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 Being Retired now, I thought that it was time for a new name to this Blog |
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Talk about perks, my career had one of the best I can think of! I traveled in the course of business, delivering classes for my employer. I was a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and taught classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2-way radio communications. I knew that when the time arrived that I would retire, and I have. I've always said that if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out! I can't handle the heat anymore. I was qualified to deliver approximately 32 different classes, but about half of those were 'Legacy' classes, and were not in demand anymore. My students were technicians, those who maintained, programmed, calibrated, and repaired 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 traveled, sometimes frequently, 3-4 weeks in a row.... where have I been? Some of the places I've been (I can't list them all here, the list would be toio long) are pretty interesting. 1. Hawaii - Four times, Oahu, Maui (twice), and the Big Island 2. BangkokThailand, twice 3. Frankfurt Germany, twice 4. Algiers, Algeria 5. Melbourne Australia 6. Bismarck North Dakota, Summer & Winter 7. Los Angeles, Too many times to count 8. Washington DC, Too many times to count 9. Seattle three or four times 10. Texas, all over the state 11. Florida, all over the state 12. New Mexico, HOME! Several times  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
| Locale: Bloomington Illinois & Schaumburg Week of: 12/19 & 12/26.22 These past three weeks I've been home for the most part. The Director of North American Training sent us an e-mail telling us to relax as much as we can, maximize our time with family, and wind down as much as possible. Yeah, right. I have things that need to get done, this is about the only time to do that. But I did maximize my time at home, I did spend time with family & friends, and even managed to have a nice, quiet, Christmas. However, I still managed to get some work done every day. You might wonder why I wanted to get work done during this period. The answer is quite simple really. I have an upcoming class with the Kentucky Emergency Management System. The customer has requested that this 3-day class also cover something called 'consoles' for this small system. I don't teach consoles, so needed to buff up my knowledge a bit. I studied, access our small (It's called a K Core) remotely to improve my knowledge. The training materials for this course do not have sufficient slides, or hands-on activities for consoles in it, so I worked on improving those too. Don't get me wrong, there are slides on configuring the consoles, but the slides are very dry, very 'sterile'. I tried to improve that. There's also some vital information missing from the slide deck, so I added those Now you're probably wondering why I had to do all this, why wasn't it done already? Well, good question. For the most part, our course materials are prepared by very good curriculum developers in Krakow, Poland. They are writers though, not technicians. They get their information from the Engineers who build and develop these systems. Sometimes even the Engineers are wrong in their information (I've corrected them on several occasions), and I have to say that the manuals are missing information we really need. Why? There are two reasons really. First, the changing business model. Like most every company that deals with technology, there's a huge interest in providing services. I'll let you figure out what that means. Also, though, the Engineers forget that us 'peons' don't have the background and knowledge they do, and assume that what is provided in manuals is sufficient. It's not. So we dig for this needed information. I spent this past Tuesday and Wednesday in Schaumburg being cross-trained by my co-worker Dan. I hadn't planned on being there Wednesday, but the boss said to satay the night, so I did, despite having nothing with me for that. No toiletries, no clean underclothes, etc. Yeah, I don't know it all, I never will know it all. In our Networking classes, a new router (manufactured by Juniper) has replaced what we were using. The command line interface is quite involved, the configuration file is immense; there's just a lot to know/learn. My co-worker Dan has been feverishly working on updating both the slides and hands-on activity guide for this class. He and I are doing this networking classes for this customer. The Training Department has over 30 weeks of training to deliver for them in 2023. I'm still waiting on some of course material, and may not get it until after my class begins Monday. It's okay, I know enough to deliver the class, having the new hands-on activity guide would be nice, but I can get things done without it. In Closing I will be in Los Angeles next week, staying in the Montebello area and teaching class nearby. I get a week home after that, then it's all travel, other than 2 weeks of vacation in late February! