I’m back, after a year off

After teaching the UW Information Systems Security certification course for two years, completing CISSP For Dummies (3rd edition), CISA All-In-One Exam Guide and CISSP Guide to Security Essentials, I was burned out and needed a year off. I didn’t do any public speaking either, which means interrupting an eight year run speaking for SecureWorld Expo in Seattle and other cities. But, I needed time for my family and for me.

Earlier this year we purchased an RV and spent about 40 nights in it all over Washington State, including American River, Whidbey Island, Vasa Resort, Ames Lake, Alder Lake, Riffe Lake, and Kitsap Memorial State Park. We spent much of this time with good friends whose company we enjoy very much.

My wife and I went on several motorcycle rides, although none were overnight trips as I had hoped. Still, we were blessed with great weather and safe riding.

One one particularly nice weekend day, I took a very early morning ride up Mt. Rainier, arriving at Paradise Lodge at around 8am. There was practically no traffic on the way up the mountain – the entire two lane highway was mine.

After writing twenty-two books in ten years, my list of honey-do’s around the house was growing, and I got a lot of things done in this department.

We have also become parents – of four lovely society finches that are the offspring of a mating pair we purchased last year. We also have zebra finches, parakeets, quail, and an african weaver. None of these others have had chicks yet, but we’re still hopeful.

We also had an exchange student from the Czech Republic stay in our home for a year. She arrived in mid August 2009 and returned home in July 2010. This was a great experience for everyone. She was a member of our family and she participated in everything we all do together.

Today I completed the draft manuscript for a book on security technology that will be published in December or January. This was a short project that took just a few weeks.  Today I met with my literary agent to plan the next five years of my writing. My business manager and I are both quite excited about the next few years.

While I took the year off of bookwriting, I was still involved in some other things. I’m a member of the Cloud Security Alliance and contributed to its Security Guidance for Critical Areas of Focus in Cloud Computing V2.1, and am a member of the Cloud Security Alliance Certification Board. I also earned the CRISC (Certified in Risk, Information Security, and Control), a new certification offered by ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association), which I’ve been a member of since 2002.