Where I Live

Here are some long overdue pics of my apartment people have been asking for:

The Christmas Tree in the Clubhouse

Our Patio, Looking onto the Gorgeous Construction Site Next Door :-P

The Plasmas in the Clubhouse

The Pool

The Waterfall Feeding into the Lakes

My Garage... Just Big Enough For My Truck, and NO MORE

The Pool Gazebo and BBQ Area

The Kitchen in the Clubhouse. They have fresh made lemonade and baked goods every day here :) There is a computer center to the left which you can see a little part of.

The apartment complex is finally getting close to completion. There are more buildings opening and people moving in every day. It is supposed to be complete sometime in January or February. Maybe the construction next door will be done by the time we move out:) Ah well, "Welcome to Raleigh," I guess.

3 States in 4 Days

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I went to Virginia and Maryland for Thanksgiving this year. Anj planned the whole trip for me :) It was great!! I had an absolutely amazing time. It was fantastic to see everyone, especially the kids. It's incredible how fast the kids grow up.


I arrived at Anjali and Jim's house on Wednesday morning. Isn't their house gorgeous, especially with the trees and all the fall leaves?


Anj and I took the girls to the driving range before Jim and I played 9 holes. How cute are they?

Maya's favorite color is pink... can ya tell?

Maya at the driving range



And a video

While Anj and her mom were slaving away in the kitchen, Jim and I took the girls bowling. Did you know bowling alleys are open on Thanksgiving but Starbucks is closed...who knew?

Maddie Bowling

Maya "Bowling," aka dropping the ball on the lane :-P

Maya wanted to take a video of Jim bowling... then she got a little silly.

Maya Bowling

Jim and Anj brining the turkey

The Feast!! It was delicious, especially the turkey which Anj made and the pumpkin pie and peanut butter balls which Anita made. Mmmm, delicious!!

Akshay and Shreya playing with a ball

Akshay being an airplane

Jim, Akshay, and I played Mastermind

Shreya and Grandpa

Shreya wrecking havoc in her PJs as mommy looks on

"Shreya, cheese"

Akshay, Sanj, and I all went to the Maryland basketball game on Friday. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures. Let's just say Sanjay and Akshay have more Maryland clothes than the Maryland Team Store :-P

Shreya devouring a cookie

Akshay put on a little show for us

Thanks everyone, this weekend was a fantastic break from work. I had a great time.

P.S. For all of you on the West Coast, our East Coast family is expecting a visit from you in the near future. You have to get out there and see these kids before they grow up and man, do they grow fast.

A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words

A bunch of you have been asking to see pictures... ask and you shall receive. I uploaded a few from my cell phone. Sorry about the poor image quality. Yes, I know I really need to invest in a digital camera :-P

This is the view from my favorite conference room, also known as my second home since I have been known to be there until midnight on a nightly basis. This is what I am talking about when I say there are trees everywhere.

As I said in my last post, it is fall now and the leaves are changing colors. I took a few pics while I was out on the golf course earlier today.

That's Steve, my golf buddy on the left.

Doesn't my truck look weird with NC plates? The guy at the car wash was making fun of me yesterday since I walked in there with flip flops on and my truck has a Cal Poly decal and a Raiders license plate frame. He points this out to me and says "man, you couldn't be any more obviously from California." I have to say, I am quite possibly the only person in NC with a Raiders license plate frame.

The Durham Bulls stadium. For those of you who have seen to movie "Bull Durham" with Kevin Costner, yes those Durham Bulls. Unfortunately, that's as close to professional baseball as we get around here.

My roommate, Andrew's "Redneck" Halloween Costume

The girls were "Nerds" for Halloween.

Liya sleeping when I went to visit her.

And awake...ready to start crying :-P

For anyone with a vehicle approaching 90,000 miles, let me give you some advice. "Just sell the thing!!" Auto maintenance is FAR too much work. I spent a full Saturday running around picking up all this stuff.

