a student, a volunteer and a consultant

After five years as an employed consultant, I will continue under my own flag. In recent years I've been privileged to teach Information Security which is superb training from a generalist perspective, but now I will refocus on Information Risk in three different ways. First, I will return to the university to dig deeper in the theory realm of risk. Second, I might do a bit of volunteering in a "security advisor" capacity. Last but not least, there should be room for some consulting as an educator.

thieves with an attitude

- I don't understand why so many people take this personally!?

A stylish gentleman, who had just inconspicuously entered the subway on my ticket instead of buying his own, tried to soften my irritation by arguing that neither I nor anyone else had paid for his ride. No one pays, he explained. A new economy indeed! So, why should I bother? It took me a while to figure out his logic: why would anyone care about something which does not affect him?

That, my dear well-dressed youngster, is not how we built a society.

change is in the air

I've been an employee of the Swedish bank SEB since 1991, initially as a database specialist, then working with applied information security since 2006.

Having spent 23 good years in the financial sector, following this summer I will take up a position as consultant in the great team of Konsultbolag1 InfoSec AB.

As always in consulting, what I will be doing will be up to our customers, but I look forward to driving change within the field of security by means of teaching, coaching and mentoring.

motivation happened

Why did I grow to like studying?

It's about perspectives. Relating findings in one discipline to questions in another context, such as my work life. It feels more rewarding to theoretically explore current issues at work, rather than merely memorizing (seemingly) abstract stuff for an upcoming exam.

And it's about giving back. With the benefit of experience, I find myself in situations where I can contribute. Students and lecturers expect me to offer my input.

How could I not feel motivated?

enter The Alumnus

Once upon a time, I was busy taking notes. Sitting at the feet of lecturers, eager to inhale their accumulated wisdom, convinced that they had all the answers.

I got my exam and was fortunate to find challenging work among great colleagues. Years went by. Some scribbled notes never came to use. Certain concepts helped save the day.

The world has changed. So have I. By now, I know a thing or two about what works and what doesn't.

There comes a time for giving back. 'tis the season for an alumnus.

never again

To me, studying was always boring, bordering on burdensome. Never again, I told myself upon getting my exam in Systems Science.

That forecast seemed to hold water. 15+ years later did I hesitantly return for some Security Informatics. And some more. Plus a dose of Criminology. Followed by Decision-, Risk- and Policy Analysis...

And, guess what? Now, at long last, I enjoy myself. Lectures are interesting, assignments meaningful, interacting with other students often a delight.

So, what happened?

delicious remorse

Those who have known me for a while will probably be giggling by now. For the rest of you, I can let you in on a secret. You know old King Midas? Everything he touched turned into gold. Well, in the world of services I frequently assume the role of some inverted Midas. I've managed to join (or buy) lots of products and services over the years, only to discover that they soon get discontinued. Apparently, this time it took me five weeks to get Delicious swaying. When news broke about Yahoo allegedly sunsetting this bookmarking service I was disappointed but not exactly surprised...

compact living - revisited

OK, so it's official.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with my SLR camera but photography has become immensely boring. It's too heavy to carry around unless I have some specific shooting in mind. Consequently, the camera stays home six days a week and snapping photos has turned into a Planned Activity on Rare Occasions.

Clinging to a Point&Shoot is not supposed to be healthy for anyone aiming to take photography seriously. Still, I did cling for years and I miss those days. I suppose my photos are in some respect technically "better" these days but they're also rather uninspired. Creative moments are few and far between and I blame my heavy-weight SLR companion. In my world, a camera should be something handy to stick in your bag (or - even better - your pocket!) and forget about until the moment you encounter Something Worthy of Being Snapped.

So, let it be known. I miss my P&S.

thanks for asking

Monday 2.30AM among high-rise buildings in the eastern, commercial part of Kista. Silence. Next to a quiet, empty six-lane road, a man is squatting. A police car drives up and the officers realize what's going on.

