Welcome to Joshua Tree Ltd.net
JTS, Ltd. | HARDAC | Bruck

Hi! Welcome to JoshuaTreeLtd.net! So, what's going on around here?

I've spent most of my life screwing around with computers, and most of my career working in information security. I built my first website when I was fourteen, but focused on other interests once I got to college. In the intervening years, I made some effort to build a new personal website, but never had the opportunity to really dig in, get it done to the point that I was comfortable publishing, and then figure out the best way of doing so. Then, beginning in 2015, as I started looking for employment opportunities that would allow me to move home and get married, my efforts to market myself to prospective employers seemed to fail, repeatedly. In the event that I could get myself into an interview, the failure to secure a job offer always hinged upon variations of one question: "How technical are you?"

Well, I've done all of my own tech support since around 2007, like swapping CD-ROM drives between laptops, replacing laptop keyboards, and setting up wireless routers. Does that count as being technical? No?

Okay, well, how about reverse engineering NPR podcast URLs to download podcasts that NPR doesn't want me to be able to download? No? Not that, either?

What about turning an old laptop into a mobile GIS platform, or reverse engineering XML from GPX files? Seriously, that's not "technical" either?

So, I got my CAP (now CGRC) and CISSP certifications, which yielded a few more interviews, but no job offers. And unfortunately, you can't get away with answering "How technical are you?" with "That's a bush league question", "I'm a CISSP," or "Pass!" So, I decided to work on some projects, most notably building a general support system composed of of a bunch of Raspberry Pi boards and some other surplus equipment. The plan was to build it all, perform an assessment and authorization on the system, document the whole thing, and use that as a sort of proof-of-concept to demonstrate my combined engineering and analytical chops. Instead, I ended up getting a job in late 2017, several months after moving home. Then, a year later, I got another job, and I'm still there as I write this.

So, now it's several years later. While I'd still like to build something out of those Raspberry Pi boards, two things have happened. First: the project as a whole has gotten much less urgent, because I no longer need to validate my technical proficiency to find a job. Second: since a lot of services are moving to cloud-based platforms, getting familiar with some of the leading cloud providers is more pressing. So, I've decided to continue with the project, and use it as an opportunity to build my cloud service management skills.

So, welcome to Joshua Tree, Ltd., which serves both as my own personal website, and as a venue for showcasing both my professional skills, and my personal interests. The site is divided into three sections:

  • JTS, Ltd. - "Joshua Tree Security" - acts as my professional website, and provides what could be considered my professional portfolio.
  • HARDAC - HARDAC acts as a proof-of-concept for a cloud-based information system, a technical skills generator, and an archive.
  • Bruck - Bruck acts as my personal website, and features a brief bio, and content about my life and interests.

    I hope you enjoy perusing the site and its contents. You can review the build log here, and the System Security Plan will eventually be available here.