Winner: I am a sucker for an emotional and heartfelt post in which the writer lays it all out there for the world to see and experience. Holy Crappenned one this week after he lost his Dalmatian and long time buddy, Sprocket. Truth be known, the writing isn’t spectacular but the emotion is so palpable that if you don’t want to give The Real Edwin a hug after reading it then, my friend, I suggest you check yourself for a pulse. So, with that in mind, this week’s SFDBPost of the Week goes to Holy Crap and, of course, Sprocket.

‘Til next time, keep on blogging!

Sprocket and Me at home.

I’ve been told that much of my photos and tweeting while on the road has been about food. It’s true. I am very passionate about food. I spent the majority of my childhood eating only what my mom made as we didn’t have money to go out, and the fact that my family is a really set of picky eaters. Having the freedom to do whatever the hell I want as an adult, I choose to indulge in my biggest hobby, food. I love trying new ones, combinations and the more eclectic, the better. But the food in todays story comes more along the end. Today we start by visiting the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial, something I’ve wanted to do for a while.

While I am not an African-American, King has a very powerful affect on me. Whenever I listen to one of his speeches, this energy builds up in me and I can feel the hair standing up, until I just shudder. I have no idea what it is, but King is a very powerful man. I’ve been in awe and admired him for a long time, but this is the first time I have been able to see things up close with how dirty and nasty we are as a people. I won’t rehash history, but it makes me shake my head in shame as I learn more about our country’s past as I drive across it. I must admit, as much influence as King has on me, I was very ignorant about him, his history and what really happened over the years he was alive. As I was walking up to the memorial building, I was surprised to find a statue dedicated to Ghandi. It makes sense in hindsight, but I didn’t know that King was such a Ghandi admirer. Not that much farther away is a beautiful and very long mural dedicated to the Civil Rights Movement that is a testament in size and scope as the movement itself.

The center inside is a disappointment. King deserves something better to enshrine the values he taught. Something akin to the Lincoln or Jefferson Memorial is something more fitting of a man such as King. I am not sure exactly what I expected, but it wasn’t what I found. Maybe I expected a whole museum dedicated not to just him, but the missions he was so relentless to find equality for those of race and economic background. Instead, I found a main lobby, a sorry excuse for a gift shop and a single room with partitions telling the story of his life in chronological order. These were actually very well done. Curved wood with a black backing with words and photographs behind a glass wall give it a really good feeling. The things story told is powerful and often gave me goosebumps. By the time I was done exploring the whole exhibit, I had been sucked into this world that was unfamiliar to me, but extremely gripping. It demanded my attention! Look! Look at what your fellow humans had to endure! Gaze upon your elders and see what it was like to be treated as less than human! Stop being a whiny bitch and realize you are better off than the overwhelming majority of humans on this planet. See why so many, fight tooth and nail for racial and economic equality while you give your life away to be a slave of media and product consumption.

It was a very Calvinist thing of me to think, but that’s how my mind thought of such things.

Then I saw him. His tomb, where he sits on a marble platform in the middle of a reflecting pool with his beloved by his side. This, this is fit for a king. I stood there, staring at his resting place. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. 1929 – 1968. “Free at last, Free at last, Thank God Almighty I’m Free at last.” The words roll through my mind and I hear King’s voice loud and commanding saying this. Goosebumps. I shudder at the strength a man who passed away nearly 30 years before I was ever born was able to have on me. This man, which I will never know or meet was in my mind, yelling his declaration of freedom.

Thank God Almighty I’m Free at last.

There is absolutely no way I can describe to you the power of having his voice in my head proclaiming his freedom.

It almost seems trivial to write about the Vortex Burger or the French Toast we ate at after visiting this National Monument so I will just have to say go to Vortex Burger for a good meal. You will not be disappointed.

I came to this National Monument an innocent fool who had no idea what King and his contemporaries fought for. I left there profoundly shaken to the core and re-aligned in my beliefs that we must fight for equality in race and economics.

After over fifteen years being together, my puppy Sprocket had to be put to sleep. He no longer had it in him. There is an absolutely huge hole in my heart right now and I’ve been in mourning for a few days now. I feel like I lost a parent or a child.

Sprocket came into my family when I was in elementary school as a young puppy from the ever loving folks at Dalmatian Rescue in North Miami Beach. He was so young and scrappy. Throughout the years, Sprocket has been my best friend in everything we do. Often times he would mimic my personality and act like me. I still wonder if I ever rubbed off on him my way of thinking.

Me and Sprocket were inseparable. While he loved everyone in the family, he was really my dog. We bonded the closest and that why it hurts so much to lose him. I wish I had done more with him and will regret a lot of the things I did and didn’t do with him. Going through my teenage years, he saved my life and I owe him. When Sprocket started having seizures, my parents and me helped him with medication, visits to the vet, surgeries. It didn’t matter. It was well worth it for my boy.

