So I have not been at NTG for 2.5 years now (dear God how has that much time passed already...) but I still consider many of the people from NTG family, and always will. @art_of_shred @Minion-Queen @scottalanmiller @Dominica these are people that are stuck with me for good. Lol I love them all dearly. Yesterday I was having a particularly bad day, so Danielle sent me a pizza. There's more to the story but I'll leave it at that. Comfort food. Enough said.

Today, I'd posted a joking status about me and one of my co-workers running off to Vegas to get married. It was a total jest but shortly after I had this conversation and I have not been able to stop smiling since...I love my NTG family. (FYI: I asked Scott's permission to post this ahead of time, and he said it was fine.)

Today was a very important day for me. I have always wanted a tattoo. I always thought they were amazing. But the way I was raised, they were a no no.

Today I got my first tattoo. I had a concept and the artist designed it and did it.

The concept was in honor of originally my brother and the entire special needs community, but became also for me.

I tell people I wear my heart on my sleeve, so I made it literal. The heart is a kite shield, with rivets around the edge. It means that we must protect those like us, anywhere on the spectrum.

The sword is also about defending, physically, and attacking those who try to belittle the person or the condition. The fountain pen is about how we can also defend by spreading information to raise awareness and stop those who try to troll or degrade us.

The semicolon was for me. I was suicidal last year and did not give in to those thoughts. The whole piece was designed to be in the style of a family crest.

It came out beautifully. Clean edges, great color, and I couldn't be happier. Things are coming together for me in life, and this is something I've wanted to do for almost two years.

It's done, and I'm ecstatic.

Thanks everyone,
A.J.

What happened:

Was passing a car when the road merged, he sped up and forced me onto the shoulder, snow grabbed my tires and I basically went square into a utility pole, completely breaking through the pole. Knocked out power to a few houses in the area (it's a pretty scarcely populated stretch), and totaled the truck. I was okay, but if you saw the vehicle, you'd understand why the fact I was alive, much less unhurt was a miracle. Stepped out of the car to live electrical lines not even ten feet above my head! Also something of a miracle I wasn't electrocuted...

But I'm okay...thankfully. Too much life left to live not to be!

As of tomorrow, it will have been two weeks since I landed back in NY after my "whirlwind tour", as it's come to be called, of the United States. It's interesting looking at myself as I was a mere two months ago versus now. I have changed. Substantially.

When I left in September, I was a boy. I have returned a man. In that time, I've lost many friends, gained some new ones, and strengthened/re-affirmed many more. What I really feel I gained was maturity.

Looking back, I realize some things that I've done over the years and how they came back to bite me. This humbled me.

I was helped by many people along my way. This taught me a whole new level of gratitude.

I met many people and heard about many situations that made mine pale in comparison. This taught me empathy and appreciation for what I did have.

I was forced to live, for awhile, out of a duffel bag. I had nights I almost went hungry. This taught me what really matters in life.

Since I've returned, I've realized I talk less, listen more, and take far less for granted. I have never been good at learning lessons "the easy way". I can't say that I would have chosen what happened to me if I'd been told ahead of time what the past two months would entail, but I am proud to say that I gained a lot from it and that I'm a better person for it.

Now it's time to rebuild my life. I have made many mistakes, and have learned from them. For the next few months, I'm going to focus on what's important, rebuild my finances, mend my broken friendships, and become the man that so many people have told me I can be.
For those of you who have stuck by me, thank you. I'm not always easy to handle, a quick study, but I have a heart of gold and care about people and especially my friends and family.

As 2015 comes closer and closer to a close, I eagerly await 2016 and what it will bring for
me.

And today, for the first time in a long time, I felt truly happy.

I also have three jobs currently. I've started at one, start training at another Tuesday and will hopefully start the other soon. I also have met a girl local to here and we've been on two dates so far and there's definitely something there. I appreciate everyone's help and things are finally turning around!

I also have a car that I'm currently using that I should be purchasing in the next few months!

Thanks,
A.J.

I GOT THE JOB! Back in the IT and MSP world at last!

Very proud to announce that I am solidly down thirty pounds since Christmas. I've also gotten a lot stronger and built a lot of muscle since then. I've still got, ideally, forty pounds to go, but at least twenty before I'll really be content, until I hit my goal. But I was 360 lbs, or about 163 kilos, when I moved back to NY in Feb 2015. So, since them, I'm down about 95 lbs, or 43 kilos. I'm currently weighing in at about 265 lbs, or about 120 kilos. Feeling very proud about that accomplishment!

KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid

I find people live or die by music. There has been music throughout history that has impacted a generation, a genre, a person. I'd like to focus on that last one. There have been a few songs that have had significant impact on me personally. As far as the rest, they are just songs I greatly enjoy.

@IRJ From what I've seen, hitting the up arrow button next to the Favorite button on a post increases reputation. The favorite is for bookmarking for your own personal use/reference.

A huge shout-out to @Bob-Beatty for this comment. This thread might get deleted for political reasons, and if so I understand, but this deserves to be acknowledged!

The intention of this thread is not to bash but rather compliment. Just wanted to put that out there to start.

In some communities online, private groups with restricted access are common. While these can serve a purpose, such as acting as a place to discuss moderation topics and other things that don't need to be, or should be, publicly viewable, they come at a great cost. The cost is that cliques develop and it can quickly turn into a "do you know the secret handshake" situation. This leads to many claiming that people who are upset by the way these private groups are used as being conspiracy theorists or paranoid.

Anyways, one thing I really appreciate is that there are not and never will be private groups. I'm a very open person as it is, and aren't good about hiding my feelings, so when others go to such lengths to hide theirs it bothers me. Take that for what you will but that's how it is. So thank you MangoLassi for your approach to this online community. It's a breath of fresh air.

Thanks,
A.J.

First day on the new job. Very excited to see how things go.

Also c/o @PackMatt73

My first Christmas tree

@dafyre said in Random Stuff to Bring to MangoCon 2016:

@MattSpeller Everything on that list makes sense... Except the first one... The first item has me concerned for your safety.

I'm more scared about how they might all be connected...

@thecreativeone91 said:

Symantec’s Endpoint Protection product has three zero-day flaws that could allow a logged-in user to move to a higher access level on a computer, according to a penetration testing and training company.

The three flaws, all known as privilege escalation vulnerabilities, were found during a security test of a financial services company, said Mati Aharoni, lead trainer and developer for Offensive Security, in a phone interview late Tuesday.

Read More

I saw Symantec and knew it would be bad news. Always is.

So NTG had a discussion about this internally months ago but I figured I'd take the test again to see how I scored...
http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test
I got ENFP. This is me: http://www.16personalities.com/enfp-personality

What about everyone else? Where do you land on the prism of personality types?

@MattSpeller said in Random Stuff to Bring to MangoCon 2016:

@RojoLoco said in Random Stuff to Bring to MangoCon 2016:

@dafyre said in Random Stuff to Bring to MangoCon 2016:

@MattSpeller Everything on that list makes sense... Except the first one... The first item has me concerned for your safety.

Actually, you should be more concerned about your safety... that iron phallus has "Dafyre" etched on its side.

Keep telling yourself that big boy

Thank you for making me legit laugh today...ROFL