Another year in the books for volunteering at the FIRST Robotics World Championships. Easily one of my favorite events to volunteer for. It's usually the one event I try to get on for multiple days for either the Regional St. Louis competition or World event depending on how much time off I have banked up at work.
It starts with a challenge that is given to each of the different levels (JFLL, FLL, FTC, and FRC) and based on some theme. This year was a combination of ascending higher and mobility. The FTC were moving rings from one rack to another tic-tac-toe like board. The FRC were shooting flying discs at holes 15 feet high or so. It's great to see the ingenuity that the students bring to the table to create the robots and accomplish their goals. The students only get about 3 months to accomplish these goals and do the tasks at hand. By the time these teams get to the World Championships the machines they create are pretty awesome. Wish I could of been doing this cool stuff as a student. In lieu of that, I shall volunteer for FIRST Robotics.
Kiwanis should almost start supporting teams or the organization. But that's just me.
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Security+ Certified
It's been a good week. I am CompTIA Security+ Certified as of March 21. Just 14 points short of the full 900. It didn't seem as bad as I thought it was going to be. But I did have the help of others taking the exam with me at about the same time. We did get a chance to bounce questions off of each other and we did all pass. It's pretty cool.
Tips for passing:
1: Read the material test specific materials once. Reread the things your unsure of. I think I may of missed stuff on port numbers and TACACS+.
2: Practice Tests. Probably the best thing you can do. It was probably the thing that solidified the test material the best for me. I highly recommend Exam Collection. The have lots of practice exams that are almost word for word. So going into the test you should have a pretty good idea of the questions you will see. If you haven't seen some of the questions, you should of seen some variation of the questions.
3: Repeat but focus on the stuff you are missing consistently.
If you are concerned about passing the test, I would highly recommend doing practice tests. It'll give you a feel for how the test is structured as well as provide a decent study guide.
As for the simulations: I didn't really have much practice for those. From what I've seen from other blogs they were started for the 301 series of Security+. Fisrt simulation was a matching portion where I had to identify things a person would know, have, or are. For example a password is something I know, a CAC card is something I have, and a finger print is something I "are". I've heard that another matching set of questions was a port to protocol matching simulation.
The second simulation that I got was a firewall writing question. I was given a scenario where two departments and a set of admins could only hit a certain set of servers. Then you had to select the source and destination IP addresses, the port used for a protocol between them, and whether or not it was TCP or UDP. Four pieces of information over Four lines.
For the second simulation, I've also heard that there could be a question where you have to assign servers to locations where they would be on a network diagram. You'd be given 16 kinds of servers and you have to place them on the network for a certain configuration.
Supposedly there were 3 simulations but my third simulation didn't seem like a simulation since it counted as my first question. My question ended up being about doing forensics on a system. It wanted to know the order in which you would capture images of a breeched system.
That was my experience with the test. I hope that it helps. Remember to read up and do practice exams. If you do that much, you will do fine. Good Luck.
If there is something else that helped you out, post it down in the comments to help others taking the test.
Tips for passing:
1: Read the material test specific materials once. Reread the things your unsure of. I think I may of missed stuff on port numbers and TACACS+.
2: Practice Tests. Probably the best thing you can do. It was probably the thing that solidified the test material the best for me. I highly recommend Exam Collection. The have lots of practice exams that are almost word for word. So going into the test you should have a pretty good idea of the questions you will see. If you haven't seen some of the questions, you should of seen some variation of the questions.
3: Repeat but focus on the stuff you are missing consistently.
If you are concerned about passing the test, I would highly recommend doing practice tests. It'll give you a feel for how the test is structured as well as provide a decent study guide.
As for the simulations: I didn't really have much practice for those. From what I've seen from other blogs they were started for the 301 series of Security+. Fisrt simulation was a matching portion where I had to identify things a person would know, have, or are. For example a password is something I know, a CAC card is something I have, and a finger print is something I "are". I've heard that another matching set of questions was a port to protocol matching simulation.
The second simulation that I got was a firewall writing question. I was given a scenario where two departments and a set of admins could only hit a certain set of servers. Then you had to select the source and destination IP addresses, the port used for a protocol between them, and whether or not it was TCP or UDP. Four pieces of information over Four lines.
For the second simulation, I've also heard that there could be a question where you have to assign servers to locations where they would be on a network diagram. You'd be given 16 kinds of servers and you have to place them on the network for a certain configuration.
Supposedly there were 3 simulations but my third simulation didn't seem like a simulation since it counted as my first question. My question ended up being about doing forensics on a system. It wanted to know the order in which you would capture images of a breeched system.
That was my experience with the test. I hope that it helps. Remember to read up and do practice exams. If you do that much, you will do fine. Good Luck.
