To close out 2023, the weekend “Unplugged” series will revolve around some of my favorite happenings from the previous year. In fact, this thread may spill over into January because I experienced many cool and inspiring things that I want to share. I am kicking off this theme with my absolute favorite personal moment from the year.
The search function on this site suggests that I have explicitly written about the hacking conference DEF CON on only one occasion. That came during an editorial note as a post script to one of my posts in 2022 that mentioned that I would be speaking at the conference that year. There have been a handful of other oblique references that only hardcore members of the hacking community might have caught. I have always believed there isn’t a lot of overlap between my cyber life and my tennis life.
However, there is a little. Last August, a regular blog reader managed to track me down at DEF CON. To put some perspective on that, I made no mention this year on this site or via other social media channels that I would attend the conference this year. DEF CON also has a culture of anonymity where most attendees, including me, pay cash at the door and don’t provide a name at registration. This year, an estimated 25,000 people attended the annual conference in Las Vegas.
Being located at DEF CON is not quite like finding a needle in a haystack, but it is pretty darn close. I wish I could remember the young man’s name to give him a proper shout-out. (If this is you, please reach out.)
Even better, I was at DEF CON as part of a team running a Capture the Flag (CTF) contest in the Aerospace Village at the conference. I was near our display, with a few of my teammates in close proximity. It was the first time my co-workers realized that people actually read my blog. That gave me the additional heady experience of overhearing one of them tell the rest of the team, “Teresa has fans” over dinner that evening.
I am approached more and more by people that I don’t know who follow my blog at tournaments, but this is the first time it has happened completely outside of a tennis context. It was a long-shot moment when I think of the number of stars that had to align. This guy had to realize that I was probably at the conference even though I hadn’t mentioned it in advance, figure out where I was likely to be, and find me at the precise place and time when he looked at that location.
It was really cool.
What an awesome story/experience! Keep on writing!!