Happy Halloween

Live from the bus ride home this made me laugh

The Lighter Side Of The Cloud – Terrified http://zite.to/19VDMUq

its december

Tea leaves
tea loves
loves tea
Lives tea
leaves tea?
never.
-UNIEK SWAIN

I'm excited just sent out invite to my fab0O-ulous birthday tea party.
this is the year of 29 - no comments on that LOL....so I know yall she just gonna flow into blog without apologizing for the 4 month lay off.. I think my thirst for twitter slows my passion for blogging. I plan to work on that ratio in the 2011

One of my good college friends "j9musiclife" started her own blog and I served as a guest poster when I reviewed the Rhianna concert in Sept. Horrible I know :( neglecting my own blog for someone else. Here's the story

So in July - I was a disheveled mess preparing for the CISSP exam.. the great new me passed! woooot I'm a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) feels good I def worked hard for it.

I've been peeking back into the world of academia. Sat in for a GRE course- went WAY like Stratosphere over my head. I felt like ok did I even get a college degree the math was okay but that GRE verbal no good son! I also enrolled in pre-req (Networking 101) for the grad program I'm feeling GWU High Tech Crime Investigation. The program is excellent the tuition OC & the GRE is required unlike most other grad programs in the area, but I know its worth the struggle to get accept so I'm still 50/50.

as always attending the 2010 Logan Circle House tour this year with one of my coworkers. Upset I went on a slight work trip to Hampton last month and left my digi cam in the rental major FML.. so no pics this year though Ill get my friend to take some. Just a sidebar but I'm def moving into the city next year possibly a house staytuned #stillscared ...but there are deals so lets just claim it early for the 2011 #noshopping I've given my CC, Neimans, & Macys cards to my best girlfriends so and I'm about to start leaving my debit cards and home I really need to focus and not be a "single black female/addicted to retail" such a capricorn/woman issue LOL...

let see back to tea.. I've tried many of the last few months .. thanks to my new fav forum
tea chat I found new vendors:

Golden Teahouse
First-Grade Tie Guan Yin- basically an oolong best tea i ever. It had like sweet rose tasting tea and what I've learned good tea can be re stepped a good 4-5x and the flavor gets better each time.. yum a 5star tea LOL

Jing Tea
Lychee Red Black Tea- naturally sweet black tea no sugar/honey needed
Li Che Hong Cha- chinese green tea..i like normally the 2nd steeping and beyond is when the flavor really takes off
Traditional Iron Buddha Oolong (Monkey Picked*)- I ordered this bc local shop pearlfinetea had this last yr 2nd best tea I ever had.. this was good but not like the one I tried in the past
Tie Guan Yin Wu Long- umm was not as good as Golden Teahouse version but I enjoyed

Zhi Tea
Darjeeling Green- Green tea from Indian i loved it- quietly need to re-order some more
Dong Ding Oolong - Bought off of a recommendation it was OK
GABA Oolong- Gaba is a chemical that reduces stress.. but makes tea taste Nasty-- i hated this

ok me out.. hopefully catch yall before year end mi loves :)

Tea Fiend

my name is caplady1225 and I Love tea...

I can't get into a lengthy blog because I'm about to take a nap. My entire life is disheveled.
Work = insanity and I'm signed up for the CISSP exam again next month (more on those topics in a future post)



No its not a cookie (lmao) its a PUERH (pooh-air) tea cake (circa 2005) from Teaism (DC).
Here's how it looks unwrapped:


Scary yes! its literary tea leaves pounded together and aged. Puerh tea cakes from way back in the day can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars..
Its prepared by being chopped apart into teaspoon sizes from there you can put into a tea bag or brew via loose leaf brewer. It can be re-stepped 4-5 times and has aged earthy flavor.

Puerh tea is close in family to black tea which is the strongest compared to White (lightest), Green, Oolong (cross btw Green & Black) & Black (strongest).

But if you are following me on twitter like u should!! You'll see my daily ramblings different teas I try and more..

ok loves off the nappy land

back 2 back blogs... FTW!

as promised...let me jump right in because its Sunday night need to start getting mentally prepared for the M-F 9-5 grind. My new job...lets just say its with one of the "big 4" Audit firms in the US. I was hired as a Sr. Info Security Consultant lol sooo different from my normal title of Defense Contractor. I'm learning everything at the Big4 is different one all these audit/financial things mixed into EVERYTHING its weird in a we aren't in Kansas anymore way lol. I have so many compliance courses to take. At my old gig I barely had any corporate side taskers outside of annual evaluation. My job is still with the DoD family working in support of Military Healthcare which is such a blessing like in this time of a 'recession' I'm working in 3 fields heavily supported by government funds: Defense, Cybersecurity & Healthcare. I need to milk it for all its worth things can change so quickly. I'm still learning the ropes but being a 'consultant' is funny I do work but mainly I instruct others on what to do and I make sure they do it not in a managerial way but I''m 'overseeing' the end to end processes... blah.. lol
One thing about these Big4 is they are heavy players in the commercial world and good way for me to get on that side of the house (away from DoD) and maybe do so more traveling.
I'm only into month one so there will be more to report as I continue to get acclimated but IM HAPPY and do not miss my old project, agency or coworkers (minus a few folks).

