Cisco Live Review

We're back! This week we talk about Alex and Pat's experience at Cisco Live. Join us as we break down the good, the bad and everything else!

Transcript

Pat: 0:31

Hey everybody. Welcome back to this week's edition 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 Twitter danath256. You can find the show on Twitter at@breakinbytespod. We are pretty active, so come say hello. There's always something to talk about out there in the Twitterverse or we are on all major social media too. So come find us, come hang. Whatever your platform of choice, come and say hello. Also, don't forget to like, subscribe to the show on your streaming platform of choice. We are pretty much everywhere. Spotify and Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts, those are sort of the big three. Yeah, so just we're anywhere you get a podcast, we are there. So, make sure you subscribe to your platform of choice so you can get us every week if that's something you're into. So, we are back. It's been a few weeks. We had some things go on some holidays, so yeah, there was Father's Day in there. Then there was the recoup from Cisco Live was in there. And so we are back. All three of us, three Musketeers are here ready to rock and roll, talk Cisco live, what we learned and what our experience was like, and just sort of a little bit of a recap. So if you're interested in that stick around. We will get into it. And rock and roll. So, Kyle, what's up man? How you doing?

Kyle: 1:52

Yeah, not too bad. Uh, dealing with the, smokes still, you know, it's exciting.

Pat: 1:58

Canadian wildfires, they're gotta calm down. They're encroaching on America's territory for the July 4th weekend. This is terrible.

Kyle: 2:04

Yeah.

Pat: 2:05

Can't have that. Jesus. Yeah, we for those don't know here on the East Coast, we I guess there's some crazy wildfires going on in, in Canada, so they are making their way down down the East coast and it's been pretty hazy the last couple days. And truth be told, we just had a tornado warning here like an hour ago. Like, they told us to like, get in the basement and like get to cover. So, nothing happened. No funnels or anything like that, but the sky dig get pretty dark and I was like, Ooh, this may happen. So, but we are clear and ready to rock and roll, so, but yeah, tornado stuff's kinda kind of scary, so, yeah, other than that weather. See, yeah, I covered your weather, Kyle. That's, that, that was your thing. So it is now covered.

Kyle: 2:44

just had to

Pat: 2:44

That's right..That's right. That's it. That's it Bait the old bait and switch. Hey. So yeah, that's all good there. So Alex, my friend, in the sunny, clear skies of Southern California how are you my man?

Alex: 2:57

Yeah, nothing too new to report, so 4th of July weekend, so my type of weekend grilling. Nice weather here,

Pat: 3:07

Yeah,

Alex: 3:08

fireworks. that's about it.

Pat: 3:10

up. That's right. Speaking of grilling, I got a smoker like a week ago, two, maybe a week and a half ago now. And I did my first barbecue yesterday, all day, eight hour uh, pork butt on the old smoker. The initial run, let me tell you. It was good. It was real good. So I'm intrigued to do more. So, much more of that to come. So stick around me. We may talk about that and I may, toot my own horn here on the show every now and then when I make one, it's pretty good. So, the wife loved it. My aunt came over last night for dinner. She loved it. So I was like, all right, well they, if they like it, then I'm gonna keep going. So it's all it's all good. So if you're smoking or anything like that, you're grilling, all that kind of stuff, hit me up cuz I'm a rookie and I need all the help I can get, so it's all good. So I'm looking forward to doing more. I sent you pictures, right, right, Kyle?

Kyle: 3:59

Yeah. Yeah. It

Pat: 4:00

And you too, Alex. Yeah,

Alex: 4:02

Yep. Yeah.

Pat: 4:03

that looked pretty good.

Alex: 4:05

it

Pat: 4:06

right.

Kyle: 4:06

looked, so good. I went out and I, I bought some wings and I was like, I'm gonna smoke some wings now.

Pat: 4:11

See,

Kyle: 4:12

just got me set started, you know?

Pat: 4:14

I sucked into it. That's it. You have a smoker too, Kyle.

Kyle: 4:17

Yeah. Pellet smoker.

Pat: 4:19

Oh, app pellet. Nice. that's awesome. Yeah. I got the old charcoal, so it's all good. So anyway let's regroup here. What Cisco Live Man, it, it just, it feels like forever ago, but man, like it's one of those things where I'm gonna remember it for a long time cause it was my first one and, people were telling me that it's, it's a cool place and, all this, that and the next and man, it did not disappoint. So, I don't know. Alex, do you have any opening thoughts on Cisco Live? This is your, this was your what, like third or fourth one maybe. Something like that.

Alex: 4:51

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 went this year. Um, so I guess the biggest thing I, this one is much different than the two that I went to previously. So, um, But I heard that people that went last year said it just wasn't quite the same experience. Uh, it's just, uh, they haven't ramped it up a hundred percent. People were little anxious, I think, so the attendance was down, some things were limited. But yeah, this year it just felt like the same great experience that I had gone through

Pat: 5:35

yep.

Alex: 5:35

before. So, yeah, this is is not an anomaly. this is what I've come to from Cisco

Pat: 5:41

Yeah, I,

Alex: 5:42

if you didn't like it This year, you're probably

Pat: 5:44

yeah, right.

Alex: 5:44

year is my thought.

Pat: 5:45

I heard a round number. I heard it was like close to 17,000, something like that. That, that walk through the door. So it was it was pretty crazy. I mean, like I said, it was my first 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, that world of solutions, when that opened up Monday morning, it was, I was just like, this is the most people I've ever seen in my entire life. This is insanity. Like, it was just so crazy. But no, it was pretty wild. And I flew in Sunday I got there noon local time and got the badge, I was checked into the hotel, got the Cisco badge, the whole deal. And then being part of the Cisco Champions community, we had a couple of like exclusive behind the scenes tours that we got to do. So, so that was cool. We walked over. The world of solutions, like I said, wasn't open until Monday to the rest of the folks, but we got in Sunday night, so we walked in and I kind of had a moment cuz I walked over to where the store was the Cisco store where they sell the t-shirts and all that kind of stuff. And there was a couple champs that I recognized from the online space. So I walked over and started hanging out and introducing myself. Cause this a lot, this was the first time I was meeting anybody in person from that community, which is kind of cool. And then here, David Bombal walks over and I'm like, Whoa. Like David Bombal, like I've been learning your stuff and listening to you for literally a decade and like, here you are, standing in person. I was like, is this real right now? This is crazy. So, so that was really cool to meet him. He is a real standup guy. Loved talking to him for a few minutes and he was just, he was interviewing everybody and just hanging. I saw him later in the week hanging, in our Cisco champion space that they have carved out on the world of solutions floor. There's like a little there's like a little booth, not a booth, but it's like a couple couches and that kind of thing where we kind of, you know, kind of congregated throughout the week and, met whatever. So, so that was cool. He was back there with us hanging for a little bit, but he is a really cool guy. So if you don't know who David Baal is, go check him out. YouTube is his big platform. That guy just does a ton of YouTube videos very heavy Cisco cybersecurity network automation, all that stuff. His channel is just a wealth of knowledge. So yeah, meeting him was really cool in my eyes. Cuz like I said, I've been watching his stuff for literally over a decade and kind of meet him. 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 was cool.

Alex: 8:16

Yeah, certainly as a big golfer. That was uh, always fun. And then you talked about meeting 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: 8:30

Oh yeah. Du'An Lightfoot. Yeah. Yeah. Dewan Lightfoot. Yeah. AKA Lab every day. That's his Twitter handle. He is pretty, he's pretty popular, so Yeah. He what a what? A he is. What a,

Alex: 8:42

But yeah, as you walked in with him immediately I knew he was familiar and I was thinking to myself, man, that's so embarrassing. I must've worked with this guy in the past and I just don't know who he is, or I don't, I can't think of his name. And then it dawned on me about 30 seconds later that he was the instructor of a course that I'd watched online, not even a month

Pat: 9:02

yep.

