Rick Todd , 27 May 10, Blog #2

Been a few weeks since I have been able to get things posted here. Been veryhectic at work, the health care company I work for is getting ready for anew software upgrade this summer, which is requiring new hardware as well.Being the sole IT person for the region, I have been quite busy.

The studying is going a bit slower than I had planned. I am working on chap5 as I write this. I found chap 4 on antennas to be extremely interesting.It made more sense of why things I have done in the past with wirelessworked. I was never given the reason or an explanation why, just told“that's the way we do it around here.”

Planning to get in a lot of hours studying this weekend. I also ordered theTrainSignal dvd set, which will immediately go on the Ipod as soon as itarrives on Tuesday. I think actually seeing the material being presentedbesides reading it will make it much more easy to absorb.

The goal is to finish up with the book, videos, etc by mid July. Then startwith the self tests and studying the areas I am weak in. I hope to schedulethe test in July for a August attempt, so I can take advantage of the freeretake “if” I fail, which I do not plan on doing

blog post 27 Apr 2010

Welcome to my first blog post.

Well my study guides arrived on 23 April, and I started my studying on the25th. I was able to knock out the first chapter that day, in between dealingwith a daughter and grandson who live with me, and working on my 10k steps aday program. Managed 10,300 that day.

So far the material is very well written, down to earth, andunderstandable. Not like other certification guides where you read somethingand go “say what?”. On to chapter two starting today, 27 April.

Having John, Darby and George just an email away to bounce things off ofone another, plus ask questions on items makes a huge difference. We arehoping to have a weekly conference call to go over the week's chapters, anddiscuss the material that was covered. I did have a question on WMM QoS, andGeorge immediately replied with a simplified answer and a link to awhitepaper with more detail. Can't complain about the service!

My goal is two to three chapters a week. I'm taking a lot of hand writtennotes, highlighting material, and making my own flash cards. My daughter andmy significant other are behind me 100% and have offered to quiz me wheneverI wish. They both know that achieving this certification has the possibilityto open more doors for me, and will increase my knowledge of wireless. Thegrandson is three, and he just likes running off with Grandpa's pens andbooks when I am not looking.