my Kindle DX...SWOOOON



trust I had been eying ebooks readers for a minutes as talked about in several posts here. Since I'm older & wiser now LOL I don't like buying 1st generation or even 2nd electronics because new ones come out so fast example: Apple Ipods. However yes I sure did want to treat myself since one I def worked hard for this new job but with the Ipad release on the horizon I was scared Amazon would drop the price of the DX and I'd be short over paying. That's the risk you have to take but technically the KDX is the 3rd gen of Kindles and Im sure they are working on a K3 prototype you just can't win with technology.
I bought this device so that I wouldn't have to carry around 500pg+ technical books and let me say the reader does a great job of taking my tech pdf and displaying them on the screen. When I unboxed the Kindle it was even scary for me I kept touching the screen staring at the e-ink like eww weird lol. I love my device on the low low Amazon.com is my favorite website so the integration btw the site and the device is beautiful. The FREE 3g network built into the device is cool I don't play the net heavy on the KDX but its good to know I can wiki or tweet even check my gmail just incase my blackberry, comcast or whatever network is offline. I have been reading alot and slowly trying to get back into CISSP study mode...

Last topic I stopped into wholefoods (WF) in DC last week off the random.. yall know I do not mess with that expensive store. I stick to shopping at my main market which I fully endorse MOMs organic Market. I can't deny that WF selection of goods is impressive. I'm always on the search for a good rawfood/vegan bar so I went a lil crazy in there picked up 6 bars lol for reviewing.


LOL they are all Spirulina (basically algae) based.. don't get weirded out.. any green food mixed with the right amount of fruit & sweetness cancels out the seaweed taste you think the bars would have. Give me some time to digest and access but I'll have some comments soon..

daylight savings yooo

hurting over here ...esp since I've been going in early all week rising at 5am is 4am.. but I"m happy now its not dark when I get home.

Quick post on my brother President Obama and his contracting reform. Now as a gov't ctr I'm not against change for defense done correctly apparently my girl said Obama is a defense hater lol and likes homeland (they suck lol). I'm anxious to hear how the 60 day cybersecurity review results turn out and also I'm following this new memo issued by the White House- Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Subject: Government Contracting

2 points I want to make before I hit the sack.

#1- Lets AUDIT the gov't first before we blame cost over runs and mis-management on contracting firms. I can say for my DIVISION we only have 1 government InfoSec person and he got thrown into the role; hates it and although they sent him to random training he is not embracing the jobs. Our division and directorate IAM are both contractors. I know 2 other govvies at my agency thrown into InfoSec roles one has high school education, hates on those with degrees refuses to get a CISSP and she's the Alternative-IAM. I know another Alt-IAM she and I talk fashion all day long but let me ask a work questions and "she like I'll get back to you" another govvie. I'm saying this a tiny example on the whole schema of the federal gvt but just examples of what I'm surrounded by. Wholetime we have a IA contractor team at the level above me making $150/an hour who are hardly working so again, scrutiny needs to happen on both sides of the fence.

Moreover, it is essential that the Federal Government have the capacity to carry out robust and thorough management and oversight of its contracts in order to achieve programmatic goals, avoid significant overcharges, and curb wasteful spending. A GAO study last year of 95 major defense acquisitions projects found cost overruns of 26 percent, totaling $295 billion over the life of the projects. Improved contract oversight could reduce such sums significantly.

#2- In response to this quote taken from the executive memo. I'm sorry I'm like blame the gvt on MOST of this issue. Like I joke around but this stuff really happens LOL.

gvt: We need new fighter planes
ctr: what kind?
gvt: not sure it needs to be big
ctr: how big?
gvt: not sure it needs to have 30 missiles each that can be self guided through a cpu on the plane.
ctr: anything else?
gvt: yes make sure the plane changes colors depending on its enviorment

so they allot 20 billion dollars for the plane to be built 2 years later than scheduled and only half the requirements fulfilled.

LOL this is an extreme example but acquisition education is important no matter if its weapon systems, or people I myself need to get past only knowing Acquisition 101 because I believe understanding this will be important skill set in the Obama era.

Back in DC Area whats goody?