One week later, my truck is now past 90,000 miles and I haven't put a thing in. In fact, I even bought more stuff. Man, am I glad that's finally over with. At least now she's all ready for our road trip to Virginia next week :)

The Leaves are Changing Colors

It's Fall in North Carolina and that means a lot more than it did in California. In California, going from Summer to Fall simply meant going back to school... apparently we were missing out on this thing called seasons. Although the weather is quite mild in North Carolina, this whole checking the weather because it changes all the time thing is still new to me. I swear just a little under a month ago, I was telling y'all about how it was in the triple digits and was 70 degrees at night. It's crazy, all of a sudden, with no warning, the weather will drop 10 degrees and never go back. Now, when I go to work in the morning, it's in the 30s, not the 70s. And at the peak of the day, its in the 60s, not the 100s. Apparently this is what seasons are!! Who knew? Fall is gorgeous out here though. Most of the trees have changed color by now and since there are so many of them, it quite a sight. It's definitely new to me, but a welcome change for now...we'll see how long that lasts :-P Everyone makes fun of me when I say it is cold and it is 50 degrees :(

We are still in the middle of quite an intense drought out here. We currently have about 120 days of water left in our water reserves. The city has gone as far as enforcing some extreme water rationing. We are no longer allowed to wash our cars at home or water our lawn using sprinklers. It's pretty crazy. It's something like a $250 fine for your first offense and over $1,000 for your second.

On a completely different note, a bunch of my buddies went to a Gun Show today. It was hilarious. I read about 2 sentences into the email and lost interest and deleted it, but apparently people are into this stuff around here. Granted, a bunch of my friends went just to see what it was all about and laugh at people so excited about guns, but I'm pretty sure Garrett was serious when he mentioned going to the shooting range for our Q1 team offsite at dinner the other night.

Then there's the whole religion thing. I was out volunteering for Habitat for Humanity last weekend. Before we got started, the leader of the group asked us all to hold hands, bow our heads, and say a prayer. It was very different than California, that's for sure. There is just no way that would ever happen in California. Regardless, she asked very politely, so I told myself "Hey, you're in the bible belt, just go along with it." Strange nonetheless.

For those of you who don't know, I won't be in California for Thanksgiving this year. I will be joining our East Coast family in Virginia for Thanksgiving. I'm pretty excited about it!! It will be very nice to get away from work for a little bit and see the kids and all. I just hope traffic doesn't live up to it's expectations... I hear it's crazy. I have about a week and a half off of work for Christmas, so I will definitely be in California then. Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. See you soon.

"Beam Me Up Scotty"

This week, I had the opportunity to have my first Telepresence session. I have to say, Telepresence is one of the most impressive uses of technology I have EVER seen!! It is simply Ridiculously Cool Technology!!

For those of you who have not heard of it, Telepresence is basically video conferencing on steroids. I'm talking 2 identical conference rooms with 3 60" 1080p plasma screens which mesh into the conference table perfectly. There are directional speakers and microphones, so when the person on the left side of the conference room speaks, you hear the audio coming from the left speaker. Then you look to the left, and you see the person speaking on the left screen.

No words can explain it. You really have to see it to believe it. If I didn't know any better, you could have convinced me I was in the same room with Garrett when he was actually in Toronto.

Check out this video of the next generation of Telepresence we are working on. Chambers is at a meeting in India and the person he is talking to is in San Jose.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcfNC_x0VvE

eh, enough with all that text

Here are a few images from Garrett's Facebook I thought I'd share with y'all. That's right, my manager is on Facebook :)

Yup, that's my manger, "G Money" as he calls himself :)

Garrett and the kids on Halloween. No, they're not all his although he and Bridgett do love kids. The one dressed in all foil is his oldest, Carson. One of the twins, Braden, is next to him dressed as Superman. The other twin is Avery, over Garret's right shoulder, dressed s Super Girl.

Garrett and Avery out on the lake.

And who could forget Davis, the 14 month old.

Avery, Braden, Carson, and Davis. That's right... A, B, C, D... who knows what else is in store? Garrett has the energy for it, that's for sure!!

Garrett likes to open every meeting with a YouTube video. Here's an example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUc68iWXcck

Garrett and Braden putting together the 985 piece Millennium Falcon in Time Lapse Photography. It took them two days. Watch for the wardrobe changes... they even get a little silly towards the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-fEfimNoEs

The twins Avery and Braden dancing on the boat.

And a Garrett-Free video for good measure.

24 Before Cisco

and the winner is?...the children

Thank you very much for all your support to our JDRF Fundraiser everyone!! I am extremely pleased to announce that this fundraising effort was an absolute success on every level!!

Here are our final totals:

I had a personal goal of raising $1000 which was far exceeded. I received a total of $1,427 in cash donations!!

As a team, we raised, $31,404 and I am happy to announce we are the top performing team in this year's Sales Associates Program!!