Alex: 9:03

So, yeah, say my dad, it's really, you know, anyone who's, anyone in this industry, to this event. So, it really is interesting see those characters. So, yeah, I was already, you know, first event. of Cisco Live. it was

Pat: 9:16

Right.It was so crazy cuz so we were with, like I said, we were over at the World Solutions with the champs and stuff and my boss was there and our good buddy Gerard was there and he and Dwan was hanging with Gerard cuz they're friends and they were asking what we were doing and I was like, we're going to top calls cuz our vendor was having a night out there. So they're like, ah, can we tag along? And I was like, Yeah, whatever. So we all took a cab and there's a funny picture out there on my Twitter account, layer eight packet look it up. It's me, Gerard and Dewan in the back of a little ass cab. And we're three big dudes. So like, we really, like, we literally squeezed in there and like half of me was hanging out the window cuz I could, we literally all couldn't fit in the back of the cab. So, my boss, Evan was in the front seat by himself, but then it was the three amigos in the back and we're big dudes. So like deju, like, it was so funny. We were at a stoplight, dwan. Puts his cell phone out the window and takes the cell. He's like, yo look over here. And we just look over there and he takes the selfie and that's what this picture is from. And oh man, it is it's so funny. It's like, oh God, it's like that Chris Farley skit fat, fat guy and a little coat. It's like, three, three fat guys in a tiny taxi, you know, that kind of thing. So that was That was pretty cool. So that's always a good memory. But yeah, we all met the top golf and man, DWA was swinging it, man. He was funny. But I've never swung a golf club in my life and that was fun for me. Cuz I just don't take myself too seriously. But yeah, that was a lot of fun. You know, obviously Obviously hor d'oeuvres and drinks and, all kinds of stuff and blah, blah, blah. But yeah, we had some good fun there at the old top golf and funny story I, it was my first time in Vegas as well. And so when the night wrapped up, we walked out and it was my boss, Evan and I, and. We walked out and there was a black s u v waiting out there 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 the Luxor, oh, the Luxor, which is literally like not even two miles from this top golf. And he gets in, I get in the front seat, Evan gets in the back, blah, blah, blah, and he drops us off at the front thing at the Luxor, and I hear Evan go how much? What's the damage? And he goes, oh, 40 bucks. And I almost felt like everyone was gonna have a stroke, 40 bucks for like less than two miles. He's like, you gotta be kidding me. This. And I'm like, dude, you're expensive. 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 mile cab ride. I'm like, dude you're the guy with the corporate card. I don't have to mess with that that kind of thing. So that was a funny story as well. But yeah, Cisco Live didn't even start yet. And we had a full Sunday that was just, It was just crazy and it, like, it didn't even start like Monday morning is when it actually starts. So that was that was pretty wild. I gotta say. It set the tone for the whole week and the week was pretty good. So that was always always a good time.

Alex: 12:05

So Monday it starts, and I mean, you probably could spend a couple hours just going through every single day and what you did. But uh, starting with Monday, What shocked you the most? What surprised you the

Pat: 12:18

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 item there. I would say that, that and the breakout sessions are kind of the two big things that Cisco Live is sort of known for is, those two things. So the world of solutions and just the amount of space that's out there and the amount of vendors that were there was just kind of, it was just, I didn't expect it to be that big. Like I knew it was gonna be big, but like, that was massive. Like I, you, you literally could set a whole day aside and just walk the world of solutions floor and be completely content with what you did that day. Like, it was just insanity of how large that was. I was not expecting it to be that large, but it was

Alex: 13:04

Yeah. I mean, I walk through every day and still Thursday I was walking around finding things that I hadn't noticed all week yet,

Pat: 13:12

for sure. yeah, for sure. So Monday I did a bunch of sessions Monday. Some were great some was my fault, and I didn't pick them right. I thought my very first one was a little too. Novice a little too fundamental for my liking, but it was a good refresher. Not that it wasn't a good course or a good session, but it just, I felt like I could have popped in another one in that space that would've been a little more beneficial to me. But the review was, the refresher was good for me, but I had a lot of good courses lot of good content. The people that were putting on the sessions were super smart, really helpful and I'm looking forward to going back and cuz they're all recorded, you can get them. You can get them on demand now. So I'm looking forward to going back and kind of really diving in. That's the one thing I didn't expect or I was kind of taken aback by. Like, some of them were in these massive rooms. Like, they're almost like ballrooms, like that's the size of these things cuz so many people sign up for it and it's kind of hard to concentrate, at least for me, in that large of a size. Room and you kind of get lost in like, looking at other things like people and oh my God, what's going on here? And this and that. Like, even though everybody's like focused on the presenter and talking and he's got slides and, all that kind of stuff. Like it the larger the room, I feel it was a little distracting for me to kind of get the content out of, whatever was being presented. But there was some phenomenal breakout sessions that I went to that was really helpful and I'm glad I went. But it's funny, like I was all jazzed up, like at the beginning of the week to do all these sessions, and then by Thursday I had like one session. I didn't go to any other sessions, but like one on Thursday. So like as the week went on, the session slowly died by numbers. Like, Monday was like four, Tuesday was two. Wednesday was like one or two. And then Thursday I was like down to one, I was like, oh, this is, I'm done with this.

Alex: 15:06

Yep. Yeah, and I mentioned it on our precursor podcast saying that I think the biggest mistake people make when they go to Cisco live, at least for the first time, is that they schedule too many breakout sessions or they attempt to go to too many breakout sessions, and there's just so much more to it that you're really gonna miss a lot, especially since these

Pat: 15:27

yeah,

Alex: 15:27

I mean, you can, you can re-watch these anytime you want. You can't really walk uh, the showroom floor or, uh, do hands-on lab quite

Pat: 15:36

sure. Yeah. So one thing I didn't do this year was any hands-on lab. I didn't do any of that. I didn't do like meet the engineer, which I probably would've liked to cause I was kind of focused on the sessions. But if I do get a chance to go again I will tweak a, a little bit as far as what what I kind of focus on, like you said, the here and now versus what you can get. On demand sort of thing. So that was a lesson or two learned 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 a lifetime right there.

Alex: 16:09

Well, eating out's always a grape

Pat: 16:10

Yeah. So the idea at Cisco Live is to literally like, do your thing. And then so breakfast and lunch are provided by Cisco Live, and then you're kind of on your own for dinner. The idea at Cisco Live is to not pay for a single dinner the entire week to get a vendor to take you out, which is the absolute goal. But Alex Alex, Nate and I, we, we took an Uber over to the Morton Steakhouse that was there and had a phenomenal. Steak. It was it was amazing. So that was the only dinner that I paid for that whole week was Morton's. Which was great. The Morton's was was definitely a highlight of the trip. That steak was so good. Man, that's, I wish we had something close to that back here, but man, we just it is what it is. And then it was funny cuz what did you guys do after Morton's? Did you go gamble or what did you do?

Alex: 16:59

Yeah. That's pretty much what we did every night. It's like, uh, that, that was our routine. It was Cisco Live, that's five-ish six uh, go get dinner and then go gamble. And then it was, they were pretty early nights. I mean, cuz uh, cuz we got to the event at by nine every morning. So you didn't wanna morning. But yeah, that was it. That was probably back, at the hotel by. 10 most nights really.

Pat: 17:28

Okay. Yeah. Monday night after I left you guys, they went back the champs were doing a, like a happy hour thing at the Rera, which is an Irish pub in Mandalay Bay. So they rent, they rented a room one of the back bars, or back rooms, I should say for the Cisco champs. And we just went there. And so I showed up and there was quite a few people still there and hanging. And so I hung I hung with some cool cats back there. So, shout out to my buddy Jordan, who's at NetBox or NetBox Labs, I should say. So, we hung with him for a while, taking a drink or two. And then that kind of kind of, I don't wanna say dried up, but it was over at like nine 30 ish or whatever. 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 hockey guy, ice hockey the Golden Knights were playing at the T-Mobile arena right next door. So, so the one guy's like, Hey let's let's walk over there and see if there, there's a bar over there from what I remember from last time, see if we can go cash into the game, blah, blah, blah. I was like, okay. So we walked through the, through Luxor, through the Excalibur, and on the other end of the Excalibur was, is it kind of dumps you outside, but it's right that, right at that bar, at the T-Mobile arena. And by the time we got there, it was k it was, the game was over. And so we had one beer and then they kind of closed up. Closed up on us. Then we drank our beer walking back. But I didn't get home till, I didn't get back to the hotel till like close to midnight. It was like 1130, midnight. I was like, Ooh, I'm burning the midnight. Oh, I gotta get up. That kind of thing. So that was always fun. It's always nice to see the Vegas nightlife when you can. So that's all good there. What's some other highlights?

