I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been. |
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. |
Dover NH & St. Johns NL Well, after spending two wonderful weeks in Bangkok Thailand, meeting Kåre Enga in Udon Thani , I managed to get a week at home. That was needed, and welcomed Gee, I remember a time when all I wanted to do week in and week out, was travel. Now it wears on me, so a week at home is welcomed with open arms. I spent that week relaxing a bit, studying for upcoming classes, preparing Powerpoint Slides for a class in July (Fort Bragg), and just getting my feet back on the ground, so-to-speak. The following I was in Dover New Hampshire again. The training coordinator who originally scheduled their classes did not realize the type of system they have, and classes they didn't need had been scheduled, while classes the did need were not scheduled. That was corrected a couple of months before this class, it's how I came to be in Dover a second time. Overall, the class went very well, the travel home was a nightmare. Part of it was my fault, a lot of it was United Airlines fault. Why? Once the class was done, I shopped at the local Wally World. I needed a small collapsible bag, and knew I'd find it there. However, this delayed me some, plus the traffic around Logan Airport was a nightmare as usual. I arrived at the ticket counter a little over an hour before my flight. I had plenty of time though, since you need to be checked in 45 minutes before your flight. Imagine my surprise to learn that the Gate I would depart from had restricted issuance of boarding passes, and required their permission. The check-in desk called the gate, and the gate said I couldn't board. I've come to think that the flight had been oversold, with my seat already given to someone else. I ended up being booked on a later flight, and arrived in Chicago at 11 pm. This meant I missed my connecting flight to Peoria. So, I rented a car from Avis for the weekend (MUCH cheaper than a one-way rental on a Friday night) and drove home. I didn't arrive until after 2 am though. I wanted to get home Friday night vs Staying at a nearby hotel in Chicago because I would leave Sunday morning at 5 am. Such is life huh. I do have it much better than many people. I left for St. Johns Newfoundland at 9:40 am Sunday, and had a scheduled 5 hour layover in Toronto. As luck would have it, the five hour layover became 7 due to flight delays. I didn't arrive in St. Johns until after 11, and at my hotel about 12:30 am. I was in bed around 1 though, only to get up at five to start my day. I was pretty tired, but managed to get through things. Still, it was quite a weekend of travel, don't you think? Class this week has gone very well, it's actually two classes back to back. Still, all's well on the 'home front' here. I really like St. Johns, except it's rained almost all week., Yesterday I drove to the Cape Spear Lighthouse, and probably will again today. Why? Near the Lighthouse is the Eastern most point in Canada, and in my eyes, the Eastern most point in North America. I realize that some of the Aleutian Islands are over the 180 degree line of Longitude, but I'm not counting them. No insult to anyone living there intended. Id like to get a photo of that area, or better photos than what I took yesterday in the driving rain. Noteworthy Restaurants: St. Johns Fish Exchange https://sjfx.ca/ I couldn't come to a small town like St. Johns and not sample their seafood, could I? Their Fishing Admirals Feast was outstanding! IT consisted of the Chef's Selection of daily fresh seafood. The dish had Cod, Salmon, Fish Cakes, 2-Shrimp Skewers, Steamed Veggies, and Rice. Each of the fish filets had a different sauce on it. To me, that made the dish! YellowBelly Brewery https://www.yellowbellybrewery.com/food/ For some odd reason, I lkonged for a simple burger, saw their menu, and figured I'd drop by here, I chose well. Their Salt-Vinegar Cod bites were crispy and hot out of the oil. The Guilty Pleasure Burger came with crumbled Bacon, Tomato, Letttuce, Tomato Aioli, Onion Jam, Breaded & Fried Provolone Cheese, Crispy Prosciutto, and a Deep Fried Pickle Spear skewered on top of the bun. Everything I didn't really need, but wanted. It hit the spot, and removed that yearning for a burger. I am currently scheduled to return here in June, we'll see if I dine at these two restaurants then. I fly home tomorrow, and will spend the next week relaxing/working before flying to Los Angeles on Sunday. Til next time, keep on writing, most of all, keep on loving those special people in your life! Sum1 |
