since i sat down this morning, i’ve been listening to lectures (i acquired some very helpful training lectures in MP3 format), going over practice quizzes, and doing my best imitation of a sponge. the lectures are from a SANS CISSP course, and they are amazing. aside from the fact that it’s like… over 40 hours of lecturing. i got through almost 4 today. it’s still much better than reading, and the guy doing the training is excellent.

i am NOT substituting reading with the lectures, by any means. i’ve got the SYBEX book, CISSP for dummies, shon harris, ISC2’s official guide… i have too many books. i used the SYBEX book for my CISSP/Sec+ class in college–it’s easy to read and i’ve read most of it already. shon harris’s book is the one everyone raves about, and a lot of people said the CISSP for dummies was all they used. i’m kind of stuck. and the lecturer stressed how it’s not always a good idea to use so many books because they might have different information from what ISC2 currently uses. the ISC2 book itself is NOT an easy read.

i also have the pass4sure test bank of practice questions, which is over 2300 questions. plus the practice quizzes from the lectures. plus smaller study guides containing key points from each domain.

i think i’m set on material. my boss came by and dumped even MORE books on me today, which i have not listed, because i’ve just given up on those. i need to pick 2 and stick with them. and the lectures. seriously–a godsend. i’m going to burn them to a CD and listen to it in my car. that man’s voice is going to haunt my dreams by the end of march.

and i know this post’s title stresses how good of a day it has been. the lectures are actually kind of fun (i’m aware of how dorky that sounds), but today was also the day my TAX RETURN got deposited into my bank account. i really needed to replenish my savings after paying for the exam ($550) and the dental work ($700+), so a load has been lifted. and replaced with a nice chunk of change.

something else spectacular happened today, which i am not going to write about until it is a done deal. it will be soon, however, and i could not be more excited. i do not want to jinx myself.

PLUS… UFC 109 is tomorrow. and the super bowl, of course, is sunday. i’m counting on lots of celebrating, lots of sleeping in, and steak. and i’d REALLY like a whiskey sour tonight.

oh, and my resume/portfolio can now be found at www.WhitneyPowell.com. i splurged a bit with my tax return and dropped 10 bucks on a domain. finally.

i finally broke down and put up a new layout. i hated staring at the other one and it’s been a while since i’ve actually made one myself. just laziness, i guess. i spend so much time working on websites for clients and by the time i get around to taking care of my site, i lose all motivation.

it’s cute. and it’s better than looking at a plain white screen. it looks best in firefox/safari/chrome because of the rounded corners, so if you’re in IE… you will just have to live. ;)

i took a break writing it and we went to dinner. brett and i went to the kickin’ chicken (if you don’t have one in your area, it’s better than it sounds) to watch the game and have a couple beers. and wings. lots and lots of wings. it was a pretty good deal, too. we got 24 wings with 4 flavors for $15. what put us over the top was the dessert (my bad) and the bottled coors light. after realizing they were $3.50, which is so not worth it, we switched to yuengling on draft.

i love getting desserts but i don’t know what i was thinking. since the dentist hasn’t fixed my teeth yet, every bite i took hurt like hell. i even had to drink my beer through a straw. on top of that, the vikings lost. i really wanted to see them in the super bowl.

i tried to get my fillings fixed last week but when i got to the dentist and got settled into the chair, the power went out. and we waited. and waited. and waited. it never came back on, so he put “fluoride” on my teeth. this fluoride was nothing like any fluoride treatment i’ve ever had and i couldn’t get it off my teeth (or any other surface i accidentally got it on) to save my life. it was a mess, and it didn’t help the sensitivity whatsoever.

so i’m going back tomorrow. since mondays don’t suck badly enough, i have to go to the dentist, too. i can’t wait!

it’s finally here. saturday is Appalachian’s first game against ECU and it will be spectacular. we’re gonna have to find someplace to watch it (unless… can you watch MASN with comcast?). either way, there will be beer and sweatpants involved and that alone makes me happy.

our quarterback ran over his foot with a lawnmower, and as of yesterday, whether or not he will be playing saturday is still up in the air. i guess we’ll find out.

all i know is i’ll be going to (if possible) every home game this season. i missed out on a lot of football games freshman and sophomore year so i’m still making up for my lack of enthusiasm back then. i have no excuses. well, i do, but none of them are legitimate reasons to miss an AppState football game.

hopefully, i’ll be getting at least one Panther’s game in this season, too. never been to a pro game before.

let the games (and parties) begin.