--- /dev/null
+Title: Home from DEFCON27!
+Date: 2019-08-14
+Tags: defcon, hacking, motorcycles, travel
+
+
+I've been pretty bad this last few weeks, and I haven't recorded any updates
+here at all. July has been a busy month, between holdays, personal and work
+travel I've hardly had time to sit down and think, let alone write. I would like
+to complain, but in truth I'm busy doing awesome stuff! Summer schedules fill up
+quickly. With no more children returning to school this year, I have to wonder
+if this is our new normal?
+
+_Eat right, sleep more, get some exercise._
+
+Travel is bad for all three, I'm going to have to try a bit harder. Use that gym
+membership, and I've got some kettle bells around here somewhere...
+
+
+## Mission completed, prepare for re-entry
+
+Hands down, I had more fun at [DEFCON](https://defcon.org) than I've ever had at
+any convention, ever. While I did manage to attend a few of the talks and
+panels, I was really there for the Villages, the events and the spectacle.
+
+At one time or another I managed to walk through just about all of the villages.
+I was in particular interested in the Red Team and AppSec villages, but both of
+these were in a narrow and crowded part of the Flamingo and kind of hard to get
+in to. I saw a couple of AppSec talks and scored a free t-shirt.
+
+A cat from [HackerBoxes](https://hackerboxes.com) was handing out free badge
+kits, so I scored one and took it to the Soldering Skills village to put it
+together. Somewhere I found the Corn Totem! PCB by @JamesDietle, which I'm
+hoping to play with and have ready for next year. Found out about SOA's (shitty
+add-ons) that apparently work pretty well with this one. I didn't get to do much
+with my con badge beyond clicking badges as much as I could with fellow
+attendees, though members of my team did read through the source code. I expect
+we'll hack on these here and there through the winter.
+
+In a random moment I got to meet Bruce Schneier, shake his hand and help him
+find the Crypto & Privacy Village. I seriously wish I'd asked for a photo. Later
+I caught his talk on InfoSec in the Public Interest. Anywhere you look would be
+hacker luminaries, it was kind of a trip. I sat in on a panel on Right to Repair
+which included Tarah Wheeler (@Tarah), then later an EFF panel with @evacide. I
+would have liked to see more talks in the AppSec village but for lack of time.
+
+As for the spectacle, that will have to be left to the imagination. We trolled
+along the gorgeously filthy Fremont St. Experience; I was momentarily,
+temporarily dislodged as I chatted with folks from EFnet under the throbbing
+light of a homegrown music visualization. We danced for hours to Rabbit in the
+Moon.
+
+## In the mountains, in the dirt
+
+Before Vegas I rode down to Montrose, Colorado for this year's Rocky Mountain
+RAT Rally, which I'd attended once the year before. This is a very small
+gathering of folks from the Denver area with whom I'm only somewhat acquanted.
+Montrose is _hot_ this time of year, but is central to some of the best mountain
+riding around, both on and off road. I rode solo, taking the long way down
+through Park county and the San Luis Valley before heading back north over
+Slumgullion Pass and on in to Montrose, all told about 430 miles.
+
+The first day of the rally we put together a group of six riders to head
+off-road onto some fairly well-maintained gravel and more narrow dirt service
+roads. This was a first for me, I'd just put 50/50 tires on my Triumph Tiger the
+week before. We had a great time, doing about 50 miles before I decided to peel
+off and blast canyons for the rest of the day. Riding off-road was fantastic,
+and I learned to spend a lot of time standing on my pegs. For the next several
+days my legs were on fire! Time to start doing more squats.
+
+## Now what?
+
+So, I'm home for a couple of weeks. Still more travel planned for the year,
+including another great hacking con, the [Wild West Hackin' Fest](https://www.wildwesthackinfest.com),
+for the third year running. In the meantime I'm trying to focus on home. The
+bees need to be treated for mites and guided into the fall, there's stuff around
+the house to be done. I'd like to volunteer with some local affair, perhaps
+OWASP or DENHAC - something to keep the vibe going.
+
+More coming, ĝis la revido...