Two Weeks In Bangkok The class I delivered to the Department Of State in Bangkok went quite well. My only trepidation about the whole delivery was that I would be delivering one portion of the class for the first time. Especially since I didn't 'qualify' to deliver that class the traditional way. A policy has been set that "To qualify on a new course, the person qualifying must sit in the class when it is being delivered. Once that is done, a Team Teach with a qualified instructor must be done." None of that happened. I had the equipment shipped to my house in December and spent a week studying the course Powerpoints, and performing every lab available for the course. Fast forward to April, and you can understand my angst. Especially once I learned that the State Department is doing far more with this small device than the course is written for. I became a mushroom, learning on the fly, and trying to remain one step ahead of them. I was successful in some of it, not so successful in others. But it all seemed to go well with all attendees quite happy. I want to say a couple of other things about the class. Most of the students were American Citizens working for the Embassy. There were 12 students in class, only three were from Bangkok. The rest were from Embassies in Kathmandu, Manila, New Delhi, Frankfurt Germany, and Springfield Va. Speaking of Frankfurt Germany, I may be going there for a week in late August, as well as two weeks in January/February. Plus, my Embassy contact told me that they are trying to ramp up their training since they are hiring a lot of new people, some with no RF background whatsoever. They have a technical/electronic background, but nothing to do with RF. I guess most have a bit of an IT background. If you are looking for a job, and have some kind of electrical/electronic background, you might consider applying. I didn't get out much while there, mainly because it was pretty hot, and the Bangkok traffic. Besides, I discovered that the Conrad Hilton has an executive lounge that serves an awesome breakfast (buffet), as well as a small lunch and dinner buffet. With food that good, and free to boot, I found it hard to do much in the evenings. The hotel does have 5 nice restaurants that serve excellent food. I found I didn't like going to the Bar/ Lounge on the first floor though. The music was incredibly loud, and the band's drummer seemed to think that he was the most important member of the group, not the singer. He was very loud, at times drowning out the singer's voice. I just couldn't deal with that. I did get out on the weekend, and that was a mistake I'm afraid. I bought a few small items, and at one of the stalls my debit card was compromised. I woke Sunday morning with a text from my bank about a Fraud Alert. And again on Wednesday. The bank locked my card so it couldn't be used, I didn't even lose a penny as a result of this. It also meant I couldn't use the card myself though. I didn't mind, I'd rather have my money safe than compromised. On Monday I went to my bank and received a new card. My old card was shredded by the bank. On Friday, my Embassy contact pulled money from his account and gave me 7000 Baht, about $220 American. In exchange, I sent him enough to cover that, plus a little extra, via Paypal. It all worked out. I did snap a lot of photos Sunday, emphasis on Snapped. I'm love taking photos, but I could never be mistaken for being a photographer. I have one below that I posted in a previous entry, and am keeping it here with this entry. I did go out twice to dine, one was dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, the other was a BBQ place that was very good. Plus, when I returned from that Sunday outing, I had dinner at Polo Chicken, Thai style Fried Chicken smothered in Garlic! Yummmmmm. We won't talk about me discovering I still can't walk on air. A skinned forearm, bruised and sore right leg, and somehow I bruised a rib on my left side. Minor stuff, all healed now. That's it for an update. Til next time, keep on writing, and care for those you love! Jim |
First Working Days In Bangkok Well, Monday arrived and I wasn't quite over the Jet-Lag yet. I was fine really, but not quite ready to deliver classes. Things go on though, there is no can't, there is only do. First though, I had to get an Urgent Work Permit (UWP) to deliver the class. The thing is, I breezed through Customs at the airport, no one would have known if I was working or not. But you know how things are, I do try to follow the letter of the law, so there I was at Chamchuri Square at 8:30 am. Imagine that you're to meet someone you don't know or have ever seen, at a center about the size of any LARGE shopping center. You're supposed to go to the 18th floor, but there's no obvious way to get there You can't ask for help easily because very few speak people English. Yeah, that was me Monday morning. Somehow I found my way to the 18th floor. I happened to wear one of my Motorola Training Polo Shirts, and as I was leaving the elevator a young lady saw me and took me in tow. Of course she was my contact person and recognized me because of the shirt I was wearing. How fortuitous that was! I handed her my required documents, thirty minutes later I had the UWP. I managed to the US Embassy (my customer this week), and arrived in the classroom about 10:45. The Motorola Sales person was there, and he spent a good 20-30 minutes talking the students before I could begin. I saw what time it was, we promptly went to lunch. After that it was a pretty normal day of class delivery for me. As I mentioned, the US Embassy in Bangkok is my customer this week, my students are all employees of the Embassy. They are not necessarily from Bangkok though. Three of them are, three are from Washington DC, the others are from Dhaka Bangladesh, New Delhi India, Frankfurt Germany, Manila Philippines, and Kathmandu Nepal. Thankfully all of them are speak English. It would be a long, trying class is they didn't speak English. Class is fine, everything is good in that regard. I'm staying at the Conrad, a Hilton hotel. Why such a 'fancy' place? Because I was here in 2018 and stayed here. It's a quarter mile from the Embassy, so just a short walk. It's a hard walk in some ways, because of the heat and humidity. I'll live, I'm sure of that. Since I am lucky enough to be a Hilton Diamond Member, I have access to the Executive Lounge on the 29th floor. (My room is on the 26th floor). The food there is awesome with a wide variety of options for you for breakfast. It's a buffet and amazingly, completely free! Wow! Breakfast has become my main meal of the day. There are 5 restaurants in the hotel, I won['t leave the property until the weekend. The reason for that is fatigue, traffic, and not really sure where I want to go. Monday night I had dinner outdoors at a restaurant on the 7th floor. I know I'll be back. That's it for an update. Til next time, keep on writing, and care for those you love! Jim |