I will never forget the nights when I fell asleep in my twin sized bed to wake up with him and my other Dalmatian, Lady, taking up 90% of the bed and me on the last sliver left. You made me happy and you kept me happy. I hope that you felt the same way and that you enjoyed your life here on Earth with us.

Good night Sprocket, I love you and miss you so much.

Day 2 of our 4,400+ mile road trip across America.

Distance from the start waypoint: 611.14 miles
Time from the start waypoint: 1 day 3 hours  20 minutes
Latitude: 33.912018° N
Longitude: 84.377251° W

I75 chugs along just fine till we hit standstill traffic just south of Gainesville. Traffic as far as the eye can see. No one knows why. An unexpected thing starts to happen. People start driving backwards down the on-ramp to get to a local road. That’s just an accident waiting to happen. A big ol’ semi could come up the ramp and just ram a car or minivan. Eventually, enough people start doing this that some cars do a three-point-turn to drive down the on-ramp. Now picture a random dashing of cars, some driving forward and some driving in reverse going down an on-ramp. That threw me for a loop. By the time I drove down the on-ramp in reverse, a semi was trying to get on to I75 but had to re-think his approach. It’s time for a plan B. Get a map and find an alternative.

Japanese tourists are in the gas station checking out the northern Florida wears of Gator paraphernalia while I am amused by them trying to speak to the old attendant in their very broken English. Picture a redneck or southern woman in her late 50′s trying to speak to Japanese tourists while a cigarette hangs off her mouth. Amusing to me at least. Back in the car and on the way to 441 northward.

After finally getting into Georgia, we stop for gas and notice big signs advertising Peaches, Pecans and Peanuts. Curiosity got the best of me. I ended up buying a bag of peaches, peanut brittle, pecan log and gator jerky. The peaches are not ripe yet so we save those for later. The peanut brittle is just nasty. I’ll eat it out of principle, but never again. The pecan log is super sweet and can feel my body turning diabetic. Inside the log of pecans, is some cream thing that must be full of sugar. For the trifecta, the gator jerky ends up being mostly pork and disappointing. Back on the road.

Just in time for lunch!

While driving up I75, we keep see a pattern when it comes to billboards. Religion, adult toys, strip clubs, and food. One series of signs was worthy of a photo. Not exactly what I expected from the stereotyped south. One thing that didn’t surprise me was a memorial to veterans in which the Civil War was referred to as War Between the States. Interesting thing to note.

Macon, GA; Ocmulgee National Monument

This place was empty. We were the only people there for a while till another family came along. The park covers the local area’s history during the ice age. Lots of history is covered here that will unfold later on as we travel towards our destination. Take a look at the photos in the slide show to see more about the place and if you are in the area, do stop by for a visit.

Atlanta, GA

101F according to the car’s thermometer. My deodorant in the back seat has melted into a liquid form. Stopped at a Starbucks to get the wife a collectors mug of Atlanta because she collects them. Her collection now includes Florida, Bahamas, Key West, and Vancouver. I’m sure we will attempt to get more mugs as we travel.  My battery is dying on my Nexus One, so we message an old classmate of my wife from culinary school who is from Atlanta to see her again and have lunch. All three of us are starving. I ask for local food, with BBQ in mind. Not really sure what kind of cuisine Atlanta is known for and defer back to the ladies.

They want sushi. Insert indifferent smiley face here.

We jump onto Restaurant.com to look for a cheap meal coupon and see that a nearby sushi place called Platinum Blue Sushi has a very good coupon. $24 for $100 meal. I grab an additional coupon from RetailMeNot.com and lower the price further. After handing over the credit card to buy the coupon and printing it out, I actually read the fine print. $100 off a $200 bill.

*sigh*

Next time, I will be the one surfing for a coupon.

With $200 to spend on food, the three of us ended up ordering a large portion of the menu. Sadly, no pictures were taken because there was no battery left on the camera or phone. I have failed as a techno geek. Suffice to say, if you are in the Dunwoody area of North Atlanta and crave good sushi, head there.

Stuffed like Romans in excess, we head back and relax in the pool for the next days worth of activity. What will we do tomorrow? I have no clue. But I really want to go see Martin Luther King‘s grave.

Till next time.

It’s summer time. Normally, that means a road trip of some sorts for the stereotypical American family. That’s never really been the case in my family. Usually it’s the flight back to Puerto Rico to spend time with my grandparents.  This summer is a bit different.

