Keith Booe

I graduated high school in May of 1986.  In June of 1986, less than a month later, I was standing on yellow footprints outside of Receiving Barracks, Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD), San Diego, CA.  I was starting a journey that was both a way for me to change my life, and an escape from the life I was in.  I like to think more the former than the latter, but frankly which was the greater motivator usually depended on the day.

There were three primary reasons I went into the Marine Corps:

1. I thought they were the coolest.
2. I wanted to get out of my hometown as I didn’t feel it offered me the opportunities I was looking for.
3. I hated going to school.  The thought of continuing on to university made my physically ill, as did the thought of working at the fiberglass plant or farming.  There is nothing wrong with either of those, but they most certainly were NOT for me.

I made the right decision for me on all three counts… the Marines ARE the coolest, I did find the opportunities I was looking for, and it wasn’t by doing anything that was available to me where I grew up… at least not readily available.

After several years in the Marine Corps, I started to realize that even in that world there were advantages to having a college degree.  In many cases it wasn’t even really about the education one received while getting the degree, but it was more about the fact you completed it; that you had the sheepskin on your wall.  So I signed up for some classes… the general education type stuff that is needed for every degree.  My first two classes were “Introduction to Business” and “Micro Economics”.  Then the first Gulf War hit and that was the end of that for a while.  I didn’t go back to school for the rest of my time in the Marines.

Enter the private sector… I was fortunate to get on with a company that provided professional services for networking.  This organization provided high-level consulting services to companies (many of them Fortune 500) that required two things:

1. The ability to actually perform your job
2. The ability to document what you were doing

My time with this company taught me that in most cases there are significant differences between one who has just completed school and can tell you why something should, or should not, function as it does, and one who can actually make it work at 3:00 AM after being woken from a dead sleep with little actual knowledge of the specific environment, but years of experience.  When your company is losing $300,000 per hour, you want the latter person I just described, not the former.  I was fortunate to be a highly-skilled professional, degree aside.

My current employer is very big on educational credentials, for a number of reasons, but like most companies, they often look for people who can actually do the job more than people who understand the theory of it all.  And I appreciated that for several years until I realized…

Not everyone thinks the same, and not every job is created equal.

As my time with the company progressed, the limitations I had put on myself became more and more apparent… positions within the company that I felt I would enjoy, and that I knew I could contribute to the good of the company through, were unattainable to me because I didn’t have a basic requirement:  A degree.  It was clearly time to fix that.

So in February, 2006 I stepped back into a classroom, starting from near zero, and undertook the experience.  As some know, in my previous blog incarnation (which no longer exists) and through tweets I had documented my experience with going back to school.  Suffice it to say that while I now saw more value in obtaining the degree, the process of going through classroom education has not become any more attractive to me.  I love learning and take every opportunity I can to explore my world, to increase my understanding of it, and expand my knowledge.  But I prefer to NOT do that by sitting in class for semesters on end if I can help it.  Regardless, though, I did.  Because it was the right thing for me to do.

FLASH FORWARD:  December 17th, 2009.  It’s 3:20 PM on a Thursday.  I’ve just walked out after finishing my last test.  By last test I mean the test that has ended the session providing me credit hour 118, 119 and 120 of my Bachelor of Science in Information Techology (BSIT).  I’ve passed the test.  I’m done.  I’ve completed everything I need to do.  I’ve completed all my requirements.  It will take a few days for the results of my test to post and be counted towards my degree.

Yesterday I logged in and saw this:

See That??? ZERO CREDITS REMAINING!!

Jody was standing next to me when I looked at this for the first time.  She was proud of me.  I have already told my mom I was done and I know she and my dad are proud of me.

I’m more proud of myself than anybody.  Not because I’m a prideful person, but because in this case I know I deserve to be proud of what I’ve done.  Over the course of the last three years and ten months there have been approximately eight months that I did not go to school for various reasons (travel, classes rescheduled, holidays, etc…).  So it took me just over three years to complete my curriculum.  But the fact is, while having a full-time career that took significantly more than forty hours a week, being a father to a teenager, being a husband to my wife, a friend, a son and everything else I have been, I’ve done this.  Yes, I’m proud.

