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Today sucks. I want to go home.

Ha ha! She never saw it coming! I love my camera!

Why can't I study these blueprint items like Neo learned Kung-Fu?


Cisco Device Operation
Commands (show, debug)
Infrastructure (NVRAM, Flash, Memory & CPU, File system, config reg)
Operations (file transfers, Password recovery, SNMP, Accessing the device, Security, Security [password])

General Networking Theory
OSI Models
General Routing Concepts (Split horizon, Link state, difference between switching and routing, Summarization, Link state vs. Distance vector, loops, Tunneling)
Standards (802.x, cable specs, protocol limitations)
Protocol Mechanics (Windowing/ACK, fragmentation, MTU, handshaking, termination)

Bridging and LAN Switching
Transparent (IEEE/DEC Spanning tree, Translational, IRB, CRB, ACLs, MISTP)
SRB (SRT/LB, SRT, DLSw, RSRB, ACLs)
LAN Switching (Trunking, VTP, DISL, VLANS, Fast Ether Channel (FEC), CDP, CGMP)
LANE (LEC, LES, BUS, LECS, SSRP)
Security (VACL, RACL, Private VLANS)
MLS

IP
Addressing (CIDR, subnetting, ARP, NAT, HSRP)
Services (DNS, BOOTP, DHCP, ICMP)
Applications (telnet, FTP, TFTP)
Transport (IP fragmentation, sockets, ports)
ACLs
IPv6 (Basic)

IP Routing
OSPF (I -Design: areas, Virtual links, stub, NSSA, ABR/ASBR redistributions, media dependencies, external vs. internal, Summarization. II - Operation: DR, BDR, adjacencies, LSA types, link state database, SPF algorithm, authentication)
BGP( I -Design: Peer Groups, Route Reflectors, Confederations, Clusters, Attributes, AS. II - Operation: Route Maps, Filters, Neighbors, decision algorithm, IBGP, EBGP)
EIGRP (Metrics, mechanics, & design)
IS-IS (Metrics, mechanics, & design)
ACLs (distribute lists, route maps, policy routing, redistribution, route tagging)
DDR (dial backup)
IGRP
RIP
RIPv2

Desktop Protocols
IPX (NLSP, IPX-RIP/SAP, IPX-EIGRP, SPX, NCP, IPXWAN, IPX addressing, GNS, NDS (routing & mechanisms), ACLs)
Windows/NT (NetBIOS, browsing, domain controller [e.g. WINS], ACLs)

QoS
Fancy Queuing
PoS and IP precedence
CoS
Weighted RED
WRR/queu scheduling
Shaping vs. Policing (rate limiting)/CAR
NBAR
802.1X
DCSP

WAN
ISDN (LAPD, BRI/PRI framing, signaling, mapping, NI1s, dialer map, interface types, B/D channel, channel bonding)
Frame Relay (LMIs, DLCI, PVC, framing, traffic shaping, FECN, BECN, CIR, DE, Mapping, compression)
X.25 (addressing, routing, LAPB, error control/recovery, windowing, signaling, mapping, SVC/PVC, Protocol Translation)
ATM (PVC/SVC, AAL, SSCOP, UNI/NNI, ILMI, Cell format, QoS, RFC 1483, PNNI, mapping)
Physical Layer (Synchronization, SONET, T1, E1, encoding)
Leased Line Protocols (HDLC, PPP, Async & modems, compression)
PoS
DPT/SRP

LAN
Data Link Layer (addressing, 802.2)
Ethernet/FE/GE (encapsulation, CSMA/CD, topology, speed, controller errors, limitations)
Token Ring (token passing, beaconing, active monitor, ring insertion, soft & hard errors, encapsulation, topology, MTU, speed, limitations), FDDI
Wireless/802.11b

Security
AAA, TACACS, RADIUS
IPsec
Encryption (public/private key, DES)

Multiservice
Voice/Video (H323)
codecs
SS7
RTP
RTCP
SIP
MPLS

IP Multicast
IGMP/CGMP (IGMPv1, IGMPv2, Designated Querier)
Addressing (Group addresses, Admin Group, Link-local L3-to-L2 Mapping)
Distribution Trees (Shared Trees, Source Trees)
PIM-SM Mechanics (Joining, Pruning PIM State, Mroute table)
Rendezvous Points (Auto-RP, BSR)

With talk of massive layoffs, I'm busier than ever... ironic, isn't it? I learned a cool new trick today regarding virtual servers and Foundry ServerIron load balancers. There is a feature ("no port http translate") that allows you to configure a virtual server on a non-standard TCP port and then bind it to multiple real servers on TCP 80. This is really cool if you already have a virtual server bound to http on real servers and you want to migrate additional web servers to the same existing real servers. Nifty. My busy schedule at work is not helping me gain ground toward being prepared for my CCIE recertification. I cringe at the though of actually taking vacation time so I can study. That just doesn't seem fair. I hope the weather clears up soon. I'm tired of the dreary surroundings... as if things aren't gloomy enough without atmospheric interference.

doom and gloom

This is entirely too early to be awake... much less at work.

