Stuff and Nonsense

Looks like the late night work vacation is over for me.  I decided after the last couple of weeks, I wasn't going to do any late night work last week.  It was pretty awesome.  But there are things that need to get done, and at the moment I'm the only one capable to do them.  So that means it's time to get back to late night work. 

The major goal in all this is minimize the number of versions running in stores in order to make everything more consistent.  Which sounds like a great idea until you realize upgrading a store generally happens between 11 PM and 12 PM and runs until 2 or 3 in the AM.  And then people still call you at 8 in the morning, expecting you to show up and go fix their problems.  Mostly because there is a lack of communication about what is going on. 

Now this is all annoying in the interim, but there is a goal in mind.  The goal is to standardize things.  Standardization creates less work in the long run.  It's the short run that sucks.  The other problem is I'm the only one capable of doing this right now.  So I end up doing a lot of work.

This would be great if more responsibility ended up with more money, but that isn't always the case.  For the most part, more responsibility just means more responsibility and less free time.  That's neither here nor there, and is just something I have to work on. 

Of note, I'm still waking up at 5:45 in the morning.  And I made it to donate plasma this weekend.  So it looks like my body is getting to the point of saying "we've got to do this".  I finished reading ICND 1, and now I'm working on converting everything into MP3 and listening to it constantly.  I'm pretty good before chapter 10 or so, but there are 24 chapters in the book and there's a lot of info to pick up and learn in the next month.  I'm aiming for taking the CCENT test around February 15th.  

So what am I doing in the morning to get ready for it?  As I kick back and convert files, I'm listening to my recordings over and over again.  I'm also using an iPhone app called SubnetQuiz (free, FYI).   Once all the files are converted, I'm going to start working on vocabulary by typing out all the vocabulary words in each chapter.  The last ten days or so, I'm going to take the practice tests over and over again, hitting specific areas to refine.  All the while, I'm going to be spending time on SubnetQuiz practicing subnetting and making sure I get the right answers. 

So that's what the plan is for the next month.  Maybe by the end of February, it will be time to start working on the CCNA level material.  Yay!