- Hi! Are you getting any good photographs tonight?

As a matter of fact I wasn't. The sky was boring and the mood wasn't right. But thanks for asking. Thanks for being there for us.

know me by my work

- This is so yummy.

The cook looks at me and smiles. I shouldn't say that - he adds - since I cooked this myself but there's just so much love behind this dish.

He's an artist in his own right, trying to make a living in a competitive climate where not every restaurant will comply with taxation laws. Somehow, his words moved me. Pure, simple pride in a work well done. I wish him a successful year and many delighted lunch guests in the golf restaurant.

Kafka by bus

Bus 540 heading for Universitetet makes a stop at Råsta by the bus garage. Our driver will go off his shift and someone will replace him. Four (4) drivers wait at the bus stop, cheerfully chatting about this and that. One by one they enter the bus asking each other which one of them is going to drive this bus. Negative. They're all passengers-to-be, going home after a long day at work or just commuting to another place where they will pick up another bus.

Picture this: a bus with some thirty frustrated passengers, four drivers and no one takes the wheel.

Two of the non-drivers moan about missing their train connections in Ulriksdal. So did I.

Enter modern technology. The administrative staff in the garage suddenly receive scores of messages over radio and cell phone, each of them evidently emanating from this same bus. The administrative lady subjected to this burst of information successfully dispatches a fifth driver (the one who should have been here from the beginning) and he makes a run across snow and ice. By the time he arrives one of the four non-drivers has decided that enough is enough and assumed the driver's position. The real driver barely manages to catch the bus (as a passenger) when it finally continues from Råsta.

A minute later the garage calls to check that all is well and the real driver confirms that he has successfully taken the wheel. Which he has not, he is standing among all the other non-drivers at the front of the bus but now we're finally under way. And after a few more dare-devil runs across snow and ice plus the additional benefit of a two-minute delay for the commuter train I believe we all made it.

A surreal moment in the life of a commuter.

five years later

Swedish Commissioner Margot Wallström is stepping down after five years at the forefront of the European Union. (Ten, actually, but the most recent five years as First Vice President.) Prime Minister Persson appointed her and since the two of them are known to get a long about as good as... well, folks who don't get along terribly well... there was a lot of speculation about his getting rid of her from the domestic scene. Be that as it may, she has been a great Commissioner - effectively helping promote openness and as a side-effect contributing to a more positive view of the Union back in Sweden and throughout Europe.

Her retrospective blog post looking back at these five years got me started thinking about my own humble presence in the world of web logs. I started writing in February 2005, also five years ago. One key driver was an interest in politics from a conservative perspective. Finding your own party in opposition creates energy and a passionate urge to make your point. Then - all of a sudden and when enough people have successfully been making their points - your party is in fact forming a government! Not having PM Persson to kick around anymore plus the disillusion which comes from realizing that your party will in fact not deliver a lot of what you had been hoping for can effectively dampen the political drive and so I find myself now writing about entirely different things - or not at all.

My posts are few and far-between and that doesn't bother me, I have never accepted the idea that one has to keep writing constantly regardless of whether one actually has anything to say or not. Updating infrequently was a nuisance in the old days when the reader used a static bookmark and had to randomly probe and visit to see if anything had been written. These days we subscribe to a feed so anyone can see if there's new content to be read at the moment without having to visit first.

Now we're heading into an election year again and I'll gladly leave that particular scene to others. I may however occasionally have something to say about risk, photography or life itself. Or something else - we do change as we grow older, you know. So feel free to bear with me and stay tuned for another year. Have a happy one!

ferdinand & the chainsaw massacre

I would never make a good gardener, let alone farmer. Deciding on matters of life and death for plants and animals - naw, that would take some getting used to for a semi-sentimental fool like moi.