Alex: 18:58

Monday

Pat: 19:00

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

Alex: 19:21

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 because they were filling up like just secondary rooms where you just had a screen so you could watch the keynote.

Pat: 19:35

Oh wow.

Kyle: 19:36

wow. Yeah.

Alex: 19:37

So yeah, that's how I watched it. I sat in one of those

Pat: 19:40

And to give,

Alex: 19:41

watched it. on a screen.

Pat: 19:42

yeah. Oh, wow. That's pretty wild. To give people an idea of where these keynotes were, at least in Vegas they're in the Michelob Ultra Arena, which is like, it's in the Mandalay Bay Hotel, and it's a decent size arena. Like, it's like, I wanna say like, like the W N B A team plays there or something. I think I heard that. Like, so it's like a decent size arena. It's not just a, it's not just a ballroom where people can get so many, a couple hundred chairs in. Like, it's a, it's an actual like sports arena where people come and play and, basketball and all that kind of thing. So if they were putting people in ballrooms, you know, a lot of people showed up to that. Like, it was pretty crazy.

Alex: 20:19

I just looked it up. 12,000 people fitting there. So,

Pat: 20:22

There you go. See?

Alex: 20:25

More than 12,000 showed up to watch that cuz I

Pat: 20:28

That's it. That's it. Yeah, exactly right. So that was that was a good time. I was part of Tech Field Day which was pretty cool. That was my first tech field day. I was basically like a delegate for Tech Field Day. And I had the company Open Gear came in and did a presentation for Tech Field Day. So Open gear is like a lot of like, out of band management 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: 20:57

too familiar with that though. When you brought it up, that's the first time I had heard about it. So what exactly is the idea between Tech Field Day? They just pull some people that are in the. I don't know, social media, podcast field, people that are kind of like

Pat: 21:15

not even that. It's, more just.

Alex: 21:16

to take a look at something.

Pat: 21:18

well, yeah, they have a few, they have Tech Field Day. They have Security Tech Field Day, they have Networking Tech Field Day. So there's a couple of different events throughout the year that they do. They just had. Tech Field Day security or they call it security field day. It was actually the 28th and 29th of June, so it was literally this week. And they have them all around the states. Most of them are out your way, Alex, like California, like Silicon Valley, and stuff like that. They have a storage field day, they have cloud field day. So there's all these different events and they're basically, they bring in, I forget how many there are. You can look it up. It's tech field day.com, but it's they have X amount of delicates where they actually live stream it, they video record it, blah, blah, blah. And they bring in different vendors of whatever. Tech field day you are attending? I'll stay with the network one, cause that's the vein we live in. But like, so they bring in all these vendors and then basically you are there to be kind of a voice for the possible consumer. So we're there to ask questions about X, Y, and Z. We're there to ask, like add like real life or real environment scenarios for this gear, that kind of thing. So, how would you deploy this? Or Hey, we have this type of environment. How would you deploy X or how would y work? That kind of thing. So we're there to be like the audience voice as they're giving their presentation. So that was pretty cool. Yeah, it was pretty neat.

Alex: 22:41

how'd you earn your spot?

Pat: 22:43

I was actually invited last year but I couldn't go for whatever reason. I couldn't remember. Oh, I just started a customer's bank like it, and like the event was like, like a month after I started, so I couldn't like, and you actually, like, they actually fly you out and you go, so it's like you have to take off from work to like do this sort of thing. So it's, it's a whole, like, I don't wanna say it's a couple days. I don't know if it's a week, but it's a couple days. So like I didn't feel comfortable taking off that early in my customers bank career. It's like, Hey, I'm starting in May, but in June I'm going. So I told him to kind of put me on the back burner and then the guy that runs it, Tom he went to my boss, Evan, cuz they know each other from, from. Tech field days in the past and asked if I knew anybody and my boss threw my name out there and that's how I got the last minute spot out there at Cisco Live. And it was with open gear and met some cool people and it was a good,

Alex: 23:39

Yeah, I guess that's something that kinda impressed me uh, with, with how you did your Cisco live. First time you went there and you almost felt like a vet, like you did a lot of things. Uh, I think people, like they worked their way up to like doing some of these side things and getting into some of these bigger events and yeah. Kudos to you. That's good.

Pat: 24:03

Yeah, it was cool. Yeah. I was just like, yeah, sure, I'll do it. That kind of thing. So I just sacrificed a session or two. But again, like we said, they're pre-recorded, so I can do'em anytime. But it was like an hour and a half 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 Tuesday morning for me. And then Tuesday you and I got into the DevNet stuff and we'd never seemed to like leave the DevNet arena, the DevNet zone that yeah. That we got. So that was an interesting thing. Yeah that was interesting. You got some swag outta that. Yeah.

Alex: 24:36

a little bit. Yeah. So I know pat's getting at the Capture the Flag event uh,

Pat: 24:43

Yeah.

Alex: 24:44

which is really just a lot of labs on a bunch of different technologies, and you get points by accomplishing certain tasks within these different technologies. Um, and they do, they walk you through most of it and they're pretty good labs. I mean, you learn a lot. Um,

Pat: 25:00

Yeah. Yeah, they were.

Alex: 25:02

first started doing it, uh, I just. Like anyone else, I guess I just. picked the, the technologies that interest me the, most. And they have these things called missions where uh, once you capture X amount of flags for a certain technology, you complete a mission by the way. Um, I ended up completing two of those and then one of the proctors just walked over cuz I don't think they advertised this anywhere cuz I didn't realize this was

Pat: 25:26

No, I didn't hear

Alex: 25:28

They just said, oh uh, since you completed two missions within this track, you actually get$50 to uh, Cisco store. And that's wasn't just cuz I was the 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: 25:48

No, I tried, but I didn't get to the finish line. I ended like two or three missions before I was like, oh man, I ran out of time. Cuz they technically stopped at Wednesday at three o'clock I think it was, or whatever it was. So like, I did the SD wan track first, so I just thought it was just two, two missions or two tracks. It was actually specific to the data center track. So that did like Nexus dashboard and things of that nature. So I was like, oh. So I thought, well, I'll do the SD WAN one and then I'll do another one and that should be it. No, it was specific to the data center track, which I didn't realize until later. And then I tried to squeeze it in at the end of the, at the end and Wednesday at three o'clock was the cutoff time. And I didn't make it. So did Nate end up making it? Did Nate get some swag?

Alex: 26:34

two, so he got his$50 card

Pat: 26:37

Nice. That's cool.

Alex: 26:39

and then, we ended up spending a lot of time on it. But the, the reason that we ended up spending a lot of time is I think because you got that$50 gift card for completing those two missions, we thought that, because they said there would be rewards for finishing in the top two for certain tracks and then there'd be uh, the top five overall would get awards. So I guess in our heads thinking, well, if you got$50 for just completing two missions on your own time, then there's gotta be something real sweet if you

Pat: 27:12

That's it.

Alex: 27:13

being the, the top dog in any of these categories. So we ended up spending an ungodly amount of time over the next two days. I think I put about 13 hours into it. I ended

Pat: 27:22

Yeah. It was crazy.

Alex: 27:23

,so I did end up winning. I was number one overall,

Pat: 27:26

Did you ice?

Alex: 27:27

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: 27:37

Woo.

Pat: 27:37

Oh yeah. Little token action there. Yeah.

Alex: 27:41

simple trophy, and um, I, I did get a raspberry pie, which at the time I didn't realize that a couple bucks. Uh, actually I just sold it on a Facebook marketplace for$60,

Pat: 27:56

Oh, nice.

Alex: 27:58

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 I did waste, uh, Some of the, the golden hours of Cisco live by

Pat: 28:11

Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, it was funny. Like I would get up and go and just like leave you guys there, like go to do sessions or go do whatever and then I'd come back and you're still sitting at the same spot like an hour or two later. I'm like, oh man, this is crazy this is hardcore. You guys are crazy.