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Ft Lauderdale, Fl Week of: 12/12/22 This past week I was back in Ft Lauderdale to deliver a Networking Class that focuses on the Networking used in our radio systems. This class was a little different than most others in one way. I had eight students total, only one was a customer, the rest were Motorolans supporting customers around the country. It was definitely interesting, and fun. Part of this class involves configuring routers that send data across the network. These routers are small, babies if you will, compared to the routers used to route traffic across the Internet. They work the same as those routers, just on a much smaller scale. One of the settings in the routers is to disable what's called the Boot Monitor mode. You have to follow a certain procedure to enable it, and it's not hard. During a break, the one Non-Motorola student removed his base card, the one that contains the router configuration and such. I immediately noticed that this card was set to allow entry into the Boot Monitor mode, something we don't teach in class. I know how to do it, I know what it's for. I held the card for a moment and removed the jumper. This guy already knew about the Boot Monitor mode, he just didn't know exactly how to enter it. One of the Motorola students who did know mentioned how to do it.... so I answered that the jumper was removed and it wouldn't enter that mode. The student tried to anyway, and to my surprise, it did enter the Boot Monitor mode! Well, that wasn't right, and I knew someone had reconfigured something in the startup that allowed that. This occurred on Wednesday, so after class on Thursday I stayed late and spent an hour reading the depot manual. I found what I was looking for, and disabled it. I also wrote a short note describing what I'd found and sent it to everyone who delivers this class. Why? We share knowledge! And, the man who edits this class didn't know about it, he of all people should know this! I was surprised too, because Dan knows an awful lot about Networking in general. In fact, I tell my students that he was there helping Bill Gates with the early Microsoft development (I know, Microsoft is not about routing and such, but you get my point). The class critiques were good, except one Motorola student selected the wrong boxes. What do I mean? The students grade us on our knowledge, ability to deliver the class, etc. This person chose 'Very Dissatisfied' for all six boxes, then proceeded to praise my delivery and knowledge. He just selected the wrong box by accident is all. Thank God for small favors too, because the praising tells anyone (like my boss) who sees the reviews (he looks at almost all of them) that the wrong box was accidentally selected. All in all, a very nice last delivery for 2022. I didn't visit any new restaurants this week. In fact, I had dinner in my room two nights. One, I was tired. Two, I started trying to eat less and limit my weight gain. I'm now at 225# and would like to be at 210 max, and ideally less than 200#. That's not easy when you visit nice restaurants. In Closing I am home for 3 weeks, my only real time home for any length of time through July right now. Some classes may be cancelled or delayed, those dates will most likely be filled in too if that happens. Look for a Notebook entry about my 2023 first half schedule. It's a bit insane compared to just 6 years ago. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Wilkes-Barre, Pa Week of: 12/5/22 Last week I was in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania delivering a class on one of our hand-held radios. This class includes radio disassembly/reassembly, programming, checking its operation to ensure it meets Motorola Solutions Specification, tuning it, as well as submergence checks/pressure checks. Yes, this radio will survive if dropped into a six foot water depth for two hours! (I still find that amazing.) But this customer isn't doing all that. Essentially all they do is ship a faulty radio to the depot for repair. They do not perform any checks whatsoever. This meant that about 75% of the class would not need to be covered. After all, why train them on something they'll never do? Yes, they might (a BIF might here) one day get around to doing that, but I seriously doubt it. Why? Because they would need to invest in some test equipment and adapters. To set up one station for doing those tests they would need to purchase about $75,000 worth of test equipment! While they might need just one in Luzerne County where Wilkes-Barre is, the whole state is doing the same thing. So again, doubtful that they will do this in the near future. Wilkes-Barre is a somewhat depressed area, an area that needs a bit of TLC. TLC in the form of major road maintenance and more. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice area (not an area where Jim wants to live), the people are really great, other than a bbit of "I come first" when driving on the roads. But it is a little too far north for a person of my age, so given my choice, I wouldn't live there. During the week I had another of those distractions from our support team. The Department of State wants another class, a class only two of us are qualified to deliver, and the other instructor can't travel for health reasons, so it will be up to me to deliver it. It looks like I will spend two weeks in Frankfurt, Germany! Yeah, I'm already excited about it., EXCEPT.... To do this will tire me out for a couple of days. Doing an international class requires a free week before the class (for travel and jet-lag adjustment), and a free week after for the same reason. So, four weeks in this case since it's two weeks of deliver there. With my schedule the way it is, (and part of it will not change most likely), I don't have four weeks free until November! So the way it's scheduled right now, I will be in Los Angeles in late July. Fly from LA directly to Frankfurt on Friday, start class the following Tuesday, with class ending on Friday. Then teach Monday-Friday the following week. Fly home when done and have a blessed week of recovery before flying back to LA on Sunday. Yeah... I know. I do have a tough life. (NOT!) Along with this, the Senior Training Manager in our Asia region wants me there in February/March, but that won't happen. Between January and March, I have 5 weeks of 'No-Delivery'. Two of those are vacation I've asked for, one is the week of Memorial Day, one is a week to work on course materials for a special class in Kentucky. Yep, the first half of 2023 is 'chock-a-block' full. Sadly, I will not be going to the Philippines, another instructor is. That's fine though, I can't do it all, can I? Getting home Friday proved to be more of a challenge than I imagined. On the drive from Wilkes-Barre to Harrisburg, I stopped at the Yuengling Brewery Gift Shop. It's a large place, I had a lot of fun spending a bit of $$. The flight to Atlanta, so I could connect to my flight home was unewventful. However, once there we found out that we couldn't leave because the Bloomington area had dense fog, It was so dense that officials were advising people not to drive! The small planes that service Bloomington (and other airports of similar size) do not have the necessary instrumentation that allows them to safely land in dense fog. So, I ended up spending the night in Atlanta. Because of delays in rescheduling/checking on the morning flight, I didn't get to my room until after midnight, I managed to grab about 4 hours of sleep before going back to the airport. I arrived home about 10:30 am, and instead of resting more, I went to an Estate Sale because a friend of ours had her eye on some furniture there, and my van would be needed to get it to her house. No rest for the weary, I managed to nap at 5 pm or so for a couple of hours, but needed to get up and repack to head to Ft. Lauderdale... Yeah, I was pretty tired yesterday. Today is a new day, all will be good. Historic/Interesting Places Visited: https://www.nps.gov/stea/index.htm I discoveredf Steam Town National Historic Park while browsing Google maps one night. Being a National Historic Park, I knew I had to get there. Google Maps said it closed at 5 pm, so I had time to get there after class was done. But again, I have to say EXCEPT... Google maps was wrong, it closed at 4 pm. What time did I arrive? 4 pm. I did manage to see the park a little, but was told to leave by a couple of Park Rangers. Now I need to return there because I was unable to get a stamp in my National Parks book. Maybe on one of my trips East I can do that. Photo's From Visit:  In Closing Right now I am in Fort Lauderdale delivering a Networking class. I will arrive home Friday, and have three weeks to relax. Except, I will be working on course materials and improving my knowledge on our 'new' Juniper Router for those LA classes. But I'll be home, that's what counts! Then 2023 starts with a bang!. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 11/28/22 This past week I was home and finally got some work done. I have upcoming classes in Kentucky (April), and NYC (Long Island Railroad, but not until May), and Los Angeles (Los Angeles Regional Interoperable Communication System in January) that requires me to prepare course materials, or become much more familiar with a new device (Juniper Router) that has been added to our systems. I was going to spend my week working on adding a Powerpoint module to an existing course for the upcoming class in Kentucky, but my priorities were changed last Wednesday when I was tasked with creating three short videos for use by some customers. This requires creating short videos (less than 10 minutes in length) using Powerpoint slides and narrating with a lot more information than provided on the slide. I finished one, but once again had my priorities changed when I learned that the customer in Los Angeles has that somewhat new (to us) Juniper Router in it. We have some information on it and its configuration, but not a lot. I'm fine with the basics about it, but really need to know it indepth. The problem is, that device is locked down pretty well, so there's not a lot we can do when it comes to hands-on activities. Fortunately, a co-worker (Instructor) prepares all materials for this course, and he's hot on getting the course materials completed. Friday one of our training consultants called me and said that the Asia-Pacific Training Manager wants me in the Philippines in January/February twice for 2 sessions. With my schedule as solidly booked at it is, I couldn't do those classes until July at the earliest, so another instructor will probably be assigned. It's nice to have a senior manager ask my support team to send me for this class, though she did say another instructor would do if I wasn't available. A second call came in Friday, this time the State Department wants me in