Quick Daytona Trip

Headed to Orlando/Daytona for a jui-jitsu seminar this weekend. Might as well stay at the beach since I'm so close. Rubi was ready to go way before me.

Providence Canyon

I visited the 2nd place on my 7 Places to See in Georgia list today - Providence Canyon. From what I read it was originally caused by poor farming practices but it really is spectacular in places. First I saw a random link on TripAdvisor.com about the Four Winds Restaurant and Ranger Burgers. We ate there and it was great. Our waitress Shannon asked why we were there and gave some good tips on Providence Canyon.

Appetizer



and the main attraction - Ranger Burger. It was huge and came all the way by default.



Next was about a 30 min. drive to the canyon. Once there we decided on the easy white blazed trail that was a 3 mile loop.

A fun way to spend almost a whole day.

Radium Springs

As part of my goals this year I plan to visit lots of places in Georgia that are interesting. The first was Radium Springs in Albany. I happened to see it on a Facebook link of 7 Places to See in Georgia. It was extremely cold so I didn't stay long but it was worth going to.



My selfie game is weak. Have to work on that.




I ate at the #1 Yelp rated place in Albany. Albany Fish Company. It was great and I would definitely recommend to anyone to visit.

Shrimp and grits.

Marriage 2012

This is really the truth these days. It's why men don't want to get married.

"After still being married for over twenty years, here’s what I tell young men who want to marry:

1. Find business partner with a multiple personality disorder
2. Sign a binding contract that risks all of your assets but none of theirs(include your children). Make sure to include a clause that sends you to prison if they dissolve the contract and you fail to keep up with business expenses.
3. Run up as much debt as you can, consider borrowing money from leg-breaking loan sharks
4. Take all of your aspirations, dreams and goals and bury them in the backyard with your dignity
5. Hover above the floor in a house full of eggshells until one of them cracks and your partner needs an exorcist to calm down."

Catching Up

It's been awhile since I posted. In that time I've changed jobs and was really busy so I didn't find the time to write anything. What's been going on with me? Well, for starters the family life is still busy. School is out for the summer so that will be a little bit of a break. Bought a car for my 15 yr. old. She will learn to drive in it and it will be hers when she turns 16.

My new job is quite a bit different than my old one. Technically it's almost identical but the non technical factors are totally different. My old position was a daily grind and very stressful due to my boss and i having what basically was a personality conflict. I really saw no way to resolve it in the long run. This position kind of came out of the blue. They called me. I named a (slightly) ridiculous salary and I was hired. Simple as that. I had really expected to stay 10-15 more years in my old position but things change and you just have to roll with it.

On the personal front I'm still hitting the gym and doing my yoga consistently. Lately I've added mountain biking back in. We'll see if i can stick with it this time or will life interfere again. Who knows. The gym and yoga are my staples. Anything else is good i can do it but not terrible if I can't. I'll be attending some yoga teacher training in August and I'm pretty excited about it. Except for a 2 day class in Atlanta I've never received any kind of formal instruction. It will be at Yin Yoga Training. So not only will I get to do that it will be in Vancouver. Hopefully I'll have plenty of time to explore the city while I'm there also. I've been doing Yin for over a year now so the class couldn't be at a better time. I know enough to follow along but i'm not yet stuck in terrible habits.

So that's it for now. Hopefully now that my job has settled in Ill find the time to post a bit more.

The other student loan problem: too little debt - Yahoo! News

Yeah, this is a giant problem. Kids working their way through school. Sigh. Can the colleges get any more disconnected from reality than this?

The other student loan problem: too little debt - Yahoo! News

Why the gun is civilization

why the gun is civilization. | the munchkin wrangler.

Ten years after financial independence, the story so far Early Retirement Extreme: — when more time > more money

» Guest post: Ten years after financial independence, the story so far Early Retirement Extreme: — when more time > more money

16 Golden Rules of Financial Safety

16 Golden Rules of Financial Safety

Sauerkraut v2.0

Just made a new batch in my Picklemeister.

Garden Update

I've been eating radishes (in salad) , grilled squash and pole bean casserole for the last 2 weeks. I still can't get myself to try the sauerkraut even thought it's good when I try it by itself. I even bought 2 bratwursts to cook for it.

Fermentation Experiment

Sauerkraut is 2 weeks old and definitely getting "sauerkrauty". Plus I'm going to give fermented radishes a try. I have no idea if they will be good.

Summer Garden

Sauerkraut

Poker is Good For You

David Sklansky and Allan Schoonmaker - Poker is Good For You: "

Pole beans and radishes

YouTube - Chili in a Spam bowl,,

YouTube - Chili in a Spam bowl,,

First Principles - Praising the Puritans

First Principles - Praising the Puritans: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Make this guy the President! Lt Col Allen West.

YouTube - Make this guy the President! Lt Col Allen West.:

CCIE Update

This week I think I've seen definite progress. My first 5 labs from INE Vol. 2 I scored as 0 points. I scored myself like a real lab where even one minor omission means no points awarded for the whole section. However, on Saturday I finally broke that barrier! On Lab 6 I got 27/50 points in the "core" sections which is all I am attempting at this point per my study strategy. Whether this was a fluke or not it's a much needed motivational boost for me. Probably 10-12 more points involved only minor omissions of configurations. Only two sections did I totally miss. One was port security where I configured a mac access list and the other I totally blanked on involved OSPF sham links for MPLS PE-CE VPN's. I am reviewing those tonight and tomorrow.

