Where In The World Is Sum1?

Wilkes-Barre Pa

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