Occasionally I'm surprised by how much time I spend studying. My work tends to come as projects, with lots of downtime in between. I use that time to read and study, mostly because for me its fun. And then when I do those projects, I use that knowledge. That time is actually part of what the clients pay me for, even though it doesn't show up on the invoice. They expect me to know, and the reason I know is because I have so much time to spend on the consumption of information.

Those we love don't go away,
they walk beside us every day.
Unseen, unheard, but always near,
still loved, still missed & forever dear.
(Unknown)

A Facebook memory came up today, from seven years ago.

@AskTheDevil Yes. When I do taxes as a sole proprietor, business expenses are subtracted from gross revenue to get the business profit or loss. For 21 years, since I started in 2003, I've been reporting a profit, so that's good. But definitely track those expenses.

@AskTheDevil I'm a sole proprietor, so I pay for all my own business equipment.

Carrying client data around with you on a USB drive? Then you need a flash drive with password protection and encryption. I received my new Kanguru encrypted USB drive last week. I’m not getting paid for this, I’m just sharing a tool that I like. I've been using Kanguru drives since 2012.
[LinkedIn post]
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fifonetworks_callmeifyouneedme-fifonetworks-cybersecurity-activity-7191128710148710400-LqyU

Challenge accepted! The UPS Virtual Assistant popped up unbidden when I was tracking a package. It said, “Let me know how I can help.”

That got me to thinking – to what extent can the UPS Virtual Assistant be helpful? Is it configured to only answer questions relevant to customer assistance on the UPS website, or is it allowed to range freely over the length and breadth of the Internet?

[LinkedIn article]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fifonetworks_cybersecurity-ai-llm-activity-7189401712695095296-l7Ds

Yes, I did. When we lived in Lincoln City, Oregon (pop. 10,000), I was happy to be a member of the local Chamber. Every lunch meeting I was in a room full of clients and potential clients. Almost no one had a full-time in-house IT staff. If they came to a meeting dissatisfied in some way with their current resource: “Oh, look – there’s Bob – maybe he can help me.” Because of that great experience, I’ve thought about joining the Chamber where I am now, and just haven’t gotten around to it.

I just lost all interest in ever joining a Chamber of Commerce again. The US Chamber of Commerce opposed the FTC's ban on non-compete agreements.

I reserve the right to work wherever I want, whenever I want, for whoever I want.

I sign NDAs all the time. In fact, I signed one for a new client today. But no non-competes.

https://www.npr.org/2024/04/23/1246655366/ftc-bans-noncompete-agreements-lina-khan

@hallmarc @sentientdessert

Write on the whiteboard 100 times:
"I will not configure my smartphone to unlock my car."

Cyber liability insurance requirements are all over the map.

[LinkedIn post]

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/fifonetworks_callmeifyouneedme-fifonetworks-cybersecurity-activity-7188316315521056768-TG7i

"What did you do today, Bob?"
"I dissected a dead mouse."
And yes, I had fun.

I took this screenshot back in 2018 and just stumbled across it again today. I thought you might find it to be an interesting lesson in the English language.

I thought I had this genius idea to register "Rogue_AI" on the Xitter site, so I did a search to see if someone else had already claimed it. Yup. They beat me to it. And I don't know what they did with it, but it seems sort of roguish to me, since they already got it suspended.

Client: “Hey – how did you know we have [a certain piece of equipment] in our network? We haven’t talked about that yet.”
Me: “Uh, you’re paying me to map your network and document it. It’s my job to find everything.”

#callmeifyouneedme #fifonetworks

#cybersecurity #informationtechnology #infrastructure

@BlueMan2 Oh golly, there are so many - where to begin? I'll just name one: "I can do more than I think I can, so even if I think I can't, it's worth a try."

The true analytical mind doesn't break the problem into a thousand interrelated parts.
The true analytical mind expresses the one simple essence.

@NaomiSkarzinski For me LinkedIn is an important marketing platform.

LinkedIn - no, no, NO!
WTH are you thinking???

Image description: screenshot of a portion of LinkedIn home page with the block to start a new post containing the prompt, "Start a post, try writing with AI."