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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 |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: March 15, 2021 This week my customer was SVRIA (Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority), the class was Fleetmapping. This is the class that I modified so much last year at this time. I taught it for the first time the week of April 20, 2020. By the time the one year anniversary rolls around, I will have delivered it twelve times. I find that amazing really, because there wasn't much draw for this class prior to that. We never delivered it, there were contractors who did that. I sat in the class in July 2019 and felt there was a lot of 'dead time' or time wasted in the delivery. Additionally, there were numerous errors in the presentation. Factual errors, our systems have changed and grown over the years, but that was never updated in this course. No, the number of deliveries we're doing in this class are not because 'Jim is teaching it'. It's because it's an online class now, students can attend and learn without the expense of them going to Schaumburg, or someone going there. Believe it or not, there's still some minor changes I want to do with it. My next challenge though, other than trying to learn two new courses on the fly, is to modify an existing course for an upcoming delivery. It's our networking class, but this customer is what is known as 'Conventional', not 'Trunking', which is what most of our courses are centered around. So I will modify the materials for this delivery, and we will keep them for future use because this won't be the last time this happens. I do not teach next week, so I have 5 days to get it done. Well, at least the majority of it. I am teaching the following two weeks, but only 3 hours/day, and then I will teach this Conventional customer. So I should have time to touch up minor things that I might not get to next week. In Closing I am home this month as I said, all of April and May, at least as of now. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: March 8, 2021 No, I didn't get to go to Baghdad for this class. I would love to visit that city, smack in the middle of what most consider the 'Cradle Of Civilization'. I doubt I'd get to see much though, but I sure would try. Doesn't matter, I wasn't there this week, nor am I going there anytime soon. The students this week were American citizens who work at the Baghdad, Iraq, and Kabul, Afghanistan Embassies. And yep, they were on location too. So class started at 4 am each day, and ended at 10 am. It was 1 pm in Baghdad, and 3 pm in Kabul when class started. It was a bit strange being up so early, especially when I came upstairs on a break and the house was still dark. This week's subject was Networking again, and a new experience for me. Why new? When I've taught this class for 12 years? Well, since they are 'over there', this was a complete class, all show-n-tell. My support staff (we'd be lost without them) shipped a Pelican Case to me of the equipment students would normally use in class. Except I used it, and did all the hands-on activities while they watched. Yep, they watched me, because they didn't have the necessary equipment to use, and could only watch. First experience for me, but I get to do it twice next month for 2 Canadian customers. The class went fine, I did have a problem getting one activity completed, and spent some time after class to get it done. The next day I showed them what I'd done to complete the task. Of course this wasn't the ideal way for them to learn, but it's what we're stuck with, so to speak. We still conduct a lot of field classes, but I'm still on a travel ban by my manager. The good thing is, I've been able to see many doctors. So far, nothing major has been found. My left lung has a slightly enlarged nodule, but it's been there at least seven years, and has not grown in size one bit. A PET Scan showed no traces of Cancer in me. My blood work is a bit off so more will be drawn, and I'm feeling more and more like a pin cushion. It could be a lot worse, I could have a life threatening illness. Thankfully, that doesn't appear to be the case. The biggest problem with class this week, was an audio problem. It was pretty bad, my voice would drop on their end for some reason, and I couldn't find the reason why. Still not sure what happened there, I just hope it's not there this week. I'm aching to travel again, at the same time, I'm enjoying being home. I can't have both, huh. One day in the not too distant future, I'll decide to retire. If my health continues to be an issue (only during the winter months, believe it or not), I will retire. Right now, it's wait and see. In Closing I am home this month as I said, all of April and May, at least as of now. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
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I'd order it now, but I don't want to chance having it delivered while we're gone, so I'll wait. I did bookmark the page so I can get to it easily. Cross your fingers everyone!
Non-interchangeable parts - now there's a surprise. There are times you can't interchange parts for two editions of the exact same car that vary "only" by model year.