CMS Rock Star » Travel and/or destinations

I want to go to DisneyWorld

Rock Star — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 15:12:58 +0000

I was just thinking about the next time I go on vacation, I’d like to go to DisneyWorld. I enjoy the fact that so many of their attractions are NOT wild roller-coaster rides! They have a lot of live entertainment shows on the streets that entertain people who are not actively going in an attraction. They take great strides to keep the park clean, and the employees there are always so pleasant and professional. Yeah, DisneyWorld is one of my favorite vacation spots! I wouldn’t mind moving there and working there when I finally move out of the house. I don’t know what job I would want, but it is just such a happy feeling place, I wouldn’t mind being there all the time!

School buses

Rock Star — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 14:36:31 +0000

Well, school has started again, which means that drivers are seeing the school buses out on the road again. Due to new restrictions, and fuel economy, all of the buses have been governed down to have a maximum speed limit of only 45 mph! This is a real drag when you are in a hurry and find yourself stuck behind a school bus when you are in a hurry and can’t find a safe place to pass! I feel sorry for the bus driver, too, because I KNOW they would like to be able to drive faster if their bus doesn’t have any kids in it!

Cyber security contests

Rock Star — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 22:08:37 +0000

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) has a department called Information Systems and Internet Security (ISIS) Lab. This Lab concentrates on the newest areas of information security. Currently they are focusing on digital forensics, computer and network security, digital watermarking, steganography, and hardware for secure systems.

The ISIS Lab is holding their fifth annual Cyber Security Awareness Week from now until October 14. A very large part of the week is an information security competition run by students. The competition will culminate with an awards ceremony and presentations by industry leaders. The competition is open to students around the country, not just limited to NYU-Poly. Interested students can register for the competition at isis.poly.edu/csaw/.

Cash prizes will be given to the winners of the competition. There are seven categories of competition, and each category will have their own prizes. The categories are Security Quiz, Research Poster, Forensics, AppSec Capture the Flag, Essay Contest, Security Awareness Posters, and Underhanded Hardware.

First prize is $500. Second prize is $250, and third prize is $100. There will also be door prizes, bonus prizes and raffles for high school and undergraduate participants. A travel scholarship will be awarded to qualified finalists to attend the awards ceremony in New York City.

Roaming gnome

Rock Star — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 08:56:42 +0000

I was reading that ananova.com website I was telling you about, looking at their “quirkies” section (where they have the fun stories) and saw a story about a woman whose garden gnome was kidnapped seven months ago and taken on a trip to several countries. The gnome was returned with a scrapbook of photographs, showing everywhere it had been. The gnome was damaged from all of its adventures, but the owner is not upset, she is happy to have gotten it back, and very happy to have the scrapbook of the adventures. What a hoot! If you want to read the story too, click here.

Office furniture

Rock Star — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 01:53:42 +0000

My father’s company is opening a branch in Australia in the next few months. My father has been asked to fly to Australia to oversee the logistics of finding the right office space and furnishing it with the proper Office Furniture. He has found a company in Australia called Progressive Office that sells Commercial Furniture and helps to design office settings to maximize efficiency while maintaining a feeling of elegance. He’s pretty sure that he’ll be able to work with them to set up the new office from start to finish. Although he dreads the long airplane ride, he’s really looking forward to the trip – he’s never been to Austrailia before!

Email from Jake

Rock Star — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 01:09:25 +0000

I got an email from Jake this morning. He’s arrived safe and sound on the Gold Coast. He’s gone there with three of his college roommates for a two week vacation. They’ve picked up a rental car that they found when they googled the words “Cheap Car Hire Gold Coast.” They found a place called Cut Price Car Rentals that has a great selection and cheap prices. He said that they have three locations, the Brisbane airport, the Coolangatta airport, and Surfer’s Paradise.

Now they are planning to spend the next two weeks driving around Australia and doing as much sightseeing that they can do on a college student’s shoestring budget! They are excited about the possibility of seeing real kangaroos and koala bears “in the wild” if they can manage it. He promised to bring me a souvenir T-shirt.

Jerry Lewis with a gun? Say it ain’t so!

Rock Star — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 00:38:14 +0000

I was reading that Jerry Lewis (yes, the famous comedian) was cited for having an unloaded gun concealed in his carry on luggage as he was trying to board a plane from Las Vegas to Detroit. Jerry Lewis’s manager says the gun is just a prop and can’t be fired. The police say if it was really just a prop then they would not have given him a citation. So I wonder what the REAL story is?

Invitation to spend the weekend at camp

Rock Star — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 03:02:11 +0000

We received an invitation from a family friend, Noel to come spend the weekend at her house on the lake in a nearby town. Her place is a year round house in an area that is mostly wooded, with few neighbors around. Most people around here would call her house a “camp” but I don’t really understand WHY, other than the fact that it is on a lake! Anyway, she has a couple of spare bedrooms and has invited us to come out for a day, or the whole weekend, so we are trying to see what we can work out. We go visit with her at least once a summer, and always have a good time, so I hope we can work it out!