it certification My IT Certification/Continuing Education Saga

[ross549]

They are soooo mainstream.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Ah... funny people. I needed that laugh this evening.

 

Day 3 wasn't all that fun.

 

Class was a bit disjointed today. The instructor did a bit of a review, then we wasted some time signing up for the Cisco Learning Academy online. That was pretty cool. After that we downloaded and installed a Cisco simulator app that allows you to build, maintain, rearrange, break down a network in virtual space.

 

I'm allowed to download the sim at home, too. They even have a Linux version. However, I'll probably just install it in my XP installation. To access and manipulate Cisco devices with the Cisco IOS, you use the.... wait for it... COMMAND LINE. HAHA! I've got years of experience over these poor in folks that area. Many of the commands use old unix syntax, which of course, is very similar to Linux. I'll have to learn a bunch of commands, but that's OK. I can do that. You can even use keyboard shortcuts; it's actually recommended that you do to impress whomever is assessing your CLI abilities. Short cuts like tab command completion and * wildcards are very familiar to Linux CLI phreaks.

 

One issue that made today carppy is that back around Christmastime I was moving some boxes around in my house and strained a muscle in my upper back. It doesn't bother me at all when I'm in bed or standing up. However, when I sit at a desk for a while, it begins to pain me. I can't get comfortable and it's distracting as h3ll, unfortunately. I will surely be happy when it heals up a bit. It hurts me when I'm driving too.

 

Speaking of driving...

 

 

I HATE STUPID PEOPLE in motor vehicles. STUPID PEOPLE should NOT be allowed to operate motor vehicles. Their only option should be public transpo.

 

of the day>

[ross549]

No kidding. I see stupidity every day on the road. Changing lanes in the tunnel without signaling (never mind lane changing is forbidden anyway), driving slow in the left lane, not securing cargo on a trailer properly, entering an Interstate using the exit ramp because the onramp was closed. I think I've seen it all.

 

Yesterday was a huge mess. Someone was towing a trailer with hay bales through the tunnel, and once they got through to the other side, one of them fell off. The bale fell around 2pm, and blocked one lane. Naturally, this caused a traffic jam which lasted until after 8PM. The screen shot below shows the backup reached over 8 miles (almost to my house) on the peninsula!

 

 

8 mile backup to one tunnel, and five mile backup to the other. I told everyone on facebook to simply stay put on the peninsula unless it was an emergency. My sister lives on the southside, and she crashed on my couch overnight, because she would have been stuck for hours in the traffic.

 

Adam

[Guest LilBambi]

And all for a bale of hay!!

 

Wow !!! Isn't that why the used to have people working in the tunnels years ago? To watch for problems like that in the tunnels and arrange for it to be taken care if quickly?

 

What is w/VDOT or even the police ... Couldn't either of them get that taken care of in a more timely manner!?!?

[amenditman]

One issue that made today carppy is that back around Christmastime I was moving some boxes around in my house and strained a muscle in my upper back. It doesn't bother me at all when I'm in bed or standing up. However, when I sit at a desk for a while, it begins to pain me. I can't get comfortable and it's distracting as h3ll, unfortunately. I will surely be happy when it heals up a bit. It hurts me when I'm driving too.

 

Speaking of driving...

 

<rant of the day>

 

I HATE STUPID PEOPLE in motor vehicles. STUPID PEOPLE should NOT be allowed to operate motor vehicles. Their only option should be public transpo.

 

</rant of the day>

Hope that heals up quickly for you, Eric. I feel your pain man.

 

Speaking of driving. How many "distracted" among those stupid drivers? I drive the same drive as you, just in reverse, and I see at least 2 or 3 driving and not looking at the road every trip. I'd tell you that they are texting and driving, but yesterday one of them was watching a video. And, just to be clear, it's not the phone that is the problem. The STUPID (not)driver is.

 

Phones don't commit vehicular homocide, people do.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Phones don't commit vehicular homocide, people do.

 

 

Spoken like a founding member of the National Smartphone Association (NSA).

 

And to answer your question; yes, there were MANY idiots with mobile devices in their hands or stuck in their ears in that group of STUPIDs I was ranting about above.

 

Oh, and while you may feel my pain, mine is nothing compared to what you're suffering with. Mine is just minor muscular strain. Yours is structural (spinal) related, is it not? I do NOT feel your pain, brother. However, I sympathize with you. Hope that does get squared away sometime soon for you!

