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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 |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: October 19, 2020 This past week I taught from home once again. This was after having spent two weeks on vacation. Since I rarely take vacations, it was hard to get into the groove of not working, but then it was a little hard to get back in the practice of working again too! I was just getting used to relaxing, and it was time to hit the grindstone again.... This was a class on programming one of our two way radio brands. It was also a class on a relatively new piece of software that allows a customer to manage their radio fleet. I have taught each of these classes many times, but never back to back like this. What I quickly discovered, is that we seem to deliver this backwards. How so? Well, that second piece of software is also used to program those radios, but there's a few differences in how you go about it. Within the first hour of class, I realized we should be delivering that second software all along, while also showing them how to program radios. It's difficult to explain here without going into details. If I did that, I'd lose you rather quickly, so I really gloss over details to save you.  In Closing That class went well, everyone seemed happy with what was covered, and it's time to move on to the next class. I will spend the weekend at home, before traveling Sunday to my next class. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Virginia Beach, Virginia Week of: October 5, 2020 For the first time in longer than I care to think about, I took some paid time off (PTO), and actually went on a vacation! It wasn't much because the timing wasn't all that great, but it was excellent nonetheless. Let me explain. First, timing. We had appointments the first week of my PTO, and couldn't leave on Monday. The people we were going to visit couldn't take any time off from work, so being there the weekend seemed the best strategy. And with COVID-19, we didn't really want to be out and about all that much. Last year, long before there were any thoughts of COVID-19, we were asked to submit our PTO requests for 2020. You will probably 'freak out' over this, I get 5 weeks of PTO every year, but rarely use them. Sadly too, it's either use them, or lose them. They will not pay us for time we could have had off, but didn't take. So yep, every year I've lost those 5 weeks of free time off. Why would I be willing to do that? Well, isn't vacation all about going someplace new and relaxing? Yeah, I know, my field classes are not vacations, but I still see places I'd probably never see (Thailand anyone?), and I do get some relaxation time in often enough. We chose Virginia Beach for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, we had planned on going to my hometown (Albuquerquew, NM) to see the Balloon Fiesta, which I've never seen. How is that possible? Well, that all started after I joined the Navy, so yeah, I've never seen it. As with most things this year, the fiesta was cancelled due to COVID-19. I was scheduled to take a week of PTO in August and September, but had nothing to do really, so gave those up, and ended up teaching instead. But why Virginia Beach? Again, there's a small story as to why. In a previous posting, I related how I taught a class in Washington DC to the White House Communications Agency. What I didn't talk about in that posting, was that after class was done on Thursday, I drove to Virginia Beach and picked up an Akita puppy we were purchasing from it's breeder. I've never been a 'big dog person', but have come to really love Akita's. We have an older female that we got from this same breeder. We didn't buy her though, she was a rescue, and was given to us by the breeder. LONG story there about that. Anyway, the sister of our current Akita had a litter in April, and we were set to buy the best male in the litter. Those of you who may be into dog shows and training know the correct terminology for this little guy, but to me, he's the best male. And he's a handful too. He's great, but a handful. So when we couldn't see the balloon fiesta, I thought we'd go east and let the breeder see her puppy after he'd been gone three months. Everything about the trip was uneventful, even if we did travel with three dogs. While there, we went on a 2 hour cruise to see the Navy vessels in port. Didn't I have enough of that while in the Navy? In one word.... NO. It was a good time. We also visited the first landing area, saw the Cape Henry lighthouse, and visited the Chesapeake Bay Distillery so I could get a bottle of their Rum. In the process, we stopped at Duck Donuts and picked up a half dozen for us, and the people we'd visit. But, we needed to stop for breakfast, and since we had the puppy with us (didn't trust him being left in the hotel room with the other two dogs), we left him in the car. Remember those donuts? Well, I hid them as best I could under the back seat of the van. The seats had been folded down, and there was a small space under there that the donuts fit in quite well. But, there was a little bit of the box showing. After breakfast, we visited the lighthouse, and that's when I discovered that our Duck Donuts would not be eaten by us. The puppy had dug the box out, and ate them all!! We're lucky he didn't get sick from that,,, but looking back now, I have to laugh a little about it. Seeing the puppy (Buddy), and his great aunt (Pumpkin) meet their breeder again was precious. I wish I'd had my camera out to record the video. Their happiness at seeing them is something only those who have experienced this can understand. Noteworthy Restaurants: Wicker's Crab Pot https://www.wickerscrabpot.com/menus/ I really wanted fresh seafood while there, especially a place where you can order a crab pot. I've had this in the past, and they bring out a pot of Fish, Crab, Shrimp, Corn-On-The-Cob, Potatoes, etc, and dump it on the table. Well, this place didn't dump it on the table, but still, it was excellent. In Closing I am spending the rest of the second week here at home relaxing. I worked a little, but very little. I did enough to be ready for the grind through the end of the year. Starting next week, I will teach every week, with only Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years off. Oh wait, over the Christmas holidays I may travel to Schaumburg to be cross trained on a new course. We'll see how the man who will cross train me feels before committing to that. Why am I hesitating on that committment? Starting in January, my schedule becomes unreal. Right now, I am scheduled to teach every week through the Memorial Day weekend! That is unheard of, and my schedule will change at least a dozen times between now and then, but it does not look like I'll have much free time at all the first half of next year. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Omaha, Nebraska This week finds me in Sarpy County Nebraska for a class with the County. It's another Networking class, and has been a bit tough, while also fun to deliver. I will explain in a minute. I'm staying in Omaha, which is only five miles from the training site. It was an 7-8 hours drive here from home, but a very pleasurable one. I decided to use some State Highways on my route, doing so just to visit Riverside Iowa so I could see the future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk. That was a little interesting, and ended up in me creating my 77th Trinket.   I said the class has been a bit challenging yet fun, and this is why. I only have 4 students, and they all have some degree of Networking background. They have not been interested in completing the hands-on activities we provide in the class. Instead, they have 'explored' what all can be done in configuring the router and switch on their own. They've also gotten off subject at times, diving deeper into the subject matter than the class is designed to go, causing me to look up the answers to a couple of their questions. But this is what I love about teaching. Sharing knowledge, and learning something new myself in the process. So yes, challenging, but fun. Noteworthy Restaurants: El Basha http://www.elbashagrill.com/menu.html I really enjoy Mediterranean food, and this place didn't disappoint one bit. Their Kibbeh was excellent, as was the Chicken Schawarma. I was surprised I could taste it all, considering how my taste buds have been lately. Pokeworks https://www.pokeworks.com/menu I love Pokebowls, and while this is really a fast food type establishment, it was still excellent. My dish was the Spicy Ahi Bowl. Yummm. Historic/Interesting Places Visited: Riverside, Iowa This small town east of Des Moines, and a few miles south of I-80 chose to be the 'future birthplace' of Captain James T. Kirk (from Star Trek, just in case someone doesn't know who he will be). They've embraced the whole Star trek thing, so stopping here is a bit unique. I had a lot of fun, but need to see more of the town. Freedom Rock https://www.thefreedomrock.com/ Artist Bubba Sorenson paints a new mural on the ~60 Ton rock every year. Each mural honors American Veterans in one way or another. While I haven't visited it yet on this trip, I intend to stop there on the way home tomorrow. In Closing I have the next two weeks off, taking a long overdue vacation. I will be here off and on though. 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'. 
