I am going to start posting a list of things I need to knock out each week so I have a better way to track what I am doing.  This is all part of my “Beat Procrastination 2011″ initiative.

• Finish ONC Documentation
• Finish Studying for dumb Cisco Partner test
• Row at least 6000 meters
• Clean the kitchen!
• Do laundry
• Clean out the Q
• Upgrade client Orion servers
• Go to the grocery / clean out the fridge and pantry
• Produce presentation on branch SRE-V

I will start this blog entry by saying that I am the King of Procrastination! If they gave out badges for the top procrastinator in the world I would be the sole owner of said badge. It is horrible!

I will also say there is not a whole lot of tech in this one. Mostly a life evaluation. So, back to how much I procrastinate…

I will say this…I was not always this way. I was a horrible procrastinator in school. That is probably the reason I am currently trying to finish up my BS instead of wrapping it up 7 years ago when all of my friends finished. Then I moved overseas and lived in the desert for 5 years and while I was there I was ON TOP OF MY GAME! I did not procrastinate! I woke up every morning bright eyed and ready to take over the world. I was blowing though projects and worked like a champ. Then…then I moved back to the States….

Procrastination note – I have found myself texting/facebooking/tweeting and checking my Google Reader about 5 times since I started writing this blog entry. I got it bad.

I have been back in the States for about 2 years and 4 months at this point. When I first returned home I was still super motivated but as time passed things got worse and worse. The weird thing is that it is definitely being home that is dragging me down.

I went back overseas for the summer of 2010 and found my motivation again. I was working 14 hour days 7 days a week designing and deploying a gateway/gatekeeper network to connect a few countries and all of the main cities contained therein. I had a two other engineers with me and we knocked it out in about 60 days. Worked like a charm! I spent the last 30 days designing the QoS architecture for the new MPLS network that was being implemented in the country also. Oh, and I also turned up a Nortel CS1000 for good measure. We also designed deployment guides for all of the Call Manager clusters in the region and training materials. It was a fun gig.

I returned to NOLA around mid-August 2010 and was motivated for a few months but then it died off again. I fell into the groove and that was it. It was hard to maintain the motivation. I noticed that you are affected by the people around you. When I was overseas we were all supercharged! Everyone fed off of everyone else’s energy. The same thing is happening here except it is the opposite effect. I have let my studies go, let my health go, screwed up some relationships with old friends and, to be honest, there is no reason for it. All this got me thinking…

WHAT HAPPENED?!

Why can I not be super motivated here at home? Why can I not be the guy that pulls up everyone around me? Show them how to get the energy so we can all feed off one another in appositive fashion. Supercharge my people so we can overcome the funk and KNOCK SHIT OUT! After a lot of contemplation I released that I CAN be that person. I WILL supercharge my people. I WILL lead from the front and lean forward. I WILL NOT let the downers get to me. I WILL meet this challenge head on and power through.

So, how do I go about doing all of this? I have to get my shit together so I can get back in the saddle and get everyone else on board. While reading around on the subject of motivation and procrastination I stumbled upon “The Guide to Un-Procrastination” (HERE). It is a short read but is packed with some good tips. After giving it a few reads I decided the first step I needed to take was to “unclutter” my life. As a nerd I have a lot of distractions. Here are some things I am to clear out my life:

1. Turned off cable. (Netflix and HULU+ for when I do want to catch up on something)
2. Started taking the train more.
3. Cleared of my desk.
4. Created a dedicating working space in my home.
5. Installed web usage monitors that block FB/Twitter/Reader after using them for over 5 minutes a day. (you would be surprised how much this helps)
6. Started sleeping. After getting pneumonia from not sleeping all through Cisco Partner Summit and Mardi Gras I learned that rest is good!
7. Started going into the office early so I can knock things out before others arrive.
8. Began putting exercise back into my life. (I am 6’5″. When I played Rugby at the University of Southern Mississippi I was 265-280 pounds. I am now at a whopping ~355 pounds. Not good sports fans.)
9. I do not work on anything without a ticket open in front of me to track my time. It keeps you tied to the moment and keeps you focused. PS: I love ConnectWise!
10. I have decided to start blogging more. Let me people know my plans and intentions. Sharing is caring ya know!