I left Miami on the last day of July and spent the majority of the day saying goodbye to my friends, family and my dog for the last time in a long while. I don’t know when I will be seeing them again so that made it just as hard. We didn’t get out of Miami till 3 PM instead of the planned 7 AM. It took two hours alone to pack up the car. We headed north to Dania Beach to say goodbye to more friends and off we went on I95 till we can switch over to the Turnpike and haul ass out of Florida. I was tired and done with it. The heat and humidity had it’s last chance to kill me, but has failed. For now. Venturing through the Turnpike and I75 gave me a chance to soak in Central Florida for one last time. Far too often I took it for granted because I’ve been there so many times. I guess the saying is true that you don’t realize what you have till you lose it. Not that I lost it.

Since we left Miami so late, we stopped in Kissime for dinner at a little Puerto Rican fritura place in the outskirts of the city called Coqui Snacks and Mini Donuts. It’s a tiny little place that is painted a bright yellow that serves all sorts of fried Puerto Rican food. Alcapuria, empanadas, papa relleno, and sorullitos are the main part of the menu with cold deserts and snacks such as piraguas y limbers to cool you down as a finisher. If you are in the area, check out the food, you won’t be disappointed. [Link]

After munching on dinner, we kept driving till we were too tired in Ocala. Already behind schedule we, wanted to make up time tomorrow by reaching Cincinnati at least. Let’s see if that happens.

That’s a hell of a walk. Here’s the making of.

For more awesome videos like this, check out my other site, I have No Pants And Must Scream.

[Source]

So much to talk about, so little time. Let’s start in chronological order.

Note: This post may not be too interesting to people who don’t really know me or interact with me, but I really need to write something because I’ve been having an urge to write.

My contract with Burger King ended at the end of June. They offered to extend me but seeing as they were paying below the poverty line of Miami-Dade County, I said thanks but no thanks and said my goodbyes to everyone. I actually got an email from two of my former co-workers asking how I am doing and how things are going. I was stunned because I had never experienced anything like that before. People who care. What a thought. It’s also how I found out there will be a local production of Evil Dead as a musical comedy with a three row splatter zone! I’ve never been to a musical play before, but it’s freaking Evil Dead. I know Bruce Campbell is here in Coconut Grove filming Burn Notice and probably won’t want to do a show like this, but the mere fact that it is possible has me giddy.

Moving on.

After four months of being separated by four time zones I finally have been reunited with my wife! I never want to do that again. Speaking of my wife, she started a design firm that was strictly web and print design but she is still trying to find our niche. Originally she was going to do it her self, but I’ve since been brought into the loop to help with technical matters. She handles all the pretty design stuff like Photoshop, typography, print design, etc, and I handle all the backend stuff like the servers, web server software (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP), desktop configuration, technical documentation, backups, network, etc. She wants to cater towards small and medium business image management, but really, any design work from print, packaging, web work, video, photography, ads, etc is doable for us. I’ve been experimenting in Blender and designing our own furniture. I’m building out a lego 3D printer for rapid prototyping to see how things look physically and spatially but this is more of an interest of mine and doubt it’ll be used professionally. My wife has a background in graphic design, architecture and interior design so between the two of us, we can do a lot of things with a lot of variety.

We also booked out honeymoon. A week cruise from Miami to the Bahamas and Key West. Nothing fancy, but we really want to do something before we leave Miami. Which brings me to the point that I am moving out of Miami come the end of July and joining my wife in Seattle. That teaser I posted a bit back is our planned, three week or so road trip across America. I’ve never seen most of the places but my wife has, so I am eager to see how the Midwest is like. My brother is already in Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio doing an intership, so it’ll be nice to visit him. A whole host of combination of things is affecting my decision to leave, but let me just leave it that my family has not made it a very hard choice. I will miss a lot of things about South Florida but I am very excited about moving to Seattle with all the possibilities. I’ve never lived outside of South Florida as an adult so I am going to make it work, no matter the amount of effort.

Last but not least, I’m an uncle as of Monday night! My sister in law gave birth in Flint, MI in under twenty minutes. That has to be a record. Baby Naomi was born healthy and now the timer kicks off before my sister in law can return to Mexico to join her husband. Congrats to Hannah and Richie! I look forward to spoiling her throughout the years. I’ve already planned to turn her into a geek and teach her how to hack satellite boxes so you guys have TV in rural Mexico. Current geeky gifts include babies first robot, the infant owners manual (RTFM!), and a solar system mobile.

Till next time.

This one was too good not to share.

In this RSA Animate, radical sociologist David Harvey asks if it is time to look beyond capitalism towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane?

This is based on a lecture at the RSA (www.theRSA.org).

I have a Linksys BEFSX41 router for sale on Craigslist. While that’s not unusual, the call I got asking about it was very unusual. A gentleman in Broward called asking if he could VPN to a Watchguard firewall but not exactly. He was unable to describe what exactly he was trying to do so I asked him what his goal was. He wanted to add another layer of connection authenticity into his network to prevent someone from getting past it an in. Basically, he notices that someone is hacking around in his network.