"So how did we raise so much money?", you ask. First all, we held a Charity Silent Auction which was an extreme success. I used my connections at Best Buy to get a Video iPod, Digital Camera, and 2 MP3 Players donated. All in all, I was able to get Best Buy to donate $650 worth of merchandise to our cause. Believe me, this was no easy feat. It took everything from cold calls and letter writing, to store visits and tax documentation, not to mention following up with managers for about a month selling them on our cause. It was a lot of work, but extremely rewarding and a great experience in the end :)

Someone donated their Beach House for a week. Garrett got one of his church friends to donate a round of golf at TPC Wakefield. He even auctioned off a weekend on his boat! Audrey pulled a basketball signed by the entire Duke basketball team. A bunch of the girls donated babysitting time. We even got a few VPs to offer to have dinner with the highest bidder. It was a true team effort!!

You can see all of our auction items here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JDRFAuction/CiscoRegion4JDRFAuction/photo?authkey=gYhXhi02vhk#5121934086235723186

In total, from the auction, we raised $8,616. Of course, Cisco, being the amazing company that they are, matched every penny of the donation for a grand total of $17,236 from the auction.

My portion of the auction sold for $770, $1540 after the Cisco match.

Now that was only the start of it. At orientation, Garrett said he wanted to form a band. I didn't think much of it at the time, but he really followed through on it. He and a bunch of my coworkers formed a band, and practiced relentlessly for a month, and put on a killer show. Garrett even pulled off getting them a studio to practice at 3 days per week.

Garrett got one of his college buddies who is a graphic designer to make us some killer posters.


Zach booked us the Pour House in downtown Raleigh as a venue. We had a packed house of over 200 people show up including Scott Brown, the VP of Worldwide Sales Enablement. We made over $1,800 in ticket sales, of course, all matched by Cisco for a total of $3,600.

Here are a few videos from the concert. Sorry about the quality. Garrett has been really busy recently and hasn't had a chance to get the High Def feed off of the department's camera we use for our presentations yet.



The encore, "Are You Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz And yes, the big kid in the green t-shirt, that's Garrett...my manager :-P

And that guy who hopped up on stage at the end ... that's Gordon, Garret's manager :)

And no, of course he was not buying rounds of shots for everyone at the bar the whole night long :-P



James shredding the guitar playing "Sweet Child O' Mine" by Guns N' Roses
James is AMAZING!! We auctioned off 10 hours of guitar lessons with James. They went for $800:) He's well worth it!!

And finally, as a company, we had an aggressive goal of raising $140,000 this year. A grand total of $167,913 was donated to JDRF from the Cisco RTP campus!! This far exceeds the $120,000 raised last year and is by far the most we have ever raised for JDRF!

Thank you very much for all of your generous donations everyone. Results as amazing as this could not have been achieved without YOU and your support!!

The Cisco Family Wearin' Our Stunna Shades... NOT My Idea

The Subset of Region Fantastic 4 That Were Warriors Enough to Make it to the Walk the Morning after the Halloween Party

Garrett and Davis

Differences between Engineering and Sales

• We Show Up ON TIME!!
• I showed up for my first engineering meeting 15 minutes early, only to find the manager leading the meeting not show for a half hour and the meeting start 40 minutes late.
• I showed up to my first meeting in sales 15 minutes early and I was one of the last to arrive.

• We Wear Suits, Not Sandals
• My engineering manager used to wear a torn undershirt, shorts, and sandals with the occasional ragged baseball cap to work.
• Before I started in my sales role, I was provided with a document describing exactly what is considered acceptable business attire. Sandals are strictly prohibited :(

• Work Starts at 8 AM, Not Whenever The Engineers Roll Out of Bed :-P

• We CELEBRATE At Our Meetings
• Our Annual Engineering All-Hands Meeting was 2 hours at Shoreline Amphitheater with some band I have never heard of.
• Our Global Sales Meeting is a WEEK LONG event in VEGAS!! Aerosmith performed at last year's meeting!!

• SPIFFS
• "So, what's a spiff?” you ask. A spiff is defined by dictionary.com as: "a bonus or other form of remuneration given to retail salespeople for promoting the products of a particular manufacturer".
• Working in sales, there is always some form of competition and there is typically a spiff of some sort for the winner. For example, we had a presentation contest a few weeks ago. The winner received a $250 bonus and the top 5 received $100. We had a week long sales simulation/contest the week after. The winning team received tickets to a Carolina Hurricanes game. Also, two weeks into our JDRF Fundraising Initiative, my manager, Garrett, took everyone who had raised over $100 out on his boat for the afternoon. It was great, we left the office at 2:00 and went wakeboarding while everyone else stayed in class. Thanks everyone who donated :) Look for a final update in the upcoming weeks once the totals are tallied.
  