There are few better Christmas gifts I could have given myself.

PS – And oh yes, there will be a party.

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Today is an important day…. to some it's Tuesday, others the day before Veteran's Day, and to many others, just another day that it's great to be alive…  But to many of us, it's all three of those, and those three are insignificant compared to the fact it's November 10th.  On this day, 234 years ago the Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas to raise two Battalions of Marines.  Those two Battalions of men laid the groundwork for the legacies, customs, traditions and legends that Marines of today continue.

Many people may find it "cheesy" that former Marines continue to take as much pride in what they did in the past.  It's unfortunate that those people just don't understand.  But we forgive them for it, because they know no better.  Being a Marine is another one of those achievements like being on a championship-winning sports team, or climbing Mt. Everest, that not everybody will experience, but it can never be taken away from those who do experience it.  And they will have a pride and feeling accomplishment about it for the rest of their lives.

As Tom Bartlett said in Leatherneck Magazine: "You earned the title "Marine" upon graduation from recruit training.  It wasn't willed to you; it isn't a gift. It is not a government subsidy. Few can claim the title; no one may take it away.  It is yours forever."

On this day it's not only that we honor our individual times as Marines, but we remember those who came before, their sacrifices and accomplishments.  And we think of those who are here now, their sacrifices and accomplishments.  And we are thankful for those that will come, that will continue the legacy built upon the blood, sweat, tears and joys of those of us who passed before.

President Ronald Reagan acknowledged this when he proclaimed in 1985: "Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference in the world.  But, the Marines don't have that problem."

So today is a day to raise a glass and thank a Marine, because even if you don't agree with what may be going on the world today, you sure as hell owe those Marines of old a debt of gratitude for the fact that you CAN disagree.

Posted via email from keithbooe’s posterous

I’ve never been a runner.  I’ve never really even enjoyed running. I ran some track in HS, but didn’t excel at it and didn’t like it then, truth be told.  I spent twelve years in the Marine Corps, and it’s true, there is a lot of running (and walking) in the Marine Corps.  Especially the Infantry.  But I challenge you to find more than a handful of people in each Battalion that will actually confess to liking, much less enjoying, running.  But yes, I ran.  A lot.

My first marathon was a no-brainer.  As a young Marine, when the First Sergeant says you’re going to run a marathon, two things happen:

1.  You respond with a hearty “Aye aye, First Sergeant!”
2.  You put one foot in front of the other until you’re done with what you’re supposed to do, or you’re dead from the effort.

It’s not exactly a “deep thought” process.

It also helps that you get paid to work out two hours a day.  Amazing how much easier it is to stay in shape under those conditions than when you have find your own time in corporate America.  Regardless, I did it, and said at that time I would not do another; I believe my words involved something like “been there, done that shit, got the effen t-shirt, don’t call me again.”  So of course, I would certainly do another one at some point.  Dean Karnazes says that once you’ve done one, you haven’t just finished a marathon, you’ve become a marathon finisher.

My second marathon was little more of a “brainer”.  I thought it was a good idea at the time (San Diego Rock and Roll Marathon, 2008), I was running it with my brother Dan and frankly, I actually enjoyed it.  Well, I enjoyed the training for it far more than I actually enjoyed the race itself.  I remember training for that run, and how, as my runs got progressively longer and harder, I enjoyed the experience that much more.  I was always happy to knock out six-to-eight miles before going to work.  And my long runs on the weekends… as they stretched into three, four and five hour running sessions, I felt myself rejuvenated both during and after each run I completed.  As I would watch my time for pacing, I would find myself actually excited at the prospect of running for longer distances, for longer times.  I thought I might even be “over” my dislike of running, I enjoyed it so much.  And then the race was over and I completely lost my motivation again.  Yeah, that whole liking running thing… it wasn’t there.

The satisfaction didn’t even really come from completing the run.  I had run 26.2 miles before.  Though it had been long ago, finishing your first marathon (or any event of significance) is just losing another form of your virginity.  Even if you never do whatever it is you’re doing again, that first-timer bell can never un-rung.  The satisfaction came from the fact that I was hit with severe leg cramps at mile seventeen, and at every aid station after that, I had to stop and ice my legs for at least five minutes.  Once, I even ran with the ice strapped to my legs until it melted, and I then threw away the bags and plastic wrap.  My split times show the difference between the first 2/3 of the race and the last part of it.  I really believe if everything had gone smoothly, I would have been much less satisfied with myself.  I apparently have some issues.

Now, once again I’m staring down the barrel of a hot metal twenty-six point two.  The inaugural Rock and Roll Las Vegas Marathon.  I’ve been training for it for a few months now, and even after taking time off, it’s amazing how much the body remembers.  But something is drastically different.  I’m not enjoying getting ready for this one.  I know I can do the marathon physically.  And anybody who really knows me can tell you even if I didn’t think I was physically capable I would do it out of sheer stubbornness.  So I am capable of it; I’m just not enjoying it.  Where before hitting a three hour mark made me want to do another hour, or two hours, now hitting a three hour mark means I’ve likely spent the last two hours contemplating what a waste of a beautiful weekend day this, and how many other things there are I could be doing.  This isn’t an issue of mind-over-matter, because I’m not struggling with the effort.  I’m struggling with the “I really give a damn whether I do this or not.”  It’s a totally different scenario, and much more difficult to push through.

After I ran the RNR in 2008, Jody decided she wanted to do a run, so we trained for and did the Disney 5K together.  It was a lot of fun, and her happiness when she crossed the finish line reminded me of what I felt like when I finished my training runs for the last marathon.  Then we moved on to the 12K Bay-to-Breakers… the oldest organized footrace in the US.  And that was a lot of fun, and again, the best part was doing it with my wife; taking part in something together made it all the more enjoyable (although the B2B is a great race to do just for the sake of doing it, and I recommend you do it).

So there was my epiphany…  *WHY* I had done the last organized runs.  It wasn’t because I really cared about doing them… I did them because I cared about doing something new with Jody, and doing these things with her make them enjoyable.  I don’t mind taking off for an hour or so myself just as part of my exercise routine, but for these organized things, it’s more about the shared experience with her.  We hadn’t trained together, though, because we are both exercise “loners” .  But we still crossed the finish line together.  I had found the missing piece…

So, Jody is running the RNRLV Half-Marathon.  It’s her first.  She’s been working her tail off to get ready, and I’m wicked proud of her.  And again, we’ve been training separately, because that works for us.  But you’ve never met anybody less interested in completing a marathon than I am at this point.  Seriously.  You.  Have.  Not.

But I am interested in sharing Jody’s new experience with her.

The deadline to change from the Marathon to the Half-Marathon is this Friday.  I’m going to give myself one more day to think on it, and then make that final decision.  It’s quite likely, though, that I’m going to change to the Half, so I can do the run with Jody.  Even though we would do the first eleven miles together, the last couple of miles and seeing her joy at the completion of the half is much more important to me than doing the rest of the marathon myself.  There are more marathons in the future if I decide to do another.

But now… Well, there is only this single first time with my wife.  Again.

Bella went to the vet last week for her one year check-up since the
day we got her (and on a side-note, she turned three on September
1st). She is in perfect health, and the only thing the vet said is
that she has a little bit of extra weight the vet would like her to
lose (a couple of pounds). I know where this comes from… we work
with training Bella and she gets an abundance of treats (as all dogs
do). So clearly we need to scale back the treats (and increase the
amount of time she spends running with both of us). We have done
this.

It is making me feel hella-guilty, even though I shouldn’t be. Every
time we eat something or walk near her treat jar she immediately sits,
thinking she will get a treat. What we are doing is the best for her,
and Bella is a very well behaved dog, so she is just trying to use her
big baby-browns to manipulate us, and we’re not letting her. But she
is borderline irresistible.

Despite this, she is always extremely happy to sit and play, and just
spend time with Jody and I when we get home. Yes, I know all about
dogs living in the moment and all that stuff. Still, though… every
time I see just how loving, forgiving and wonderful our dog is, and
how good she makes us feel, it reminds just HOW deficient humans are
at… well… basic humanity.