Germany again for about 2 weeks of classes. We'll see what the future holds, huh! Despite these minor distractions and excitement, I did manage to get a bit done. I did more than just that video (I had to prepare the Powerpoint slides to support that first). I managed to add in a little cross-training on a course I've long wanted to deliver. I also worked on that module for a class with the Kentucky Emergency Management. Again, we'll see what the future holds, and how many changes occur to my schedule between now and the end of the second quarter. Right now I'm scheduled for 90 days of delivery in that timeframe. A few years back, 90 days was 15-20 days from a full years delivery! How things can change! In Closing Next week I will be Wilkes-Barre Pa delivering a basic radio class, followed by yet another Networking Class in Fort Lauderdale Then 2023 starts with a bang!. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Bloomington, Illinois Week of: 11/21/22 This past week I was home doing almost nothing. Our boss sent an e-mail to everyone thanking us for a tremendous year, telling us to relax all we can before the push to end the year. Next starts off hot n heavy for me. I have the first week of January free (No travel, not teaching), and two weeks of planned vacation the week of February 20. Other than that, I'm delivering every week through April 10th! Of course my schedule can change on a moments notice, but right now I will be in Schaumburg, LA twice (January and March), Kansas, Colorado Springs, Tennessee (Twice I think), Maryland, and Kentucky. Ten weeks of delivery in the first quarter, it would be more if not for that planned vacation. In Closing I will be home to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, then off the following week. My last two weeks of classes in 2022 will be a portable/mobile radio class in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, and yet another Networking Class in Fort Lauderdale Then it starts all over for me. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Madison, Wisconsin Week of: 11/14/22 This past week I was in Madison, Wisconsin delivering that basic Networking class once again. I had five students originally, but one dropped out Monday at lunch when his wife tested positive for COVID. Of the remaining students, three of them has as much Networking knowledge as I do, if not more. The nice thing though, is they didn't try to run the class, they remained students throughout the week. That's harder to do than you might think, but they seemed to have mastered that part of things. Once again, it was a fun class, made that way all the more so by their willingness to learn, and help the one student who wasn't as up-to-speed on networking knowledge as they were. We did cover a little extra in our discussions, but for the most part, we remained on topic. As of now, I will return to Madison in May of 2023 for the second Networking class. Madison is a nice place, a college town/city, with a lot going for it. It's small in size, and that suited me just fine. I enjoyed my meals at night, except for one. Let's just say I didn't choose wisely as far as my meal is concerned. However, I did experience a few excellent meals! Noteworthy Restaurants: Takumi Japanese Restaurant https://www.orderonlinehub.com/takumijapaneserestaurant I really enjoy dining at a Japanese restaurant, and Takumi was what I longed for this night. I had their Godzilla Roll as an appetizer, and their Shrimp Tempura Udon for mt meal. It had been a bit cold that day and the Udon noodles and Tempura really warmed me up. Erin's Snug Irish Pub Restaurant https://www.erinssnug.com/dinner It was my last night in Madison, and an Irish Pub sounded perfect to me. And it was. I will admit that my appetizer and dessert were definitely not Irish, but my meal sure was. Guinness Stew! Nice and hot, topped with a housemade puff pastry and baked. Definitely worth the visit. The dessert was Bread Pudding, and was good, but not fantastic. Then again, I'm spoiled when it comes to bread pudding.'' Buck And Honey's https://monona.buckandhoneys.com/monona-buck-and-honey-s-monona-food-menu There were 3 or 4 appetizers on the menu that I wanted, so I opted for their appetizer combo. Bacon Wrapped Dates, Sassy Curds (Local Cheese Curds), and Firecracker Shrimp. I should have ordered two of these and nothing more, it was that good! Instead, I did order dinner, and had their Seared ahi Tuna Salad. This is a very nice place, I don't think I could have gone wrong no matter what I ordered. In Closing I will be home to celebrate Thanksgiving next week, then off the following week. My last two weeks of classes in 2022 will be a portable/mobile radio class in Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania, and yet another Networking Class in Fort Lauderdale Then it starts all over for me. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 11/7/22 This past week I've been in Schaumburg delivering a more Advanced Networking Class. Well, it's not that much more advanced. The basic class teaches students the subject of IP Addressing, how TCP works, what a switch and router are and how to configure each, as well as backing up and restoring each. This week's class teaches them just about the same subject, except the discussion is centered around their operation in our radio systems. Plus, in the basic class, an older Cisco router is used. In this one, we use a Motorola Router, and soon, a Juniper Router. So same subject in some ways, but we cover the material in a more in-depth manner. It was a fun class, even if I did get the impression that someone was 'taking' cables they shouldn't (my impression was wrong), or that someone had taken one of my USB drives (again, I was wrong). I really enjoy delivering each of these classes and try to impart that feeling to my students. With three and a half days of all hands-on activities in this class, it's a fun class to deliver. If you don't mind doing the hands-on activities yourself. I enjoy doing those activities which makes it all the more fun. Noteworthy Restaurants: Buffalo Wild Wings https://www.buffalowildwings.com/menu/ If you've read any entries in this blog at all, you know I typically do not dine at a National Chain restaurant. I sort of make an exception when in Schaumburg, because having lived here for 15 years, it's like being home. NOT! Okay, it's a place I'm quite familiar with, and at times I make an exception. Let's leave it at that. This particular night I was in the mood for Wings. But I didn't have them. Why? Because I found they have a Green Chile Cheeseburger!  They label theirs as a Bacon Smashed Hatch Chile Burger. This was a no-brainer in my eyes. And as fate would have it, I ordered an appetizer, the Hatch Queso. You can never have too much Hatch Chile if you ask me.Fat Rosie's Taco & Tequila Bar https://media-cdn.getbento.com/accounts/b4b148424bd38e72d3c74dc5c074a855/media/FeX9P0J7SbCDdAYMbAma_FatRosies_L_Dinner_11x17_08192022B.pdf It was Taco Tuesday, that's what I wanted. Where else should I go besides here? It was good, not spectacular. Fa Rosie's Queso Dip and a couple of Taco's, plus a nice Margarita set me up well. In Closing I will be in Madison Wisconsin next week, then celebrate Thanksgiving the following week. Only two more weeks of delivery this year before having three weeks off for Christmas/New Years. Then it starts all over for me. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Week of: 10/31/22 This past week I've been in Schaumburg delivering a basic Networking Class. This is a class that I don't get to deliver often, but one I really enjoy delivering. But, here is what's happened with this class. I delivered the original class for 4 years in the mid-2000s. As I qualified to deliver new courses and new instructors (contractors) arrived, I didn't deliver it for 8 years. In the meantime, the course was rewritten. Suddenly we cut back on using Contractors, and I was once again scheduled to deliver it. With it having undergone that rewrite, I essentially had to re-qualify on it. I spent 2-3 weeks during a December holiday period reviewing the course materials and performing the hands-on activities at home using equipment that had been shipped to me. I've now taught it 7 times in the last four years. That's not often enough to really get comfortable with the flow of it. Don't get me wrong, the class has gone well overall, I'm able to answer their questions without having to look things up. There are just 3-4 small things that you have to know/do to preclude having issues during the hands-on exercises. It seems I remember them AFTER we have those issues. But it's been good overall. I've had some fun despite seeming to struggle with minor stuff, the students have been great. I guess I just enjoy delivering a Networking class. Schaumburg is my office location, about 2 hours north of Bloomington Illinois, where I live. As such, every class I deliver in person is a field class or road trip. I find I don't miss Schaumburg one bit and love living in a smaller town. There are pluses and minuses to this, as there are to everything in life. For me, the pluses outweigh all the minuses. Noteworthy Restaurants: The Local Kitchen And Tap https://thelocalkitchentap.com/menu/ When I travel to a city, I will pull up Google maps and look at nearby restaurants. I find their menu to see what they offer, and choose a restaurant that way. Having lived up here for 15 years, I know the area decently well, but new restaurants pop up all the time. Such is the case here. One look at their menu and I knew I had to dine there. For an appetizer, I had their 3 whiskey/3 cheese offering. It was three one-ounce shot glasses of whiskey. One not aged at all, a Rye Whiskey, and a cask-aged whiskey. The cheeses were sliced cheddar, Mint Goat Cheese, and Jalapeno Cream Cheese, grapes, and Naan crackers. WOW! For my meal, I chose their Blackened Mahi Tacos., Again, WOW. Street Tao size, perfect as a follow-on from the Whiskey/Cheese tray. Tokio Pub https://www.tokiopub.com/menu/dinner Again, the menu here drew me in. The meal was good, but not near as good as the Local Kitchen. I had the Ahi tuna Hot Rock Appetizer. Thinly sliced Tuna in a soy ginger marinade (it wasn't covered, it was sitting on a rectangular plate with the marinade not quite covering it), with Cucumber Salad, and a Sesame Ginger dipping sauce. A River rock heated to about 500 degrees F was in a small bowl. You placed the Tuna on the rock for as long as you like, then dipped it. Yummmm . It was Taco Tuesday, so I had to have their Crying Tiger Shrimp Tacos. Jumbo butterflied shrimp, avocado, sriracha chili sauce, house slaw, cilantro. In Closing I will be back in Schaumburg next week before going to Madison Wisconsin the following week. If you're in the NW Chicago burbs and would like to meet for coffee or a meal, let me know! