New CCNA and CCENT and the Quest for CCIE Voice

My Name Here!

So about a month ago, I went to www.ine.com and saw their claim to turn me into a CCIE Voice in 18 months.  Well, why not?  I have tons of experience already in TDM voice in Avaya and Nortel.  I love tinkering with phones and Cisco VoIP is way too cool to pass up on working with.  So I charged head first into getting that “entry” level certification for my basic foundation in routing and switching TCP/IP on Cisco hardware.

Little did I know that R&S is pretty intensive.  Some of the topics, like dynamic routing protocols, Spanning-Tree and IPv6 are a far throw from what I’m used to as a strict telecom admin.  I would still dig deep and study on.  I have gone through Todd Lammle’s excellent book from Sybex.  I have also purchased other guides to help me get through the tough CCNA Composite exam.

Today, it was announced that CCNA is no longer the pre-requisite for attaining Cisco Voice certifications.  The only requirement now is the CCENT.  The same CCENT that currently has, within its syllabus, a LOT less of the difficult topics of the CCNA composite.  So, my path is clear!

Concurrently with the migration to Cisco at my job, I plan to attain CCNP Voice within the year.  When it comes time to go hands-on, I already a rock-solid foundation to successful manage the 4000+ stations and voice end-points at our locations across the city.

It will probably be years before I can attempt the CCIE Voice.  The outlook is good however.  Let’s just hope there’s enough caffeine in the world to fuel my quest for that CCIE Voice #……..

Made for Brooklyn – The Trip to Barclay Center and the Fandom that Never Was

The Breakup

I quit the Knickerbockers the day the ink dried on Jeremy Lin’s Rocket contract. I was beyond hurt. Here he was, a hero in my heart as important as the likes Mike Piazza, and Patrick Ewing to me sent riding off to the West.  For week, my Facebook updates were reserved exclusively for emotional tributes of the best 25 NBA games I ever experienced.

How can this happen?  For the last 11 years that I suffered as a Knicks fan, I deserve to watch my hero play everyday for my favorite team.  Don’t I?  Needless to say, I could not forgive the Knicks and James Dolan.

Not just yet.

In this whirlwind of emotions, that perfect rebound team came riding in my sports universe.  The Brooklyn Nets, formerly known as that team no one cared about in Jersey.  So I was lost. I was drawn by the mystery of the new uniforms, the controversy of the new arena and the pizzazz of the new roster.

Chao Liang, Knicks fan 1998 – 2011, Nets fan 2012 – ??.

Turns out, my first trip to Barclay Center would mark the end of my attempt in breaking up with the Knicks and rebounding with the Nets. But there’s no love like your first love.  In the words of Silvio Dante imitating Al Pacino:

The Brooklyn Brand

The Nets, its brand, image and arena capture the Brooklyn vibe perfectly. Whether you are a young hipster or a old-timer waiting for the return of professional sports to Brooklyn, the Nets will scratch your itch. The black and white palette is an easy fashion sell. The hip-hop beats a perfect soundtrack for b-ball in Brooklyn thanks to Jay-Z. There’s the club-inspired, black velvet draped, Ciroc sipping ambience that is sure a hit with many Brooklynites and New Yorkers. Not I!  Don’t get me wrong, everything was done exceptionally well there.  It’s just more Brooklyn than it is New York.

Yet, I still feel stronger attachments to Madison Square Garden (MSG) and its often vintage feel.  Sure it’s pretty old and crumbling in places but it screams New York.  It’s part of the identity of New York.  Even during the dark ages of Isiah Thomas and Scott Layden, the Knicks exuded the rude, over-the-top extravagance.  Sure, money doesn’t buy happiness in this city or championships in the NBA, but the Knicks will always spend it like its going out of style.  Even the soundtrack to MSG and its jazzy ditty had seeped into the subconscious of New Yorkers like myself.  It was quite jarring not hear the familiar Mike Walczewski call the starting lineups and all the player names in his unique intonation.  It was even more jarring when the black Power Ranger came out wearing Nets gear and waving a Nets flag.  I thought this is too much.

The Brooklyn Nets of New York were packaged perfectly to appeal to its target demographic.  I probably was not one of them.  I am not a fashionable hipster who just had to Instagram everything in Barclay Center. I didn’t take a picture of the meatball sliders I had before I shared them with my son.  They were too salty anyway.  I also am not an aging Brooklynite who had dreamed of the day that professional sports came back to Brooklyn.  I am a guy from Queens who gave Brooklyn a shot but ultimate have decided, I’m in that abusive relationship with Jimmy Dolan and his Knicks that I cannot extract myself from.  So, call me a masochist as I bleed orange and blue for the rest of my life.

Oh, and this happened.  No big deal at all.  Just a game winning 4-point play.

Let the return to the glory days of New York Knicks basketball begin!

#nykallday

13 Years Ago Tonight – The Grand Slam Single

13 years ago tonight, I remember.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table after a late dinner being obliviously berated by mom and pop.  Must have been another poor report card.  Like my peers, I also have read that memo about surviving Asian parents.  I got to the part about lowering your eyes, stare at your bowl of rice and NEVER talk back.  Then I stopped reading to finish my math homework.

13 years ago tonight, I listened.

I stuck an earpiece to my right ear and had the cord plugged into my radio.  The game was on, life was good, except for that incessant droning in Mandarin Chinese in my left ear.  On that day, I tuned it out better than I ever had before.

13 years ago tonight, I stood up.

When the Mets tied the game and still had the bases loaded, I knew my life would change.  No, it was not because I finally listened to my parents.  My baseball world would change forever.  Robin Ventura would step up to the plate and be the catalyst to its transformation.  I told my father, “WAIT! This is important!” as I ran to our TV set.

13 years ago tonight, I watched.

The TV came on just in time.  I watched Ventura belt one through the chilling October rain deep into right field at Shea.  I’m still not sure if it landed.  I’m still not sure if my heart landed after leaping through my chest.

Tonight, I hope.

To be honest, I hope that baseball off Robin’s bat never lands.  That homerun, will forever carry my hopes for Mets greatness again.

To be honest, sometimes I hope that Robin had flied out instead of hitting that Grand Slam Single.  I hope that I never had a taste of that sweet, bubbling, uncontrollable joy and bliss that runs icy fingers down my spine every time I think of it.  I hope I never came to know that love for a baseball team called the Mets; a love that carries me to incredible highs and plunges me in baseball hell that is irrelevance.

Yet, 13 years ago tonight, I jumped, I shouted, I cried.

Here’s to wishing that it takes a LOT less than 13 more years to make new memories of Mets glory and greatness.

Here’s to wishing that my love and quest to experience that elusive joy again is requited.

Here’s to belief and faith, Let’s Go Mets!