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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: November 16, 2020 This week finds me at home once again, delivering that 'Fleetmapping' course I was asked to learn in March. This is fine, because we all know things could be a lot worse. Some of my co-workers have been traveling like crazy though, and I'm not envious one bit. Since the pandemic hit in March, I have traveled for class delivery 5 times. I will travel again Sunday to Springfield, Missouri, and that will be my last field trip of this year. Since March, I will have taught classes in the field five times, and on line a whopping TWENTY times! Yikes! I was a little concerned about this class because this customer has already completed their Fleetmap design. I wondered why the class was scheduled, but deep down, I knew why. All I could do was deliver to the best of my abilities, and go from there. I will say that the students were very cooperative, seemed to enjoy the class, and overall it was their willingness to be there that made the class a success. Yes, they had a good instructor that somehow manages to make an online session somewhat enjoyable, but it was the students who made this class enjoyable. Have you wondered what 'Fleetmapping' is all about? Here's a little info about it for you. Imagine you're a customer, perhaps a Public Safety Agency in a large city. You've purchased this state-of-the-art' radio communications system from my company. Because of the size of your city, the Public Safety Sector, and general city businesses (Parks & Recreation, Public Utilities, Transportation, etc) are all going to use this system. You will have about 15,000 users on it, all transmitting on their 2-way radios to remain in touch with their co-workers and managers. These radios are pretty sophisticated, and are programmed using a special program on your PC. Plus, they can be programmed in hundreds, if not thousands of different ways. Plus, the radios have to be properly configured in the system applications that reside on a web-based server. You have to know your options and system capabilities to really configure things appropriately. Fleetmapping enables you to plan how both the system, and the radios, are configured and programmed. After all, if they don't mesh and work together, you (the city) just spent a little over a couple of hundred million dollars on a useless communication system. That's the class I edited greatly, and taught myself to teach in March. In Closing I will spend the holiday week at home before driving to Springfield Sunday. I will be working on a couple of small work-related projects while here, trying to get aheda, (or remain ahead), of that eight ball. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!  Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: November 9, 2020 This week I delivered a 'resident class' in Schaumburg. It is a pretty basic RF class that I've taught for 19 years now, so there was very little stress in this delivery. It's not the same delivering a class there though. The building is a ghost town since everyone is working from home. The only reason to keep that building (all 12 stories of it), is for our classrooms. I wouldn't be surprised if they move us to a different location (cheaper lease) in the not to distant future. Pure conjecture on my part, but it only makes sense. The kicker to all this, is that with the COVID cases on the rise once again, the county implemented even more stringent measures at controlling crowds. The classrooms are designed for 12 students, but we can now have no more than 25% of the allowed amount of people in it, meaning 3 students in the small classrooms (where I was), and 4-5 in the larger rooms. So, I had a class of three, except one person didn't show up. It's harder to teach a small group like that. There aren't as many questions, so the time goes by faster than it normally would.  Overall, it was a good week, but things are so different now. I'm just thankful I'm still employed!My schedule is still on steroids, and I can only assume everyone else's is too. (I can only see mine, I do not see who is teaching what or where). I'm glad I get the weeks of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years off, because other than those weeks, I am booked every week between now and May 24th! In Closing I will spend the weekend and the next two weeks at home. Next week I will teach that 'Fleetmapping' class online again, with the City and County of San Francisco my customer. 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'. 