Muhammad Imtiaz, CCIE #19605

We just had our first baby and i planned for my SP CCIE and thought and decided to complete in 3 months. I studied crazily in 1.5 months, got the lab built up and started practicing. It was no easy task since i was fasting too for the holy month hence it was double the effort, I used Internetwok Expert workbooks and practice labs and they helped a lot, also my job really did the trick here, i work in SP technologies. Anyway, my day of exam came and i woke up very early in the morning, quickly went thru minor stuff which i left for last day review, got ready for the drive (15 min from my place in SJ). Once i get there i was calm and hopeful, but was ready for first attempt failure. Once i went into the lab and proctor sent me to my seat i opened the file for the lab exam and bang.. it was the most difficult lab i could imagine. I thought lets try to do what i can do and come back for 2nd attempt next time if i fail. I started working on lab, once my mvpn worked in late afternoon i was so excited that i thought doesnt matter now if i fail. I finished my lab about 35 min before the scheduled time and reviewed it thoroughly, everything was working but still i thought i am not going to pass. I came back home, rested a little and once we have dinner i started looking for the results. I kept the web-page opened and went in the room to play with my little baby who was about 4 months old then. It was about 9:35 pm when my wife came in and said "You passed", i was 110% sure that she is joking, i looked her face and said are you joking, she said no, go and check. I came out, looked at computer screen and COULD not believe what i saw, i passed the SP lab in first attempt. I did not know what to do, so i captured the screen, saved in MS-Paint, thinking that in the morning i will receive an email that we passed you by mistake, actually you failed the lab, so i kept the file as proof that i passed, i still have that file, dated and timed the day i passed.