Meeting Enga I was fortunate enough to be scheduled to come to Bangkok, Thailand for two weeks this month. I was even more fortunate that Kåre Enga in Udon Thani was there also, and we were able to meet. What an interesting day it was, and for several reasons. Liam (as he is known here) is a charming man, one of about my age, though we won’t try to compare ages here. We met at the Hostel he’s staying at and there was an immediate connection! Part of it was our mutual love of all things Writing.com, part of it was the similarity in age. I think another part of it was our inner desire to meet and interact with other people. I’ve never stayed at a hostel, but his hostel is about what I imagined a hostel to be. It has a small lobby where we sat and talked. Guests are not allowed in the rooms, which was fine by me. He described his room though, and frankly, it sounds a little like a barracks I lived in early in my Navy career. I think there are six beds or so to each room, and a couple of bathrooms also. So much like a Navy Barracks from the 70’s, but newer of course. Enga and I sat down to talk about anything and everything. As we started talking, a young man sitting nearby turned around at something Enga said. As it turns out, Timm (the young man) is from Switzerland. The discussion immediately switched to discussion of the dialects the Swiss speak. Timm was surprised that Enga knew of the languages, and could speak them to some extent. I don’t think he’s fluent in any of them, but he knows enough to be polite to people while speaking their language. What a skill to have! I mean, I speak only English, I butcher that all the time, making me very reluctant to butcher another language. It was very interesting as Timm and Enga talked about things. I became a listener then and learned a little about each of them. Liam is far more traveled than I am, I travel for business, he travels for leisure. I loved listening to them talk though. I don’t get to meet a lot of ‘foreigners’ in my travels. When I have traveled internationally, most of my students have been Americans because I work on a US Military base or at an Embassy. The times I have taught a class for the citizens of a country are few and far between. Listening to Liam and Timm talk was very interesting for me. The places the two of them have been! I did manage to have photo’s snapped of us. In this photo you’ll see his hat is pulled down far over his head. He doesn’t want his face to appear on social media at all, I’m honoring that request. I do have permission to post this one. We went to lunch at a nearby place named Porwa Restaurant. I loved that the name was written in English as well as a local dialect. It wasn’t true Thai, even I could tell that. I couldn’t read a thing of course, it was just nice to be exposed to a written language, even if I couldn’t read it. I’ll leave it to Liam to tell you what we ate. I was a rice dish with cucumber and fried chicken (I think). Liam and I talked a lot during lunch also. I have to say that it was a truly pleasurable day. I’d love to spend more time getting to know him, but he has to return to Udon Thani Monday, while I have to start work then. We’ll meet tomorrow and spend a bit of time talking again, then part ways for a final time. At least for now, because you never know what tomorrow will bring. Jim Dorrell |
Locale: Ft Lauderdale, Florida Week of: 1/8/24 This week found me back in Fort Lauderdale delivering a class I've delivered many times. This class was a little different since I've never delivered it in Fort Lauderdale, plus there were only five students registered. Of those five, there was one no-show, and one is a co-worker who hired in, in August. You might think he wouldn't know much, but he's a former field technician who has maintained this equipment for years. He has experience I'll never get, so his input this week was timely, and excellent. The class itself went very well overall. I wanted to learn how to use a certain piece of test equipment, but that didn't happen quite as expected. It's okay, I know enough about it to use it, I just wanted to learn more about it is all. The Motorola facility in Fort Lauderdale is on the 16th floor of a bank building. Something I hadn't seen until my first class there, is going to the desk to show your ID, and having the person at the desk summon an elevator for you. The elevator control panel is hidden behind the desk, they punch a button to summon an elevator, a small screen informs them which elevator is coming. They then tell you which of the five elevators will be the one you ride. Interesting, but nothing spectacular. It