Here we are… on my 250thaversary (I don’t think that’s a word…) and let me tell you… IM STILL ALIVE! Awesome, right!?

You may be able to see it from my tweets, facebook updates, and wacky images I’m able to capture with instagram, but I down play a lot of the ‘threat’ here.  Oh, the threat is VERY real on a VERY regular basis, but I totally downplay it, especially if sharing something might put American lives in jeopardy… so I don’t talk about those things… a LOT of things.   But hey! This isn’t something for you to be worried about! I mean, the threat is just as real as being in Chicago, so I’ll down play it some more! :)

Afghanistan is kind of like being in prison, except for all of the benefits… of being in Prison!

We often joke about the similarities to prison, I mean lets consider a few points…

• Housing is “Free” in that we live in supplied housing.  And while at the same time… my room is roughly the same size, or slightly smaller than a typical US Prison Jail Cell, so that’s pretty awesome! Albeit the building can burn down at any given moment due to the fact it’s essentially made of balsa wood :)
• Food is “Free” in DFAC provided food.  Except the food is typically less desirable than Prison food, which respectively isn’t saying much :)
• OH WAIT, YOU’RE VEGAN. Yea. People often say, “It must be hard being vegan” Yes. Yes it is. Back home it isn’t, but in a warzone it’s HELL!
• Everyone has guns.   Well, it’s true, everyone does, let’s add that we’re surrounded by huge walls with barbed wire. Except we’re trying to keep people OUT not in, per se. ;)
• I live at an airport basically, though I never get to go anywhere! … And unless I’m going home, not really too much of a fan of traveling throughout the country!
• Everybody loves shared showers! Just don’t let your skin touch any exposed surface. Seriously.

So you know, it’s not so bad!   And all, right?!

I mean, it’s not like my life is in constant jeopardy or that on numerous occasions rockets have not blown up within 100 feet of me. …………

So for those of you who wonder what the warzone is like, and the respective lessons learned you can apply to your own life…

• It can be LOUD here. I own a pair of Klipsch X10i headphones. I tend to miss most rockets I cannot directly FEEL because of how well it buffers the sound.   Also if you happen to travel these are beyond invaluable, hell if it can block out the noise of flying inside of a C130, know it handles QUITE well on domestic or international travel.  FYI I have worn these headphones for about 235 of the 250 days, while I sleep.
• If you see something out of the ordinary, say something about it.   This applies to the world in general.  If something or someone looks suspicious don’t let it slide; Don’t be paranoid but also be realistic…
• Do your due diligence and don’t take overt chances.   I’m a risk taker as much as the next guy (Psst… Did you hear I’m in fracking AFGHANISTAN) but I wouldn’t go so far as to play around life explosives or put myself in a position to receive real harm if I can control it.
• Smog is nasty, but a microscopic dust which enters into your lungs and you breathe it everywhere, that’s not so great.
• Do not walk behind a blackwater truck, or hell, near one if you can help it
• Blackwater trucks clean out portapotties, and emit a highly refined spray of feces into the air, it’s the original eau de toilette…

The list can clearly go on, but I need to sleep soon so I wish you all well in your respective places in the world.   I wish you good will, good life and be safe.

YOU DID IT! You are all set to take your VMware Exam which will mean the difference of you having the certification and NOT having the certification! Who knows, this could be the change that your life has been asking for, Excited Excited Excited!!!   But wait, It’s not that simple!

What?!?!?!

This past September our good friends at VMware have instituted an “Authorization” process, whereby you need to take some steps BEFORE you can schedule!    Or semi-specifically and verbatim…

   All VMware exams require prior VMware authorization before candidates can schedule an appointment with Pearson VUE.

Candidates can get authorized by going to vmware.com/certification.  This process can take up to 15 minutes. Once authorized, candidates can schedule their exam.

Awesome, right?! I mean, or not. I know what you’re chanting NANNY STATE. NANNY STATE. Yea. That’s what I said when I was FIRST going to publish this back when it happened several many weeks ago… But time to cut through the chaff to get down to what matters!

Now when you’re ready to take an exam, you can visit the listed http://vmware.com/certification or respectively visit http://www.pearsonvue.com/vmware both of which will provide you relevant links like the following;

It wasn’t until the past week or two where VMware actually FIXED their links to make finding the registration portion ‘possible’, so now both links take you to the appropriate place instead of only one.  Awesome!

When you finally find what you’re looking for, you’ll be prompted to login using your myLearn account, and then you get a list of ‘Pre-Requisite” sections to fill out.    Interesting thing to note here; while running this through in my tests I was never able to get the “Continue” button to function correctly using Chrome, but it worked in Internet Explorer… Hey, whatever it takes, right? (If you experience a similar problem of the button not working, try another browser).

However, you may also notice that SOME of the tests you want to Authorize for may not be available, receiving only a “Back” button.   We’ve historically found this due to some of the following reasons;

• Your VCP not being recognized on your account
• Your class not being recognized on your account
• You took the VCP Exam and THEN took the Class, and they’re not granting you credit for it since it was done ‘after the fact’.

Irrespective of what problems you may experience, I’ve found the folks at Education to be *great* at helping out, and I have opened numerous cases (on this, and over the years for account mergers)   Just shoot a mail over to “eduoperations@vmware.com” explaining your problem and they have a 48hr SLA for response to get it resolved.   This can be a major challenge if you’re all excited to test TOMORROW and you cannot get your authorization in, so something to consider while thinking ahead!

That in essence covers the bulk of it, Pearson VUE changes due to VMware Policy LIKELY will impact you if you do not plan ahead.   So, plan ahead, get authorized and Pass Pass Pass!

Keep up the virtually good work. OMG WORST TAGLINE EVER! ;)