Amen.  I didn't stay at the Riv though, my worst stay in Vegas was the NOT-SO Imperial Palace... that wont' happen again.  Paris last year wasn't bad, but I'm hoping to snag gov rate at the Bell this year.

Yeah, I grabbed the Official study guide as well.  I'm planning to read both cover to cover before shelling out 1k.  Heh.

To Macphisto:  Well, crossfit is actually rather easy to get into.  It is very scalable which is one of the more useful aspects of it.  I got into it about 4 years ago.  My first class was myself and 5 women, all of which were between the ages of 45 to 60.  Every last one of them beat me in the workout, and I was hooked.  I'd been doing normal gym stuff to 'stay in shape' for years, but it was purely for looks.  When it came to actually performing in crossfit, I was sorely lacking.  There are everyone from grannies who've never done a thing, to pro athletes who use it, it's a pretty fun activity.. which makes it much more entertaining to me than trudging through an hour on machines at the gym was before.   Fun stuff.  If you have any questions, feel free to pm me. 

Nice, lucky bugger.

Hah!  That's where I was thinking... friggin Riviera.  Ok... the Rio, yeah that's new to me.  I am just tired of the Riviera.  Rio.. yeah, I think I went there for brunch once.  Sorry!  Heh.

I've got the full meal deal with the dead tree pages, dvds... you name it.  I'm just using the book for now, since I feel I should get some use out of that thing other than a door stop, or something to smack a burglar with.  Though.. if I had a kindle, I'd probably use it. :/  Santa never arrived with one this year heh, maybe next year.

Yeah, I've been doing crossfit for about 4 years now.  First time in my life where I really ENJOY working out instead of it being a chore to keep in shape heh.  I figure it can be a good side business that is transferable with my work as I move from country to country.  That, and it helps with my surfing heh. 

I look forward to hearing the review Data.   I love the cover, that's a good start heh. After I finish my xfit cert and my cissp, that might be a good 'cool down' book heh.

At the Rio again?    Man, I hope they've cleaned that place up a touch heh.

Heh, I think you may have missunderstood me Negrita.   The kid I've been mentoring, I've simply been trying to encourage him toward joining in with the discussions here, asking questions, and generally making use of the community of experts here as a way for him to develope his knowledge of the wide world of computer security, and perhaps help him find the right path for him.  Getting certs gets your foot in the door sometimes as you suggested, but it's your skills that will get you the job (or help you keep it).  Once again, great to hear you're back!

Good links Data_Raid.  I'll have to go through them.  I actually put my CISSP studies on the back burner for a couple months.  I'm currently getting ready to get Crossfit Certified first, since an opening for the testing opened up back in my home city, which gave me a good excuse to head back to the states for a few days.  I look forward to going over the links you provided though when I find a few moments. 

Yeah H1t M0nk3y ... that has been my perspective on her book so far.  Not 100% accurate, but seems to get the job done. 

Nice man!  Enjoy the course, and as others have said, please clue us in as to your thoughts on it.

Welcome back!  Been quite a while, I just started popping back in myself... though I'm no longer with the agency I was with before.  I'm now with a new one.  Glad to hear being part of the community helped out like that!  I've been suggesting a young computer security student who I've been mentoring get into the community here, he'll be excited to hear about that.

So... it's a computer security class?  If they are breaking you into groups and having you stage attacks on the other classmates computers, I'd assume they'd have gone over the basics with you, otherwise it's like the monkeys and the monolith...

Regardless though, good place for tools is insecure.org.  Feodor keeps a good list of what's fairly popular going.  Strategies?  Humans are the weakest link... give your classmages some thumbdrives or cd's with labels that sound like something interesting.  Use your imagination.  And.. on said pieces of storage, have something useful set to autorun/install.  If you dont' know how to get that done, or where to get the ready-made programs that will do this for you.. you're propably a bit over your head in the class. 

Generally... it all comes back to the $$$.    It's why I married an optomist... so I can have someone to help balance out my suspicious outlook on most everyone and everything.  None the less, interesting link. 

Last I heard... there was a silc channel floating around some members like.  That was a few Defcons back though.

I have the book/dvds as well... about to really get into them in preparation for my cissp.  Frist thing I noticed (20 some pages in) was that they refer to DDOS as being the most common use of botnets or something... which was interesting... could have sworn it making SPAM.  Mmmm... Spam-burger...

Yeah, not sure on the actual worthwhile nature of it, but it seems fairly ok in general thus far.  I'll give a report on my thoughts after I'm done with all her material.