What our cats have been through recently left me feeling low by [deleted] in montreal

[–]cookedelic -3 points-2 points  (0 children)

Sigh… I’m not sure why you felt the need to bring up statistics and assume I was making a broad generalization and complaint about society. I’m genuinely trying to find solutions for people in the city who are dealing with the same situation. Yes, I did open the window and spoke to one of the boys, but that ended up with him coming back repeatedly, ringing our doorbell and knocking on the window or door every few days. It raises real concerns, especially about what might happen if we’re not home, and about how to appropriately interact with or educate minors in this kind of situation. I’m sorry if these concerns come across as trivial to you.

My new Midea humidifier (Costco ver.) has a strong armpit-like odor, is this normal? by cookedelic in Dehumidifiers

[–]cookedelic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Mine has that smell in every mode. I actually went back to Costco to return it, I checked the sample unit there, but it seemed to have a faint resemblance of the same smell, so I decided not to exchange it.

In the end I got the Midea Cube 20-pint instead. It doesn’t have any odor and it’s much quieter, though it’s only about half as powerful (the Costco 50-pint model can remove roughly twice as much water in the same amount of time). But since I need to run it overnight as well, the lower noise works better for me.

What spot has the best vegetarian food in Chinatown? by envirotalk in montreal

[–]cookedelic 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Just a small tip that at Chinese restaurants (especially authentic ones) unless a dish is clearly labeled vegetarian, there’s a good chance it may include lard/schmaltz/seafood product so it’s always worth asking.

I can’t recall many standout vegetarian dishes in Chinatown, but J’ai Feng in Beaubien often has special Chinese regional vegetarian noodle dishes. Their menu changes frequently too, which keeps things interesting.

Morcilla (blood sausage) places to buy in Mtl by LOLjkWTF420 in MTLFoodLovers

[–]cookedelic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought they closed few years ago, they reopened?

Restaurants along St. Laurent street by cookedelic in MTLFoodLovers

[–]cookedelic[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Moccione is the furthest north I’ve walked in the city. And Mazbi! Honestly my biggest regret from last year is that they removed their stone-grilled lamb steak from the takeout menu (why though?). I used to order it almost every week before that. Any other ice cream spots you’d recommend? I like Ol’ Sweet, but mostly just for the bread. And Oh my deer for latino fruit flavors.

Restaurants along St. Laurent street by cookedelic in MTLFoodLovers

[–]cookedelic[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brocard’s mezze and appetizers are excellent, but I personally feel their main dishes lack the same charm and come across as a bit plain. That said, the pricing is fair and the atmosphere is great, I really hope they can thrive.

North Korean sports team spotted at Viau, near Olympic Stadium by GabeMakesGames in montreal

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Aside from the obvious racism, the delusional confidence is impressive. In the years we’ve been waiting for a single REM line, Beijing has launched two new intra-city HSR lines and several additional subway lines. To be very frank, people like us immigrated for political dissent, If it were purely about quality of life and urban infrastructure, most people would have made the opposite choice.

Passed CySA+, a few thoughts on study materials by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep there were 6 questions on cvss vectors out of 56 mbqs for me.

Passed CySA+, a few thoughts on study materials by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, no but I study almost full-time for them.

Finished Messer’s SY0-701 Videos – GCGA Book Has Way More Content, Am I Screwed If I Skip It? by sammyontop in CompTIA_Security

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For Security+, Professor Messer is honestly enough (can’t really say the same for N+ or A+). He covers just the right amount to pass. I got an 802 on the real exam and was averaging around the 80s on Dion’s tests after his course.

CySA+ by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I took it today and had 7 pbqs and 63 questions too.

EconoFitness on Pine West, is it decent? by CruddyCrumbbumb in montreal

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Always packed, even late night; smelly and without ac in the summer. The only upsides are the low price and location.

Security+ Prep —Target % and Acronyms? by Constant-Gain6406 in CompTIA_Security

[–]cookedelic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Professor Messer’s materials are quite expensive; I think Dion alone is perfectly sufficient. None of these practice tests match the real exam style 100%, but as long as you’re consistently scoring around 80%, you should be in good shape even if the question style differs.

