This is a busy time of the year for many of us. The holidays are on the horizon, and I am sure we are all scrambling to make plans to spend time with family and friends in festive celebrations. Professionally, many of us work for organizations that are running full speed ahead in trying to squeeze in every last bit of activity by mid-December, knowing full well its personnel would be disbanding by the third week of the month until after the New Year. I can certainly attest to the latter, managing multiple external IT audits of various companies in the Bay Area, all anxious to get through their audits by the 12/31 year-end dates and, equally as important, before there is nobody from their ranks available to facilitate our inquiries and inspections. Truthfully speaking, I do not blame them. It is not as though I am the "Don’t Pass" bettor going against everyone at the table, gaining pleasure in subjecting people to an audit while their minds are on more pleasant thoughts.

No matter. My message this quarter is not one of doom and gloom but one of gratitude and joy. I am grateful to have a job and am joyful for the conclusion of calendar-year, 2010, when there were positive signs and occurrences locally, globally, economically..., all of which should bring us even more joy in being able to anticipate and hope for an even better 2011. In the context of San Francisco ISACA, I am appreciative for the opportunity to serve as the chapter’s president, having a solid group of people who help support the role, and a membership body that makes us one of the best and largest chapters within ISACA International.

To celebrate SF ISACA alongside the rest of the festivities, I want to encourage everyone to attend the chapter’s annual member-appreciation and holiday event. This year, it is being held on Wednesday, December 15, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Hotel Nikko on Mason Street in downtown San Francisco. As always, the appreciation and holiday celebration is free to all members who register before December 8. Certification exam passers and newly certified professionals will be recognized at the event. For more details, please visit the home page of the chapter web site at www.sfisaca.org. There will be plenty of food and beverage, and we will have a lot of fun socializing with fellow chapter members and professionals. I look forward to seeing everyone there.

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In the previous edition of the newsletter, I took liberty of this space and used my affection for the San Francisco Giants and baseball as an analogy to being excited and hopeful about a new chapter year and renewed activities.

At the time I wrote the message, before it got published, the Giants had not quite made that mid to late September run that won them the National League West and got them into the playoffs. I had already resigned to the very likely possibility - at the time, anyway - that they would not make the playoffs and it would be another year of championship futility for the Home Nine and the city of San Francisco. Obviously, we all know now that the Giants continued that magical run through October, eventually winning the World Series, on November 1, for the first time since 1954 and the first time as the San Francisco Giants, who moved here from New York in 1958.

For the professionals out there who are not baseball fans, I realize I am taking great latitude here in that you may feel the Giants and baseball have nothing to do with our profession or ISACA. Literally speaking, you would be right. However, there is an object lesson in my digression. Approach everything in life - a task at your job or the fate of your favorite sports team, for examples - positively and with hope, never relinquishing this resolve. Because when it is all said and done, and you find yourself completing the task successfully or your favorite sports team, which you followed for 32 years, winning a world championship, it is a darn great feeling.

Steve Owyoung, CISA
Chapter President