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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: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 8/14/2023 The week of 8/14 I was back in my old haunts, Schaumburg, Illinois. I delivered that basic Networking class again, and spent some time seeing old friends. There was one snag in everything, a snag of a personal nature. I forgot to pack my daily medicines, I had to meet my other half one Tuesday after class. Fortunately I can go about a week without taking them, so all was well. I hate to say this was the same ol' same ol' for this class, but it was. We ran a little behind getting the hands-on exercises done, but they were completed. Sometimes I'm surprised at how long it can take students to do what seems so easy. Then I remember that I've been delivering this class for about 16 years now, it should seem easy! I often think (and know) that I spend too much time talking about subjects in the Powerpoint slides instead of minimizing time on the ones I don't need to focus on. It's all a matter of timing, and knowing the subject matter. The more you know, the more time you spend on subjects. It becomes a matter of knowing what to focus on, and what can be minimized as far as time goes. I'm adjusting, have been adjusting, and will keep it up all the time. Current schedule, in case you're interested. Any dates after October are subject to change, but I haven't seen many changes recently, only additions. The schedule for 2024 resident classes has been posted. I am scheduled to deliver at least one class every month. Week of: 8/21: Los Angeles (currently there) 8/28: Washington DC 9/4: Work from home 9/11: Schaumburg 9/18: Los Angeles 9/25: Washington DC 10/2: Vacation - Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque! 10/9: Vacation - Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque! 10/16: Marin County, California 10/23: St. John's Newfoundland 10/30: Work from home 11/6: Kent Washington 11/13: St. John's Newfoundland 11/20: Thanksgiving 11/27: Los Angeles 12/4: Ft. Lauderdale 12/11: Michigan 12/18: Christmas 12/25 Christmas 1/1/24: New Years, Work from home 1/8: Michigan 1/15: International Travel 1/22: Frankfurt, Germany 1/29: International Travel Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell  |
| Locale: Penn Yan, NY Week of: 7/31/2023 The week of 7/31 I was in the beautiful town of Penn Yan, New York. I drove to this location because I love road trips, I love seeing the countryside. Plus, Penn Yan is in the finger Lakes Region of NY state, there was bound to be some great scenery. I wasn't disappointed either. There were some beautiful areas to see, my hotel was on the north end of Keuka Lake. Keuka is pronounced Q-Ka, I had to ask that questions.  The photo below is from the grounds of the hotel, my room had the same view, but on this morning it was full of raindrops, so being outside was about the only way to snap a photo like this.This class was a lot different from other classes I've delivered. There were only 2 students, but these two were not technicians. They were what I'd call an end-user. Someone who uses a radio, or supervises a group of people using radios, but do no maintenance on the radios or system themselves. Imagine you have to give a speech, maybe an acceptance speech for receiving an award. You prepare the speech with note cards and such. When you walk on stage though, a sudden gust of wind blows your cards from your hands and there's no hope of retrieving them. That's a bit like this class was for me. I had modified the slideshow and was ready for them, or so i thought. During the first hour I realized that I was not ready to deliver what they wanted, and needed to learn. I have the knowledge to do that for them, but the course materials were nothing close to that. Fortunately we made it all work. When I left they were quite happy with the course materials. Penn Yan is a very small community, when you enter the town limits, the sign says "Welcome to the Village Of Penn Yan". Yeah, it is thar small. There weren't many restaurant choices there, but I didn't go hungry. As a matter of fact, I gain almost 10 pounds in the last 3 weeks! I am putting myself on a diet, intending to eat a lot less than I normally do, I can't go on like this. Photo's From Visit:  View From My Hotel in Penn Yan NY Next week I will work from home before going to Schaumburg Illinois again. A small difference in this class will be having a new instructor sit in the class. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Los Angeles, Ca Week of: 7/24/2023 The week of 7/24 found me in Los Angeles for the third time this year. The customer is the same one I've taught before, so I was able to see students from a previous class. This always makes the class flow smoother because we all knew each other. The one I didn't know was about my age, we got along well. The class flowed smoothly with only one issue that couldn't be corrected. The week before the class our PM was informed that the system would be under going acceptance testing, and we wouldn't be able to use the spares we were going to use. This meant that everything involving software was show-n-tell. I arranged access to the Conventional System in our training lab located in Schaumburg. We tried letting one of the students use the software, but that's harder than it sounds, and VERY slow. It ended up with me doing all the software programming / demonstration, which as you can imagine is not the best way to teach a technical course. We still made it work. The thing is, I could have done this from home then. Still, not a problem. I am not a fan of large city's. Thankfully this class, like all the others I've taught to this customer is not in downtown LA, it's out in one of the Eastern Suburbs. Montebello. It was still busy everywhere I went, but things could have been worse. On Friday I decided to be a tourist and visited the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum. After that my plan was to return the Rental Car, catch the shuttle bus to the LAX, then the hotel shuttle to the Hilton for the night. Sometimes the best laid plans go awry. The details of what happened is in "Note: I didn't post in [Link To Item #2177903] la...". I will spend the next few weeks allowing the wounds from that mishap to heal. Noteworthy Restaurants: Crabby's Seafood & More https://digitalmenunow.com/wp-content/uploads/menu-crabbys-2023.pdf I've dined at several Mexican Restaurants in this area. I have to say I think this one is best of them. I intentionally ordered too much so I'd have leftovers for lunch the next day. This worked out well for me, it was as good the next day as it was fresh. Next week I will be in a small town by the name of Penn Yan, NY. The customer is Yates County, Penn Yan is the county seat. This will be a bit of a challenge too, since the two people attending the class are not technicians. The challenge will be delivering subjects that they need to know. I realize that all my planning & modification of course materials will likely be out the window. It will be a bit like having a prepared speech, only to throw it out once you get on stage. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Brooklyn, NY Week of: 7/17/2023 The week of 7/17 found me in Brooklyn, NY for a couple of days. The class I delivered is not one I've delivered that many times. However, I am one of the few people who know this small device well. The customer is one I delivered 4 classes to in 2017. Those classes didn't go all that well, mainly because instead of having other manufacturers deliver a class on their product, it was decided that I could do them all. Oh well.... This class went very well really, though at times it was hard to keep the students focused on the product (something called an MLC 8000). Instead they asked a lot of questions about their system, how the MLC fit into the overall setup, generic topics like that. This afternoon I finally had to tell everyone, and in particular one man (the one who asked the most questions about their system, who also asked questions that had nothing to do with the course material) that the topic was beyond the course requirements, and that the class was on the MLC, not everything else. It could have gone bad at that point, but with a little explanation and a roundabout apology for not including that in the course, it was smoothed over. I am not a fan of large city's. If I look around and all I can see are tall buildings and the sky, I know I'm where I really don't belong. I prefer smaller cities/towns. I'm not sure why, it's just me being me. Don't get me wrong, I love visiting NYC and it's sdeven boroughs. I just couldn't live here. It's just not for Jim, that's all. In Closing Next week I will be in a small town by the name of Los Angeles. Yes, that LA. The class will be a five day class. I was going to be in Frederick Maryland the following week, but the customer wanted to delay the class since their technicians would not support this equipment until much later. You know the saying, "Use it, or Lose It." Yeah, they would have lost the knowledge gained in the class. The scheduling team contacted another customer who was going to receive a class in November about moving to the now free week, and they accepted the new dates. So instead of being in Frederick Maryland, I will be in Yates County, NY. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Cheyenne, Wy Week of: 6/19/2023 The week of 6/19 found me in Cheyenne, Wy for 3 days. I was in Cheyenne about 19 years ago with a different customer and really looked forward to returning. The class this week is one I've delivered many times, but I still needed to know how their system is constructed and how the sites interact. When you deliver a class to a customer with a statewide system like this, the students are from all over the state. Each site is a little different though, and often you are teaching students whose sites operated in different frequency bands. That wasn't an issue in this case, but it's something you have to consider no matter what. After arriving Monday afternoon, I met the PM for dinner at a local place that is very nice. We dined at Wyoming's Rib & Chop house. He had eaten there many times because as the PM, he is needed to be present at various times. Since I'm writing this entry so late, I don't recall exactly what I had. Here's their menu though for you to review if you like. https://ribandchophouse.com/menu/main-menu/?utm_source=GMB&utm_medium=organic&ut... I will say one thing though. I love Cajun food, but I could not find it in myself to order any kind of Cajun food in Wyoming! Based on what we each chose to have and it's quality, we might have been okay having some Boudin, or Jambalaya. I just couldn't see having that in Wyoming. In looking over their menu, I'm pretty sure I had their Western Burger. What I remember about it though, is that it was outstanding. One of the best burgers I've had in a while. I like Cheyenne, it's a very nice town. Then again, I love most places I've visited in the Western US. I prefer the western area of the United States over the East Coast. The main reason is the people! You see this a lot in the smaller cities and towns, on both coasts really. It's just more prevalent in the western area. The people. What about them? They seem to be more in touch with life in general. More earthy? More in tune with nature? Perhaps. Either way, I love the west more. I could live in Cheyenne, but the winters might be a bit too cold for my liking. Life should be so tough, huh. In Closing The weeks of 6 /26 through 7/10 will find me at home. Wow! Three weeks at home, my longest time at home this year. I will deliver an online class the week before and week after 7/4. Looking forward to a relaxing time,. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Queens, NY Week of: 6/12/2023 I spent last week in Queens delivering two short classes to the Long Island Railroad. I had an advantage though with these classes. I wrote both of them! And even though I hadn't taught one in 5 years, it went very well. Both classes went very well actually. The trip there was another story.I've been using a soft sided suitcase the last couple of years. Somehow the outer pocket zipper was broken. It's repairable, but man... Both zipper pulls are gone, one zipper is missing, the other is missing the part that the pull slides into. The same for a smaller outer pocket on that pocket. Additionally, the seam along the zipper is ripped for about 6 inches. I have to wonder what happened during the baggage handling., Then there's the flight home. The flight was delayed 1 hour, then 2, then 3.5, and finally 5. I'm not sure if it was cancelled or not, because American Airlines rebooked me the next morning. Their first booking was laughable, I mean that. It was then that I call American Express Global Travel, and they booked my on United Friday night, reserved a room near O'Hare airport, then on to Peoria Illinois, where a rental waited, and I drove home. However, that damaged bag? Yeah, it was never retagged, and was essentially lost. United is still looking for it, even though I have it. How's that? Well, I looked at the final American Airlines itinerary, and I was to fly Saturday morning to Detroit, then O'Hare, and finally home by 9 pm or so. I figured the bag was on those flights, and it was! I went to the Bloomington Airport to check and see if by chance it was there, and it was. I have no idea which flight it came in on, but it was there. That's all I cared about, In Closing The week of 6 /19 I will be in Cheyenne Wyoming for a class with the Department of Transportation. After that, I get to spend 3 weeks at home! I will deliver an online class the week before and week after 7/4. Looking forward to a relaxing time,. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 6/5/2023 I spent last week in Schaumburg delivering what we call a resident class. In this case, it was a class I've delivered for 22 years now. I can deliver it blindfolded and one hand tied behind my back. The class was excellent, the students involved in discussions every day, everything I could hope for in a class like this. It's a class that covers basic RF theory, with 10 different subjects discussed throughout the week. I've tried to get other instructors interested in delivering it, but have had little luck in that regard. It's okay, I like this class, but we need other qualified because I know I won't be around forever. One of my students was in my GTR class in April, it was nice seeing him again. He did tell me that after that April class, he found out that one of his sisters had a very aggressive form of Cancer. Forgive me, I don't recall what type it was, but for some reason Ovarian Cancer sticks in my mind. When she received the news, she just gave up on life in general, and died just over a month later! I know I've mentioned