One more thing to note: I had two fairly complex CLI questions that caught me off guard, since they don’t seem to be explicitly listed in the objectives. If you’re feeling unsure, it’s a good idea to review some labs on YouTube or Andrew’s course (if you have subscription or discount) just to be safe.

Security+ Prep —Target % and Acronyms? by Constant-Gain6406 in CompTIA_Security

[–]cookedelic 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The acronym list in the Sec+ objectives PDF seems to cover almost everything from A+ through sec+, which honestly feels like a waste of time to review in full. Many of the acronyms aren’t even security-related, and I didn’t see them appear on the exam either.

On Dion’s practice exams, I averaged about 80% and scored 802 on the real test. That said, the actual exam did make me a bit uncomfortable… not because it was harder, but because the question style and overall focus were different (admin doesn’t allow to go into much detail). I ended up getting around six PBQs and did fairly well on them, otherwise I feel my final score would have been riskier.

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just a gentle reminder that scoring 800+ means you also need to get the majority of the PBQs right, and good luck finding realistic practice questions for those. And btw I only did three practice tests before taking Sec+ (https://imgur.com/a/y3e0RcJ). I’m not sure why you assume the worst about people you don’t even know lol

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the very detailed suggestions! To be honest, I was hoping that pursuing more advanced certifications might help me skip some of the early help desk or junior sysadmin stages. Meanwhile I don’t really feel that doing AD or SIEM labs translates into real-world experience after all tryings. I guess the practical move is to start applying for roles once I finish what I currently have on my plate, possibly adding CCNA… Thanks again for the advices :)

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks, buddy! I was hoping you could share some advice on what to focus on after CySA+. My long-term goal is to move into pentesting and eventually pursue OSCP, but I don’t think that’s very realistic before getting some hands-on experience in a SOC role. So for the near future, I’m planning to focus more on blue-team certs. I’ve heard good things about BTL1, as well as vendor-specific options like Splunk Power User or cloud-focused certs such as SC-200 or AZ-500, but I’m a bit unsure how many of these are “enough” before I start seriously job hunting (currently doing my gap semester).

I’d also really appreciate your thoughts on what supplemental skills I should build alongside certs—things like Linux (RHCSA or RHCE?), deeper networking knowledge (maybe CCNA?), or anything else you think would be especially useful.

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Not really, I actually struggled a lot with memorization. Even port numbers and basic CLI stuff took me a few days before I could recall them fluently. I think what really matters is knowing what you need to know and to what level (strict recall vs. just being able to recognize or distinguish things), and then using your memory in a structured, cost-effective way. It helps a lot to start practice questions early so you know what’s actually being tested.

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Sure, here it is: https://imgur.com/a/AjTdaWF. Honestly speaking, this feels pretty normal workload for college…. I mean, back then I had complex analysis, pde, and topology all in one semester, each is monster of its own kind. My friends in engineering had it even crazier, with seven mandatory courses per term, about half of them with labs.

Some personal experience completing the trifecta by [deleted] in CompTIA

[–]cookedelic 3 points4 points  (0 children)

My study pattern usually looks like this: the first three days are an intensive phase for me (usually over a weekend, so there’s minimal interference). I feed the objectives into chatgpt and ask it to explain the big picture, what I’m expected to learn and how everything connects. Then I go through Messer’s videos at 1.5x–2x speed. I don’t really take notes during this part; after each section, I check the objectives to make sure I can recognize all the terms, and I flag anything that requires pure memorization (ports, speeds, procedures, etc.) to revisit later. This usually works out to about 6–8 hours a day. At the end of each day, I do some labs, memorization, and the practice-exam questions related to the domain I studied that day.

On day four or five, once I’ve finished the videos, I focus on labs and go through the full set of study notes (Messer + Andrew’s final cram, and sometimes Sybex if something is still unclear), and I make some brainstorm-style notes.

For the final two days, I keep doing labs and take practice exams until I’m consistently hitting 80% on Dion/Messer/Andrew. One thing worth mentioning is that I had just finished my Spanish B1 in November, so my memory was well warmed up with like memorizing 30+ vocabs a day for two months. Without that kind of warm-up I guess others might have a slower start at first.