The Area 0

Jeremy D. Cioara, CCIE No. 11727 weighs in on what he’s discovered regarding how to pass the CCNA, and why employers are going to have to screen their candidates even more thoroughly.

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The innovative architecture of the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches simplifies data center transformation by helping to enable a standards-based, high-performance unified fabric. Next-generation data centers increasingly have dense, multi-core, virtual-machine-intensive servers. As the network foundation of Cisco Data Center 3.0 and the latest addition to the family of data-center-class switches, the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series can meet these business, service, application, and operational requirements.

With these switches, you can:

• Consolidate the data center and protect investments in existing server, network, storage, and facilities assets
• Decrease the total cost of ownership by simplifying the data center infrastructure
• Increase business agility with easier, faster, and pervasive data center virtualization
• Enhance business resilience with greater operational continuity
• Use existing operational models and administrative domains for easy deployment

The following is the pricing breakdown:

Chassis

Cisco Nexus 5020 Chassis - 40-port 10 GE 2RU switch with 5 Fan Modules
and no power supplies (req SFP+) N5K-C5020P-BF $34,500

Power Supply and Fan Modules

Nexus 5020 1200W AC Power Supply N5K-PAC-1200W(=) $1,500
Nexus 5020 Power Supply Blank N5K-P2-BLNK= $75
Nexus 5020 Fan Module N5K-C5020-FAN= $300

Expansion Modules

N5000 6-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet Module (req SFP+) N5K-M1600(=) $5,400
N5000 Expansion Module Blank N5K-M1-BLNK= $75

Transceivers and Cables

10GBase SR SFP+ optic SFP-10G-SR(=) $1,795
10GBase Copper SFP+ (Twinax) cable 1 meter SFP-H10GB-CU1M(=) $150
10GBase Copper SFP+ (Twinax) cable 3 meter SFP-H10GB-CU3M(=) $210
10GBase Copper SFP+ (Twinax) cable 5 meter SFP-H10GB-CU5M(=) $260

More information can be found at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/index.html

Ever have to think up a strong password for a critical system, and wonder just how secure the password is? Well the guys over at www.passwordmeter.com have come up with a system that checks your password and scores it based on things like number of characters, number of consecutive upper/lower case characters, etc.

No word yet on whether they use AJAX or something to store these passwords, and the site isn’t SSL protected, so use at your own risk. Definitely a neat application, though.

The Cisco CCNA has lost a lot of its value in recent years, mostly due to exam cheating materials such as Testking and Pass4Sure which allow you to download actual copies of the certification exam (complete with solutions) to study from
These are quite common in India, and this page demonstrates this. Thanks for de-valuing my cert, you douchebags

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Pakistan removed from the Internet by ZDNet’s Richard Stiennon — 4:30 PM Eastern (US). The telecom company that carries most of Pakistan’s traffic, PCCW, has found it necessary to shut Pakistan off from the Internet while they filter out the malicious routes that a Pakistani ISP, PieNet, announced earlier today. Evidently PieNet took this step to enforce a decree from the Pakistani government that ISP’s […]

Why did I use the title I did? Well… if the idiots overseas didn’t feel it necessary to cheat on their certification exams using things like Testking and Pass4Sure, they might have known how to solve the issue at the source, rather then doing something stupid and drastic.

Winelibrary TV, hosted by the one and only Gary Vaynerchuk, is running a contest this week, called the “Bring the Thunder” contest (which he has referred to on-camera as the “Spread the Thunder” contest…). I have decided to write a blog post about my experience with wine, which exists solely because of Gary V and his Thundershow.

This is the video explaining the contest, if you haven’t heard of it yet:

To re-cap what Gary said in the video, the prizes are:

• Grand Prize (1). The Grand Prize winner will receive a trip to co-host Wine Library TV with Gary Vaynerchuk, then a private dinner with Gary in New York City, and we’ll put you up at a hotel in New York.
• Runners-up (5). The 5 Runners-up will receive an AppleTV. Watch the Thunder Show in glorious high defintion!
• Sub-winners (25). 25 sub-runners-up will win an exclusive Wine Library TV Schwag pack, featuring the *NEW* limited edition Wine Library TV wristband and more!

So where do I begin? At the beginning, I suppose.

One day I was watching Diggnation, and Gary Vaynerchuk from Winelibrary TV was hanging out with Kevin and Alex. I thought “cool, they’re friends.” A few weeks later, Kevin and Alex mentioned WLTV on the show, so I decided to check it out. Everything changed at that moment. The first time I watched WLTV, I was hooked. Gary is exciting to watch, has a great personality, and really knows his stuff. I watched for a few months before I even bought my first bottle of wine. (Keep in mind that up until that point, I had only had one glass of wine in my entire life, and it was on a dinner date with an old friend. I had simply said “I’ll have what she’s having.”)

