5 months later...

It's now been 5 months since I've been putting CCIE level effort into improving my health. No washboard abs yet, but I'm pleased to say I have made a lot of progress. I've lost over 20 pounds, 7% body fat, 6 inches off my waist, and now have a medal to hang next to my CCIE plaques: 2011 Myrtle Beach Marathon finisher (4 hours 55 minutes).

Here's pretty much what my schedule has turned into:
Monday: 1 hour weights at the gym
Tuesday: 4 mile easy run
Wednesday: 3 mile fast run to the gym, 1 hour weights, 3 mile easy run home
Thursday: 4 mile easy run
Friday: 1 hour weights at the gym, 20 minute sprint intervals
Saturday: rest
Sunday: long slow distance run (12 - 20 miles)

I'm still sticking with my original quest for now. In running the numbers, it looks like if I keep on track I should be in the ballpark around June.

It's been awhile, again

Yep, things have been quiet on the CCIE studying front. Work has been busy and I have a 6 month old at home now too, who keeps me even busier.

Additionally, I've been spending a lot of time at the gym trying to get rid of some of the additional "baggage" that comes along with getting 2 ccie's. It looks like it's going to take 3 months of hard work to get where I want to be. I just don't see having the energy to study while I'm wearing myself out on a daily basis. But right now that's definitely the priority.

So hopefully around xmas my name will change to "Double CCIE with 6 pack abs" lol. Ok, I probably have as much chance of that as somebody who has never seen a router passing the CCIE in 3 months. But hey, no harm in dreaming :).

MSPRP Complete

As expected, I was able to knock off the MSPRP exam without studying. A little better knowledge of XR would have been very helpful, but I had a high enough score on it and the remaining sections to carry myself through.

On to MSPVM

CCNP SP Operations Page Live

Cisco has the CCNP SP Operations page up now:

https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/community/certifications/ccnpspops

CCNP SP Operations

Now it's time for me to begin working on CCNP SP Operations. This certification is not fully live yet, but the details are at https://learningnetwork.cisco.com/docs/DOC-8149

There are 4 exams required:
642-770: Operational Foundations for Cisco Service Provider Core Networks (OFCN)
642-775: Maintaining Cisco Service Provider Routing Protocols (MSPRP)
647-780: Maintaining Cisco Service Provider VPNs and MPLS Networks (MSPVM)
642-785: Maintaining Cisco Service Provider Quality of Service (MSPQS)

All 4 show up on Vue's website, so it looks like the certification is fully live.

Now I just need to decide what to take first.
OFCN is all about processes and management tools. I'll need to study a lot for that so I'll hold off for now.
MSPRP focuses on BGP, OSPF, and IS-IS. Sounds like a great place to start!
MSPVM is the MPLS exam. Another good one!
MSPQS covers QoS. Not a bad topic but I'm a little rusty on some of the details.

So I should be able to knock out MSPRP and MSPVM by the end of August. I'll give myself another 2 weeks on MSPQS and then 6 weeks on OFCN. That would get me the CCNP SP Ops by the end of October. I like doing my CCIE studying over the winter anyway, so the timing should work out well.

CCNA SP Operations Complete

Well, I decided I'd just go ahead and take the SSPO exam 640-760 so that I can target my studying a little better. I was pleasantly surprised when I scored a pass.

The blueprint and study questions on Cisco's site are pretty accurate. I was also happy that most of the information on the exam was pretty relevant. I didn't find many of those "who the heck cares" questions. So all in all I'd say it was a pretty good exam.

CCNA SSPO Review Questions - Set 3

Key Performance Indicator:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_indicator

Incident Management vs. Problem Management:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_Technology_Infrastructure_Library#Incident_Management