Alex: 28:28

Yeah. It's the competitor in me cuz I have a leaderboard. So you can see

Pat: 28:33

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 of the most competitive guys I know. You're like, oh. Like, once I found out, like there 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 the ride at this point. Like, it's like, oh he's toast. These guys are gonna sleep here and you'll see him in the morning, goes shit, but no, that was funny. Every time I came back or I texted you, I was like, yo, where you guys at? Like, every time I was like, DevNet, I was like, okay, there he is.

Alex: 29:08

CTF

Pat: 29:08

Yeah, that was funny. But no time well spent. I did like the labs as well. I thought it was some cool stuff that I'll never get to kind of touch. But it was it was neat to at least get some experience with it and, who knows? But it was some good time. SD wan obviously. I did, and then I did some of the data center stuff, nexus dashboard and that kind of thing. So it was some good hands-on that I may or may not see in the future, so who knows. Then Tuesday night I had another vendor dinner. We went to a Brazilian steakhouse, so I had the meat sweats after that. That was pretty good. Yeah. Enjoyed that

Alex: 29:38

I E party on Tuesday

Pat: 29:40

Oh yeah.

Alex: 29:41

Topco. That disappointment. It, I think it, it goes to show you just like how many people were show, like showed up for this thing, but, um, there was a C C I E and then you could bring a, a guess and they rented out two levels of top golf and there's 220 bays total. But I think the third

Pat: 30:02

Oh, wow.

Alex: 30:03

one of the levels that they rented out was, is smaller than uh, the others. So, you know, say there's like a, they rented out 120 bays for what was probably 2000 people that showed up. So,

Pat: 30:16

Yeah.

Alex: 30:16

yeah, I mean the reason that what I'm leading to is that uh, I didn't get a chance to golf So cuz they were, cuz I got there maybe 10 minutes after it started and it's just there, everybody, every single

Pat: 30:29

It was just swamped.

Alex: 30:30

most had six or

Pat: 30:31

Uh,

Alex: 30:32

in it. And the food was

Pat: 30:34

the worst.

Alex: 30:35

me. Like the food that we had um, For your vendor meet. That was actually like provided by Topco Cisco brought their own stuff and it was like, it wasn't that great.

Pat: 30:45

Oh. Oh, okay.

Alex: 30:46

style thing, but it was,

Pat: 30:49

Interesting.

Alex: 30:50

yeah, So

Pat: 30:51

Interesting. So did you see any heavy hitters there at the CCCA party? Like you said, meeting, meeting some people that we've that we've gotten to know over the years?

Alex: 30:59

that's a good point. I don't think I actually did, I don't remember seeing any like a

Pat: 31:04

Okay.

Alex: 31:04

uh, you know, the people that I've seen in videos and had written books. no. I did see, and maybe this is something we should have talked about idea behind like the pecking order and the, the, size of the badge you have like how many

Pat: 31:19

Oh yeah. Yeah.

Alex: 31:20

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

Pat: 31:42

Yep. It's like a sticky tape. Yeah.

Alex: 31:44

had one that said Champs probably. And um,

Pat: 31:48

Yep. And they're different colors, so depending on what you get, you kind of can identify it by a color. So I had a champs one. There was one for Capture the Flag, so that was green. There was a couple, like if you were an ie, you had one, forget what color that was. All kinds of

Alex: 32:03

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 you get 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: 32:19

right, right.

Alex: 32:20

So

Pat: 32:21

Some gorilla shit right there.

Alex: 32:24

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

Pat: 32:39

Right. Yeah I think I've seen that. Yeah, I think I've seen the picture. It's kind of crazy. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There's some alpha mail shit right there. There's some crazy stuff going on.

Alex: 32:49

But there was definitely some obvious heavy hitters there. Some really technical guys.

Pat: 32:56

That's really smart. Yeah, some really smart, sharp dudes. Speaking of sharp folks it's the first time I met Jason Gooley. So Jason Gooley being network automation guy. I don't think he actually works for Cisco, but he like, he's like in that space. Really cool dude. Really enjoyed talking to him. And who knows, maybe we'll get him on the show for a comp, for an hour or so, whatever. But yeah met Jason was a really good guy. I actually bought he was cisco Press author. So he's got his own Cisco Automation book out there now. So, I'll have to pick that up and give that a shot since I gotta get better at automation. Anyway. But yeah, Jason Gooey was great. Daniel Dibb was another guy, C C I E, like I just met so many people from the Champs program and then they introduced to so many people like, so crazy. Just how many people I met.

Alex: 33:41

yeah. I, Daniel did, that's interesting cuz he uh, I, I met him, I don't know, maybe 10 years ago through the Cisco Learning Network. It's, I don't know what it,

Pat: 33:52

Oh yeah,

Alex: 33:53

he and I were really active on that. And,

Pat: 33:56

yeah. Yeah.

Alex: 33:57

met him in person in, um, Cisco, live in Orlando. that's interesting. So yes, running

Pat: 34:03

Yeah. Met Daniel Dibb, great guy. So yeah, there's a bunch of people there. Keith Bar. Yeah, that was when was That That, was Wednesday. That's a good segue going into Wednesday. Let me tell you, that was another oh shit moment for me. Cause CBT Nuggets didn't have an actual booth there, they were just kind of hanging out in like one of the open spaces or whatever. And so another good friend of mine beard it, dad, who is another content creator in this space 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 like the Pacific Northwest, like Oregon, where he lives. And they're mainly a Juniper shop. But he went and took a couple classes and walked around and that kind of thing. So I met him there and then he's like, where you at? I was like, I'm trying to, whatever. And he's like, oh, come on over to, I forget what it was, town square, blah, blah, blah. And he's like, oh, I'm hanging with Keith Barker and this and that. I was like, oh shit, I gotta go over there and, whatever. So I go over there and it took me forever cause I was actually looking for a booth, like I was actually looking for an actual booth. I didn't realize they were just hanging there, like out in the open with couches and the chairs and shit. And so I'm like walking around, I'm like, where are you? He's like, we're by the Presidio, whatever. And I was like, I'm here. I don't see a C B T nugget spoof anywhere. 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. And yeah, I got to meet Keith Barker, which is another one that I've been learning from for.

Alex: 35:32

yeah.

Pat: 35:33

10 plus years, 15 plus years. It's insanity. And he was so cool. He lives in Vegas, so like it was nothing for him to jump there. And I was like, that's really cool. So he was talking to me and he's actually, 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 get to Keith on here.

Alex: 35:51

few

Pat: 35:52

He's really cool guy.

Alex: 35:53

met or watched uh, instructional videos on that you feel like, man, these guys truly like breathe this stuff.

Pat: 36:01

Yeah.

Alex: 36:01

he

Pat: 36:02

Yep. He is one of them.

Alex: 36:03

much fun anytime he talks about these things.

Pat: 36:05

Yep. Absolutely. Yeah. We talked for Like 15 minutes and I was just like I was like, dude, do you know who you are? He's like, ah, you're giving me too much credit. I'm like no. Do you know who you are? Like, like, I literally watched you for 15 years of over various, my CC n a, my CCNA security, the Palo Alto stuff. I did, like, I watched all of his stuff that he that he did on that, and he was a major part of me passing a lot of my stuff, and it's just like to meet him in person was just so cool. It was so cool. Cool.

Alex: 36:34

I assume that they love it because, I mean, it's not like they're, you know, the type of people that have paparazzis or something like that. But when they come to Cisco live, they, they must feel like rock stars. I mean, because

Pat: 36:44

They have to, I would think so.

Alex: 36:46

of the people that walk there know who they are. I mean, like, it's just

Pat: 36:50

Yeah. Right. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So I met up with Keith, I met up with I, I heard Anthony se Cora's voice as I was walking. I couldn't tell where he was coming from. I couldn't see him, but like, I heard his voice and I was like, oh, I gotta get to him. And then I never got back to him, but I never actually saw him. I just heard his voice out in the crowd somewhere and I couldn't pin where it was coming from. But he's another one that I listened to for a decade or more. Anthony he's a good dude too.

Alex: 37:15

chance to talk to him, but yeah, I did. He was standing right next to me when I went to the Cisco store cuz uh, it was, uh, meet the author.

Pat: 37:22

Oh,

Alex: 37:23

So

Pat: 37:23

oh, nice.

Alex: 37:24

for, I don't know, all day several Anyway.

Pat: 37:28

Okay.