• We’re ALWAYS Connected
• The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is check my email. Then once I get into the office, the first thing I do is check my email once again. Then, of course, I have my email open all day. If I have a 10 minute break in class, you guessed it, I check my email. Then I check my email before I go home. And once I get home, I check my email yet again. And of course, before I go to bed, I check my email. I now understand the reason people know us as “the email company”. It’s pretty impressive; most emails are answered within 15 seconds.
• Once I get out into the field, I will get a Smart Phone, so I can answer my email at all times, even when I am not at my computer. Our managers use them now. It’s impressive how well they use the technology. I can get ahold of Garrett at just about any time. I have sent him emails at 2:30 AM and had a response by 4:30 AM. Plus, there are always cell phones. It is not uncommon for me to receive a call from “G Money”, as he calls himself, on Sunday night asking to re-schedule a meeting on Monday morning because he has to take his son to the doctors in the morning. It’s impressive, I feel like I can get ahold of Garrett at any time, even when I go days without seeing him.
• Cisco currently pays for my Laptop, Internet and VPN at home so I can work from home. Once I get out into the field, I will have Wireless Internet Access anywhere and of course, my Smart Phone. Plus, I likely won’t even have an office and will be able to work from home J on a regular basis.
  

• Corporate Credit Cards
• We have them and we use them. For example, after the JDRF Walk yesterday, our team went out to lunch to unofficially celebrate my birthday. And of course, we paid the bill with our Cisco American Express card. These types of events are planned in our budget. One of the other teams went out to dinner the other day and spent at least a thousand dollars. Our dinner is next weekend. I’m excited :)

• “The Greatest Job in the World for the Greatest Company in the World”
• There have been a few occasions, where Garrett has said, “You have the greatest job in the world and you work for the greatest company in the world” and I am starting to believe it!! They treat us really well. For example, last Thursday we had a Charity Golf Tournament for JDRF. Gordon, Garrett’s manager, approved the day as a paid day off. So, we all went out and played golf instead of going into the office and were paid for the day. That’s as close as I am ever going to get to being a professional athlete J Don’t get me wrong, they still expect us to get all of our work done, and they sure keep us busy, but they understand the importance of getting out and having a little fun too. Our core values include “giving back”, “having fun”, “work-life balance”, and “hard work” and we really live by them.
• So, what about my position within this company? The attrition rate for Cisco SEs, Systems Engineers, is below 2%. That’s one of the lowest in any profession in any field!! And what about this training program? The average graduate from the Sales Associates Program sells 110% of goal. That’s AVERAGE!! The numbers speak for themselves.

My New Toy :)

So, first of all, I made it through all of college without buying an iPod. I could just never justify spending the little money I had on a complete luxury item like that.

Well, I decided I finally deserve a new toy. "Why?", you ask. Well, here are a few of my recent accomplishments:

Work

• I am now a Cisco Certified Network Associate. I passed my certification exam with a score of 949 out of 1000!!

• I received a score of 4 out of 5, which is "Exceeding Expectations" according to management on my latest two presentations. I spent a lot of time working on these presentations and I was actually pretty impressed with how they turned out. Don't get me wrong, I still have plenty of work to do, but my presentations are night and day after attending the public speaking courses as part of the program. They have made it so I am not even really nervous speaking in front of people anymore. Hell, my manager videotapes EVERYTHING and it doesn't even bother me. In fact, I even like it now :) The best part is we are only 2 months into the program, we still have 1o months to go, so the best is yet to come.

• I got a 96% on my first in-house Cisco Routing Products Exam with only 2 questions wrong out of 50!!

Personal

• When I got out to Raleigh, I was 175 lbs and did not feel like I was in very good shape physically. So, I have been on a new diet for the last 2 months and now I have recently achieved my goal!! I am now at my target weight of 160 lbs. Now all I need is for my new orthopedic to give me the OK on my shoulder so I can start working out again :)

The iPod
So, I told myself I could finally get the iPod nano I have wanted for so long once I passed my CCNA exam. But then, the iPod touch came out and I just couldn't help myself. For those of you who don't know, it is basically an iPhone minus the phone. I have a contract with Verizon for another year so I can't have an iPhone and Cisco will be paying for my phone starting next year, so I figured I might as well splurge and get the touch.

