New Blog, Who Dis?

A look at how I got here and where I hope to take this blog.

Published on October 20, 2020 by Tony E.

past present future

3 min READ

We only truly grow when we accept change and try something new. - Tony E.

I have had the overwhelming need to write something. To leave something behind. To show that world the 2020 hasn’t killed me and I have had all these great experiences and cool things to show and document for all the world to see.

Alot of very cool things have happened this year:

  • I earned my CCIE# 64908
  • Network Field Day 22
  • Network Collective podcast
  • DefCon 28: Maritime CTF - Hack the Ship
  • Network Field Day 23
  • SharkFest ‘20

…to name a few.

Question: Why did you name your blog “Failing Forward”?

Answer: It partially comes from an organization I’ve supported. During network cut-overs sometimes things go wrong and when its all said and done it’s just not going to work and you need to “fail-back” or return to the pre-cut-over posture. “Failing Forward” is when there is no back-out plan, you must complete the migration and traffic must pass in the new posture even if some parts fail or service is degraded. While this seems unheard of I can relate to this saying and its meaning to my life:

no mater what, we aren’t going backwards, only forward, no matter what!

…and so, Failing Forward was born.

Even though nothing is really changing in my life, I feel it’s time for a change and for me that means changing the way I do a few things.

After completing my CCIE I haven’t contributed to the community as a whole even though I have learned alot since then. I wanted to get back to what I enjoyed about our community and that is the free and open exchange of information and ecouragment for everyone to better themselves through self-study, certifications and CTF’s.

My last blog site was started so I can document my CCIE journey. I’ve grown since then and my blog needs to grow too.

I wanted to ditch the old https://showipintbri.blogspot.com site and go with something, more modern, that takes straight Markdown. I wanted to remove the hurdles preventing me from jotting down ideas, outlines and anything else preventing me from sharing.

I want the easiest way to share, the quickest way to get ideas developed. While this might not be my final attempt or design, it’s a step in the right direction.

I saw Brad Searle’s website https://codingpackets.com/ and I loved the simplicity of the theme and it was the first time I heard about static site generators. ( This Post: https://codingpackets.com/blog/coding-packets-the-11ty-edition/ )

TRUTH: If I could steal Brad’s site theme and no one would notice… I would.

SHAMEFUL TRUTH: I don’t really know how to code and building this site is the first time I really learning how to use GitHub.

This blog is arriving on the heels of Network Field Day 23 and SharkFest ‘20 where I took 5th place in the PCAP CTF. There’s alot to go over. I’m having alot of fun.

My intention is to share more about all the things that I do beyond Cisco networking and to serve as a personal reference for myself and everyone else.

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