Alex: 37:28

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: 37:35

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 Network engineering podcast. Uh, Met her, she was great. She was on the show. She was on this show a while back. So go listen to that. Tim Bertino, which is another art of network engineering co-host he was there, so, I got to meet him. But yeah, it was all, cause we're all champs, so it was kind of cool to see these people, kind of in person. So, but yeah, it was really cool to meet some real dudes. And it was and ladies obviously. There was a lady there that I that I knew from the online space Rika she rolls her RS when she says her name, but I can't roll my Rs, so I'm just gonna say her name is Rika. But she came from Finland, I wanna say. And it was like, It. I was talking to her Sunday, I think Sunday night before we went to the top golf, just shooting shit. And she actually makes it like a vacation for her since I think it's like a, it's almost, it's like a 20 hour trip for her to get to from Finland to, I think she flew to LA and then lA over to Vegas. It was like a 20 hour trip or some crazy nonsense. And so, Cisco Live is like the first week of her vacation and then she go, I think she was going to Florida for like two or three weeks and then flying back. So like she had to make it worth her while to come to the States and, that kind of thing. So like, just hearing her story was crazy. Daniel Dibb, he's a, another one that's not I wanna say he's 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 to come to Cisco live. And I was just like, to me that's like the f like a fascinating story. Like I can't get enough of that. It's so crazy Like, it's just insane to see how far these people come from. And it was cool. Zoe, she was I was in with her at Tech Field Day and she's a champ as well, so I saw quite a bit of her over the week. She's from, Over the, across the pond somewhere. She has like an I Ireland accent, but she's not from there. Like, she's over, I wanna say some, somewhere in the uk. But yeah, and she was, she's actually pregnant. So like traveling that much with child is I'm sure not an easy task. So like, it's just crazy to see how far these people come from. And it was great to meet everybody. It was really something.

Alex: 39:51

Yeah. And um, yeah, I noticed that's something you were doing too, is this, um, people go to Cisco live and they're just 100% focused on learning and the technical aspect of stuff. But the social networking part of that is huge. There's so many people you can get

Pat: 40:07

It's so crazy.

Alex: 40:10

yeah, I mean, the old adage is not always what you know, so, you

Pat: 40:13

Amen.

Alex: 40:14

you too. Just, uh, if you're, if you get your name out these people, uh, these people have a lot of reach in our industry. So

Pat: 40:21

Yeah, for sure.

Alex: 40:22

you, I mean, 10 years from now, you

Pat: 40:25

Some of the other Champs.

Alex: 40:26

uh, you know, just going to Cisco Live opened up some door that you're not yet know of, but it

Pat: 40:31

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Some of the guys I met from just the Champ stuff, like Mike Johnson, he worked for Presidio. Dan Kocher, he works for IP Fabric that kind of thing. So like there's some heavy hitters out there that that are part of this Champs program and just, meeting them in person, just kind of shooting shit. And, you know, Jordan from, from NetBox um, hanging out with him at at one of the events that was cool. And just, sales, some of them are sales guys or sales engineers. Most of them are tech, tech geeks. And it was funny I'm gonna steal this from now on. I dunno if I told you this before, but our Cisco rep, Tim he coined Cisco live. It's like, nerd summer camp. So I'm gonna call it that from now on. So, Cause that's exactly what it's literally like, it's a summer camp for nerds and just like you're among like-minded people and they, you just can't get enough of it. I can't explain how like the social aspect of it is just, it's just such a huge part of it. And that world of solutions is like, that world is your, literally your oyster. And you could do you could meet as many or little people as you want, but I would say more the merrier.

Alex: 41:33

and I did feel this Cisco, I was a little bit different from me because the previous times that I had gone, I was an employee Evolve ip, which, you know, no one's really ever heard of. Pretty small in the grand scheme of things. I felt like I was treated so differently, this time around when I

Pat: 41:48

Cause she works for Disney. Yeah.

Alex: 41:49

like when they look at me Disney Plus and Hulu, like, wait a second, well come here for a second. Let me lemme

Pat: 41:55

right? Yeah. Yeah. Probably a drink. Yeah.

Alex: 41:59

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

Pat: 42:16

Billy with a b,

Alex: 42:18

Oh. I was like, who do you work for? Oh, Oh,

Pat: 42:22

yes.

Alex: 42:23

And then they, they knew,

Pat: 42:24

Right. The sway. Mr. Batt. Yes. Come over here with comfy chairs. Yeah.

Alex: 42:29

knew my solutions architect right off the oh, they were like,

Pat: 42:31

Oh, really? Okay.

Alex: 42:33

talks to you guys. Yeah. Oh. I talk to Carl all the time.

Pat: 42:35

Oh, that's that's funny. I have Carl on speed dial, actually.

Alex: 42:40

like, do you need anything?

Pat: 42:42

Yeah, that's pretty good. Yeah, no I agree, man. The people that you meet is just as good as any aspect of Cisco Live at all. I really think you can do some damage and really get to spread your wings there for, as many people as you talk to and whatnot. So, and I don't wanna toot my own horn, but Sunday night before we kind of have, we had that little preview of the world of solutions before it opened up Monday, I got my picture taken with the Lombardi trophy. So that was kind of cool. So that was that, I skipped the line. Went right up there. Cause we had first access, the first crack at it. It was, I was like, yep, that's pretty cool. So that was you know,

Alex: 43:15

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: 43:20

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 is usually the customer appreciation night. Alex, I know constant aren't your thing, but I walked over our technical engineer. Tim was there. He was buying drinks for people at one of the casino bars before. And he sent me a text. He said, come on over. So I walked over you and a couple other, his clients were hanging there. So it was, we talked shop and had some drinks and then we all walked over together. They, so they rented out Allegiant Stadium, which is obviously Alex, you're a football guy, that's where your boys play Raiders. So they rented out leading the stadium again, food, drink the whole deal, blah, blah, blah. And then that night Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton played. So for those of you that don't know, they are a married couple. Gwen Stefani being the pop star she is, and Blake being the country star that he is Gwen went 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 no doubt back in the early nineties and or should say mid nineties, whatever. And she went on her own solo career and obviously Blake with his country stuff. But But yeah, Gwen was really good 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 knew both of them. They put, they both put on really good shows and we had all the food and drink we could handle and then we walked back and that was fun.

Alex: 44:40

And, and that's another thing, it just kind of goes to show you how big an event Cisco live is because people that you have know nothing about networking or Cisco can appreciate what customer appreciation events are. And I think we talked about this before, but um, Orlando that I went to, they rented out Universal Studios. Like we And,

Pat: 45:01

Right. Yeah.

Alex: 45:03

Dragons has been one of the

Pat: 45:05

Cool.

Alex: 45:06

um, blink 180 2. I mean, it's a really

Pat: 45:09

That's nice.

Alex: 45:10

like world renowned concerts and there's just for us included in, you know, the price of the ticket,

Pat: 45:17

a couple years ago, Weezer was there the Foo Fighters. So they've had a bunch of really top names coming through. And by the way, I just saw Blink 180 2 in Hershey, like, a week before I went to Cisco live. And they were awesome. They're just, they're coming back. They're back with a vengeance. Yeah. So, no, it's all good. Yeah, so that was fun. And then I wanna get into Thursday, cuz Thursday was by far the most interesting day for me, although it wrapped up early, obviously I think the world of solutions closes at like one o'clock. So there's sessions in the morning and then. World of Solutions closes up at one o'clock and then it dies out from there. It's, it was funny to see like all these people come to Cisco live on Thursday with their luggage cuz a lot of people fly out Thursday night, that kind of thing. And so they check out their hotel rooms and don't have anywhere to put it. So they just put it in this one massive hallway down by one of the doors. It's just like, wow. There's a lot.

Alex: 46:08

Yeah. Nate had luggage and that, that was like the first thought Wednesday night. It's like, oh, what are we gonna do with your luggage the entire time until you wait till your flight? And then, Yeah. it's like, oh, they thought of that, which they should Makes sense.

Pat: 46:23

Yeah. Let's put it over here. Yeah. So backing up to Wednesday night at the bar with Tim he said that he walked right up and right up to the cuz brother, I don't know if you get the full. For the full pass at Cisco live there. There's various tiers of tickets at Cisco Live. You get the full pass you get a free cert exam, a crack at a free cert exam, any Cisco cert you want. I think it's anyone. I don't know what the i e or if there's any restrictions around that.

