Security Post

Today is the last day in the USA. This morning I started early for my ISSMP exam at the Javits Center. When I walked down the streets, everything was white from the snow. This is a very nice way to end my trip. The exam took me just over two hours, so I was well within the three hour limit. As usual with the ISC² exam, I don’t have a clue if I did ok because of the weird exams they present. But I guess I did well.

After the exam I walked all the way back to Times Square. After some final packing and a short walk to Rockefeller center we had to hop on the Supershuttle towards JFK Airport.

Bye bye New York…

After a super delicious Thanksgiving diner at Saju, I had to prepare myself for my trip to Vienna. In Vienna I joined the ISC² ISSMP (Management Professional) Review Seminar. This certification is an extra concentration to the CISSP exam I did earlier. Although I don’t expect to prepare for a 6 hour exam, it will still be a heavy course and exam.

ISC² recommended a small and simple hotel just 2 blocks away, The Homestead Suites. After a pretty long drive from Dulles Airport I arrived. All seemed well, indeed a small and simple hotel, but it looked clean and ok. I dropped my bags, and went out to look for some diner. First it looked very quiet on the streets, just a few restaurants and nothing to fancy. I had some diner at Olive Garden, nice Italian food but again…the American way. After diner I went of to find the local Starbucks. I found the Mall, it looked like 3 giant stores. When I found an entrance and went downstairs, I found the Mall. There were 3 big stores on top, but maybe even a hundred underground! This was a huge American Mall, in the middle of a small village. Later on I heard many people drive from Washington to go to this mall during shopping seasons.

The next day I woke up with a strained back, this bed was terrible! Well I had to find the ISC² building now, I expected something modern and something that would be easy to spot from the streets. So I started walking towards the address I got from an employee because I didn’t receive the official invitation. After an hour and a half searching, I went back to the hotel to see if the address was on the website. So I found out they gave me the wrong address, the number they gave me didn’t even exist. I went over quickly so I wouldn’t miss to much, just to find out the even started an hour earlier than I expected. So my advise to ISC²: Don’t stop working with your old system, if it takes 4 months to setup up the new one. If you need help on this, read your own books and have a look at tha chapters about Business Continuity and Change management.

Oh well, although the hotel was terrible to sleep and they clean just once a week, I searched almost 2 hours for a non existing address, and due to lacking communication I missed a few hours of training, I did indeed enjoy it, and I met some new and interesting people.

After a long but interesting second day I left just in time for Dulles Airport to fly back to New York!

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.

It has been a week since I came to Minneapolis, so it’s time for an update.

The first weekend in Minneapolis was almost shocking, I found big shops but there where only a few people walking around. It was really quiet on the streets, in the shops and in the restaurants. Starbucks here closes a 7pm! Minneapolis is a city that comes alive during the week. Especially around the Skyway, this is the best feature of Minneapolis so far. You can walk all around downtown without going out on the streets, very handy when it is very cold outside! Most of the bigger hotels, shops and centers are connected to the Skyway system.

I had some nice meetings with Travis from Orange Parachute, he introduced me to several other people like customers and colleagues. We started off having lunch at “Hell’s Kitchen“, where we discussed a lot of different business opportunities. We both have to look for some extra information on how to make this possible, but we now both have a good idea of the things we can work together on. I think we have some nice opportunities ahead of us.

That same evening Travis invited me to a Riesling tasting dinner at Sage with his wife. The people running this new wine bar are friends of Travis, and they needed some “testing”. We had a smashing dinner at this fine location, with even more amazing wines. They invited their wine specialist from Iowa to tell us about the wines we were tasting. Riesling wines are not new to me, but that’s because Germany is just a 2 hour drive from home.

The next evening Travis invited me to have dinner with some friends at Chino Latino, a nice and busy restaurant in uptown Minneapolis. They some great dishes all around the world, mostly dishes to “share”. So this results in a fusion type of food with the atmosphere of a dim-sum dinner. I didn’t expect it to be such a good match, but it was! And I’m sure I am not the only one, because it was a very busy place. After that we met up with some other friends and had some drinks downtown at a few bars.

The next morning I felt very sick. I thought I had too much to drink, but I was shaking, freezing and was sweating. I couldn’t even keep one little sip of water inside. And wasn’t feeling too good since a few days, so I think the alcohol pushed me over the edge to catch the flu. So I spent one day above the toilet and in bed, and another day mostly in bed. So today I feel a whole lot better, but I’m still careful.