But since life has bestowed me a small cottage with a few surrounding square meters of what used to be a garden, I'd have to assume some minimalistic attitude of responsibility towards this Land of Mine. And since said cottage has been blessed with more trees than what's good for it (or its neighbours) I have established sort of a yearly tradition of inviting a team of arborists to "scope the problem".

They're real pro's, I'm mighty impressed. And scope they do, indeed. Three visits in as many years have reduced seven fairly proud trees into:
a) one pile of twigs being burnt in November
b) one pile of firewood being donated to neighbours
c) one tree stump

Well, maybe not that proud... This year's trio did in fact turn out to be marked by tree rot.

Still, I can't quite get used to Deciding. A pear tree finds a place to live, grows, delivers fruits and leaves for well over a century... and one sunny morning it gets chopped up in no time in a merry chainsaw massacre. Disintegrated into those three categories of remnants.
- Wham, bam, kindly pay at the counter!

I would never make a good gardener. In the words of good old Ferdinand the Bull:
- I think I'll just sit here and smell the flowers.

the happier meal

I'm pretty impressed by McDonald's. Yes, that chain of restaurants. Granted, it's not the best venue for a candle-light dinner date. It's hardly a place for unique gourmet experiences. Their wine list is the shortest available on the market. Then again, they never claimed to be everything to everyone.

But the restaurant is clean, their opening hours are generous, the staff is friendly, the food is not expensive and - in spite of what we've been told and unless you're a vegetarian - they have plenty of dishes for a nutritiously balanced menu.

As far as I'm concerned there are three simple rules:

* avoid the soft drinks - we eat too much sugar anyhow
* stay away from the desserts - same reason
* nothing from the deep fryer

My respect for McDonald's goes way back. I'm old enough to remember those days when it was all but impossible to find a restaurant without guests smoking at their tables. Guess who were the first among Swedish restaurants to ban smoking? Yep. And that's what you would expect from a leader in quality, isn't it?

with love from Luleå

Somewhere in a unique land of fear, yearning, death and love, writer-director-actor Staffan Westerberg has done it again. With Selma och Ågust at Stadsteatern, this remarkable man together with a capable ensemble of actors and musicians once again captures our imagination, dancing along the abyss from the women's restroom at the Nobel Banquet to the nursing home where nothing matters any more (and, as if that wasn't enough, they're serving pancake tomorrow - "don't mention that dish!"). Smiles and tears and standing ovations. Theater simply doesn't get any better than this.

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life after a date

Got my first camera back in October 2000. I was heading for my second Italian vacation and didn't want to come back empty-handed again. Photography seemed technically complex and just too difficult so I hadn't developed (!) an interest before.

Lucky coincidence #1: Enter the era of digital photography.

Now that did seem a whole lot simpler although quite costly. You don't want to know what I paid for my first equipment, a point-and-shoot with a memory capacity of 64 megabytes. So I finally decided to have a go at the photogenic hobby. My mindset was that of a beginner and rightfully so. I was aiming to document family, vacations, the cottage, ordinary stuff. Printed copies and created albums. No need for a computer just to look at my photos. Oh no. I superimposed dates on all my photos to keep track of them. Worked like a charm.

My interest grew. I paid another fortune for a few additional memory sticks, began traveling extensively within Sweden and spent lots of time snapping photos. In early 2005 my camera was literally worn out. It had served me well but after more than 10000 shots under all sorts of conditions the quality began to fade and it really sounded tired. Or maybe I was beginning to require more? Probably a bit of both. So I got myself another compact. Still a simple model (mind you, a lot cheaper after 4+ years). After all, I was just a beginner.

Together with a couple of friends I began photo-walking through Stockholm and the idea came up to somehow showcase the results of our efforts.

Lucky coincidence #2: Blogs were emerging as a simple yet powerful medium.

And so pixels was born in October 2005. Now I had a mission. I should learn more about my home town, write, snap photos and present them on a regular basis together with our team. A great way to improve my skills while having fun. Some folks asked about that superimposed date. But it stayed. After all, I was still a beginner so it didn't matter.

