CCNA/CCDA/CCDP/CCNP renewal, Fort Lauderdale FL, Day 1

Hello all,

It is 1:45 am (EDT) and I am just about ready to wrap-up the first day of training at CED Solutions in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.  Seeing that I am going to be down here for the next 22 days, I thought I would post something everyday (if I have time) to keep those who are asking, "Where is Tom?" informed.

As I had hoped, today was pretty much a light review day in class. There are exactly 21 people in the class (20 physically here and 1 remote person).  The make-up of the class is VERY unusual.  Most everyone here is from the VA staff.  40-60 year olds coming the first time for the very first certification!  The youngest guy is 28, then there is a 33 and 38 year old, then there is me at 43.  Who'd a thunk it.  Not one person has ANY certifications.  The instructor actually was so intrigued with the make-up of the older class that he had to ask, "What's up with this?"  These guys are saying that technology has passed them by, and they are needing this certification just to keep employed.  Gone are the days when they could 'Just do IT'.  It has become so complex and so integral into everyday life that nobody can just come in and do it without training.

Food...so far not what I expected.  This is my first time down in the Fort Lauderdale facility, and I can tell you this; the Atlanta facility has NOTHING on this facility when it comes to food.  It hasn't been bad, but not too great either.

Study...study...study...and STUDY!  I got back to my hotel room at 5:30-ish, ate a little dinner, and then hit the books!  Lot's of study questions and practice.  While some things are just review, there are many, MANY new things with IOS 15.  It is almost as if Cisco has junked what they had in 12 and back and said, "NA, just kidding!  Here is something that is REALLY cool"  I think they had to do this with the strides that other companies have made in the past few years.  Yes, Cisco is still King, however, they have company in their rear view mirrors.

Something interesting for the geeks!  I linked my CCO account with my Cisco CSCO training account.  Guess what I saw?  In the training section, there is a place for me to put a VMWare VCP certification...ON THE CISCO WEB SITE!  It is a part of my profile.   HUM......Strange, or maybe not so strange...  Rumors, rumors...rumors and more rumors.  Could you see it?  VMWare, Cisco, Novell, and IBM, all under one umbrella.  Has anyone seen the switch to blue with all these companies in one form or another...They would rule the WORLD!  :)  Okay, I am getting carried away, but interesting nonetheless.

Well, signing off for the night.  Going to get my 5 hrs of sleep while I can.

Tom