I was finally inspired to install Snort and ACID today, just to see if it was worth the resources. I now have what would appear to be a very nice intrusion detection system logging to PostgreSQL with ACID serving as a handy-dandy web frontend to the whole thing. In the six hours or so that I've had the whole thing running, it's picked up a ton of attempts to exploit a handful of well-known web-based vulnerabilities (mostly from APNIC space...not much of a surprise, given the track record I've seen with SMTP relay and spam attempts from over there). I think I'll enjoy playing around with this little tool; makes a nice addition to the consulting/outsourcing toolbelt too.
Business name registrationsDamn, my second-choice name came back rejected (I had to eliminate my first-choice, since it was obviously already taken); wasn't aware of the restriction that caused this name collision before, but it makes perfect sense now that I see it explained. I still have the list of names that I originally made, so it shouldn't take too much hand-wringing before I resubmit the name hold registration.
School, teaching, and /.I am consistantly amused and surprised by the timing my life seems to enjoy. After much consideration, and a lot of discussion with my girlfriend, I've come to the conclusion that, long-term, the IT industry just isn't where I ought to be. My focus is firmly on returning to school, to finish up the undergrad CS degree I nearly completed 5 years ago, along with a followup tour at graduate school, with the eventual goal being teaching CS at the undergrad level. How surprising to notice, shortly after making up my mind to go this way, that I'm not the only one thinking of going back to school. Not too surprisingly, Slashdot has covered this kind of topic before, and while you have to take everything you see there with a grain of salt, there are a few good nuggets of information to be had from time to time.
Back in the real world...Unfortunately, that goal is a bit in the distance right now. I'm still unemployed (insert large flashing "NEED A SR. UNIX ADMINISTRATOR/ARCHITECT?" neon sign here), although there are a couple of prospects in the pipeline (none of which are very attractive, but which I need to consider since money is quickly running out). My ideal situation would be a short-term contract or two (3-6 months, tops) through a consulting firm or independantly which would give me time to either firm up the business, or figure out exactly how I'm going to fund and practically manage going back to school. Ah well, life isn't always ideal, is it? ;-)
Reading...I've noticed a new (renewed) behavior since I've had so much time on my hands; I'm reading voraciously again. My gf and I have practically been living in the local bookstores, and I've been absorbing damn near everything in the computing section; K&R's The C Programming Language and Stroustrup's The C++ Programming Language (for the "I can finally say I've read them" category), Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming (don't tackle this set without a lot of latte's handy...and a pen and pad of paper), Hunt's The Pragmatic Programmer (solid point-form advice for anyone writing code in the real world), Schneier's excellent Applied Cryptography (truly required reading for anyone interested in the topic), and a bunch of others that were less memorable. (Hell, I even sat down and gave Design Patterns another read, although my original impression of it being of purely academic cataloging interest still stands; luckily, I noted that the authors admit this freely, although I don't know how many people I've bumped into who swear by that book as if it were a bible of sorts.)
I was especially pleased to see a friend from the "good old days" with a book on the shelf: John Viega (Hi Rust!) and Gary McGraw's Building Secure Software (the book's website is here). An excellent book; I know quite a few software engineers who could stand to give it a read.
I wonder: of all the people out there reading this who have been without work for a while, is this normal behavior? I still can't believe I spent hours poring over Knuth's math...
Enough for now, time for sleep.