End of Life Hospice Professional (Whoa!? Huh? End of life, like Death? Yup.)
So then let's take a look at some of the detail behind these
Information Security Professional
That's probably how I end up spending most of my time these days, or a fairly large portion of it anyway.
What's Information Security for? Well, in my line it's more like CyberSecurity, Policy, Governance,
GRC, Risk Assessment, Risk Mitigation and Tracking, Security Awareness Training, Regulatory Compliance,
and a lot of other buzzwords, key phrases and line items. :-)
But probably my absolutely most favorite aspect of CyberSecurity is working in Security Operations
building, provisioning, managing, tweaking WAFs (web application firewalls) and their CDNs (content delivery networks)
and managing, mentoring and developing people that make up a global resource team to keep our WAFs/CDNs running flawlessly. A
well-tended, well-managed WAF just sits there doing its thang automagically, granting access and data
to the good guys while keeping the bad guys at bay. And it's collecting a lot of forensic details
just-in-case to enable us to track all kinds of algorithmic patterns and potential behind-the-scenes shenannigans
some folks get up to!
I love the technical complexity of training systems (or letting systems train themselves!) to keep up with cyber risk,
zero-day threats, attempted exploits and compromises. I also like getting my hands dirty tweaking rules, building regex matches,
designing and deploying API tools to automate a lot of this work it used to take a whole army of security engineers to manage!
It's all in a day's work for a security guy helping to design the detailed landscape in the cyberether ... while freeing up
business and project folks to stay focused on what their business demands of them... requirements of how IT systems meet and
provide regulatory compliance solutions protecting day-to-day business transactions and and customer/partner information assets
like your credit card, health records, employee records. You know... all that stuff you probably didn't want too far out in the public eye.
No doubt you may have heard of some of those spectacular data breaches lately which have resulted in your health records, credit infor or
yes, your very own credit card data getting sold to some Black Hat cracker dude across the planet? It's a real and ever-present risk.
Just be glad that there are millions of robotic beings (and more than a few of us human types) focused on quietly keeping you and your data safe.
BTW... I don't know that there are many business rules which are charged with any regulatory requirements to protect
your love letters and high school school angst poetry. But hey, the kinds of information security
information asset protection schemes we build could be kicked into data streams to protect those, too. We're working on
keepin' your privacy and financial records and what not as private as you'd like, so that you don't have to think about it.
~~ At any rate: ^^ that's ^^ my primary line o' work and business focus these days ~~
Handwriting Analysis Professional
And, well, yes, there are other more right-brained parts of me... Take Handwriting Analyst, for instance.
One of the things about me which many people find unusual is my
passion for Handwriting Analysis, aka "HWA". I used to love to study, collect and look at it
and that's been true for all my life, since I was a bitty one... like age 7. Really! I was a chipper lil
second grader digging into the secrets of handwriting. That's a long story about paying attention in 2nd grade, but
ask me sometime if you'd like to know more.
And even these days, I still focus a bit on HWA here and there, and meet people that way from time to time.
More often, tho, it's just one of those things people sometimes find out about me bumping into my book,
or being a friend of a friend of a friend who as a lawyer hired me years ago to help with Jury Selection, or
Fraud Investigation, or some other HWA personal or business interest. All my life, I've met lots of folks
interested in learning more about what I see in THEIR handwriting, or the handwriting of their friend / colleaugue / lover / neighbor.
(I don't mind talking generalities of handwriting, but I'm not too keen on helping people spy on their friend / colleague / lover / neighbor
by my talking about what I see there -- unless they come together and want to hear about their own and their friend's at the same time!)
Oh, and you might not like watching flicks with me. (I'm one of those guys who pauses a Netflix or Prime Video program mid-stream if
a 'ransome note' or 'mysterious handwritten grocery list' is displayed on screen as part of the story... ) I can't help it. I just
HAVE to look at handwriting when it pops up. It speaks very clearly to me, to the point of me even saying sometimes "Oh, yeah, Right!
Why did they have the same 30-something woman write both of those notes for this movie, when one was supposed to be an elderly man's suicide
note and the other was a teen girl's angst poetry! That hand isn't even CLOSE to what they movie's claiming it's supposed to mean!"
Handwriting expresses lots about its writer, and that's something I'm an
expert at evaluating and understanding in context, whether business,
personal or somewhere between the two. One of my books,
THE HAND BEHIND THE WORD
,
is about making sense of that, in fact. Check out its web site over at
http://WWW.HandBehindTheWord.com
if you'd like to learn more.
End of Life Hospice Professional
Well, yes, there is that part of me who helps folks (especially those working in hospice or
who individually have a friend or loved one dying) learn about End of Life process and caregiving.
I wrote a book on the subject, still used in hospices, med schools and homes across the States
and several places around the world. The book is
URGENT WHISPERS: CARE OF THE DYING
and although it's mostly out of print and unavailable these days, you used to be able to find it
wherever books are sold or read (libraries, living rooms, etc).
And what Else? . . .
So when I'm not poring over cybercoding or checking out handwriting or chatting about hospice,
what am I doing with my time in general?
Probably hanging out with the family at home, taking family walks,
cooking together, chatting sometimes in German or French or Italian with each other
just because sometimes other languages are more expressive or fun or interesting.
"The unexamined life is not worth living" said Socrates... I think he'd be ok with
the amount of time we spend having intelligent interesting discussions around the homefront!
In closing... Yes, the world of IT and business consulting is one of the major puzzle pieces of
my professional life over the last few years. As a CyberSecurity professional,
Security Operations Manager, IT Manager, Information Security Officer, Business Analyst,
Program and Project Manager, I have spent a lot of time on technical projects in a variety of
telecommunications, banking, transportation and healthcare businesses (and others).
One common link between my work, my personal life, my books and my consulting work is a penchant for
making order out of chaos, paying attention to the less-visible details and gleaning new ways of understanding.
The Writer Thang. . .
I've always been a writer. And sometimes I have had the pleasure of doing it and making money even as thousands of my books
found their way out into the world and into the hands of my readers. So yes, I did make part of my living that way
(even tho the "main professional me" was always a teacher, consultant, business guy, technical engineering, or security/compliance guy.) But I did
used to spend more of time as a writer and public speaker, where my primary work interests revolved around
researching and producing the books I wrote, giving presentations to various business, radio, television,
educational and private audiences about my passions and my work.
All in all, it's a good life. I enjoy writing, speaking, researching
and all that goes into the production of a good project. The people
are the best part of the job. I love to work hard on my projects, but
I also know how to spend quality time with friends and family
at home or in coffee shops, strolling around the city's
public spaces. And even sometimes, hanging out in rainforests
or quiet mountain air meeting people here or abroad,
hearing stories, celebrating lives, consoling difficulties and
pondering deeply what's most meaningful in life. Of course I
often also take notes for whatever it is I'll be working on
next.
And now, so we don't get to "airy fairy" light and theoretical... for something wholly and completely down-to-earth and serious, and a major concern to
us all... Did you know?:
And, lastly, from the part of me who's an advocate of care of
the dying:
Putting on my End of Life / Hospice Chaplain Hat again . . .
Do you have an Advance Directive? That's the kind of form which
helps you be sure to begin the conversation about whether or not
you want to have your life prolonged artificially should you one
day be near death from an illness, accident or other debilitation.
If you are a resident of Oregon and would like to complete an
Advance Directive, I have a form here which you can use to make
your wishes known. Click here for an
Oregon Advance Directive
Form you can fill out. This form may be legal
in other states, too, and almost certainly is better than nothing
regardless of where you live. But consult your local legal
service to find the best form for your locale.
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