It’s improving…. OSPF, EIGRP, RIP – and least we’re covering something “meaningful” at last – I think I might have actually learnt something finally!!

It’s still slow – lots of talk and not a lot of do – but it might be worthwhile by the end of it…. I know that doing it as two course would have been the end of me – let’s put it that way!!

We’ll see how tomorrow goes – and then make a final call on Friday…. the jury’s out for now….

It’s not a lot better…. 25 minutes to “explain” Ping – for fuck’s sake! I’m not really in a suitable frame of mind to discuss the rest of the day – I guess it could have been worse – but it could of been an awful lot better…..

More to follow tomorrow……

Colour me unimpressed so far……. a 9:30 start… and by first break at 11 we’d just about got through introductions and associated bullshit…. this included the bombshell that was “we should be finished by 7pm each day…..” the course details talked of 9-5:30, and I figured that 6 wasn’t unreasonable… but 7?!?!?!

Fair enough… I never expected an easy ride – it’s a boot camp for God’s sake…. 9 days compressed into 5 – but I’m on a flight at 7 on Friday… so I’m going to miss the end of the course 🙁  if I’d known, I’d have stayed until Saturday!

As it stands…. we got to 15:10 before anything as complex as “enable mode” was mentioned… so the pace so far… well, isn’t exactly racing along…. by the time we got to naming conventions for ports / slots etc. it was 17:15… and that took 20+ minutes – how fucking much do you want to explain something that simple!?

I don’t think anyone is finding it hard going – if they are, then they probably shouldn’t be on the course if I’m honest 😉

More to follow…. hopefully tomorrow picks up the pace a bit….

I know…. it’s boring reading posts from me (assuming I still have a reader….. you there Bobbie?) about how I’ve been a bad boy and not blogged for ages….. well here’s another one – but I kinda have an excuse….

“I’ve been busy” is a kinda lame excuse – but it’s valid this time… I’ve moved teams and house in the last 5 months – not to mention become a 2003 MCSA (I failed the second exam to become an MCSE last Monday… but I have the retake booked..)

Since Becs and I moved in together in our previous house (and especially since we got married,) we’ve been looking for a place to buy together – being a tennant has it’s advantages – but the time was right…. we started looking just after christmas, and found the ideal house in late March – it ticked everything on the “want” list and all of the “would like” list (downstairs loo – check, bigger kitchen – check, garden that faces “the right way” – check, utility room – check, garage / off-road parking – triple-check – 2 car dive & single garage!!)  I’ll post some photo’s once I get back and actually take some of the outside from the front! In the meantime, here’s one of the back of the house about 2 months before it got finished.

   

It’s a 4 bedroomed detached house – and we’re very happy – thanks for asking!!

As for work and the team move – it’s been on the cards for a little while, and I finally joined the Core IP Transit team about 4 months ago – so I’m now a part of a team responsibile for all of our IP traffic from POP’s in London to CPE / ADSL routers in businesses / homes. We also take responsibility for our MPLS NGN core network in the coming months – so you can imagine what it’s been like for me – I’m a “windows boy” I understand GUI – not Cisco CLI ….. the learning curve has been brutal to say the least. I have an excellent team to work with and ther’s no shortage of dedication and willingness to spread the knowledge – so I’m working long hours and learning a lot – a good combination – but the long hours don’t make Becs all that happy (until pay-day!)

The reason for this post? Well, I’m in London for a CCNA boot-camp to try and ge me up to speed with what I’m meant to be doing day-to-day…. so I’m planning to post something each night about the experience – we shall see…….

Technorati tags: CCNA, MPLS, MCSE, new house, ADSL, excuses