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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 |
Schaumburg, Illinois The week of 5/27 found me in Schaumburg for meetings with the rest of the team. It was really good because we had not met in person for five years! Yeah, that's a long time to not see your co-workers. Typical for this week, we meetings all week long. I didn't mind though because also in attendance were instructors who teach classes for companies we recently purchased. We also learned what their company manufactures, and some of it is scary. Let me give you an example. To provide that example, I must ask a question. Have you read 1984 by George Orwell? In case you didn't know it was written in 1947, and published in 1949. The scary part? We're living in the times Orwell writes about in his book. I read this almost 55 years ago, here's what I remember from it. First, the country the main character lives in is at war. I think the war is going on somewhere in Africa. The Media broadcasts contain information about the war, telling the citizens that the war is being won. Yet they are losing the war. The Media is telling the citizens what they want the citizens to hear. That sure as heck sounds like our Media in 2024. We're fed stories that they want us to hear, not the 'real news'. Secondly, there are cameras everywhere. These cameras are mounted on traffic light poles, telephone poles, whatever. They are placed all over the city, privacy does not exist. Again, does this sound familiar? Some of the people I met this week for a subsidiary of ours, train technicians on how to maintain these cameras. I saw a real-time video, and what they can do with their software is definitely scary. Not almost, Definitely Scary! I'd say more, but I'm not allowed to go into specifics. So, read 1984 if you haven't, or read it to refresh your mind about the story. And realize that we are living in the times of that book. A book written 76 years ago, long before the things in our world existed. On a 'happier' note, let's discuss my future schedule, and my plans, tentative though they may be. This will be my last full year of employment. I will retire after this year is completed. MAYBE. PROBABLY. It's up in the air, but to be honest, the travel, being away from home with barely 24 hours here on weekends (sometimes) is getting to me. I am exhausted most weekends, I spend far too much time napping and not enough time getting things done. I was given a nice Pit Boss Electric Smoker (I've been wanting to learn how to smoke meats and veggies), but have not used it yet. It's been assembled, but the door latch does not latch correctly. There's about an inch of space between it and the fastener on the housing. I might have assembled it wrong, but I don't think so. So there's that to figure out. I want to learn to 'Can' vegetables, I can't on my current schedule. I also really want to rent a French Horn and see if I can still play, see if it still has the draw on me it had 55 years ago. Speaking of fatigue. Even when on the road, I'm very tired at the end of a day. I go to dinner somewhere near work or hotel, then collapse in my hotel room. I spend very little time here, very little time chatting with my anyone. And to add to it all, I will be cross-training a new instructor. He has been doing very good so far. Then again, he's delivering 2 courses, courses that deal with the equipment he maintained before coming to us. I get the pleasure of cross-training him. It will be a pleasure too, because then someone besides me will be able to travel and deliver classes that only I can deliver right now. However, that means he may get to go to Cavalier AFB in place of me. I want to go mainly for one reason. This is where Space Force is!  I will spend most of the week of July 4th cross-training him to deliver that course. It will be a little bit of a stretch for him because this will be a highly tailored course, and he has quite a bit to learn to be able to deliver it. Only time will tell.My upcoming schedule, as of now Week of: 6/3 and 6/10: I'm on VACATION! June 17: Brentwood, Tennessee June24: Halifax, Nova Scotia July 1: Holiday week (Cross-train my co-worker) July 8: Fort Bragg NC July 15: Work From Home (Cross-train my co-worker if he's not delivering a class) July 22: Los Angeles July 29: Schaumburg Illinois Aug 5: Cavalier AFB (NE Corner of North Dakota) Aug 12: Los Angeles Aug 19: International Travel Aug 26: Frankfurt, Germany Sept 2: International Travel/Labor Day That's all for now. Til next time, keep on writing, most of all, keep on loving those special people in your life! Sum1 |
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is better than suspended upside down in the 'void'. 
