Metasploit Community CTF – December 2020

Sarah and I enjoyed taking part in this year’s Metasploit Community CTF; a hacking competition put on by the folks at Rapid 7. It was a great weekend-long competition with a total of 20 flags and 874 teams. We did the same competition about a year ago; it was quite challenging, and we only got […]

Book Review: Deep Work

A couple years ago, I read a great book by Cal Newport called “So Good They Can’t Ignore You”, which I really enjoyed. I had heard that he wrote another book that was about focus and productivity, but I hadn’t gotten a chance to read it until recently. I just finished it, and loved it. […]

How to Not Get Hacked – Part 1

Recently I was digging into my online security setup to make sure it’s still working and keeping my online accounts secure. There have been some pretty high-profile hacks in the last 20 years or so, and no website is exempt from the possibility of a breach. If you’ve ever had a friend whose email, Facebook, […]

I Voted Green. Here’s Why.

First, a disclaimer: I am not a politician. I do not have a background in political science, and comparatively speaking, I haven’t spent a great deal of time thinking about the things I’m writing about here. However, I am a voter. As a Canadian citizen, I have a right to vote for the political party […]

Fall Keji Trip

We went out for one last visit to Kejimkujik National Park for the Fall. We went camping for a few nights earlier in the season, but wanted to get out for a day trip. Keji was hit pretty hard by Hurricane Dorian a few weeks ago. There were a lot of trees blown down, damage […]

Damaged Gorge

We had a pretty crazy rainstorm last week. Some places in Nova Scotia reported over 160mm of rain, all within one day. One of our favourite places to ride, The Gorge, was hit hard. This is the trail system where the recent Canada Cup race was held. Sarah and I went out to check out […]

It’s just a number

Well, we’ve all had quite a few birthdays. But we only get a handful where the number on the left changes. I guess it’s as good a time as any for some reflection and musing. Apparently, a lot of things happened 30 years ago. In 1989, the Berlin wall came down, George H. W. Bush […]

Kentville Canada Cup 2019

This summer, I’ve been doing a lot of mountain biking. Well, I mean, it’s all relative. But compared to previous years, I’ve been really stepping it up. I think it all started last year when I volunteered at the local Canada Cup race. I found myself very inspired by the amazing riders, but also started […]

Goals for 2019

Over the holidays, I started to do some thinking about my goals for this year. My team lead at work has talked to me a number of times about “right to left” thinking, which I’ve found to be very helpful when pondering goals and ambitions. The idea is to start by envisioning the future that […]

Reflections on 2018

I started off 2018 by sharing some of my goals for the year. Some went well. Some were left somewhat wanting. Goal 1: Get better at playing piano. I actually spent a good bit of time on this for the first half (or so) of 2018. It sort of died off later in the year, […]