I asked Gary V what I should buy via both email and via his “Ask Gary” Facebook application. Gary suggested Ercavio Roble La Mancha 2005 as well as an Australian Shiraz. I hit up Winelibrary and bought the Ercavio Roble La Mancha, as well as a bottle of Little Penguin Shiraz and a bottle of Amaroo Shiraz. When the package arrived, I hit up Walmart to buy an inexpensive set of wine glasses and a corkscrew. Once I got home, I was absolutely blown away by the packing. The box was MUCH smaller then I had expected, with extremely efficient and safe packing materials used. The Styrofoam inserts were custom shaped for wine bottles!

Let’s just say the wine was not what I was expecting. I was expecting to taste the fruit that Gary always talked about with Australian Shiraz. I tasted… alcohol. Nothing at all but alcohol. I let the bottle of Little Penguin sit out with the cork out overnight, to let the alcohol dissipate a bit. The second day it was definitely better. I’ve heard Gary talk on the show about how with time and practice, you don’t even notice the alcohol anymore, so I figure I’ll just keep plugging away at it, trying different wines, until I really start to enjoy them.

I just wanted to give a big thank you to Gary V for turning me on to tasting wine, and giving me a little bit of entertainment every day!

Finally, I figured a list of what I have done to “Bring/Share the Thunder” was in order, so here it is:

1. Obviously, this blog post.
2. Talk about WLTV all the time with people at work.
3. Showed my mom WLTV when I was back home over Christmas. She liked it enough to ask me to go bookmark the site on her laptop
4. I’ve been wearing my WLTV wristbands while playing racquetball at least twice a week
5. I’ve changed my email signature at work to include a link to WLTV
6. Subscribed to the WLTV Feedburner Feed.
7. Added a WLTV badge to my website
8. Added a WLTV widget to my website
9. And finally, I created a group on Facebook - “Help Chris win the ‘Bring the Thunder’ contest!”. I’ve invited all my friends, and as of this point have 28 members (Including Mr Vaynerchuk, and some people who probably joined after seeing Gary V join). I’m aiming for 100 at some point, even though that may not happen until the contest is over.

I would absolutely love to win the contest, but the second prize (an AppleTV) and the third prize (WLTV prize packs) are pretty damn awesome too!

Because you (us), with a little bit of me (Gary V), we’re changing the wine world - whether they like it, or not.

Check out the IRC conversation I had today. First the guy argues, and then he proves my point completely.

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The Cisco Nexus 7000 is the newest switch to the Cisco family.

From Cisco.com:

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series is a modular data center-class switching system designed for 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks. The Cisco Nexus architecture scales beyond 15 terabits per second, with future availability of 40Gb and 100 Gb Ethernet and unified fabric I/O modules. This new platform is designed for exceptional scalability, continuous systems operation, and transport flexibility.

The Cisco Nexus 7000 Platform is powered by Cisco NX-OS, a state-of-the-art operating system. The Cisco Nexus 7000 Series is purpose-built for the data center and has many unique features and capabilities designed specifically for the most mission-critical place in the network, the data center.

Here is the pricing breakdown for the new Cisco Nexus 7000:

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I bought a car last summer. Nothing special, it’s a 2003 Volkswagen Jetta 1.8T, but I love it. I don’t however, love the bank that loaned me the money, Golden Plains Credit Union Not only did they rape me with a 13.5% rate (which I can understand, I was a first time buyer with no credit history), but they have this crazy habit of screwing around with my money.

First - my first ever car payment was made by check because I hadn’t got my automatic deposit set up yet. It was sent post-dated for the day the payment was due. Obviously, being a bank, they cashed it anyway. Over half a month before the date on the check. I know legally they could do so, but most places honour post-dated checks. The money was there to make the payment without an issue, however after that money came from my bank account, I had three or four bills I had paid by check not go through, a $35 service charge each time. Lovely.

Learning from that, I set up a system where my employer throws $170 out of every pay into the savings account that came with my loan, and then once a month, $338 comes from that savings account and is applied to the loan. 100% automatic. The reason being, I never see the money, so I don’t miss the money, and it’s impossible to ever be late or miss a payment. Until….

The back of my November statement had an interesting message on it:

“Have extra money to spend with our Holiday Payment Extension. If you qualify, you can skip your December loan payment. Ask for details!”

