This past week has been life-changing for me.  Well, at least in the way I think, anyway.  Nothing has really changed.... yet.

Something happened at work on Friday, that made me start thinking about myself.  Over the last 10-12 years, I have been putting all of my effort, time, and resources into my job.  That's a good thing, actually, as it has given me diversity and knowledge that I would have never gotten before.

However, it's time to start focusing.  Where do I want to go?  What do I want to accomplish?  Identifying, building, and deploying a global collaboration system for my company is a great accomplishment, but it's not personal.  What do I want to accomplish personally?  A sense of pride, that others can relate to.

After lots of discussions on Google+ and Twitter, with fellow geeks, I've now made the life-altering decision to tackle the infamous CCIE certification (Routing and Switching).  I could also go Voice, but most of my knowledge is in Routing/Switching in the enterprise.

I picked up the CCIE Cert Guide, 4th edition on Safari Books online, and will order the physical book in the next week.

So, on to CCIE certification!  It will be difficult to properly map real-world experience to academic studies.  No doubt, there will be alot of gaps to fill, and memorization to do.  It's been over 15 years since I got out of academics.  But I did well at it, and no doubt, will do well again.  Just need to perservere.

Special thanks to the following people for motivating me, either directly, or indirectly without realizing it:

@aconaway - On Thursday, I joined a CCIE study group that he started using Google+ hangouts.  I was really only there to check out "hangouts", and to see fellow "Tweepers" that I talk to.  What I didn't expect, was the discussion on the CCIE questions, and I was getting involved in the question responses.

@ccie25655 and @ziyadb_ For the strategy I should take to prepare.

@isseykun who motivated me to take the plunge

There are others, like @pktmaniac and @robg485 who are also studying that I enjoyed listening to.

Who knew that in 2 days, I'd be commited to becoming a CCIE?  Well, here's to studying!