Bahrain was a wonderful experience for my professional growth and personal.
Here are a few pictures, though It was not a lot of time for site seeing we worked 10-12 hr days, got dinner than sleep. The time difference was crucial +8 hours. We got back to our hotel by 9-10pm each nite which meant my friends were still at work so I would spend 2 hrs catching up via IM and I wouldn't go to sleep until after midnight. I just caught up on my sleep as of this weekend.



Layover

Yummm can't afford jack!



Germany



Bahrain Int'l Airport


Hotel (we do it big lol) joint was vicious mad I couldn't get spa appt joint was booked apparently its the best SPA on the island

Neighborhood Life w/ Villas in the background


The dessert was more like dusty dirt than actual sand



LOL sampling of the 'taliban' scarves I bought back for my DC homies

---

The biggest question from my peers in Bahrain was what certs do you have? CISSP? Net+ My excuse of failing the CISSP by 4pts in 07 is not going to fly anymore. I know I keep saying Imma chill from hanging out stay in and study I have to like no more playing around- wish me luck on this dream.

Lents around the corner starting 25 March- My Raw Foods Detox group emailed me they want to go the entire lent on this modified nutrition plan. I'm down need to get back on my vegan/vegetarian diet along with exercise- heading back in the wrong direction. I always give up shopping for lent so Ill be a no eating no shopping fuel but hopefully this will motivate me to have my butt in the house studying- we'll see.

Last topic: NBA since all -start weekend just passed time to re-evaluate my predictions from an earlier post.


East
1. Celtics- Correct prediction; though KG out 2-3 weeks can they keep this spot?
2. Cavs- Correct; Just got DWest back hope they overtake the Celtics for top spot
3. Pistons- 6th place; AI= team cancer but they will have alot of cap room in 09/10
4. Orlando- Surprise team in 3rd place; lost starting PG can they maintain in the playoffs?
5.76ers- Squeaked into 7th place.. Elton Brand signing looking like a bust.
6. Raptors- Next to last place in the East these bammas are SOFT!
7. Wizards - I could write a whole page on the anger with my hometeam. We better get #1 draft pick. 111miyon to Arenas who hasn't seen the court in 2 years. We need a hardcore coach who isn't going to baby the players and make them play DEFENSE!!
8. Miami- 5th place.. don't like that JO Neal trade (soft injured bammas)

Surprises:
Atlanta hanging in there 4th place and Milwaukee 8th place Skiles has his team playing D.


West

1. Lakers- Correct; worried bout Bynum knees; predicting lakers vs cavs final
2. Hornets- What happend to them? 7th place no buzz no magic from this squad.
3. Jazz- 8th place but mad injuries hope they don't resign Carlos Boozer (injured bamma)
4. Mavs-6th place another weird team no buzz no magic another first round exit?
5. Spurs- Grr these bammas 2nd place Im not a fan of the Spurs but I respect Pop and they program (winners!) Got DC Roger Mason glad to see that young brother doing well and excelling.
6. Houston- 5th place- TMAC= soft injured bamma; like he needs to retire.
7. Clippers- My worst pick LOL another lottery pick i didn't realize how bad the clippers franchaise is.
8. Blazers/Denver - Blzaers 4th, Denver 3rd; Oden not feeling his constant stories of injuries but Blazers need positve vet next year get them over the hump. Denver surprise team once AI left Chauncey came in turned them around probably will get out the 1st round.

Surprises: Phonix as of today out of playoffs.. dont like the way they carried Terry Porter

last day of vacation/thoughts on Innaguration

First of all no disrespect to the out of towners but I'll be happy to have the city back to normal... I only went out to the city one time Monday evening to meet the Seattle side of my family for dinner. Man downtown was lunching even the regular spots was off they most VIP we couldn't even get into Hardrock cafe.. so after being denied access to some spots we said eff it went to COSI. Worked out great because they don't have COSI on the west coast.. and I love the shop, a lil expensive but tasty. The train ride downtown started off scary because it was a HUGE line outside Greenbelt Metro but me being me went around snuck in, and that's when I realized all those bammas were lined up for farecards. Of course closer we got to downtown more it got packed but jeez it was like summer tourist overload.. so many questions and folks taking pics on metro.

A few of my girls braved DC this AM.. me since I was "teleworking" and working I was because the job kept calling and I had to waste hour of cell phone mins for 1 pm telecon anyway.. I got a call from them at 11 like they gave up waiting in the cold so.. they came here and we watched the swearing in. I loved First Lady outfit though I was like she don't have a coat she must be cold but the green gloves and green pumps FIERCE!

