. FEMA presenter said one of the issues they had was information security was so locked down they had trouble doing their jobs. Infosec can still be locked down but have the flexibility to allow what is needed. Perhaps I should offer my services?

Turning Over a New Leaf

You’ll see a mix of things on this blog. I guess that’s because I’m just a mixed-up sort of gal. I work in Information Technology. My degree is in infosec – and I hope someday to actually work in security full time. Right now I’m just one half of a two person IT department for a non-profit. There’s no money in it, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my job for most of the 9 years I’ve been working there.

I love music – I have since I was a little girl. I made up my first song when I was around 3 (or so my grandmother told me). It was about a little cloud that cried. I didn’t even remember the song – until she sang it to my granddaughter from her bed in the nursing home. Ana was 2 – that was 5 years ago, just about a month before Grandma died. That my 94 year old grandmother remembered a song I made up when I was 3 absolutely floored me.

Still does.

Yes, music has been part of my life since a very early age. I let it go for a while – and here is where the “turning over a new leaf” part comes in. I came back around to music recently. I had missed it so much – I didn’t realize how much. Now I sing backing vocals for a Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute called Skynny Skynyrd. Skynny is a group of very, very talented musicians, and I’m so honored to be allowed to sing with them.

I also play around with videography - and on a lesser scale, photography. I especially enjoy shooting band shows (we call em gigs). One of my favorite bands is 1st Impression. I keep tabs on several bands now - so occasionally I'll provide information about Quad-City area bands.

Welcome!

I decided a long time ago that I wanted to start a blog - and have had one on a tech site before. That site is pretty much unused now, so I've decided to go public. Besides - this gives me the opportunity to blog about more than tech. Maybe I'll interest more folks than just other techies...

Expect a full post soon!