Another 10000+ photos later I'm into my ninth year of photography. Someone noted that I'm not exactly a beginner anymore. She did have a point. Now, what I don't know about photography could fill a library. I never attended a course, never read a book on the topic. I haven't even tried using a system camera, let alone owned one. But I like to play with light and colours, angles and movement. I'd like to learn how to take more artistic photos. I no longer confine the results of my excursions to the private album. I enjoy publishing photos on the web, getting feedback and new insight.

This year I want to take the next step. Start experimenting with slightly more sophisticated equipment. Reaching out to a wider audience. Oh, and that superimposed date? Would you mind if I skipped it? In fact, I did on January 1.

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new proven effect

Coca Cola Light appeared some 25+ years ago and is still with us. During all these years it has been constantly reinvented. Whenever you buy a can, be sure to notice that this is in fact a new, improved recipe. Even the name changes. Light, Diet, Zero, yada-yada. Coca Cola is one of the most successful brands in our time. Why the company would tarnish its reputation with this constant experimenting is beyond me.

The conservative Swedish moderate party has decided to ditch most of its traditional views. Instead they have started to "listen". Out of this listening comes a mainstream political agenda, designed to win elections. Yesterday's convictions didn't bring about success so let's get ourselves some new ones instead.

"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others" (Groucho Marx)

Which brings me to my toothpaste. I'm relying on an old brand which has been around forever. Well, for ages at least. No, not my tube. The brand. Please pay attention. On my current tube I read "new proven effect". Whether it's a good or bad effect, who proved it and why this vintage brand would need new effects at all isn't immediately clear to me but I'm sure there's a lot of marketing communication theory behind this kind of blurb.

So, what's all this about then? Change we can believe in?

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too much of a good thing

When we bought the cottage some 40+ years back it was basically an old apple garden. We were told that no one had taken care of it for decades and so it looked. So half of the trees were cut down and the rest were given the responsibility to decorate the premises.

Now, back to the future.

I suppose these trees are approaching the age of a hundred years but they don't show any signs of fading away. Granted, the "decorating" functionality is limited. But they do produce apples. Good apples. Lots of apples. Ridiculous amounts of apples, in fact. So friends and neighbors get their share, we eat apple cake as often as we can and fail miserably at consuming this fruit, most of which ends up being disposed of among other garden waste. Animals, big and small, can look forward to their standard cuisine during the winter.

Bon appetit.
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packing one's belongings, to be continued

Why does packing take so long? Assembling some everyday things for the kind of domestic trip I've done so many times. No kids, no animals, no nothing. Just my stuff. Some clothes, some music to go, something to read. How difficult can it be? I spend a week thinking about it. A day preparing for it. And finally another day actually doing it. The packing. And at eleven pm the darn suitcase is still not ready. Camera batteries not yet charged. Do I bring the umbrella or not? Oh, probably. But it doesn't fit in the briefcase (well it does but not with my laptop in it) so I'd have to stove it away in the big one. Which obviously won't be around when I actually need the umbrella. Gah! And it's so boring. I'll do some blogging instead.

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likewise

A paradox can be an apparently true statement or group of statements that leads to a contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or it can be, seemingly opposite, an apparent contradiction that actually expresses a non-dual truth...

Ehm well, OK thanks Wikipedia. I think I'll try to elaborate myself.

Here are a few apparent contradictions I've noticed.

More people than ever carry photographic devices. Still, as a photographer I'm more often questioned about what, who and why.

More people than ever choose to interact socially over the web. We like to leave digital footprints in discussion groups, blogs or social sites. Still, there is an increasing anxiousness on the part of citizens that the authorities are able to track our activities, listen in and profile us.

And of course, an old favourite: More people than ever complain about not having enough time. And yet, thanks to all sorts of modern inventions life has never been easier. When was the last time you had to carry drinking water from the well to your home?

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