Monthly Recap - December 2020 - 'A car crash by anyother name...'
I thought March 2020 was rough. March, all 8 months of it have been nothing compared to December 2020 this thing has kicked me hard and let me start to get back up again before another swift kick or cane across the back.
It’s been a harsh end to the year and honestly I nearly gave up.
It started with my sons school, they decided that because he was coughing and had a temperature he had corona virus (BTW they only focussed on the temperature, other kids cough and flick bogies at eachother and noone bats an eye lid) he had to isolate for 14 days, have you ever tried to break this down to a child with Autism? it’s fucking rediculous.
My son suffered with a cold, the runny nose was the give way here but the school thought better so stopped his access and requested he get a test and then await results only to return once we receive an all clear email and can show them the proof. (notice nothing about his bubble needing to also stay home and self isolate)
Sidenote: The bubble system is a great idea school… except for first thing in the morning all parents and all children are huddled round the gate without masks trying to rush in and then on pickup when you let kids out but they freely cross each bubble in the playground to get to parents, it’s a fucking great idea! definately no bubble breaking going on there </obvious sarcasm>.
So I had to take him to a walk in test center first thing in December. For those who don’t know they are run by what looks like voulenteers and they have no idea how to work with a child who has extra needs.
We have worked hard (me and wife) to keep our son on track, always wearing a mask when out to keep the naughty virus away and help protect us and Grandma, he understands this, he knows it’s not to protect him per-say it protects others and he likes wearing a mask so thats a bonus.. so please don’t ask him to put another, different, mask (that was made for a adult) when turning up for testing this just got him in a bad mood and made him completely unreceptive to me having to test him… I had to wrangle him into a chair and hold both his hands wrapped around him to stop him fidgiting enough so I could stick a strip up his nostrils and put it in a tiny screw top bottle before getting him to settle again and then eventually he was able to put the test parcel in the collection basket (as a distraction).
Slow clap (more sarcasm) there for the Walk in Testing Center folks…
In a huge shock and twist of fate 2 days later (it was a Friday so we had the weekend) we got the email to say the test result was.. Negative.. who would have thought partents who are educated enough to understand hands, face, space, would be correct in their diagnosis of their own child that they spend every day with.. where is the Thursday night clap for people who follow the rules and don’t fuck it up for everyone else?
So that was the first few days of December, moving along I had a flu jab (first one ever) that completely destroyed my left arm for a few days rendering me useless. I don’t have too much to say on that but the whole process of going in to get this done during a pandemic was reminiscent of a hollywood forced labor camp, single file to the desk, one of two people give you a different colour slip of paper, get pointed to a door, stand in a hallway, no (or little to no) talking, arm out, inject, theres the exit… fuck, it felt Orwellian (sort of).
Then there was my learning, I try to set myself manageable goals for learning especially in the Cyber Security field as it changes so swiftly but that was all shot when my laptop started to play up.
I run a Lenovo X240 (i3, kinda old) which is a wonderful machine. I’ve maxed out the RAM at 8GB and thrown in a bigger capacity SSD to store more stuffs but none of that means a thing when it starts to have hardware problems, overheats, gets russian malwared (least I didn’t RAT myself again, fun learning how that worked) I think the amount of work and tinkering (meaning running VMs and hacking etc) is starting to take a toll on the old girl so it might be time for a retiement and getting something newer but I worry as presently I have no Rainy Day fund and even if I did I don’t think it would be splurged on a shiny new laptop, a global pandemic isn’t exactly the best time to be eyeing up a purchase.
It’s a thing to think and plan about in the future, I don’t want to make a quick purchase cheap laptop, I really want to think about it and make a good investment in my future as this could possibly be the last machine I ever get to buy.. I do have some money coming in at some point from a legal thing but I have earmarked the greater percentage of it to give to my wife on account of I’m an asshole and I owe her so much (after all she puts up with me to start with).
So there’s that.
Let me think; Son, Jab, Laptop, oh Christmas! Chrsitmas was good there are some good things even in the nightmare that is 2020 and Lockdown 3 (incoming) Tier 4 (something new and made up for people down south who can’t stick to easy to follow instructions). I cleared the kitchen and pushed to have one sit down around the table family christmas and it worked.
It’s not like I am a traditionalist or anything but there is one thing I did want and It happened :)
All in all, it was a bit of a shite end to the year, there was one thing that stood out and shined through like Mercy coming to scrape you up off the floor, and that was just enough to finish this bastard year once and for all.
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I look forward to 2021 and the hope of exciting change and job oppertunity (maybe a new-ish laptop). I’m starting to move around ideas for things in my head (waiting on a windows install several times through the month can do that to a person).
Something I have wanted to do for some time is also finally coming to fruition. I am putting together a Podcast, yes i know everyone and their mum has a Podcast, well now its my time. The aim of the podcast is to cover Blue Team Security (hence the name The Blue Team Podcast) it is not a subject I have the most knowledge of which I feel makes me a better host as I will be asking the genuine questions people new to the field would also be asking.
Though it will be primeraly Blue Team I may dip into Red Team for certain questions or angles on the same subject (would be fun to be the ‘Joe Rogan’ sat in the middle of a Red Vs Blue debate in cyber).
I have no idea how the Podcast will go, it may only make it a few episodes but i’ll be damned if just some of that audio, some of that advice doesn’t help someone who needs it.
Anyway more on that in the future, still need to test a streaming setup.. possibly nab the wifes Macbook as a secondary machine when streaming.. will figure out the details and pop up a test or two before reaching out to professionals for interviews/coffee.
Wrapping it all up.. Stay Frosty, Merry belated Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
From my family to yours <3