Mot likely I will start Lab 7 Wednesday night although I might wait until Saturday again and use the week to do mini-labs or video training.

I'm hoping this is the point in my learning where the non-linear study strategy supposedly pays off. Things will just start making sense and i will remember them easily. I've got about 2-4 more weeks and then non-core training starts. This will involve more INE Vol.1 and completely reattempting INE Vol.2 labs 1-10 with the aim of completing the whole labs( core + non-core) to pinpoint my weak spots. Then the final push will be Vol. 2 labs 11-20 and all troubleshooting labs. This will probably be in Dec/Jan timeframe. At that point I will assess my readiness and schedule a lab date.

CCIE Study Tools

I've been trying to cover all the angles in my study process since I believe (based on my experience) that even a little every day will add up to something over 6-12 months. So far this is what I'm using:

INE Advanced Technologies videos
INE Workbook 1
INE Workbook 2
INE Audio Bootcamp Week 1
Apple IPOD - for my jeep to listen to above

I recently bought CCIE R&S Short Notes. I finally decided to get them based on my knowledge that I am a horrible note taker. It's just not going to happen. So I'll gladly substitute someone else's well thought notes for the ones I'll never do anyway.

Future purchases? I'm not sure but most likely INE Workbooks 3 and 4 but only if I feel I need them.

Right now I think I'm on track but per the strategy I'm using it's very very frustrating right now. I "almost" can do many things but I'm not to the expert level in any yet. I still think it's a better fit than deep diving each separate subject and forgetting 75% 6 months later once I finally hit multi-protocol labs.

Florence and the Machine

Not really my type of music but wow what a voice.


Florence and the Machine "DOG DAYS ARE OVER" Music Video on Vimeo

CCIE Studies

Even though it's early in my studying I can already see some things I need to do in order to help myself.

1. Break every technology into a process. I tend to look at a technology as a whole and that's always worked because I can always Google some examples if I get into trouble in a production environment with any particulars. Not so with the CCIE. Process first. Connectivity last.

2. Don't get frustrated. I usually pick up on anything at a really fast rate. However the sheer amount of different topics all configured in short order really means I can't get stuck on something. Work something diligently and if I don't COMPLETELY understand everything at this point I need to let it go. Just trust the process of studying and labbing over the next 6 months will eventually get me to where I need to be. I realize this is different than some would recommend but I think it's best for me.

3.  Mention studying and labbing as little as possible at work. Just quietly continue moving forward and progressing. Most people even inside IT just don't or can't comprehend the level of dedication and learning that you must do over 6-12 months for this. At best they won't understand and at worst they will be actively hostile to your dedication. Neither is helpful in any fashion for you. Just continue quietly.

CCIE General Preparation

Here is my time plan so far to prepare for my first CCIE.


First of all the strategy is straight from this document. I thought it laid out a clear and effective plan I can use. I like mastering the basics and slowly adding bits and pieces until I am ready while keeping my skills up by constant labbing. I'm still in the process of doing Step 1 but am almost ready for the "basic" full scale labs.

Actual time breakout is

M-F -2 hours/day

Saturday - 6-8 hours

Sunday - 3 hours

Now of course those times will move up significantly as I get closer to my anticipated date where especially Sunday will be a full day also. But I don't want to burn out too early. In practice so far this ends up meaning I watch videos, listen to audio and read during the week with labs on the weekend. I think I will maintain this throughout with full scale labs every weekend and mini-labs/extra reading during the week. My vague goal is to finish all the INE Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 labs before attempting the real thing.

I plan to buy vol.3 for my weekly mini-labs and hopefully I can afford to squeeze in a formal bootcamp near the end although that doesn't look likely right now.

My CCIE lab setup

My virtual home away from home for the next 8 months!

Vegan Anarchist Garden of Insurgent Nihilist Agriculture

First vegetables from my garden (and yard)

Onions, radishes and dandelion greens ready to stir-fry.

LOOK AT YOURSELF AFTER WATCHING THIS

YouTube - LOOK AT YOURSELF AFTER WATCHING THIS.mp4

The Gervais Principle

Masterful. In my workplace I can easily see myself as almost the purest loser with a couple others right behind me, two almost pure clueless and one sociopath who is no longer there. A general summary:

Loser: Self-aware slacker who gives 50-100% effort. Probably the happiest of the three. Finds meaning almost totally outside of work.

Clueless: Gives 100-110%. Loyal. Promoted to mid-level positions. Requires a distorted view of reality to maintain self-image as a winner.

Sociopaths: Gives 0-25%. Fast-track promoted without any effort. High ability to make cold decisions.

Read to truly understand these categories.

The Gervais Principle

Well worth the effort to read especially if you watch The Office and understand all the references.

First Strawberries

Now I Assume My Gay Attire

Get your minds out of the gutter!

“Now every field is clothed with grass, and every tree with leaves; now the woods put forth their blossoms, and the year assumes its gay attire.” -   Virgil