Nov 21

I landed safely in New York last Sunday. I thought there would be monstrous delays because of the upcoming holidays, but I was lucky. There was less than half an hour delay before take-off! So after a medium long flight we landed at JFK. That’s when it became interesting. After a few minutes of taxiing we stopped in the middle of a busy road towards the terminal, the gate was still in use, so we had to wait a few minutes. Going back an forth a few times to let other airplanes through, we proceeded towards our gate in little steps. And finally after 45 minutes we were at the gate. I then had to wait for half an hour to get my luggage. So it wasn’t that bad at all.

It’s nice to be back in New York after all this traveling. The weird thing is although there is so much to choose from, it is hard to get some healthy and affordable food here. It thought I got used to it during my trip, but now I know it is harder here in NYC than elsewhere. But fortunately I know a few restaurants I can go to, and McCormicks is just 4 blocks down. I also found a deli with fresh fruit so I have some apples and stuff for healthy snacks during the day. Something else I noticed is the Starbucks here in NYC are more for the bigger crowds on the street. Most of the Starbucks around Times Square don’t have seating, so I walk a bit further to get my morning latte and read the newspaper.

My upcoming 2 weeks which are my last ones are going to be busy, but not for me I think. I tried to contact some people, but many are taking the whole week off because of Thanksgiving. So I will do some extra preparation on other things for when I get back home, and walk around the city and enjoy the buzz, and everything around Thanksgiving. Like the Thanksgiving parade which is organized by Macy’s.

Next week I will go to the ISSMP Review seminar in Vienna, VA at the ISC2 headquarters. This is the management concentration for my CISSP certification. This will be my last trip within the US, because after that I will go back to New York to meet up with my girlfriend Mirjam. We will enjoy the last few days while I prepare for my ISSMP exam here in NYC on the day I fly back to The Netherlands.

Well it’s time to get some dinner, so I’m off to 32nd street to get some nice Korean food.

Nov 05

I back in Chicago Downtown. A different hotel this time, The Four points Sheraton… a great hotel for a good price.

The Chicago BullsBefore I booked my ticket to the US I thought about going to a real American sports event, like baseball or football. Unfortunately the baseball season has just ended, but the limo driver advised me to go to either a basketball game or a hockey game. So… why not both! I went to the basketball game on Friday and I’ll be going to the hockey game in a few hours. I thought about making a Podcast or Vodcast for my website, so I’ll be trying to make a Podcast about the Bulls game and the Blackhawks game later today or tomorrow. You can find them on the new video page.

During the day I tried to contact several people here in the States, mostly without luck so far. I have also put my possibilities on paper, well… in a MindMap.

Sep 07

Rockefeller buildingTo keep myself busy for the weekend I made a reservation at CitysightsNY to make a Super NY tour. This includes the following:

  • Downtown Tour
  • Uptown Treasures & Harlem Tour
  • Night Tour
  • Free admission to the Museum of the City of New York
  • 75 minute Harbor Cruise
  • Ticket to Statue of Liberty
  • Ticket to Top of the Rock Observation Deck OR Empire State building observation Deck

Fortunately my tickets are valid for 48 hours. So I have all weekend to plan the sightseeing tours.
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Sep 03

I finally confirmed most of my bookings, so I will be flying to New York (JFK) on September 5th.

My current schedule:
Sept. 11-12 - InfoSecurity Expo (Javits Center, NY)
Sept. 16 - CISO course (San Francisco)
Sept. 17-18 - IT Security world Expo (San Francisco)
Sept. 19-20 - Secureworld Expo (San Francisco)