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| Locale: Washington, DC Week of: 10/24/22 This past week was spent in Washington, DC, working with the U.S. Secret Service. This sounds like a 'Wow!' moment in some ways, but it was really 'just another class'. The difference of course, was where I was, and the significance of the customer. Yes, the class was held in the Secret Service Headquarters. No, I didn't meet anyone that the Secret Service guards. Yes, we had a conference room for the class. It was small, pretty small. The class itself went very well. The subject matter was relatively new to them since everything in their new system was IP based. Their RF knowledge was sound, so talking about that part was easy, everyone had the chance to display their RF knowledge as we discussed system operation. The IP part is how their new system is connected, so pretty new to most of the students. The second half of the class concentrated on small device they had little to no knowledge of. We spent Thursday and Friday configuring it, and discussing how it fits in their system. The highlight for me was the small gift shop downstairs. On Monday, the manager went down and purchased two challenge coins, two lanyards, and two mouse pads, all with Secret Service labels on them,and gave them to me. Later, I went there and added two more Secret Service challenge coins, a shot glass, and a nice bag that will be used to hold the cables and necessary adapters I take with me to every class. This started out as a small zip-lock bag years ago, and is not a small carry-on bag for my flights! I will give one of the Challenge Coins to a good friend of mine, and maybe one of the lanyards to another friend. Obviously I will keep one of the lanyards for my use (work badge hanging from it), but I am not use what to do with the second one. We will eventually use the mouse pads, it's too soon to do a lot since I leave for Schaumburg tomorrow. Maybe I will give one of the lanyards to my best friend at work. I also had the pleasure of learning to ride the small electric scooters around the city. We have a partnership with Uber. We download the Ubre Ap and add our corporate card to it. We then use it in large cities that we don't rent a car in, like Fort Lauderdale and Washington DC. For less than $30, I rode one to and from work the last two- three days (it was close enough to walk), and to/from restaurants at night. I also snapped a couple of photos. Photo's From Visit:  Sunset at The City Park  I served with this man (Dan Maloney) on the USS Alabama. He was chosen as the model for this statue. The sculptor snapped a photo as Dan exited his car and automatically flipped his collar up to shield his neck on this cold, windy, winter day. He then shoved his hands in his pockets, and that's when the sculptor snapped the photo. It was then used as the model that the sculptor worked with in creating this statue. Noteworthy Restaurants: Oyamel Cocina Mexicana https://tfgmenus.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/20221002_OYL_MainMenu-1.pdf I have to confess that this was my second choice that night. My first choice will not be listed here, but they had no available tables, I couldn't even sit at the bar! So I dined here, and loved it. For an appetizer I had Ceviche Verde. Mediterranean Bass marinated in lime juice with avocado and tomatillo. My dinner was Camarones al mojo de ajo negro. Wild caught Gulf Coast white shrimp sautéed with shallots, árbol chile, poblano pepper, lime and sweet aged black garlic, served with a side of Spanish Rice. Compared to most places (which serve you far too much really), the dinner seemed to be on the small side. But it wasn't. It was perfectly sized if you ask me, especially when I poured the Shrimp (Camarones) over the rice. Farmers & Distillers https://farmersanddistillers.com/menu/lunch-dinner/ This was a nice place to eat, but the portion sizes were large, (as mentioned above). For an appetizer I had Pickled Vegetables Pickled Carrots and Cucumbers. Excellent, except the Cucumbers were a little squishy. My meal was Drunken Beef & Chicken. Mushrooms, Bok Choy, Napa Cabbage, Bean Sprouts, & Sesame Seeds. Umaya Izakawa https://www.umayadc.com/menu-landing/ I was in the mood for Sushi this night, so I satisfied that urge by dining here. My appetizer was Tuna Tataki Seared Tuna Sashimi served with Ponzu Sauce. This was very good though it was shaped a bit like something from a shallow tin can. It was actually molded in that shape is all. I also had Shrimp Shumai, six smallish shrimp rolls served with an excellent dipping sauce. My dinner was the Volcano Roll. Baked Scallops, Tobiko, Shrimp Tempura, Kanikama Crabmeat Mix, Spicy Aioli, Avocado, Soy Reduction. Everything was excellent, though it was a little hard to separate the pieces of the Sushi Roll. I wasn't complaining though.... In Closing The next two weeks will be find me in Schaumburg delivering out two networking classes. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! Jim Dorrell |
| 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 |
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