From: Scott Morris (swm@emanon.com)
Date: Thu Sep 01 2005 - 14:33:17 GMT-3
Congratulations!!!!!
(What's the number?)
Enjoy getting back to your family and that thing you used to call a social
life! ;)
Scott
_____
From: ccie2be [mailto:ccie2be@nyc.rr.com]
Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 12:08 PM
To: Group Study
Subject: Team Tim slays the dragon
Hi guys,
Yesterday, Team Tim went to battle the beast at RTP. For 8 hours the battle
raged and even after the battle ended the outcome was uncertain. The beast
was armed with several new creative weapons which took their toll in time
and points. But, in the end, these weapons weren't enough to overcome the
long preparation and determination of Team Tim.
Once the smoke had cleared, Team Tim stood weary but victorious.
Team Tim includes a large number of people without whom this victory would
never have been achieved.
First and foremost is my wife Jocie. Without her unwavering support,
sacrifice, encouragement and confidence in my ultimate success, this
accomplishment would not have been possible. Little did she realize 3 years
ago when we got married what a tortuous, frustrating journey laid ahead.
But, through it all, she stood fast against the many people who thought she
was crazy (for marrying me), she was being taken advantage of, etc, etc etc.
Jocie, you are truly magnificent and my love and admiration for you is
indescribable.
In addition to Jocie, much credit has to go to my parents and in-laws. Even
though they might not fully understand the value of a ccie and question the
wisdom of investing so much time, effort and money in such a pursuit ( "for
the same investment, you could have become a doctor"), they continued to
help me and never gave up hope.
I'd also like to extend my special appreciation to someone who often goes
underappreciated and unmentioned but who has contributed to the successful
completion of the ccie for many, many people. Of course, I'm referring to
Paul Borghese, the creator of Group Study. Because of Paul and Group Study,
I've met loads of great people and learned things I never would have known
otherwise. Thank you, Paul. Shortly, I'm going to Paypal Paul a small
contribution to help him cover the cost of running Group Study. I have no
idea how much running Group Study costs but if every newly minted ccie who
subscribes to Group Study would send him a small contribution, I'm sure it
would help him and Group Study considerably.
On the technical side, the list of people that helped me pass the lab is
considerable. I met Jon Carmichael in the late 90's when we were Cisco
instructors at GeoTrain. Jon stayed with GeoTrain for many years and taught
every official Cisco class offered while I stayed only a short time before
going into consulting. After GeoTrain went under leaving Jon unemployed he
decided to get his ccie. It took him a long time and many attempts. That's
when I started to appreciate how difficult getting a ccie was going to be.
Unlike my self, Jon is a high tech geek who loves to explore and experiment
with all sorts of high tech gizmo's and I can't even remember all the cool
things he's introduced me to. Thank you, Jon.
Another person I'm deeply indebted to is Jonathan Hays. For those of you
who have been on GS for a few years, you may remember how much he
contributed to GS. We first met via GS and then we met in person. Not only
is Jonathan a great network engineer, he's a great guy and he's a patient
guy. I can't thank him enough for all the hours he's spent with me
explaining things I couldn't fully understand and get a handle on.
Some of you may also recognize the name Simon Hart from his GS posts. His
detailed and clearly written posts and examples on QoS and other topics
unraveled many IOS mysteries. I recommend anyone having trouble with QoS
check the GS archives for his posts - you'll learn a great deal. Someday,
when I get to England, I hope to meet Simon in person and have a few beers.
What a great guy!!!
I also want to thank the GS brain trust - those networking guru's you all
know so well. First, the Brian's. Their practice lab workbook and Solution
Guide is fantastic. I strongly recommend to anyone hoping to become a ccie
to get their workbook and do the first 10 labs 2 or 3 times in a row. And,
then do the rest of them. I was amazed at how much I could forget between
doing the first lab and the 10th lab. I'll probably discuss this more in a
later post.
Scott Morris. I have one more question for you. How is it possible for
your brain to retain such a vast quantity of knowledge? I can understand
how you can learn so much but how are you able to seemingly not forget any
of it? Thank you for all your help and patience and generosity with all my
unending questions.
Andrew Bruce Caslow. Your book, Cisco Certification was a groundbreaker
when it first came out. Until I read that book, I mistakenly thought I
understood Frame Relay and many other topics but, not really. Thank you
also for all your encouragement and guidance.
Bob Sinclair and Marvin Greenlee. You guys are great. I couldn't begin to
remember all the 3550, QoS, and security questions you guys answered for me
when my understanding of this stuff was so cloudy. Thanks so much.
There are many others such as Kim Jongsoo, Chris Lewis, Andy Mrozek, Kenneth
Wygand, Mani Poopal, Anthony Sequeira who has written a few great white
papers on Multicast, to whom I am deeply indebted.
So, truly, this accomplishment was a team effort and all of you deserve
credit for this.
Thank you, Tim
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