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 |  I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been. |
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Talk about perks, my job has one of the best ones I can think of! I travel in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I am a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and teach classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2 way radio communications. I'm qualified to deliver approximately 30 different classes, but about half of those are 'Legacy' classes, and are not in demand anymore. My students are technicians, those who maintain, program, calibrate, and repair large 2-way radio systems. Some of these systems are statewide, and use TCP-IP networking to allow sites to communicate with others. Some are small, traditional type radio sites. The size doesn't matter, in each case the systems must be kept operational at all times, since many of them are Public Safety Systems. So I get to travel, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where am I this week? This probably won't have daily entries, but I will make entries when I get to go somewhere, and keep an updated list of coming trips. My schedule changes faster than the weather, so don't be too surprised to see me list an upcoming class, only to remark later on that it is cancelled, or delayed. Delays are fine of course, but a later date might mean that someone else gets to go instead of me,,, Well, here we go with this, let's see where it takes us.  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
| Locale: Henderson, Kentucky Week Of: October 26, 2020 This week finds me in Henderson, Kentucky for a class with the city and county of Henderson. I found myself attracted to the area, mainly because I love river towns, but it was the local radio station (WSON) I listened to that captured me. Why? One word. Americana. Small town, and if it weren't for the highways and types of vehicles on the road, you might think you were in a time warp, and back in the 1950's. As is my custom right now, I drove here, a long drive of 4 hours or so. Then again though, if I had flown to Evansville, Indiana (right across the Ohio River in Indiana), it would have been a longer trip. Drive to the airport, and arrive at least an hour and a half early, 30 minute flight to Chicago, at least an hour layover, probably more, and an hour flight to Evansville. Plus, you get the 'joy' of being crammed in an airplane, confined in a narrow space for those flights. No thank you, driving is more fun. Noteworthy Restaurants: Poké River http://www.pokeriver.com/ This is essentially a fast food chain that is very similar to Poké Works, which is coming to my town soon. If you enjoy Poké like I do, then you almost have to go. I find (or shall I say I hope), it's healthier than McD's and the like. I've been to a Poké Works in Omaha, and this is almost identical to them, just a different name. And yes, I loved my meal from there. Catfish Willy's Another dish I love is Catfish. While I don't eat much fried food, I prefer Catfish fried or blackened. I'm glad I ordered mine fried, I had a platter, with the catfish, shrimp, oysters, and clams, with a side of Fried Okra. (You can never get too much Okra!). Everything was fried, and the amazing thing to me was, there was no sign of grease! I couldn't eat it all that night, so took it to my hotel room, and finished it the next day. Never did I find a spot of grease. Plus, the cornmeal breading on the catfish was perfect too. Manna Mediterranean Grill https://manna-grill.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/MANNA-Menu-CLR-100220.pdf Another cuisine I really enjoy is Mediterranean food. It is really hard to find a place that serves authentic Eastern Mediterranean food, or Middle East food here in the States. I dined at a Kabob Restaurant in Canada a couple of years ago, and fell in love with the seasoning used there. I asked what it was, and found out that they import their seasoning from Iran. With the Embargo in place on Iran, they can't be imported here I guess. Still, whenever I can find a good Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurant, I make sure to drop by. Historic/Interesting Places Visited: The Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy http://redskeltonmuseum.org/ I am a big fan of this man! Whenever I see that question that floats around here and there... You know the one. "Who would you like to meet, living or dead?" My #1 answer is Red Skelton. I cannot consider myself a fan of this man, and not stop here. I think it was his wittiness, willingness to act or look in whatever way he needed to, to make people smile that made me a fan. Comedians today have their delivery scripted (except for standup comedians), but take a look at some of the things he would do, and you'll realize that this was most likely completely off-the-cuff. The museum is on the campus of Vincennes University in Vincennes Indiana. It is a nice tribute to the legendary comedian, and well worth a quick visit. Look for some of his Gertrude & Heathcliffe jokes in my "Smile! (Groan?) You Know You Love These!"  in the near future. Yes, I bought a small pamphlet of those jokes. Here's a quote from him that I saw in the museum. "A clown must be a clown.... funny without assistance, capable of communicating with his audience without props or scenery or words."In Closing I will spend the weekend and next week at home. I was scheduled to be in Schaumburg to deliver a resident class, but there's been an upswing in COVID cases in the Chicago area recently, and they've placed even more restrictions on room capacities, and my class has too many students to fit in one of our classrooms now. So I get to deliver this class from home instead! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!  Jim Dorrell |
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I then went to Taiwan for two weeks; but, although that was nice, it wasn't 'home'. 
