From: Daniel Free (danrose111@earthlink.net)
Date: Thu May 01 2003 - 20:53:58 GMT-3
Jason,
Not trying to speak for Scott but why the negativity.
Rather than go into detail in the forum,Scott added
that comment so as to try and not leave anyone out. Do you really believe
that this help might have been in the form of NDA breaking? Scott passed on
his 3rd attempt. Would he have even gotten to a
3rd try if before his second attempt the people that
helped him broke NDA!!!!!! I'm guessing the help
was in the form of fast responses to email questions, availability, patience
and kindness of others to help. I do not know Scott and the first I've
seen of his groupstudy posts was this post. But I
can tell you from what I read in his post I would bet
my house that his CCIE trek was honest and true.
Best of luck to you.
Danny
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jason Graun" <jgraun@attbi.com>
To: "'Scott M. Livingston'" <scottl@sprinthosting.net>;
<ccielab@groupstudy.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 5:12 PM
Subject: RE: 800lb. Gorilla Captured - #11510
> I have just one question, what exactly do these lines mean?
>
> "I won't use this as the forum to explain what they did to help me (that
> will be done outside this broadcast)"
>
> "watching boards you won't be surprised by too much"
>
> It seems slim-shady to me, AKA: NDA breaking?!
>
> Just a thought :)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Fabrice Bobes
> Sent: Thursday, May 01, 2003 2:03 PM
> To: 'Scott M. Livingston'; ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: RE: 800lb. Gorilla Captured - #11510
>
> Scott,
>
> Wow, nice post! I am happy I was part of your success.
> You will be definitely a great asset to the CCIE community.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Fabrice Bobes #8609
> It seems I cannot post my URL either ;-)
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com] On Behalf Of
> Scott M. Livingston
> Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 8:51 PM
> To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
> Subject: 800lb. Gorilla Captured - #11510
>
> Friends / Colleagues / Mentors,
>
> Wow 13mths of poundin' away at racks reading everything most everyone
> else is reading and trying to have a life like everyone else. Now I can
> pen one of these personal testimonies.
>
> First, and foremost I need to give all glory to God for giving me the
> strength, encouragement and wisdom to accomplish this goal my wife and I
> set out for ourselves. Second, I need to thank my wife for being so
> supportive and strong during this past year+. Without her behind me on
> this one I would have folded this cert up a long time ago; thank you
> Baby! Third, (and I said I wouldn't single individuals out) I have to
> either plug and or thank some folks. I won't use this as the forum to
> explain what they did to help me (that will be done outside this
> broadcast), but they do need public honorable mention. If I left you
> off, please forgive me.
>
> No particular order;
>
> 1. Greg Elmore
> 2. Fabrice
> 3. Pat Zimmer
> 4. Tom Payne
> 5. Mir Ahmad
> 6. Rahul Kachalia
> 7. Wayne Lawson
> 8. Martin Molina
> 9. John Spearman
> 10. Brian Dennis
> 11. Brian McGahan
> 12. Paul Borghese
> 13. Chris Whitaker
> 14. Many IPexpert's folks!!!!
> 15. Many GroupStudy folks!!!!
>
> There are so many more of you that I have learned from, but I felt I had
> to mention the individuals that consistently help not just me, but
> rather all of us to become better professionals. I am sure there are a
> few I forgot - I apologize once again!
>
> Ok, now on to what I did to prepare....
>
> I passed the written on March 8th 2002 and shortly after that (about a
> month) I put together a partial lab at the house. At this time I was
> still staring at TR / CAT500 etc... the 3550's and QOS were not big
> subject matter yet. While putting my lab together I spent an enormous
> amount of time reading success stories of CCIE's. I needed to know what
> it took and what their preparation strategy was and how they obtained
> their goal. I remember one night I started reading and saving those
> types of posts to my local disk - at 3am my wife peeped out of the
> bedroom and asked me what the heck I thought I was doing eheheh.... this
> was her first taste of what the next 13mths would be like.
>
> I also spent quite a bit of money on the recommended reading list. I
> read all of them and in some cases more than a couple of times. I also
> did pretty much all their practice scenarios in these books. I utilized
> http://www.fatkid.com/ back then. I haven't been out there lately, but I
> would imagine that there are still some awesome free practice materials
> out there. Aside from a few books and "fatkid" scenarios I made up my
> own topologies and labs scenarios before my first attempt on December
> 11th 2003. That is something I wish I would have done differently. I
> wish I would have purchased the IPexpert's lab workbook and e-Scenarios
> in the beginning or at least a couple of months before my first attempt;
> instead I purchased both of them after my first failed hack at it and a
> couple of months before my 2nd.
>
> I made attempt #2 on March 4th, but came up a little short again.
