%-TRACEBACK= CCIE#51406 – “M3/\/\0rY L@nE [3 YrZ ago]”

[preamble] Wow, it’s already been three years since I passed the CCIE Security Lab in Texas (on attempt numero dos). Remember that? No, not the fact of me passing the Lab exam… I mean, do you remember when you could just get on a plane and fly somewhere to take an exam (or if you’re a normal person, fly somewhere on vacation, literally anywhere; at any given moment of your life, without swabs and vaccinations)? Of course this “illusive” time period I’m referring to this now know as “pre-covid.” Remember the pre-Cert consolidation time of Cisco [before this meme was a thing]? Perhaps you remember a time that was simpler than that? A pre-Smart licensing era? (I feel your pain) Remember sitting 10 rows behind the goal in Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, with someone, to watch one of the last Live La-Liga games played Live in January of 2020? Oh yea also, around that time, the company I was working for had just announced we were purchasing another company with a bunch of remote offices…[/preamble]

But let’s get back to the post here… So, on the 3rd Birthday of this CCIE in Security, I recall vividly the evening before the day of the Lab Exam (2019.12.08)… I was sitting in my 1970 style Rental Apartment’s Kitchen, having the same style black coffee and orujo I’m having now; while gathering my thoughts and forcefully stopping myself to from labbing full scale mockup labs that I built from scratch. I had to “tear myself away from” my lady friends (EVE{-NG} and ISE), taking a break from all of the extremely long late-night rendezvous we shared. And those were QUITE the long nights of study. I think when I actually powered down EVE that night, before I fell asleep, I could hear the VM Host go “THANK YOU! FINALLY!” from roughly 40 miles away. I’m extremely humbled and blessed to have been able to achieve this Certification “way back” on December 10th, 2019.

Ok, one more… Remember even before 2019, maybe in 2017… Doing a BGP Circuit turn up on a New York City Street corner? Right outside of a restaurant that you and Sully (still one of my favorite PMs to date) had just got asked to leave, just before doing an entire network refresh off of Park Avenue? If you don’t, please see below. Maybe that will jog your memory?

While you’re here… Feel free to read additional info on The journey I went through to get this certification or The Study Plan I followed.

Chat soon… Stark Out.