Withdrawal

With the advent of (relatively) inexpensive satellite Internet, I'd like to point out that I can now get internet in the jungles of Peru, but I've found myself in a twilight-zone of non Internet called "Air New Zealand" :-D

Nah, I'm not really complaining (well, not that much). 

This is my first time on a Dreamliner (787) and it's a very shiny aircraft. Without turning this isn't a 1st world problem airline review - I prefer the 777's premium economy seating - though the 787s is nothing really to complain about. 

I fell asleep very quickly (indeed I struggled to stay awake for the evening supper), I'd deliberately made it a long day for myself, so I was pretty tired. I appear to have gotten a pretty good 8hrs sleep (good for airline sleep), and the person sitting next to me appears to have been acrobatic enough (and the seats far enough apart) to climb over me without waking me. Whooo.

Time: 1000h (NZ)

Location; somewhere over Okinawa near the East China Sea

Altitude: 38,000ft

Outside Temperature: -48

Speed: 865kph (537mph)

Movies Watched: Demolition Man (it actually stands up quite well)

Paging Captain Oates

Flight may not have wifi, I'm just going to board for Shanghai and may be some time. (Bonus points if you get the post title reference).

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step

I sit here, basking in what remains of the beautiful day that Auckland has laid on for me, reminding me not so subtly what I will be missing out on. I just went through an Auckland winter, then spring, and now as the temperature is beginning to rise, I transit to the cold far north of Europe. One could almost feel sorry for me, but for the fact that I did this by design. Next time I'll do the Northern Hemisphere in the summer, and thus skip winter for a year.

I leave tonight just before midnight, and have a 12 hour flight ahead of me to Shanghai. After that will be a 7 hour layover, before heading to Frankfurt (another 12 hour flight). I do predict that within the decade, there will be suborbital passenger service from Sydney to London (or similar) that will take all of an hour or two. Till then, it's hurtling through the stratosphere in a tin can.

I'm sitting here, wondering if I've forgotten anything. Not so much that I won't have it - I can always buy almost anything I forgot - but because my pack is depressingly full, I'd rather not discover more things I should have packed.

In my defence, a large volume, and not inconsiderable weight is occupied by my fire trade goods and the suit jacket that I will be needing on the cruise (and will hopefully use elsewhere!). Unfortunately by the very nature of the my travels, my backpack will really only get fuller. My medication does take up some volume as well, but not as much as the other things.

So in a few hours, I set out to conquer the world. Lay on, Macduff!

Location: Auckland
Temperature: 19°C

C'est la vie

Regrettably I've not been offered the SRM/SRE job, but they've suggested I try again in 24 months or so. This isn't exactly surprising, it's not an easy place to get in to - indeed its one of the hardest. The interview process has been great and my recruiter was awesome. Anyway, I've got a planet to explore.

4 days to go

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go...

More importantly, I've checked and double-checked all the stuff I'll need, particularly medication (the older I get, the more luggage space is used by medication). 

The bag is heavier than I'd like, but I've only taken what I need, it's the climate extremes that are killing me (Finland at -20°C to Carribean at +30°C). I'm also taking a few Fire Service T-Shirts to trade, but the word trade sort of implies that I won't be losing weight that way.

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Temperature: 19°C

Bag Weight: 17.2kg

Weather: Sunny (I'm gonna miss that)

Kiwicon, Fin

So there is an important rule at Kiwicon. It's not by any means a unique rule but it's one that is used at Kiwicon as well: What goes on at Kiwicon, stays at Kiwicon.

That said, as I lie here in my hostel bed, attempting to recover from an almighty hangover, I can share some of my experiences.

Every year Metlstorm heads what is a rising bar of awesome, set by the previous Kiwicon - and this year was no exception. First it was lasers, then Pyro, then.. well that would be spoilers. The opening ceremony both days were an extravaganza generally found at concerts rather than technical symposiums on the current state of cyber security.

Fricking Lasers.

The second day opening, not to be outdone by the first day, featured a choreographed dance where Katie Moussouris (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kmoussouris), whose credentials are literally too long to write, descended from the roof on a ring and revealed that her talents include an amazing singing voice.

As usual there were some amazing talks at Kiwicon. Honestly the bling, entertainment and comedy is only exceeded by its quality of content. As arduous as the 26 hours of flying back to NZ were, it really was worth it. 

I once again honed by handcuf picking skills, this time exceeding my previous personal best - getting myself out of backwards double locked behind my back (the cuffs had the secondary pin pushed through requiring moving the pin one way and then picking it the regular way ("double locked") whilst my arms and cuffs were behind my back, and the cuffs keyholes were facing up my arm ("backwards"). For some there, including some total beginners, it's not hard, but for me it was a personal best.

I also went on to thumb cuffs, then thumb cuffs facing the wrong way (hard to explain why that isn't easy) and finally thumb cuffs behind the back (so that took awhile).

Anyway, enough about my lack of picking skills -

If you've never been to a Kiwicon, and you're in anyway working or just interested in the technical security field, you really are doing yourself a disservice by not attending. Alas, you have to wait for next year now.

Kiwicon

An addition to my Big Trip has been Kiwicon. Not a new thing by any means, I've gone many years, but it's squeezed in between Ireland and the Round-The-World, so I've put it as part of the Big Trip.

Kiwicon is an international even with a particularly kiwi flavour. Retro old school computing is the general theme, but the spefic theme changes each year. This year it's army (think MASH mixed with 1980s movie Wargames)

The conference is the NZ smaller version of Defcon. That said - it doesn't lack for quality or quantity with an international line up of speakers and a cyber expeditionary force of over 1400 troops (attendees).

Kiwicon now falls at the end of what is rapidly becoming NZ's security week, with a large number of security events scheduled (regrettably) during the same week.