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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 (Montebello/Alhambra actually), California Week of: 8/21/2023 The week of 8/21 found me back in the Los Angeles area again. The customer this week is the same one that I've delivered seven other classes to already. They scheduled 38 weeks of training this year, which is a phenomenal amount of training! I will complete 'my shift' if you will, in September when I deliver my final session for them. This class was a bit atypical for this subject, with one small exception that I will discuss in a minute. First though, this class is really two classes. The first one covered our current radio repeater used in Conventional Radio Systems, and everything installed at the site. Yeah, I know this makes a lot of sense to you all, but rather than explain it here I will say that I will answer any questions should anyone want a better/more in-depth explanation. It's funny how I never get asked those questions. I don't blame you, it would still be Greek to you all. The second class covered our small Analog Comparator. A Comparator, or voter does exactly what you might think when you read the word voter. It can be sent multiple received radio signals and determine which signal has the best audio quality. So yeah, it votes the best signal, and then sends that back to the base radios to be repeated. Now what happened to make this week different? First, the customer couldn't provide the necessary equipment for the class, so we had to access the training system in Schaumburg. This made everything more show-n-tell, which is not the best way to deliver a class that covers a technical subject. But, it was all we had to work with. I've done this several times before from sites around the world, so no big deal, right? Right. Unless you get careless, which I did on Thursday. We were going through how to load a configuration to a network switch, and I sent the wrong configuration to the switch I was accessing. This gave the switch a different IP address, which meant I could no longer access it remotely. It would have to be accessed locally so the correct configuration could be loaded.  Since I was in Los Angeles and it was in Schaumburg, I needed help. I got it of course, the correct configuration was loaded by a teammate Friday morning. Still.... needless to say, this is not something you want to do in front of students! At the same time, all's well that ends well, and they saw first-hand what you shouldn't do. I stress this in every networking class I teach too. Next week I will be in Washington DC to deliver a class there. It's a kind of strange month for me really, because in August I had a week off, then delivered a class in Schaumburg. That was followed by a week in Los Angeles and a week in Washington DC. In September I will have a week off (after being in DC), then deliver a class in Schaumburg, followed by delivering classes in LA and DC to the same customer I delivered classes to in August. Same customer, same classes. The only difference is the classes delivered in Schaumburg. A little different in some ways. I think that's about it for now. Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write!  Jim Dorrell |
| 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 |
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