this before, but something I learned over 40 years ago is, Never Give Up! In this case, it wasn't life and death, I was trying to qualify as a Radiological Controls Shift Supervisor. It was an oral board, and I was doing well. Then came the casualty that everyone gets during their board, and still, I was doing well. Then they threw a twist in the scenario, and I actually said, "Well, since I screwed up the immediate actions and everything after that, I guess you're going to fail me." That was the anchor that sank me. They told me afterwards that the only reason they failed me was that I gave up. That was the only time I've heard that, because I've never given up on anything since then. End rant. In Closing The week of 6 /12 I will be in Queens NY for a second class with the customer I delivered a class to in May. That too should go very well since it's a subject, and device that I've taught for 12-13 years now. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington Illinois Week of: 5/15/2023 thur 5/29/2023 The week of 5/15 I was scheduled to go to Brooklyn, NY for a class. As fate would have it, that never happened. Why? Well, my last entry was about being in Queens NY the prior week. I got home Friday night, and Saturday morning we headed to Indiana to get our young Akita in a 'FastCat' run. This is a timed 100 yard run to determine how fast he runs. (about 22-23 mph as it turns out). It's fun for him, he seems to love everything about it. Well, that Saturday was also the day I started the next cycle of my Chemo drug. This drug is to have several side effects, some of them could be severe. You know, Heart Attack, Stroke, and many other less severe. It was one of those less severe side effects that hit me. A side effect I'd never experienced before in the two years I've been taking that medicine. I spare you the details, but know that it left me dehydrated, and very weak/disoriented. I slept almost the entire 4 hour ride home on Sunday. I was scheduled to fly to NYC on Monday, but had already warned my manager about what was going on. We talked Sunday, and he decided I wasn't traveling. That was a good thing, because I was in no shape to do much. I ended up sleeping most of that drive as I mentioned, all night Sunday night, and napped as needed the next couple of days. It wasn't until Wednesday that I started feeling like myself. I found that an Electrolyte Solution worked well to help me recover. Electrolyte Solution = Adult Pedialyte. When I wasn't sleeping I worked on course materials and studied courses I might qualify to deliver. The class I couldn't deliver has now been moved to July, on my schedule still. It has to be on my schedule, I'm the lone qualified instructor. The following week was a scheduled off week, so I kept working on the things I'd been working on the previous week. The third week was Memorial Day week, and I came to Schaumburg to finally connect a small device to the repeaters on the system I maintain. Except that never happened. One of our adjunct (contractor instructors) was there preparing for his delivery this week. Part of it involved hands-on activities on a radio site. This instructor is a good friend of mine, a former Motorolan now working as a contractor. The help he needed I have knowledge of, so I worked with him all week instead of manufacturing the cables I intended to make. I felt it was more important to help him gain the knowledge needed for this delivery than manufacturing those cables. Why? Because the cables are for a portion of a course we have yet to deliver in Schaumburg, even though that equipment has been installed for seven years or so. The cables can wait. Him learning this stuff cannot. In Closing The week of 6 /5 (right now really), I will be in Schaumburg the following week for a resident class. The following week I will be in Queens NY again, then Wyoming. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: New York City (Queens) Week of: 5/8/2023 This past week I was in Queens NY delivering a networking class to the Mass Transit Authority, Long Island Railroad (MTA-LIRR). This was a unique class in that as far as their radio system is concerned, the radios are on one Subnet, so no routing is done. That's an understatement because obviously routing is done, but it's done outside the portion of the system they'll maintain. This required a lot of editing on my part, because I didn't want to cover anything associated with routers, routing, and our ASTRO systems. Let me explain. ASTRO is our term for a radio system that meets the APCO 25 standard. MTA-LIRR is not P25 compliant for many reasons. The biggest is that they are Analog only, meaning their radios do not use the Digital side of things at all. Plus, their IP address scheme is not per the Motorola Solutions standard. Yes, we have a standard IP address scheme for our systems, but since they are not Digital, do not have a core of any type, and other reasons we don't need to go into here, their IP plan