I have been having so much fun at the Networkers conference in Barcelona since Monday that I have not got round to blogging anything yet. So, just to take the lead from stretch, here is my schedule:

Monday 26th January:

• 09:00-18:00 : 802.1X deployment in a campus LAN (all day session)
• 18:15-19:45 : BoF Myths and Realities of self-managing networks

Tuesday 27th January:

• 08:30-09:45 : Keynote address from John Chambers
• 10:15-12:15 : Multilayer Campus Architectures and Design Principles
• 12:30-14:00 : Understanding Network Management using the ITIL Methodology and Framework
• 14:30-15:45 : Talk by Prof. Brian Cox about the Large Hadron Collider
• 16:15-18:15 : Advanced Cisco Catalyst Virtual Switching System

Wednesday 28th January

• 08:30-10:30 : QoS Decomposed
• 11:00-11:45 : Cisco on Cisco : Inside Cisco IT
• 12:00-12:45 : Leveraging VSS for Data Center Interconnect
• 13:30-15:00 : Data Center Virtualization Overview / Concepts
• 15:30-17:30 : 13 Smart Ways to Configure Your Cisco IOS Network Elements
• 19:30 onwards : The Networkers Party !!!

Thursday 29th January

• 08:30-10:30 : Advanced New Developments in BGP
• 13:30-15:30 : Advanced Enterprise Campus Design : Leveraging VSS

Friday 30th January

• 13:40 : flying home !!

So, what do I think of it so far, as I sit here in the CCIE wireless lounge with my cup of coffee?  Well, I think I have had an object lesson in preparation.  I always enjoy the Networkers tutorials, but I am sure I would have got more ot of them if I had been better prepared, particularly for the 802.1X techtorial on Monday.  Proper preparation for such an event would have had two distinct benefits:

1. Preparation opens the mind to receive the new information.  If I don’t prepare the neuron pathways well, then I understand the talk as I hear it, but I don’t retain enough of the information.  The information just does not make the transition from hippocampus to grey matter.
2. Preparation provides a foundation on which any new information can be built.  If I spend the entire talk refreshing my existing knowledge, I cannot concentrate on adding the new stuff.

That’s it for now.  In 20 minutes I am in to “Cisco on Cisco”.  I think stretch is booked in for that session too, so I hope I identify him.

While I was studying for my CCIE, I found blogging was a really useful way to journal my studies.  The advantages over pen-and-paper are enormous: it is searchable, it creates social bridges with like-minded peopl, it imposes discipline, etc.

But networking is not the only thing I do that would benefit from a journal .. oh, no.  Amateur radio is another.  It wouldn’t be fair to mix my amateur radio activities with my networking stuff.  So I am starting a new blog thread: the “LX2KD / G4AZO”.

So anyone who is interested, see you over the other side. (But allow me a day or two to get started please.)

http://www.cciecandidate.com/?p=473

It’s good to see you back on line Ethan!

Ethan passed!  Congratulations!  Well deserved!

With the amount of work he has put in, if anyone deserved to pass it was Ethan.  Thanks for all your hard work in sharing your studies with us too.