Tonight I am spending my last night in Minneapolis. So Travis invited me again to dinner with another friend he said I had to meet before leaving the city. So I am sure this will be a nice evening. I just have to be careful not to end up having the same conversation with the white guy and the glasses in the bathroom all over again.

Tomorrow I’m flying to New York City again. I am going to spend Thanksgiving in Manhattan. I heard some great stories about the Thanksgiving parade, and all the other festivities. More about that next week!

You can track my flight over here. Lift off is at 12:55PM CST (I guess that is 19:55 Rotterdam time)

This Friday I will fly to Minneapolis. I am meeting up with Travis, the owner of Orange Parachute there next week to do some brainstorming on how we can start working together. I’m flying over a bit early because the hotels in Chicago downtown are all sold out for this weekend, or way over-priced!. Although it is even colder over there than it is here.

You can track my flight over here. Lift off is at 12:55pm CST > 19:55 or 18:55 in Europe, I am not sure due to the recent Daylight saving time change in Europe.

It’s been a while since my last post, so here we go…

My first thoughts were to go to Washington DC, but looking at the prices and possibilities I decided not to go. Off course it is the political capital of the USA, but I need some thing extra other then that to spend that kind of money on a trip.

In Atlanta, I enjoyed the skyline from the Westin Plaza from the 59th floor… incredible! Unfortunately the weather wasn’t that good all the time, so I was almost shocked to see a dark gray wall when I woke up the second morning. And after a short moment I noticed it was just the clouds. It is so weird, because it is just like you don’t have any windows in your room. During the weekend I paid a visit to “The new world of Coca Cola”, and the Georgia aquarium. The two biggest attractions here in Atlanta. It was nice to see what impact such a commercial business can have, and the different ways in which they managed to accomplish that. You can see some pictures in the gallery.

Later on in the week I joined a training session from the Franklin Covey Institute. Most people know them from Stephen R. Covey’s book the “7 habits of highly effective people”, a bestseller in the business category books. The Franklin Covey Institute has been giving the 7 habits training throughout the whole world for years.
Just over a year ago, the follow up “The 8th Habit” was presented. And less then 4 months ago, the Franklin Covey Institute introduced a training based on this book: “Leadership: Great Leaders, Great Teams, Great Results”. During this training you work through many tools and tips to improve your leadership skills, which are based on the 4 leadership imperatives: Inspire trust, Clarify Purpose, Align Systems and Unleash Talent. So it is not a spiritual training as many of you may think, but there are some great techniques, frameworks and ideas to lift your leadership skills. I can recommend this training to everyone who is familiar with the 7 Habits, or who has a leadership position. I am sure this training has a pretty high Net Promoter Score (NPS ). For those who do not know what this is, you should take your time and read “The Ultimate Question” by Fred Reichheld. And I especially want to thank Ruth Williams for some greatly inspiring days.

Walking through Atlanta (downtown) was nice, the people are great, the parks are great, the streets are clean. The only downside is, everything closes early. No Starbucks coffee after dinner because they close at 7pm, almost no nightlife, and so on.

Last Friday I flew to Chicago with Delta Airlines, I’ll give you an update on that shortly.

Today is my last day in Miami. I ended my trip in Miami at the Seaview Hotel in Bal Harbour, a great hotel for a great price. The only downside is, it is very quiet here now. No Starbucks, not many dining options, just very expensive shops across the street in the Bal Harbour shopping center. The hotel is nearly empty, the season here starts in November, then the hotel will be filled with shareholders and guests.

I met some interesting people here, there are two dutch girls working here for a school training period. And although they had to work, I had the change to talk to them a bit afterwards. So we exchanged stories about all the differences we noticed between the USA and The Netherlands… the food, the working environment, the people, and much more. So it was very nice to compare my thoughts with those of other dutch people here.
I also had a change to talk to several other people, like business owners and a retired US ambassador for the European Union. Some great stories about an American couple traveling around Europe, and see those differences from a different perspective.

If I had the money and the time to stay here the rest of November, I think I could have met some interesting people with amazing stories. Mainly the shareholders have some great stories to tell. But there is still much to see around the country. So I am leaving this afternoon to Atlanta (GA), to stay in the Westin Plaza Hotel for a couple of nights.

