Midwest Geek

Where to start…

Let’s start in Boston and work our way here. I finished my training with no issues and didn’t study another day. In the beginning of June I finally bought the big TV (Now know as Jed) that I had wanted for a long time. 61” of HD goodness. Jed felt very sad so we also picked him up some friends. Series3 Tivo, Xbox 360, Wii, and HDDVD Player all get along with him wonderfully.

In the middle of June I went on my first Golf outing with for the company and fell in love with the game again. I hadn’t played since the death of my step-father, since it just wasn’t the same without him. I started golfing regularly thought out the rest of the summer and into the fall.

July was mostly work and Golf. Monk and I went to Texas for her birthday. I had been taunting her for months that I had a gift I would not likely be able to top in any future birthdays. This was a gift that she would remember forever. Since it was a surprise she only knew that it was about one day’s drive away and that she would like it. While on the way there she slept for a few hours and I missed a very important exit. When she awoke and asked where we were, I honestly didn’t know. It was really surreal experience for her. Monk has an odd fascination for Giraffes and giggles quite loudly when she sees one on TV, in a magazine or at the Zoo. This trip took us to the Frank Buck Zoo in Gainesville, Texas so that she could hand feed two Giraffes lettuce. It’s all documented here. To say that she was surprised and lost her compose is an understatement.

August was mostly Golf, and spending time with Jed, but mostly Golf. I tore a tendon in my chest golfing, I believe it happened on a downswing. It hurt bad, and still does. A rather powerful sneeze can make me cry, literally. The doctor I saw told me that I could stop golfing, give it a few months and heal now, or keep golfing, deal with the pain, and let it heal in winter. I spent that afternoon golfing and thinking over his suggestions. The month of August was sponsored by the good people at Ibuprofen.

September took us to Canada for 7 days to spend time with Monks family and many rounds of Golf. I played 6 games in 7 days, and for two of those days I was on a road trip to Deep River, Ontario and Algonquin Park. September was also sponsored by the good people at Ibuprofen. After the trip to Canada I only played a few more rounds and then hung it up for the season. I passed my certification exams for the training I took in Boston 2 days before they expired. Nothing like procrastination.

October was a boring month. Monk and I did learn that even though I spent months reading, studying, and practicing with my camera, I simply do not have a photographer’s eye. Monk however has a wonderful photographer’s eye. Two of her photographs have been chosen to be used for some online travel agencies. Expedia was one of them, and I can’t remember the other one. She received lessons on the use of all the buttons and whatnot on my camera and now wants her own SLR. My ego is 98% intact.

We learned in November that my best buddy, Hunter, has three fatty tumors just under his skin. They are not hurting him in any way, but they cause me nightmares. He’s going to have them remove via surgery in January. We also learned that Monk’s cousin, who as dated the same guy for ten years, and lived with for 3 will be getting married the same week in May that we had planned on going to Peru, Machu Picchu and the Amazon. We have since re-planned for September. I had wanted to do a small trip to the Arctic Circle in August but that is now not going to happen. At this time I believe we will be staying a couple of days on the island of Mackinac on the way back from Canada. I also got off my lazy ass and finished the redesign for this site.

Fin.

I know I haven’t been posting much lately and you are about to see why. In addition, my timing is off in Boston and I can’t get it back.

Boston was my choice, I was able to choose from training sites all around the country, and I Boston was it for me. My original plan was to attend my training during the day and grab a game or two at Fenway. After signing up for the classes I learned that we have labs everynight and my only chance for a game would be on the last night that I am here, as that’s the only night that I don’t have labs. Perfect…it might only be one night, but I would be able to take in one game at Fenway to see the Sox play.

I was then told just prior to my trip that I should bring a much larger suitcase then I needed so that upon my return I could haul back all the books I would be given. Brushing off that advice, because I would only be in 6 days of training, how many books could I be getting…I tend to be a great packer and can generally just “make room”. 6 books consisting of 500 pages each is what I got. That’s Three thousand pages in Six days. In college I didn’t get this many text books in a semeter, let alone over one week. I was also told that class would go from 9 a.m to 5 p.m. and labs would be from 7 p.m. until 9 p.m. everyday with no lab on Saturday…at some point a vote was taken and we would go from 9 to 5, take a 30 minute break and continue with the lab. It’s worth noting that both the class and the labs never, ever, not once, end on time.

During this last week I have been up at 5, in class at 7:30 to make sure that I that I didn’t miss anything from the night before, and make sure that I am ready for the current day. During our one hour lunch break I make a call to my wife to say hello, grab a bite to eat, and study some more. After class lets out, anywhere between 8:30 and 10:00 p.m. I get to grab dinner, and study some more. Now that it’s day six, I have don’t think I am going to see that much of Boston, I have been a total of six blocks away from the hotel and most of the time it’s to hit the Dunkin Donuts one block over. The great majority of my meals have even taken place in either the Bar on the second floor or in my hotel room.

Now I don’t have to test on this stuff at all this week. And you may be asking yourself why one would do so much studing if one doesn’t have to take a test this week. It’s not because I have to test this week, or next week or even the week after, I actually have up to 3 months to test on this material. It’s the price of failure for the testing that I have to do. At some point I have to sit down and take 2, 200 question exams on the 3,000 pages of material I have went over this week. They are open book and a good portion of the material I already know. It’s the fact that if I fail a test, not both, but each one..I have to play $175 dollors out of my own pocket to retake the test. Just to note…I will have about 2 mitues to answer each question..finding the correct answer in the books within 2 minutes doesn’t make it that much open book. Should I fail 3 times over the course of the two exams, I have to play $400 to have the ability to even retake them. My company paid the $400 once for me to take them….and they only care if that I pass. Or in better terms…we paid, show us a cert that you passed or pay for the entire training.

Good thing I have no stress there.

When I am in Chicago, I always have bad luck…it’s just how things go. I understand that, I accept that, and I roll with the punches. When catching connecting flights in Dallas I am always arrive at the gate that is 76 miles from the the departare gate…and I generally have 11 minutes to get there…again I understand that, I accept that, and I roll with the punches. In Boston I have figured out that my timing is just off. I arrived Sunday at 3 p.m. and my bags arrived at 3 a.m. I packed shorts and t-shirts, the temp drops to 45 degrees and it rains all week. The last part has nothing to do with the fact that a certain weather channel told me it would be in the 70’s and SUNNY. ALL. WEEK. LONG.

While we are in a nice hotel, and have those “sleep number” beds. I have learned that my sleep number is “Hell”. I wish my number was closer to Rainbows and Unicorns, but these beds suck and suck hard. I have yet to get more then 4-5 hours of uninterrupted sleep at any one time the entire time I have been here. Fall asleep at 9, wake up at 1, fall asleep at midnight, wake up at 3. Again proof positive that my timing is just off.

All in all I am still happy. I got to meet a lot of people in my field and got to learn about some really amazing stuff. My work revolves around Information Security and it’s been wonderful to geek out this week. Informational Warfare Theory has been my favorite so far, and might just been my calling. It’s alot more interesting then it sounds and will be a topic of a future posting. At this moment I only have one hour to get cleaned up, grab a donut and get down 14 floors to my training room…sounds like a lot of time but…..