*Hiking/Backpacking/Camping*

Since I’ve been a kid I’ve always liked exploring the outdoors.  I’ve recently made a bigger push to explore.  While in Puerto Rico for work I was able to climb to the top of El Yunque, a mountain in the Tropical Rain forest.  While at the top of the mountain I got inspired.  Now I’m going to make a point to hit up a few new places a year.  I’d like to eventually do a big trip like the Appalachian Trail.  Here is a small list of my modest adventures…

2009 - Hiking/Camping in Dupage Forest Preserve (this spring). I’m always entertaining new ideas and recruiting new camping buddies.
2008 - Hiking in El Yunque Tropical Rain Forest, Camping in White Pines Forest Illinious State Park, Camping in Chain O’ Lakes Illinios State Park
2007 - Kayaking in Kentucky, Camping in Letchworth “Grand Canyon of the East” New York State Park

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*Robot Building and Other Various Electronix Projects*

Sandwich the line following robot - I bought a book call “Robot Building for Beginners” by David Cook. It’s been a great learning experience playing with electronics at a basic level.  I guess I’ve always had an interest, but I never had the right tools, time or information available to make it happen.  I’m about half way through the book and about 25% through the robot building process.  I’ll post some photos once I’m up and running.

 Renewable Energy System - I’ve always been interested in renewable energy sources and I finally found a great article that shows you how to build your own wind generator and solar panels.  I was at Fry’s last weekend and I found 12V solar panels for $19!!! I can’t wait to get more into this project and make a renewable energy system.

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*Pentesting Fun*

Minidns.pl - An ultra-light DNS server I wrote in perl. Nothing fancy, just the basics (PTR and A records).

Createicafiles.pl - A parser for citrix-pa-scan.pl output that will create individual ICA files, making it easier to select which applications you want to test for anonymous authentication.

checkSMTPservers.pl - A “scanner” for checking unrestricted SMTP servers.  I got sick and tired of testing it manually and the scanner I had was so bloated I couldn’t trust the results. It’s written in perl and as always it’s nothing fancy.

MS-Excel Hacking - Utilizing excel to automate string manipulation, command generation & execution and data analysis. Send me an email to talk specifics.  If you know me, you know I love talking about it :)

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*Professional Certifications*

CompTIA Security+ 2008: COMPLETE
CISSP: Started December 28th, 2008
Microsoft Certified System Engineer w/ Security Focus: on hold
Cisco Certified Network Associate: on hold

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*Gun Refinishing/Building*

I’ve always wanted to learn how to build or refinish a gun.  I’ve identified my first subject, my great grandfather’s shotgun, and in February when I’m home for NECCDC I’m going to bring it home and start refinishing it.  It should be an interesting experience.  If anything, I should learn something.

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More projects and updates coming soon… I’m still (always) in the process of rebuilding