Thursday, April 12, 2012

KHAAAAAAAAN!

Have you ever been to a Con

For those of you who have no idea what I mean, a "con" is a convention centered around some kind of geekery...Comic-Con, Dragon*Con, and any number of other cons that cater to the masses of all manner of geeks everywhere. There are cons for anime, comics, gamers, Bronies (people - mostly grown men - who are into My Little Pony in a BIG way and no, I'm totally not making that shit up), BDSM, Cosplay, Star Trek...if it can be geeked out on, there's a con for it. 

Is there a Rule 34 equivalent to cons??? I digress.

I've been to a couple of cons held annually in Denver. 1,000+ attendees, relatively small and chill, and a lot of fun.

But I've never been to a large con ever. And I've wanted to go to two for a long time...desperately.

Dragon*Con and...


Unfortunately, I will likely never get to go to Dragon*Con. Not unless something drastically changes with my employment. As much as I've examined my options at every angle for a month of Sundays, the timing of that particular con sucks. No ifs, ands, or buts.

But DEF CON? That is another matter all together.

Now...if you don't know what DEF CON is - and I'm guessing most of you probably don't but didn't want to click through on the link because you are absolutely riveted by me - DEF CON is one of the longest, continuously running, largest hacker conventions in the world. 

Oh yes. I said it. Hackers.


It's actually nothing like this. There is a whole lot more liquor and a whole lot less rollerskating, for one (or is it two??? And please, Jeebus, don't let TC on rollerskates). And uh...a whole lot less spinning (that's not liquor-induced).


It's (hacker) not a dirty word, you know, no matter what mainstream media would have you believe. Frankly, there are an awful lot of hackers out there who are protecting YOU from the security fallacies committed by your banks, your schools, your employers, yourselves.

Don't believe me?

Meet The Tiger Team...a few of my friends - yes, they really are that cool, brilliant, and adorable in person. (If you want more of Nickerson and Ryan, check out their podcast, Exotic Liability.)

Don't think the FBI, CIA, and Homeland Security recruit the DEF CON attendees?


Anyway!

I've wanted to go to DEF CON for a long time. And this year, THIS YEAR, especially, I wanted to go because it is DEF CON XX - 20 years! - 20 since it began. There is sure to be an epic number of attendees and ultimate shenanigans.

So, yesterday, on tenterhooks, I went to my boss - terrified she'd say no - to ask for the time off.

She immediately took out her (paper) calendar and marked off my vacation request stating, "Really, there isn't a better time for you to be gone."

My thoughts exactly.

So...

Guess who has two thumbs and is going to DEF CON 20?

THIS girl!

I KNOW! Right?!

Not only that but, because of her connections, guess who has two thumbs and is in the position - through her, frankly, extraordinary connections - of Goon Squading the con? Something seriously out-of-con-geekery-trol?

THIS girl!

Yeah.

I've got my riding crop at the ready.

Heading toward DEF CON. BRB.

DEF...KHAAAAAAAAAN!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I won't pretend to have a clue about how cool this is, but I can see that it makes you happy, and that's very cool. :O)

Gaelyn said...

I agree with Word Nerd on this one. Sure glad you're getting the time off to do this Con thing.

If I lived in CO I'd want to go to the TBEX gathering in June. Different strokes.

So when does this happen anyway?

Margi said...

For some reason, my brain just pictured you with Lisbeth Salander and ... Oh heck, what's her hacker buddy's name? P... Um. Crap, I can't remember his name. Anyway, go on with your geeky self!

Margi said...

And Vegas? End of July? Knock yerself out, sister! Oh, wait ... #sosyerface bahahaha!

Margi said...

Plague! (Thankyousweetbabygoogle)

Lucy said...

Oh, They are promising extra special stuff for the 20th!! Have fun!!

@NativeMikeAdams said...

Well, Jane this makes me Jealous! I'm totally a security geek. I just went to an event called Tracer Fire, where I learned something about network penetration reverse engineering. I'd love to go to Def Con and geek out with the other security geeks...most of whom undoubtedly know much more than I do. Have a blast ok!
--mike adams
http://mladams.com/
I'll have the above site up and fully functional soon, so if you want to sign up for tech support, check back within a couple of weeks or so.

bon said...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

There must MUST be peektures!

EEEE!

Masked Mom said...

I hope your geeky heart can handle all that geeky excitement. And I hope you take fantastic notes and photos to share with all of us.

Unknown said...

I'll admit, I had to look up Defcon before I congratulated you... but it looks so cool and I am in awe of you for going and probably understanding what in the heck they are talking about. I want to be a Hacker Against Evil in my next life.

alienbody said...

I sort of got lost half way through, my lack of technical skills (and interest) are peeking through. But, I love that this makes YOU happy and that is all that matters to moi!