Some of us remember the original, and some of us are new since then, so I'm starting up another one to just bs about whatever w/o having to stay on any particular topic. Yep, spout off about anything, that's the whole point

I'll start it off by saying I miss my car, but it's looking like it's going to be purty when I get it back, only thing is do I go pearl or leave it factory?. I'm thinking factory as the pearl wouldn't be in the jambs etc. and that would look crap, plus i noticed the pearl darkened the factory yellow a bit, gave it more of a mustardy color, in bright sunlight it did look slick though. Maybe I can convince them to do some sort of simple graphic with the pearl, racing stripes or scallops or something, it would barely be noticable and it would be cool detail to geek on etc. at shows or whatever

 

Hmm....I dont know what to say Canary. Doing that sort of thing is kinda tricky since you sometimes have to go with your gut and hope the end results are satisfing(?) Did I spell that right? Stripes do seem kinda of cool just so long as its not over the top. How was your weekend?

 

eww 2, 3 1/2 - 4 inch pearl strips would be cool. it would kinda be like ghost flames. you only really notice them when you look at them or when a lights hit them at night. give you something to talk about at shows

 

not bad, I've been laying low since Saturday. The thing that really messed me up was failing an ms exam I'd been studying over a month straight for, when I took the test saturday I ran into all this stuff that wasn't any part of what I studied, despite my best effort trying to read forums, ask people, whatever, just to make sure I was studying the right stuff etc. I missed it by a narrow margin. It wouldn't be so bad if this my first time taking it, but it was my 4th, just seems like very time I take it they've changed it up and nothing matches what I'm studying. I've failed on all 4 tries by less than 40 points. (they score 0-1000, instead of 0-100, so a 700 is a pass) So all weekend I've been building a test network, I'll have my own lan, email,dns,whatever else they want to throw at me that I can think of and hopefully I'll pass it in another 2-3 weeks.

 

What books are you using to study? If any?

 

Excuse my ignorance but what is the MS exam?

 

Microsoft Cert exam = MS Exam

 

Boooooo!!!!! Vender Neutral!!!!!!!

 

I failed the firefighters exam twice. It sucks because AFD hires only once a year so I feel your pain Canary.

 

the exam I'm doing is the 70-284, exchange 2003. I've been using the ms and sybex books, also the exam cram stuff. I have the transcenders, testking, ucertify and some demo stuff from preplogic for the practice test software. I've utilized those to a point where they're not useful anymore, so I'm going back through the ms book and setting up a lab environment and I'll be walking through all the exercises and seeing if that helps. I administer 03 on a day to day, but I wasn't involved in deploying it, nor have I played with any of our production servers or messed with any settings (and I wouldn't, as that would be insane) so hopefully this will get me the little umph I need to get over the top. The sad thing is, we're already going to 07 (my mailbox is already on the new environment...sigh) so this is almost a moot point anyway, but I picked it a long time ago and started this way back last year so I'm not going to quit now lol vendor neutral? don't know what you mean by that, but it's next to impossible in my job as we're a ms shop, with only a handful of other os platforms in use. If we were a larger company with a larger environment I'd probably be going after all kinds of different stuff as we'd probably have more stuff involved like linux this or unix that etc. Even so, exchange is a standard in a LOT of companies so adding to my 4.0/5.5 knowledge can only help me (I still plan on other stuff down the road anyway, just want a few more ms things first).For now adding to my mcse is priority, it's killed my evenings, my social life, going out on drives and such, I really want this done and when I failed again Saturday that really killed it for me.

I'm liking the pearl ghost action, but that might end up costing a ton and leaving it factory with a fresh paint job would still leave me plenty stoked and be pretty much free, oh well, we'll see, I talk to them tomorrow so I'll know more about what can be done and what costs what

 

Vendor Neutral means certification which are not product specific. Like A+, CTT+, CIW stuff, Network+ etc. That way you are not out of the market as soon as an upgrade comes out, nor are you beholden to MS to renew your certs every few years....the principles are most important NE-way, the rest is just familarization.

Plug for IT-Project+ cert from CompTIA. I helped write once upon a time.

 

Oh, PMP (Project Management Professional) from PMI, as well.

 

ohhh okay, well I'm already past the point where a+ would do anything for me, along with network + as well. I do plan on pursuing cisco stuff later though I'd also like to do some project/time management training as well, just not sure where to go or what to take yet

 

Well, since you mentioned it... if I were you or rather WHEN I was you.

IT-Project+ then PMI's Project Associate thingy can't member the name off top of head then PMP. If you haven't yet, I would take an Org Behavior class as well, all colleges have them. You have to have so many Project Mangement hours for the PMP, so it usually goes last.

 

PS, they are calling it just Project+ these days.

 

hmmm, wonder if new horizons offers anything like that, if I go through them work pays for it (woohoo) this time. (they've never paid for my ms stuff, did it all on my own) I'll have to check that out tomorrrow

 

I am all but positive they do carry it.

Just checked they do at New Horizons in TX.

 

C-TREC Houston TX 77056
New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc. San Antonio TX 78230
New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc. Houston TX 77056
Unitek Austin TX 78759
Unitek Dallas TX 75248
Unitek Houston TX 77056

 

sweet, I'll have to look into that when the world resumes normal business tomorrow, it's been nice having today off though

 

Bah I know you already invested into the MS track...but I would instead recommend vendor neutral and go the cisco / security track.

Seek Yee the CISSP and CCIE+Security...

Thats what I did...pays pretty well and you are useful everywhere you go...

 

<- Cert free (I have to type something else here because it won't let me post otherwise.)

 

I plan on that after finishing the ms stuff, I figure it will be good to have both + experience, assuming the world never gives up on lans or the internet I should be good for life lol I actually got really far cert free, and may have progressed even further without it,but not having that or a degree was a killer for me, made it next to impossible to advance or be taken seriously etc. Funny as much as people bash on mcse's etc., mine helped me significantly landing my current role, I think it was more them seeing that I went out and got it on my own etc. that was more important than the actual cert itself though lol

edit: you still have the stuff you used for your cisco? I may be looking you up when the time comes

 

Also, when you need a cisco book or someone to study with, hit me up I want my cisco cert and should have gotten that **** a LONG time ago.. meh

 

awesome, I'll be looking you up too dang, a girl rx8 owner into geek certs, your pm box must be full like 24/7

 

Heh...see avenger hath a degree...so no certs needed...

I on the other hand skipped putting myself into debt with a degree and instead got the hardest and most respected certs known currently to man...for significantly less since I am an independant learner...either way in order to make it, you have to have some kind of accomplishment to set you apart from the crowd...

Your right canary they probably did not hold much stock in the MCSE and instead found it more important that you took the initiative yourself and followed thru...that is a quality that is hard to find in most people...which is what a degree truely is...initiative, drive, and follow thru...

For my cisco stuff I rented a lab and went to town...then job hopped for about 2 years...then went into consulting...nothing like hands on trial by fire to teach you...haa haa