Splunking in San Francisco

Union Square side of Westin St. Francis

with the Splunk flag waving

I just got back last night from the Splunk .conf2011 in San Francisco. The conference was fantastic! I've been to a few conferences before, mostly for training, but this was tops! Held at the Westin St. Francis in downtown SF, the opening atmosphere was electric, fueled by Led Zeppelin and people passionate for making new and better IT and business processes. I know, that sounds crazy and geeky, and to a degree it is. But I don't think it's any different than consumer previews held by companies like Apple, Google, and Microsoft.

Splunk, for those who don't know, is a company that started out handling IT logs, providing an easier means to search and access those logs. It has grown into something more, something with security, something to streamline business, something to enable views of data in new and usable ways. It can even be used to see what's popular on Twitter and to track shipped packages. I am excited about the possibilities for the future and plan on working on some apps for home use as well as business.

Anyway, thanks to all those who made .conf2011 a great time of learning, networking, and making friends. I hope to see everyone again next year!

Time to go splunking

The next couple of months have me traveling a few times for work. Monday I'm headed to San Francisco to attend Splunk .conf2011. Splunk is a logging search tool for networks, a "Google for logs" I've been told. It can be used for so many different things: security, business, web, applications. So this probably means little to most who'll read this, but I'm excited.

Towards the end of September, I'll be headed to DerbyCon, in Louisville, KY. This event is similar in nature to the recently finished DefCon, in Las Vegas. It's a hacker convention, with talks covering a wide spectrum of topics, as well as a capture the flag type event, a lockpicking village, and a "hacker" theater. Again, I'm excited.

In the middle of October, I've been invited to give a talk at a small conference in Idaho. I'll be speaking on email security. This time there's a little bit of nervousness mixed with the excitement, but I'm looking forward to it.

Whew! Lots to do and only a little time!

My Soundtrack

When I worked on the flightline in Florida, I wanted my soundtrack to start off with Metallica's "Whiskey in the Jar". That heavy guitar riff playing as my crew and I walked out of the hangar, moving in slo-mo, hanging missiles and bombs off fighter jets. Perfect, right? Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" would have fit nicely too. And now, when I drive to work, Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" has special meaning.

I like ballads, too, so my soundtrack would also include a bunch of slow songs. Things like GNR's "Patience", Marc Cohn's "Walking in Memphis", James Taylor's "Sweet Baby James", Matt Nathanson's "Come On Get Higher". (Don't let your kids listen to that last one. That's more for the "romance time" of life, not the sentimental ones.) The point is, there are a lot of songs that speak to me, as I'm sure there are for other people.

So, question for today: What songs do you want on your soundtrack?

Changing TV

My family and I have recently turned off cable TV. Before you go thinking we're all noble and monkish (or crazy), we are using Netflix as our entertainment. The biggest reason we made this transition was to save some money. We were able to save $80 each month, and that's after Netflix's recent rate hike. ( Warning: Results may vary! We went from a cable subscription with two HD DVRs, extended HD cable, HBO, and the extra family pack channels to Netflix. I had a lot of extra stuff we didn't really need!)

The interesting thing I've found about Netflix is the streaming content. Some TV shows and movies are obscure and it's painfully obvious why. Others titles are well known, but maybe not the most recent season or newest DVD release. The ones I've liked best, though, are shows I had no idea existed, yet are really good. One of these is the BBC production of "Robin Hood", a series following everyone's favorite outlaw and his merry band. My kids have flown through the episodes and it's good entertainment. I enjoy it, but I don't watch quite as frequently as the kids; maybe I'm stuck in the "one-episode-a-week" mindset. (Spoiler alert: The series was cancelled after the third season. But I don't think that's a reason not to watch.)

My attention to TV has been focused by Netflix, too. I used to sit and watch TV mindlessly, flipping channels until something good caught my eye, and settling for mediocre when nothing did. Those were the days when I ended up watching Division 1 lacrosse games. There's nothing wrong with either lacrosse nor those who watch it on TV. But I never played the game and only know a handful of people who ever played. I'm sure there's better things I could be doing with my time. Now, if I want to watch a show, I actually have to make a decision. More often, I find myself doing something other than sit in front of the TV. (Like restart this blog...)

I still have plenty of distractions to avoid, but TV isn't one of them at the moment. I'm trying to start some good habits and practices and it seems a good time for this. I have a block of time previously filled with TV, now I can fill it with something different and, hopefully, productive. And I might end up turning cable back on at some point in the future. It's especially tempting with the start of the NFL season coming up.