Whew.

I've been drinking in celebration so forgive the rambling in advance...

After nearly two weeks (and one wasted full Saturday) of wrestling with a flaky Juniper MX80, seriously questionable Checkpoint talent, evenings pouring over JUNOS documentation on routed bridges and source-specific PIM, a backbone team that neglected to mention that "little" outage, and oh, that fucking faulty Brocade SFP that cost me an hour today, I finally got the multicast monkey off my back. Every whiny dev in the building can now join any stream off our backbone.

(Yeah, I know that was the mother of all run-on sentences. I told you I've been drinking.)

I know I've been busting ass when the alarm wakes me at 5am. Normally I'm up before it has a chance to scream. All this mental gymnastics makes what's coming up all the sweeter however... Vacation!

One of my life's biggest regrets happened in Paris half a decade ago. I walked into Musée d'Orsay only 2 hours before close on my last day in the city. I ran from room to room like a maniac and was eventually gently (but forcibly) removed by a guard. I loved Paris. If I was told I must live in a major city but I get to pick which one, Paris would be a no-brainer for me. The Mrs, on the other hand, wasn't as enamored. Fortunately, I've finally managed to convince the wife of a short 2-day revisit on this trip, this time staying in the heart of Paris instead of Versailles. Musée d'Orsay will finally get the attention it deserves (yes, I love impressionism!) 

Next up will be a couple days in Brugge. We did a day trip there a couple years ago and loved it. I already know where the best brewpubs are and Westvleteren is only an hour or so away if I can wrangle up a rental car. Picking up a case of Westy 12s is definitely on my bucket list, and I'll have friends to help drink it...

Wrapping up our Eurovisit (and really its primary reason) is a meetup with some of my very best friends, all converging in Amsterdam. There will be eating, and drinking. Oh god will there be drinking... Lies will be told. Laughter will reach ludicrous levels. We'll probably seriously annoy half the patrons at In De Wildeman.

A buddy once said "Vacation is the reason we work."

Wise, he is.

Oh, and for the record, PIM is satan's routing protocol.