If you’re confused about the title of this post – that was my lame attempt at half of a “WOOT!” Last week I got the “it’s all good” from my company concerning my request to attend Internetwork Expert’s Mock Lab Workshop in Reno. This is still not a 100% done deal so I hope that I’m not jinxing myself by posting this. There are still some details to be worked out. I need to find out if I need to pay for the class and then get reimbursed after it’s done or if there will be a PO cut. I am also up in the air about whether or not I need to pay for my travel and expenses. I basically went to my boss last week and asked for a decision on my training request because the Mock Lab classes are filling up quickly. At that time I volunteered to pay my own travel and expenses if that would mean getting the training approved. The training was approved, but I didn’t hear back about who’s buying my meals. 
I now have to review my plans. I am going to use the workshop as a final bellwether as to whether or not I am ready to take the CCIE lab. If I find out that I am ready, it would be nice to make the drive/flight from Reno to San Jose and take the exam the following week. I would be coming off of a week of hardcore prep and I would save myself some travel costs. Of course, if I get the “dude, you’re not ready” report, then it would be a good idea to have my lab date at least 28 days after the end of the class so that I can either devote more study time or reschedule it altogether. I’m leaning towards scheduling my lab for late July in case I get the thumbs down from IE. My travel expenses will be much less than $1500 so it’s a wiser choice to give myself some options in case I am not ready. That said, I can pretty much kiss my summer goodbye.
I REALLY wanted to take my lab before summer started, but I am sure that I would only be buying a $1500 Cisco lunch if I tried to make that deadline. Summer means extensive house/yard work (my wife just dropped a few hundred dollars on plants so I know that I’ll be pretty busy come spring), activities for my kids (tennis and baseball – plus whatever else piques their interest), FISHING for me (new boat plus we live on a lake), and a family summer vacation. The biggest thing though is the ability to maintain my focus when I know that I only have a limited amount of nice days per year. When it’s snowy and miserably cold outside, it’s much easier to sit down with a laptop and pound away at the CLI. I guess that the point of this paragraph is that I am slowly coming to grips with the fact that the CCIE monster will likely swallow up my summer. The CCIE is probably the most time/resource intensive thing that I’ve ever done, except for college. At least with college you get breaks and each class offers a little (or a lot) of change from the others. Plus, I’m finding there are a lot more parties and girls available in college than there are when studying for the CCIE.
Anyhoo…I should (barring any last minute disasters) be in Reno in June getting my IT ego crushed by the Brians.