I also think the availability of booze is an issue. While I was overseas you had to go WAY out of the way to get booze. Here they deliver it to my house. I am not saying that booze is bad. I live in NOLA so it is part of daily life. I am just saying that maybe I should use it as a reward like I used to when I was away. You mix me with a bottle of Sailor Jerry and you will see a whole lot of nothing take place. LOTS OF NOTHING!!!

Procrastination note – I have found myself texting/facebooking AGAIN!

Here is another issue:

A wise woman once asked me, “Jesus Christ Tiny! How the hell do you fit your ego in this house?” My usual response would be to bring her attention to the 14 foot ceilings and open spaces but she has a valid point. Since my return I have let my ego go unchecked and I feel that is causing issues with my studying. While I was overseas I had to stay on top of my studies to make sure I was the most shit hot guy around. Now I feel like I do not have to do that and that is WRONG! I am working on the humility. I know some people do not believe it but I am. It takes time to break habits. Less talking, more listening. That is the first step. I once heard someone say, “Ego inhibits innovation!” and it is the truth. Once you think you are the baddest kid on the block you stop trying. I do not know why I started acting this way. I think I was always like this but I had great guys around me that acted the same way and we would knock each other down, hard, from time to time to keep each other in check. Without them around shit has just grown out of control. Time to try and take it down a notch!

As you can see it would seem as if I have a lot to work on but I think it will all work out nicely. Once I get a few things rolling everything else will fall in place. Basically it comes down to two thing:

1. Get in shape
2. Get my numbers!

If I focus on those two things the rest will start to come together. I KNOW IT!

Thanks for hanging out this long. I promise we will be back to the tech shortly!

Dan

http://ciscovoiceguru.com/2027/unified-messaging-exchange-2003/

(0621)

LOTS! I have so much crap going on right now it is insane. I have been up since 0533 (which is normal) and have accomplished a lot thus far. Knocked out some laundry, responded to e-mails, replied to some twitter mentions and am now relaxing for a moment before I row and shower.

I really wanted to go for another Five Fingers run this morning but I have a feeling I will be visiting clients today. I say that because clients look at you funny when you walk around like you calves are about to fall off. So, a row will do to get the blood flowing this AM.

I wish I had some damned boiled eggs for breakfast. All I have is Egg Beaters which I guess will have to do. Anything is better than stopping at one of the many fast food outlets along my way to work. Some eggs here then maybe some oats at the office around mid morning. That should keep me motivated!

Ok, Gotta run (or row)! Throw another load of laundry in the dryer, get my row on, throw down some eggs and a shower and go knock this day out!

(0822)

Making plans always has a way of backfiring.  I went to get on the rower when the phone rang and I was told that most of the phone calls in a location in Mississippi were automagically rerouting themselves for no reason.  By the time I fixed that I had just enough time to run out the door and make it to a meeting while grabbing a biscuit on the way.  Stupid gluten.  Lets hope the day moves as fast as the morning has!

Trying out an edit: Man o’ man I need that hair back!

When performing a Type II integration between WebEx Meeting center and MeetingPlace 8 you need to NAT TCP ports 443, 7676 and 80 through to your MeetingPLace server to allow users external to your corporate network to authenticate.

I have heard that this may not be a supported configuration from Cisco but, if you need to use WebEx like you are supposed to, it is necessary.

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As you may or may not know I have scheduled my second attempt at the lab on July 5th in RTP.  That being said I have been living in the lab.  This weekend I got quite a bit accomplished in the area of increasing my speed.  I focused a lot on getting into my routers, knocking out the required tasks (QoS, SRST, H323, GK, CUBE, etc.) and getting out of them and into the CUCM.  I want to be able to read my lab, get it sectioned out and get my routers out of the way within the first 1.5 hours.  So, I broke out all of my practice labs and did just that.  I would load my rack, start the clock and go go go!  I would have the book closed with my pencil and paper just like you would at the beginning of any lab.  I would sit down, start the clock and open up and start the reading process.  After I had all of my tasks laid out for each device I would begin configuration.  After I felt I had completed all router specific tasks I would stop my clock and verify my work.  Then start all over again.  I will say that I am now scary fast when it comes to the router tasks and am ready to move on to the CUCM and all of the things that are based upon it.  I also saved my router configs so I do not necessarily need to configure them every time.

I was unable to schedule lab time for today and tomorrow as I have work related stuff going on and there is a class in san Jose also if I am not mistaken.  Check the calendar to see my labbing schedule.

Have a great day!

Dan