I'm sick today. Actually, I am home sick today. Well, not on-my-death-bed sick, but I wasn't feeling well at all when I woke up this morning... sore throat, stuffy, achy head... etc. You know, a Nyquil commercial in the making. I felt bad a work yesterday, but was fine last night. EL made a fabulous meal... again... and I had planned on taking her to C&H Steak Company for some wine and desert, but after a phone conversation with my buddy Joe, we decided to stop by Blanco's Bar and Grill to say hello to the regulars. Dirk and Joe (ironically, his girlfriends nickname is also Joe) had four tickets to the sold out Tim McGraw concert at Reliant Stadium and unbeknownst to us, two of them had our name on them. We had a couple of minutes to squeeze in our desert and even though it wasn't at C&H (where Jean-Paul was playing), we sunk into the luxurious leather couch at El Bien Bife Argentinean Grille for some yummies before splitting a taxi with Dirk and Joe to the stadium. Our seats were excellent... I would say that you probably couldn't get better seats given the way the rodeo was set up. The show was great. Tim's outfit was spiffy and his new band was talented. I really enjoyed being there with EL. We parted ways with Dirk and his girlfriend after the show and headed for the taxi stand. 75,000 people doesn't seem so intense until they are all trying to leave at the same time. Heh. By the time we made it home, I was so ready for sleep that I'm surprised I even remember going to bed. Next thing ya know, I wake up feeling like hammered shit this morning. I didn't even get drunk last night. It doesn't really seem fair. No matter. I had a engineering staff meeting at 9:00 that I conferenced in on, and I've been working from home like a busy bee ever since... more or less. I get a lot done when I work from home because I don't have so many interruptions. I must admit however, it's difficult to stay focused on work with EL walking past every couple of minutes. I feel like taking a break and spending time with her... but she keeps me straight. Honestly, I should be using this time to study for my recertification that is due in one month, but I would rather take it easy and rest. I hate being sick and if I can nip this in the bud by chillin' at home today and taking meds, then it's worth procrastinating another day before hard core study.

Vacation.




please.

Can I go home?

OMG. I am so sleepy. I had to be up early today to enter some ACL's into a couple of distribution routers before the peops came to work. I need serious coffee. Word.

After meeting up with Irfan and Elizabeth at Rivas for some yummy brunch and all you can drink mimosas, we headed over to Front Porch Pub for Mahjongg and darts. We ran into some of Irfan's friends from the outdoor group he's in and loaded up the jukebox with tasty tunes before Irfan and Elizabeth had to scurry off to the airport. EL and I had originally planned on going antiquing today after they left, but we stopped for lunch at Café Brasil instead. A quick stop at Deidrich's was further abbreviated by the bitchy employees, so we defaulted to Starbucks and a nap. Naps are good. I had to run the rent out to my landlord's house and I really wanted EL to go with me because it's in fucking BFE and it takes me like an hour and a half to go, but she stayed at home and I drove alone. I left the car running and dropped the check at the door. It *still* took me an hour and a half. It sucked. Anyhoo, I think I'm getting sick. Sniffley, sneezey, and borderline achy throat are good descriptors of what I feel right now. One hot bubble bath and some TLC later, I feel like early bedtime is where it's at... especially since I have to be in the office at the ass crack of dawn tomorrow. Other than Hugh, there's not much good about Mondays on a regular periodicity. Of course, now I look forward to coming home to EL... Mondays included... so I guess I'll retract that last comment. EL has discovered there are bayou rats living in our neighborhood. She doesn't like that one bit. Ahhh... just wait until the summer mosquitoes come... they're big enough to carry off the rats. Goodnight.

Well, the Pub Crawl photo albums got over 4000 hits since they were posted on Tuesday... which substantiates my theory that people would rather read about drunken hoo-ha than serious issues. Right on. Anyhoo, I think EL and I are going to have a little brunch with Irfan before he has to fly back to North Carolina this afternoon. I'm hungry.

Sunday morning. Quiet. I woke up about half an hour ago and couldn't go back to sleep. I had a bunch of weird dreams and my back was really sore for some reason. Maybe I slept on it wrong? Maybe I'm just getting old? Anyhoo, I made a fresh pot of coffee and started cleaning around the house... dishes from the yet again AMAZING dinner EL cooked last night, windows, etc. I feel like every night she cooks, I'm eating some gourmet meal off the cover of a fancy food mag. I am getting seriously spoiled here. I had to take care of a work issue... but then again, not a day goes by that I don't. I hate that feeling where you're sleepy, but can't sleep. Ugh! Oh well... the coffee is tasty, so I guess that counts for somethin'...

I need a new computer. Seriousy.

Ugh! My laptop is so effin slow!

I booted it from standby this morning to try and send out an email for work and it took like 7 minutes!

I hate MicroSoft.