Computing for Fun and Profit

The left-brain side of my personality is amply represented through my work in computers, both for fun (web design, diddling with graphics and photography, gaming) and profit (employment in systems administration, web administration, and computer security).

Copies of my resume are available; for personal reasons I don't leave them online unless I'm looking for employment though (which, presently, I am not actively doing). If you'd like a copy of my resume or references, just drop me a line and say so. As a summary, though, here's a quick rundown of my fun-and-games in computing.

Computer Security
This is the bulk of my work in computing these days, as I am currently employed as a Sr. Security Analyst for a large multimedia/entertainment company (the one with mouse ears). Things I do for them:
  • Intrusion Detection - Installation, tailoring, monitoring and analysis of global enterprise-wide network and host intrusion detection systems.
  • OS Security - Design, organization, and documentation of enterprise security standards for operating systems and software platforms
  • Vulnerability Analysis - Monitor current software vulnerability lists (Bugtraq, various other full-disclosure fora), determine and rate threats to enterprise environment, document and release bulletins to enterprise IT groups regarding new vulnerabilities and updates.
  • Project Security Consulting - Provide ad hoc consultation on the security and viability of enterprise IT projects to ensure compliance with internal security policy and with industry standards (HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, SB-1386/CA Privacy Regs).
Systems Administration
This was how I got my start in IT, graduating from small-time web work to herding Sun/BSD/Linux boxen for various companies. Although it's not my primary job function anymore, I keep my hand in by managing our 30-box test lab at work, which includes boxes running Solaris, Linux, OpenBSD, Mac OS X, and the various flavors of the Redmond Abomination (2000/XP/2003).
Web Design
Humble little sites like this one are a fun project for me, allowing me to bridge left-brain and right-brain activities. I ain't a graphic artist, but I get by. Other sites I've done include Broadway Bound Players (an L.A.-area youth theatre group) and L.A. Sound Circle, my wife Joanna's contemporary music ensemble.
I've gotten very much into using Cascading Style Sheets of late, trying to learn what I can about them. This site was just redone using them, borrowing heavily from the wealth of information in Dan Cederholm's terrific book Web Standards Solutions: The Markup and Style Handbook. If you are doing web-work, you should read this book: it will completely change the way you do layout.