was only a three day class, which left me with 'only' three nights to dine out. I think I made the best of it though, but if I had to choose a night that wasn't up to par with the other nights, it would be Tuesday night. Read below about my two memorable dining experiences Noteworthy Restaurants: Eatapas https://eatapasfl.com/fort-lauderdale-eatapas-food-menu I was sold on this place when I walked in the door, as well as when I browsed their menu on line. This restaurant's menu is almost exclusively Tapas (small plates of course) with Seven types of Paella! I had my heart set on Tapas that night though, so sadly, no Paella for me. Seeing that it was a Spanish (Not Mexican) restaurant, I had a glass of Spanish wine. My Tapas were `Aceitunas, Herbs marinated assorted Spanish olives. I also had Croquetas de Bacalao, Cod fish croquettes, and Huevos Rotos con Jamón, Soft eggs served over potatoes and serrano ham. What amazed me is that the eggs were soft of course, the yolks were not hard cooked, yet they weren't runny. This is a place I will most likely dine at every time I get to go there. Pirate Republic Seafood Restaurant https://piraterepublicseafood.com/menu/special-menu/ This restaurant sits on the New River, my table was outside with a nice view of the river traffic. For some reason, I went overboard for dinner, maybe a celebratory kind of dinner, who knows? What I do know is that three of us could have dined at Eatapas for what this dinner cost. I started with their Garlic Spice Shrimp, Shrimp Sauteed With Garlic And Red Pepper Flakes. My entree was one of the Snapper Towers, Snapper Tower 2. Snapper Two With Shrimp (Yeah ,Market Price, which means I shouldn't have ordered it). Whole Snapper & Jumbo Shrimp (about seven Shrimp/pound) With Drawn Butter And Garlic Spiced Sauce. It was served with a house salad and a choice of two sides. I chose Collard Greens (Brazilian Style), and Okra. That Garlic Spiced Sauce was red in color, with the Ramekin about half full of minced Garlic! Wow! At least half that meal was my Thursday lunch. While Eatapas is a place I will frequent about every time I'm in Ft Lauderdale, Pirate Republic is a place I will go to celebrate something, or go with friends and loved ones. This was my second time there. 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: Wichita, Ks Week of: 1/1/24 This week it was time to get back on the road again, even if it was a short two-day class. I flew to Wichita, Ks on Wednesday and delivered a class on radio programming Thursday & Friday. Everything went well, and the students learned quite a bit. Especially those with little to no experience in doing this. I found that Wichita is a city/town I could live in too! Though nowadays I would love a place on the outside of town, not in a residential neighborhood. That's just my preference at this stage in my life. What I really liked about the city is that it's large enough to have what I like having close, but not so large that traffic is a nightmare. When I arrived Wednesday it was early enough to drive around some, so I did. I found a beautiful statue of a Native American called Keeper Of The Prairie and snapped quite a few photos of it. One of them I used as my newest Trinket. It snowed there almost all day Thursday with us eventually getting 2-3 inches of the white stuff. It wasn't bad though, at least people know how to drive in it there. It wasn't all that cold either, which is a good thing. I had a few 'digestive issues' while there, mainly due to having a Colonoscopy the day before I flew. This meant that everything I ate stayed in me resulting in my weight going up more than I care to think. Thankfully things have settled somewhat, and I'm about back to normal. I did find a couple of nice places to dine, what else do I do when I travel? Noteworthy Restaurants: The Old Spaghetti Factory https://www.osf.com/food/ There is a lot to be said about Comfort Food, and to me, The Old Spaghetti Factory is it for me. There isn't one near me, so going here was almost a must for me. I have a lot of fond memories of going there when I lived in the Puget Sound area. AVI Seabar & Chophouse https://www.aviwichita.com/lunch-and-dinner-menu Their Shrimp & Grits drew me here, but when I asked my server about that, he didn't brag about how great it was, which I liked. Instead, he said it was a good dish, but it was missing something that he couldn't put his finger on. As a result, I ended up enjoying their Seafood Taco's, one Mahi Mahi, one Shrimp. It was excellent and not over seasoned. It was bit large though considering my appetite hadn't yet recovered from Tuesday. Still, an excellent choice for my meal. Nothing has changed on my schedule. The class in Bangkok is not on it yet, but the class coordinator has said that the customer accepted the March dates, and it's a go. It's not on my schedule due to the holiday period, but should appear this week, There's a lot to be done before I head to Thailand though. Since I'm going on business, I need a VISA, a Letter of Invitation, and a Business Cover Letter. The Training Department doesn't generate those, that has to come from the Project Manager. I've written him to let him know that, and provided the letters that were created when I was there in 2018. All I can do now is wait.... 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 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 |