If there is something else that helped you out, post it down in the comments to help others taking the test.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Brief Volunteer Commentary
Just realizing that with all the volunteering that I do, I need to find a way to scout out other opportunities that happen to a rise on a yearly basis. For instance, I just found out about the St. Louis Comic Con today. If I would of known about it a month ago I would of signed up forever ago. I've signed up but with a few days to the event, who knows if I'll get tagged up for it. Not much to do except roll with it and be prepared next year. Sometimes volunteering you hear about stuff way to late. It's the hearing about it that matters the most.
It's the hearing about stuff way to late that I need to fix. I shouldn't be missing interesting stuff like Comic Con. I blame myself for it. I have been assuming that things like it only happen in California or something. It's okay, I'll survive. I'm gonna have to dig around a whole lot harder for some of these events.
If your interested in the event sign up for it. May have to search around a bit on your own to find out where to sign up but it'll be worth it. If you happen to know of anything interesting that happens to need volunteers, especially in the St. Louis area, let me know down in the comments. Otherwise Volunteer on and keep rocking.
I've also gotten a chance to cruse around St. Louis on a golf cart this past weekend for St. Patrick's Day parade festivities. Pretty sweet event with one of the few events with a 5 MILE run prior to the parade.
April is shaping up to involve a KDHX phone drive (please show your support at KDHX.org), St. Louis Earth Day, and FIRST Robotics World Championships. Their is also the St. Louis MicroFest at the beginning of May. Check them all out. They are all interesting events in the St. Louis Area.
It's the hearing about stuff way to late that I need to fix. I shouldn't be missing interesting stuff like Comic Con. I blame myself for it. I have been assuming that things like it only happen in California or something. It's okay, I'll survive. I'm gonna have to dig around a whole lot harder for some of these events.
If your interested in the event sign up for it. May have to search around a bit on your own to find out where to sign up but it'll be worth it. If you happen to know of anything interesting that happens to need volunteers, especially in the St. Louis area, let me know down in the comments. Otherwise Volunteer on and keep rocking.
I've also gotten a chance to cruse around St. Louis on a golf cart this past weekend for St. Patrick's Day parade festivities. Pretty sweet event with one of the few events with a 5 MILE run prior to the parade.
April is shaping up to involve a KDHX phone drive (please show your support at KDHX.org), St. Louis Earth Day, and FIRST Robotics World Championships. Their is also the St. Louis MicroFest at the beginning of May. Check them all out. They are all interesting events in the St. Louis Area.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Mardi Gras 2013 and other Volunteering
Thus far for January and February, I've managed to get on the ship for volunteering for Mardi Gras. First time for doing stuff with the Mardi Gras festivities here in St. Louis. They have something like 5 different events going on during the Mardi Gras time frame. There is a pet parade, a Cajun cook off, various alcohol tastings, music, and a huge parade on the last weekend. Only really got to hit the Cajun cook off and the big parade. The Cajun cook off had a lot of interesting chefs going head to head cooking stuff up. Think the winner of the pro chef side involved some dry ice and a fish bowl. I'm sure it's probably in the Riverfront Times or something. I'm a bit behind in documenting this stuff, you may have to search for it.
The Mardi Gras Grand Parade was huge. It was packed full of people and about 85 floats. Lots of beads where thrown over like 2 miles. Glad I don't have to clean up after the event. It's a huge draw for the flow of money for the city. Glad I could help.
I've also been digging around for more volunteering opportunities. Honestly I'll probably be a bit restricted on volunteering and limited to Friday nights into Saturday/Sundays. Perils of starting a day job and not having the time off yet.
Any one that is in the vicinity of O'Fallon, Illinois, the Kiwanis of O'Fallon is having their annual Spaghetti Dinner on February 23, 2013 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. It'll be at the KC Hall (map). Adults: $8, Kids: $4, and families are $20. Bring your friends, family, kids, and enemies to help a great cause.
For March there is the St. Patrick's Day run and parade on March 16, 2013. FIRST Robotics is also having a few St. Louis events coming up in March and April.
The Mardi Gras Grand Parade was huge. It was packed full of people and about 85 floats. Lots of beads where thrown over like 2 miles. Glad I don't have to clean up after the event. It's a huge draw for the flow of money for the city. Glad I could help.
I've also been digging around for more volunteering opportunities. Honestly I'll probably be a bit restricted on volunteering and limited to Friday nights into Saturday/Sundays. Perils of starting a day job and not having the time off yet.
Any one that is in the vicinity of O'Fallon, Illinois, the Kiwanis of O'Fallon is having their annual Spaghetti Dinner on February 23, 2013 from 4:30 to 7:30 pm. It'll be at the KC Hall (map). Adults: $8, Kids: $4, and families are $20. Bring your friends, family, kids, and enemies to help a great cause.