Alex: 46:54

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: 47:01

Yeah. So you, any, anyone that you feel you can take a crack at. If you have the full pass, you get a crack, and that's on the second I think it's the second floor of the Mandalay Bay in one of the rooms. And so, Wednesday night, Tim was like, yeah, I just I didn't have anything scheduled. I just walked up there and the lady asked if I had if I had something scheduled, and I said, and he wink, wink nudged it and be like, yeah, I have it scheduled and she like, played along with him. I was like, oh yeah what are you taking 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 your name in the system here. What's your name? Blah, blah, blah. They played this like game back and forth, like, whatever. And he's like, yada, yada, yada. And long story short, 15 minutes later he was sitting in a seat taking a test. And I was like, oh shit, I wonder if I should do that. Like, cause I originally wanted to do one and then I dropped it. Cause I was like, ah, it's my first Cisco Live. I didn't really know like, what to 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 of feel shitty if you pass, or I should say if you fail, right? That kind of thing. So, so then I didn't I didn't get the email from Cisco to actually say, Hey, let's schedule your time. That, that is true. I did not get the email which whatever. So then after hearing that Wednesday night, I was like, man I wonder if I could do that. Just go up like Thursday morning and go take one. Cuz my local community college here approached me about teaching their Cisco Networking Academy. But in order to do that, I have to be Cisco certified. And all mine expired in 2020 as most of you know. so, so I get up Thursday, breakfast, the whole deal. I had a session that was my one session on Thursday. It was in the morning. It was like eight 30, whatever it was. And so I did that. And then I was like, him and the hall and I was like, ah, like should I, shouldn't I, blah, blah. So I went up and and I saw my buddy Gerard he was walking out And he was like, oh yeah, blah, blah. We, we shot the shit for a few minutes and I just kinda like hung there and loitered. I was like, I hoping somebody comes up to me like, Hey, can I help you out? And then I like, explain my situation. Cuz I didn't wanna walk up to the lady and be like, she's like, Hey we're, what's your name? Who are you scheduled for? I'm like, I'm really not. Like, I didn't wanna be that guy, So the one guy walked up and said, Hey, can I help you? I'm like, yeah, here's my situation. 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 up to that. Just go up to the lady back there and tell her that you didn't get an email and, blah, blah, blah. She, and she'll see what she can do for you. So I was like, okay. So I walked up and I said, blah, blah, blah. Gave her the whole story. And she's like, yeah. She goes, is this your first Cisco Live? I said, yeah, it is. She goes, okay. She goes, I'll do it for you now. But she goes, don't make a habit of it, like, schedule it in the future. And I was like, oh yeah, that's no problem. Like, I totally get it. And so she's like, all right, gimme like 15 minutes. You can come back and you should be in the system. You're ready to go. I was like, oh shit. All right. Cool. Thanks. So I 15 minutes later came back up scheduled my, I had my CCC NNA scheduled just to, get something under the books or under my belt. And 15 minutes later I was in a lab. I was in a room testing and I took it and I passed it. And now I'm C C N A certified that was kind of cool. So, I took one off the cuff. I took a cold, didn't study a lick for it, didn't do anything. And I went in there and that funny thing, the, my weakest subject is actually automation, obviously. I, we've talked about that here. And I got a 90% on that part of the test. 90%. I was like, oh, cool. That makes me feel pretty good. So, so, yeah. So I walked out of there Thursday with a ccna. So that was kind of cool.

Alex: 50:23

There you go. Does that give you more confidence in teaching the exam though? teach, teaching

Pat: 50:29

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Teaching the class. Yeah. Hey, whatever. Don't give it a shot

Alex: 50:33

if you

Pat: 50:34

that kind of thing. There's already one teacher there. Yeah..Yeah. It went for 30 to about 35, so it's all good. But my original goal this year was the CCMP Security Corps. So, now I got back to that, so, but yeah, I passed the passed the ccna and then Thursday night, me and Gerard, I hooked up with Gerard after the test. And him and I went down to Fremont Street, which is like old timey Vegas. We took an Uber down there and that 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 a few There was some real interesting folks down there at like four in the afternoon, bro. I was like, oh man, here we go. So we went down there got some barbecue, got something to eat just kind of walked, for those that don't know, Fremont street's, like only like three blocks long and it's closed to traffic, so you just like walk on the street and whatever, and there's casinos and you can duck in and play casinos or there's, beers and or whatever bars, that kind of thing. Different kind of shops and whatnot. And so Gerard in and got his wife something at one of the shops. And I was hanging out there and and like you could see like some of the, like there was a Michael Jackson 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 in dressing, like a Chucky doll mask. So he was doing his thing. And then you had, Some ladies that were there. The one was like in like a Catwoman, like uniform with the whip and the whole deal. And she was like trying to get guys to come over and, whatever. And I was like, oh man.

Alex: 52:02

you're,

Pat: 52:02

Yeah, I was like, oh no, and.

Alex: 52:04

on the hook for tip.

Pat: 52:06

Oh, funny thing. So that's where I'm going with this. So Gerard comes outta the thing, right? And he listens to his podcast. He's gonna shake his head in shame. I know he is, but he We, he comes outta the thing and we start walking towards the other end, and there's two ladies there like our age, and they're in the full like showgirls, like big feather tail suits and the whole deal, and blah, blah, blah. And so they see us from a mile away. So they're like, come on over. And Jordan's like, okay So we walk over there and they're like, yeah, get your picture taken. I was like, nah, I'm good. Like, I was like I don't need that kind of negativity right now. Just like, I know what's gonna happen 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 between the two ladies and blah, blah. And they take a picture and he gets on and he's like, ah, you know what's, you know? and she's like, that'll be 80 bucks. 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 each girl. And I was just like, that is exactly why I did not jump in there and be like, yo, let's get my picture taken, bro. Like, that's just not me. And so they haggled a little bit and Gerard's like, you're outta your mind if I think I'm, if you think I'm gonna pay 80 bucks for a for a picture and blah blah. They're like, we have to pay a company too, and blah, blah. And. So that all, that's not going to us and blah, blah, blah. And so, and jar's like, oh, I don't really have any cash. And they're like, well, you, we take card too. You know, That kinda thing. So like, he was really on the hook for it. And he got down to 20, he got down to 20 bucks. So it was, I think it was 20 or Oh, it, no, it was 40. It was 20 per girl. So he paid 40 bucks for the picture.

Alex: 53:44

start with some absurdly

Pat: 53:46

was just like, Oh

Alex: 53:47

They're probably hoping to get$20 each. Like the man that's probably

Pat: 53:51

Yeah, exactly.

