Cisco Live Review

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Pat (00:01):
Hey everybody.
Welcome back to this week'sedition of Breaking Down the
Bytes.
As usual, I'm your host, pat.
You can find me on Twitter at@layer8packet.
That's the number eight.
Kyle, he's here too.
You can find him on Twitterdanath256.
You can find the show on Twitterat@breakinbytespod.
We are pretty active, so comesay hello.
There's always something to talkabout out there in the

(00:23):
Twitterverse or we are on allmajor social media too.
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(00:44):
Yeah, so just we're anywhere youget a podcast, we are there.
So, make sure you subscribe toyour platform of choice so you
can get us every week if that'ssomething you're into.
So, we are back.
It's been a few weeks.
We had some things go on someholidays, so yeah, there was
Father's Day in there.
Then there was the recoup fromCisco Live was in there.
And so we are back.

(01:05):
All three of us, threeMusketeers are here ready to
rock and roll, talk Cisco live,what we learned and what our
experience was like, and justsort of a little bit of a recap.
So if you're interested in thatstick around.
We will get into it.
And rock and roll.
So, Kyle, what's up man?
How you doing?

Kyle (01:22):
Yeah, not too bad.
Uh, dealing with the, smokesstill, you know, it's exciting.

Pat (01:27):
Canadian wildfires, they're gotta calm down.
They're encroaching on America'sterritory for the July 4th
weekend.
This is terrible.

Kyle (01:34):
Yeah.

Pat (01:35):
Can't have that.
Jesus.
Yeah, we for those don't knowhere on the East Coast, we I
guess there's some crazywildfires going on in, in
Canada, so they are making theirway down down the East coast and
it's been pretty hazy the lastcouple days.
And truth be told, we just had atornado warning here like an
hour ago.
Like, they told us to like, getin the basement and like get to
cover.

(01:55):
So, nothing happened.
No funnels or anything likethat, but the sky dig get pretty
dark and I was like, Ooh, thismay happen.
So, but we are clear and readyto rock and roll, so, but yeah,
tornado stuff's kinda kind ofscary, so, yeah, other than that
weather.
See, yeah, I covered yourweather, Kyle.
That's, that, that was yourthing.
So it is now covered.

Kyle (02:13):
just had to

Pat (02:14):
That's right.
.That's right.
That's it.
That's it Bait the old bait andswitch.
Hey.
So yeah, that's all good there.
So Alex, my friend, in thesunny, clear skies of Southern
California how are you my man?

Alex (02:27):
Yeah, nothing too new to report, so 4th of July weekend,
so my type of weekend grilling.
Nice weather here,

Pat (02:37):
Yeah,

Alex (02:38):
fireworks.
that's about it.

Pat (02:40):
up.
That's right.
Speaking of grilling, I got asmoker like a week ago, two,
maybe a week and a half ago now.
And I did my first barbecueyesterday, all day, eight hour
uh, pork butt on the old smoker.
The initial run, let me tellyou.
It was good.
It was real good.
So I'm intrigued to do more.
So, much more of that to come.

(03:00):
So stick around me.
We may talk about that and Imay, toot my own horn here on
the show every now and then whenI make one, it's pretty good.
So, the wife loved it.
My aunt came over last night fordinner.
She loved it.
So I was like, all right, wellthey, if they like it, then I'm
gonna keep going.
So it's all it's all good.
So if you're smoking or anythinglike that, you're grilling, all
that kind of stuff, hit me upcuz I'm a rookie and I need all

(03:22):
the help I can get, so it's allgood.
So I'm looking forward to doingmore.
I sent you pictures, right,right, Kyle?

Kyle (03:29):
Yeah.
Yeah.
It

Pat (03:30):
And you too, Alex.
Yeah,

Alex (03:32):
Yep.
Yeah.

Pat (03:33):
that looked pretty good.

Alex (03:35):
it

Pat (03:36):
right.

Kyle (03:36):
looked, so good.
I went out and I, I bought somewings and I was like, I'm gonna
smoke some wings now.

Pat (03:41):
See,

Kyle (03:42):
just got me set started, you know?

Pat (03:44):
I sucked into it.
That's it.
You have a smoker too, Kyle.

Kyle (03:47):
Yeah.
Pellet smoker.

Pat (03:49):
Oh, app pellet.
Nice.
that's awesome.
Yeah.
I got the old charcoal, so it'sall good.
So anyway let's regroup here.
What Cisco Live Man, it, itjust, it feels like forever ago,
but man, like it's one of thosethings where I'm gonna remember
it for a long time cause it wasmy first one and, people were
telling me that it's, it's acool place and, all this, that

(04:09):
and the next and man, it did notdisappoint.
So, I don't know.
Alex, do you have any openingthoughts on Cisco Live?
This is your, this was yourwhat, like third or fourth one
maybe.
Something like that.

Alex (04:21):
So I went to consecutive, then we had the Covid nonsense
and the first in person, uh,Cisco Live after that was last
year.
It didn't go and obviously wentthis year.
Um, so I guess the biggest thingI, this one is much different

(04:42):
than the two that I went topreviously.
So, um, But I heard that peoplethat went last year said it just
wasn't quite the sameexperience.
Uh, it's just, uh, they haven'tramped it up a hundred percent.
People were little anxious, Ithink, so the attendance was
down, some things were limited.
But yeah, this year it just feltlike the same great experience
that I had gone through

Pat (05:05):
yep.

Alex (05:05):
before.
So, yeah, this is is not ananomaly.
this is what I've come to fromCisco

Pat (05:11):
Yeah, I,

Alex (05:12):
if you didn't like it This year, you're probably

Pat (05:14):
yeah, right.

Alex (05:14):
year is my thought.

Pat (05:15):
I heard a round number.
I heard it was like close to17,000, something like that.
That, that walk through thedoor.
So it was it was pretty crazy.
I mean, like I said, it was myfirst time, so I didn't really
know what to expect or what to,or have anything I should say,
have anything to compare it to.
But and I thought, man, thatworld of solutions, when that
opened up Monday morning, itwas, I was just like, this is
the most people I've ever seenin my entire life.

(05:36):
This is insanity.
Like, it was just so crazy.
But no, it was pretty wild.
And I flew in Sunday I got therenoon local time and got the
badge, I was checked into thehotel, got the Cisco badge, the
whole deal.
And then being part of the CiscoChampions community, we had a
couple of like exclusive behindthe scenes tours that we got to

(05:58):
do.
So, so that was cool.
We walked over.
The world of solutions, like Isaid, wasn't open until Monday
to the rest of the folks, but wegot in Sunday night, so we
walked in and I kind of had amoment cuz I walked over to
where the store was the Ciscostore where they sell the
t-shirts and all that kind ofstuff.
And there was a couple champsthat I recognized from the

(06:19):
online space.
So I walked over and startedhanging out and introducing
myself.
Cause this a lot, this was thefirst time I was meeting anybody
in person from that community,which is kind of cool.
And then here, David Bombalwalks over and I'm like, Whoa.
Like David Bombal, like I'vebeen learning your stuff and
listening to you for literally adecade and like, here you are,
standing in person.
I was like, is this real rightnow?

(06:40):
This is crazy.
So, so that was really cool tomeet him.
He is a real standup guy.
Loved talking to him for a fewminutes and he was just, he was
interviewing everybody and justhanging.
I saw him later in the weekhanging, in our Cisco champion
space that they have carved outon the world of solutions floor.
There's like a little there'slike a little booth, not a
booth, but it's like a couplecouches and that kind of thing

(07:02):
where we kind of, you know, kindof congregated throughout the
week and, met whatever.
So, so that was cool.
He was back there with ushanging for a little bit, but he
is a really cool guy.
So if you don't know who DavidBaal is, go check him out.
YouTube is his big platform.
That guy just does a ton ofYouTube videos very heavy Cisco
cybersecurity networkautomation, all that stuff.

(07:22):
His channel is just a wealth ofknowledge.
So yeah, meeting him was reallycool in my eyes.
Cuz like I said, I've beenwatching his stuff for literally
over a decade and kind of meethim.
Was a full circle moment for me.
So that was kind of cool.
So yeah, Sunday was cool.
And then Sunday, you and I,Alex, we went to Topgolf to get
a little swing in, so that wascool.

Alex (07:45):
Yeah, certainly as a big golfer.
That was uh, always fun.
And then you talked aboutmeeting people that you've seen
in trainings.
Uh, as soon as you walked in,you walked in with, I, I forget
his name already.

Pat (08:00):
Oh yeah.
Du'An Lightfoot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dewan Lightfoot.
Yeah.
AKA Lab every day.
That's his Twitter handle.
He is pretty, he's prettypopular, so Yeah.
He what a what?
A he is.
What a,

Alex (08:11):
But yeah, as you walked in with him immediately I knew he
was familiar and I was thinkingto myself, man, that's so
embarrassing.
I must've worked with this guyin the past and I just don't
know who he is, or I don't, Ican't think of his name.
And then it dawned on me about30 seconds later that he was the
instructor of a course that I'dwatched online, not even a month

Pat (08:32):
yep.

Alex (08:33):
So, yeah, say my dad, it's really, you know, anyone who's,
anyone in this industry, to thisevent.
So, it really is interesting seethose characters.
So, yeah, I was already, youknow, first event.
of Cisco Live.
it was

Pat (08:46):
Right.It was so crazy cuz so we were with, like I said, we
were over at the World Solutionswith the champs and stuff and my
boss was there and our goodbuddy Gerard was there and he
and Dwan was hanging with Gerardcuz they're friends and they
were asking what we were doingand I was like, we're going to
top calls cuz our vendor washaving a night out there.
So they're like, ah, can we tagalong?
And I was like, Yeah, whatever.

(09:07):
So we all took a cab and there'sa funny picture out there on my
Twitter account, layer eightpacket look it up.
It's me, Gerard and Dewan in theback of a little ass cab.
And we're three big dudes.
So like, we really, like, weliterally squeezed in there and
like half of me was hanging outthe window cuz I could, we

(09:27):
literally all couldn't fit inthe back of the cab.
So, my boss, Evan was in thefront seat by himself, but then
it was the three amigos in theback and we're big dudes.
So like deju, like, it was sofunny.
We were at a stoplight, dwan.
Puts his cell phone out thewindow and takes the cell.
He's like, yo look over here.
And we just look over there andhe takes the selfie and that's
what this picture is from.
And oh man, it is it's so funny.

