SadisticPeppers
eXtreme Business
Hey all, I'm back.
Needless to say, a lot's happened the last few months. I've put my pepper growing on hold for the forseeable future for a lot of reasons. One thing that happened is that I may be in line for a promotion. My boss is retiring, and I'm one of four people in the department eligible to apply for his position. It'll be a sizable pay raise, better shift hours and workdays, so getting it would be nice. He retires in 4 weeks, so our department chief has to wait until after then to begin the process of having people apply because of HR Rules.
I've also become certified in cyberforensics and investigations. I had to take over 40 course hours over six weeks, and passed what was a very difficult certification exam (read: 4 hours long and 150 questions on topics ranging from computer hardware, software, operating systems, networking, hacking detection, police procedures, evidence gathering, expert witness court testimony, dealing with suspects, etc.) with flying colors, scoring a 91/100. I have another course on Ethical Hacking in June. There's a certification exam for that as well, and people who pass that test are able to do penetration tests for companies, banks, hospitals law offices, and anyone else that requires their data and networks to be secure, and command a price easily in excess of $7000-8000 per client for what is essentially a couple days' work. And best of all, it's all perfectly legal, since they'd be giving me their explicit written permission to hack into their networks in order to tell them what they need to patch up/secure.
I'm also in the process of saving up for a down payment on a townhouse here in the area. There's several areas of town in which the townhouses are zoned for businesses on the groundfloor and living quarters on the 2nd and third floors. That way, I could do my cyberforensics business on the ground floor, and commute to and from work just by walking up & down a flight of stairs. And even if I don't get the promotion at my day job, I'd be able to work from home still, since my department is one of the few where I work that allows telecommuting, so it's a win-win all around.
On a not so good note, some of you may remember that over the last year, I was going to see a doctor for some bad medical issues, and I was officially diagnosed not too long ago with something called Cushing's Disease. The short-short version: a very small (slightly larger than a grain of sand) benign tumor in my adrenal gland was pumping me full of corticosteroids, so much, I was literally suffering the effects of long-term steroid abuse and the majority of the symptomps thereof. Plus, the microtumor was positioned such that I'd also get a shot of adrenaline at random times when the microtumor shifted. The doctor I went to decided that instead of surgery, and a lifetime of hormone replacement drugs that would result from having the adrenal gland removed, she's decided to give me a set of drugs to not only counteract the effects of so many steroids and adrenaline, levels which were sky-high and extermely dangerous, but to also starve the tumor and kill it from within.
I've gotten it largely under control, but now I'm dealing with the damage that resulted from having such high steroid levels for so many years, including some severe weight gain (went up to a lifetime high of 300 pounds from 210 less than 2 years ago), as well as heart issues. I had some heart tests done recently, and discovered that I not only have 2 prolapsed valves that are causing murmers and leaks in my heart, but it's also causing me to be extremely careful with exercize, since if I push too hard, I could drop unconscious at the drop of a hat.
OK, enough with the bad stuff. I'm glad to be back, and hopefully I'll be here to stay
Needless to say, a lot's happened the last few months. I've put my pepper growing on hold for the forseeable future for a lot of reasons. One thing that happened is that I may be in line for a promotion. My boss is retiring, and I'm one of four people in the department eligible to apply for his position. It'll be a sizable pay raise, better shift hours and workdays, so getting it would be nice. He retires in 4 weeks, so our department chief has to wait until after then to begin the process of having people apply because of HR Rules.
I've also become certified in cyberforensics and investigations. I had to take over 40 course hours over six weeks, and passed what was a very difficult certification exam (read: 4 hours long and 150 questions on topics ranging from computer hardware, software, operating systems, networking, hacking detection, police procedures, evidence gathering, expert witness court testimony, dealing with suspects, etc.) with flying colors, scoring a 91/100. I have another course on Ethical Hacking in June. There's a certification exam for that as well, and people who pass that test are able to do penetration tests for companies, banks, hospitals law offices, and anyone else that requires their data and networks to be secure, and command a price easily in excess of $7000-8000 per client for what is essentially a couple days' work. And best of all, it's all perfectly legal, since they'd be giving me their explicit written permission to hack into their networks in order to tell them what they need to patch up/secure.
I'm also in the process of saving up for a down payment on a townhouse here in the area. There's several areas of town in which the townhouses are zoned for businesses on the groundfloor and living quarters on the 2nd and third floors. That way, I could do my cyberforensics business on the ground floor, and commute to and from work just by walking up & down a flight of stairs. And even if I don't get the promotion at my day job, I'd be able to work from home still, since my department is one of the few where I work that allows telecommuting, so it's a win-win all around.
On a not so good note, some of you may remember that over the last year, I was going to see a doctor for some bad medical issues, and I was officially diagnosed not too long ago with something called Cushing's Disease. The short-short version: a very small (slightly larger than a grain of sand) benign tumor in my adrenal gland was pumping me full of corticosteroids, so much, I was literally suffering the effects of long-term steroid abuse and the majority of the symptomps thereof. Plus, the microtumor was positioned such that I'd also get a shot of adrenaline at random times when the microtumor shifted. The doctor I went to decided that instead of surgery, and a lifetime of hormone replacement drugs that would result from having the adrenal gland removed, she's decided to give me a set of drugs to not only counteract the effects of so many steroids and adrenaline, levels which were sky-high and extermely dangerous, but to also starve the tumor and kill it from within.
I've gotten it largely under control, but now I'm dealing with the damage that resulted from having such high steroid levels for so many years, including some severe weight gain (went up to a lifetime high of 300 pounds from 210 less than 2 years ago), as well as heart issues. I had some heart tests done recently, and discovered that I not only have 2 prolapsed valves that are causing murmers and leaks in my heart, but it's also causing me to be extremely careful with exercize, since if I push too hard, I could drop unconscious at the drop of a hat.
OK, enough with the bad stuff. I'm glad to be back, and hopefully I'll be here to stay
back and good to hear you are in good health after that!
