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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: Des Moines, Iowa This week finds me in Des Moines for a class with the city of Des Moines. Once again, it's a Networking Class, centered around the components that provide the networking links in our radio systems. There were only four students in the class, but that makes it a bit better. We shipped a large Pelican case of equipment for this class, but even with that, there were only 3 of each device. With four students, it means they can learn a lot more during the hands-on exercises. It also allows the class to flow faster though. Couple that with the fact that there's one hands-on exercise we can't do at a customer site, and you may find yourself finishing early, which is not good. They are paying for a 4.5 day class, so we want to deliver 4.5 days for them. Fortunately, there are things we can do to fill that time, so I'm not worried, never have been, With this delivery here, it means I've taught a class in 42 states. While I would love to deliver a class in all 50 states before I retire, I don't see it happening. The main reason is that we rarely deliver a class in certain states, and when we do, it might go on someone else's schedule. I've been in all 50 states, but not taught in each. The ones I haven't taught in are: Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas, Utah, and Idaho. Only time will tell if I get to any of those states for a class. Oh, I was scheduled to go to Idaho once (In February!). Instead, she sent me to Hawaii for two weeks. No way I was going to complain about that! Des Moines is the Iowa state capital of course. But being central Iowa, and not really that large a city, you might think it would be hard to find really good restaurants, or even a wide variety of restaurants. That's far from the case! There are several Mediterranean Restaurants here, as well as Cajun, Seafood, and others for one to enjoy. I managed to visit a couple of really good ones. Noteworthy Restaurants: Eatery A https://www.eateryadsm.com/menu/ I thought Eatery A to be a strange name for a restaurant, but the menu looked excellent, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a very nice Mediterranean restaurant, with excellent food. I ended up having their Bacon Wrapped Dates, and Wild Boar. I was not disappointed one bit in my choices. Coopers On 5th https://www.cooperson5th.com/menu I have to say, I think Eatery A had better food, but this place was not bad at all. Interesting place, I loved the area around it because of the Christmas Decorations on the street, and just the overall look of things. They have a daily 'Egg Roll Du jour', so I had to try that. I also have this gargantuan Cuban Sandwich, and ended up bringing half of it back to my room for lunch the following day. Bubba http://bubbadsm.com/food/dinner/ Yes, the name makes you wonder, but the food sure doesn't. I made a mistake during the day though, and skipped lunch. For my meal there, I had Fried Okra Spears (Love Okra!), and a Succotash Stuffed Chile Relleno. I just had to try their bread pudding, and that probably put me over the edge, so-to-speak. I returned to my room, posted my nightly joke/pun, and promptly proceeded to veg the rest of the night. I lay down about 7pm, not under the blanket at all, and didn't stir until almost 4 this morning! Shame on me for not taking better care of myself, and eating better (too many carbs?) last night. I should have had a salad, and something else, not so much fried food. I'm not used to eating a lot of fried food... In Closing This concludes my travels for 2019. I will spend Christmas and New Years at home, then be in Chicago January 2nd and 3rd, plus the 8th-10th cross training teammates. 2020 starts off with a bang though. I'm going to Algeria around the 23rd of January for two weeks, will go back there in April, as well as Japan in March. I also have classes in California (Folsom), Montana, Washington DC with the Senate Sergeant At Arms group, and a couple of resident classes in Schaumburg. That's just the first quarter too. Look like it will be a really busy year. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!  Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Montross, Virginia This week finds me in Montross, Virginia to deliver a class to Westmoreland County. The class is one I've taught many times, that's always good. I found out quite a bit about their system today, one being a bit of a surprise, but nothing I can't teach about. But, being here leaves a lot to be desired. Not that Montross is a bad place. Let me explain. It leaves a lot to be desired for a couple of reasons, and there are a couple of 'different' things about this class. First the different thing. The only student who is a County Employee is not a technician, he's more of an Administrator. Now why do I say Montross leaves a lot to be desired? Montross is more of a village than a town, I hate saying this, but there's just not a lot there. No fast food joints for those of you looking for that (I'm not). But there are no major restaurants either. No Hilton hotels of any kind, nor Marriott, Holiday Inn, and the like. There is of course a couple of small places, but if I had stayed there, where would I find a decent dinner? Richmond? That's an hour away. Fredericksburg? That's an hour away. The class itself has been good, I've answered every question, and explained a lot. As you might guess, I'm not staying in Montross either. My hotel is in Dahlgren, about 30 minutes away. Yep, long commute, but only for three days. I think I can live with that. While there are major chain hotels in Dahlgren, there's not much more here other than the Naval Warfare Center. All the really good places to eat are seasonal, and are closed for the winter. But there's a really good thing that will happen as part of this trip, tomorrow night. I'll mention it by asking a question. What do you call three older grandfatherly ancientmature men who are members of a fantastic Writing Website? We can't be called The Three Stooges, nor The Three Callaberos. Three Blind Mice? No, that's been used also. Hmmmmm. Tomorrow night, three WDC members will meet in Fredericksburg for a drink/meal/whatever. One has an excellent sense of humor, quick wit, and known for a sharp pen. His blog is a joy to read because it always makes me smile. Thank you my friends for thinking of me, but no, it's not me! I'm speaking of Robert Waltz  ! (Applause please)Another one is a great poet. He has entered many contests on WDC, winning far more than often losing. That's not me either, but thank you for thinking of me. (I can't hold a candle to this man when it comes to poetry.) I'm speaking of none other than 🌕 HuntersMoon  ! (Again, Applause please)The third one is known for his (dry) sense of humor also. It is very dry, often hard to grasp, and many of his jokes make you shake your head in disbelief, you wonder where he finds them. Like the other two, he loves WDC, and runs a small forum on the site to boot. Yep, that's me, I'm him. Tomorrow the three of us will meet at a restaurant in Fredericksburg and share a few stories I'm sure. Would be really nice to have a crowd, huh! Might even get an 'open-mic' sort of thing going.... NOT. At least for me. In Closing I will spend the weekend at home before flying to Des Moines for a class next week. That will be my last class for 2019. It all starts again quickly in 2020. Right now, I'm scheduled to teach 37 days in the first quarter! Plus, I'm booked solid through May 1st. That could change though, right? 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'. 