(09:50):
It's like, oh God, it's likethat Chris Farley skit fat, fat
guy and a little coat.
It's like, three, three fat guysin a tiny taxi, you know, that
kind of thing.
So that was That was prettycool.
So that's always a good memory.
But yeah, we all met the topgolf and man, DWA was swinging
it, man.
He was funny.
But I've never swung a golf clubin my life and that was fun for
me.
Cuz I just don't take myself tooseriously.

(10:11):
But yeah, that was a lot of fun.
You know, obviously Obviouslyhor d'oeuvres and drinks and,
all kinds of stuff and blah,blah, blah.
But yeah, we had some good funthere at the old top golf and
funny story I, it was my firsttime in Vegas as well.
And so when the night wrappedup, we walked out and it was my
boss, Evan and I, and.
We walked out and there was ablack s u v waiting out there

(10:34):
and the guy's like, oh yeah,I'll take you right now.
You know where you going?
We're like, oh, we stayed at theLuxor, oh, the Luxor, which is
literally like not even twomiles from this top golf.
And he gets in, I get in thefront seat, Evan gets in the
back, blah, blah, blah, and hedrops us off at the front thing
at the Luxor, and I hear Evan gohow much?
What's the damage?
And he goes, oh, 40 bucks.
And I almost felt like everyonewas gonna have a stroke, 40

(10:56):
bucks for like less than twomiles.
He's like, you gotta be kiddingme.
This.
And I'm like, dude, you'reexpensive.
Nobody's gonna blink an eye at a$40 cab ride.
Like nobody cares.
You I guy thing.
And he's like, I know.
It's just the principle.
I pay 40 bucks for a two milecab ride.
I'm like, dude you're the guywith the corporate card.
I don't have to mess with thatthat kind of thing.
So that was a funny story aswell.
But yeah, Cisco Live didn't evenstart yet.

(11:18):
And we had a full Sunday thatwas just, It was just crazy and
it, like, it didn't even startlike Monday morning is when it
actually starts.
So that was that was prettywild.
I gotta say.
It set the tone for the wholeweek and the week was pretty
good.
So that was always always a goodtime.

Alex (11:35):
So Monday it starts, and I mean, you probably could spend a
couple hours just going throughevery single day and what you
did.
But uh, starting with Monday,What shocked you the most?
What surprised you the

Pat (11:48):
well, I just, the amount of people that were there, and I
like when we talk about like,the world of solutions, which is
kind of the big ticket itemthere.
I would say that, that and thebreakout sessions are kind of
the two big things that CiscoLive is sort of known for is,
those two things.
So the world of solutions andjust the amount of space that's

(12:10):
out there and the amount ofvendors that were there was just
kind of, it was just, I didn'texpect it to be that big.
Like I knew it was gonna be big,but like, that was massive.
Like I, you, you literally couldset a whole day aside and just
walk the world of solutionsfloor and be completely content
with what you did that day.
Like, it was just insanity ofhow large that was.
I was not expecting it to bethat large, but it was

Alex (12:34):
Yeah.
I mean, I walk through every dayand still Thursday I was walking
around finding things that Ihadn't noticed all week yet,

Pat (12:42):
for sure.
yeah, for sure.
So Monday I did a bunch ofsessions Monday.
Some were great some was myfault, and I didn't pick them
right.
I thought my very first one wasa little too.
Novice a little too fundamentalfor my liking, but it was a good
refresher.
Not that it wasn't a good courseor a good session, but it just,
I felt like I could have poppedin another one in that space

(13:04):
that would've been a little morebeneficial to me.
But the review was, therefresher was good for me, but I
had a lot of good courses lot ofgood content.
The people that were putting onthe sessions were super smart,
really helpful and I'm lookingforward to going back and cuz
they're all recorded, you canget them.
You can get them on demand now.
So I'm looking forward to goingback and kind of really diving
in.
That's the one thing I didn'texpect or I was kind of taken

(13:29):
aback by.
Like, some of them were in thesemassive rooms.
Like, they're almost likeballrooms, like that's the size
of these things cuz so manypeople sign up for it and it's
kind of hard to concentrate, atleast for me, in that large of a
size.
Room and you kind of get lost inlike, looking at other things

(13:49):
like people and oh my God,what's going on here?
And this and that.
Like, even though everybody'slike focused on the presenter
and talking and he's got slidesand, all that kind of stuff.
Like it the larger the room, Ifeel it was a little distracting
for me to kind of get thecontent out of, whatever was
being presented.
But there was some phenomenalbreakout sessions that I went to
that was really helpful and I'mglad I went.

(14:11):
But it's funny, like I was alljazzed up, like at the beginning
of the week to do all thesesessions, and then by Thursday I
had like one session.
I didn't go to any othersessions, but like one on
Thursday.
So like as the week went on, thesession slowly died by numbers.
Like, Monday was like four,Tuesday was two.
Wednesday was like one or two.

(14:32):
And then Thursday I was likedown to one, I was like, oh,
this is, I'm done with this.

Alex (14:36):
Yep.
Yeah, and I mentioned it on ourprecursor podcast saying that I
think the biggest mistake peoplemake when they go to Cisco live,
at least for the first time, isthat they schedule too many
breakout sessions or theyattempt to go to too many
breakout sessions, and there'sjust so much more to it that
you're really gonna miss a lot,especially since these

Pat (14:57):
yeah,

Alex (14:57):
I mean, you can, you can re-watch these anytime you want.
You can't really walk uh, theshowroom floor or, uh, do
hands-on lab quite

Pat (15:06):
sure.
Yeah.
So one thing I didn't do thisyear was any hands-on lab.
I didn't do any of that.
I didn't do like meet theengineer, which I probably
would've liked to cause I waskind of focused on the sessions.
But if I do get a chance to goagain I will tweak a, a little
bit as far as what what I kindof focus on, like you said, the
here and now versus what you canget.
On demand sort of thing.

(15:26):
So that was a lesson or twolearned or whatnot.
But then Monday, you, our boy,Nate, and myself, we all went to
Morton's for dinner.
And that was the stake of alifetime right there.

Alex (15:39):
Well, eating out's always a grape

Pat (15:40):
Yeah.
So the idea at Cisco Live is toliterally like, do your thing.
And then so breakfast and lunchare provided by Cisco Live, and
then you're kind of on your ownfor dinner.
The idea at Cisco Live is to notpay for a single dinner the
entire week to get a vendor totake you out, which is the
absolute goal.
But Alex Alex, Nate and I, we,we took an Uber over to the

(16:04):
Morton Steakhouse that was thereand had a phenomenal.
Steak.
It was it was amazing.
So that was the only dinner thatI paid for that whole week was
Morton's.
Which was great.
The Morton's was was definitelya highlight of the trip.
That steak was so good.
Man, that's, I wish we hadsomething close to that back
here, but man, we just it iswhat it is.
And then it was funny cuz whatdid you guys do after Morton's?

(16:27):
Did you go gamble or what didyou do?

Alex (16:29):
Yeah.
That's pretty much what we didevery night.
It's like, uh, that, that wasour routine.
It was Cisco Live, that'sfive-ish six uh, go get dinner
and then go gamble.
And then it was, they werepretty early nights.
I mean, cuz uh, cuz we got tothe event at by nine every

(16:50):
morning.
So you didn't wanna morning.
But yeah, that was it.
That was probably back, at thehotel by.
10 most nights really.

Pat (16:58):
Okay.
Yeah.
Monday night after I left youguys, they went back the champs
were doing a, like a happy hourthing at the Rera, which is an
Irish pub in Mandalay Bay.
So they rent, they rented a roomone of the back bars, or back
rooms, I should say for theCisco champs.
And we just went there.
And so I showed up and there wasquite a few people still there
and hanging.
And so I hung I hung with somecool cats back there.

(17:20):
So, shout out to my buddyJordan, who's at NetBox or
NetBox Labs, I should say.
So, we hung with him for awhile, taking a drink or two.
And then that kind of kind of, Idon't wanna say dried up, but it
was over at like nine 30 ish orwhatever.
And then one of the other guys,we were all like, ah, we're not
really quite like, go back yet,blah, blah, blah.
And so me being a big hockeyguy, ice hockey the Golden

(17:42):
Knights were playing at theT-Mobile arena right next door.
So, so the one guy's like, Heylet's let's walk over there and
see if there, there's a bar overthere from what I remember from
last time, see if we can go cashinto the game, blah, blah, blah.
I was like, okay.
So we walked through the,through Luxor, through the
Excalibur, and on the other endof the Excalibur was, is it kind
of dumps you outside, but it'sright that, right at that bar,

(18:04):
at the T-Mobile arena.
And by the time we got there, itwas k it was, the game was over.
And so we had one beer and thenthey kind of closed up.
Closed up on us.
Then we drank our beer walkingback.
But I didn't get home till, Ididn't get back to the hotel
till like close to midnight.
It was like 1130, midnight.
I was like, Ooh, I'm burning themidnight.
Oh, I gotta get up.
That kind of thing.
So that was always fun.
It's always nice to see theVegas nightlife when you can.

(18:26):
So that's all good there.
What's some other highlights?

Alex (18:28):
Monday

Pat (18:30):
That's it.
That's right.
That is a productive Monday.
Tuesday was the first keynote.
I was actually like, I wanna saylike three rows on the bottom
floor.
I was three rows back, so thatwas pretty cool.
That was really close for thefirst keynote.
Where all the C level folks getup there and say their spiel
and, that kind of thing.
So that was neat.
Did you guys go to that Alex?

Alex (18:50):
Uh, we did and uh, we did show up a little bit late and I
think that goes like how.
Packed.
one was the Cisco Live becausethey were filling up like just
secondary rooms where you justhad a screen so you could watch
the keynote.

Pat (19:05):
Oh wow.

Kyle (19:05):
wow.
Yeah.

Alex (19:07):
So yeah, that's how I watched it.
I sat in one of those

Pat (19:10):
And to give,

Alex (19:11):
watched it.
on a screen.

