7 hours it took to clear the driveway after last weekend's snow. (Last time I buy a house with a looooong driveway!) But in a mere 48 hours and I'll be on my way to the beach. I've got a bad case of Spring Fever, and it's going to translate into a brief break from the CCNP lab series - to get your opinions, get some ideas for later in the Spring, and to avoid getting knee-deep in ISCW right before going to the beach.

So, let's say your boss gives you $1500 in capital to buy gear to study for CCNP - gear the company will own, but you can keep it at home or at work while you study. He also gives you enough budget to go to one CCNP-related course. There's not enough $$ to go to a bootcamp that covers multiple courses - the courses each cover 1 of the 4 exams. Which one do you take? Feel free to post some reasons why as well.

Next, imagine you found a co-worker or mentor that could spent a day with you teaching you and helping you experiment in a lab regarding one of the major topics in the CCNP track. Which topic would it be? You can assume this fictitious person actually knows something about the topic, at least a lot more than you do. I've listed some of them in this next survey. I'll maybe do some questions/answers on those topics later this spring.

Finally, I'd be curious how much time you spend working on Cisco routers and switches if you're also currently pursuing CCNP. I've always thought that most people working on CCNP already had jobs with significant job requirements to work on the gear, but maybe not. So... just people working towards CCNP answer this one, but tell me what percentage of your job role involves planning/implementing/troubleshooting/whatevering Cisco routers and switches.

Look for me to return to the blog the week of March 24^th - talk to you then!