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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: 12/5/23 - 12/31/23 I've been working from home since December 5th to give me time to learn a new course. It's nice that manager has a lot of faith in me.... Let me explain, even though a lot of this will not make sense to almost all of you. The State Department wants two weeks of training in Bangkok, Thailand in March, and the same classes in Germany in August. The problem is, they want four classes delivered, and none of us teach all four classes! I'm the closest one, and most experienced, so my Manager said, "Give the classes to Jim, he can handle it." Nice that he has such faith, huh! As I said, I've been home all month learning one of the classes. The classes they've asked for are on the newest Conventional Repeater (rack mounted radio), basic Portable (hand-held), and mobile (vehicle mounted) radio maintenance, Radio Programming, and a small device called the MCD 5000. The MCD is the class I don't currently teach. I've been reviewing the course materials and practicing the hands-on activities, I have most of those down pat now. Plus, I've been upgrading my knowledge on the new router we use in our systems. In many ways, that's the tougher of the two to learn. Anyway, the co-worker who is the only qualified instructor on the MCD 5000 wrote the course I've been studying, and I can only say one thing. He doesn't write well..... the materials fit him of course, he understands the stuff. It's not well written for someone to learn on their own. So you know what I've been doing, off and on. To give you an idea of things, I can't seem to complete the last hands-on exercise satisfactorily. As a result, I will spend Thursday in Schaumburg with him, going through every hands-on exercise with him. Plus there are other things the students could be doing, depending on the customer setup, but that's not written... Yet. I've sent e-mails to the Project Manager asking about their system setup to ensure we address every aspect of their devices. Still, life should be so tough, huh. Below is my current schedule through March. As you can see, I don't have much time to prep after Christmas. Let's just hope that what time I do have is enough. It's nice to be wanted, but retirement is looming it seems. We'll see what the future holds. 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8: Fort Lauderdale 1/15: Work From Home 1/22: Schaumburg 1/29: Work From Home 2/5: Maryland 2/12: New Hampshire 2/19: Oregon 2/26: Work From Home 3/4: Oregon 3/11: International Travel 3/18: Bangkok, Thailand 3/15: Bangkok, Thailand 4/1: International Travel Merry Christmas everyone! Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write!  Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Los Angeles Week of: 11/27/23 This week I was back with LAPD for another Fleetmapping class. I delivered this class to the Port Of LA las year. Duncan Angami, the Senior Communications Engineer with LAPD is the reason I'm here. He sat in that class last year and wanted me out here for LAPD. To me, being asked to deliver a class by a customer is an honor. He surprised me even more as we talked during a break. He said that they had checked out Fleetmapping Engineers (yes, there is a job for people who do nothing but help customer build Fleetmaps), but none of them seemed to satisfy him. He then asked me if I could do this for LAPD. I was floored, but tried not to show it. I explained that while I was an instructor still, I wouldn't have near enough free time to do that. He then said, "You're going to retire in the next year or two, aren't you?" Once again, I was floored at that idea. I know I could do it from home, but it might require monthly trips to LA here. What a thought, going into business for myself as a Fleetmap Engineer. WOW. This week's Fleetmapping class was essentially a repeat of the class two weeks ago. It's a class I love delivering, mainly because there is a lot of interaction between myself and the students. Such was the case this week. Once again there was a lot of discussion between the students and myself, as well as a lot of questions asked. I think the best part for me was when a student asked a question about audio issues on their consoles. I don't deliver the console classes, but still told him my thoughts on what it might be. I then posed that question to the Console Instructors in Google Chat. Guess who's answer was correct? Well, partially correct, because there is another issue (a hardware issue) that could have caused it. Since this has been happening on multiple consoles, I knew that was probably not their root cause. At least now they know of a couple of things that should be checked. Below is my current schedule through January, which has undergone a change this week. The Department of State wants a class delivered in March. It's a mixture of classes, and I seem to be the instructor they ask for. Plus, with this mixture of classes, I'm about the only person who can deliver this. The biggest problem is I'm not qualified on two of the classes. Apparently everyone else is qualified on one, if that many. One of the classes is not in our curriculum, so the course will need to be written. That's why I have all that prep time. Let's just hope it's enough. It's nice to be wanted, but retirement is looming it seems. We'll see what the future holds. 