For March there is the St. Patrick's Day run and parade on March 16, 2013. FIRST Robotics is also having a few St. Louis events coming up in March and April.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Movie: Gangster Squad
Got to check out the movie Gangster Squad about the mobster Mickey Cohen wanted to "take over" L.A. by pushing drugs and running the gambling racket. But it wouldn't be a movie without the rebbilish good guy cops to try at all costs to stop the big man. For the Gangster Squad, we get the team of Sgt. John O'Mara leading up the group of (all chosen by his pregnant wife Connie, good judge of character) Coleman Harris for stubborness, Conway Keeler for wiretapping, Max Kennard for being the cop killing bad ass with his partner Navidad Ramirez, and Sgt. Jerry Wooters, Sgt O'Mara's reluctant friend from the war and guy that has some ins to Mickey Cohen. They go "undercover" without badges, to reek havok on Mickey's operations.
The Gangster Squad go about hitting up some of Mickey Cohen's money making raquets. The initial attempts don't go well but we also don't have Sgt Jerry Wooters yet. As the team gets better at smashing an destruction they gain an underground reputation with the town and mobsters.
It obviously goes well and Mickey ends up in Alcatraz.
Don't really get to know a whole lot about the individual characters except for a brief excerpt from the movie life or the police records. Mickey causes trouble, good guys make a dent, things go bad for good guys, then good guys eventually succeed. Entertaining overall though.
During the credits: cast names are overlaid over old looking post cards from LA.
After Credits: Nothing.
The Gangster Squad go about hitting up some of Mickey Cohen's money making raquets. The initial attempts don't go well but we also don't have Sgt Jerry Wooters yet. As the team gets better at smashing an destruction they gain an underground reputation with the town and mobsters.
It obviously goes well and Mickey ends up in Alcatraz.
Don't really get to know a whole lot about the individual characters except for a brief excerpt from the movie life or the police records. Mickey causes trouble, good guys make a dent, things go bad for good guys, then good guys eventually succeed. Entertaining overall though.
During the credits: cast names are overlaid over old looking post cards from LA.
After Credits: Nothing.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Speech Topics and Curiosities
Just digging around the interwebs, researching a project 2 for either Humorously Speaking or The Entertaining Speaker manuals. I've got a case of the writer's block. Not that I even know what I'm even writing about. Seems like it's the hardest part sometimes to come up with stuff to write about. At this point I've written/talked about a lot of boomerangs, volunteering, or juggling. Don't really feel that I want to go over those again.
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
2012 Volunteer Stats
2012 Totals:
372 as of 1/2/2013 final count for 2012
371.5as of 12/24/2012
367.5 as of 12/19/12
347.25 as of 10/29/12
317 as of 10/10/2012
300 as of 9/30/2012
The 2012 list of organizations that I have volunteered for
FIRST Robotics put me at 100 hours.
Art On The Square
Midwest Salute To The Arts
Circus Flora put me over 200 with 206.75
KDHX
Sheldon Concert Hall
LouFest
Kiwanis of O'Fallon and Fairview Heights
O'Fallon, Illinois Adopt a Street Litter Pickup
Red Cross
Spencer Kennel and Pet Rescue
Toastmasters Speech Contest
Shiloh Homecoming
U City Jazz Fest
Strange Folk Festival 300th hour.
Pork With Passion
Wine, Dine, And Jazz
Salvation Army Sign up here.
Rotary
Places having fund raisers in combination with others
The Shanti
Cancelled Events
Wingsfest - rained out by remnants of Hurricane Isaac. Lesson learned is that if you plan a hurricane, time out the residual rain better.
372 as of 1/2/2013 final count for 2012
371.5as of 12/24/2012
367.5 as of 12/19/12
347.25 as of 10/29/12
317 as of 10/10/2012
300 as of 9/30/2012
The 2012 list of organizations that I have volunteered for
FIRST Robotics put me at 100 hours.
Art On The Square
Midwest Salute To The Arts
Circus Flora put me over 200 with 206.75
KDHX
Sheldon Concert Hall
LouFest
Kiwanis of O'Fallon and Fairview Heights
O'Fallon, Illinois Adopt a Street Litter Pickup
Red Cross
Spencer Kennel and Pet Rescue
Toastmasters Speech Contest
Shiloh Homecoming
U City Jazz Fest
Strange Folk Festival 300th hour.
Pork With Passion
Wine, Dine, And Jazz
Salvation Army Sign up here.
Rotary
Places having fund raisers in combination with others
The Shanti
Cancelled Events
Wingsfest - rained out by remnants of Hurricane Isaac. Lesson learned is that if you plan a hurricane, time out the residual rain better.
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