Pat (19:12):
yeah.
Oh, wow.
That's pretty wild.
To give people an idea of wherethese keynotes were, at least in
Vegas they're in the MichelobUltra Arena, which is like, it's
in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, andit's a decent size arena.
Like, it's like, I wanna saylike, like the W N B A team
plays there or something.
I think I heard that.

(19:32):
Like, so it's like a decent sizearena.
It's not just a, it's not just aballroom where people can get so
many, a couple hundred chairsin.
Like, it's a, it's an actuallike sports arena where people
come and play and, basketballand all that kind of thing.
So if they were putting peoplein ballrooms, you know, a lot of
people showed up to that.
Like, it was pretty crazy.

Alex (19:49):
I just looked it up.
12,000 people fitting there.
So,

Pat (19:52):
There you go.
See?

Alex (19:55):
More than 12,000 showed up to watch that cuz I

Pat (19:57):
That's it.
That's it.
Yeah, exactly right.
So that was that was a goodtime.
I was part of Tech Field Daywhich was pretty cool.
That was my first tech fieldday.
I was basically like a delegatefor Tech Field Day.
And I had the company Open Gearcame in and did a presentation
for Tech Field Day.
So Open gear is like a lot oflike, out of band management

(20:20):
type deals.
So they were doing that.
So that was cool.
Got some swag on that.
So that was really cool.
that was the last minute

Alex (20:27):
too familiar with that though.
When you brought it up, that'sthe first time I had heard about
it.
So what exactly is the ideabetween Tech Field Day?
They just pull some people thatare in the.
I don't know, social media,podcast field, people that are
kind of like

Pat (20:44):
not even that.
It's, more just.

Alex (20:46):
to take a look at something.

Pat (20:48):
well, yeah, they have a few, they have Tech Field Day.
They have Security Tech FieldDay, they have Networking Tech
Field Day.
So there's a couple of differentevents throughout the year that
they do.
They just had.
Tech Field Day security or theycall it security field day.
It was actually the 28th and29th of June, so it was
literally this week.
And they have them all aroundthe states.

(21:09):
Most of them are out your way,Alex, like California, like
Silicon Valley, and stuff likethat.
They have a storage field day,they have cloud field day.
So there's all these differentevents and they're basically,
they bring in, I forget how manythere are.
You can look it up.
It's tech field day.com, butit's they have X amount of
delicates where they actuallylive stream it, they video
record it, blah, blah, blah.

(21:30):
And they bring in differentvendors of whatever.
Tech field day you areattending?
I'll stay with the network one,cause that's the vein we live
in.
But like, so they bring in allthese vendors and then basically
you are there to be kind of avoice for the possible consumer.
So we're there to ask questionsabout X, Y, and Z.
We're there to ask, like addlike real life or real

(21:53):
environment scenarios for thisgear, that kind of thing.
So, how would you deploy this?
Or Hey, we have this type ofenvironment.
How would you deploy X or howwould y work?
That kind of thing.
So we're there to be like theaudience voice as they're giving
their presentation.
So that was pretty cool.
Yeah, it was pretty neat.

Alex (22:11):
how'd you earn your spot?

Pat (22:13):
I was actually invited last year but I couldn't go for
whatever reason.
I couldn't remember.
Oh, I just started a customer'sbank like it, and like the event
was like, like a month after Istarted, so I couldn't like, and
you actually, like, theyactually fly you out and you go,
so it's like you have to takeoff from work to like do this

(22:34):
sort of thing.
So it's, it's a whole, like, Idon't wanna say it's a couple
days.
I don't know if it's a week, butit's a couple days.
So like I didn't feelcomfortable taking off that
early in my customers bankcareer.
It's like, Hey, I'm starting inMay, but in June I'm going.
So I told him to kind of put meon the back burner and then the
guy that runs it, Tom he went tomy boss, Evan, cuz they know

(22:55):
each other from, from.
Tech field days in the past andasked if I knew anybody and my
boss threw my name out there andthat's how I got the last minute
spot out there at Cisco Live.
And it was with open gear andmet some cool people and it was
a good,

Alex (23:09):
Yeah, I guess that's something that kinda impressed
me uh, with, with how you didyour Cisco live.
First time you went there andyou almost felt like a vet, like
you did a lot of things.
Uh, I think people, like theyworked their way up to like
doing some of these side thingsand getting into some of these
bigger events and yeah.

(23:31):
Kudos to you.
That's good.

Pat (23:32):
Yeah, it was cool.
Yeah.
I was just like, yeah, sure,I'll do it.
That kind of thing.
So I just sacrificed a sessionor two.
But again, like we said, they'repre-recorded, so I can do'em
anytime.
But it was like an hour and ahalf or whatever, and they had
the whole thing, they micd you,they, video the whole it live
stream all that kind of stuff.
So that was fun.
So that was that was Tuesdaymorning for me.
And then Tuesday you and I gotinto the DevNet stuff and we'd

(23:54):
never seemed to like leave theDevNet arena, the DevNet zone
that yeah.
That we got.
So that was an interestingthing.
Yeah that was interesting.
You got some swag outta that.
Yeah.

Alex (24:05):
a little bit.
Yeah.
So I know pat's getting at theCapture the Flag event uh,

Pat (24:13):
Yeah.

Alex (24:13):
which is really just a lot of labs on a bunch of different
technologies, and you get pointsby accomplishing certain tasks
within these differenttechnologies.
Um, and they do, they walk youthrough most of it and they're
pretty good labs.
I mean, you learn a lot.
Um,

Pat (24:30):
Yeah.
Yeah, they were.

Alex (24:32):
first started doing it, uh, I just.
Like anyone else, I guess Ijust.
picked the, the technologiesthat interest me the, most.
And they have these thingscalled missions where uh, once
you capture X amount of flagsfor a certain technology, you
complete a mission by the way.
Um, I ended up completing two ofthose and then one of the
proctors just walked over cuz Idon't think they advertised this

(24:55):
anywhere cuz I didn't realizethis was

Pat (24:56):
No, I didn't hear

Alex (24:58):
They just said, oh uh, since you completed two missions
within this track, you actuallyget$50 to uh, Cisco store.
And that's wasn't just cuz I wasthe first one or anything like
that.
Just anyone Got it.
And uh, so that.
prompted Nate who was with us.
And did you end up getting it,yours too done or no?

Pat (25:18):
No, I tried, but I didn't get to the finish line.
I ended like two or threemissions before I was like, oh
man, I ran out of time.
Cuz they technically stopped atWednesday at three o'clock I
think it was, or whatever itwas.
So like, I did the SD wan trackfirst, so I just thought it was
just two, two missions or twotracks.
It was actually specific to thedata center track.

(25:41):
So that did like Nexus dashboardand things of that nature.
So I was like, oh.
So I thought, well, I'll do theSD WAN one and then I'll do
another one and that should beit.
No, it was specific to the datacenter track, which I didn't
realize until later.
And then I tried to squeeze itin at the end of the, at the end
and Wednesday at three o'clockwas the cutoff time.
And I didn't make it.
So did Nate end up making it?

(26:02):
Did Nate get some swag?

Alex (26:04):
two, so he got his$50 card

Pat (26:07):
Nice.
That's cool.

Alex (26:09):
and then, we ended up spending a lot of time on it.
But the, the reason that weended up spending a lot of time
is I think because you got that$50 gift card for completing
those two missions, we thoughtthat, because they said there
would be rewards for finishingin the top two for certain
tracks and then there'd be uh,the top five overall would get

(26:30):
awards.
So I guess in our headsthinking, well, if you got$50
for just completing two missionson your own time, then there's
gotta be something real sweet ifyou

Pat (26:42):
That's it.

Alex (26:43):
being the, the top dog in any of these categories.
So we ended up spending anungodly amount of time over the
next two days.
I think I put about 13 hoursinto it.
I ended

Pat (26:52):
Yeah.
It was crazy.

Alex (26:53):
,so I did end up winning.
I was number one overall,

Pat (26:56):
Did you ice?

Alex (26:57):
got a, uh, piece of paper that said, congratulations.
Uh, I know no one else see it,but, um, maybe for Kyle's sake,
I let him know.

Kyle (27:06):
Woo.

Pat (27:07):
Oh yeah.
Little token action there.
Yeah.

Alex (27:11):
simple trophy, and um, I, I did get a raspberry pie, which
at the time I didn't realizethat a couple bucks.
Uh, actually I just sold it on aFacebook marketplace for$60,

Pat (27:26):
Oh, nice.

Alex (27:28):
uh, but yeah, so didn't quite end up getting what I
thought.
But I did learn quite a bit.
Um, but I do kind of feel like Idid waste, uh, Some of the, the
golden hours of Cisco live by

Pat (27:41):
Yeah.
That's funny.
Yeah, it was funny.
Like I would get up and go andjust like leave you guys there,
like go to do sessions or go dowhatever and then I'd come back
and you're still sitting at thesame spot like an hour or two
later.
I'm like, oh man, this is crazythis is hardcore.
You guys are crazy.

Alex (27:58):
Yeah.
It's the competitor in me cuz Ihave a leaderboard.
So you can see

Pat (28:03):
Right.
Yeah.
It's easy to get sucked into.
Yeah, absolutely.
I get it.
Yeah, you're super competitive,man.
You're just like you're one ofthe most competitive guys I
know.
You're like, oh.
Like, once I found out, likethere was an actual, like prize
at the end of the, at the maze,I was like, oh, that's it.
He's done.
Like, that's it.
And Nate's just along for theride at this point.

(28:23):
Like, it's like, oh he's toast.
These guys are gonna sleep hereand you'll see him in the
morning, goes shit, but no, thatwas funny.
Every time I came back or Itexted you, I was like, yo,
where you guys at?
Like, every time I was like,DevNet, I was like, okay, there
he is.

