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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: Los Angeles Week of: 11/13/23 At the end of April last year, I delivered that new (to me) course titled Fleetmapping to the Port Of Los Angeles. The students were all from the Los Angeles area, with three of them from LAPD. One of the LAPD students told me he wanted me to come to Los Angeles to deliver the class to his team. I've heard this before, and thought little of it. It turns out that this particular student is a senior manager in the LAPD Radio System. Even so, when this class appeared on my schedule, I thought that maybe he had managed to get this scheduled. However, when we have multiple instructors qualified to deliver a course, there is no guarantee that a specific instructor will be scheduled to deliver it. It's just too hard for the scheduler to play 'instructor dominoes' to allow a certain instructor to deliver a class. Apparently this was scheduled far enough in advance that the domino effect wasn't an issue. I was told by a student this week that this manager insisted that this class be delivered by me. Wow, what a compliment from a customer! While my previous five visits to the LA area have all been with one customer in the Alhambra area, the LAPD location is in the middle of downtown. What is a little interesting (at least to me), is that my FIRST field class for Motorola was with LA Water & Power in February of 2002. I stayed at a hotel called the New Otani hotel. This past week I stayed at a Doubletree by Hilton, previously called.... you guessed it, The New Otani. I remembered very little of that hotel though, but had my memory refreshed quickly.  This week's Fleetmapping class was an excellent class overall. It's a class I love delivering, mainly because there is a lot of interaction between myself and the students. Such was the case this past week. The only problem with the class was that the location of it was changed, and Motorola was never told about that. So, Tuesday morning I was at the training site, and learned that the location had been changed. Instead of being across the street from the hotel, it was over a mile away. Since I was going to be so close to the training site, I didn't schedule a rental car. I still wouldn't have gotten one, even if I knew the location was changed in advance. Why? In one word, Uber. The cost of using Uber all week, plus going to and from LAX was less than a rental car. It was a no-brainer for me. However, that meant I couldn't get out and about though, huh. It's okay, I'm tired at the end of the day anyway, so I don't get out all that much. I will be back in Los Angeles the week after Thanksgiving to deliver Fleetmapping to LAPD again. I know that several WDC members live in the LA area, and it would be great to see anyone. But, it's a bad time of year for all, meeting anyone is probably not possible. Below is my current schedule through January. 2024 might be the year I retire. I'm leaning that way, we'll see what the future holds. 11/20: Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Home (my other half has carpal tunnel surgery) 12/11: No idea, right now I'm on hold for a class with the Department Of State 12/18: Christmas Break 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8: Fort Lauderdale 1/15: Boston 1/22: Schaumburg (very tentative) 1/29: Work From Home 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: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 10/30/23 Well, it's been a bit of a tough patch for me these past few weeks. I delivered a Networking Class in Schaumburg, and while I thought it went 'okay' (I still have a bit to learn about our new Juniper Router), some of the students did not agree with my assessment. Oh well, you can't please everyone all the time. I need to hitch up my big boy pants and continue learning/teaching. I went to Brentwood Tennessee the week of 10/23 and delivered two classes there. Those both went well, I would have been very shocked if they hadn't. Brentwood is a nice area, a bit upscale and not a place I'd live. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice area with beautiful houses. It's just not an area I'd be comfortable in. Why? Because I've never lived in an area like that and I'd feel out of place. Yes, I could adjust, but I like my current situation and feel living in that kind of neighborhood would be living a lie so-to-speak. I was in Schaumburg again last week for a class with one of our new instructors sitting in. I'll have another new instructor sitting in next week too. I'm happy about that because that means we have new people qualifying courses, which will take some of the load off us. Teaching and traveling as much as I do is not hard, then again, it's very tough. The wear and tear, the constant changing of time zones can get to you after a while. It's gotten to me at times. In many ways, I'm looking forward to being in Los Angeles again. I'm only there for three days the week before, and the week after Thanksgiving. I'll be staying at the Doubletree by Hilton in Downtown LA, a block and a half from the training site. This is the same hotel I stayed in for my first field class in February 2002. Back then it was called the New Otani Hotel. As usual, my schedule has changed due to customers canceling classes. Our field classes are scheduled with the assistance of a Project Manager. Often times the classes are scheduled far too early, or far too late. It's a rare occasion when a class is scheduled at the appropriate time. Is it the Project Managers fault? In some ways, yes. In some ways no, because dates slip due to delays in system installation. Below is my current schedule through the end of the year. I don't see this changing too much either. 11/6: Schaumburg 11/13: Los Angeles with LAPD 11/20: Home - Thanksgiving week 11/27: Los Angeles with LAPD 12/4: Fort Lauderdale 12/11: No idea, right now I'm on hold for a class in Maryland 12/18: Christmas Break 12/25: Christmas Break 1/1/24: Kansas (Thursday/Friday) 1/8/24: Fort Lauderdale 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 |
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