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I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been. |
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. |
Locale: Virginia Week of: August 30, 2021 Well, first things first. I did work this week, though it seems I didn't get much done. I was to cross-train a fellow instructor on two courses that I'm the only officially qualified instructor of. Problem is, things didn't go quite as planned. Monday was fine, then came Tuesday. For some reason, the shot this week really hit me. Hit me hard. I was starting to feel unwell Monday night, and by Tuesday morning it was far worse. I just ached all over, no appetite, at least I didn't have a fever, nor was I vomiting. It was mostly a feeling of just 'being unwell'. By Wednesday morning, I was almost 100%. So we did the cross training Monday and Wednesday. I don't feel I was properly prepared, and could have done a much better job in cross-training him. Thursday. <Sigh> He changed his password Wednesday night, and could do nothing on Thursday. He spent the day (as far as I know) working with IT to correct his problem. So only two days of cross-training. Friday we were all (all employess) given the day off. It's called 'Feel good Friday', they do this once in a while. Knowing this day off was coming on a three day weekend, and feeling I needed a road trip, I decided I would drive to Newport News Virginia. The reason? To purchase a bottle of Bourbon. 'That's a pretty expensive bottle of Bourbon Jim', is what most of you are thinking, or saying. And you are right. But there's a reason. (Isn't there always a reason?). This Bourbon is distilled by the Ironclad Distillery in Newport News. I know you're wondering why I didn't have them ship me a bottle or two. They aren't licensed to ship out of state. I found out tonight that Virginia has some pretty odd laws about alcohol, and that's fine. So what's so special about this Bourbon? Well, it's called the Hyman Rickover Bourbon. And who was Hyman Rickover? He is the Naval Admiral who is considered the 'father of the US Nuclear Navy'. Without him, I wouldn't be where I am today. I just wanted a bottle of it, okay? ![]() I left yesterday to head here, and spent the night in Cincinnati. This morning, the phone GPS (we won't talk about the GPS in my van, and how impossible it is to add an destination to it), showed the fastest route to head due east, then south at Jackson Ohio. I didn't look at it closely, I just started driving. It turns out, the route took me through Point Pleasant, West Virginia, so I had to stop and see 'him' You may know of this creature from the movie, this is a sculptors representation of 'The Mothman'. The movie "The Mothman Prophecies made this creature almost a household name. There's no way I could come to Virginia to purchase Bourbon and not pick up Robert Waltz ![]() In Closing I am still delivering classes from home only, and don't see that changing the rest of this year. Tjhat's fine, I've really started enjoying teaching from home, but I also miss traveling. That's about it for now, til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! ![]() ![]() Jim Dorrell |
Locale: Bloomington, Illinois May 3rd, 2021 I saw Dr. Sriratana today, he's the Hematologist I've been seeing. He said that the Bone Marrow test confirmed what he thought. I have a Multiple Myeloma. He told me that my marrow came back at 50% Plasma. To put it in perspective, a healthy person has about 2-3% Plasma in their marrow, if someone was being monitored, they would start treating them if it rose to 15%. Mine is 50... The good news in all this? It can be treated without using Radiation or Chemo. I am scheduled for Sinus Surgery on 26 May, he wants me to get that done. He also wants me to take a pretty heavy dose of an antibiotic before the surgery. Since I see my general practitioner on Monday, I'll see if he will prescribe it for me. If not, Dr. Sriratana said to contact him, and he will do it. Once the Sinus Surgery is behind me, his treatments will start. I see him on June 7. The treatments will consist of weekly shots, and an oral medication I will take for 3 weeks, then a week off, and repeat. After 6 months of this, he will check my bone marrow again. What he saw in my blood tests is this. My Immunoglobulin A: IgA (found in the mucous membranes of the lungs, sinuses, stomach, and intestines) is high, very high, around 2300 or so, which the Allergist interpreted as a sinus infection (since an MRI showed my sinus cavities completely blocked) Along with this, my Immunoglobulin G, the most common type of antibody in your blood and other body fluids) are low, very low. It's been getting lower and lower each time this test has been run. These antibodies protect you against infection by "remembering" which germs you've been exposed to before. Dr. Sriratana says these shots and oral medications he's going to put me on will lower my IG-A level, while raising my IG-G. Only time will tell there, huh. If this treatment fails to correct the IG-A and IG-G level well enough, there's another road to take. But we haven't started this road yet, so I'll worry about that road if and when we get to it. ![]() In Closing I have been home since the second week of January, and will be home the rest of this year more than likely. I teach the RCMP next week. I may travel (my manager said "In an emergency" I could travel), but I doubt it. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Last Half Of March, & The Month of: April, 2021 Well, I've been busy teaching most weeks, but have had health issues off and on. This entry is more about my journey of discovery to what I believe is the root of my health issues. No doctor has said it's the root, but to someone who has spent almost 50 years troubleshooting Electrical & Electronic equipment, it is the root cause of it all. As some of you know, this all started in December with that cough I had last year . It started up in November, and continued until just recently. This year, my general practitioner sent me to an ENT doctor. I saw one last year, but to say he was about useless would be an understatement. This new doctor looked me over, saw recent blood work, and felt I should see an Allergist, as well as mentioning possible Sinus surgery. When I saw the Allergist, she thought that additional blood work was needed, and ordered it. When she saw the results, she ordered more, and told me I might have an Auto-Immune disease. After the second blood sample came back though, she decided to send me to a Hematologist. This was when I knew something serious was probably going on inside me. Of course he ordered his own blood samples, and told me I might (probably) have Multiple Myelosis. I looked that up on Google when I got home, and wasn't too surprised really. It's a form of Blood Cancer, ,but is not very aggressive. He told me he could have me 'all fixed up and normal' by the end of the year. Yeah, the check's in the mail. All this time, I was teaching from home thanks to a manager with foresight. This gave me the chance to schedule any doctor's appointment needed while not interfering with class delivery. I did spend two days being observed in the hospital in both February and April. I was admitted because I couldn't maintain blood oxygen level about 90%. When this happens to you, they consider you to be suffering from Hypoxia. This only happened to me when that cough hit me violently, causing my lungs to start working like a bellows to get enough oxygen in me. The doctors referred to it as allergy induced Asthma too. The cough.... So bad that one night I sat up in bed while coughing. I ended up passing out, and went to the floor. I cut the bridge of my nose (which bled quite profusely) on a small table. At one point I stopped driving. I'd started coughing while turning a corner, and passed out, putting my van over a curb. No damage really, other than a flat tire, and about 3 pieces of metal being replaced because my alignment was way off. Yeah, an expensive little thing there, but what could I do, other than stop driving? While in the hospital the first time, I passed out on at least 3 occasions, but no one noticed because my heartrate and other vital signs never changed. ROOT CAUSE Identified! This Myeloma (or Immune System Deficiency) is causing my immune system to function less than it should. My sinuses are blocked for some reason, and slightly infected. Since my immune system was not functioning properly, it couldn't kill off this infection. This resulted in post-nasal drip, causing the cough. Since my immune system wasn't functioning properly, the cough got out-of-control. Today I'm back to my ornery old self. We are waiting on the results of a bone marrow test that was done last week. I will know Monday what the next step is. My cough is essentially gone right now, and I'm pretty sure my sinuses are no longer blocked. So will I have the sinus surgery? It all depends on these test results. Everything is alright, I will not allow my spirits to be beaten down by this, I will not allow myself to wonder "Why me?" I already have an answer to that. It's life. It's what happens to some people. We are all living our lives, the last thing anyone needs is to have me moan and complain about things. I could have it much worse, and know that I am better off than many others. In Closing I have been home since the second week of January, and will be home the rest of April, all of May, and half of June. I might get to travel again in mid-June, to Washington DC for a class. It all depends on test results, and what the doctors need me to do. I teach the Bell Canada Friday, and Monday/Tuesday next week, then the RCMP the following week. After that, I have a resident class to teach from home before taking a week of vacation. Oh, I also will fit in time to cross-train workers on the courses that I'm the lone instructor on. Someone's gonna have to do them most likely, we should have been cross-training them these past few years. But that's out of my control. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: March 15, 2021 This week my customer was SVRIA (Silicon Valley Regional Interoperability Authority), the class was Fleetmapping. This is the class that I modified so much last year at this time. I taught it for the first time the week of April 20, 2020. By the time the one year anniversary rolls around, I will have delivered it twelve times. I find that amazing really, because there wasn't much draw for this class prior to that. We never delivered it, there were contractors who did that. I sat in the class in July 2019 and felt there was a lot of 'dead time' or time wasted in the delivery. Additionally, there were numerous errors in the presentation. Factual errors, our systems have changed and grown over the years, but that was never updated in this course. No, the number of deliveries we're doing in this class are not because 'Jim is teaching it'. It's because it's an online class now, students can attend and learn without the expense of them going to Schaumburg, or someone going there. Believe it or not, there's still some minor changes I want to do with it. My next challenge though, other than trying to learn two new courses on the fly, is to modify an existing course for an upcoming delivery. It's our networking class, but this customer is what is known as 'Conventional', not 'Trunking', which is what most of our courses are centered around. So I will modify the materials for this delivery, and we will keep them for future use because this won't be the last time this happens. I do not teach next week, so I have 5 days to get it done. Well, at least the majority of it. I am teaching the following two weeks, but only 3 hours/day, and then I will teach this Conventional customer. So I should have time to touch up minor things that I might not get to next week. In Closing I am home this month as I said, all of April and May, at least as of now. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: March 8, 2021 No, I didn't get to go to Baghdad for this class. I would love to visit that city, smack in the middle of what most consider the 'Cradle Of Civilization'. I doubt I'd get to see much though, but I sure would try. Doesn't matter, I wasn't there this week, nor am I going there anytime soon. The students this week were American citizens who work at the Baghdad, Iraq, and Kabul, Afghanistan Embassies. And yep, they were on location too. So class started at 4 am each day, and ended at 10 am. It was 1 pm in Baghdad, and 3 pm in Kabul when class started. It was a bit strange being up so early, especially when I came upstairs on a break and the house was still dark. This week's subject was Networking again, and a new experience for me. Why new? When I've taught this class for 12 years? Well, since they are 'over there', this was a complete class, all show-n-tell. My support staff (we'd be lost without them) shipped a Pelican Case to me of the equipment students would normally use in class. Except I used it, and did all the hands-on activities while they watched. Yep, they watched me, because they didn't have the necessary equipment to use, and could only watch. First experience for me, but I get to do it twice next month for 2 Canadian customers. The class went fine, I did have a problem getting one activity completed, and spent some time after class to get it done. The next day I showed them what I'd done to complete the task. Of course this wasn't the ideal way for them to learn, but it's what we're stuck with, so to speak. We still conduct a lot of field classes, but I'm still on a travel ban by my manager. The good thing is, I've been able to see many doctors. So far, nothing major has been found. My left lung has a slightly enlarged nodule, but it's been there at least seven years, and has not grown in size one bit. A PET Scan showed no traces of Cancer in me. My blood work is a bit off so more will be drawn, and I'm feeling more and more like a pin cushion. It could be a lot worse, I could have a life threatening illness. Thankfully, that doesn't appear to be the case. The biggest problem with class this week, was an audio problem. It was pretty bad, my voice would drop on their end for some reason, and I couldn't find the reason why. Still not sure what happened there, I just hope it's not there this week. I'm aching to travel again, at the same time, I'm enjoying being home. I can't have both, huh. One day in the not too distant future, I'll decide to retire. If my health continues to be an issue (only during the winter months, believe it or not), I will retire. Right now, it's wait and see. In Closing I am home this month as I said, all of April and May, at least as of now. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |
Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Month of: February, 2021 Well, due to my minor (some would say major) health issues, I've been 'grounded'. What that means is, no traveling for me until late May. That's fine really, because I really need to pin down this cough I've had, and so far we've made some good progress. The classes I was scheduled to deliver in February have either been cancelled, or moved to another instructor if the class required travel. So I've spent my time developing a Powerpoint slide show (I know, death by Powerpoint, most students hate it), for a subject few of my fellow instructors understand very well. I've also sat in a class to learn about Domain Controller, and may end up delivering that later this year. I spent 2 days in the hospital the week of February 8th, and was put through a myriad of tests. In less than a week's time, I had 4 CAT Scans done on various parts of my body, 3 Ultrasounds of my heart, carotid arteries, and legs. One X-Ray of my right wrist because I hit on something when I fainted due to coughing at home one night. It swelled to the size of a golf ball almost immediately, yet the swelling was gone in about 2 hours. Then the bruising started, covering the back of my hand, my palm, and general wrist area. All that aside, it is looking like I will have Sinus surgery to clear the ducts from the Maxillary Sinus's behind my cheeks. The small ducts to/from that sinus cavity is completely blocked. I will also have an endoscopy done to check my esophagus a CAT Scan showed it has thickened some. I'm told it's most likely due to the violent cough, but we'll see what they find. There's more to this, but so far, the doctors haven't found a something that really worries them. I am fine really, I feel fine, and right now, my cough is gone. The jury is out on that, because this has happened about once a month for the last 3-4 months, just like it did last year at this time. Progress is being made though, however slow. My next class is the week of March 1st, and I will most likely teach every week of March. I remain grateful that I have this wonderful job and have a management team who really looks out for you. In Closing I am home this month as I said, and all of March and April, at least as of now. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |