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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: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 1/15/24 I have been home this week, no classes scheduled so I can focus on preparing/learning that one course for the Bangkok delivery. Fortunately I have completed those preps, all I need to do now is deliver the class and gain much needed experience on that course in doing so. Instead of focusing on the Bangkok delivery, I've been editing/preparing course materials for a class schedule much sooner in Frederick Md. I always get a kick out of a customer when they say, "Our system has no Trunked Sites in it at all, this class needs to be all Conventional." My reply is an easy one to say. "While I know Trunking quite well, I am the Conventional Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the training department." The class in Frederick Md will be all Conventional. I'm in Schaumburg for a Networking Class, but found out last week that my immediate supervisor will be doing a team teach with me that week. So I will sit in the back of the classroom taking notes to provide him feedback on his delivery. Some of you might find that a but strange, but in our department, the delivery team is all instructors. Since a manager shouldn't have more than 10-15 people reporting to them, we're divided into groups with one of the members being the manager of that group. So yep, he's my immediate supervisor. I don't mind, I have no desire to be a supervisor really, plus the time I have left before retirement is a bit short, so why make me a supervisor only to have me retire in the near future? In addition to prepping for this upcoming delivery, I spent all week working off and on around the house. My other half suffered from a severely agitated nerve in her right hip and couldn't do much. I cooked, fed the dogs, cleaned house, and worked on my work PC when not otherwise occupied. I even baked a cake last night. It was a good week too! Today I took her to a pain specialist for an injection in that hip, she's already feeling better too. I've been assigned another class that no one else has delivered, or knows anything about. It's not until July though, and the course materials are over 10 years old. This means they definitely need updating. I have two weeks of prep time for that, so there's work to be done. This class is at Fort Bragg North Carolina, the week of July 8. We'll see if it slips to a later date. Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write!  Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Ft Lauderdale, Florida Week of: 1/8/24 This week found me back in Fort Lauderdale delivering a class I've delivered many times. This class was a little different since I've never delivered it in Fort Lauderdale, plus there were only five students registered. Of those five, there was one no-show, and one is a co-worker who hired in, in August. You might think he wouldn't know much, but he's a former field technician who has maintained this equipment for years. He has experience I'll never get, so his input this week was timely, and excellent. The class itself went very well overall. I wanted to learn how to use a certain piece of test equipment, but that didn't happen quite as expected. It's okay, I know enough about it to use it, I just wanted to learn more about it is all. The Motorola facility in Fort Lauderdale is on the 16th floor of a bank building. Something I hadn't seen until my first class there, is going to the desk to show your ID, and having the person at the desk summon an elevator for you. The elevator control panel is hidden behind the desk, they punch a button to summon an elevator, a small screen informs them which elevator is coming. They then tell you which of the five elevators will be the one you ride. Interesting, but nothing spectacular. It was only a three day class, which left me with 'only' three nights to dine out. I think I made the best of it though, but if I had to choose a night that wasn't up to par with the other nights, it would be Tuesday night. Read below about my two memorable dining experiences Noteworthy Restaurants: Eatapas https://eatapasfl.com/fort-lauderdale-eatapas-food-menu I was sold on this place when I walked in the door, as well as when I browsed their menu on line. This restaurant's menu is almost exclusively Tapas (small plates of course) with Seven types of Paella! I had my heart set on Tapas that night though, so sadly, no Paella for me. Seeing that it was a Spanish (Not Mexican) restaurant, I had a glass of Spanish wine. My Tapas were `Aceitunas, Herbs marinated assorted Spanish olives. I also had Croquetas de Bacalao, Cod fish croquettes, and Huevos Rotos con Jamón, Soft eggs served over potatoes