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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, Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: June 14, 2021 Believe it or not, I 'managed' to sneak away for part of this week! Okay, so I didn't sneak away, I did get permission to travel to Schaumburg for the last two days of this week's class. Let's backtrack a moment so y'all know how we got to this point. Any of you who follow me know of my health issues this year. Yes, I do have a form of Cancer. Fortunately, it's not a real aggressive Cancer, and my doctor feels he can have me 'good as new' by years end. We'll see. To make it even easier on me though, I have one of the best managers in the world. I've kept him informed of everything going on, and with the pandemic and such still a major problem for the world, he's 'grounded' me from travel. He's kept me safe from myself, because I'd have kept traveling if asked. It has been nice though, to not worry about doctor's appointments. Early on he told me to schedule my appointments and to not worry about my schedule. He said he would handle any conflicts with doctor's appointments, and he's been good to his word on that. My customer this week is the US Senate Sergeant At Arms. Their radio system is pretty unique, they are using one of our products in a manner that I've not seen before. That happens sometimes with our products, and it only took a few minutes of looking at their system diagram to understand things enough to deliver the class in a manner they can understand; even better, in a manner that allows them to know how their system is configured, and how to maintain their devices. But to do the class 'justice', I needed to come to Schaumburg to demonstrate some of the connections they would need to make in checking their equipment. That was today and tomorrow for them. Once we started class today, I was told they won't be doing most of the detailed maintenance, they have a contract with a local radio shop. Yet, they still want to know as much detail about the maintenance as they can. So it's necessary for me to be here. I've been a good boy too. I've not been near anyone, if I do have to get anywhere close to someone, I am wearing a mask of course. It's not that I'm afraid of COVID or something like that. I have my opinions on that virus, we don't need to discuss them here. But, I wear my mask when needed, especially in public places. To protect ME! I don't know who might have what kind of illness/disease, and with this type of Cancer, my immune system is a bit compromised. That's why I don't travel right now. So, I keep my distance, I am as careful as I can be, and still get things done. Back to the class. One of the devices in their system is a bit different in configuration, or in how it's accessed and configured, than any of the others. And I happen to be one of the few people who really understand that device and its configuration. I'm the only instructor who teaches that short class, in fact, I wrote the class. Tomorrow we will concentrate on that device, we've covered it well so far, but their manager wants to know as much as he can about it. We'll get it done, complete the class, and hopefully I'll be heading home at noon or so. The customer is very happy with the class and what's gone on thus far, and for me, that's all I can ask for. In Closing As of now, this is my only trip away from home this year. I do have field classes scheduled, but those will either move to someone else, or become a virtual delivery. Unless my health changes dramatically, and I don't see that happening soon. 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'. 
