From: Andrew Lissitz \(alissitz\) (alissitz@cisco.com)
Date: Thu Sep 01 2005 - 17:01:34 GMT-3
Tim you rock, Congrats!!!
________________________________
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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