Hopefully the image will update along the flight. If not, you can track my flight here.

After a long flight from San Francisco airport I arrived in Miami. The weather here in the States changed almost everywhere the last few days, with mostly temperatures around 50 to 60 degrees (10-15 degrees Celsius). But here in Miami, it is still warm (75-85/F - 23-30/C), although there is a very strong wind and a few showers.

Here in Miami everything is about seeing and being seen. Everywhere on the streets are expensive cars, but on the other side there are Lamborghini’s parked all over the place with big signs in them: “Rent me!”. But even if you don’t own one, driving one isn’t cheap either I think. I thought I had a pretty expensive hotel, but all the others around my hotel cost between $400 and $800 a night for the smallest room.

Fortunately food isn’t too expensive here, you can have dinner in one of the small restaurants on Lincoln Road for about $25 - $35 including a drink and tip. And finally not too many Sushi restaurants, but variety all over. The dishes are so filled up, I could eat for three nights from one plate. But I don’t have a microwave of refrigerator in my room, so no doggy bag for me.

Miami is one of the cities where you can clearly see what matters most to almost all of the people here… money. But on the other hand, it is also a big trouble maker here in Miami. Many people have to sell their house for low prices, or even worse they get evicted because they can not make the payments. Because of this, real estate is booming business over here.

The people I talk to, tell me starting businesses here in Miami have a pretty high success rate.
But I can’t find any hard evidence on this yet, because all the numbers are dominated by Florida’s rich import and export businesses. Many billions of dollars pass through Florida every year. Although Miami doesn’t seem to be a real business city (asides the importing and exporting) there are a few big companies with their roots in Miami, the most internationally known is Burger King.
Others are more nationally known.

After many miles walking down the streets and the beach, I decided I am going to take a look around Washington next. But after some advice from Gilles and my mother not to wander outside the center of Washington DC, I took a look at some hotels near the Whitehouse. Shockingly enough, room prices are quite high. So I think I’ll switch to a cheaper hotel here in Miami first, and do some more detailed planning before I go there.

I’m am also planning to do an ISO27001 bootcamp like training. Orange Parachute gives several training courses, like “ISO 27001 Lead Auditor”, “ISO 27001 Implementer”, and “HISP” (Holistic Information Security Practitioner) training. This will likely be around the first two weeks of November at the main office in Minneapolis. And a second thing I am thinking about is the ISSMP review seminar. Most of you guys know I got my CISSP certification after a grueling six hours exam a few months back, and the ISSMP is the Management concentration for this certification. Fortunately this exam will only take 3 hours. There is also an exam scheduled for this certification the day I go back to The Netherlands.

After the weekend, I started my return trip to San Francisco. This time I started driving around lunchtime, so the trip was less boring. Driving during the night doesn’t give you things to look at, and there aren’t very many cars on the road. However this gave me the opportunity to look around, although traffic near the larger cities was a lot busier.

Here on USA television, there are some commercials about the oh so happy Californian cows. Well… I passed a Californian cow farm half way back. I noticed the bad smell 2 miles before I drove by the farm. The farm land for the cows was about one square mile, and it was packed with cows like cigarettes in a pack. The smell was real bad, and there was no grass anywhere. So we are doing real good back in the Netherlands. At least the pictures in our cow commercials are a bit more honest…are they ?

Oh well, after a long drive I finally arrived at the Hotel in San Jose. Because parking is expensive in San Francisco, and the rental office was closed at that time, I decided to stop in San Jose the night before. That night I had some great Italian pasta on Silicone Valley’s well known University Avenue. I had a great night sleep at the Crown Plaza in San Jose, and all that for a great price. So if you ever need to stay in San Jose, go there!

I managed to get here in San Francisco…finally. It took me all day, and with the time difference, it was even more difficult.Ah well, I checked-in to the the Mark Twain Hotel. The quality is quite different from Hotel Mela in New York, but it will suffice. The “Deluxe” rooms should have been renovated last year. But here at the Mark Twain renovation is just about a new paint job and a brand new television with video games. It’s just weird to have a brand new LCD TV next to a 20 year old coffeemaker.It’s weird to walk around here in San Francisco after being in New York for over a week. Last night I tried to find a good restaurant to have some dinner, but more than half of them were closed after 21:00. So I had some Thai food at the “Thai King” just around the corner. Turned out to be a good choice: fast, cheap and healthy food.