I hate most Internet memes, but the below is one of the few that is
actually valid. I don’t know the origin of it, but even Snopes can’t
debunk this… And it gives everyone something to aspire to…

And have I mentioned, we LOVE our dog.

If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can get along without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining to and at people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you can overlook it when those you love take it out on you when,
through no fault of your own, something goes wrong,
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
If you can ignore a friend’s limited education and never correct him or her,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor one,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension without medical help,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice
against creed, sex, color, religion, national origin, gender
preference or politics,

Then you have almost reached the same level of development as your dog.

Posted via email from keithbooe’s posterous

I achieved one of the goals that I never planned on doing.

Ten years ago today I walked out of the Cisco San Jose CCIE Lab as the latest inductee into the (at the time) geekiest brotherhood there was.  Out of ten people who started the CCIE process on September 13, 1999, seven of us made it to day two, and two of us walked out having successfully completed the process.

All through high school the closest I had gotten to being a computer geek was a semester long BASIC programming course… I still remember my first “Hello, World!”  And yes, it was about as exciting doing it as it was reading it.  It just wasn’t something I was feelin’, dawg!

When I walked in to the USMC Recruiting Office in Independence, KS, I was the Recruiter’s wet dream.  I walked in, pointed to a picture of a Marine on the wall covered in cammie paint holding his weapon and said “I want that.  If you can’t give me that, we have nothing to talk about.”  I got that.  And it was everything I wanted it to be.

I had no intention of being a computer geek in the Marine Corps.  Unlike Combat Arms, which I specifically sought out, the “Data Dink” field was something I chose as the lesser of evils.  When you’re being forced out of your current MOS due to RIFs and the Monitor (basically staffing guy) from another Occupation Field says “I’ll give you a lateral move, a three year contract and your choice of duty station”, if you don’t jump on the opportunity you’re a fool.  I was a fool about a lot of things, but that wasn’t one of them.

Spending the next several years in a variety of data comm jobs exposed me to any number of technologies from 3Com, Cisco, Cabletron… if it moved data from point A to point B and you’ve heard of it, I likely played on it at some point in time.  And after getting out of the Marine Corps I continued to expand that with Fore/Marconi, Alcatel, Lucent, Nortel, Foundry, Extreme… basically everything.

But my one “true” love was Cisco.  (Everybody has their opinion, you’re certainly welcome to yours).

So I spent the next eighteen months of my life ass deep in Cisco as a consultant, and was fortunate to work on some very complex and large-scale customer designs and implementations.  Alongside which, I studied.  Four hours a day, at a minimum, every day, for eighteen months.  I remember my son waking up to get a glass of water and I would be sitting at the table at 3:00 AM, working on scenarios.  I couldn’t get enough of it, it was really all I wanted to do other than be a good parent, was to pass the CCIE Lab Exam.  I remember driving from Golden Hill in San Diego to Torrance once a week (230 mile round trip) to work in the lab with the rest of my group, building our own labs because nothing existed to help us.  (Now, you only need to browse Amazon to see the plethora of “Get Certified Quick” books.  Convenient, but kinda lame in my opinion.)

I put my blood, sweat and tears into that preparation.  So when I walked out of that lab having passed the exam I was more on top of the world than Leo could have ever been.  That logo on my business card, being part of  “that group”, getting the “special party” and “support” access at all things Cisco.  Wow, now that was pinnacle of geeky-coolness.

It’s now ten years later.  Almost to the hour.  And the glamour has worn off, the benefits to me in my current job are negligible (to say the least) and while I would love to spend my time with the Cisco CLI like I used to, it’s likely not going to happen anytime in the near future.  Perhaps I can find a way to squeeze some of it in.

In the meantime, I am thankful for that experience ten years ago, I remain tremendously proud of achieving that goal (being in the 5ks, when there are over 25k now is still pretty damn cool), and appreciate it for what it is.  And if I never get back in to it… well…

We’ll always have San Jose.

I just hope I can remember how to “write mem” on a Cat…