New year’s Resolutions 2022

2022 New Year's Resolutions

I decided to make these resolutions public this year to hopefully gain some accountability from friends, family, and the entire Meese community.

Before we get started with the long list of goals and aspirations I have compiled I would like to take a minute and express my gratitude for life. My family has been supportive of me in the military which has made it easier to continue to serve in a forward deployed setting for nearly a decade. My friends are always there for me and I would like to give a shoutout to Erick, Manny, Kevin, Jamison, Jakob, & Zach. I love you guys and appreciate your support with my rants on investing all the time. I am grateful the Navy has allowed me to serve in Japan once again as this country has been a home away from home. Lastly, I want to shoutout to the cyber LinkedIn community, you guys have been so supportive as I have been trying to create a small space for myself within the world of InfoSec. Here is to a fresh start in a new year, Happy New Year!

Fitness Goals

Over the course of the last few years my weight has fluctuated in the range of 20-30 pounds due to the different arduous environments I was exposed to. I found it very difficult to regulate my weight with the different amounts of stress, lack of healthy dietary choices, and the vast varying differences in exercise opportunity. On one side of the spectrum the gyms were closed on the USS Somerset (LPD-25) which I was stationed on during my recent deployment in late 2020 to the spring of 2021. Then the transition to Japan where I am currently living was filled with numerous curve balls to include the Afghanistan crisis in Kabul which we were put on alert for. To top it off during all the moving parts I was enrolled in online college full time. I did most of that to myself so I take full responsibility for the poor time management and lack of exercise routine but it has been difficult for me to maintain and manage the balancing act. However, I hope to change that this year as fitness and health is regarded as an important pillar of life. And to all those poor excuses, here is my list of goals:

Drop my body weight to 215 Pounds
Run a Marathon
Average 15 Miles per week of running
Hit 225 pounds on bench press
Improve Zone 2 by lowering Heart Rate
Hit 315 pounds on Squat
Achieve a personal best on my VO2 Max Score

University of Maryland Global Campus

Academic Goals

2022 will be a big year for me academically. I am planning on pursuing 22 credits worth of university classes at UMGC working towards my bachelors in software development & security.

I would like to take as many courses through TCM Security as I have time for but specifically I would like to accomplish the PNPT Exam with flying colors and achieve the certification.

I plan to take the INE/eLearn Security eJPT certification during Q1 of 2022.

I plan to finish starting point machines on Hack the Box before February 2022.

I plan to take as many courses through the Academy on Hack the Box: Specifically (Getting Started, Linux Fundamentals, Introduction to Networking, Cracking Passwords with Hashcat, Network Enumeration with Map, Web Requests, and JavaScript Deobfuscation)

I plan to finish the Meet Kevin Stocks & the Psychology of Money course during Q1.

I plan to finish the Learn Plan Profit Stock Market Day Traders course from Ricky Gutierrez during Q1.

Achieve CompTIA certifications in Q2 to include: A+, Net+, Sec+, Linux+, & Pentest+

Achieve the rank of Hacker on Hack the Box and be accepted into the UMGC Computer Club.

Apply for Upsilon Pi Epsilon Fraternity

Network

Relationship Goals

On social media in 2022 I would like to maintain the relationships I’ve found but also to make a few more truly meaningful ones and give support to organizations as much as I have time for. Specifically I would like to dedicate my time to VetSec & Whole Cyber Human Initiative.

Meese Nation

Business Goals

I have recently founded the company ‘The Moose Matrix LLC.’ In the year 2022 I plan to finalize my websites organization and structure. My goals are simple yet hopefully effective. I plan to increase the usability of my platform, the consistency and depth of my posts, and I hope to increase the visibility/reach and provide value in the realms of finance, and cyber security. Two vast areas that I hope I can bring together for friends, family, and people of all ages. I also need to step out of my comfort zone and create more quality content to give back to our wonderful community. My goal is to overcome that fear.

Travel, Food, Experiences

Life Experience Goals

Pending the pandemic situation this year I would like to travel to Italy with my wife and share some experiences as she has never been there. ✈️ I have been few times but I have never been to northern Italy and maybe we could share some amazing experiences there. I am currently living in Japan so I plan to learn how to make authentic cuisine. 🍱 My goal is to learn 2 new meals each month. I would also like to improve my photography skills. 📱📷 I currently shoot my photos on a Canon AE-1 & iPhone 13 Pro which my wife says I am terrible with photo angles on the iPhone 😂

Moose Money

Investing Goals

The year 2021 was quite the bull run for the stock market and I was successful with an annualized rate of return at 39% in the my TSP, 18% in my Roth IRA, & 9% overall in my individual brokerages. What this year has taught me is that the diversification of broad index funds has proved to be a better investment choice however I do love to be involved with companies at an individual shareholder level. Hopefully in 2022 I can improve my returns on my individual brokerages.

Due to the government spending during the pandemic I fully expect a sideways market during 2022 and I will be allocating my money to high margin, high free cash flow businesses that are oversold currently. A few examples would be companies like PayPal, Etsy, & Robinhood to name a few. I have yet to make those big boy decisions but I will soon. I will be creating more content around different companies and their finances and the different situations that cybersecurity plays into them.

Regarding investing, I have reallocated my TSP to 80% S-Fund which is the small cap stocks because they have a higher probability of growth due to them being oversold. The other 20% is invested into the C-Fund due to the over valuation that I see in large cap stocks.

I am excited for cryptocurrency in 2022 and have allocated a large portion of my funds to ETH due to the expectation of Web 3.0, ETH 2.0, business transactions accepting various cryptocurrencies worldwide becoming more prevalent, and the rise of the Metaverse going more mainstream.

There is a ton of amazing innovation going on in the tech sector the last 10 years and I am extremely excited for the future. I am watching the Cathie Wood funds closely as they are extremely sold off. I think that if she reallocated her ARKK portfolio a bit and replaced the Roku position as her #2 with something more innovative she might have a better chance at her 40% annualized returns expectation she has set.

Anyways, Investing is a massive beast of a topic but I would like to say Happy New Year to everyone and I hope you all prosper, hold me accountable, and enjoy the journey because that is what it is all about.

Obtuse Moose, Signing off.