The Hardware Hacking Village and the Lock Picking Village were probably the most interesting part of the whole thing.  I learned quite a few things in the LPV and even obtained my first set of lock picks.  I haven’t really tested them out on any locks yet, but, I understand the basics of how to use them now.

I got a chance to try out my new camera during a couple of the presentations.  The pictures turned out ok, and the video looks pretty good, however, the sound wasn’t very good because I only had the built-in microphones on the camera to record with.  They tended to pick up more of the noises closer to the camera instead of the actually speaker.  It worked well unless there was a lot of movement or talking next to the camera.  I will have to remember that from now on and try to work around it.

During my visit, I found quite a few interesting tidbits lying around on the ground that people either lost or decided they no longer needed.  I am planning on creating a gallery to display pictures of the items that were acquired.  Most of it was just business cards and advertisements, but I found them all interesting none the less.  I will post a link here once I have that completed.

We were also able to obtain all seven unique door cards from the Riviera Hotel and Casino that were specifically made for DEFCON 18.  They are copies of the various badges that were available.  I will add pictures of those there as well.

As I stated before, this was not only my first time at DEFCON, but, it was also my first time in Las Vegas.  Staying at the Riviera gave me a chance to play some of the slot machines and experience playing a live game of Blackjack as well.  We also visited several of the other hotels/casinos that were in the area.  I got a chance to see the Palazzo, the Venetian, the Flamingo, and Caesars Palace from the inside.

As a matter of fact, I signed up for the players club at Caesars Palace and got a free $5 coupon to play on the slot machines.  I then turned that $5 in to $46 in under 15 minutes!  That is the most money I had ever won up to that point in my life.  I decided it would be best to cash that out and head back to the Riviera where I added $20 of my own money to the pot and played some Blackjack.

I played at a Blackjack table that only used a single deck, which meant it was a little more predictable, but it was loads of fun.  I think I had gotten up to around $200 before the game started heading south and by the time I was done, I was out $20!  Not bad for my first time playing live Blackjack.  It’s WAY different than playing some video game.  I think that in total we had spent about 10 hours playing and I finally went to bed at 4am.

I think next year, Shaun and I are going to try and go again.  He says he might try to become a speaker and do a presentation.  I’m not so sure how that will turn out but we will see.  Who knows, I may even assist him in putting the talk together, or try to do one myself.  It would be nice to get a speaker badge out of it and hopefully educate, and entertain, some people.

Then again, there was talk of not ever going back to Vegas after what happened on our flight back.  Even though we have been through several trips to and from airports with Shaun’s wheelchair and the various other items he has to bring along in order to survive, we have never been hassled by the TSA like we were when leaving Vegas.  I think we were at the TSA checkpoint for at least 30 minutes if not longer because one of the agents decided they didn’t like the fact that she didn’t know what were in the ice packs that Shaun had on his wheelchair to keep him cool.  After completely stripping all items of his wheelchair, out of his carry-on, and completely re-checking all of the items on me and in my carry-on, they decided that we still needed to be cleared by their manager.  They called him over; he takes one quick glance at the ice packs, and says “Yeah, I’ve seen those before.  That’s no problem, send them on their way”!!!!  In case you weren’t keeping track, that’s 30-45 minutes that could have been totally avoided had they just called the manager over in the first place.

Oh well, one bad experience out of 5 days of vacation isn’t bad.

I am very excited to be visiting a place that I have only heard other people talking about and to be attending a technology conference that I have always wanted to attend.  My only fear is that something will go wrong in the next few weeks and I won’t be able to go!  There are so many different factors that could go wrong, but, I will try not to worry about it.  I am sure things will go smoothly and everything will turn out in right in the end.

My next bit of news is that I have finally joined the MANY people who have cell phones that do more than just make phone calls and send text messages.  I used to have an LG VX8600 and it lasted for several years.  As a matter of fact it has lived through being replaced due to a cracked screen, a bad bluetooth device, and a broken hinge.

After the hinge problem got worse and I couldn’t keep the phone closed to save my life, I upgraded to an HTC Touch Pro 2.  So far I am loving it and can’t imagine why I haven’t done it before.  Since getting the phone I have been all over the internet looking for applications that I can add to the phone.  I’ve even caught myself surfing the web from the phone even though I have my laptop right in front of me.

It’s made me realize just how much of a nerd I am! HA HA  I’ve even taken to thinking of creating an app of my own for Windows Mobile.  I’m not sure what type of app I am going to create, but, so far my only idea is a shopping list application.  I’m wanting to create that because right now I use a pen and a notepad to keep my shopping list and it gets a little out of hand.  If anyone reading this has an idea for an app that you would like to see on Windows Mobile then comment here and I’ll consider creating it.  Actually, if you have ideas for any type of application for Windows or Linux then post them here as well as I am always looking for ideas.

Last of all, I have also finally splurged a little on myself and bought a device that I have wanted for a very long time.  The device is the JVC Everio HD Camcorder.  It’s a full HD camera with a 120Gb HDD in it and the ability to add external microSD storage as well.

I’ve been playing around with it for the last couple of days and so far it takes awesome video and has great battery life.  Also, if I record in the highest quality, which is full HD at 1920×1080, and only use the internal HDD storage, I can record up to 11 hours of video!  In my opinion, that is frickin’ awesome!  Of course, unless you have it plugged in to a power outlet, you’ll have to change out batteries to record that much, but, the included battery will last an hour on a full charge so that isn’t  too bad.

My only issue with it so far, is that it only takes 3.3 megapixel still images, but, I don’t really consider that too big of a problem because it is a camcorder, it’s not really meant to be taking pictures.  If I want to take pictures, I’ll just use my HTC Touch Pro 2 or the old Panasonic camera I have.

The main reason I decided to get the camcorder, other than I have always wanted one, is that I plan on using it while I am in Las Vegas at Defcon 18.  I am also entertaining the thought of doing a podcast or vlog with it too, but, since I haven’t come up with any good ideas of what to do yet, that will be the subject of a future post.  As I stated before, anyone with ideas of what they would like to see can comment here or send me an email at tom dot sapp at sappsworld dot com.

Well, that is all I have for now.  If anyone is attending Defcon this year and wants to say hi, you should be able to easily spot me because I will be the large nerd following a redheaded guy in a wheelchair with an american flag on a flag pole attached to it.

EVE Online
World of Warcraft
Anarchy Online
The Sims 3
Bejeweled 2
Puzzle Pirates
Freerealms Online

I also play various other games when I get tired or bored of these.  If you can’t tell by that list, I enjoy playing video games to keep myself entertained. 

The problem I have is I quickly get bored of most games and stop playing them after a few months, sometimes weeks, and move on to something different. 

I’ve played most of the MMORPGs that have come out and am an experienced RPG player as well.  If anyone reading this has any suggestions of games to play then please post them in the comments or send me an email about them and I may check them out.

I also have been attempting to hone my video game programming skills and am constantly on the lookout for a new idea for a game to make.  I still consider myself a novice in the ways of video game design and programming, but am always striving to improve my abilities.  Feel free to suggest ideas on this subject as well!

Raisor – Farstriders – Lvl 74 Orc Hunter
Raisor – Boulderfist – Lvl 60 Human Rogue

I don’t play all that often and when I do it is usually late at night.  I look forward to hearing from anyone that wants to play.