I thought: “awesome.” I could definitely use the money for Christmas, since I was flying back home and renting a car while there. I called my bank on December 18, and asked if I qualify. When I was told that I did, I asked to please go ahead and process it. I then asked if I could transfer $300 from that savings account to a checking account I have at another bank. (Because I don’t have a check/debit card for this savings account, but why get a holiday extension if I can’t use the money, right?). The transfer cost me $15, and was done by a sweet young girl named Kayla. I then had money for Christmas.

Christmas holidays back at home came and went, and I arrived back home to a pile of mail in my mailbox. One of the items was a letter from my bank, I opened it curiously, since it wasn’t the same envelope that my statements usually come in. It read:

“27 DEC 07 - Since we know you value a good credit rating, this is a reminder that we have not received your payment of 338.34 which was due 19 DEC 07. Please call us with any questions or to make arrangements if needed.”

My first thought was “well no shit, idiots…” and Monday came and went. When I got home, there was another similar letter in my mailbox:

“03 JAN 08 - We appreciate the fact that you came to us for this loan. However, we are confused as to why you have not made your payment due 19 DEC 07. Please remit your payment of 338.34 in the next 5 days to avoid further correspondence from our collection department. Please disregard this notice if you have sent your payment or have made other arrangements.”

What… the… hell? I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I calmed myself down, thinking “it’s not a big deal, they just forgot to apply the extension”, and called them. I spoke to a woman named DarLynn Beaty, who said there was a form I had needed to sign, and pay $10. I was informed of neither of these conditions when I had called to ask for the extension. Also, since I never received the form she spoke of, again it was clear that the fault was on their end. I thought: “why would I transfer $300 out of my account only two days before payment was due, if I wasn’t getting the extension?” I played it cool, saying something like “no worries, just go ahead and send me the form and I’ll sign it for you.”

Her reply sounded less then pleased, saying “umm… no. The extension was available in November and December only. You will need to make a payment to your account.”

And thats when I got angry. “uhhh…. like hell. YOU screwed up, YOU fix it. NOW!” She asked to put me on hold, and then came back about five minutes later saying they would be sending me the form. Problem solved, or so I had thought…

Today I received my “Extension Agreement” letter, which was clearly not the one everyone else got. It read:

“Since you have expressed to us that you are unable at this time to comply with your current repayment terms on the loan(s) referenced below, by signing the agreement you agree to the repayment plan listed below:”

Wait a second… unable to comply with the repayment terms? That’s not true at all! I knew what would happen if I signed this, it would mean I would be admitting fault, and they could do as they pleased with my credit record, and they would have my signature to back it up. I don’t think so. So, I called them back.

I spoke to DarLynn Beaty again, and this conversation was even less pleasant then the previous one. She explained that because the Holiday Extension was for November and December only, this letter was coming from their collections department. I explained to her that I was unable to sign a document containing false information. I said something like “why would I sign something that isn’t true? You screwed up, not me.” Her reply sounded like a mother scolding her child “dont start with THAT again….”

She offered to get “John”, the guy who runs the collection department (I can’t recall the exact title) to call me. I said I would appreciate that. As of 3pm that day, I still hadn’t heard from him.

I called the other branch, the one that actually did the transfer. I asked to get the name of the person who processed the transfer. They told me they would find out and let me know. Kayla called me not long after. I explained what was going on, but she had no recollection of the situation or my transfer. She did offer to phone DarLynn Beaty at the Liberal office and talk with her. I haven’t heard back from either of them.

To top everything off, the money that was in my savings account was automatically applied today to the “delinquent account”, minus a late fee. So, not only is Decembers payment one large clusterfuck, but now January’s payment wont clear, either. Beautiful! It’s really looking more and more like their mistake is going to cost me my credit rating.

This is just one more chapter in my story about how much I hate banks, and credit card companies. I do everything right, by the book… and I get screwed. Every time.

*update*

Jon from Golden Plains called me after this post was written. He confirmed that it was no fault of mine, that the form is a standard wording that they aren’t allowed to deviate from, and that he would take care of everything. He assured me that nothing would be put on my credit, the incorrect payment using January’s funds would be reversed, the late fee would be removed, and the past due would be removed. He also said to forward the form to him, and he’d make sure the $10 processing fee would be waived.

Also, he called again telling me that he learned that another letter had already been sent to me, with no better tone to it then the form they sent, and that they were required by law to send to all delinquent account holders to inform them of their rights. He told me that as it didn’t apply, to ignore it or throw it away. He stated that he wanted to call me to let me know, just so I wouldn’t get worried or upset by it.

I have to say, Jon was very polite the entire time, never used an accusing voice unlike the other woman, and seemed to really honestly care that the situation was looked after. Thank you Jon, I really appreciate it.