Happy Sunday! I hope you all have been enjoying the weekend! It has been rather uneventful for me—a haircut being the highlight—but that’s exactly the way I like it. Personally, I would much rather have a weekend of doing nothing to relax and prepare for the coming week ahead. I’m definitely a bit of a homebody, but that’s okay by me. 😁
This past week was quite busy for me. Some of it was security related, and a good portion of it was related to my days of desktop support. While I enjoy diving in and tackling some of those challenges again, and coming up with solutions for the future, I sometimes (okay, a lot of times) fail to remind myself that these things are not really my role anymore. It’s extremely difficult to remember it, though. I’ve always enjoyed helping people with their problems, and finding ways to make things easier for them, especially if it’s to create ways to help them help themselves. I’m a big proponent of helping make their lives easier and streamline processes.
Empathy hard at work. 😉
Herein lies the drawback to said empathy—the difficulty in letting go and delegating to others, and having trust in them to accomplish your vision. Much of what I’ve been up to the past week clearly falls into that category. I’ve learned about ways to improve and streamline processes, and I rush to try and make it happen, rather than work with my boss (our director) to come up with ways to utilize the team. I frequently feel like I can make it faster if I just do it myself—inevitably adding to my plate that likely didn’t need to be there in the first place. It’s about job security, right? 😂 However, as my boss has mentioned to me before, my role and responsibilities have changed, and desktop support related activities and tasks are not part of my current role any longer. It’s so hard to do, but as the movie Frozen says, I have to “let it go”. 😅
This Got Me Thinking
This past week, I was drawn into a story that goes beyond just digital security and privacy, and dove into the realm of political pressure and human cost. In the most recent episode of the Darknet Diaries podcast, Jack Rhysider shared the tale of Ola—a Swedish programmer and privacy advocate residing in Ecuador who became an unfortunate scapegoat. He was relentlessly pursued, surveilled, harassed, and jailed by the government, apparently to save face and maintain the narrative that Ola was a Russian hacker and criminal, despite the mountain of evidence that proved his innocence.
If you are a listener of the podcast, I highly recommend that you listen to this episode. If you are not a follower, I still highly recommend that you listen to this episode, and perhaps consider subscribing.
It’s a terrifying and sobering reminder that digital privacy/cybersecurity and politics can intertwine in ways that have real and lifelong consequences for individuals. It also makes you think about how easily something like this could happen elsewhere—how fragile the line is between security measures and personal freedom, especially when there are political motives at play.
In a world where digital narratives can shape real-world consequences, it’s a powerful reminder to stay vigilant and empathetic. After all, the human stories behind these events are what truly matter, and they remind us to protect not just our data, but our shared humanity.
Finally, here’s a look back at what I wore to work this past week for three days (Monday was a holiday). I hope you enjoy them.
Enjoy the remainder of your weekend, and I hope you all have a great week ahead!
-Terry
September 2
September 4
September 5
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