Alex (28:38):
CTF

Pat (28:38):
Yeah, that was funny.
But no time well spent.
I did like the labs as well.
I thought it was some cool stuffthat I'll never get to kind of
touch.
But it was it was neat to atleast get some experience with
it and, who knows?
But it was some good time.
SD wan obviously.
I did, and then I did some ofthe data center stuff, nexus
dashboard and that kind ofthing.
So it was some good hands-onthat I may or may not see in the

(28:59):
future, so who knows.
Then Tuesday night I had anothervendor dinner.
We went to a Braziliansteakhouse, so I had the meat
sweats after that.
That was pretty good.
Yeah.
Enjoyed that

Alex (29:08):
I E party on Tuesday

Pat (29:10):
Oh yeah.

Alex (29:10):
Topco.
That disappointment.
It, I think it, it goes to showyou just like how many people
were show, like showed up forthis thing, but, um, there was a
C C I E and then you could bringa, a guess and they rented out
two levels of top golf andthere's 220 bays total.

(29:31):
But I think the third

Pat (29:32):
Oh, wow.

Alex (29:32):
one of the levels that they rented out was, is smaller
than uh, the others.
So, you know, say there's likea, they rented out 120 bays for
what was probably 2000 peoplethat showed up.
So,

Pat (29:46):
Yeah.

Alex (29:46):
yeah, I mean the reason that what I'm leading to is that
uh, I didn't get a chance togolf So cuz they were, cuz I got
there maybe 10 minutes after itstarted and it's just there,
everybody, every single

Pat (29:59):
It was just swamped.

Alex (30:00):
most had six or

Pat (30:01):
Uh,

Alex (30:02):
in it.
And the food was

Pat (30:04):
the worst.

Alex (30:05):
me.
Like the food that we had um,For your vendor meet.
That was actually like providedby Topco Cisco brought their own
stuff and it was like, it wasn'tthat great.

Pat (30:15):
Oh.
Oh, okay.

Alex (30:16):
style thing, but it was,

Pat (30:19):
Interesting.

Alex (30:20):
yeah, So

Pat (30:21):
Interesting.
So did you see any heavy hittersthere at the CCCA party?
Like you said, meeting, meetingsome people that we've that
we've gotten to know over theyears?

Alex (30:29):
that's a good point.
I don't think I actually did, Idon't remember seeing any like a

Pat (30:34):
Okay.

Alex (30:34):
uh, you know, the people that I've seen in videos and had
written books.
no.
I did see, and maybe this issomething we should have talked
about idea behind like thepecking order and the, the, size
of the badge you have like howmany

Pat (30:49):
Oh yeah.
Yeah.

Alex (30:50):
So for anyone who doesn't know, when you go to uh, Cisco
Live, you're given a badge withlike a lanyard that you put over
your neck and.
By default, it's just kinda likea square that says Cisco Live
and your name on it.
And then they give you, I don'tknow what they call'em, ribbons,
but they're maybe like these oneinch things that you kind of
just append to this, to yourbadge.

Pat (31:12):
Yep.
It's like a sticky tape.
Yeah.

Alex (31:14):
had one that said Champs probably.
And um,

Pat (31:17):
Yep.
And they're different colors, sodepending on what you get, you
kind of can identify it by acolor.
So I had a champs one.
There was one for Capture theFlag, so that was green.
There was a couple, like if youwere an ie, you had one, forget
what color that was.
All kinds of

Alex (31:33):
the reason I bring it up is you actually get one, for
every C C I E you have.
So if you're dual C C I E youget two.
so anyway, it's kind of like a,a joke that the bigger that is
is like the higher your rank,like how much close you're alpha
male

Pat (31:48):
right, right.

Alex (31:50):
So

Pat (31:51):
Some gorilla shit right there.

Alex (31:54):
So one of the funny things that Nate and I were doing when
we were there was we werepointing out people that had
these really long badges.
Like one guy was a seven time Cc I E, so you know, plus he had
all the different color ones, sohis was like hanging down to his
knee, which is

Pat (32:08):
Right.
Yeah I think I've seen that.
Yeah, I think I've seen thepicture.
It's kind of crazy.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There's some alpha mail shitright there.
There's some crazy stuff goingon.

Alex (32:19):
But there was definitely some obvious heavy hitters
there.
Some really technical guys.

Pat (32:26):
That's really smart.
Yeah, some really smart, sharpdudes.
Speaking of sharp folks it's thefirst time I met Jason Gooley.
So Jason Gooley being networkautomation guy.
I don't think he actually worksfor Cisco, but he like, he's
like in that space.
Really cool dude.
Really enjoyed talking to him.
And who knows, maybe we'll gethim on the show for a comp, for
an hour or so, whatever.

(32:47):
But yeah met Jason was a reallygood guy.
I actually bought he was ciscoPress author.
So he's got his own CiscoAutomation book out there now.
So, I'll have to pick that upand give that a shot since I
gotta get better at automation.
Anyway.
But yeah, Jason Gooey was great.
Daniel Dibb was another guy, C CI E, like I just met so many
people from the Champs programand then they introduced to so

(33:08):
many people like, so crazy.
Just how many people I met.

Alex (33:11):
yeah.
I, Daniel did, that'sinteresting cuz he uh, I, I met
him, I don't know, maybe 10years ago through the Cisco
Learning Network.
It's, I don't know what it,

Pat (33:22):
Oh yeah,

Alex (33:23):
he and I were really active on that.
And,

Pat (33:26):
yeah.
Yeah.

Alex (33:27):
met him in person in, um, Cisco, live in Orlando.
that's interesting.
So yes, running

Pat (33:33):
Yeah.
Met Daniel Dibb, great guy.
So yeah, there's a bunch ofpeople there.
Keith Bar.
Yeah, that was when was ThatThat, was Wednesday.
That's a good segue going intoWednesday.
Let me tell you, that wasanother oh shit moment for me.
Cause CBT Nuggets didn't have anactual booth there, they were
just kind of hanging out in likeone of the open spaces or
whatever.

(33:53):
And so another good friend ofmine beard it, dad, who is
another content creator in thisspace he was his first Cisco
Live as well, so it was our,obviously our first time meeting
each other.
He was on the show a while back,so I'm gonna go listen to that.
He's really cool.
Check out his YouTube stuff.
But yeah, he.
he.
was there.
He works for an I S P in likethe Pacific Northwest, like

(34:14):
Oregon, where he lives.
And they're mainly a Junipershop.
But he went and took a coupleclasses and walked around and
that kind of thing.
So I met him there and then he'slike, where you at?
I was like, I'm trying to,whatever.
And he's like, oh, come on overto, I forget what it was, town
square, blah, blah, blah.
And he's like, oh, I'm hangingwith Keith Barker and this and
that.
I was like, oh shit, I gotta goover there and, whatever.
So I go over there and it tookme forever cause I was actually

(34:36):
looking for a booth, like I wasactually looking for an actual
booth.
I didn't realize they were justhanging there, like out in the
open with couches and the chairsand shit.
And so I'm like walking around,I'm like, where are you?
He's like, we're by thePresidio, whatever.
And I was like, I'm here.
I don't see a C B T nugget spoofanywhere.
And then I finally, I was like,oh, I'm looking in the wrong,
they were hiding in plain, in,in clear sight.
So they were right out there.

(34:57):
And yeah, I got to meet KeithBarker, which is another one
that I've been learning fromfor.

Alex (35:02):
yeah.

Pat (35:03):
10 plus years, 15 plus years.
It's insanity.
And he was so cool.
He lives in Vegas, so like itwas nothing for him to jump
there.
And I was like, that's reallycool.
So he was talking to me and he'sactually, he asked, he wants to
come on the show.
So we'll be having him shortly,as soon as we can get scheduled
together.
Man.
I'm jonesing to get Keith to getto Keith on here.

Alex (35:21):
few

Pat (35:21):
He's really cool guy.

Alex (35:23):
met or watched uh, instructional videos on that you
feel like, man, these guys trulylike breathe this stuff.

Pat (35:30):
Yeah.

Alex (35:31):
he

Pat (35:32):
Yep.
He is one of them.

Alex (35:33):
much fun anytime he talks about these things.

Pat (35:35):
Yep.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
We talked for Like 15 minutesand I was just like I was like,
dude, do you know who you are?
He's like, ah, you're giving metoo much credit.
I'm like no.
Do you know who you are?
Like, like, I literally watchedyou for 15 years of over
various, my CC n a, my CCNAsecurity, the Palo Alto stuff.
I did, like, I watched all ofhis stuff that he that he did on

(35:56):
that, and he was a major part ofme passing a lot of my stuff,
and it's just like to meet himin person was just so cool.
It was so cool.
Cool.

Alex (36:04):
I assume that they love it because, I mean, it's not like
they're, you know, the type ofpeople that have paparazzis or
something like that.
But when they come to Ciscolive, they, they must feel like
rock stars.
I mean, because

Pat (36:14):
They have to, I would think so.

Alex (36:16):
of the people that walk there know who they are.
I mean, like, it's just

Pat (36:19):
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
So I met up with Keith, I met upwith I, I heard Anthony se
Cora's voice as I was walking.
I couldn't tell where he wascoming from.
I couldn't see him, but like, Iheard his voice and I was like,
oh, I gotta get to him.
And then I never got back tohim, but I never actually saw
him.
I just heard his voice out inthe crowd somewhere and I
couldn't pin where it was comingfrom.

(36:41):
But he's another one that Ilistened to for a decade or
more.
Anthony he's a good dude too.

Alex (36:45):
chance to talk to him, but yeah, I did.
He was standing right next to mewhen I went to the Cisco store
cuz uh, it was, uh, meet theauthor.

Pat (36:52):
Oh,

Alex (36:53):
So

Pat (36:53):
oh, nice.

Alex (36:54):
for, I don't know, all day several Anyway.

Pat (36:57):
Okay.

Alex (36:58):
have a new Cisco press book out or something like that.
But uh, yeah, he was just there,you know, signing books and, uh,
saying

Pat (37:05):
Hanging out.
Yep.
So that was cool.
Again, Beed it dad I met Lexi,or some of you may know her as
Track Pacer on Twitter.
She's part of the auto Networkengineering podcast.
Uh, Met her, she was great.
She was on the show.
She was on this show a whileback.
So go listen to that.
Tim Bertino, which is anotherart of network engineering

(37:25):
co-host he was there, so, I gotto meet him.
But yeah, it was all, causewe're all champs, so it was kind
of cool to see these people,kind of in person.
So, but yeah, it was really coolto meet some real dudes.
And it was and ladies obviously.
There was a lady there that Ithat I knew from the online
space Rika she rolls her RS whenshe says her name, but I can't
roll my Rs, so I'm just gonnasay her name is Rika.

(37:46):
But she came from Finland, Iwanna say.
And it was like, It.
I was talking to her Sunday, Ithink Sunday night before we
went to the top golf, justshooting shit.
And she actually makes it like avacation for her since I think
it's like a, it's almost, it'slike a 20 hour trip for her to
get to from Finland to, I thinkshe flew to LA and then lA over

(38:08):
to Vegas.
It was like a 20 hour trip orsome crazy nonsense.
And so, Cisco Live is like thefirst week of her vacation and
then she go, I think she wasgoing to Florida for like two or
three weeks and then flyingback.
So like she had to make it worthher while to come to the States
and, that kind of thing.
So like, just hearing her storywas crazy.
Daniel Dibb, he's a, another onethat's not I wanna say he's

(38:30):
from, I forget where he's from.
It's, I, he's not in the States.
But he's another one that like,these people travel like
ridiculous numbers of hours tocome to Cisco live.
And I was just like, to methat's like the f like a
fascinating story.
Like I can't get enough of that.
It's so crazy Like, it's justinsane to see how far these
people come from.
And it was cool.
Zoe, she was I was in with herat Tech Field Day and she's a

(38:54):
champ as well, so I saw quite abit of her over the week.
She's from, Over the, across thepond somewhere.
She has like an I Irelandaccent, but she's not from
there.
Like, she's over, I wanna saysome, somewhere in the uk.
But yeah, and she was, she'sactually pregnant.
So like traveling that much withchild is I'm sure not an easy
task.

(39:14):
So like, it's just crazy to seehow far these people come from.
And it was great to meeteverybody.
It was really something.

Alex (39:20):
Yeah.
And um, yeah, I noticed that'ssomething you were doing too, is
this, um, people go to Ciscolive and they're just 100%
focused on learning and thetechnical aspect of stuff.
But the social networking partof that is huge.
There's so many people you canget

Pat (39:37):
It's so crazy.

Alex (39:40):
yeah, I mean, the old adage is not always what you
know, so, you

Pat (39:43):
Amen.

Alex (39:44):
you too.
Just, uh, if you're, if you getyour name out these people, uh,
these people have a lot of reachin our industry.
So

Pat (39:51):
Yeah, for sure.

Alex (39:52):
you, I mean, 10 years from now, you

Pat (39:55):
Some of the other Champs.

Alex (39:56):
uh, you know, just going to Cisco Live opened up some
door that you're not yet knowof, but it

Pat (40:01):
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Some of the guys I met from justthe Champ stuff, like Mike
Johnson, he worked for Presidio.
Dan Kocher, he works for IPFabric that kind of thing.
So like there's some heavyhitters out there that that are
part of this Champs program andjust, meeting them in person,
just kind of shooting shit.
And, you know, Jordan from, fromNetBox um, hanging out with him
at at one of the events that wascool.

(40:21):
And just, sales, some of themare sales guys or sales
engineers.
Most of them are tech, techgeeks.
And it was funny I'm gonna stealthis from now on.
I dunno if I told you thisbefore, but our Cisco rep, Tim
he coined Cisco live.
It's like, nerd summer camp.
So I'm gonna call it that fromnow on.
So, Cause that's exactly whatit's literally like, it's a

(40:41):
summer camp for nerds and justlike you're among like-minded
people and they, you just can'tget enough of it.
I can't explain how like thesocial aspect of it is just,
it's just such a huge part ofit.
And that world of solutions islike, that world is your,
literally your oyster.
And you could do you could meetas many or little people as you
want, but I would say more themerrier.

Alex (41:02):
and I did feel this Cisco, I was a little bit different
from me because the previoustimes that I had gone, I was an
employee Evolve ip, which, youknow, no one's really ever heard
of.
Pretty small in the grand schemeof things.
I felt like I was treated sodifferently, this time around
when I

Pat (41:18):
Cause she works for Disney.
Yeah.

Alex (41:19):
like when they look at me Disney Plus and Hulu, like, wait
a second, well come here for asecond.
Let me lemme

Pat (41:25):
right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Probably a drink.
Yeah.

Alex (41:29):
AWS booth, I guess they didn't see my badge.
And one of the first questionsthey asked is like, what's your
uh, yearly budget with aws?
And I said it was about abillion dollars And She goes,
well, a million.
Yeah.
That's, that's a lot.
No, a billion billion

Pat (41:46):
Billy with a b,

Alex (41:48):
Oh.
I was like, who do you work for?
Oh, Oh,

Pat (41:52):
yes.

Alex (41:53):
And then they, they knew,

Pat (41:54):
Right.
The sway.
Mr.
Batt.
Yes.
Come over here with comfychairs.
Yeah.

Alex (41:58):
knew my solutions architect right off the oh, they
were like,

Pat (42:01):
Oh, really?
Okay.

Alex (42:03):
talks to you guys.
Yeah.
Oh.
I talk to Carl all the time.

Pat (42:05):
Oh, that's that's funny.
I have Carl on speed dial,actually.

Alex (42:10):
like, do you need anything?

Pat (42:12):
Yeah, that's pretty good.
Yeah, no I agree, man.
The people that you meet is justas good as any aspect of Cisco
Live at all.
I really think you can do somedamage and really get to spread
your wings there for, as manypeople as you talk to and
whatnot.
So, and I don't wanna toot myown horn, but Sunday night
before we kind of have, we hadthat little preview of the world

(42:32):
of solutions before it opened upMonday, I got my picture taken
with the Lombardi trophy.
So that was that, I skipped theline.
Went right up there.
Cause we had first access, thefirst crack at it.
It was, I was like, yep, that'spretty cool.
So that was you know,

Alex (42:45):
about it.
I stayed.
all right, I'll just, I see it.
I'm pretty close to it.
I don't need my picture.

Pat (42:50):
Yeah.
Right.
The old skip aoo.
Yeah, I don't need that.
Yeah.
That kind of thing.
So that was cool.
And then Wednesday night isusually the customer
appreciation night.
Alex, I know constant aren'tyour thing, but I walked over
our technical engineer.
Tim was there.
He was buying drinks for peopleat one of the casino bars
before.
And he sent me a text.
He said, come on over.
So I walked over you and acouple other, his clients were

(43:12):
hanging there.
So it was, we talked shop andhad some drinks and then we all
walked over together.
They, so they rented outAllegiant Stadium, which is
obviously Alex, you're afootball guy, that's where your
boys play Raiders.
So they rented out leading thestadium again, food, drink the
whole deal, blah, blah, blah.
And then that night Gwen Stefaniand Blake Shelton played.

(43:34):
So for those of you that don'tknow, they are a married couple.
Gwen Stefani being the pop starshe is, and Blake being the
country star that he is Gwenwent on first and I'll tell you
what, she really did well.
I was like, wow, this is crazy.
Like she can, she still got it.
I mean, she was she was with nodoubt back in the early nineties
and or should say mid nineties,whatever.
And she went on her own solocareer and obviously Blake with

(43:54):
his country stuff.
But But yeah, Gwen was reallygood and I've seen Blake before.
The wife's a big country fan,so, we've seen him as he when he
comes around here.
So, so I knew, obviously knewboth of them.
They put, they both put onreally good shows and we had all
the food and drink we couldhandle and then we walked back
and that was fun.

Alex (44:10):
And, and that's another thing, it just kind of goes to
show you how big an event Ciscolive is because people that you
have know nothing aboutnetworking or Cisco can
appreciate what customerappreciation events are.
And I think we talked about thisbefore, but um, Orlando that I
went to, they rented outUniversal Studios.

(44:30):
Like we And,

Pat (44:31):
Right.
Yeah.

Alex (44:33):
Dragons has been one of the

Pat (44:35):
Cool.

Alex (44:36):
um, blink 180 2.
I mean, it's a really

Pat (44:39):
That's nice.

Alex (44:40):
like world renowned concerts and there's just for us
included in, you know, the priceof the ticket,

Pat (44:47):
a couple years ago, Weezer was there the Foo Fighters.
So they've had a bunch of reallytop names coming through.
And by the way, I just saw Blink180 2 in Hershey, like, a week
before I went to Cisco live.
And they were awesome.
They're just, they're comingback.
They're back with a vengeance.
Yeah.
So, no, it's all good.
Yeah, so that was fun.
And then I wanna get intoThursday, cuz Thursday was by
far the most interesting day forme, although it wrapped up

(45:10):
early, obviously I think theworld of solutions closes at
like one o'clock.
So there's sessions in themorning and then.
World of Solutions closes up atone o'clock and then it dies out
from there.
It's, it was funny to see likeall these people come to Cisco
live on Thursday with theirluggage cuz a lot of people fly
out Thursday night, that kind ofthing.
And so they check out theirhotel rooms and don't have

(45:31):
anywhere to put it.
So they just put it in this onemassive hallway down by one of
the doors.
It's just like, wow.
There's a lot.

Alex (45:38):
Yeah.
Nate had luggage and that, thatwas like the first thought
Wednesday night.
It's like, oh, what are we gonnado with your luggage the entire
time until you wait till yourflight?
And then, Yeah.
it's like, oh, they thought ofthat, which they should Makes
sense.

Pat (45:52):
Yeah.
Let's put it over here.
Yeah.
So backing up to Wednesday nightat the bar with Tim he said that
he walked right up and right upto the cuz brother, I don't know
if you get the full.
For the full pass at Cisco livethere.
There's various tiers of ticketsat Cisco Live.
You get the full pass you get afree cert exam, a crack at a

(46:18):
free cert exam, any Cisco certyou want.
I think it's anyone.
I don't know what the i e or ifthere's any restrictions around
that.

Alex (46:24):
C D E written, which I, think is the most expensive of
like the non proctored lab exam.
So yeah.
Anyone that you could,

Pat (46:31):
Yeah.
So you, any, anyone that youfeel you can take a crack at.
If you have the full pass, youget a crack, and that's on the
second I think it's the secondfloor of the Mandalay Bay in one
of the rooms.
And so, Wednesday night, Tim waslike, yeah, I just I didn't have
anything scheduled.
I just walked up there and thelady asked if I had if I had

(46:51):
something scheduled, and I said,and he wink, wink nudged it and
be like, yeah, I have itscheduled and she like, played
along with him.
I was like, oh yeah what are youtaking here?
Blah, blah, blah.
And he's like, oh, security.
C cmp, security core.
And she's like, oh.
She's like, oh, I don't see yourname in the system here.
What's your name?
Blah, blah, blah.
They played this like game backand forth, like, whatever.
And he's like, yada, yada, yada.

(47:11):
And long story short, 15 minuteslater he was sitting in a seat
taking a test.
And I was like, oh shit, Iwonder if I should do that.
Like, cause I originally wantedto do one and then I dropped it.
Cause I was like, ah, it's myfirst Cisco Live.
I didn't really know like, whatto expect.
Like, I didn't wanna put that,like, extra pressure, blah,
blah, blah.
It's a free test.
How much pressure could it be?
But you know, you always kind offeel shitty if you pass, or I

(47:31):
should say if you fail, right?
That kind of thing.
So, so then I didn't I didn'tget the email from Cisco to
actually say, Hey, let'sschedule your time.
That, that is true.
I did not get the email whichwhatever.
So then after hearing thatWednesday night, I was like, man
I wonder if I could do that.
Just go up like Thursday morningand go take one.
Cuz my local community collegehere approached me about
teaching their Cisco NetworkingAcademy.

(47:53):
But in order to do that, I haveto be Cisco certified.
And all mine expired in 2020 asmost of you know.
so, so I get up Thursday,breakfast, the whole deal.
I had a session that was my onesession on Thursday.
It was in the morning.
It was like eight 30, whateverit was.
And so I did that.
And then I was like, him and thehall and I was like, ah, like
should I, shouldn't I, blah,blah.

(48:14):
So I went up and and I saw mybuddy Gerard he was walking out
And he was like, oh yeah, blah,blah.
We, we shot the shit for a fewminutes and I just kinda like
hung there and loitered.
I was like, I hoping somebodycomes up to me like, Hey, can I
help you out?
And then I like, explain mysituation.
Cuz I didn't wanna walk up tothe lady and be like, she's
like, Hey we're, what's yourname?
Who are you scheduled for?
I'm like, I'm really not.
Like, I didn't wanna be thatguy, So the one guy walked up

(48:36):
and said, Hey, can I help you?
I'm like, yeah, here's mysituation.
Like I have a full pass.
I didn't schedule anything.
But I'd like to take one, blah,blah, blah.
And he's like, yeah, just go upto that.
Just go up to the lady backthere and tell her that you
didn't get an email and, blah,blah, blah.
She, and she'll see what she cando for you.
So I was like, okay.
So I walked up and I said, blah,blah, blah.
Gave her the whole story.

(48:56):
And she's like, yeah.
She goes, is this your firstCisco Live?
I said, yeah, it is.
She goes, okay.
She goes, I'll do it for younow.
But she goes, don't make a habitof it, like, schedule it in the
future.
And I was like, oh yeah, that'sno problem.
Like, I totally get it.
And so she's like, all right,gimme like 15 minutes.
You can come back and you shouldbe in the system.
You're ready to go.
I was like, oh shit.
All right.
Cool.
Thanks.
So I 15 minutes later came backup scheduled my, I had my CCC

(49:19):
NNA scheduled just to, getsomething under the books or
under my belt.
And 15 minutes later I was in alab.
I was in a room testing and Itook it and I passed it.
And now I'm C C N A certifiedthat was kind of cool.
So, I took one off the cuff.
I took a cold, didn't study alick for it, didn't do anything.
And I went in there and thatfunny thing, the, my weakest
subject is actually automation,obviously.

(49:41):
I, we've talked about that here.
And I got a 90% on that part ofthe test.
90%.
I was like, oh, cool.
That makes me feel pretty good.
So, so, yeah.
So I walked out of thereThursday with a ccna.

Alex (49:53):
There you go.
Does that give you moreconfidence in teaching the exam
though?
teach, teaching

Pat (49:59):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Teaching the class.
Yeah.
Hey, whatever.
Don't give it a shot

Alex (50:03):
if you

Pat (50:04):
that kind of thing.
There's already one teacherthere.
Yeah.
.Yeah.
It went for 30 to about 35, soit's all good.
But my original goal this yearwas the CCMP Security Corps.
So, now I got back to that, so,but yeah, I passed the passed
the ccna and then Thursdaynight, me and Gerard, I hooked
up with Gerard after the test.
And him and I went down toFremont Street, which is like

(50:25):
old timey Vegas.
We took an Uber down there andthat was an interesting time
down there in Fremont Street.
We were there early enough that,like, the side shows didn't
quite come out yet, but we saw afew There was some real
interesting folks down there atlike four in the afternoon, bro.
I was like, oh man, here we go.
So we went down there got somebarbecue, got something to eat

(50:45):
just kind of walked, for thosethat don't know, Fremont
street's, like only like threeblocks long and it's closed to
traffic, so you just like walkon the street and whatever, and
there's casinos and you can duckin and play casinos or there's,
beers and or whatever bars, thatkind of thing.
Different kind of shops andwhatnot.
And so Gerard in and got hiswife something at one of the

(51:05):
shops.
And I was hanging out there andand like you could see like some
of the, like there was a MichaelJackson in person there dancing
there on the sidewalk.
So that was cool.
I was watching him a little bit.
And then there was a guy indressing, like a Chucky doll
mask.
So he was doing his thing.
And then you had, Some ladiesthat were there.
The one was like in like aCatwoman, like uniform with the

(51:27):
whip and the whole deal.
And she was like trying to getguys to come over and, whatever.
And I was like, oh man.

Alex (51:31):
you're,

Pat (51:32):
Yeah, I was like, oh no, and.

Alex (51:34):
on the hook for tip.

Pat (51:36):
Oh, funny thing.
So that's where I'm going withthis.
So Gerard comes outta the thing,right?
And he listens to his podcast.
He's gonna shake his head inshame.
I know he is, but he We, hecomes outta the thing and we
start walking towards the otherend, and there's two ladies
there like our age, and they'rein the full like showgirls, like
big feather tail suits and thewhole deal, and blah, blah,

(51:57):
blah.
And so they see us from a mileaway.
So they're like, come on over.
And Jordan's like, okay So wewalk over there and they're
like, yeah, get your picturetaken.
I was like, nah, I'm good.
Like, I was like I don't needthat kind of negativity right
now.
Just like, I know what's gonnahappen here.
Like, and then Gerard's like,yeah, I'll take a picture.
So I'm like, all right.
So I get my, I get his phone.
And he's like, he's in betweenthe two ladies and blah, blah.

(52:19):
And they take a picture and hegets on and he's like, ah, you
know what's, you know?
and she's like, that'll be 80bucks.
And he's like, what?
Yeah.
He's like, whoa.
He's like, what, 80.
And she's like, yeah.
And the lady's like, yeah, 40,but it's 40.
It's 40 bucks each for eachgirl.
And I was just like, that isexactly why I did not jump in

(52:39):
there and be like, yo, let's getmy picture taken, bro.
Like, that's just not me.
And so they haggled a little bitand Gerard's like, you're outta
your mind if I think I'm, if youthink I'm gonna pay 80 bucks for
a for a picture and blah blah.
They're like, we have to pay acompany too, and blah, blah.
And.
So that all, that's not going tous and blah, blah, blah.
And so, and jar's like, oh, Idon't really have any cash.

(53:00):
And they're like, well, you, wetake card too.
You know, That kinda thing.
So like, he was really on thehook for it.
And he got down to 20, he gotdown to 20 bucks.
So it was, I think it was 20 orOh, it, no, it was 40.
It was 20 per girl.
So he paid 40 bucks for thepicture.

Alex (53:14):
start with some absurdly

Pat (53:15):
was just like, Oh

Alex (53:16):
They're probably hoping to get$20 each.
Like the man that's probably

Pat (53:21):
Yeah, exactly.

Alex (53:22):
get.
They

Pat (53:24):
Yeah, exactly.
So

Alex (53:26):
times

Pat (53:26):
see, right.
And that's the thing, like, man,like it, it's so funny.
I learned in Vegas over the fourdays, like.
Like people are willing to dostuff for you, but then they
don't tell you the price untilafter it's done like that.
Like the price is not discussedupfront.
It is an afterthought.
of like, yeah.
It's like case in point wherelike the cab that we took over,

(53:47):
not the cab the black suv wetook home from Topgolf, like he
didn't say a word about priceuntil we pulled up to the Luxor.
He is like, yep, that'll be 40bucks.
That kinda thing.
And same with the ladies.
She, they didn't say shit aboutprice until after the picture
was taken, that kinda, so I waslike, oh boy, here we go.
But yeah, Vegas was cool.
It's it was an addictive, if yougot an addictive personality,
man.
Vegas is not the town for you,bro.

(54:08):
It's just not, it is.
Oh no, probably not.
So, no, overall we had a goodtime.
I only spent 40 bucks gamblingand I donated at all.
I didn't come home with any ofit, so it's all good.
It's all good.
Yep.
Yeah, I had 40 bucks in cash.
I brought it and we're, I spentit all down at Fremont Street, a
couple different casinos, but Ididn't I did not do well down

(54:29):
there on, on the gambling front.
It's just not me.
But now I can say I gambled inVegas and man, we just, the
event was just such a good time.
It just, we just had a greattime and obviously Friday we got
up and flew home.
But the event was just a goodtime.
Like I said, some of the.
Breakout sessions were a littletoo big for my liking but they

(54:50):
had some really good intel inthere, Alex, the one you and I
were in the automating theinfrastructures code for Nexus
Os You and I were in that onetogether.
That was pretty good.
That was probably my favoriteone that was really relatable.
I could see myself using that.
So that was a good one.
But yeah just the people and Iaveraged like, I think I
averaged like 20,000 steps a dayor like 21,000 steps, like.

