Last week I passed the ISCW exam. This exam just happens to be the fourth and final exam for the CCNP certification, so I am now an official “Cisco Certified Network Professional”. Hopefully this will open a lot of doors for me.

The last eight months of my life have been devoted to acquiring this cert. I studied just about everyday into all hours of the night. It was difficult but I am relieved that it’s over now.

Next I will move on to the CCDA and CCDP…

Hopefully, in the near future I will pass the CCIE.

If you know me, you’ll know that I am a creature of habit. I do the same thing everyday after work. I go run. I drive home, and then I unpack my crap and put it in its proper place. Next I will re-pack my bag for the next day and then I will hit the shower. This is also true for the morning. I will get up and eat a bowl of cereal. Next I will check my e-mail and digg to see if there is anything interesting going on. After that I will hit the shower and get dressed and head out to work. I am so predictable that my dogs know when to head outside! See a pattern?

Having said that, when I arrive at work, I try to park Thor in the same spot every day. The parking spot that I chose is the best one in the whole lot, in my opinion. It’s out of the sun for most of the day. One side is striped off so people can’t park next to me. And it is next to cover in case it is raining. The only negative thing is that it is just about as far as you can be from the entrance to my building as you can get and still be in the lot. I guess it is a positive also because people rarely park in it.

Lately, Mr. Mark seems to think that it might be funny to park in “my spot”. The first day he parked in it I didn’t realize it was him until later. He overheard me talking to someone else about the jack@ss that was in “my spot” and admitted that it was him. He also explained that he did it just to drive me nuts. Which it did but I couldn’t let him know that. Following our conversation, Mark parked in “my spot” every chance he got. If I was late, he was there. If he was early, he was there. Frustrating… One morning I came in and some one had put TMC (Texas Medical Center) traffic cones in front of “my spot”. I just knew it had been him but he denied it……I am still not sure. We have been going back and forth over this for a few weeks.

So on Friday, when I pulled into the parking lot I noticed Mr. Mark in front of me and figured it was payback time. It just so happened that this time he parked in the space next to “my spot”. So when I pulled Thor in to “my spot”, I got as close as I could to his vehicle without actually hitting him. There is no possible way he was ever getting back in his vehicle. You see Mark is a big guy. Not fat, more like a linebacker from Nebraska. Big. It would not be possible for him to enter his vehicle through the passenger side.

Victory was sweet, but it didn’t last.

Later that morning, during our engineering meeting, I received a voicemail from TMC security. They let me know I was double parked and asked if I would please move my vehicle. I immediately and playfully accused Mark of being a little girl for calling the cops. He said he didn’t but wished he had because he thought that would have been hilarious. I kind of blew it off because to me it wasn’t a big deal. I was only double parked in Mark’s space and I knew he wouldn’t complain. Later that afternoon, a freaking TMC security guard came looking for me. It just so happened I was playing Rock Band with some guys from work and we had to end the set so I could take care of my problem. The security guard explained that a couple of VIP’s with TMC told him to find me or they would tow Thor. So I reluctantly went down and moved Thor before Mark had to leave to go home. I felt robbed but I also didn’t want to get towed. Mark wins again……

This is pretty cool. The Crowne Plaza Hotel in the Texas Medical Center was razed last Sunday. Every time I see a building demo’d I am impressed. How do those guys make it all fall down where they want it to. It must take a tremendous amount of planning. If you look closely you will see a door closing. Some people here in Houston are thinking someone was caught in the desctruction.

On another note, how do you get to the point where you would think huge smoke stacks will look good on your truck? Over compensation at it’s finest!

On September 14th I took the ONT exam and passed at instructor level. It was a pretty tough exam. I saw a ton of questions that were not in the study material. The last test I need to take to get the CCNP certification is the ISCW but with my recent purchase of Halo 3, study time may be hard to come by for a while.

I passed the BSCI on August 13th. This is the routing exam for those of you who don’t know. It was killer but I achieved a really high score, instructor level in fact. I now have two exams left. ONT which I am studying for now and hope to take this week or next. And the ISCW. I am excited to be half way there and looking forward to completing this monumantal task.

I went to Chicago again last week. Here are some pics. We went for an executive briefing with Panduit. I went with the goddess, the Coolest, and the Lightest from Baylor. And from Panduit there was Cliff and Greg (really great guys). They had some really neat and innovative products.

While we were there we were treated like kings. They flew us up to Chicago on Wednesday and picked us up in a Limo at the airport. From there we went to the Panduit EBC and were given a tour of the manufacturing facility. Then it was off to the Hotel. We stayed at the Chicago Marriott on the Magnificent Mile. The rooms were awesome. That evening we ate at Gibson’s Steakhouse. It was really good. It’s now my number three steak behind Ruth’s Chris and Vic & Anthony’s. We also had drinks at the Signature Lounge located atop the John Hancock Center on the 95th floor. The veiw is unbelievable. It was a good day.

The next day we returned to the EBC and had meetings all day with the Panduit Engineers. It was a great learning experience. That night we headed out to see Chicago again. We started at Murphy’s Bleachers. What a cool place, steeped in Cub tradition. Did I mention it was right across the street from Wrigley Field. Next we went to the Navy Pier and watched some live music. After that we went to Pizano’s Pizza….The absolute best pizza I have had in my entire life. If you ever get close to this place I suggest you stop on in and ask for the Rudy’s Special. We ended the night at Timothy O’Tools. It was an underground bar near the hotel. We had a good time there.

We flew back in to Houston on Friday morning. All in all in was a great trip. I love the city of Chicago. I will definitely return.

The evolution of bad cable management.

9/15/2005

10/30/2006

5/11/2007 (I promise there is a Cisco MDS 9509 in this picture)

5/12/2007 (After Network Services got hold of it)

I had an awesome time in Chicago last week. Here are some pics. I went there for a training class last week. It was pretty cool, I learned a ton. The guy who taught the class was a pretty cool cat (even though he was a hardcore democrat). He actually kicked Bill Gates out of class a few decades ago for being a smart ass. He had some very interesting stories.

I went with “SAN Jose” from Baylor. While we were there we met Rafik from L.A. All three of us went downtown almost every night. It was a blast! I must say the public transit system in Chicago is top notch. We were able to go anywhere we wanted in the city in a reasonable amount of time. I can’t say the same about Houston. The weather there was fantastic, 85 degrees w/75% humidty. There were some guys from Arizona that were complaining about the humidity……..wusses.

Jose and I went into O’Callahan’s the second night we were there to grab a beer and watch a ball game. Both Chicago teams were playing and the bar was pretty rowdy. While we where there we let the patrons know just how we felt about the 2005 World Series……that didn’t go over to well. The bartender told a great joke though………..What do Bobby Brown and the White Sox have in common?……………………..They both beat Houston four times in one week.

All in all it was a great trip (Astros jokes aside). I can’t wait to go back next month with some of the network guys. We should have an excellent time.

Yeah! Jason passed Test 1 of 4 for the CCNP (that’s Cisco Certified Network Professional to the IT illiterates). This one was the BCMSN exam (Building Cisco Multilayer Switched Networks). He aced this one and will start studying for Test 2 soon. The Nintendo Wii that’s been sitting in the box can now be opened and enjoyed!

Along with the CCNA that he already has, the CCNP will open more doors to new adventures and more opportunities. I’m very excited for him, and extremely proud to say that he’s mine. He’s the most ambitious and determined person I know, and I think he can accomplish anything he puts his mind to. Now if I can just get him to put a dish in the dishwasher……