 

On a side note...

 

Any idea, Bob, why HCC's guest wifi would toss my Slackware Linux laptop off after it allows me to access it? I can access and use it for about 15 seconds and then the system tosses me off the net.

 

++++++++++++

 

Well, I played around with the sim app a bit last night. I need to get more familar with those CLI commands, though. It'll come with time. One day builds on the next. I tried to console a fellow who was glassy-eyed and confused after yesterday's class. I told him to stop worrying about 7 weeks from now or even about tomorrow's material. I told him that if he can conquer the today's, then tomorrow's hill won't be so difficult... and so on.

 

Yesterday was a bit screwy for all of us, I think. Oh well, looking forward to a better day today. It's Friday. Everyone loves Fridays.

 

My truck burned through a tank of gas in these four days' worth of travel. That's about $45 that I don't have floating around as carbon and other pollutants above Tampa. Oh, well.... gotta' deal with it. That's all there is to it. My ol' girl is behaving wonderfully, though. She has always been the most dependable and reliable vehicle I've ever owned. I've almost always had two or three vehicles simultaneiously; even when I was in my teens I had a main vehicle, a motorcycle, and a jalopy or two around. This is the first time in as long as I can remember that I'm down to only one vehicle. I hope to change that situation in the coming year or so.

 

Well, it's about time for me to shut this baby down and start getting ready to head to school... don't want to be late, you know.

 

Everyone have a wonderful Friday!

 

Later...

 

~Eric

[securitybreach]

Phones don't commit vehicular homocide, people do.

 

Indeed

[amenditman]

 

Spoken like a founding member of the National Smartphone Association (NSA).

I am certainly a member of the SmartASSociation. But, I think we should all have free and unlimited access to private communications/devices. We have a long way to go to get there, but I'm in the fight for the long-term benefit. I also stand strongly on the side of user responsiblity. If you misuse your freedom, or allow another to misuse your freedom, you should be held accountable for your, their, actions.

Any idea, Bob, why HCC's guest wifi would toss my Slackware Linux laptop off after it allows me to access it? I can access and use it for about 15 seconds and then the system tosses me off the net.

HCC's network is trash. WiFi in and out all the time and configuration problems galore. I use wicd as my network daemon and it works better on campus than anything else I've tried. The wired network is a little better, but still not up to snuff. Maybe you can correct that after your class ends.

One example, I can boot a LiveUSB OS from just about any computer on campus and have full access to the native installed OS and the internet. Seems sloppy to me. If I was doing it to cause trouble, there are a lot of things I could do. As it is, I am only booting it so I can work in Linux and with my preferred apps.

 

Glad to hear the old truck is holding up. You can't beat those old Chevy's.

[ross549]

And all for a bale of hay!!

 

Wow !!! Isn't that why the used to have people working in the tunnels years ago? To watch for problems like that in the tunnels and arrange for it to be taken care if quickly?

 

What is w/VDOT or even the police ... Couldn't either of them get that taken care of in a more timely manner!?!?

 

VDOT is usually very quick to remove a disabled vehicle from the tunnel and minimize any problems with traffic. However, they are not well equipped to remove a half ton bale of hay from the highway. I don't know how long it took to get the bale removed, but it was long enough to cause a LOT of problems on the peninsula well beyond the obstruction being present.

 

Adam

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, the brief update for the day (because I want to go study now) is that it was wonderful. We did a lot, covered a lot, learned a lot, etc. The nine of us (students and teacher) are coalescing into a more homogenous group. You can watch it evolve as we get more comfortable in each other's presence. We've even enjoyed a few laughs. It's also funny how we were all dressed up on Day 1 and by Day 4 we're all in jeans and t-shirts w/ ball caps on.

 

Anywho... I'm off to go play with myself... er, I mean my Cisco sim app. I copied the configuration from the network we made in class today and I'm going to install it here at home tonight and play with it. It's four PCs and two trunked switches set up in two vlans. I'm gonna' ping and traceroute and arp and find MAC addresses and subnet masks. Woo-hoo! What fun!

 

Later...

[securitybreach]

Sounds like you are having a great time and learning a lot!!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Sounds like you are having a great time and learning a lot!!

 

You should read your comhack Gmail.

 

Lookee! I made a pretty network...

