Hello! My name is Matt Cooper and this is my personal blog.
On this page, I'll share a little insight into who I am and what I enjoy doing.
I work in the Information and Cyber Security Industry, both in the private and government sector. I thoroughly enjoy this industry as it gives me the ability to participate in and experience so many different facets of technology. It works well because I find interest in breaking things down, figuring out what makes them work, and finding ways to manipulate them into doing things outside the scope of their intended purpose.
Immediately prior to my Info/Cyber Security career, I spent nearly a decade navigating litigation and arbitration in Insurance Industry. Before which, I enjoyed roughly 12 years in the physical security realm, focusing on event security and executive protection.
I live in the southeastern U.S. where I'm a happily married husband and the father to 2 kids. One is furry (Mastiff puppy) and the other is a teenage human (scarier than it sounds).
Table of Contents:
1. Hobbies and Interests
1.1 Graphic Design
1.2 Pets
1.3 Outdoors
1.4
Homelabbing / Self Hosting
Hobbies and Interests
Graphic Design
While I don't have any formal
training or education in graphic design, it's something I've been
enjoying for well over a decade. My skillset is all self-taught or what
I've gathered over the years as I've worked on various projects. For me,
design is somewhat therapeutic.
Pets
Over the years, I've had various different
dogs. Currently, I have a 120lb, 4 year old American Bandogge (Bandog)
Mastiff (aka American Masti-Bull), named Harley. She has a beautiful
gray/blue coat and one of most unique personalities of any dog I've ever
parented.
Outdoors
Although I'm deeply invested in
technology across many portions of my life, I've always found myself
venturing outdoors or into the mountains. There's no doubt that I enjoy
nature and all the natural beauty it has to offer. I regularly travel to
the mountains to push the reset button and re-ground myself.
Homelabbing / Self Hosting
I was self-hosting
services and running a home lab well-before venturing into the
technology industry, as a career. I host a small data center full of
various servers, networking appliances, storage arrays, and more. Within
this environment, I run multiple different services, applications, and
tools. This environment allows me the opportunity to spin up virtualized
instances or programs for testing, investigations, or even just for fun.
Purpose of this Blog
I wanted to get back into
blogging but, under a new theme or brand. The purpose behind this blog
is just as an outlet to share experiences, information I find
interesting, and general nuggets of knowledge. "Beard Nuggets" was born
out of the concept of sharing casual "nuggets" of knowledge or
information to ponder. Unlike some niche blogs, I have no structure or
strict theme I intend to adhere to. This is purely for my own
enjoyment.