My First CCIE

When I was a young boy, I ended up at some swimming class. I don’t remember if it was scouts or YMCA or what. What I DO remember is that there was a guy there who kept telling the instructors, “I can’t swim. I sink”. They, of course, reassured him. “Trust us.” and “It can’t be that bad”. At some point, we all had to jump in the deep end. This guy tried to restate his case and was, again, assured that even if he did sink… which he wouldn’t.. they’d be there to help him.

So.. the guy jumped into the water.

I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anything cut through water so quickly. And, even at that age, I was keenly aware of the shock and surprise on the faces of the instructors as he slid to the bottom. They .. eventually.. did pull the kid out of the water.

This has some similarities to my multicast experience. Particularly in troubleshooting. I can read about the mechanics of multicasting all day but when it’s time to dive in and support myself above the waters of troubleshooting.. well.. let’s say it’s shocking and surprising how quickly I hit the bottom of the pool.

So I’m really trying to hammer out multicast. I see the water. I see what swimming looks like. But give me a failed installation and I sink like that kid. I guess I have no other choice but to keep reading. Keeping lab’ing. Keep pushing until it breaks through. I keep telling myself that I’m a reasonably bright guy and that I’ve learned tough things before. So, I trust I’m going to do it. But I’m not there yet. But I CAN swim.