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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: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 1/15/24 I have been home this week, no classes scheduled so I can focus on preparing/learning that one course for the Bangkok delivery. Fortunately I have completed those preps, all I need to do now is deliver the class and gain much needed experience on that course in doing so. Instead of focusing on the Bangkok delivery, I've been editing/preparing course materials for a class schedule much sooner in Frederick Md. I always get a kick out of a customer when they say, "Our system has no Trunked Sites in it at all, this class needs to be all Conventional." My reply is an easy one to say. "While I know Trunking quite well, I am the Conventional Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the training department." The class in Frederick Md will be all Conventional. I'm in Schaumburg for a Networking Class, but found out last week that my immediate supervisor will be doing a team teach with me that week. So I will sit in the back of the classroom taking notes to provide him feedback on his delivery. Some of you might find that a but strange, but in our department, the delivery team is all instructors. Since a manager shouldn't have more than 10-15 people reporting to them, we're divided into groups with one of the members being the manager of that group. So yep, he's my immediate supervisor. I don't mind, I have no desire to be a supervisor really, plus the time I have left before retirement is a bit short, so why make me a supervisor only to have me retire in the near future? In addition to prepping for this upcoming delivery, I spent all week working off and on around the house. My other half suffered from a severely agitated nerve in her right hip and couldn't do much. I cooked, fed the dogs, cleaned house, and worked on my work PC when not otherwise occupied. I even baked a cake last night. It was a good week too! Today I took her to a pain specialist for an injection in that hip, she's already feeling better too. I've been assigned another class that no one else has delivered, or knows anything about. It's not until July though, and the course materials are over 10 years old. This means they definitely need updating. I have two weeks of prep time for that, so there's work to be done. This class is at Fort Bragg North Carolina, the week of July 8. We'll see if it slips to a later date. 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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is better than suspended upside down in the 'void'. 
