John Lennon said, “Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.”

How true. I made plans, big plans. CCIE baby! Yea, I can do this! And then life happened. I’m not complaining, it’s all about priorities right? And right now I’ve got an 18 month old little ball of energy bouncing around my living room which takes priority over all. Anyway, I had grandiose plans to tackle my CCIE, which I downgraded to CCNP after realizing that, without employer support, there was just no way I could afford to sit the lab exam. The CCNP exam isn’t really cheap either, and I just got an email stating my CCNA expires in March.

So I’ve decided in an effort to save my CCNA and secure another certification at the same time, I’m just going to renew it via the CCNA Security exam. I took an assessment on Cisco.com and scored a 68% without any studying, so I think if I brush up on my VPNs I’ll be doing pretty good. I find it kind of funny that I had planned to tackle the CCIE but instead will be taking another CCNA exam. But alas, life happens. Right now I’ve got a solid job, it’s just that my employer puts little if any stock in certifications.

So I’ll start cramming for my CCNA Security (be expecting some IPSEC posts to follow soon), and I’ll look to take the CCNP exams when I find a spare $600 in the sofa cushions.