11/20: Work From Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Work From Home (my other half has carpal tunnel surgery) 12/11: Work From Home 12/18: Christmas Break 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8: Fort Lauderdale 1/15: Work From Home 1/22: Schaumburg (very tentative) 1/29: Work From Home Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Los Angeles Week of: 11/13/23 At the end of April last year, I delivered that new (to me) course titled Fleetmapping to the Port Of Los Angeles. The students were all from the Los Angeles area, with three of them from LAPD. One of the LAPD students told me he wanted me to come to Los Angeles to deliver the class to his team. I've heard this before, and thought little of it. It turns out that this particular student is a senior manager in the LAPD Radio System. Even so, when this class appeared on my schedule, I thought that maybe he had managed to get this scheduled. However, when we have multiple instructors qualified to deliver a course, there is no guarantee that a specific instructor will be scheduled to deliver it. It's just too hard for the scheduler to play 'instructor dominoes' to allow a certain instructor to deliver a class. Apparently this was scheduled far enough in advance that the domino effect wasn't an issue. I was told by a student this week that this manager insisted that this class be delivered by me. Wow, what a compliment from a customer! While my previous five visits to the LA area have all been with one customer in the Alhambra area, the LAPD location is in the middle of downtown. What is a little interesting (at least to me), is that my FIRST field class for Motorola was with LA Water & Power in February of 2002. I stayed at a hotel called the New Otani hotel. This past week I stayed at a Doubletree by Hilton, previously called.... you guessed it, The New Otani. I remembered very little of that hotel though, but had my memory refreshed quickly.  This week's Fleetmapping class was an excellent class overall. It's a class I love delivering, mainly because there is a lot of interaction between myself and the students. Such was the case this past week. The only problem with the class was that the location of it was changed, and Motorola was never told about that. So, Tuesday morning I was at the training site, and learned that the location had been changed. Instead of being across the street from the hotel, it was over a mile away. Since I was going to be so close to the training site, I didn't schedule a rental car. I still wouldn't have gotten one, even if I knew the location was changed in advance. Why? In one word, Uber. The cost of using Uber all week, plus going to and from LAX was less than a rental car. It was a no-brainer for me. However, that meant I couldn't get out and about though, huh. It's okay, I'm tired at the end of the day anyway, so I don't get out all that much. I will be back in Los Angeles the week after Thanksgiving to deliver Fleetmapping to LAPD again. I know that several WDC members live in the LA area, and it would be great to see anyone. But, it's a bad time of year for all, meeting anyone is probably not possible. Below is my current schedule through January. 2024 might be the year I retire. I'm leaning that way, we'll see what the future holds. 11/20: Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Home (my other half has carpal tunnel surgery) 12/11: No idea, right now I'm on hold for a class with the Department Of State 12/18: Christmas Break 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8: Fort Lauderdale 1/15: Boston 1/22: Schaumburg (very tentative) 1/29: Work From Home Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 10/30/23 Well, it's been a bit of a tough patch for me these past few weeks. I delivered a Networking Class in Schaumburg, and while I thought it went 'okay' (I still have a bit to learn about our new Juniper Router), some of the students did not agree with my assessment. Oh well, you can't please everyone all the time. I need to hitch up my big boy pants and continue learning/teaching. I went to Brentwood Tennessee the week of 10/23 and delivered two classes there. Those both went well, I would have been very shocked if they hadn't. Brentwood is a nice area, a bit upscale and not a place I'd live. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice area with beautiful houses. It's just not an area I'd be comfortable in. Why? Because I've never lived in an area like that and I'd feel out of place. Yes, I could adjust, but I like my current situation and feel living in that kind of neighborhood would be living a lie so-to-speak. I was in Schaumburg again last week for a class with one of our new instructors sitting in. I'll have another new instructor sitting in next week too. I'm happy about that because that means we have new people qualifying courses, which will take some of the load off us. Teaching and traveling as much as I do is not hard, then again, it's very tough. The wear and tear, the constant changing of time zones can get to you after a while. It's gotten to me at times. In many ways, I'm looking forward to being in Los Angeles again. I'm only there for three days the week before, and the week after Thanksgiving. I'll be staying at the Doubletree by Hilton in Downtown LA, a block and a half from the training site. This is the same hotel I stayed in for my first field class in February 2002. Back then it was called the New Otani Hotel. As usual, my schedule has changed due to customers canceling classes. Our field classes are scheduled with the assistance of a Project Manager. Often times the classes are scheduled far too early, or far too late. It's a rare occasion when a class is scheduled at the appropriate time. Is it the Project Managers fault? In some ways, yes. In some ways no, because dates slip due to delays in system installation. Below is my current schedule through the end of the year. I don't see this changing too much either. 11/6: Schaumburg 11/13: Los Angeles with LAPD 11/20: Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Los Angeles with LAPD 12/4: Fort Lauderdale 12/11: No idea, right now I'm on hold for a class in Maryland 12/18: Christmas Break 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8/24: Fort Lauderdale Well, that's about it for an update, at least for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 10/2 & 10/9/2023 I've spent the past two weeks at home instead of traveling to New Mexico as I wanted to do. This trip to NM would have allowed to enjoy the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, an item at the top of my bucket list. It will have to wait for next year I guess. Right now I'm planning on us going home to NM in December for Christmas. I haven't seen the Luminarias and the Southwest Christmas decorations for more years than I care to think of. My manager has chastised me for being on my work PC and in Google Chat with my co-workers during this time. To be honest though, I've worked when I wanted to, and for as long as I wanted/needed to. There are some things I wanted to get done that can't really be done while teaching/traveling. I have my 'special projects' that need attention, so used the timeframe to get them done. I was relaxing, there were days that I got very little, if anything, completed/worked on. I was on vacation/staycation, so it didn't matter. Except it did. I finished those projects this morning though. The weather has changed it. Gone are the really hot days of summer, only to be replaced with the cooler temperatures of Autumn. The leaves are changing to their Autumn colors too, soon it will be time to rake in them up and take them to the curb. It's been windy, chilly (only in the low 40's F, ~ 4-5 Celsius), so time for the long sleeves to come out. No jackets right now, though I have worn my Submarine Veteran Jacket once or twice. I did that more to show it off than anything. As I've mentioned already, we had to cancel our trip to Albuquerque for a couple of reasons. The biggest thing though, was we had to put our lovely Senior Citizen Akita (Pumpkin) down. If we hadn't, she might have lived a bit longer, we have no idea of knowing obviously. She was such a wonderful, loving dog though, but age had robbed her for a lot of her living pleasure. My biggest fear was that something would happen while I was gone. There is now way Kathy could have gotten her into the car. Pumpkin was a healthy 80 lbs that day. We miss her terribly, but I think we miss the youthful Pumpkin we has early on. We've watched videos of her playing, it's just so sad to see her then, and realize what she was like this past year. As usual, my schedule has changed due to customers canceling classes. Our field classes are scheduled with the assistance of a Project Manager. Often times the classes are scheduled far too early, or far too late. It's a rare occasion when a class is scheduled at the appropriate time. Is the Project Managers fault? In some ways, yes. In some ways no, because dates slip due to delays in system installation. Below is my current schedule through the end of the year. I don't see this changing too much, unless that Michigan class slips. 10/16: Schaumburg (original class in Marin County was cancelled this week because they and their radio system are a long ways from being installed. The class would have been delivered far too early.) 10/23: Brentwood, Tn 10/30: Schaumburg 11/6: Schaumburg (Too many weeks in Schaumburg!) 