Eric Stewart: Running Off At The Mouth

Annual “Bryan and Me” photo

Standard complaints out of the way first: No Dr. Pepper.  No Mt. Dew.  Soda cans not cold, so if you prefer it out of the can instead of poured over ice, you were going to have to drink it warm.  No cheese-less option for the prepared sandwiches at breakfast.

Outside of the time spent in Tech Field Day Extra, I was taking the opportunity to make an attempt to learn about SD-WAN this year.  And, as is standard when I approach Cisco Live without preparing ahead of time, the complaint is that they never seem to schedule the week in such a way as to make it easier to pick up a new technology.  Like many colleges, the four digit number of a course usually indicates the level of the information regarding the topic – a 1000 level course is intro, a 3000 level course is in depth and you should have some experience with the technology if you’re going to attend a 3000 level course.  However, Cisco Live always seems to schedule the course levels seemingly at random – sometimes, 1000 level courses are at the middle or end of a week, and the higher level ones (especially the four hour seminars or hands on labs) are at the beginning of the week.  This makes it very difficult to start at ground zero and build your way up.

I met Lexie, better known as TracketPacer!

So … what have I learned about SD-WAN?  On a practical level, only that they’re renaming it from Viptela to Catalyst SD-WAN.  Indeed, that seemed to be the theme for most of the week – a lot of technologies (say, for example, DNAC) are getting a Catalyst prefix.

As someone who uses a lot of Nexus gear in the core and even at the edge (which has equally as many negatives vs positives, I’ll admit), this was … unsettling.

And as far as SD-WAN as a whole … well, given the gear I run and the environment I work in, I don’t think it’s going to be something we’ll be using any time soon – especially considering that we’re actually reducing our need for anything resembling it.  We don’t really have a need for it.

Tech Field Day Extra was a welcome bonus.  While it took me away from some sessions I may have actually wanted to attend, I hadn’t been invited to a TFD event earlier this year, and due to things outlined below, probably wouldn’t have been able to attend one later in the year.  So, being invited to attend during Cisco Live crossed off two of my yearly goals in one go.  We had two days of presentations, starting with Opengear and then three Cisco presentations on Tuesday, followed by Backbox and three more Cisco presentations on Wednesday.  I’ll be (hopefully) doing blog posts over the coming couple of weeks about at least a couple of the presentations.

I also met the “other” Eric Stewart!

So of course that leaves the rest of Cisco Live, which for me is the social aspect.  I have a group of friends who regularly attend Cisco Live and this is the once a year opportunity to see them.  It was wonderful to touch base with them in person again, especially since around March it seemed like I might not be able to go.  In March, I was (finally, after almost a year of searching) diagnosed with prostate cancer.  Now, while it’s one of the most survivable cancers, and eventually one that you should be mostly back to normal after a year (aside from a couple of things you lose as part of, you know, not having a prostate any more), it does involve some potentially lengthy recovery issues that would have had me very reluctant to have to be dealing with during a social event.  But, the doctor said it would be okay to wait for the surgery until after Cisco Live, so the Tuesday (June 13) after I got back, I went in and got it removed.

Newest member of the “extended family,” John Capobianco

The first week was the worst – mainly due to … something you have to deal with for that week.  Once that issue was resolved, it felt like I could easily move forward with the rest of the recovery.

It’s been just over three weeks, and while there are certainly things that are going much better than I feared, there are still one or two things that I’m … dealing with … that I wish weren’t still happening from time to time.  But, considering where I’m at now … I’m pretty sure (work permitting) that I should be able to attend next year’s event (which will be in Las Vegas yet again).  I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube, playing a lot of Elite: Dangerous, and making sure to get up and move around.  I’m (generally) not really that sore any more and can move around fairly well.  I do have an issue or two (both relatively minor in the grand scheme of things) that will resolve themselves eventually, and will be doing physical therapy soon to make sure at least one of them is properly resolved.

So, that’s where I’m at – one more full week off for medical leave, then back to work (but working only remote for a few weeks).  I’m okay – no need to worry, and should be good to go next year!