The jist is, for years, there has been a cat and mouse game with a hacker, which just happens to be his boss, snooping on his network with a packet sniffer, trojan and key logger. He see’s it in his logs but he’s powerless to do anything. The crimes are too small to take to the local district attorney and suing his employer in civil court will cost him his paycheck. Man’s got to feed his family, especially considering how the local job market is in South Florida, can’t say I can blame him.

For context, one of his PC's runs Windows XP and the other runs Ubuntu.

Mr. Hacked Employee (MHE) has a serviceable firewall. So why is this guy still in his network? MHE got lazy and used Internet Explorer to log into his work network while not using a proxy. It doesn’t matter if you use the NSA’s own homebuilt firewall. If your own PC has been compromised, whoever infected you, usually has free reign within your network. Since we didn’t know to what extent his systems were compromised, I ordered a full planetary bombardment. It’s the only way to be sure. That means we assumed he had a way to see everything, what was typed, what sites he visited, everything. Here is what you should do if you find yourself in a similar situation.

Pull The Whole Network Offline

This is an absolute must step to get your house in order. Once you are offline, everything can be done without fear of re-infection and minimizes the chances your systems and network will be compromised to nearly zero. I say nearly zero because MHE runs a wireless network at home that leaves him vulnerable there. In this case, we have a general location of this hacker to another state so we don’t really have to worry about this wireless network being compromised by him. In either case, setup WPA2 and authentication whether its via LDAP, Active Directory or RADIUS. In the case of MHE, his Watchguard firewall handles all of those and much more.

Re-format All Hard Drives.

Purge the infection from the host. Nothing sucks more than reinstalling your OS on a partition that is already infected. Make your life simple and get rid of every infected and uninfected file. It will probably take too long to try and find the infection so just go ahead and get rid of it all. It’s simple and effective.

Re-Install All Operating Systems.

Once your hard drives are clean of anything malicious, it’s time to get yourself back up and running. I highly recommend MHE to get Windows 7 and NOD32, the best anti-virus ever,  if he absolutely must have Windows on his computer. In his extreme case of being actively targeted, I instructed him to get a Virtual Machine running for his Window’s needs. This protects the host from infection directly and gives you a sandbox to do whatever you want. If his virtual machine was compromised, he could very easily just reload from the last snapshot or even just blow it away and create a new virtual machine. This gives him a chance to use a clean and fresh machine every single time. Virtual Box was recommended because it’s free and it works well enough to web browse and work.

Reconfigure Your Firewall

If you got a firewall that’s as good as the Watchguard, use all of it’s nice advanced features. It will protect you from a good amount of attacks no matter who it’s coming from. Stateful packet inspection, deep packet inspection, proxy firewall, all are useful and should be employed to protect you from maniacs like MHE’s boss.

Reset Modem To Obtain New IP address & Use TOR

While obtainning a new IP address will only be useful till MHE re-connects to his work network, thereby revealing his IP address, this will give us time to do what we need to do. The Onion Router (TOR) is a wonderful piece of software by the lads at the EFF, and will do wonders to prevent MHE from revealing his IP address to his maniac of a boss. Ramping up the amount of TOR nodes (servers that bounce your connection between origin and destination) between himself and his employer gives him that much anonymity. Here is a great explanation and graphics that explain how TOR works to protect yourself.

Change Every Password

Everything MHE had from his email down to his AT&T DSL password. All bank accounts, websites, everything. Any combination of packet sniffer, key logger, and trojan probably gave his boss the hacker, everything he ever wanted. Once MHE brings his network and systems back online, inside his new, clean virtual machine, it’s time to go around and change all passwords. If MHE can call the various companies to change passwords, the better, as that can remove any chances of it being intercepted by your boss.

Find Another Job

I know the economy is tough, but Jesus Christ. Do you realize all the effort you just went through to prevent your boss from gaining access to all your things that she not have access to? Once you find another job, gather evidence and freaking sue the bastard into oblivion. Unless he has more money than you, then you’re probably boned.

Conclusion

After spending nearly two hours on the phone with MHE helping him out, I left him with a laundry list of things to do and a clear plan on what to do. While this maybe simple for me to do, MHE isn’t as well versed in this. It still surprises me how programmers (MHE’s occupation) are ill suited for general IT stuff. If you read this MHE, I wish you the best of luck. You’re in a tough situation with no clear way out. The sooner you get out of that hostile work environment, the better you are going to be. I know I covered a lot of concepts and terms, so please do not hesitate to ask for further clarifications in the comments. As for me, if you need a good router with a firewall and VPN capabilities, contact me.

Do you have a security, tech or other question? Leave me a comment and I can help you out!

Available in all local newsstands around the UK.

This was published in Micro Mart issue 1109 published Thursday 3rd of June, available in UK newsagents/supermarkets. A huge thank to Dave for sending this to me! I have another article being printed soon and will let you guys know when and where.

Micro Mart