Thanks Birmingham InfraGard Chapter

I'd like to publicly thank the Birmingham, Al chapter of InfraGard for having me speak at their April meeting. They seem to have a really good chapter going there. They meet monthly and have a strong regular attendance. Also from talking with them they seem to do quiet a bit outside of the regular meetings. I think my talk went well. They were at least polite and told me that they enjoyed what I had to share. Michael Ramm drove over from Tuscaloosa, AL to meet me. It was nice to meet someone that I've interacted with lots over the past year.

Atlanta needs something to kick start the local chapter here. We only meet quarterly and that's being optimistic. The last meeting was in November 2007 and the next meeting is at SecureWorld Atlanta the end of this month. On my calendar that's a 6 month lull, doesn't sound very quarterly to me. I'm not trying to pick on InfraGard in general here. There is something about Atlanta that doesn't seem to fit well with InfoSec meetings. I know that ISSA and ISACA meet monthly but I have never been so I can't speak to what they are like. We have tried several times to get a CitySec started and have had a total of 2 gatherings. The first time it was Mike Rothman, Beau Woods and myself. The second meeting Beau had dinner and drinks alone. A time or two since then emails have gone out no one has shown any interest. So I guess that will have to wait for another time.

I'm jealous of the fact that lots of my friends are at RSA this week and I'm not. For some reason I seem to have an aversion to working for companies that will send me to conferences. Maybe one day. I really can't complain too much. Even though I would have to foot the bill myself for most anything out of the Atlanta area I've been lucky. Atlanta has quiet a few small conferences (day, 1/2 day, lunch, etc) and a couple of 2 to 3 day events that I get to participate in. Just last month I attended the CSO Perspectives conference here and later this month I will be at SecureWorld Atlanta.

Things at work have been keeping me hopping. I've got so many things going on that I'm almost paralyzed trying to decide what to do first. I've prioritized them but still when it all is screaming at you it's hard to focus. Everything is an "emergency" in the eyes of the requester. Oh well, it will get done in time I just need to quit worrying about it.

Hopefully soon I'll get back to blogging something of value. For now work and my honeydo list calls so.......... It's off the catch the bus home and hopefully finish staining the deck.