Alex: 53:53

get. They

Pat: 53:54

Yeah, exactly. So

Alex: 53:56

times

Pat: 53:57

see, right. And that's the thing, like, man, like it, it's so funny. I learned in Vegas over the four days, like. Like people are willing to do stuff for you, but then they don't tell you the price until after it's done like that. Like the price is not discussed upfront. It is an afterthought. of like, yeah. It's like case in point where like the cab that we took over, not the cab the black suv we took home from Topgolf, like he didn't say a word about price until we pulled up to the Luxor. He is like, yep, that'll be 40 bucks. That kinda thing. And same with the ladies. She, they didn't say shit about price until after the picture was taken, that kinda, so I was like, oh boy, here we go. But yeah, Vegas was cool. It's it was an addictive, if you got an addictive personality, man. Vegas is not the town for you, bro. It's just not, it is. Oh no, probably not. So, no, overall we had a good time. I only spent 40 bucks gambling and I donated at all. I didn't come home with any of it, so it's all good. It's all good. Yep. Yeah, I had 40 bucks in cash. I brought it and we're, I spent it all down at Fremont Street, a couple different casinos, but I didn't I did not do well down there on, on the gambling front. It's just not me. But now I can say I gambled in Vegas and man, we just, the event was just such a good time. It just, we just had a great time and obviously Friday we got up and flew home. But the event was just a good time. Like I said, some of the. Breakout sessions were a little too big for my liking but they had some really good intel in there, Alex, the one you and I were in the automating the infrastructures code for Nexus Os You and I were in that one together. That was pretty good. That was probably my favorite one that was really relatable. I could see myself using that. So that was a good one. But yeah just the people and I averaged like, I think I averaged like 20,000 steps a day or like 21,000 steps, like. Oh, dude, I chewed through those shoes. I, I threw'em right into garbage when I came home. They were completely shot I was like, Nope. A lot of walking carrying waters and 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 the dinners were great. And but yeah, I think for next year, if I would go again next year or whatever, the next time I go is I would probably do a little lighter on the sessions and spend a little more time down in the world of solutions. Not that I didn't I spent a lot of time down there, but just kind of doing, I didn't see the whole thing. Like, I, I want to do, like, now that I know what's available, like I'd probably do like a meet the engineer or like some different lunches and stuff that are available to people or some of the vendor stuff. I kind of shied away from a lot of the vendors cause I just felt like it was, I just had this preconceived like, sales gimmicky notion sort of thing. I'm like like cuz once they scan your badge, they have your email and now they're gonna spam you forever. So like I stayed away from most of that. I probably would be a little more choosy as far as like, okay, yeah, I want to give this place my business. I don't mind them having my email sort of thing. And kind of dive into that. I didn't really do any of that. So I, there are some tweaks and whatnot that I would probably do a little different now that I have an idea of what it is. But overall I thought it was fantastic. I can't wait to go back.

Alex: 57:04

Yeah. So kind of just expanding on that. Oh, that's what you do a little bit differently. So backtracking a little bit, what would, what would you say is the, the low point of the trip or the thing that. You think they could change or improve on? And what did you enjoy the most specifically?

Pat: 57:25

Hmm. I would say the low point, I don't say low point, but one of, I think I mentioned before that the 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 that much demand for them for that particular class. Don't do it in such a large room. I would break it up into multiple sessions, but keep it in the smaller room. Cause I think people retain knowledge better that way, or it makes them, it keeps them focused, or at least for me, it keeps me more focused if I'm in a smaller room. So I would do that. The high point for me was probably just meeting people that I've talked to online and like I said, the David Bomb Balls and the Keith Barkers and Jason Gooeys of the world. And some of the other content creators, you know, like I said uh, Tim and, and Lexi and Dakota, bearded it, dad those folks always good. So like, it's so weird to me that these people are just, Like WebEx chats or Discord chats for, 51 other weeks of the year. And now they're like, they're an actual person for a week when you guys meet at Cisco Live. So that, I always find that interesting that I thought that was really cool. So the whole meet and greet and just being with like-minded folks and, again, talking to people that are just way smarter than you. And I always say like, if you're the smartest guy in the room, you're in the wrong room. So, get in the chat with Daniel Dibb, and again, Jason Gooley and Dan Kucher. And so some of those guys that just have such reverence in this industry because of what they've done and who they are. Like Peter Jones, he was another one another guy there, big guy on ethernet and he's been around for a while. So, got to meet him for a little bit and do their thing. And just. Kind of talking to them and just talking shop and they, they love it. Like you said when we talked about Keith Barker, like they have to love it cuz they just they have such a high positive attitude of when they talk to you about it. Like, you like it oozes from them You know what I mean? It's just so, it's so crazy. So that was probably my highlight, just talking to people and getting around.

Alex: 59:17

All right. Well, I'm actually surprised this, we chatted about this for a while. I thought this would be a quick

Pat: 59:24

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 low point?

Alex: 59:33

Well, again, we kinda already discussed it. The low point for me was how much time I spent on to capture the flag I like, cuz I, it's almost like

Pat: 59:42

Oh

Alex: 59:42

on the flip side that you couldn't say that was the high point of, because I really did enjoy it. Uh, but I just spent way too much

Pat: 59:48

right.

Alex: 59:49

Um, I didn't go to enough breakout sessions, which I didn't think I'd ever say

Pat: 59:54

Yeah. Yeah, yeah,

Alex: 59:58

so what the true highlight was, cuz there's things that are just completely unrelated to technology were the high points. So like, I, I wanna, there was some booth that had like a putting challenge. It was completely unrelated to

Pat: 1:00:11

yeah.

Alex: 1:00:12

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 10 mat and they just had, to shoot in the six different targets and the quickest amount of time. So I, I ended up winning that, uh, like I. The best time for the day. So I. got another$50 um, store credit. Uh, so

Pat: 1:00:37

Nice.

Alex: 1:00:38

that was just, uh, that's what I'm reading right now. the books I bought. um, well, you mentioned about meeting people that you know, you, these, WebEx is in these um, just podcasts. But the other thing too is if, if moved around from job to job, and this might be like the only event of the year where you get together with everyone, every co, well not every, but coworkers that you've had from every other job. So,

Pat: 1:01:09

sure.

Alex: 1:01:10

uh, I'm hoping that you continue to go and hopefully that's not the only time we see each other, but I think I'll,

Pat: 1:01:16

I know. Yeah.

Alex: 1:01:17

Cisco live more knowing that, hey Pat's gonna be there. I get to see Pat again. That's kind of neat.

Pat: 1:01:22

It's gonna be cool.

Alex: 1:01:23

not just meeting new people,

Pat: 1:01:24

Yeah. It was the first time you and I have. Yeah, right. you and I, that's the first time you and I have been together and what I mean, it's been a while.

Alex: 1:01:34

pandemic? I think so. Yeah. Four years.

Pat: 1:01:36

Yeah, it was pre pandemic? Yeah. Yeah. So it's it was cool to hang out and it was great to see Nate. And I saw another guy that I worked with at Service Electric. He's now a a boss or a network network engineering manager or something out at for the cable company here where I used to work. So I saw him. So shout out to Eric. So, yeah, I just saw some real cool people and it's always good to see everybody. And it's funny that I mentioned Gerard a few times in this podcast, but again, he's part of the champs and we see him all the time. He literally lives an hour north of me. So like we both went out to Vegas 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 to actually meet each other and be 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 fun and really cool, really good time. And I can't wait to go again, so I dunno if I'll get there next year. I think uh, colleague Pete gets the ticket next year. So who knows? But a lot can change, but Pete's a good guy. I'll hook you up. He's a good dude. So do that. But who knows? Yeah, we'll see what happens and kind of go from there. But yeah, that was kinda it. Do you have anything else to add?

Alex: 1:02:48

Oh, well you covered so much

Pat: 1:02:53

I know this is a big one.

Alex: 1:02:54

Yeah, cuz I mean, I could go through my whole spiel too, but I don't wanna take another 45 minutes, but, I already summed it up a little bit earlier. Uh, I wish I would've taken a few more breakout sessions, not spent quite as much time on one thing. In this case, it was captured the flag

Pat: 1:03:09

Yep,

Alex: 1:03:11

And

Pat: 1:03:11

yep.

Alex: 1:03:12

I think next time I go, I'm gonna take some notes from you, which is essentially, I'm gonna try to do some more social networking. I'm gonna try to see if there's um, like that tech field day. I know that's not a Cisco Live thing, they just held it at Cisco Live, but being on a panel or something like that, I think that would interest me. Um,

Pat: 1:03:33

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Alex: 1:03:34

that. And the other thing that I've done in previous jobs, but I didn't this year or previous times I went to live, is I go there with a, a problem that I'm trying to solve for work. And then I go there with the intent of actually the world of solutions be something that I can, I can listen to a sales pitch full knowing that I may

Pat: 1:03:55

Mm-hmm.

Alex: 1:03:56

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, unless they're really good, maybe, maybe

Pat: 1:04:05

Sure

Alex: 1:04:06

um, But, uh, I think it's part uh, we were just going through layoffs at Disney, so buying more more things wasn't on the forefront. But hopefully next year that'll be behind us and there'll be some, you know, some obvious things that we're looking into and I can take advantage of that and actually listen to a sales pitch that might solve something that we need to get solved.

Pat: 1:04:28

Yeah, no, for sure. There was a couple boosts that I probably would've went to and listened to a sales pitch. But yeah, it's definitely on the on the docket for next year and, be a little more selective with that and just kind of, see what's out there. But now I had a great time and the social factor was even better. And it's could never hurt. So, I don't know Kyle, I think I heard Alex is gonna join Twitter and, get on the tech community there at Twitter. I think that's what I heard. So I don't know.