11/13: Los Angeles with LAPD 11/20: Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Los Angeles with LAPD 12/4: Fort Lauderdale 12/11: Lansing, Michigan 12/18: Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break 12/25: Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break 1/1/24: Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break 1/8/24: Lansing Michigan It's been a great two weeks, I've rested and relaxed a lot. I told my manager about possibly going to Albuquerque in December, his response was to just go, not to worry about scheduling vacation since that's our holiday downtime. He wants me to decompress and relax even more. Well, that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Washington DC Area (Glenarden actually) Week of: 9/25/2023 I'm out in Glenarden Maryland again this week delivering the same Networking Class I delivered to them four weeks ago. New students of course, and having delivered this just four weeks ago, my memory is a lot fresher, resulting in a class that has flowed much better than the last time. It's not that the previous class didn't go well, because it did. It's just that this class is heads-n-tails above that one as far as my delivery goes. You have to understand though. I have a high school diploma, no Master's Degree, nor Bachelors Degree, no Associates Degree. So you get in front of the students and the first thing you ask, is for them to tell you a bit about themselves. Their background, interests, what their knowledge/background with the subject matter is, etc. And at least two of them respond that they are a Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA). At first it's a little unnerving. But as you discuss things, you realize that their knowledge is good, but rusty. You ask questions, cover the material, and can see them struggling with answers. You see their knowledge is there, but it's covered in cobwebs that they are brushing aside to find the answer. This is the kind of thing I learned long ago. The students are knowledgeable, but most likely their knowledge needs a a bit of refreshing. And of course there's the hands-on activities that I've done many times, and am very familiar with. However, it's all new to them. I love teaching these classes. This week I've made an effort to get to small 'mom-&-Pop' places for dinner. Please see below. Both had excellent food and service, even if I did get my dinner to go. (Neither had much of a dining room though, which is why I got it to go.) Next week is vacation for two weeks! Home to New Mexico, then back at it with a class in Schaumburg. Upcoming on my schedule. 10/16: Schaumburg (original class in Marin County was cancelled this week because they and their radio system are a long ways from being installed. The class would have been delivered far too early.) 10/23: Work from home, 10/30: Schaumburg 11/6: Schaumburg (Too many weeks there!) 11/13: St Johns Newfoundland (Maybe) 11/20: Thanksgiving week 11/27: Los Angeles with LAPD 12/4: Fort Lauderdale 12/11: Michigan 12/18: Christmas Break (Work From Home) 12/25: Christmas Break (Work From Home) 1/1/24: New Years Break (Work From Home) Noteworthy Restaurants: The Silver Diner https://www.silverdiner.com/ You know you like a place when you return to it the next time in town, and return I did to the Silver Diner. This time I had their Burrata Bruschetta, & their Kickin' Crab And Corn Chowder. Yep, I'd dine there again if I came back to this area. 5 Taco's De Mayo https://www.taco5demayo.com/ I found this small mom-n-pop place on Google maps, which is how I find most places to dine. Their food was excellent. The burrito weighed about 1000 pounds, or so it seemed. It was heavy, you knew you had something large there, I couldn't wait to get to it. I also enjoyed one of their loaded taco's plate. Some of that became yesterday's lunch Sea Starr Restaurant https://seastarrestaurant.com/ Another small Mom-n-Pop place with little, to no dining room. My only complaint is that their actual menu is nothing like the one on the website. Excellent food though, you almost can't go wrong. Peel-n-Eat Shrimp, Seafood & Vegetable Scampi. Yummmmm Tomorrow is the last day of class, and my vacation starts! I'll keep you informed about things as we drive to Albuquerque. Might stop in a couple touristy places, you never know. Well, that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg Illinois/Los Angeles Week of: 9/11 & 9/18/2023 I've spent the week of 9/11 delivering a small class. I should really say short, but it would be accurate to say short, and small. Short as in three days of class, small in that there was only ONE student in attendance! You might wonder why we'd schedule a class like this? Well ,this particular class is not delivered that often anymore. When it is scheduled it is usually cancelled due to a lack of students. Apparently someone called the Manager and essentially begged us to