(55:13):
Oh, dude, I chewed through thoseshoes.
I, I threw'em right into garbagewhen I came home.
They were completely shot I waslike, Nope.
A lot of walking carrying watersand shit like that in a backpack
or whatever.
But nah, just had a great time.
Met some incredible people,learned some stuff did some cool
things social media and thedinners were great.
And but yeah, I think for nextyear, if I would go again next

(55:36):
year or whatever, the next timeI go is I would probably do a
little lighter on the sessionsand spend a little more time
down in the world of solutions.
Not that I didn't I spent a lotof time down there, but just
kind of doing, I didn't see thewhole thing.
Like, I, I want to do, like, nowthat I know what's available,
like I'd probably do like a meetthe engineer or like some
different lunches and stuff thatare available to people or some

(55:59):
of the vendor stuff.
I kind of shied away from a lotof the vendors cause I just felt
like it was, I just had thispreconceived like, sales
gimmicky notion sort of thing.
I'm like like cuz once they scanyour badge, they have your email
and now they're gonna spam youforever.
So like I stayed away from mostof that.
I probably would be a littlemore choosy as far as like,
okay, yeah, I want to give thisplace my business.

(56:21):
I don't mind them having myemail sort of thing.
And kind of dive into that.
I didn't really do any of that.
So I, there are some tweaks andwhatnot that I would probably do
a little different now that Ihave an idea of what it is.
But overall I thought it wasfantastic.
I can't wait to go back.

Alex (56:34):
Yeah.
So kind of just expanding onthat.
Oh, that's what you do a littlebit differently.
So backtracking a little bit,what would, what would you say
is the, the low point of thetrip or the thing that.
You think they could change orimprove on?
And what did you enjoy the mostspecifically?

Pat (56:55):
Hmm.
I would say the low point, Idon't say low point, but one of,
I think I mentioned before thatthe large rooms that were kind
of hard to focus, I would say do'em in a smaller room, but maybe
do two of them if there was thatmuch demand for them for that
particular class.
Don't do it in such a largeroom.
I would break it up intomultiple sessions, but keep it
in the smaller room.

(57:16):
Cause I think people retainknowledge better that way, or it
makes them, it keeps themfocused, or at least for me, it
keeps me more focused if I'm ina smaller room.
So I would do that.
The high point for me wasprobably just meeting people
that I've talked to online andlike I said, the David Bomb
Balls and the Keith Barkers andJason Gooeys of the world.

(57:36):
And some of the other contentcreators, you know, like I said
uh, Tim and, and Lexi andDakota, bearded it, dad those
folks always good.
So like, it's so weird to methat these people are just, Like
WebEx chats or Discord chatsfor, 51 other weeks of the year.
And now they're like, they're anactual person for a week when
you guys meet at Cisco Live.
So that, I always find thatinteresting that I thought that

(57:58):
was really cool.
So the whole meet and greet andjust being with like-minded
folks and, again, talking topeople that are just way smarter
than you.
And I always say like, if you'rethe smartest guy in the room,
you're in the wrong room.
So, get in the chat with DanielDibb, and again, Jason Gooley
and Dan Kucher.
And so some of those guys thatjust have such reverence in this

(58:18):
industry because of what they'vedone and who they are.
Like Peter Jones, he was anotherone another guy there, big guy
on ethernet and he's been aroundfor a while.
So, got to meet him for a littlebit and do their thing.
And just.
Kind of talking to them and justtalking shop and they, they love
it.
Like you said when we talkedabout Keith Barker, like they
have to love it cuz they justthey have such a high positive
attitude of when they talk toyou about it.

(58:39):
Like, you like it oozes fromthem You know what I mean?
It's just so, it's so crazy.
So that was probably myhighlight, just talking to
people and getting around.

Alex (58:47):
All right.
Well, I'm actually surprisedthis, we chatted about this for
a while.
I thought this would be a quick

Pat (58:54):
Yeah.
Yeah.
No, here we are.
So I'll flip that on you.
So just, this is your third one.
Do you have a high and lowpoint?

Alex (59:02):
Well, again, we kinda already discussed it.
The low point for me was howmuch time I spent on to capture
the flag I like, cuz I, it'salmost like

Pat (59:11):
Oh

Alex (59:12):
on the flip side that you couldn't say that was the high
point of, because I really didenjoy it.
Uh, but I just spent way toomuch

Pat (59:18):
right.

Alex (59:19):
Um, I didn't go to enough breakout sessions, which I
didn't think I'd ever say

Pat (59:24):
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah,

Alex (59:28):
so what the true highlight was, cuz there's things that are
just completely unrelated totechnology were the high points.
So like, I, I wanna, there wassome booth that had like a
putting challenge.
It was completely unrelated to

Pat (59:41):
yeah.

Alex (59:42):
whatever, I don't even remember the product they were
pushing, but,they had some like,uh, mini golf set up.
It was probably like, a 10 by 10mat and they just had, to shoot
in the six different targets andthe quickest amount of time.
So I, I ended up winning that,uh, like I.
The best time for the day.

(01:00:02):
So I.
got another$50 um, store credit.
Uh, so

Pat (01:00:07):
Nice.

Alex (01:00:08):
that was just, uh, that's what I'm reading right now.
the books I bought.
um, well, you mentioned aboutmeeting people that you know,
you, these, WebEx is in theseum, just podcasts.
But the other thing too is if,if moved around from job to job,
and this might be like the onlyevent of the year where you get

(01:00:32):
together with everyone, everyco, well not every, but
coworkers that you've had fromevery other job.
So,

Pat (01:00:39):
sure.

Alex (01:00:40):
uh, I'm hoping that you continue to go and hopefully
that's not the only time we seeeach other, but I think I'll,

Pat (01:00:46):
I know.
Yeah.

Alex (01:00:47):
Cisco live more knowing that, hey Pat's gonna be there.
I get to see Pat again.
That's kind of neat.

Pat (01:00:52):
It's gonna be cool.

Alex (01:00:53):
not just meeting new people,

Pat (01:00:54):
Yeah.
It was the first time you and Ihave.
Yeah, right.
you and I, that's the first timeyou and I have been together and
what I mean, it's been a while.

Alex (01:01:03):
pandemic?
I think so.
Yeah.
Four years.

Pat (01:01:05):
Yeah, it was pre pandemic?
Yeah.
Yeah.
So it's it was cool to hang outand it was great to see Nate.
And I saw another guy that Iworked with at Service Electric.
He's now a a boss or a networknetwork engineering manager or
something out at for the cablecompany here where I used to
work.
So I saw him.
So shout out to Eric.
So, yeah, I just saw some realcool people and it's always good
to see everybody.

(01:01:26):
And it's funny that I mentionedGerard a few times in this
podcast, but again, he's part ofthe champs and we see him all
the time.
He literally lives an hour northof me.
So like we both went out toVegas to meet each other for the
first time.
So that was live an hour.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
yeah.
We live an hour from each other,but we had to fly five to Vegas

(01:01:47):
to actually meet each other andbe there.
So that was funny.
So, yeah, that was kind of it,that, that was the week, man.
It was a great week.
It was just, we had so much funand really cool, really good
time.
And I can't wait to go again, soI dunno if I'll get there next
year.
I think uh, colleague Pete getsthe ticket next year.
So who knows?
But a lot can change, but Pete'sa good guy.

(01:02:08):
I'll hook you up.
He's a good dude.
So do that.
But who knows?
Yeah, we'll see what happens andkind of go from there.
But yeah, that was kinda it.
Do you have anything else toadd?

Alex (01:02:18):
Oh, well you covered so much

Pat (01:02:22):
I know this is a big one.

Alex (01:02:24):
Yeah, cuz I mean, I could go through my whole spiel too,
but I don't wanna take another45 minutes, but, I already
summed it up a little bitearlier.
Uh, I wish I would've taken afew more breakout sessions, not
spent quite as much time on onething.
In this case, it was capturedthe flag

Pat (01:02:39):
Yep,

Alex (01:02:40):
And

Pat (01:02:41):
yep.

Alex (01:02:41):
I think next time I go, I'm gonna take some notes from
you, which is essentially, I'mgonna try to do some more social
networking.
I'm gonna try to see if there'sum, like that tech field day.
I know that's not a Cisco Livething, they just held it at
Cisco Live, but being on a panelor something like that, I think
that would interest me.

(01:03:02):
Um,

Pat (01:03:03):
Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Alex (01:03:04):
that.
And the other thing that I'vedone in previous jobs, but I
didn't this year or previoustimes I went to live, is I go
there with a, a problem that I'mtrying to solve for work.
And then I go there with theintent of actually the world of
solutions be something that Ican, I can listen to a sales
pitch full knowing that I may

Pat (01:03:25):
Mm-hmm.

Alex (01:03:26):
Be interested in the product because if you don't go
with a problem in hand you,you're not gonna invent one just
cuz the salesman's there, unlessthey're really good, maybe,
maybe

Pat (01:03:34):
Sure

Alex (01:03:36):
um, But, uh, I think it's part uh, we were just going
through layoffs at Disney, sobuying more more things wasn't
on the forefront.
But hopefully next year that'llbe behind us and there'll be
some, you know, some obviousthings that we're looking into
and I can take advantage of thatand actually listen to a sales
pitch that might solve somethingthat we need to get solved.

Pat (01:03:58):
Yeah, no, for sure.
There was a couple boosts that Iprobably would've went to and
listened to a sales pitch.
But yeah, it's definitely on theon the docket for next year and,
be a little more selective withthat and just kind of, see
what's out there.
But now I had a great time andthe social factor was even
better.
And it's could never hurt.
So, I don't know Kyle, I think Iheard Alex is gonna join Twitter

(01:04:19):
and, get on the tech communitythere at Twitter.
I think that's what I heard.
So I don't know.

Kyle (01:04:22):
heard it too.

Pat (01:04:25):
what'd you say, Alex?

Alex (01:04:26):
No you didn't.
You did not hear that.
If I ever need to

Pat (01:04:30):
Dammit.

Alex (01:04:31):
I'll send it to you in a text so you post this, destroy
me.

Pat (01:04:34):
Oh, man.
Yep.
There you go.
So, all right, everybody Kyle,anything else from you?
I know you'd be kind of quiet,this is this wasn't really your
dig, but any questions that youmight have for Cisco Live folks?

