Back in the saddle

Well, here I am, back again.

I read this post that the CCNA 640-802 will be retired as of September 30, 2013.  It was inevitable, but now I really do have to get my act in gear.

I am about to embark on passing this exam by the end of June, 2013.  My general plan for the rest of this week is to:

Routing and routing protocol review
Subnetting, subnetting, subnetting
Cram guide I compiled for the last time I passed the CCNA 640-802

I'm working in the cities this week, so I have long commutes.  I have recorded versions of my cram guide with Baroque music in the background that I'll be listening to as I drive since I'll have a bit of time on my hands.

Mainly, it's time to get back to work.  I've been stretched a bit thin recently with projects at work, passing my EMCISA and taking an intro to Fortinet course, as well as coming up to speed on VMWare implementations.  Since October when I made my change from Managed IT at Marco to Field Service, I've been learning one technology after another and it's taken a lot of work to be able to install and implement solutions using these technologies, and I'm now embarking on Cisco Voice installations.

There is no shortage of cool and exciting technologies to learn.  But for the next 30-45 days I need to focus and get this CCNA out of the way.  I'll be blogging my review notes here as I go along because that seemed helpful.

Time to rock and roll!

RE-taking the CCNA

Well, like a fool I let my CCNA expire and now I nave to re-take the exam.  I've moved from a role in our Managed IT support division out into the field and find that there is a much different set of skills when you are installing and configuring networks than when you are supporting already configured and networks that were (hopefully) working at one time.

So, my little note to self today is the "secret" Cisco escape sequence for traceroute or ping. I can never seem to recall it, so I'm putting it here where I can find it readily.

Ctrl+Shift+6 (twice)

It shouldn't be that hard to remember, but much more necessary today than last year in my old position. I'm hoping to post more as I re-take the exam, as I remember and re-learn things I once knew. I'm actually excited to go back to the beginning here. A good foundation is required for building a good structure...so lest my skills be built on sand, I dedicate myself to this endeavor fully. Target test date: March 15

A Quick Update

Reviewing my progress today over the last week of study.

I haven't really been getting to any technical stuff yet, so my posting has been light.  I'm a little bit behind and am planning to schedule some evening work to catch up.  By my progress-o-meter, I should be on page 72 and I'm on page 42 (hmm...I didn't think I had fallen that far off the mark already!).

I'll spare the excuses and come up with a schedule.  A big part of my difficulty is that I need to wake up pretty early to get the full amount of time to study.  I've been kept awake late pretty much every night and the alarm clock isn't getting me motivated to crawl out of bed.  So, issue #1 is that I need more sleep, and this needs to take precedence over everything else.

Issue #2 is that I have a large number of projects that I'm trying to complete, both at home and work.  At home I'm trying to get the house put back together before winter and at work we're busier than ever with fiscal year-end (that magical time of year when sales people realize they may not make quota).

Could use a few more hours in the day, but mostly I need to make this a priority and execute on the plan.

A Slight Change in Program

Due to some recent initiatives at work, I'll be putting the CCNP on hold temporarily while I concentrate on adding the Voice option for my CCNA.  This will be to support several installations of Cisco Voice and add to the team within our Managed IT offering, and it will renew my CCNA as a side benefit.


I am awaiting the Cisco UC500 demo kit to arrive in our St Cloud office so that I can set up some equipment and have a lab to work in.  I haven't seen what's included yet, so I'll update the equipment list once it arrives.   I'm studying out of Cisco Press' Official Certification Guide for exam 640-461 and will likely supplement with real-world support calls from our existing customers.  I also have a pretty deep bull-pen at work with some experienced voice professionals who have been installing and supporting Cisco Voice for some time.  As per usual, I'll post updates about what I'm learning and doing here, mostly as a review for myself - but if someone else can benefit, all the better.


I'm pretty excited to begin.  It's good to have a direction and a plan.  My schedule is:

• Study 5 days/week - 1 hour each day
• Complete the study guide by Nov 11
• Review for a week between 11/13-17.
• Test date will be November 17, 2011.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Still here, but tired

I'm still here. I still have the same plan I had when starting this blog.

I'm on the same page of the Cisco CCNP Route book I borrowed.

I'm aware that I need to get going on this certification and I really am excited about it. I'm just so incredibly tired right now with some familial changes that are going on in my home.

I do intend to re-evaluate my plan and my goals this week, though. I'm in need of some motivation and encouragement that this is going to make a difference for me professionally, however.

I'm just tired this summer. I'll be back at it soon, I hope. School is starting and it's time for me to add my own education to the "Important List of Things To Do."

Check back soon for more...

Quick update

It's incredibly difficult for me to focus on geekstuff when the weather finally starts getting nice, and I think we may be in the one week per year of decent weather Minnesotans get. My study routine is faltering and I'm behind schedule terribly.

I'm having trouble waking up early to study, which has historically been my most productive time. My schedule is to wake up at 4:00 AM sot hat I can get an hour of studying in before I get ready and go to work. Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe I'm not as motivated as I once was. I'm just having much more trouble getting out of bed and into the groove and many times I sleep right through the alarm. It's time to change the routine or fail.

When I consider the reasons I'm struggling, I think lack of sleep is a major issue along with distractions in my study area. For instance, all my guitars are sitting here, begging to be played every time I sit down to do some Routing. Here's what I've done and am doing to combat these:

1. Agreed with my wife that this is of utmost importance and I've reinforced our collective decision to move forward with this career path
2. Decided to got to bed earlier - with the time set as 9:30 PM to be in bed. The way things work out now, I get to bed by 10:30 and we sit up and talk or watch TV until 11:00, then by 4:00 AM I'm shot and unable to get up
3. Take down my drumset and put up a "work-workstation" where I won't have anything other than work to distract me. On this "workbench" will be my laptop, some paper and pens, my study materials and various routers and switches. There will be NO GUITAR or MUSIC RELATED ITEMS HERE.

Focus is the key, once again.

Back in the swing

I posted notes from 3 different topics this morning. I've been out of town, traveling for work and my ability to study has been somewhat limited. However, I'm back in it today and catching up on all the things I have been putting off.

It's easy to get discouraged when the plan starts to falter. I know that I typically set lofty goals for study and test-taking, and when things don't go as planned I feel a little pressured to perform. It's important to remember that falling off the plan doesn't produce failure in general, it simply delays it for a short period of time and that the race is won by the persistent.

I'm back in the swing today, and we'll keep pushing forward. Life is going to happen - and as much as I'd like to say that there is nothing so important as obtaining a CCNP certification, I have 5 children that would disagree. Not to mention a beautiful wife who would like to see me once in a while as well...