It's pretty cool!! I get WiFi Internet Access, which is dope. And of course, all of the other features of the iPhone: the multitouch display, YouTube, iPod, Videos, Photos, etc. More than anything, the interface and screen are simply to die for. Take a look at one, and you'll fall in love too :)

You can see a video on the touch here:
http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/guidedtour/medium.html

So, here's the best part. I installed the iPod to work in my truck!! And no, I'm not talking about just plugging it in using a cable like most people have. My iPod is actually integrated into my sound system. I have wanted this setup for a long while and it's really exciting to finally have it!! Basically, I connect my iPod to a cable in my glove box and then leave it out of sight. While I am driving, my iPod is being charged and I can listen to it in amazing quality. Also, I can control my iPod directly through my car stereo. I can change playlists, search by song, album, artist, etc, all without every having to whip out my iPod. It's a pretty clean setup. I am excited about it.

You can view a demo of this setup here:
http://www.alpine-usa.com/ETD/fsfs.html

Alright guys, I think that's enough blogging for today. I really should get back to studying anyway. Oh yeah, thanks for the Apple Gift Card for graduation Dubz and Ekta. I used it to help me get my iPod :) And I paid for the rest with the presents the rest of y'all gave me, so thanks everyone!!

So, How's the Weather?

I know all of you out in Cali are curious; "So, how's the weather?", you ask.

Well, when I first got here it was completely ridiculous. I'm talking North Carolina ALL-TIME record highs!! It was 105 degrees with 90 percent humidity, making it feel like 115 during the day. And you can't forget the aforementioned thunder showers:-P One thing is for sure, the evenings sure are nice. Even at 3 o'clock in the morning, it'll be 70 degrees out. It's pretty nuts when the LOW for the day is in the 70s.

Fortunately, after a week or two of those shenanigans, the weather cooled down to what I have been told is normal for this time of year. To be honest with you, since I got back from my trip to California, I feel like I brought the California weather back with me. It'll be in the high 60s in the EARLY morning when I get to work, then it'll be in the 70s for most of the day, peaking in the 80s. It's actually been really nice, almost no humidity at all!! And I can't even remember the last time it rained. It's actually a problem. We are in the middle of a pretty severe drought. The water shortage is at the point that you are not legally allowed to wash your car except for on weekends. Hell, I was out wake boarding on the lake with my manager the other day and the lake was 8-18 ft for the most part. It was ridiculous. It was so shallow the water temp was in the mid 80s. Crazy!!

JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Hey everyone,

I'm writing to you to ask for your support in a very special cause.

This year, on October 27th, I'll be taking part in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk to Cure Diabetes along with a half-million other walkers across the country. Our goal: To raise $90 million to help fund research for a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.

For those of you who didn't notice, yes, October 27th is my birthday. For this special reason, I would like to defer any money which would normally be spent on birthday presents towards donations to the JDRF. Of course, all donations are tax deductible. Upon donation, you will receive a tax deductible receipt via email. Also, many companies will match employee donations to charitable causes such as the JDRF.

All donations, large or small will be greatly appreciated. Also, please pass this message on to any members of you families who may be less technologically inclined and have not already received this message.

Type 1, or juvenile, diabetes, is a devastating, often deadly disease that affects millions of people--a large and growing percentage of them children.

Many people think type 1 diabetes can be controlled by insulin. While insulin does keep people with type 1 diabetes alive, it is NOT a cure. Aside from the daily challenges of living with type 1 diabetes, there are many severe, often fatal, complications caused by the disease.

That's the bad news... and yes, it's pretty bad.

The good news, though, is that a cure for type 1 diabetes is within reach. In fact, JDRF funding and leadership is associated with most major scientific breakthroughs in type 1 diabetes research to date. And JDRF funds a major portion of all type 1 diabetes research worldwide, more than any other charity.

I'm writing to ask for your support because now more than ever, EACH of us can be a part of bringing about a cure. Each of us can make a real difference

Won't you please give to JDRF as generously as you're able?

Together, we can make the cure a reality.

