It’s like Crack.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/30/07 at 06:09:54 pm

Over the last few months I’ve been increasingly addicted to all that is EA’s Battlefield 2142. I was a fan of the Battlefield series before, and I was actually thrown off by 2142, the whole futuristic feel to the game is a big change to the series. I purchased 2142 the day it was released and I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it at first. However I was surprised by the pipe-dream realism that 2142 has accomplished. I mean, when you think that this game is over 100 years into the future I guess most of it isn’t too far fetched, most of the weapons are familiar and all of the unlocks you can earn are just wicked.

Regardless, the key word there is ‘earn’, the ranking system in 2142 is nothing like I’ve seen before and that’s one of the features that make it so addictive. Currently my guy ‘Mark0’ is a Master Sergeant Gold, a friend of mine who purchased the game at the same time and has spent more time playing it; currently he is a Warrant Officer Gold. With each rank you have the ability to unlock new items such as upgraded weapons or devices like IPS shields or Sentry Guns. The ranking system may be the highlight of 2142 but the innovative game play modes keep you going too. The Titan mode is exclusive to 2142 where you actually battle to destroy the apposing force’s ‘Titan’ ship which is essentially a flying aircraft carrier. Very cool.

Anyways, when I’m complaining about never having any free time, it’s possible that it just might not be solely consumed by work ;)

Lovefest 2007 – San Francisco, CA

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/29/07 at 11:09:33 pm

When you think of an event taking place in San Francisco called LoveFest, I’m sure rainbow flags and dancing men may pop in mind for some, at least it did for me when I first heard about it…

LoveFest is actually the nation’s largest dance music festival and parade. It’s an entire festival dedicated to the true magic of electronica and the DJ’s who create it. SF’s Lovefest was actually modeled after the Love Parade that is held annually in Berlin Germany. I found some history on the festival and its roots here if you’re interested.

For most of the night I’ve been glued to my notebook watching the live feed on Justin.tv of the San Francisco LoveFest after party. Just about all of the big name DJ’s make an appearance at this event, this year has an amazing lineup including Sasha, Ferry Corsten, Chemical Brothers, Crystal Method, Mark Farina, Benny Benassi among many others. I doubt I’ll be able to stay awake until the end at 6:00AM CST but some of the sets I have seen so far tonight are really good.

I was going to embed the live feed right here on the blog but I didn’t want music to start blasting when the page loaded and after tonight I’m thinking the feed will be shut down. I’m watching the feed on Justin.tv and it can be found here.

Cisco’s New Associate Level: CCENT Certification

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/26/07 at 03:09:54 pm

I found out that Cisco Systems launched a new certification this past summer called the CCENT or Cisco Certified Entry Networking Technician. The CCENT certification is designed as an entry point that’s at the half-way mark of the CCNA education. The neat part about how they designed the CCENT is it’s just the ICND1 portion of the CCNA course so you can essentially get two pieces of paper instead of one.

I wish they had this going when I was doing my CCNA training as I could have gotten a jump into the industry much quicker out of High School. I’ve learned over the last couple years that unless you get in on an internship or you’re just getting out of college with a 2 or 4 year degree that it really isn’t easy to get into a lucrative IT job. While I may have achieved that goal now, having something to show for myself earlier in the game would have made it much easier.

The new associate level will definitely make it easier for students who might have an interest in a networking career and want to easily move up in their Cisco training. I say this because the problem with most High Schools that offer Cisco Networking Academy courses is that they only offer the ICND1 portion of the CCNA and the rest has to be taken in a college or IT workshop environment. At least that was my personal experience.

I ordered the new Official Exam Certification Library 3rd Edition (CCNA Exam 640-802) that was released in August. I figure I could use the newest edition since mine is a few years old (I think it was printed in 2001, ick). Also, I just might look into taking the exam for the CCENT. Even if it’s a step backwards it would be nice to have another Cisco certification to add to my resume especially if I plan to go for the CCNP in the next couple years.

I’d be interested to know if High Schools / PSEO or entry level INT courses at the local community colleges and such are shifting focus towards getting students prepared for the CCENT as it may be a more realistic starting point.

Books.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/24/07 at 07:09:28 pm

I’ve been spending a lot of time on Amazon lately, I want to start a small collection of books. It would mainly be like reference guides and boring technical jargon but it would be nice to get a small collection going. I guess first I would have to find the time to read a book but more importantly I need to find books that I’m interested in, books that I might actually read.

I’ve been wanting to get back into studying for CompTIA certifications for a while such as the A+, Network+, and Security+ exams. I mean, if I have any hope of making it in the career that I’m in without having a fancy 4 year degree I need to work as hard as I can at obtaining other pieces of paper showing that I know what I’m doing.

So I had added a few CompTIA related books to My Wishlist along with some Cisco focused books that I want for work since I think it would be nice to have a good tangible reference around rather then having to look everything up on a PC. After that I got into adding books like Network Warrior and Cisco’s Network Administrators Survival Guide and I even found a WordPress book that I want.

Courtney actually inspired me to look into this. You know, she has so many books that she is actually packing them away in bins for storage. That might be a little extreme but I could only imagine of all of the information and knowledge that could be obtained from just a little reading. I need that.

Bike Phenom

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/23/07 at 10:09:13 pm

According to the notes in this video this is called ‘line riding’. Whatever it is, it’s really cool. I found this video tonight of a guy by the name of Julien Dupont, some of the tricks and stunts he does are insane.

Sprint Airave

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/19/07 at 10:09:47 pm

Watch out T-Mobile, your Hotspot @ Home might not be so hot. Sprint recently launched their Sprint Airave service. For a person like myself who is currently a Sprint customer and uses their cell phone as a primary telephone this new service looks very interesting.

I’m in a meeting.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/19/07 at 07:09:10 pm

Business meetings, where would we be without them? We need to review our progress and strategize what will happen next right?

If only my morning meetings were like the internet, I could only hope it would go something like this –

10 Reasons why MediaTemple Rocks my Socks.

Posted by Markus Langenfeld - 09/17/07 at 08:09:59 pm

Next month MarkLangenfeld.com will have been hosted with MediaTemple for a whole year. It feels like I just switched to them not long ago but maybe it just seems that way because I’m waiting to find a legitimate reason to go to another host as I’m normally never content with my hosting provider… Honestly I can only find reasons to praise their unbeatable service and recommend them to others.

10 Reasons why (mt) MediaTemple Rocks my Socks, Go! –

1. Prices. Plans starting at $20 a month may scare you away but did you know that most hosts out there actually oversell their services? It’s true, I’ve been in the business and I know how it all works. I’d say 60% of web hosting firms, especially the little no-name hosts don’t actually have the infrastructure to support all of their clients at full capacity and often go under rapidly after starting up. You get what you pay for and with MediaTemple you get a lot.

2. Reliability. I admit that MT was looking very bleak when I signed up. The uptime and reliability of the (at the time) brand new Grid Service (it was called Grid Server back then) platform was crap. But MT made good on their promises and they worked out most of the bugs. Don’t let the not-so-great reviews of the Grid scare you away. It’s overall reliable, very reliable.

3. Support. MediaTemple’s support is amazing, especially the telephone support. You will call in, sit on hold for a maximum for 5 minutes and a cool, friendly, knowledgeable representative will pick up the call and resolve whatever issues or questions you may have. The support ticket system could have a faster response time but it’s good enough for general questions. MT has 24/7/365 support. They don’t sleep, they don’t celebrate major holidays, and they don’t take vacations.

4. Features. MediaTemple is constantly adding new and innovative features to their lineup. The control panel system is nice and simple yet packed with everything you could ask for. Everything from 1-click installs to Rails containers, MT has it all.

5. Amazing. Take the last 4 reasons, multiply them by 2 then add 2 more and you will get 10 good reasons to switch to MediaTemple. Think I’m getting paid for this? Think again, although I do have a nice referral link, MediaTemple speaks for itself but don’t take my word for it, check out their own list of reasons for switching.

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