My fav pic from today



"Greatness is never a given. It must be earned. " Pres. Obama quote I loved from his speech. Call me late to the Obama mania because my friends will tell you during the election time I might have read all of 1 article on politics (just sooo not my cup of tea). I'm one of those I voted now leave me alone type of cats which I will admit is a big ignorant given all the hardwork my ancestor did to secure those rights, but considered me a somewhat changed woman. Amazon.com should be shipping my Michele Obama book out (jive like possible role model) and I plan to read Barack's books later as well. Like I've been telling folks lets ride this high.. I'm feeling it because one we as people have no more "white man kept me down" excuses from both the sistas and the brothers.. like we achieved the highest position in American.. limits do not exist anymore in my opinion. I defiantly love Obama embracing technology, change.gov site and the forthcoming CTO cabinet position (Gives me a goal).

One thing that intrigued me as an InfoSec professional.. all the security planning and execution that went into this event. For example Obama's Caddy:

Like I said I'm on a personal high right now motivation on 100% not only did I amazon Michele books but got a 2009 GRE prep book because the program I'm lusting to get in could prepare me for doing work related to events like this. GWU has a bomb program related to InfoSec, actually one of the few schools in the area that has a full masters in this topic. It won't be an easy task to get into GWU and paying for GWU but prayfully if its meant to be God will recieve it for me. In the future I'm hoping to maybe one day I transfer from straight D-Dept to other agencies or a joint program because White House communications, Defense, Homeland we are one big old family.

On that note readers be please be pleased with the 5 posts for Jan lol.. work about to crank up to another notch and I don't go purposely MIA but I may have work trip in Feb (more details later) so I just gotta keep grinding- happily though because so many folks are with jobs no point in complaining.

Oh and LOL I broke down and joined twitter (only because I don't like spaming facebook with status updates)- Follow me... Follow me (sung to the tune of the Baltimore house song)

stuffed and ready to blog

ugh so mad at myself I actually got dinner at the carryout tonight.. like the ghetto joint in my apt complex..yuck I had been doing so well lately anyway

catching up on my e-news I see yahoo hired a women CEO always gotta shout out my IT- Divas. I don't know much about this lady but I laugh wondering how OG tech companies yahoo, aol, palm got left in the dust. Palm makes the most angry because it was around way before the internet. I remember my mom got me a Palm I wanna say middle school or high school so 1995 or so... OK I just checked wikipedia because I didn't want to be lying to yall; apparently the first Palm Pilots came out in 1996
Okay I take my other comments back I was on-line pretty early IMO I got my first PC 1995 I had the internet in 1996 gooood ol 28.8 lmao.. let me reminisce real quick my mom would get mad at me because I learned how to download music at an early era via IRC and I used to tie up the phone line letting the music download over night LOL! That was my senior year hustle because I was the only black person with a PC around my way let alone knowing how to get music and burn cds plus I had huge CD collection to fill in the gaps if I couldn't find the mp3s.. I used to sell mix cds at my job hahah enuff of memory lane.

Hopefully this yahoo lady helps them out because they mis-managed they vision and Palm reportedly has a vicious new OS coming out but they lost huge ground to Windows mobile and now Iphone OS, Andriod.. they really gotta step they game up to regain customers.

I got an email from Bank of America that mobile banking is now available.. I'm jive on the fence with this. The lazy side of me sees myself utilizing the site instead of calling the 800 for those account checks but the IA side of me is like woah is this secure? One I have huge trust in BOA they have a great financial security program, bammas will call you ASAP for weird security activity and take the mischarges off with the quickness, but the internet and mobile web threats have so many unknowns. I will research this some more before I think about using this service.

Before I get off my information security podium lol, my cuzzo PC what a mess that was. People please keep you antivirus software up to date and don't let other people wreck your PCs. I scanned her machine at least 6 different times she had about 7 different trojans mutlipled out to equal about 350 instances of infection. I traced all the viruses back to the guest account her girl uses man I was like don't let her use your PC anymore. Family always get you..best buy would hit her with a nice bill me I got 50$ check lol.


On to some fun stuff.. my job siced me I'm 'teleworking' MLK and Inauguration yes!
I was already gonna find some excuse for not coming in but shoo I won't be home chilling I have mad things for me to work on over the long weekend. I'm also siced my bff and I found an event to hit for Inauguration.

The Washington Presidential Inauguration Fashion Show DC Fashion Week will present the Washington Presidential Inauguration Fashion Show on January 18, 2009. This historic event takes place during Martin Luther King Holiday weekend and precedes the official Inauguration of President-Elect Barack Obama.

The Crystal City Doubletree Hotel just minutes away from the Ronald Reagan National Airport, is located across the Potomac from our nation's capital in beautiful Arlington, Virginia. DC Fashion Week, the nation's capital's largest professional trade show will celebrate the tenth fashion week in Washington February 15 – 22, 2009.

