Congrats!  I am banging my head on it, but not making progress since the first bit

agreed

but it was the way he did it.  That had style

I did one and got a good way with the other but am not sure what to do with it.  I think I may have followed a red herring, but since I cannot do with one thing what I want to do and get anywhere, I will keep down the (herring) path.

very difficult challenge.  either that or my 1337 observation kung foo is weak

looks like fun

Actually, you get 3 certs for the price of one:

Comptia Linux+
LPI level 1
Novell Certified Linux Administrator

So if two for one is good, three for one is better!

turned out I picked the right one.  But the extra words allowed me to grovel a bit more  

I want to know why these controls (the Hoover Dam to use the example) are on the internet in the first place.  I think this legislation has the promise of being misused. 

Anytime the government is given more power, it is reluctant to give the power back.

will we need to resubmit?

had difficulty finding where half these places are, so I picked one in Atlanta.  hope someone on EH-Net wins!

  I know, I figured I started one war, I'd bite and go for the big one.  What can I say, I'm trouble through and through  

Equinx3n-, I have an associates in programming (I don't use, it was all M$ Visual suite stuff plus a smattering of Javascript and I didn't really get an idea at the time on how to effectively use my little skillset).  I understand the basics of programming and have been considering brushing up, since it's been almost 10 years since I graduated. 

I have been fiddling around with learning Python, which seems pretty usable so far.  I will check out your suggestions (especially the free one  )

oops, I started a distro fight...  Sorry 

I really do appreciate the input, I will likely set up a virtual machine on my new lappy with some minimal install (the Gentoo solution sounds interesting, and I have another target vm to practice on when I am done).  I also found some stuff at http://training.linuxfoundation.org/ to look into.

I have been branching over to the terminal for stuff (changing permissions, wget, iwconfig, and I think mtr is awesomely neat)  vi keeps throwing me off though but practice brings familiarity. 

I've been looking all day and I have yet to see it either

I am getting a new computer (to me anyway) soon so I will have an opportunity to do these things,  since my old computer is an ancient beast and can barely handle one OS, much less virtual machines. 

Thanks to those who have replied to my Linux questions and I hope more people add their opinions and advice.

I have been using Ubuntu/Mint Linux as my primary OS(es) for almost 2 years but don't feel like I truly know Linux since most of what I use is accessed through the graphical interface.  What commands and skills would you suggest I look into?  I was thinking of getting some books for the Comptia Linux+ cert, since that gets 3 certs for the price of one.  do you think that would help me learn best?