Thank you,

Vijay Tolani

Please visit my Walk Web page if you would like to donate online or see how close I am to reaching my personal goal:

http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86785097">http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=86785097

The Crib

If I haven’t already mentioned and you didn’t already know, the cost of living in Raleigh is DRASTICALLY different than California. I live in a BRAND NEW, LUXURY 2 bedroom, 2 bath apartment in an area of Raleigh called Brier Creek. We have a resort style pool, hot tub, gym, indoor basketball court, etc which are all to die for. To be honest with you, I cannot believe I live in such a nice place at this point in my life. I honestly do not think I could be doing much better 3 months removed from college. I walk into the lobby and I am greeted by a professional staff who address me as “Sir”. Then I look around as I am surrounded by computers and plasma screens in our lobby area. Everyone is super nice to boot!! And if I have to wait for anything, they are always there with fresh made lemonade and baked goods. It’s pretty ridiculous.

Here’s the crazy part. A place like this would easily cost $2500 - $3000 per month in California. Not in Raleigh!! Our apartment costs $866/month. Split that between my roommate and I, and I think you’ll understand what I mean when I say your money goes further out here. The part I am really having a tough time getting used to is we are the “rich kids” here. I am really not used to that. I am not used to going to get my truck washed and being escorted to the lobby where I wait, watch the plasma screens, use the free WiFi, and drink the free coffee and 5 people go to town on my truck. That is just an entirely new concept for me. Paying $400/month for rent in Raleigh is pretty ridiculous. Most people will pay somewhere around $200 or so. Our place is very expensive for Raleigh, yet it seems dirt cheap compared to California. For reference, I pay $500/year for auto insurance, that’s 40% of what I paid in California. It’s extremely eye opening as to what the rest of the US has to offer.

Brier Creek is awfully nice itself. The whole area is new, which is nice. Nothing in the area is more than 5 years old and it has just about everything I could possibly want or need. There are apartments, as well as a movie theater, and just about every restaurant or store you could possibly think of. If I want to shop, there are 3 upscale malls all within 20 minutes. If I want to party, Duke, UNC, NC State, and Wake Forest are all within 20 minutes too, so there are plenty of areas for that. And I cannot even begin to tell you how nice it is to have a 5 minute commute to work each day J A 5 minute, traffic-free commute will really make you happier person and make each day that much nicer. And if I want to go anywhere else, Raliegh-Durham International Airport is only 5 minutes away from my apartment.

The other really cool thing about Brier Creek is the people. Most of the people who live in Brier Creek are not from around here, so there is a very cool mix of people. It is a nice little comfort zone coming from California to have such a diverse blend of people around. If you walk through the parking lot of my apartment complex, you will see license plates from everywhere from California, to New York, to Indiana, to Ohio, to Quebec. It’s crazy! It’s really cool to be around people with such different backgrounds. Everyone is very open to new things and it is no trouble at all to find people you have things in common with

The Job

When I moved out here for this job, my expectations were through the roof. Everyone had done such an amazing job of hyping up this program that I could not help but be excited about it. And much to my surprise, once I got out here, I was absolutely blown away. They somehow managed to blow my sky high expectations out of the water. I get up at 5 AM each morning, pop out of bed after 3 hours of sleep, and am legitimately excited to go to work. I can honestly say that I love my job and I am good at it! Not many people can say that.

The program itself is truly WORLD CLASS. There is nothing else like it. The training I am receiving is amazing! Cisco pays $170,000 per student for this program and it is well worth every penny. Each instructor that teaches these classes is an expert on the subject matter and I feel I am receiving the absolute best training possible.

The people I work with are amazing too. In North Carolina, we have 120 engineers and 80 sales people, all of us right out of college, but all with different backgrounds. We have about 15 people from China, another 12 from Canada, 4 from India, 4 from Korea, and the rest of us are from all over the US. The diversity is amazing. The managers are first rate too. They are all really young and most of them have been through the program and were in the field at one point, so they relate really well. I really like my manager Garrett. He went to BYU and was a member of the 2001 Sales Associates Program. He then worked as an Account Manger for 5 years. Last year, he managed sales people and this is his first year managing engineers. I have a lot of respect for him as a person. He has the discipline to get up and play tennis with his manager at 5 AM each day. He also insists on leaving the office promptly at 5 PM each day to be home with his wife and 4 kids. At the same time, he always checks his SmartPhone and is there for me immediately whenever I need him. I’ve been meaning to setup a meeting with him to talk about how he manages his life because he really seems to be one of the few who has found that ideal balance and has his act together.

