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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 As I mentioned in a previous entry, I have been working from home all month. It was really good to get out to Washington DC and Bradenton, Florida, but I have to confess that it wasn't the same as BC-19 (Before COVID-19). It's hard to put my finger on it exactly, maybe it was me eating meals in my hotel room, maybe people's attitudes seem to have changed. I don't know. Despite the lack of travel, I have been busy, and September will see me traveling for three weeks. I've also been busy establishing a mini-classroom of sorts in the basement. I have my work PC there of course, and am pretty well set. My desk is an old white table, plenty large enough for my laptop, and two 27" monitors. Next to the table is a horizontal filing cabinet, and right now it's full of equipment for next week's class. That whiteboard I found will work nicely, but I really need a good webcam I can use during the class so I can write on it, and the students can see it. So that's still a work-in-progress. In my last post, I said I had only three field deliveries the rest of 2020, but that's now five. As of now, I am going to Sacramento, California in two weeks, then Schaumburg for a week, followed by a class in Sarpy County, Nebraska. In October, I have 2 weeks of Vacation scheduled, but that will probably just be me staying at home not working, followed by an online class for a utility company in NY, and a trip to Henderson, Kentucky. November & December are just as busy, with classes in Springfield Missouri, and either a trip to Toronto, or teach that class from home. That one is up in the air it seems. I am already scheduled for two field deliveries in January, an online class in February, and two field deliveries in March. Life goes on, doesn't it. This past week, my manager texted me with a customer's system drawing, and asked which classes I thought they needed. This is another Embassy, and in Singapore. Sadly, it's for one student only, and will be an online delivery. He told me he would go teach those classes before he would send me, even though he's not qualified to deliver them.... He wasn't serious really, but I know we'd all love to go to Singapore! In Closing I will spend next week delivering a class for the Lagos, Nigeria US Embassy, but it's an online delivery. (Think of all the airline miles I'm losing out on!) The following week I am scheduled for jury duty, and have to call in each night to see if I'm needed. Oh well... Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!  Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois I've taught from home the last two weeks. It was a different class each week, and will be that way the rest of August. My schedule can change faster than you change a baby's diaper, but right now I have three deliveries in the field the rest of 2020, about 6-7 weeks working in Schaumburg, the rest of the time I will be teaching from home. That's fine by me. I miss the travel, but it's not the same now as it was BC19 (Before COVID 19). I mentioned being home all of August, but that's also true for September. Well almost. I will be in Schaumburg during the Labor Day week, and there again that last full week of September. Right now, my scheduled field deliveries will be in Henderson Kentucky, Springfield Missouri, and Sacramento California. I will fly to California of course, but drive to Kentucky and Missouri. There's also a class with Bell Canada, but that one may be a field delivery, and may be a Virtual class (online). I do have a couple of interesting classes coming up though, even if they will be delivered online. I've taught three classes for the United States Department of State (Frankfurt Germany, Bangkok Thailand, and Springfield Virginia), and will deliver a fourth one for another Embassy. This one is for the Lagos, Nigeria Embassy; there's no way management will send me there, so we're doing that one online. To support that class, and my class next week, I will drive to Schaumburg tomorrow, and pick up some equipment. I have to take good care of this stuff though, it's all worth over $100,000. To help me improve my online deliveries, I found an old whiteboard for sale last week. The price was only $50, which is not bad. It's not just a whiteboard though. It has a sheet that runs horizontally around it, and by pressing a button, you can move to the other side. Not only that though, if I ordered an adapter cable, I can connect it to my laptop, and anything I've drawn on written on the board can be saved to my laptop! (Assuming of course that I can find a compatible Windows 10 driver). I still have a couple of things to purchase to improve things a bit more. First, a portable webcam. A shop light (sort of) that I can hang near the whiteboard to give it better light. Slowly but surely, I'll get there, and some day soon, will be able to deliver a class as if I was in front of the students. Now if only my manager would let me have all the equipment, test equipment, and cables (Power. Ethernet, Serial, etc) here at home permanently so I can deliver any of my classes here. But heck, I might as well be wishing for the moon.  I have to confess that I have not delivered this week's class in over a year! It's okay though, it's a 'radio' class, and if you can deliver one, you can deliver others. I've done classes like this since 2001, so I'm not worried. In Closing As I've said, I am home essentially the next two months. I look forward to my trips, we'll see what happens as time passes. 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'. 
