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 Being Retired now, I thought that it was time for a new name to this Blog |
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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 |
Oh Geez, The Van Again The Ongoing Search Continues. Wouldn't that be a nice name for a Soap Opera? The search for what? In this case, it's our continuing search for a Camper Van. But why a van and not a Motorhome? Let me explain. First though, if you're sick and tired of reading about our search, just move along.  As I've mentioned before, we live in a small house. The drive way is long enough, I think it could hold five cars easily, plus one in the garage. So plenty long. I don't think it's as wide as most driveways, but my van sits in it just fine. But my van is a 2014 Ford Transit Connect. That's a mid-size van, not a mini-van. It doesn't sit as high as a 'normal' van. It's about seven feet wide, and a little under sixteen feet in length. Like I said it fits in our driveway nicely. This week's flavor, errr, van is the same width, a little longer. I'm not going to post what it is here, I'll wait until/if we buy it. This van is longer though, by about five feet. You know I will post a photo of it once we buy it. But I haven't yet told you why a campervan, and not a Motorhome. So here goes. Remember our driveway and its width? There's a city Ordinance in Bloomington about parking a Motorhome in the driveway. We can park it here from April 1st until October 31st. After that, it has to be in storage. The Motorhome we're in love with is the Navion/View. It's essentially the same width as a van, but has a lot higher height, and is about 10 feet longer than my current van. We've checked the storage fee, we don't want to pay about $300/month for secure storage. So the van it is. And this van has everything a Motorhome has, just on a smaller scale. Well, that's it for this episode of As The Van Goes. Be sure to tune in next week and learn if Jim & Kathy have a new van, and what type it is!  Jim Dorrell |
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