Lazy Saturday Afternoon... Not.

Journal Pii's Journal: Lazy Saturday Afternoon... Not. 2

Journal by Pii on Saturday April 26, 2003 @02:02PM

Here I sit, in my basement, watching Fight Club again... It's one of those movies that I watch every time I stumble across it on the Satellite, but this time, I put the DVD on.

I'm sure you've got movies like that... Movies you just can't help but watch whenever they come on. I've got a few like that.

Patton is one of them. Doesn't matter what I'm doing, if I stumble across Patton while channel surfing, I can put down the remote control. Magnificent bastard.

Two of the three Die Hard movies have the same result. The first movie, Die Hard, is a classic. Sometimes, during the annual Christmas movie viewing routine, I like to sneak Die Hard into the DVD player, hoping nobody will notice. It's so festive. I'm also hooked on Die Hard with a Vengence. Gotta love Samuel L. Jackson's character in Die Hard 3.

Speaking of SLJ, I'm going to have to add Pulp Fiction to the list. Caught that one the other night and couldn't help but watch it. (It kind of sucked, because I was about to go to bed... It was almost midnight on Wednesday, and I was tired... I mistakenly went through the channel guide one last time before turning off the TV, and there it was... No sleep for me.) Didn't like Pulp Fiction the first time I saw it, but it kind of grows on you. Now, I look back and wonder why I didn't like it at first.

In the same vein, I guess you'd have to put Reservoir Dogs on the list too. Great movie.

I also can't seem to get enough of Harry Potter. It's not like I watch it every time it's on, but it's definately my favorite thing to have on in the background while I'm in the middle of doing something else. Doesn't hurt that HBO's got it on twice a day lately, it seems.

LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring is similar. I like having it on in the background while busy with something, but there's a subtle difference. Generally, this movie ends up stealing my attention from the other task, and I end up concentrating on the movie. Not bad, I guess, but dangerous when time is short, because it's a long movie. I have to make an effort not to put this on when I've got something important to do.

Of course, this all started because I was working on something here in my basement. It's barely a basement any more... It's a dedicated home theater. 65" Mitsubishi HD set, 7.1 surround, deep burgundy walls, and heavy velvet curtains to obscure all light from the outside.

Toward the back, I have my desk set up, facing the screen. Right now, piled on top of the desk, in addition to my main desktop computer, are:

My Laptop (Dell 5000e)
One Cisco 4500 Router (Acting as a Frame switch)
Two Cisco 2610 Routers
Two Cisco 2501 Routers
Two Cisco 1751-V Routers
Two analog phones (connected to each of the 1751s)
One Cisco Catalyst 3550 Switch (Layer-3 (EMI Image))
Numerous Books and Study Materials

I'm down here gearing up for the CCIE lab again. I've been to it a few times, each time doing a little better than the last, but not quite good enough to put it behind me.

I have to be honest. I haven't passed yet because my study ethic has blown chunks. In addition to being generally lazy when it comes to study, I also don't have much of a financial stake in passing. I'm a veteran, and I'm using my GI Bill benefits to cover the hefty cost of the exam. Since I don't plan on attending college any time soon (ever), I'm going to lose my benefits if I don't spend them on something. May as well be this. Each attempt costs $1250, which I pay out of pocket initially, but I get it reimbursed the following month.

As a result, I haven't studied as long or hard as I should have. This time, however, I have put more effort into it, mostly because I'm tired of driving back and forth to Raleigh every few months. That said, I still haven't logged as many quality study hours as I would have liked. Generally, I've been at it 12 to 16 hours each weekend for the past 6 weeks. I haven't spent much time at all weeknights. I'm just too tired when I get home in the evening.

Well, break is over. Back to the stack. Wednesday is my next showdown.

I hope I've done enough.

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