As I hinted at earlier, I have somewhat let my job take over my life. I get up at 5 AM each day and get into the office by no later than 6:30 AM. I read in the mornings before class, which starts at 9:00 AM. Then after class, around 4:30 or 5:00 PM, I have a study session until around 7:00 or 7:30. Then it’s time to go home for dinner and a little break. Then come around 8:30 or 9:00, I either take care of personal business or go back into the office for a few hours. I’ve been trying to get to bed by around 11:00, although for a while there, I was going out until 2:00 AM, but that is finally catching up with me. Oh, BTW, I work Saturdays and Sundays too :) The moral of the story is that I legitimately LOVE my job!! There is no way I could put in the amount of work that I do if I didn’t. Now don’t you worry, I don’t work ALL the time. I have found time to play a little golf and go out and party here and there, but my focus has definitely been work, and that is an understatement.

As much as I love my job, I can’t wait to get out into the field. That is the life I really want. Cisco definitely treats their sales people well. When I showed up, they had me setup with everything I needed: laptop, laptop bag, headsets, handbooks of local attractions, directions, reviews, and phone numbers of local amenities, etc. You name it, they have thought of it and made it easier for us. And come next year, it’ll be even better. Hell, I already have a corporate credit card. Cisco also pays for me to have WiFi access anywhere, including paying for my Internet Access and VPN at home. Come next year, they’ll even pay for my cell phone too J

They are really giving me all the tools to be as successful as can be, and it shows in the results of this program. The AVERAGE person leaving the Sales Associates Program sells 110% of goal their first year out. Now that says something, when Sales Associates are consistently exceeding the ever rising expectations!!

With success, comes hard work, that’s just part of the gig. We work at a fast pace, that is for sure. We went through our coursework for our first certification in TWO WEEKS. That would take two semesters at any university. You have to look no further than the 3 500 page textbooks we go thorough EACH WEEK of our technical training to understand the intensity of this program. The analogy all the managers use is we are “drinking water from a fire hose” and it seems pretty accurate. When we are not in technical classes, we are learning and practicing our skills in sales, presentations, and business acumen. I am learning the power of social networking. Hell, I drop the Cisco name wherever I am, and believe me, it is powerful. I cannot even begin to tell you the level of respect that is commanded when I tell people I am a Cisco engineer. And things get done, and get done fast, because of the power that the Cisco name brings with it. I leverage Cisco in my daily life to get ahead. It’s truly a great company to work for and I am loving every minute of it!! This is one year of training to setup the rest of my career and the opportunities are limitless!!

The program itself is extremely well organized. You can tell they have put a lot of thought into everything we do. They have our first 6 months completely planned out for us. I just have to go to work, check my calendar, and see what I am supposed to do for the day. It’s great. They also truly understand the concept of innovation, whether it is our own YouTube called CSAPTube, or our own Wiki, or the Ambassador Program, management is always looking for our ideas and feedback and allow us to shape the future of the program, allowing it to evolve as necessary for success. Management also really cares about the education we are receiving and it shows. They are there for us 100% of the way to do everything in their power to make us the most successful in our lives. It’s very nice working in that sort of environment.

Everyone has a lot of faith in this program and I can’t help but get excited about it. It filters all the way down from the CEO, to management, to the associates. Everyone has so much faith in the program that it is bound to continue to be a raving success as it has been for the last 7 years. Not to mention, everyone in the program really seems to love their jobs. Many of the managers have explicitly said to me that they think it is the best job in the world and I am yet to hear one negative thing about it. The talent within the program is pretty amazing too. They hired 120 of the over 10,000 applicants for this position and it shows. Everyone brings something a little different to the table, but as a whole, it is quite the impressive group of individuals. To be honest with you, I can’t quite believe I made it here. I have wanted this job for so long and now I actually have it. I often find myself thinking to myself “So, when is the next round of interviews?” only to realize that I actually have this job. I get up each morning and am legitimately excited to go to work and each day when I leave work in the evening I think to myself, “WOW, I really get paid to do this? I can’t believe it!!” It’s truly a dream come true J It’s pretty unreal!!

Differences Between Raleigh and California

1. We don’t have sourdough bread!! It’s weird, it never occurred to me that sourdough bread was a San Francisco thing. I’ve looked everywhere. No dice. Straight White or Wheat!!