The Washington Presidential Inauguration Fashion show will give Washingtonians a sneak preview of some of the great designing talent that has graced the catwalks of fashion week. Like fashion week, the exhibiting designers are from reputable fashion houses around the globe among whom are -

-Andrew Nowell
-Anthony Eastwick
-Corjor International
-EBANNISTER
-Studio D-MAXSI
-Tsyndma
-Philly Gurl
-Yosoy Fashions

Special Guest Collections to be displayed are Gucci, Prada, Versace & Chanel.

I'm siced but not gonna get too siced like this is not NYC.. I already know the DC fashion scene is a lil light but I'm sure this will beat the only other fashion show i attended a joint out Capitol Heights- no need for me to explain any further lol. DC Fashion Week is 15-22 Feb. Just like every effin thing in DC tix for events are like starting at $100.. so I doubt I'll be attending anything plus there's a great chance I could be out of the country (more on that later).. anyway time for me to chill before bedtime gotta be in the office at 7 tomorrow grr

welcome 2009

I don't really have much to say but wanted to check in..
sitting here listening to trance mix... working on my side hustle aka fixin broken pcs. It amazes how people are still negligent when it comes to going on-line. My cuzzo PC is over here she talking about she clicked some banner ads that said her pc needed to be scanned now she got porno icons all over the desktop. All I can say is more job security and $$ for moi because like I tell my InfoSec peeps web and data protection is top priority as we move forward and our lives become more and more intergrated with the net.

I'm geek'n off how the city is gonna be shutdown come inauguration. I already told my boss don't look for me that day especially since they shutting down 395 how the hell am I supposed to get to VA. I will be home and only walking around my hood that day. My girl emailed me with a list of possible events to hit.. this is when US gonna realize (as if you didn't know already) DC is expensive and she off her rocker if she thinks I'm paying to get into anything.. I doubt there are too many free events poppin off next week. I got a college friend from NY coming down via ABC maybe that connect can get me into some action.. otherwise I"m not pressed. All I need to see is Obama get sworn in on TV.. copped some of the commerative Obama Smart trips for putting on eBay in 10 years lol

This weekend I'll be staying at the downtown Marriot going to L3 holiday gala (they late as hell with the party lol) probably slide down the infamous Park at 14th afterwards.. so I'll write on my expeirances and I already know Thursdays is "black night" but I can get down with any crowd as long as the music is cool. I have no outfit for these events and in dire need for knee boots.. I'm trying to chill hard on the shopping in 09 for reasons Ill get into later so we'll see hopefully Pentagon City can help me out tomorrow otherwise i'm short

Anyway let me go back to working!

1 Day until the glamorous Capricorn Season Starts

We are at a seasonal shift as the Sun leaves buoyant Sagittarius to enter ambitious Capricorn, the first sign of winter. Tomorrow is winter solstice which stands for the moment in time when we have the shortest day and the longest night but its symbolic because it represent the turning point in which the days become longer shortly afterwards.
The origin of the word solstice, which comes from Latin solstitium, from sol, “sun” and -stitium, “a stoppage.” Following the winter solstice, the days begin to grow longer and the nights shorter. Historically its been a time of celebration and its been associated with explanining the orgin of Christmas and other holidays around this time of year. So take some time out tomorrow and celebrate!

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Pardon my absence.. the last few weeks I tried to blog.. see proof below all the *DRAFT* half attempts at posting


many times in the last month i tried to blog but my jobs has DRAINED a sista like to the point I come home and I don't even want to get on the PC and thats like never happened before.. but let me explain why we have been swamped over at the D-Dept because of this "DOD bans the use of removable, flash-type drives on all government computers"

Quick summary :

The Defense Department has banned the use of removable flash media and storage devices from all government computers, according to a series of notices put out by the services this week.

The action comes following reports that a worm virus known as "Agent.btz" was discovered infecting some DOD networks, according to Wired magazine.

So because of some bamma's negligence my life has been a living hell. Lately I have stopped complaining because seriously every other headline in the Post is about some layoffs so I'm very bless to have a job in this turbulent time. I should be able to keep to my precious job if the pace of our workload continues like it has been. Due to that incident 3 huge taskers from the power high above came down with deadlines of ASAP so since we have 'ish scattered world wide takes time to collect the answers that need to be reported to the higher power above. Alas, I just chalk this up as a big learning experience for a person in her mid-twenties/mid-career. Its good to know that the work I do is important to protection the nation's info.

Enuff about work!

