%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 Being Retired now, I thought that it was time for a new name to this Blog |
|
Talk about perks, my career had one of the best I can think of! I traveled in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I was a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and taught classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2-way radio communications. I knew that when the time arrived that I would retire, and I have. I've always said that if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out! I can't handle the heat anymore. I was qualified to deliver approximately 32 different classes, but about half of those were 'Legacy' classes, and were not in demand anymore. My students were technicians, those who maintained, programmed, calibrated, and repaired 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 traveled, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where have I been? Some of the places I've been (I can't list them all here, the list would be too long) are pretty interesting. 1. Hawaii - Four times, Oahu, Maui (twice), and the Big Island 2. BangkokThailand, twice 3. Frankfurt Germany, twice 4. Algiers, Algeria 5. Melbourne Australia 6. Bismarck North Dakota, Summer & Winter 7. Los Angeles, Too many times to count 8. Washington DC, Too many times to count 9. Seattle three or four times 10. Texas, all over the state 11. Florida, all over the state 12. New Mexico, HOME! Several times  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
More Money To Spend It's always nice to get a new vehicle, but living in Illinois makes it a pain in 'you know what', and very expensive, if you ask me. We have to transfer the title to Illinois, and register it. To do this, we must pay taxes of course. It looks like we're going to end up paying around $3300 for the registration, taxes, license plates and such. Then there's the radio issue. It has an AM/FM radio with a display that is less than an inch high. Obviously no backup camera is installed. I know, I know, I'm spoiled. We'll go to the DMV this week and find out just how costly this will be. Once that's taken care of, it's off to a place called Mobile Audio to have a new radio installed. The main reason I want the radio replaced is so the van has a backup camera. (At least it fits in a parking space). Imagine trying to back out of a parking space at a grocery store in a 20 foot vehicle with no back up camera. Yes, it can be done, I've done it. I'll just be more comfortable with the camera installed. Yep, I'm terribly spoiled. Once everything is settled and the dust clears, we'll probably park this in our driveway and use my other van for daily runs. Her CMAX will sit in the garage and be used once in a while, like it is now. I will never ask her to sell it, nor will we move it out of the garage. My older van might fit in it, the new van definitely won't. Nor will the new Van fit in a carwash. We'll have to take it to a Semi-Truck carwash. I took it for a drive around town yesterday with my wife. I seriously doubt she will ever drive it, she can't see the front end of it, but neither can I for that matter. Not being able to see the front end makes her very uncomfortable. I intentionally drove on a road that is a little bumpy. Bumpy in that it seems like the pavement sections are not level, so every little bit you are on a bump. This van rides that road much smoother than my other van. One reason we wanted a van like this is so we can have a better, more comfortable ride on long distance trips, like to Maine or Yellowstone National Park. Now we just need to stop spending like we have (needed to spend to get the van of course), and plan those trips for next Spring! |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