is different. This meant I removed at least a day and a half of course material from this session, yet it was still scheduled for 5 days, the same as any other networking course. I still managed to deliver this over 5-days, mainly because of the student background, and because MTA-LIRR had asked that the class last no more than 6 hours/day, instead of 8 hours/day. The class went well overall, but on Wednesday morning one student complained/moaned confessed that he wasn't learning much, and was pissed off that it had been all Powerpoint slides thus far. He said he learned best doing hands-on type of exercises. I explained that not everyone learns like that, and the Powerpoint slides were used to stress the theory of operation of a network, and the concepts of TCP/IP. We started doing the hands-on exercises, I wanted to keep everyone together doing the same labs at about the same time (keep it simple for me really, it's very hard to monitor three groups of people who are performing different hands-on activities). That didn't work too well though, because the groups would complete things at different times. We ended up with the groups starting out on the same hands-on activity, then doing their own thing (using the software to explore the configuration, do things they will never be able to do after the class, etc) while the slower groups caught up. By Friday, the dissatisfied student was quite happy. In Closing I am home right now, and was home last week instead of being in Brooklyn for a 2-day class. I was home because this old body decided it would rebel against things. In a nutshell, I was exhausted due to a medical condition, one caused by my Chemo Drug. It's a common reaction to this drug, but it's not something I've experienced, until last week. As a result, I slept Sunday and Monday almost all day, and half of Tuesday. Nor was I eating much. I ended up losing almost 15 pounds, but you couldn't tell it by looking at me. I've now gained 10 of those pounds back. This week I'm back on schedule, which is being home for the week. Next week I will be in Schaumburg for a couple of days before returning to Schaumburg the following week for a resident class. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Frankfort, Ky, Little Rock Arkansas, and Gretna Louisiana Week of: 4/24 & 5/1/2023 Wow, I missed posting about mt last week in Frankfort? I guess this post will cover the last two weeks. The week of 4/24 was a busy week for me. I was in Frankfort once again for the third and final time. I've been with the Kentucky Emergency Management team all three weeks, but the group is really a small one made up of the Kentucky National Guard. All three classes went well, the Chief of the National Guard retired on Friday, so we finished class on Thursday to accommodate their schedule. This worked well because I was able to get home Thursday afternoon and pick up Mama and our young Akita so we could get to Jackson Tennessee for a 'Fast Cat' run. Fast Cat is where your dog runs 100 yards and is timed. Points are earned for each run, the dog earns a ribbon at prescribed point values. Our young Akita Buddy has earned one ribbon, and is about half way to the next one. The week of May 1st I was in two locations delivering a one day class. It's a new class, and there wasn't that much new to it really. The materials were edited to allow the topic to be delivered in one day. Still, it would have been nice to receive the files earlier than 4 am on Monday 5/1. There was no way I could review the stuff, so I delivered that class 'Cold Turkey'. The only problem I had was scheduling my time so the class didn't seem 'Out of Kilter' to the students. It wasn't bad, but it could have been better. I delivered that one-day class in Little Rock Monday, and never got to meet LegendaryMask❤️  . I know she's having some issues right now, so maybe it was for the best. Still, after all this time, it would have been nice to meet her finally. Tuesday I drove from Little Rock to New Orleans. Well, actually Gretna, very close where I was in 2005 the week after Hurricane Katrina. That class (the same as the one I delivered on Monday) went a lot smoother, mainly because I knew the flow now, knew what to do when if you will. Thursday I drove from the New Orleans area to our home in Bloomington Illinois. We left about 8 am, and arrived home at 11 pm. It was a very tiring day, but I had Friday to get a little R&R before this week's class. Right now I am in New York City (Queens) delivering a class, and will be back here in a month. Like I said in a Newsfeed post though, life is good.In Closing I will fly to Brooklyn Monday for a 2-day class, then have a week and a half off before meeting with co-workers the week of Memorial Day. Until next time, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write! Jim Dorrell Jim Dorrell |
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I then went to Taiwan for two weeks; but, although that was nice, it wasn't 'home'.