I'm actually hosting my b-day bowling party tonight so I can't "talk" long I'll be back with another post hopefully this week.. lots to talk about..catch up my black friday shopping till 4am story.. my new shopping finds.. My addiction to the new Beyonce and Keyshia Coles cds..kirkin on DC area sports

Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays!!

don't have much to say

but i had some free time on my hands so why not write a post

first of all let me make my official statement on Obama winning the election:
"I would say i'm happy that the racial divide in America is closing up some because I wasn't sure folks was gonna be down for a brother running things but I"m very impressed by the win and looking forward to the changes coming in america as long as it doesn't affect a sista's job lol but I'm also glad they my 94 yr old great aunt got to vote and be apart of history."

i've been in training the last 2 days; took this 4 day class called Information Assurance Boot Camp its a refresher cuz I took this course back in 2005 but they have renamed it since then and made it better. These dudes running the class OMG talk about relaxed lmao day 1 we get to leave at 230 to go vote which Thank GOD that there was no line at my local spot. Day 2 they told us we dont' have to be in until 10 because they knew folks were going to be up watching the votes come in. Since then we get like 4 breaks a hour lunch and class get out at 315 what the heck lol. They are spoiling me because I've been used to coming home no earlier than 7 pm the last few weeks. I'm not gonna know how to go back to 9-5 lol. Anyway the class is good its getting my brain re motivate to reconsider studying for the CISSP since we all know OCT was a failure in terms of achieving that goal. I'm not putting any promises out there yet but I needs to get that cert.

topic i'm not talking about until next year:



Call me a bitter fan but I'm still mad about the whole Gilbert Arenas situation. Not saying that brother didn't deserve to get paid but like we caked him out and boo-ya he had another knee surgery I'm just saying please don't be damaged goods because we Ok with out him but Great with him at 100% so I'm just praying when he come back in January it will be all good but until then since my man Wood out just about all season we kinda suck but I tune every now and them to see my man Butler killing them out there and to check out Nick Young and squad.

Team I'm following all the way to the championship game:


Let make this clear I've been a Laker fan since 2002 before that I didn't watch ball much but yeah I've stuck it out with the lakers through the last championship the drama the draft pics kobe and i was heartbroken when we went down to the Celtics (hate them) but we got my man Bynum back its time go hard and get these rings! My man Pjax time to get his 10th ring yessir...
So i'm wrestling with the idea of paying for the league pass so I can watch my Lakers squad but i don't because those west coast games be LATE and I'm sure enough can't be late for work messing with them games.

lock down

I told myself and my coworkers starting 1 Oct no more hanging out like I have been in the summer. I have to buckle down and start re-studying for the CISSP exam. So... I'm saying that but already this weekend Sat I got a PC job, but I won't count that against me because that's money lol but on Sunday I want to go up to UMUC for the Natural Living Expo. I'm trying be there all day seriously taking some free classes, finding the ladies who sold me some headache oil in 06 (missed o7 expo being sick).. maybe trying win something (06 my niece won a free organic cooking class which started my progression to a vegetarian).


Next weekend my mom wants me to come home. One of these weekends I need to chill with my god-son before he forgets who I am. Weekdays fly by so I don't always have the energy to study but something has to give because I need to knock this cert out before my b-day (12/25 lol)... plus contractually my position is required to have this or Security+ by the end of the year. Its not like I'm going to be fired or anything if I don't acquire it but is more of a personal goal and will seriously fastrack me career wise. I do know that some jobs are cracking down on ppl getting a cert within 6 months of hire so its not a game out here forreal. They are going to be expecting folks to start jobs certified so that money doesn't come out the company's pockets.

Raw food detox going okay I'm on day 4- had a serious meltdown yesterday, headache and migraine/nausea this morning. Luckily we have an email support group so the lady told me its natural for my body to be kirkin out in response to the reduction in diet so she advise me to move my 1 cooked meal for dinner (Chiptole!!!) and make sure I'm doing plenty of healthy snacking so my body can get re-adjusted. As of right now the vegan lifestyle is not for me no way!! Starbucks latee with Soy Milk slums!

I'm kinda upset my turtle is sick :( i don't know if he's going through his pre-winter PMS or what but he straight up is acting different. Not eating alot sleeping all the time, plus his eyes are swollen which indicates he's not getting enough vitamin A or light/heat. So I don't know if the heater in his tank broke or this AC been too cool for him ( had to run it on those humid days). I took him out the tank already had some medicated drops from my old turtles (RIP). This lil baby is only 1.5 so Imma need him to be healthy. I will be making a Petco run this weekend, clean out his tank get some vitamins- don't laugh I can't take another dying turtle; I'll move to the fish world if it happens again :(

I'm through 100%done finished with NY&CO shirts and some pants. Honestly yo like I can't take it anymore ladies at work coming up to me:
"Hey girl did you get that (insert item) from NY&CO"
me- "yes"
"oooh I got the same "

I CAN"T TAKE IT NO MORE!! Last example I got a new shirt wore it Tuesday, one girl told me she had the same shirt then today ina meeting a girl was wearing the shirt WTF
Like I love NY&CO for the tall pants but I'm done ordering shirts from there. I hate people having my clothes its hard enough as it is to be original out here.