deliver the class. This was back in April or so. Since I'm the Lead Instructor for it, it was placed on my schedule. Two students were scheduled, but one didn't show up. So the lone student received a lot of one on one attention that week. It all went well, but I almost forgot (or did forget) to post about it. This past week (9/18) I was in Los Angeles for the fifth time this year, delivering a class. This is the third of this series of classes, and the third different class I've delivered to them. This was a very good class. Well really, this particular class is a two in one class. Two products that work together, but very small in scale. I'm the only instructor who delivers one of the products so of course it fell to me. I've tried to encourage others to learn this small device without success. It's fine by me though. After all, this small product is why I was sent to Germany and Thailand in 2017 & 2018. Someone has to learn it soon though, I do plan on retiring after all. I will be in Los Angeles one more time this year, but with a different customer, the LAPD. I'll be back in March and April for other classes with them. Today I flew from Los Angeles to Washington DC for another class with a customer here. I'll be here all week before flying home Friday and starting a two week vacation then. I'm actually out in the Glen Arden area. If you'd like to meet up for coffee or something, let me know. Maybe we an work something out,. Well, that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 9/4/2023 I've spent the week of 9/4 here at home. Well, it's a holiday week, we don't normally deliver classes those weeks, which explains why I get to be home. It's been a nice week of relaxation for me. I did get some work done, but I worked when I wanted to essentially. I managed to get a Powerpoint slideshow formatted in the fashion I prefer. I didn't change the slide contents at all, I only increased the font size in some areas and arranged the contents to look a bit better when presenting it. We'll see how it goes. My 'big' project though was purchasing some inexpensive USB drives for one class I deliver. The reason I did this is it's a class I will deliver more than most other classes. I needed larger (32 GB, which is not large by today's standards) to hold the course contents, plus the drive could be no larger than 32 GB (and formatted in either FAT32 or FAT ) for use in class. Those drives will be used to complete one portion of a router hands-on activity. You might ask why don't we have the students bring their own drives to class? There's a simple answer to that. Because they will forget most likely, or will format the drive using NTFS, which will not work. I like to come to a class prepared for everything I can think of. This is one minor thing in my opinion. I think that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Hyattsville, Md Week of: 8/28/2023 The week of 8/28 found me in Hyattsville, Md, just east of Washington, DC. This class was a bit different from the others I've delivered. I'll explain that in a minute. While I was in Los Angeles though, I received an e-mail from a co-worker who was with this customer. He told us that the hotel he initially stayed at had Bed-Bugs, in his room! Needless to say I changed hotels right then. This was a difficult class to teach for a couple of reasons. I'm still getting comfortable with the Juniper Router that's in their system. Plus, the students were a bit hand-tied by their IT department. They were unable to add software we use in the class, and could not change the state of their PC Firewall. If there's one thing I 'preach' about before/during every Networking class, is that the IT Department of the Customer must give the Technicians full Administrator rights on their PC so they can complete those small tasks. I realize it's something that all IT Departments are reluctant to do, but they either grant those rights, or accompany the technicians on their field calls. Fortunately, 4-5 of the students brought in their personal PC's allowing them to complete the hands-on activities. Class done about noon on Friday as usual, now was the time to fly home. Except, my flight from Reagan Airport to O'Hare had been delayed. This would result in me having maybe a 30 minute layover there. Since I'm not near as young as I once was, and am somewhat hampered by my back and left leg 'not cooperating' at times, I knew it would be tough to make that connection. A kind American Airlines employee at the airport changed my flight, so I left about 2 hours earlier than originally scheduled. As it turns out, that didn't really matter because my flight home was delayed two hours Yeah, I could have remained on my original itinerary and still made the flight. Better to be safe than sorry though. Noteworthy Restaurants: The Silver Diner https://www.silverdiner.com/ The Silver Diner is an excellent diner located in the Woodmore Centre. Their menu is diverse, I