and serrano ham. What amazed me is that the eggs were soft of course, the yolks were not hard cooked, yet they weren't runny. This is a place I will most likely dine at every time I get to go there. Pirate Republic Seafood Restaurant https://piraterepublicseafood.com/menu/special-menu/ This restaurant sits on the New River, my table was outside with a nice view of the river traffic. For some reason, I went overboard for dinner, maybe a celebratory kind of dinner, who knows? What I do know is that three of us could have dined at Eatapas for what this dinner cost. I started with their Garlic Spice Shrimp, Shrimp Sauteed With Garlic And Red Pepper Flakes. My entree was one of the Snapper Towers, Snapper Tower 2. Snapper Two With Shrimp (Yeah ,Market Price, which means I shouldn't have ordered it).  Whole Snapper & Jumbo Shrimp (about seven Shrimp/pound) With Drawn Butter And Garlic Spiced Sauce. It was served with a house salad and a choice of two sides. I chose Collard Greens (Brazilian Style), and Okra. That Garlic Spiced Sauce was red in color, with the Ramekin about half full of minced Garlic! Wow! At least half that meal was my Thursday lunch. While Eatapas is a place I will frequent about every time I'm in Ft Lauderdale, Pirate Republic is a place I will go to celebrate something, or go with friends and loved ones. This was my second time there.Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Wichita, Ks Week of: 1/1/24 This week it was time to get back on the road again, even if it was a short two-day class. I flew to Wichita, Ks on Wednesday and delivered a class on radio programming Thursday & Friday. Everything went well, and the students learned quite a bit. Especially those with little to no experience in doing this. I found that Wichita is a city/town I could live in too! Though nowadays I would love a place on the outside of town, not in a residential neighborhood. That's just my preference at this stage in my life. What I really liked about the city is that it's large enough to have what I like having close, but not so large that traffic is a nightmare. When I arrived Wednesday it was early enough to drive around some, so I did. I found a beautiful statue of a Native American called Keeper Of The Prairie and snapped quite a few photos of it. One of them I used as my newest Trinket.   It snowed there almost all day Thursday with us eventually getting 2-3 inches of the white stuff. It wasn't bad though, at least people know how to drive in it there. It wasn't all that cold either, which is a good thing. I had a few 'digestive issues' while there, mainly due to having a Colonoscopy the day before I flew. This meant that everything I ate stayed in me resulting in my weight going up more than I care to think. Thankfully things have settled somewhat, and I'm about back to normal. I did find a couple of nice places to dine, what else do I do when I travel? Noteworthy Restaurants: The Old Spaghetti Factory https://www.osf.com/food/ There is a lot to be said about Comfort Food, and to me, The Old Spaghetti Factory is it for me. There isn't one near me, so going here was almost a must for me. I have a lot of fond memories of going there when I lived in the Puget Sound area. AVI Seabar & Chophouse https://www.aviwichita.com/lunch-and-dinner-menu Their Shrimp & Grits drew me here, but when I asked my server about that, he didn't brag about how great it was, which I liked. Instead, he said it was a good dish, but it was missing something that he couldn't put his finger on. As a result, I ended up enjoying their Seafood Taco's, one Mahi Mahi, one Shrimp. It was excellent and not over seasoned. It was bit large though considering my appetite hadn't yet recovered from Tuesday. Still, an excellent choice for my meal. Nothing has changed on my schedule. The class in Bangkok is not on it yet, but the class coordinator has said that the customer accepted the March dates, and it's a go. It's not on my schedule due to the holiday period, but should appear this week, There's a lot to be done before I head to Thailand though. Since I'm going on business, I need a VISA, a Letter of Invitation, and a Business Cover Letter. The Training Department doesn't generate those, that has to come from the Project Manager. I've written him to let him know that, and provided the letters that were created when I was there in 2018. All I can do now is wait.... 1/8: Fort Lauderdale 1/15: Work From Home 1/22: Schaumburg 1/29: Work From Home 2/5: Maryland 2/12: New Hampshire 2/19: Oregon 2/26: Work From Home 3/4: Oregon 3/11: International Travel 3/18: Bangkok, Thailand 3/15: Bangkok, Thailand 4/1: International Travel Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, 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'. 
