Of Snow, Peanuts, Cabinets, videochats, hacking and Indian food...


I know it has been a long time since I have posted, but im hoping to change that. Alot of stuff has happened since the last post(s), and Im going to do my best to break it down(chicka wooow-wooowww) for you. So here goes!


Im sitting here posting from South Bend, Indiana at my desk, on an IBM thinkpad eating peanuts and preparing for an exit meeting.

What?

I think im getting ahead of myself.

A person said to me once, "Dont grow up all at once, else youll lose all the fun." I tried to live by that motto, slowly easing myself into adulthood and responsibility. Well, arguably a few of the most important things in my life have happened within the past month. So much for all at once. On paper, it looks like i grew up extremely fast, but to me, its been a smooth transition.

Its true. I passed calculus(got a c with the grace of god and jimmy lesko) and therefore graduated from Bowling Green State University with an undergraduate degree in Electronics and Computer Technology. What should i do with this degree? Honestly, stuff i hate. Circuit design, mechanical electronics, manufacturing systems, etc. To that, i said...no thanks. I focused on network security, hardware, network administration. No degree program at BGSU really focuses on any of those areas, so i took as many classes as i could as well as did internships with those topics. Having a resume that rivals people 10 years older than me, I started looking for jobs.

While I had many prospects, and in retrospect, a few offers, one of them really stood out from the crowd. My number one pick was an Information Security Consultant position with Crowe Chizek, an accounting and consulting firm. Ive known the name for a while, seeing as how they have had a major office 5 minutes north of my parents house for as long as I can remember, i talked to them at the BGSU job fair. Not thinking i had much of a chance because of my background, i went in with a "nothing to lose" attitude. I gave them my resume, expected that to be it.

A few days later i was asked to do an interview on campus with their representatives. I met with 2 people from their Information Risk Management group, and had the same sort of attitude. I figured they were looking for people with much higher GPA's than myself, internships with the big 4 consulting/accounting firms and other huge professional accolades. Now, my credentials are good, but i didnt think they were in the niche they were looking for. After meeting with both interviewers, I was very interested in their position. Its part james bond, part hacker. Take the movie Sneakers and mix it with the movie Hackers. Thats the job. Testing network security, doing external penetration tests (a.k.a. Hacking) and doing internal penetration tests(a.k.a. lying to people about who you are to get critical informationby way of social engineering). I figured i had a decent interview and would get a thank you note in the mail, but nothing else.

Around 5pm, i got a call asking me to come to their headquarters in south bend, IN for an on site office visit. They were very impressed with me and my interview, and brought me out to south bend in mid november. I visited for 2 days, met with everyone, interviewed with the partners(one of which is a BGSU graduate) and then played the waiting game. In the end, the thursday of exam week....i got my offer call from the partner. I accepted, and had to find a place to live within 2 weeks, with christmas and new years sitting square in the middle of those 2 weeks.

I took a trip out here to south bend with katie, i found a nice place to live, moved in and got settled in to start work on the 5th of january. South Bend gets a boatload of snow, since we are in a lake effect snow zone, and the first night i lived here, we got 4-5 inches. Since moving in, ive been working here, loving every minute of it, and letting people know all the cool stuff i do(that i can talk about because of security reasons and confidentiality agreements). I was able to get my own cat, a black domestic short hair named Callie who is one of the most interesting animals i have met. She loves to open and close all cabinets in the apartment. Shes a good cat, very affectionate, even when im in the middle of things.

The people i work with are very interesting. We all have drastically different backgrounds. Everyone eats different things, does different stuff, knows different topics. One of the crew's favorite places to eat is an indian resteraunt that i didnt really care for ;-) but its good to try different things.

I spoiled myself a bit since i got a good job with a great salary, bought myself some neat toys. The best is probably my iSight camera that i got so that i can still see and talk to Katie and my parents from the comfort of my Mac. Its great, makes phones useless. If anyone has a mac with iChat AV, i suggest getting one of these. It will change the way you communicate.

Starting today, im going back on the Atkins diet. I was very successful with it before and hope to repeat that performance this time. Being back on a somewhat 8-5 schedule is easier for that, rather than working/class everyday from 11-10pm. I really want to get my health in order. I figure thats a good way to get started while i wait for the dietician from St. Joes Med Center to call me back.

I have definately learned alot in a month. Relationships have changed, people have changed, i have changed. I try to keep in touch with my friends, and have been dissapointed with some people doing what they can to screw me over. Its sad to see some people become everything they hated about someone else, but there is nothing i can do. Things are definately hard on the relationship front being 2.5 hours away from Bowling Green, but anything is possible. People never cease to suprise me, but they also never cease to amaze me.

Be looking for more updates soon. I promise im going to keep up on it, since i cant talk to everyone id like to, but im sure trying!

For those of you who i didnt send the information to(did ya get that memo?) I have new contact information. Email me at bjwaggoner@mac.com for it!