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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: Henderson, Kentucky Week Of: October 26, 2020 This week finds me in Henderson, Kentucky for a class with the city and county of Henderson. I found myself attracted to the area, mainly because I love river towns, but it was the local radio station (WSON) I listened to that captured me. Why? One word. Americana. Small town, and if it weren't for the highways and types of vehicles on the road, you might think you were in a time warp, and back in the 1950's. As is my custom right now, I drove here, a long drive of 4 hours or so. Then again though, if I had flown to Evansville, Indiana (right across the Ohio River in Indiana), it would have been a longer trip. Drive to the airport, and arrive at least an hour and a half early, 30 minute flight to Chicago, at least an hour layover, probably more, and an hour flight to Evansville. Plus, you get the 'joy' of being crammed in an airplane, confined in a narrow space for those flights. No thank you, driving is more fun. Noteworthy Restaurants: Poké River http://www.pokeriver.com/ This is essentially a fast food chain that is very similar to Poké Works, which is coming to my town soon. If you enjoy Poké like I do, then you almost have to go. I find (or shall I say I hope), it's healthier than McD's and the like. I've been to a Poké Works in Omaha, and this is almost identical to them, just a different name. And yes, I loved my meal from there. Catfish Willy's Another dish I love is Catfish. While I don't eat much fried food, I prefer Catfish fried or blackened. I'm glad I ordered mine fried, I had a platter, with the catfish, shrimp, oysters, and clams, with a side of Fried Okra. (You can never get too much Okra!). Everything was fried, and the amazing thing to me was, there was no sign of grease! I couldn't eat it all that night, so took it to my hotel room, and finished it the next day. Never did I find a spot of grease. Plus, the cornmeal breading on the catfish was perfect too. Manna Mediterranean Grill https://manna-grill.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/MANNA-Menu-CLR-100220.pdf Another cuisine I really enjoy is Mediterranean food. It is really hard to find a place that serves authentic Eastern Mediterranean food, or Middle East food here in the States. I dined at a Kabob Restaurant in Canada a couple of years ago, and fell in love with the seasoning used there. I asked what it was, and found out that they import their seasoning from Iran. With the Embargo in place on Iran, they can't be imported here I guess. Still, whenever I can find a good Mediterranean or Middle Eastern restaurant, I make sure to drop by. Historic/Interesting Places Visited: The Red Skelton Museum of American Comedy http://redskeltonmuseum.org/ I am a big fan of this man! Whenever I see that question that floats around here and there... You know the one. "Who would you like to meet, living or dead?" My #1 answer is Red Skelton. I cannot consider myself a fan of this man, and not stop here. I think it was his wittiness, willingness to act or look in whatever way he needed to, to make people smile that made me a fan. Comedians today have their delivery scripted (except for standup comedians), but take a look at some of the things he would do, and you'll realize that this was most likely completely off-the-cuff. The museum is on the campus of Vincennes University in Vincennes Indiana. It is a nice tribute to the legendary comedian, and well worth a quick visit. Look for some of his Gertrude & Heathcliffe jokes in my "Smile! (Groan?) You Know You Love These!" ![]() In Closing I will spend the weekend and next week at home. I was scheduled to be in Schaumburg to deliver a resident class, but there's been an upswing in COVID cases in the Chicago area recently, and they've placed even more restrictions on room capacities, and my class has too many students to fit in one of our classrooms now. So I get to deliver this class from home instead! Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! ![]() ![]() Jim Dorrell |
Locale: Schaumburg, Illinois Weeke Of: September 21, 2020 This past week I was in my old haunts, but man has it changed. Motorola sold the entire campus, and there's quite a bit of construction happening where Motorola buildings used to be. Some are apartments, others, I have no idea what they are for. My customer was the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the class was a tailored class of 3-4 courses we put together for them. It wasn't a bad class, considering I only had 2 students. Both were former Army, both knew quite a bit, but had so much to learn. They were pleased with the class, their comments showed on their critique sheets. That's the one thing I've never quite understood completely about this. We are graded by the students, yet we do not administer tests, nor can we 'grade them' on their knowledge, attitude, and other things. Guess it's all part of the job. I know I never describe the classes much for you, and that's intentional, and needed. Some of the stuff I can't talk about, but the biggest reason is that it would make little sense to most of you. I think Robert Waltz ![]() ![]() On another front, things are slowly coming back to normal, or as close as it's going to get anytime soon. Restaurants have dine-in service for the most part, travel (flying) is not fun at all. I don't mind crowds, even in these times. But don't lecture me (us) about one way to act, then pack us in a plane like sardines. As a result, I'll be driving to every class I can. Right now, I'm in Omaha Nebraska for a class this week, and drove here from Central Illinois. Hotels are iffy at best. Some have breakfast, some don't. None have any kind of housekeeping going on. If you want your room serviced, you have to notify them. Maybe I should notify them every day and see what happens.... ![]() In Closing I will spend the weekend at home, and drive to Omaha (where I'm at right now as it turns out) for a class next week. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! ![]() ![]() Jim Dorrell |
Locale: Bradenton, Fl Week Of: July 20, 2020 Well, I managed to deliver my fifth class at a remote location this week. I was afraid this class would become a virtual one like so many I've been scheduled for have. But things worked out, and I drove to Bradenton, Florida for this delivery. I'm glad I did because I managed to do a couple of things. One of my best friends at Motorola retired in January, I hadn't seen him since sometime last year. He moved to Mount Pleasant, Tennessee a couple of years ago, and while on medical leave last year, he decided it was time to hang things up. Driving to Bradenton would give me the chance to take a small detour and visit him and his wife. We're the same age, and I know (as does he) that we may not see each other again in this life. No, neither of us plan on dying any time soon, but I learned long ago that tomorrow is not guaranteed. I left a day early, stayed at a decent hotel on my dime that night. Okay, I didn't spend a penny, other than dinner. I used hotel points. We met on Saturday morning, and spent about an hour catching up and kidding around like we always did. The drive Saturday was not all that pleasant. I drove down I-65 to Montgomery, Alabama before angling Southeast through the state. The drive from Birmingham to Montgomery is supposed to take a bit more than an hour. It felt like this one took eight! In actuality, it was close to three hours due to construction, and an accident that had us almost completely stopped for over an hour. As a result, where I'd hoped to get to Gainesville Saturday night, I only made it to Tallahassee. It was fine though, the next day drive was short. Except for the accidents, again. While in Bradenton, I managed to visit my father-in-law, a man I haven't seen in about 10 years. I saw him four of the nights I was there, and we conspired to surprised my sister-in-law with a pizza night. She had no idea I was in town. When she saw me, you could have knocked her over with a feather. I also avoided crowds, and didn't dine out. The nights that I did have dinner there, I got food to go, and ate in the comfort of my room. So why did I drive? Just read the news about flying right now, and you can understand. Did it tire me out? Definitely. Was it worth it? Yes, definitely. The drive home was uneventful, I even drove through Atlanta, spending Friday night just south of that city. The whole trip, I was amazed at the number of accidents I saw on the roads. I didn't count them, but I'd guess there were 9-10 on both drives. In Closing I will spend the weekend and next week at home. There's still a lot going on at work, I am scheduled to teach from home all of August, before going to Schaumburg to deliver a tailored class to the State Department. Right now, I am booked every week between now and Christmas. I do have the Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks free right now, but that could change. Til next time, be good to yourselves and those you love, and WRITE! |