 

 

[Guest LilBambi]

Awesome, Eric! Glad things are settling in. Isn't learning grand?

[securitybreach]

 

 

You should read your comhack Gmail.

 

I did and replied.

[rolanaj]

about 1/4 of americans should not drive.

 

there needs to be a driving test. germany, for example, charges in excess of $2000 for their test, you fail, you pay $2000 again.

they drive at 140 miles (yes, miles) per hour to 200 mph and no one gets in a wreck.

(the only wrecks are suicides, people who intentionally get on the autobahn going against traffic to kill themselves.)(but even at that, the police know about it and clear that portion of road.)

 

in turkey, if you drink and drive, the "state trooper" can execute you on the spot. great idea!

I know how to drive but choose not to, that really upsets some people for some reason. I get quite a lot of flack when I am asked for my drivers license and don't have one. I always sort of figured I was too easily distracted to be in charge of a vehicle. I'm fifty and people are still telling me I need to get one.

 

Bet there are not too many drunk drivers in Turkey

Edited January 13, 2013 by rolanaj

[V.T. Eric Layton]

@ Fran... Yup! Learning is a blast. I've always loved to learn stuff; particularly stuff that I find interesting.

 

@ Josh... 10-4

 

@ Rolana... if you don't need to drive, why have a car? I could live without a vehicle if I had to, I s'pose. It would be inconvenient, but not the end of the world.

[rolanaj]

@ Fran... Yup! Learning is a blast. I've always loved to learn stuff; particularly stuff that I find interesting.

 

@ Josh... 10-4

 

@ Rolana... if you don't need to drive, why have a car? I could live without a vehicle if I had to, I s'pose. It would be inconvenient, but not the end of the world.

My husband likes to drive and has a truck, two cars and a motorcycle, I'm totally baffled as to why he needs so many vehicles I live in the woods so no buses or subways but you can call a cab.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

My husband likes to drive and has a truck, two cars and a motorcycle, I'm totally baffled as to why he needs so many vehicles I live in the woods so no buses or subways but you can call a cab.

 

Mobility is an aspect of freedom for many folks. In the old days, in rural areas or in compact cities, where no one ventured further than a few miles from home on any given day, transportation wasn't a big deal. However, when cities started growing and sprawling all over (particularly in the South, Mid-West, and Western states (in the U.S.), personal transport became a necessity of life.

 

If I get a job 25 miles from home, which is very likely, I'll need personal transportation to get me there and back every day. Public transport would not serve well, and calling a cab every day (twice a day), would be ridiculously expensive. My life would be totally different if I were limited to public transport or walking/bicycling. As I said, I could survive, but never prosper like that... not in a city environment.

 

That's just the way it is these days. In cities such as the ones around the Tampa area, it's not uncommon of folks to wake a 5AM, drive 1.5 hours to work in a nearby city or county, then drive 1.5 hours home. The time of travel is not only due to distance, but also due to the traffic caused by the thousands of other folks doing the same thing.

 

I liked Tampa when I was growing up. It was a small city back then. A trip across the Bay to St. Petersburg or Clearwater was a major trip back then. Nowadays a goodly portion of the population makes that trip twice a day for five or more days a week. It's stressful, wasteful, and not good for your health or the environment at all.

 

I'd much prefer living in the country or a small town somewhere. Roots are DEEP where I am right now, though. One day, the aggravation of city life may overcome that connection.

[rolanaj]

I can't imagine an hour and a half trip to and from work. I used to travel 45 minutes to a nearby small town for a job, that was long enough to spend in a car as it was. I think one of the only things I like about cities is the public transit.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

i grew up in orlando (florida) and haven't visited for 30 years.

like you, i'd probably be dismayed at the change (population is 20x when i was a kid)

 

likewise, i used to commute for about an hour to new orleans every day from across the lake - about a 45 min ride on a good day, but have had 2 hour trips too!

 

wish we had rail!

 

Orlando traffic is so bad these days, Temmu, that I would rather take 2+ hours to detour around the Orlando area using old county roads than to drive through it. I learned my lesson after walking my 900lb H-D motorcycle about 11 miles in gridlock traffic on I-4 near Orlando one summer a few years ago.