Kyle (01:04:45):
Well, I would say uh, as a person who didn't go right, if I
had the opportunity to go, whatwould be maybe one or two things
that you would tell me that Ishould not miss?
Whether it's Cisco Live or justmaybe you know, the location
too.

Pat (01:05:01):
Yeah.

Alex (01:05:01):
Um,

Pat (01:05:02):
Hmm.

Alex (01:05:04):
well, it's hard to avoid it, so I don't know if it's
really much of a, uh, a hint ora suggestion, but the world
solution, as soon as you get anopportunity to go in there, just
go up and down all those aislesuh, that entire space, I think
that's probably the first thingyou should do.
Uh,

Pat (01:05:23):
Yeah.

Alex (01:05:24):
cuz it really is impressive and it's, it's easy
to miss something if you don't.
So maybe, yeah, just go up anddown that entire showroom floor
and don't actually stop anywhereyou have.
Just try to make a mental noteof the things that are
interesting to you, cuz you'llcome across things that are just
very interesting.
You can take up a lot of yourtime, like capture the flag cuz
you don't know what it's uh, butthey, they have things like, uh,

(01:05:47):
racing simulators for some oddreason that are there.
And

Pat (01:05:50):
Oh yeah.
There was an Indy car there.
Yeah, that's right.

Alex (01:05:53):
make note, they have the Lombardi trophy there.
Um, These are things that arenot gonna be there every year,
but there's always somethingthat is like unexpected and
interesting and you could missit if you just don't go up and
down the showroom.
Um,

Kyle (01:06:08):
Okay.

Pat (01:06:08):
Yeah,

Alex (01:06:09):
and outside of that, uh, again, you'll hear all about it.
So it'd appreciation event, uh,I didn't go because just not a
Gwen Stefani or Blake fan.
Um, so, but the customerappreciation event is usually
something really impressive.
Um, So, you wanna make sure youget your ticket for that and
head over.

Pat (01:06:31):
Yeah.
You know else I enjoyed too, thesecond keynote, which was
Wednesday morning, they had JimGaffigan do a half hour of
standup.
Dude, some of that stuff.
I couldn't stop laughing atthat, that he was so spot on He
made it like, he made it like itwas about family, like his, like
about his relationship with hiskids.
And it's the old adage of, kidsare, blood suckers and, like,

(01:06:54):
they rule the roost and blah,blah, blah.
Like some of his stuff, man, we,cuz we were literally front row
for that keynote.
We were literally like, to theleft of us was like Chuck
Robbins and all the C levelsuite people, like literally
front row for that one.
So that was pretty cool.
Yeah, we had, yeah, it was rightup front for Jim Gaffigan.
And he was hilarious.
I couldn't stop, I couldn't stoplaughing like I, my stomach hurt

(01:07:17):
cuz I laughed.
So, and he only did a half hourand it was just, it was one
punchline after the next.
And I was like, and as a father,something with kids like it re
it was, everything he said was ahundred percent spot on.
It was just so funny.
I was like, this guy is anabsolute ride.
But like, again, it was sort ofin that same lane we talked
about with Blake Shelton and GWStefani.
Like, they don't know anythingabout tech or, I mean, I, at

(01:07:39):
least I'm assuming or Cisco oranything like that.
But like Jim Gaffing came incold, I'm assuming he doesn't
know a whole lot, if anything.
And, he sit there for a gig andgetting paid.
But like, he made it fun and hemade it relatable and it was
just super, super funny.
So I have to throw that in thereas well.

Alex (01:07:54):
Right?
Yeah, I think so.
The moral of the story isthere's gonna be things at Cisco
Live that you're gonna beshocked or there that are gonna
be interesting to you.
and

Pat (01:08:04):
Yep.

Alex (01:08:05):
it, the, for the, the keynote that just might be, if
you don't look and see that JimGaffigan's part of the keynote
that something you just missbecause you're like, eh, that's
a keynote.
I don't really need to hear it.
And then you miss, you know,front row seats to a Jim gavigan
standup.
Yeah.

Pat (01:08:20):
right.
.Yeah, exactly.
I loved it.
So anyway yeah, it just so froma first timer, I thought it was,
I thought it was fantastic andI, I just can't, I can't wait to
go again.
So, Kyle, next year, that's yourgoal.
Save your pennies and go get aticket and we'll All go out
there and we'll do a live podfrom the Mandalay Bay

Kyle (01:08:41):
Oh my goodness.

Alex (01:08:42):
All right.

Kyle (01:08:43):
I.

Pat (01:08:44):
Rock and roll.

Alex (01:08:45):
And then

Pat (01:08:45):
Maybe a little ambitious.
Who knows?

Alex (01:08:48):
uh, I, I can't remember.
you you guys use a lot of Ciscoequipment or not so much?

Pat (01:08:53):
Yeah.
We're a heavy Cisco shop.
Yeah, for sure.

Alex (01:08:55):
so it isn't unreasonable that you'd be able to get, uh,
Cisco learning credits for yourpast.
So as long as they're willing

Pat (01:09:05):
that's how I paid for my ticket.

Alex (01:09:06):
So as long as they're, would you, just like I did, if
you got the pass taken care of,which if you pay out of pocket,
it's like 2,800 bucks, would.
you pay your own travel?
Like if they took care of thepass, like would you,

Pat (01:09:20):
I probably would.

Alex (01:09:21):
cost of the, the

Pat (01:09:21):
Yeah, I probably would.
Yeah, I probably would.
Yeah, that's, I mean, that's whyI have a credit card like that
but my, obviously the companypaid for the travel and the
hotel, which wasn't, and then myticket was paid for by our
learner credits, so I literallywent for nothing.
And then, yeah, I didn't pay foranything all week except for the
dinner we went to and likeFremont Street and had like

(01:09:44):
barbecue and stuff.
Anything else was, it was compedthat, Evan was with me.
We had dinners and or whatever,but it was it had a great time.
And but yeah, I would say yeah,if you if you get half of it
paid, if you get the ticketpaid.
For me personally, knowing youknow, what it is and how much
fun you have I would take careof the hotel and the the plane
right out

Alex (01:10:03):
because with me, between the hotel and the plane, it was
500 bucks and to me that wasworth it.
Like I'll spend$500 to go outthere for four days.

Pat (01:10:11):
For sure.
Yeah, for sure.
A hundred percent.
Yeah I would agree with that.
So, yeah, so it's it's alwaysfun and yeah, just, get out
there at all costs and, just asa first timer, I just can't wait
to, I can't wait to go back and,and meet new people and hang.
That's what it is.
So it's all good.
Anything else, boys?
I know we're kind of, we'rewe're not burning the midnight

(01:10:32):
oil, but we're an hour and 20into this thing.
This, we never go this long.
It's crazy.

Alex (01:10:37):
no.
I think it's a good way to wrapup.
Obviously

Pat (01:10:40):
That is a good way.

Alex (01:10:41):
Cisco Alive lived up to your expectations and uh,

Pat (01:10:45):
Yeah, for sure.

Alex (01:10:46):
be a lifetime, I don't know, supporter of Cisco Live
and someone I'll try to go everyyear it sounds like.

Pat (01:10:54):
That's it.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
and the wife knows, as nerdy asthis may sound, the wife knows
that this was a bucket listthing for me, that I've been
like I've been working withCisco gear for 20 years and I've
never been in a position to go.
But now obviously my first one.
So the wife's like, yeah, youcan go.
And I got two small kids, solike, I felt guilty sticking it
with two small kids all week.
But she's like, ah, it's abucket list thing.

(01:11:15):
You go have your time.
I'm like, all right, say nomore.

Alex (01:11:17):
wife just like, and not shamefully, that my favorite
week of the year.
I really look forward to.

Pat (01:11:25):
All right.
That's what's up.
Like it now.
I won't feel so bad knowing yousaid that.
I'll say that now and I won'tfeel so bad.

Alex (01:11:32):
it is kinda like the guy's, um, you know, weeklong
vacation or weeklong trip, butyou know, you can kind of under
the guise of work,

Pat (01:11:41):
That's right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Hanging with the boys.
Yeah, exactly.
Exactly right.
Yep.
That's it.
All right, everybody.
We're gonna get outta here.
We appreciate everybody hanging.
Also, as a side note I did a.
Cisco live review on my bloglayer eight packet.io.
Mainly that is used for my CCMPsecurity studies.

(01:12:02):
I've been blogging with that, soif you're interested in that
security stuff, go hang outthere.
But this one is a little left ofcenter, if you will not secure
related, just Cisco liverelated.
So I did a blog on that too.
Some pictures are up there ofthe folks I met and hung with
and whatnot.
So go hang go.
Take a look at that if thatinterest you.
But we wanna thank everybody forjoining this week.

(01:12:22):
Uh, I know we've been we've beenaway for a couple of weeks and
whatnot.
So, there's, like I said,father's Day was in there and we
kind of had the Cisco Cisco Liverecap, or I should say the the
let down, if you will.
So we kind of took a week offthere and whatnot.
But we're back here, so we'retrying to do this weekly and
whatnot.
So, thanks for hanging with us.
Make sure you visit our website,breaking Bytes pod.io.
You can get all the shows rightfrom there.

(01:12:43):
You can subscribe to yourplatform of choice right from
there.
Pretty much anything.
Is there anything show related?
You can get it there as well.
Throw us a rating on ApplePodcasts, right?
That's the number one game intown for podcasts, right?
So, throw us a rating.
Leave us a comment.
Leave us a review.
That all helps.
We really appreciate everybody'sfeedback on that.
So the more feedback you giveus, the better the show gets, at

(01:13:04):
least at least we like to thinkso.
So that'd be awesome.
Simply tell a friend, right?
Just say, Hey, listen to thispodcast, blah, blah, blah.
Right?
Word of mouth is just as goodthese days as sometimes a little
more effective than the techdriven world that we live in.
So, that would be great.
Again LinkedIn, Twitter Facebookdiscord servers out there.
All that stuff is in the shownotes.
Come follow us on your platformof choice there, your social

(01:13:27):
choice.
And thanks fellas.
It's been a good time.
Good to see everybody get backtogether again, and we'll catch
everybody next week.
Bye everybody.

Kyle (01:13:33):
So long.

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