Passed!

Passed my exam this morning with a more than decent score (it's no 900/900 though..)

Received Meyer's book on 1/18, finished it on 1/28. After that, I scheduled my exam and studied off and on each night leading up to the test to 'fill in the blanks' - Messer's videos were very helpful for this. Two things I also found to be very helpful were the two highest rated Net+ apps (CompTIA Network+ Exam Prep and CompTIA Network+ N10-005 Prep) in the Play Store on Android. They're both pretty buggy, but contain some pretty good material if you can live with the bugs. The second one I listed contains detailed explanations for each right/wrong answer for each question. I also scoured the internet for random practice tests for port #'s, OSI model, etc (including this site). A lot of the random sites had errors, but when I started to recognize those errors I knew I was in good shape.

Next up is CCENT/CCNA to solidify my networking base. I'm choosing to take them separately so I can really soak up and learn as much info as possible. Already ordered a few books (Lammel/Odom), got a good deal on a few 2950's, and am on the lookout for routers. Maybe also Security+ just to have it..?

After that hopefully I'll be able to get some good job experience and figure out what path I really want to head down