 

When a biker tells you he walked his bike in traffic, what he means is he moved up ten feet, stopped, moved up six feet, stopped, waited in the sweltering sun, moved up ten feet, stopped. It's not even worth the effort to lift your feet off the pavement and put them on the boards. You just tend to drag them a bit and then put them back down and stop again. Pure misery on a motorcycle. Not to mention that air-cooled engines get HOT when there's no air movement. You're sitting right on top of that baby, too.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I can't imagine an hour and a half trip to and from work. I used to travel 45 minutes to a nearby small town for a job, that was long enough to spend in a car as it was. I think one of the only things I like about cities is the public transit.

 

Back in the early 90's I was helping my brother build out a development in Lakeland, Fl (east of Tampa). It was 40 miles there in the morning and 40 miles home at night on the worst stretch of Interstate in the South (I-4). It was lots of fun. Good thing he was paying me well... er, wait... nevermind.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I had to take a break from studying for a while earlier this evening. The words on the pages were getting all blurry. So, what did I do to relax? I made two brown bag book covers for my new CCNA textbooks. Then afterwards I got a giggle watching my silly cats.

 

Li'l Black Kitty playing peek-a-boo on my office desk. Can you spot her.

 

 

Patches (L) and Precious making use of the brown bag bottoms left over from the cover making project.

 

 

[rolanaj]

Nice cat beds

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Well, back to school today. I'm about 4 chapters ahead in my book. I'm also reading another CCNA study guide simultaneously as reenforcement.

 

My CompTIA Network+ Vol 2 showed up yesterday. My CompTIA A+ Vols 1 and 2 should be here later this week. Oh, boy! The A+ I can probably pass now. I just want to brush up a bit. The Network+ will be no tribbles at all after studying for CCNA. Weeeee! Now I just need to scrounge up some funds for the CompTIA tests.

 

Oh, I'm riding in with a fellow student who offered to swing on by and get me on his way to class. That will sure save me a bundle in gas $$$.

 

Off I go...

[Guest LilBambi]

That is awesome news all around!

[V.T. Eric Layton]

Carpooling was OK, but I'm so used to driving myself everywhere that it seems weird, and a bit distressing, to not be able to just walk out and get into my own vehicle and leave somewhere. We'll see how this goes. It's also a bit out-of-the-way for the fellow picking me up. I told him today that if he wanted to reconsider, I'd have no issue with driving myself again.

 

We're all starting to get a bit overwhelmed. The bottom line here is that they're trying to force-feed us an entire semester's worth of information in just 28 days or less. Less because they're also spending some days on resume prep, interviewing, and other presentations that do not have anything to do with this certification.

 

Another thing that we found out is that they're running us through this "boot camp" with the goal of passing the INCD1 exam, which is the first half of the two-part CCNA certification. The second half (ICND2) is paid for and will be administered to us, however, it looks like we'll be responsible for preparing for that test on our own.

 

They've promised all sorts of help and support to pass these tests, but the bottom line is that it's just not possible to cover in 28 days or less everything that one needs to know to pass these tests. Effort is required on the part of the individual. There are some students in this class who are just doing the class time and figuring that this is enough. They're just now realizing that this isn't going to work. I think that has them a bit nervous. We're all in desperation mode in this class. We're all long-term unemployed. We're all having major issues getting jobs in our previous career fields. This is do or die for all of us.

 

Personally, I'm not worried yet because I KNOW that I can STUDY, STUDY, STUDY my ascii off if I have to to pass these tests. I could have done this without the course. Signing up for the seminar and successfully being chosen out of 150+ people as a candidate most likely to succeed at this has motivated me to achieve this. The amount of material is overwhelming, but lights are starting to light up here and there. Things are starting to come together for me. I know this isn't the proverbial rocket science. I can do this... and I WILL.

 

Alrighty then... that's my self-motivational posting for this week.

 

I have to go read 4 chapters in the textbook now.

 

Later...

[amenditman]

Glad to hear you sounding exciting and positive about this.

[V.T. Eric Layton]

I just spent an hour or so on my Cisco Learning Academy page. I took the first four assessment tests. I didn't do too badly... need to review routing protocol a bit, though.

 

Well, I'm off to go STUDY, STUDY, STUDY, sleep, STUDY, class, eat, STUDY, STUDY, STUDY... et cetera, et cetera.

[amenditman]

Lather, rinse, repeat.

[Guest LilBambi]

So true, amenditman!

 

Keep it up Eric! You will do great!