BlueWolf's Howl

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March 05, 2012

Wow...it's almost time...

I can't believe how the days just run one right after another when you're working hard and you have a deadline.

For an update... I'm building speed. I'm building knowledge. Will I build enough of each to pass? Will I get just the right test at just the right moment that it all gels and ...

Okay. I dunno. I've met a number of CCIEs. They don't know everything about everything off the top of their head. But when they sat for the test, they knew enough about enough to get enough points to pass. Maybe that will happen to me.

The only other alternative is that I would be (gasp) -average-.... That's not the end of the world. In fact, most people are average - by definition. Of course, I would like to pass the first time. Of course, I am putting forth a lot of effort to learn as much as I can and keep it as sharp and at the end of my fingers as possible. But I am also human.

No matter which way the tree falls, I will come back and study. Perhaps not as hard, fast and furious as I have been of late... but I will still be watching the videos and working the labs. If I pass, it will be the Security material. If not, it will be the Routing and Switching material. So it's all the same, just a different flavor.

I have to admit that I have seen quite a bit of improvement as this process is unfolding. And I have to admit - I get a thrill when I fix an issue or configure something and test...and it pings!!!!! No, really, I don't need to back off the espresso. For those that aren't this kind of nerdy...when you ping from a router, you don't get the same feedback as from the command prompt. At the router, when you ping a dot = not and ! is great! So when you ping and it's reachable, you get " !!!!! " Do that a few hundred times and Pavlov says that when you see the ping (!) it's a wonderful thing.

Yeah - today was the first day I woke up with butterflies in my stomach. What's strange is that it wasn't a -dread- type of butterflies, but more of an "excited" type of butterflies. Despite everything - I'm just really looking forward to taking a shot at this lab.

One of the things I'm doing for prep is becoming comfortable with this in every way possible. I'm not only doing labs when I'm at my top form. I'm not only doing labs in any one way. I'm not only connecting to the remote labs in any one way. This way, no matter what, I will only see the material and not the environment/circumstance that may be unfamiliar. I sat at my kitchen table with a laptop. I built a rack and went the console route. I did some labs at my computer desk. I did them in the morning when I was fresh and at night when I wasn't so fresh. I wanted to do some while I was exhausted. And this past weekend, when I came down with a fever, I sat in bed with my laptop and kept going. Was it because I'm SuperWoman or Hercules? HELL NO. I felt like shit and I barely got anything done. But I got _something_ done. And I showed myself that - no matter what - I can configure anywhere and any time. [I can configure in a box. I can configure with a fox. (somebody get Dr Seuss outta my head here)]

So I'm reaching for as many comforts as I can get and take with me to the test. I'll let you know how that all works for me next week...

Posted by BlueWolf on March 5, 2012 11:31 PM