From: Lloyd Ardoin (lloyd@TheWizKid.biz)
Date: Sat Nov 08 2008 - 15:35:49 ARST
Thanks to all of you who wrote to me. Finally got a decent night's
rest but I am still kind of reeling from all of this so I am taking
the rest of weekend off to visit the folks
and do some head clearing and will come back on Monday to take another
look at myself and try and come up with a plan to figure out what I
need to
do to eliminate my weaknesses. i appreciate all the kind words and
suggestions.
regards,
Lloyd
On Nov 7, 2008, at 5:04 PM, Lloyd Ardoin wrote:
> Let me first apologize for the lengthy post. Although I have been
> involved in
> GS for over a year I have not been very vocal. I have submitted a
> question or
> two and have attempted to answer a couple of questions when I felt
> confident
> that I could provide good information. I needed to talk about my
> last attempt
> at the lab and wanted to share it with people who understand the
> plight.
>
> Well I am back from my fourth attempt at RTP for my R&S lab and am
> starring at
> another failed email from Cisco. I am writing this in hopes to try
> and not
> internalize all that I am feeling and maybe in some small way help
> some one
> else. My journey has been a 2 = year one; after leaving a company
> that I
> worked for over 28 years and having my networking position basically
> out
> sourced to a local communication company as a 'managed service'. I
> decided at
> that time to pursue the CCIE certification so that I could work as
> long as I
> choose to, make a comfortable living and do interesting work. I
> spared no
> expense and purchased the equipment to build my own home lab (several
> iterations), attended the first of two boot camps with NMC in
> October of 2006
> after passing the written earlier in the year. I spent the rest of
> 2006 and
> most of 2007 doing labs at home and made my first attempt in October
> of 2007
> and of course failed miserably. I signed up for my second boot camp
> with IE in
> March of this year and after attending felt like I had the tools I
> needed to
> get the job done. The boot camp pointed out some issues I had with
> accuracy
> and time management so I focused on those. My second attempt was in
> June which
> was another struggle to get the lab completed and another fail. Did
> another
> lab in September and saw that my core technologies were still the
> cause of my
> lack of success so I came home committed to focusing on those
> specifically
> which is what I did for the last 30 - 45 days doing core technology
> labs and
> attempting to strengthen that area up. Somewhat surprisingly and
> quite a
> disappointment yesterday was to see that I still have not been able
> to bring
> those scores up with any significance and obviously this tells me
> that I need
> to take a step back and figure out where my process is broken. I
> have a
> passion for technology and an insatiable desire to understand how
> things work
> and immensely enjoy the learning process. I take a lot of pride in
> how I go
> about what I am pursuing and always try to be the best I can be. I
> don't have
> a PHD or Master's degree and my IQ is definitely not in the 120's
> but through
> my life I have been able to achieve though my desire, persistence and
> determination. I am definitely not throwing up the white flag but I
> do have to
> admit after my two nights of very little sleep and my long flight
> back home
> this one has definitely knocked the wind out of my sails. I have
> spent the
> last 2 years or so dedicating my personal time to one mission
> because it means
> that much to me. Through my journey I have been privileged to meet
> some
> interesting and admirable people who share a lot of the same
> feelings I have
> about this world of technology and all it has to offer. I have
> provided myself
> the equipment to study with, acquired study materials from outstanding
> vendors, purchased and read most of the recommended reading
> materials, spent
> most weekends locked up sitting next to my racks doing the work,
> printed off
> hundreds of pages from the Cisco web site for reference and yet to
> no avail.
> I knew this was going to be a difficult journey but willing and able
> to take
> it on but right now I feel like I have been climbing the side of a
> mountain
> and have slid all the way back down to the bottom and I am looking
> back up at
> the top that seems so far, far away. Again I say I am definitely
> not a
> quitter and will go home and get some sleep and wake up tomorrow
> with a more
> determined outlook and sit down and do some serious soul searching
> to try and
> figure out what is so broken about my study process and pick myself
> back up to
> start the climb once more.
>
> That is my story without an ending..
>
> To all those who pursue.good luck!
>
> Lloyd
>
>
> Blogs and organic groups at http://www.ccie.net
>
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