I'm Back...

So, as many of my devoted, wonderful, brilliant followers may have observed. I kind of disappeared for a while. Oh sure, I jump on and post some snarky comment every once in a while. Usually at 3 am, or something like that - but I'm not my usual ranting machine.

Here's why:

My wonderful wife of 16+ years had been diagnosed with a very rare form of bone cancer, and the time came when she needed to have a stem cell / bone marrow transplant at the end of 2018. I spent many days travelling up and back to Dana Farber Cancer Institute before, during and after the procedure. I would drive down to visit her (in Boston traffic), then coming back up to take care of my daughter and my new business - with an enormous amount of help from my amazing in-laws. I seriously never would have made it without them. I owe them both more than I can ever dream of being able to repay.

If you haven't had the experience of cancer treatment, I highly recommend avoiding it at all costs. The mental, emotional, physical and financial drain is life altering. If you're with your wife, then you're not with your kid when she gets home. You don't know how her day went, or what shes doing, or what needs some 'Daddy attention'. If you're with your kid, then you're not with your wife who is going through a serious medical procedure. So that kind of sucked a bit.

But wait, there's more!

This 'experience' was preceded a few months earlier after I was blatantly _______ed out of the company that I had started in my porch in Boston in 2003 and sacrificed and nurtured grew to be an actual business, with employees and payroll, and staff (oh my!).

After 10 years of working together with my partner, I discovered that she apparently wasn't making enough money, so she put her car payment, home mortgage, boat payments, credit cards, etc. all on the company's accounts. I honestly wasn't watching the bank closely enough, and didn't notice until she started writing company checks to pay for her wedding band, photographer, florist and honeymoon to Vienna. So it was only low six-figures for the past six months that I looked at. I am pretty sure that there may be some IRS issues associated with expensing your honeymoon, but I'm not a lawyer or a CPA.

So not only was I betrayed grossly by a woman I thought was one of my closest friends for 10 years, but she was stealing money from the company and denied everything when I confronted her about it. This was a woman living a half million dollar house in Florida, driving a new Jaguar, and playing on her jet skis and 32 foot power boat on the weekends. I guess she needed more?

I tried to arrange an equitable settlement, but in the end, I just walked away. The mental baggage will still be with me for a while, but I am 90+% over it. I moved on. I have started a few businesses in my day - as can be seen by my profile. I could do it again, and I did.

But starting a business in rural New Hampshire with a sick wife, kid, mortgage, bills, etc. when you're "mature" is not the same as when you are single in Denver, San Diego or New York City and 20-30. It was a bit different than I remember.

The good thing was, I was tired of that old business, and I had been immersing myself into Cyber Security, since 2013, when my business was attacked. I was offended, and felt like the criminals had attacked my child, I was determined to learn everything I could and prevent it from ever happening again (HA!). Plus I've always been a Nerd at heart (My first owned machine was in 1984 - it had 2 disk drives and 128 KILObytes of hard drive).

Thankfully, my wife came home from the hospital, but still has a very high risk of infection. I was reluctant to go out to networking events because the last thing I wanted to do was to catch a cold and bring it back. Essentially, she was reborn with no immune defense. Just like a baby, she had to be re-vaccinated (no, she didn't get Autism Spectrum Disorder).Thankfully, I still had my wonderful in-laws helping out at least 5 days a week, and my family and hers were incredibly supportive (thank you too Dad and family).

But it has still taken me a while to get my 'swerve' back (thanks J-Low). I wanted to do a lot of things, but never quite got around to actually doing them. Then in January, I had a bit of an epiphany: Life is short. Aaron is getting older. Shut up, get off your butt and get going. Get your act together. Put some pants on for the love of God! Why am I hearing voices? So, I have been trying to do this.

One of the things I love to do is write. I have written plays, novels and many a rant on LinkedIn. So, as part of my return to whatever passes for 'normal' in my life, I'm trying to get back to entertaining the masses on LinkedIn with my brilliance and/or sarcasm. If you wonder if I'm being sarcastic or not in my comments, go with 'yes, he's being a jackass again', 99 times out of 100.

I also have a few ideas for novels, but I'll spam you all with that later. I have wanted to do a podcast about security for a while, and the universe has been putting many signs up that I can no longer avoid. So lock up your children, it's coming soon.

I'm also trying to get back to a physical routine, because years of sitting on my butt have not magically made me a iron man competitor (nor been good to my delicious hiney - which I think is the only reason my wife married me).

So, if you missed me - I'm back. If you don't know who I am...Check me out.

If I can help anyone with anything - within reason - reach out. I know that everyone needs some help - even if it's just someone to bitch to.

Thanks.