Who Am I?

This little blog of mine serves as my personal collection of thoughts traversing the world of systems and software engineering with particular focus towards cloud native, cloud computing, DevOps, infrastructure, information security, cybersecurity, and open source software. Things most likely to be discussed are Kubernetes and the CNCF ecosystem, public cloud platforms - primarily Amazon Web Services, Ansible, Terraform, Golang, Python, Rust, Haskell, Linux (Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux mostly), QEMU/KVM, Filesystems and storage - mostly BTRFS, ZFS, Ceph , etc.

If I’m not talking about those things I’m likely to devolve into topics related to physics, mathematics, and history as I’m a huge nerd like that. I’m also likely to sneak in random posting on other topics such as:

There be lions, tigers, and bears (Oh my!) ahead. You’ve been warned.

Moving on then…​

As of January 2021, I have been working at Riot Games as a Senior Security Engineer on the Information Security team, specifically Product Security (fancy way of saying I’m helping to secure all the cloud thingy things there is at Riot for the company and players across the globe).

My main focus is on Kubernetes security as well as AWS infrastructure security across all of Riot globally. There is some GCP things once in a blue moon here and there but mostly it’s AWS all day, every day. I work mostly with EKS and the AWS Security Services portfolio along with EC2, S3, VPC, and Lambda. I also make use of other vendor products and open source projects that I will talk about over the course of this blog.

Prior to joining Riot, I worked at Red Hat where I was providing professional subject matter expertise to clients and customers with regards to Kubernetes/OpenShift, Infrastructure, Site Reliability Engineering, DevSecOps, and Information Security.

I also do consulting/engineering support on the side with customers on their cloud and open source adventures.

Prior to going back into the private sector in 2017 I spent 15 years in Department of Defense ecosphere both as a contractor and a GS-1550 for the Department of the Navy with what was Space and Naval Warfare (SPAWAR) Systems Center Atlantic, now Naval Information Warfare Center Atlantic [NWICA). Over that time period I’ve worked on projects and programs that have gone, scope wise, from the Tactical to Strategic, Unit level to Joint Staff/Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD)/White House to NATO, two Combatant Commands (US European Command, US Special Operations Command Europe, and US Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany), the typical three letters in the J2, and Supreme Allied Commander Europe at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe. As an aside, I would be totally down to move back to Germany here, I’m just saying…​

Overall, I’ve been doing systems and software engineering for going on close to twenty years now. I graduated from the College of Charleston in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. I also have a BS in Applied Mathematics and minors in Physics and History. I’m looking at finishing my Masters of Science in Computer Science, possibly with a focus on cybersecurity, as well as exploring Doctorate programs.

I currently reside in Charleston, SC but we are looking to relocate to the Los Angeles area in 2022 for Riot - provided we don’t end up with even more COVID shenanigans.

I married my wife, Jennifer, in 2004. I adopted our oldest son, Michael a few months after marrying my wife. He’s twenty-one and currently trying to figure out how this adulting thing works.

I’ve seen things, son. So. Many. Things. 👀

We also have two small agents of chaos…​er, boys, Huey and Liam, who are on the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well being immunocompromised.

COVID has been fun on that font for us 😑

They love to play Minecraft, Roblox, and Among Us. They each recently both got an Oculus and Nintedo Switch for Christmas because dad needs his sanity, I don’t want dead children, and "Being the lead-in story on the local 6 PM news" is not a life goal of mine (all in good fun for those that maybe need to have sarcasm explained - like me sometimes). Maybe one day, when they’ll listen to me, they’ll start trying to play League of Legends (shameless plug, I know) and other games. Most importantly, I hope they have an epiphany and come to realize that Quake, Street Fighter, Age of Empires, and Civilization are the greatest games ever created, just like their father has been telling them now for a while. A guy can dream can’t he 🙏

Speaking of autism, I believe that I’m possibly autistic myself based on behaviors I’ve recognized over the last several years and reflections on my life to date. I am hoping to find out in 2022 if that is the case or not. Non-speculation wise, I’m definitely diagnosed with both General Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This one-two combination of "fun" can lead to one vicious negative feedback loop that leads to situational depression and insomnia episodes at times.

COVID has also made that super fun to deal with 😑

Ok, right! So in closing: