Where In The World Is Sum1?

Working From Home For Two Weeks

Locale: Bloomington, Illinois

Week of: 10/2 & 10/9/2023

         I've spent the past two weeks at home instead of traveling to New Mexico as I wanted to do.  This trip to NM would have allowed to enjoy the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, an item at the top of my bucket list.  It will have to wait for next year I guess.  Right now I'm planning on us going home to NM in December for Christmas.  I haven't seen the Luminarias and the Southwest Christmas decorations for more years than I care to think of.

         My manager has chastised me for being on my work PC and in Google Chat with my co-workers during this time.  To be honest though, I've worked when I wanted to, and for as long as I wanted/needed to.  There are some things I wanted to get done that can't really be done while teaching/traveling.  I have my 'special projects' that need attention, so used the timeframe to get them done.  I was relaxing, there were days that I got very little, if anything, completed/worked on.  I was on vacation/staycation, so it didn't matter.  Except it did.  I finished those projects this morning though. 

         The weather has changed it.  Gone are the really hot days of summer, only to be replaced with the cooler temperatures of Autumn.  The leaves are changing to their Autumn colors too, soon it will be time to rake in them up and take them to the curb.  It's been windy, chilly (only in the low 40's F, ~ 4-5 Celsius), so time for the long sleeves to come out.  No jackets right now, though I have worn my Submarine Veteran Jacket once or twice.  I did that more to show it off than anything.

         As I've mentioned already, we had to cancel our trip to Albuquerque for a couple of reasons.  The biggest thing though, was we had to put our lovely Senior Citizen Akita (Pumpkin) down.  If we hadn't, she might have lived a bit longer, we have no idea of knowing obviously.  She was such a wonderful, loving dog though, but age had robbed her for a lot of her living pleasure.  My biggest fear was that something would happen while I was gone.  There is now way Kathy could have gotten her into the car.  Pumpkin was a healthy 80 lbs that day.  We miss her terribly, but I think we miss the youthful Pumpkin we has early on.  We've watched videos of her playing, it's just so sad to see her then, and realize what she was like this past year.

         As usual, my schedule has changed due to customers canceling classes.  Our field classes are scheduled with the assistance of a Project Manager.  Often times the classes are scheduled far too early, or far too late.  It's a rare occasion when a class is scheduled at the appropriate time.  Is the Project Managers fault?  In some ways, yes.  In some ways no, because dates slip due to delays in system installation.  Below is my current schedule through the end of the year.  I don't see this changing too much, unless that Michigan class slips.

10/16:  Schaumburg (original class in Marin County was cancelled this week because they and their radio system are a long ways from being installed.  The class would have been delivered far too early.)
10/23:  Brentwood, Tn
10/30:  Schaumburg
11/6:  Schaumburg  (Too many weeks in Schaumburg!)
11/13:  Los Angeles with LAPD
11/20:  Home - Thanksgiving week
11/27:  Los Angeles with LAPD
12/4:  Fort Lauderdale
12/11:  Lansing, Michigan
12/18:  Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break
12/25:  Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break
1/1/24:  Home, or Albuquerque - Christmas Break
1/8/24:  Lansing Michigan


         It's been a great two weeks, I've rested and relaxed a lot. I told my manager about possibly going to Albuquerque in December, his response was to just go, not to worry about scheduling vacation since that's our holiday downtime.  He wants me to decompress and relax even more.  Well, that's about it for now.  Until my next post, be good to those you love, spoil them, and write!





Jim Dorrell