Def Con was amazing and exhausting and fascinating and terrifying and just all around exhilarating and energizing. Thank you to everyone to helped make it possible, and also delightfully weird.

Time to pour some coffee, take a deep breath, exhale, and start working on next year’s project.

I’m about to head to Def Con where I’ll be hosting a mobile Frozen BBS. I’m carrying it into work in SF this morning as a trial run, and also to make sure people don’t call the cops on it.

I just cut The Def Con Release of Frozen BBS, and updated the little radio and Rasperry Pi boxes that are going to be strapped onto my backpack next week.

There’s an older fellow cashiering at the grocery we go to. Tonight he saw my Def Con tshirt and asked about it. “Are they still doing that?” “Sure are!” “I haven’t been since DC4”, he said, and he started talking about his chats with FBI agents there, and malice vs playfulness. Wait, what?!

We survived Def Con. Barely. It was about as much fun as I’m physically able to tolerate in 1 week. Highlights:

• Meeting many online friends and finding out they’re all delightful in person.
• Seeing it all through my first-time-attendee wife’s eyes as we meandered through it all.
• Coordinating, conspiring, and scheming face-to-face.
• Being on the team taking 2nd-place in the EFF Tech Trivia contest.
• Oh yeah, the parties.

We’re both happy, grinning, utterly exhausted, energized, and ready for next year.

Def Con badge acquired. Most of the way through the merch line; another 4 hours at most.

We made it to Vegas in 1 piece, ate a deliciously unhealthy lunch, checked in early (pro-tip: pay the $15 extra for a room upgrade if given the option), and set up the WiFi router that lets all our devices connect to the Internet at the same time without paying an arm and a leg every day.

It’s been a buy morning. Now we rest, re-caffeinate, and then hit the strip.

DEF CON is nearly upon us. Today we’re finishing our packing, checking into flights, finalizing plans to meet with friends, and twiddling our thumbs until it’s time to go to bed and wake up early.

Hope to see y’all there!

My last work day before Def Con. I’m getting so excited and a little anxious! I’m going to see a lot, learn a lot, maybe teach some, and reunite with some of my favorite people in the world.

“Summer camp”, indeed.

My friends and I are getting ready for the EFF Tech Trivia contest at DEF CON. We took a year off after winning in 2022. Now we’re returning to reclaim our bragging rights.