Where In The World Is Sum1?

Home For Three Weeks!

Locale: Bloomington, Illinois

Week of: 10/3/22 through 10/17/22

         After a long period of travel and very little at home time, I am home.  Three weeks in a row!  Whatever will I do with my time?  I will tell you in a minute...

         Late last year, I scheduled two weeks of vacation in October 2022.  My plan was to go to Albuquerque during this period for the annual Balloon Fiesta.  As I am fond of saying, "Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men.... "  Yeah, I didn't plan things really well, if at all.  Let me explain.

         A couple of things were not considered in my planning.  My schedule.  Being so dang busy with classes that at times I didn't know if I was coming or going.  Add in other things that I never considered, like my High School class holding a 50th reunion a month before the Balloon Fiesta.  Doctor's appointments scheduled during this time, some I couldn't change or cancel.  The Akita National Specialty Dog Show two weeks before the Balloon Fiesta.  It all added up to me remaining at home instead of going to New Mexico.  Sure, we made it to the Dog Show, but that too was tiring.  Let's look at how tiring this became for me.

                   Week of 29 August:  Three day class in Schaumburg.  Drive there Monday the 29th, home on Thursday afternoon, 9/1.
                   On 9/2, fly to Albuquerque for my 50th class reunion.  Scheduled to arrive at 8:30 pm, arrived at 12:45 am due to flight delays (weather)
                   On 9/3, attend my high school class 50th reunion.  Dead tired still, but there was no way I'd miss that.
                   On 9/4 fly home, arrive home two hours late, again due to weather
                   On 9/6 fly to Buffalo for a three day class.  Fly home on Friday 9/9, finally arriving home on time, 9:45 pm.
                   On 9/11 fly to San Francisco for a class in Sacramento.  Return home on 9/16 on a red-eye flight from San Francisco.  Of course I couldn't sleep on the plane, so was awake all night.  Arrived home at 11:15 am Saturday.
                   On 9/12, began the drive to Virginia Beach for the Akita National Dog Show,  Arrived there on 9/13, late afternoon.  It took me until Wednesday to start to feel like myself after all this.
                   On 9/23 began the drive home.  We had to leave Friday because yours truly had a flight to Dallas on Sunday!  On the way, we stopped briefly to drop off a bottle of Moonshine with Robert Waltz that I'd picked up on the drive to Virginia Beach.
                   On 9/25, flew to Dallas early Sunday, and home on Friday 9/30.  For once there were no flight delays!    It was at that point that my two weeks of vacation started, and as I thought, I was not in the mood to travel once again.  Having thought ahead and realizing this, the plans to go to Albuquerque were cancelled well ahead of time.  I've been relaxing at home ever since.  This third week of being home is because the customer I was going to teach this week could not support the class.  Since it was too late to schedule a different class for me, I get to remain home.

         Since my vacation was changed to a 'Staycation', I had no problem working from home.  The nice thing about doing this, is that I can work as much, or as little, as I needed or wanted to.  I have 2 classes coming up that needed the course materials tailored for the delivery.  One is next week, in Washington DC.  The other is still waiting to be scheduled.  I spent the better part of 50 hours going through the materials to tailor them for these customers.  This tailored class in Washington DC will be very similar to the class I'll be delivering later, so I was able to solve two problems at the same time.  Those course materials are finally ready to be used, so the rest of this week will be spent tailoring a third course for a class in Kentucky, but that's not until April 2023!  I prefer to front load things and be ready for changes, so I will work all I can to prepare for a class six months away.  You might wonder about schedule changes, and what happens if the class moves to another instructor.  It's simple, I will share those files with him.  Besides, there's only three of us who are qualified to deliver this class, one of us can't travel due to having the same Cancer I have, so that leaves only two of us who could deliver it.  That other instructor who can travel is my immediate supervisor, and he has a schedule as full as mine, so it's doubtful the class would move to someone else.  If it does, it's fine...

         Life is good, it's always good if you ask me.  I don't mind being busy, I love to travel, and being this busy removes any concern about job security.  It's nice to be needed, I think we can all agree on that.  Being needed this badly is nice, as long as you don't let the travel tire you too much.  Tire too much by poor planning on my part that is, because I am my own travel counselor.  Except for International travel.  Then we get American Express involved.  Speaking of International Travel....  the Training Department is in the process of finalizing a quote for a series of International classes.  This is not too unusual really, but this time the customer will need us there for about a MONTH!  Can you imagine being overseas for a month?  Since it would be at least a month overseas, the 'boss' has asked for volunteers who are willing to spend a month there.  But where?  How about spending a month in Mongolia?  Of course I volunteered!  Now to wait and see if that is placed on my schedule.  Only time will  tell....

In Closing

         I am home this week, enjoying my free time.  Sunday I will fly to Washington DC for a class, and of course, it's a Federal Customer.  I won't broadcast it here for a couple of reasons, but I will be teaching the class about 3-4 blocks from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW.  No, I will not be meeting or seeing any politicians.  Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE!




Jim Dorrell