Enuff kirkin have good weekend erryone and yes Go skins bout to be 4-1 out chea!!!!!

how much stuff does one have to manage?

I got an email from a friend who's using twitter now.. for those of yall not familiar. Twitter is another social type application where you post updates on your life via phone, net etc. People subscribe to your page and basically read about your life updates. Its been out a for a while but now that a few famous people post on twitter everyone's hopped on the site.

So I'm like a person can have a blog, facebook/myspace/linked-IN page, twitter, regular email (personal and work), RSS feeds to manage. I refuse and mark my words here in this blog to join Twitter nation (no matter how hard my friend pressures me). I can barely find time to keep the blog rollin...luckily I can handle my facebook via blackberry... myspace is boring now but I keep it open to communicate with those who only have m.space . Linked in- my coworkers are pressing me to join to be hooked up with other professionals. I add new sites to my RSS list everyday-such a junky (49 subscriptions)

All I'm saying though is how fascinatated the world is with having your life posted on-line, and having your friends/strangers comment on the life that you post on-line.
I enjoy such sites too, but as infosec professional I read a story about someone's identity stolen through scrounging details about this person from all their social sites pages. That info was used to guess passwords and comprimise other senstive information. Its not like you have to be nicked out here but since everyone's updating their statuses every hour or so- "Having fun at mall" during that time someone who e-trailing you could use that as oppourtunity to ruff your house while your out. I'm just saying we need to be concious of what we say and do on-line because its a war going on (on-line) and that data breeches are happ'n constantly so just be wise when using such sites.


Email- gmail all day long- I actually decline to push this to my blacbkerry just cuz I don't want the joint buzzin all day long.

I have 3 work emails- my main joint i just had to dump half my emails into a .PST to bring my inbox from 500 down to 150 just so I wouldn't keep getting the " you are over the limit" email daily from the sysadmin. And then bammas want to send messages to both my gov't and contractor email- do you know how annoying it is to have daily dupes and while I'm kirking I don't understand how ppl can send attachments over 5mb! Someone sent me 2 emails totaling 10mb in attachments. I sure enough went down to their cube like- is there any reason you couldn't ask me to bring my thumb drive over to get the attachments. Like if I had not cleaned out my inbox those joints would been bounced back- anyway ppl please THINK before sending big attachments especially over work email. And let me add video forwards are not appropriate for work or person email - I HATE THOSE!

Google released their own web browser last night called Chrome. I have to give it up for google they are the internet Microsoft. Quick review of the browser IT IS FAST like zipping FAST, but until the product matures some by having add-ons etc it will not replace my FF3 with adblock and flash block= NO ADS at all while surfing. so what by 2012- Google take over the world?

Just venting about the state of the world we are truly in the information age- OVER LOAD!!

plotting my return...

For the few readers that are still rolling with a sistah and her attempts of keeping this blog alive I thank thee for coming through randomly to see if I've updated the page, sending IMs asking WTF is up and other nagging communication. Also I met a blog star who's page has inspired me to keep pushing and moving forward with this bloggin thang.

Seriously I've been working a lot and in DoD Contractor hell which means wondering if you will have a job as the contract end dates approaches. So I went through that, in addition to being on this project that is very unorganized yet challenging, interesting and should advance my career with the skills I will gain trying to meet the mission goals. The good news as of (last Tuesday) was day 1 of the new 5 year contract and I'm now working for the prime instead of the sub, which in a nutshell means nothing changes about my day to day except who pays me. I now work for a Top 10 IT Firm in the DC Area and for blog purposes lets call them SCS. Unfortunately my former employer small minority owned joint lost the work but the gov't wanted me to stay on the project so viola.. contracting in the DC Area is a dirty world but I'm just happy to be employed and hope I can work at SCS for min 3-4 years and not continue to be a contractor whore jumping from company to company. Working for SCS means I have no excuses for grad school now they will reimburse up to a whopping 15k a year like young that's just another blessing because I might need to soak up that entire cap trying to get the GWU grad degree I desire messing with their high tuition rates.

Let me roll through the rest of my life updates:

The CISSP exam I studied for as referenced in this post (http://caplady1225.blogspot.com/2007/08/is-this-seattle-or-maryland.html) failed the test by 6 points. Man that was such an emotional defeat. My girl got hers much props another one of my coworkers failed twice so I'm finally ready to dive back in and start studying again because its essential to validate my skills and provide maximum career growth. I'm all about working hard and getting to the top of the pyramid in this here chart below aka the Caking Pyramid!