Kyle: 1:04:52

heard it too.

Pat: 1:04:55

what'd you say, Alex?

Alex: 1:04:56

No you didn't. You did not hear that. If I ever need to

Pat: 1:05:00

Dammit.

Alex: 1:05:01

I'll send it to you in a text so you post this, destroy me.

Pat: 1:05:05

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 you might have for Cisco Live folks?

Kyle: 1:05:15

Well, I would say uh, as a person who didn't go right, if I had the opportunity to go, what would be maybe one or two things that you would tell me that I should not miss? Whether it's Cisco Live or just maybe you know, the location too.

Pat: 1:05:31

Yeah.

Alex: 1:05:32

Um,

Pat: 1:05:32

Hmm.

Alex: 1:05:34

well, it's hard to avoid it, so I don't know if it's really much of a, uh, a hint or a suggestion, but the world solution, as soon as you get an opportunity to go in there, just go up and down all those aisles uh, that entire space, I think that's probably the first thing you should do. Uh,

Pat: 1:05:53

Yeah.

Alex: 1:05:54

cuz it really is impressive and it's, it's easy to miss something if you don't. So maybe, yeah, just go up and down that entire showroom floor and don't actually stop anywhere you have. Just try to make a mental note of the things that are interesting to you, cuz you'll come across things that are just very interesting. You can take up a lot of your time, like capture the flag cuz you don't know what it's uh, but they, they have things like, uh, racing simulators for some odd reason that are there. And

Pat: 1:06:21

Oh yeah. There was an Indy car there. Yeah, that's right.

Alex: 1:06:24

make note, they have the Lombardi trophy there. Um, These are things that are not gonna be there every year, but there's always something that is like unexpected and interesting and you could miss it if you just don't go up and down the showroom. Um,

Kyle: 1:06:38

Okay.

Pat: 1:06:39

Yeah,

Alex: 1:06:39

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 customer appreciation event is usually something really impressive. Um, So, you wanna make sure you get your ticket for that and head over.

Pat: 1:07:01

Yeah. You know else I enjoyed too, the second keynote, which was Wednesday morning, they had Jim Gaffigan do a half hour of standup. Dude, some of that stuff. I couldn't stop laughing at that, that he was so spot on He made it like, he made it like it was about family, like his, like about his relationship with his kids. And it's the old adage of, kids are, blood suckers and, like, 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 the left of us was like Chuck Robbins and all the C level suite people, like literally front row for that one. So that was pretty cool. Yeah, we had, yeah, it was right up front for Jim Gaffigan. And he was hilarious. I couldn't stop, I couldn't stop laughing like I, my stomach hurt cuz I laughed. So, and he only did a half hour and 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 a hundred percent spot on. It was just so funny. I was like, this guy is an absolute ride. But like, again, it was sort of in that same lane we talked about with Blake Shelton and GW Stefani. Like, they don't know anything about tech or, I mean, I, at least I'm assuming or Cisco or anything like that. But like Jim Gaffing came in cold, I'm assuming he doesn't know a whole lot, if anything. And, he sit there for a gig and getting paid. But like, he made it fun and he made it relatable and it was just super, super funny. So I have to throw that in there as well.

Alex: 1:08:25

Right? Yeah, I think so. The moral of the story is there's gonna be things at Cisco Live that you're gonna be shocked or there that are gonna be interesting to you. and

Pat: 1:08:34

Yep.

Alex: 1:08:35

it, the, for the, the keynote that just might be, if you don't look and see that Jim Gaffigan's part of the keynote that something you just miss because 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: 1:08:50

right..Yeah, exactly. I loved it. So anyway yeah, it just so from a first timer, I thought it was, I thought it was fantastic and I, I just can't, I can't wait to go again. So, Kyle, next year, that's your goal. Save your pennies and go get a ticket and we'll All go out there and we'll do a live pod from the Mandalay Bay

Kyle: 1:09:11

Oh my goodness.

Alex: 1:09:12

All right.

Kyle: 1:09:13

I.

Pat: 1:09:14

Rock and roll.

Alex: 1:09:15

And then

Pat: 1:09:15

Maybe a little ambitious. Who knows?

Alex: 1:09:18

uh, I, I can't remember. you you guys use a lot of Cisco equipment or not so much?

Pat: 1:09:23

Yeah. We're a heavy Cisco shop. Yeah, for sure.

Alex: 1:09:26

so it isn't unreasonable that you'd be able to get, uh, Cisco learning credits for your past. So as long as they're willing

Pat: 1:09:35

that's how I paid for my ticket.

Alex: 1:09:36

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 the pass, like would you,

Pat: 1:09:50

I probably would.

Alex: 1:09:51

cost of the, the

Pat: 1:09:52

Yeah, I probably would. Yeah, I probably would. Yeah, that's, I mean, that's why I have a credit card like that but my, obviously the company paid for the travel and the hotel, which wasn't, and then my ticket was paid for by our learner credits, so I literally went for nothing. And then, yeah, I didn't pay for anything all week except for the dinner we went to and like Fremont Street and had like barbecue and stuff. Anything else was, it was comped that, 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 ticket paid. For me personally, knowing you know, what it is and how much fun you have I would take care of the hotel and the the plane right out

Alex: 1:10:33

because with me, between the hotel and the plane, it was 500 bucks and to me that was worth it. Like I'll spend$500 to go out there for four days.

Pat: 1:10:41

For sure. Yeah, for sure. A hundred percent. Yeah I would agree with that. So, yeah, so it's it's always fun and yeah, just, get out there at all costs and, just as a 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're we're not burning the midnight oil, but we're an hour and 20 into this thing. This, we never go this long. It's crazy.

Alex: 1:11:07

no. I think it's a good way to wrap up. Obviously

Pat: 1:11:10

That is a good way.

Alex: 1:11:11

Cisco Alive lived up to your expectations and uh,

Pat: 1:11:15

Yeah, for sure.

Alex: 1:11:16

be a lifetime, I don't know, supporter of Cisco Live and someone I'll try to go every year it sounds like.

Pat: 1:11:24

That's it. Absolutely. Yeah. and the wife knows, as nerdy as this may sound, the wife knows that this was a bucket list thing for me, that I've been like I've been working with Cisco 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, you can go. And I got two small kids, so like, I felt guilty sticking it with two small kids all week. But she's like, ah, it's a bucket list thing. You go have your time. I'm like, all right, say no more.

Alex: 1:11:48

wife just like, and not shamefully, that my favorite week of the year. I really look forward to.

Pat: 1:11:55

All right. That's what's up. Like it now. I won't feel so bad knowing you said that. I'll say that now and I won't feel so bad.

Alex: 1:12:02

it is kinda like the guy's, um, you know, weeklong vacation or weeklong trip, but you know, you can kind of under the guise of work,

Pat: 1:12:12

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 blog layer eight packet.io. Mainly that is used for my CCMP security studies. I've been blogging with that, so if you're interested in that security stuff, go hang out there. But this one is a little left of center, if you will not secure related, just Cisco live related. So I did a blog on that too. Some pictures are up there of the folks I met and hung with and whatnot. So go hang go. Take a look at that if that interest you. But we wanna thank everybody for joining this week. Uh, I know we've been we've been away 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 Live recap, or I should say the the let down, if you will. So we kind of took a week off there and whatnot. But we're back here, so we're trying 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 right from there. You can subscribe to your platform 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 Apple Podcasts, right? That's the number one game in town for podcasts, right? So, throw us a rating. Leave us a comment. Leave us a review. That all helps. We really appreciate everybody's feedback on that. So the more feedback you give us, the better the show gets, at least at least we like to think so. So that'd be awesome. Simply tell a friend, right? Just say, Hey, listen to this podcast, blah, blah, blah. Right? Word of mouth is just as good these days as sometimes a little more effective than the tech driven world that we live in. So, that would be great. Again LinkedIn, Twitter Facebook discord servers out there. All that stuff is in the show notes. Come follow us on your platform of choice there, your social choice. And thanks fellas. It's been a good time. Good to see everybody get back together again, and we'll catch everybody next week. Bye everybody.

Kyle: 1:14:04

So long.