What Comes Around

2005 by ishrona at Flickr.com

Christian is taking an online networking class, so, for all intents and purposes, I am taking an online networking class. That’s how it works around here. One jumps in, the other follows to make sure all the bases are covered. The fact that it’s Cisco networking and I’ve been certified before is neither here nor there. That was eight years ago, ancient history in Computer Land.

We bought the book, which is the same book I studied from for my exam with an updated cover and several new pages. Flipping through I quickly relived those painful weeks of what I lovingly refer to as Acronym Hell. It was a time I have often hoped to never have to face again, and yet here I am willingly taking it on, albeit at a much slower pace. They actually break the book into two classes over two eight week sessions. I crammed the entire thing into a month of self-induced learning mania.

I do love to learn, and things are much clearer this time around, but if I had the choice I’d have never cracked open a Cisco book again in my life. Yet somehow, in the depths of my mind, I knew I wasn’t done with it all after I was laid off in 2001. Despite the fact that the tech crunch left me jobless, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. I was free!

So what does Nicole do when she’s free to do anything in the world that she wants to do? She moves south, of course. And so the story went. I moved to Florida, bounced in and out of both the travel and website design businesses and somehow ended up in Houston with Christian where we have a cozy little business. He’s a Field Engineer for Samsung, and I take care of the paperwork side of things from home. He goes to school in the evenings studying electronics, and I take care of the Cisco networking side of things.

It seems I have come full circle.