My hair- Yes the locs are forming and growing I'm very happy with my progress and the baby ponytail action I got as I approach my 1 year anniversary in Aug.



I had to say RIP to my AC Legend, and let me tell you they don't make cars like that no more!!! I got in a lil accident and of course Geico declared my boo totaled so I got a lil check to use towards a new (used) car. For now ya girl is riding until I get a lil something and I flat out refuse to get a car note/loan- the motto is no new debt until I can get my house in 09 yall!!!! Its been about a month I've been on foot not bad at all due to where I live <5 mins from the train station and my wonderful friends scootin me around.

I'm still doing my vegetarian thing ( 1 year in March) which brings me to my next topic a review of this DC restaurant Vegatate. Me and my girls who were willing to step out and try something new rolled down there last Thursday. Its on 9th street a few blocks down from Mt. Vernon Square metro and its a renovated rowhouse turned restaurant.
Its definitely a small but trendy spot, they have a bar area on the 2nd floor and about 4 tables set up on the main level for dining which a RSVP is required. The food was bomb, I got the Crispy Risotto Croquettes with sun dried tomato tapenade, Simple Greens Salad with lemon thyme vinaigrette, and a Veggie Burger. The funniest thing was my drink Green Tea Cool Out (Charbay green tea vodka, lemon juice and agave nectar) green tea and liquor combined lol heaven in a cup, naw I'm not a drinker forreal but that was interesting mix and tasted pretty good too. All in all I would recommend Vegatate its a chill dining experience that won't kill your pockets and has a variety of stuff you probably never ate before.

Quick F-U to Boston for beating my Lakers! We'll be back next year! Kudos for KG, PP finally getting ringz though.

Since I've been taking metro all the time I've noticed that something that irritates me to no end. Ladies who carry store bags as totes and what I mean by that is someone carrying a Neiman Marcus bag that's holding their lunch. WTF I mean if you are trying to show off/prove you can shop at a 'exclusive' store why carry around the bag how about buying a real effin tote from Neimans or LV, Chanel (I've seen them all). Its so tacky and it must stop.

Anyway..I won't make any promises yet on how many blogs I can get in weekly but just know that I'm trying my best to connect with you folks more trust I have plenty to talk about!

Is this seattle or maryland?

Wow 1,2,3,4 days of rain, clouds and Coolness would been van-glorious if i was home in my bed, but I'm away in hell aka CISSP boot camp. I'm schedule to take the 6 hour exam on Saturday so although I've blogged constantly about how my job sucks I have to acknowledge the blessings of them sending me to this boot camp (value of $2495). I'm out here in a vicious hotel in VA (deep VA) nice lil' Marriott joint w/ a kitchen suite. The camp is crazy like 8 hours of pure lecture and test prep. I have 8 books, programs on the laptop to quiz me by.. it was grueling at first but surprisingly I'm no longer scoring 50% and below on these quizzes I've hit scores as high as the 80's.. i think the isolation is what I needed to get me to buckle down and study cuz back home it wasn't working. I've been using all types of alternative methods trying to get this information to sink in while away:
LOL it has ginkgo biloba and gotu kola which are two proven herbs that help w/ memory retention and brain functions, plus my folks will never forget the semester i took ginkgo all semester i actually got over a 3.0 GPA (only time too) so I don't know if its 4 real or a placebo but i'll take a chance hehe.

Other things in my life:

Hair-



I'm 90% there mentally but when I got my hair done last week I told her twist me up to prepare for arriving into the door way of dreadlocs. So i'm still a lil scared at the idea of permanency but we'll see once we hit month one and the fuzz is over taking my scalp that when I'll need to be strong.




Piercing:
Got my first joint last Saturday was scared lol but it didn't hurt.

I didn't know these thing take a long time to heal as opposed to tattoos (6-12 weeks vs 2-3 weeks) The eventual goal is to get this type of piercing but i have to go back for the 2nd,3rd holes soon so that everything will heal close together for them to put in the spiral ring.












Party: My co-worker invited me to her 45th b-day party. I feel honored being invited being the youngin I am but it should be good, fun, NEW experience Grown women are WILD. The party is being held in a private spa and its organized well. She has a band coming to play background music for the guests, a spoke word poet is performing (I'm also getting on the mic for one poem *nervous*, b-day girl going to read once too), hand/line dancing, vendors and a movie. I guess I gotta stay for the whole thing but I don't know about that hand dancing crap LOL. The theme of the party is black women empowerment so it should be enlightening most unique type of b-day party I've been invited to (so far).

Well I gotta get back to studying

I got my NBA 07-08 season preview coming when I get back in town next week.. since I'll have my life back once i finish this exam look for more updates and I have to fix the HTML/CSS code on this page it has issues...