ended up enjoying their Old Bay Fried Shrimp appetizer, and their Summer Watermelon & Shrimp Salad. If I were to complain about my dinner/service, it would be that I ordered a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, and was served a glass of Red Wine. I think there was a lack of communication between the server and bartender, as well as a lack of knowledge on the server's part. The Copper Canyon Grill https://ccgrill.com/glenarden/glenarden-menu/ My discussion here will be a bit different, especially since my meal was very good. Let's start by saying I won't dine here when I'm back with this customer the week of 9/25. Why? Because I ordered my meal, and it was delivered in less than five minutes. So why am I upset about such fast service? Ordering an entree and receiving it so quickly tells you that the food is prepared ahead of time, and is not necessarily fresh. My entree was their Rattlesnake Pasta. It should have taken a few minutes to get the Pasta cooked, but apparently it was prepared well ahead of time. Many restaurants do this, it's not a practice I'm a fan of. Yeah, I know, I'm picky. The meal was delivered so quickly that my drink hadn't even arrived yet! Plus, my server couldn't have been more inattentive. She walked past a couple of times, and on one occasion asked if everything was okay. It was, I didn't need anything. Am I being too picky here? Possibly. The Hook & Reel Cajun Seafood Barl https://hookreel.com/menu/ I dined here Saturday night after arriving at the Reagan National Airport. I love places like this, and enjoyed their Catch-22. Essentially it's a choose 2 seafood boil, with a third choice tossed in. Shrimp, Scallops, and Crawfish made for a tasty seafood boil! I think that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Los Angeles (Montebello/Alhambra actually), California Week of: 8/21/2023 The week of 8/21 found me back in the Los Angeles area again. The customer this week is the same one that I've delivered seven other classes to already. They scheduled 38 weeks of training this year, which is a phenomenal amount of training! I will complete 'my shift' if you will, in September when I deliver my final session for them. This class was a bit atypical for this subject, with one small exception that I will discuss in a minute. First though, this class is really two classes. The first one covered our current radio repeater used in Conventional Radio Systems, and everything installed at the site. Yeah, I know this makes a lot of sense to you all, but rather than explain it here I will say that I will answer any questions should anyone want a better/more in-depth explanation. It's funny how I never get asked those questions. I don't blame you, it would still be Greek to you all. The second class covered our small Analog Comparator. A Comparator, or voter does exactly what you might think when you read the word voter. It can be sent multiple received radio signals and determine which signal has the best audio quality. So yeah, it votes the best signal, and then sends that back to the base radios to be repeated. Now what happened to make this week different? First, the customer couldn't provide the necessary equipment for the class, so we had to access the training system in Schaumburg. This made everything more show-n-tell, which is not the best way to deliver a class that covers a technical subject. But, it was all we had to work with. I've done this several times before from sites around the world, so no big deal, right? Right. Unless you get careless, which I did on Thursday. We were going through how to load a configuration to a network switch, and I sent the wrong configuration to the switch I was accessing. This gave the switch a different IP address, which meant I could no longer access it remotely. It would have to be accessed locally so the correct configuration could be loaded.  Since I was in Los Angeles and it was in Schaumburg, I needed help. I got it of course, the correct configuration was loaded by a teammate Friday morning. Still.... needless to say, this is not something you want to do in front of students! At the same time, all's well that ends well, and they saw first-hand what you shouldn't do. I stress this in every networking class I teach too. Next week I will be in Washington DC to deliver a class there. It's a kind of strange month for me really, because in August I had a week off, then delivered a class in Schaumburg. That was followed by a week in Los Angeles and a week in Washington DC. In September I will have a week off (after being in DC), then deliver a class in Schaumburg, followed by delivering classes in LA and DC to the same customer I delivered classes to in August. Same customer, same classes. The only difference is the classes delivered in Schaumburg. A little different in some ways. I think that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, 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'. 