2. We have Thunder Storms!! It’ll be 95 degrees and sunny one minute, the next its pouring rain, then 5 minutes later, its sunny and clear again. Then after the thunder storm, you go outside and it feels like its 110 degrees because of the 95 percent humidity. The crazy part is if you are driving through a thunder storm, after the storm, the water on the roads evaporates within about 10 minutes so there is a huge cloud of steam above the roads. It’s weird. I now understand why we have a 24 hour news channel and weather reports every 10 minutes.

3. People don’t understand the concept of traffic here. People complain about the traffic here and I get on the freeway to find traffic flowing smoothly at 25 MPH. no stop and go action at all. To be honest with you, there is more traffic on the one lane roads getting to and from the freeways.

4. At night, it’s the same temperature inside and out!! It’s crazy, if you walk outside at 3:00 in the morning, it’ll be 70 degrees out. It’s nuts, the LOW is 70. Definitely different that California, that’s for sure. It’s weird though, you’ll be in a bar and it gets hot and sticky since there are so many people there. Then you walk outside for some refreshing night air only to find it’s the SAME TEMPERATURE inside and out. You have to experience it to believe it. BTW, move to the East Coast and humidity will be part of your daily vocabulary too. I don’t think I even understood the concept when I lived in Cali.

5. Freeways are WEIRD in North Carolina. I’ll be driving down the road, doing whatever my GPS tells me, and boom, I’m on the freeway!! No onramp, no sign, nothing, the road I was driving on turned into a highway out of the blue. 5 miles later, there’s a stoplight and it’s back to city road again. It’s strange.

6. Sports!! And by sports, I mean Nascar and Hockey. The closest thing we get to professional baseball is the Durham Bulls. For those of you who have seen Bull Durham, yes those Durham Bulls!! They’re huge around here. See the stadium, and you’ll understand they are far more than a minor league baseball team here. And don’t clown on Nascar here. People love their Nascar around here. It’s no lie. And hey, if you are a diehard sports fan, you better not be much of a fan of sleep. I was out at a bar one night, I check out the plasma and see the A’s playing. I see that it’s the 2ND INNING, the I look at my watch and it’s 11:00 at night. CRAZY!! Hell, the other night, I was in bed, ready to go to sleep and I turn on the TV only to see the KICKOFF of the Niner game at 10:30 at night. Now that’s just ridiculous. I would’ve had to stay up until 1:30 AM to see the end of the game. Hell, sports bars are open until 2 AM every night of the week.

7. You have In N Out, we have Waffle House!!

8. Land is cheaper out here, so everything is bigger and more spread out. We don’t just have Walmart, we have Super Walmart where you can buy just about everything you could possibly need: groceries, clothes, kitchen supplies, tools, etc. It’s like a full on grocery store/hardware store/department store/Walmart. It’s crazy. And parking, no problem. Parking lots are HUGE around here. They wouldn’t even think of building a parking structure around here, they just have giant lots everywhere.

9. You can only buy liquor from a liquor store. You can buy beer and wine from a grocery store, but that’s it. And on Sunday, you can’t even do that before noon.

10. The phrase “our neck of the woods” takes on a completely different meaning here. There are trees EVERYWHERE!! I feel like I live in the middle of the forest. I’ll be at work in a conference room, look out the window and see a small forest and a lake. Our campus is basically cut into a forest. We even have 2 lakes on campus. It’s kinda nice, I feel like I am camping when I am at work sometimes :-P

11. Smoking in public places is legal!! I hadn’t been asked “Smoking or Non Smoking?” in years, but now I get it all the time.

12. Tipping a waiter of waitress “Double Tax” in NC doesn’t work, since the tax is only like 3%.

13. Gas costs $2.79/gal here, not in Cali.

Welcome to the Blog!!

Hey everyone,

First of all, I must apologize for my horrific response time to all of your emails and phone calls. I have been trying to send you all personal responses to all of your questions, but I have simply fallen far too behind to ever dream of catching up. I guess that's what happens when you get up at 5 AM to go to work and don't get home until midnight :-P ...I'll get to that later. Anyway, I have decided to setup this blog so y'all can read up on how I am doing in one place on your own time rather than wait for me to actually get to answering your email :-P You can check in here periodically and see what I am up to in Raleigh. You can even leave me comments and questions which I will answer so everyone can see. It's pretty cool for anyone as busy as I am. Anyway, I'm about to get on a plane to come out to see y'all in Cali. I'll see you soon!!

P.S. I'll be summarizing the last month of my life on the plane. It'll be a jolly good time!! See ya soon.