> Looking back at attempt 1 and attempt 2 I could only think of about (2)
> 2 or 3 point tasks that I had no clue about, but if I had knew the CD a
> little better I could have found them. Obviously, I didn't do as well w/
> the stuff I was familiar w/, but my point is, is that if you are working
> hard and watching boards you won't be surprised by too much... so take
> that 'what if I am ignorant of the majority of the lab tasks' anxiety
> off yourself - it simply wont happen if you are working hard. After
> this second attempt I was really crushed. I walked out of that lab w/ a
> smile and knew that I unfortunately wouldn't be seeing Mr. Howard (RTP
> proctor) for quite a while - nice guy.... I even called my wife and told
> her I thought I nailed it. What a blow you could imagine I felt the
> next morning. :) Anyway, what can you do? I decided to work harder and
> keep moving forward (this is where wife, friends and colleagues really
> picked me up). Thank you everyone!!!
>
> I made my 3rd and final attempt April 25. Between the 2nd and 3rd I
> studied pretty much on just my weak areas and left much of the "core"
> stuff alone. I figured I would touch up on "core" material until the
> last week prior to the sitting date. I spent a lot of time pinging a
> couple of those brilliant minds we know of on GroupStudy and IPexpert's
> (Brian Dennis and Raul Kachalia) - these two guys really took me above
> my level of understanding of certain topics such as QOS and crazy,
> whacky ACL's. Another thing I did differently this final trip to
> RTP.... I relaxed and focused on each task and thought about my solution
> before actually slapping it on the router. I took a more holistic
> approach this time, something I really wasn't doing well enough w/ the
> first 2 attempts. Keep in mind that you might get 3 out of 3 or 4 out
> of 4 points for a specific task, but a couple or a few hours later
> another task or two might get 'jacked' because you didn't provided the
> 'optimal' 'holistic' solution to that task earlier (you just potentially
> missed 3 - 8 points).... ALL THINGS NEED TO WORK COHESIVELY!
>
>
> What this journey meant to me?
> ------------------------------
>
> Even before my first attempt I soon realized that I wanted this # for
> all the same reasons, but the primary reason had changed. I no longer
> wanted this # for just a better future for me and my family, or to
> become a better network professional, but my wife and I wanted it
> primarily because it was OUR goal! It was an achievement that wouldn't
> come easily and in fact wasn't. There were lots of things that were put
> on hold and many sacrifices were made. Obtaining this # was more about
> setting out on something, committing to it and then doing what it took
> to reach it. Yes, I have obtained a #, but more importantly is the fact
> a goal was set and thanks to God, friends and mentors the goal was met.
>
>
> What I would have done dif?
> -----------------------------
>
> Relaxed more. Not taken this test so seriously. What I mean is; if I
> did this again I wouldn't have let so many things take the back seat. I
> pretty much stopped working out - not good - even for the brain. There
> are other onzies and twozies that I wish I had back, but I can just
> learn from those things I did wrong and hopefully not do them again for
> the next cert. Yes I did say next cert. :) Vacation first!!! Also, to do
> it over again I would have purchased IPexpert's material at the
> beginning of my journey and taken my first crack at the lab at 6mths out
> from written.
>
> Miscellaneous:
> --------------
> 1. 50+ brutal paper cuts
> 2. High home electricity bills
> 3. Over 1,000 lab hours. Possible to accomplish goal under 500 hours,
> but I did it wrong.
> 4. Experienced a HIGH pitch noise like a whistle right before I fell
> asleep at night. This only occurred when I was studying WAY TOO MUCH!!!
> 5. Didn't watch a single full quarter of football last season - WEIRD!!!
>
> 6. Forgot my own birthday; wife reminded me. :)
>
>
> Plugs:
> ------
> 1. FatKid - (Free Labs)
> 2. IPexperts - Wayne is a cut above! (Awesome CS! Awesome products!
> Awesome message board!) - No affiliation I pay too!
> 3. (I didn't have an opportunity to obtain their labs, but their board
> is cool) I can't give you their url as it gets filtered. Send me an
> unicast and I will get it to you.
> 4. Fabrice Bobes is an Awesome dude who has an awesome $50 practice lab!
> Keep your eye on him! Again I can't seem to post his url.
> 5. Bradshaw Labs - I used them for ATM and VOIP. Great CS!!
> 6. GroupStudy - DUH! :)
> 7. Brian Dennis - Watch out; this guy has some awesome stuff that will
> hit the industry soon. I was privileged enough to be a guinea pig for
> some of it 2 weeks before my last attempt. Certainly helped to push me
> over the edge.
> 8. Rahul Kachalia - Lab 36 IPexpert's - awesome stuff! Another piece of
> material that helped me obtain my goal! This guy is one to watch!!!
>
>
> Thank you everyone for all your help!! I hope now to spend more time
> giving back to forums that helped me! If you don't hear from me in a
> while I am somewhere warmer and sunnier. :)
>
>
> GodBless,
> Scott Livingston
> #11510
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