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 |  I travel the country on business, sometimes the world. Come see where I've been. |
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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.  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
Schaumburg Week of 11/25/24 This past week I worked from home once more. But to say I worked would be overstating what I've accomplished, which is very little. It's Thanksgiving week, usually a week of little work getting done, so I've taken advantage of it. Our managers email told us to complete what we needed to do each day and log off. I think I'd like to reflect on both this career at Motorola, as well as my Naval Career. First, the Navy. I enlisted as an 18 year old on 25 August, 1972. I thought I was 'grown up', never realizing how much growing I had yet to do. I was chosen for the Navy Nuclear Power Program from day 1, but if you know my background, you would know that I was one of the most 'unqualified' individuals to enter that program. The 2 years of school was tough, the toughest I've ever been in. The minimum requirements were these. A GCT/ARI score of at least 115. No bending of the rules was allowed, if you scored 114, you didn't qualify. My score was 127, the best you could get was 135. In high school, you had to have completed 2 years of Mathematics, Calculus or Trigonometry was recommended, not required. I had a year of Algebra and a year of Geometry. You also needed to complete 2 years of Science. Physics or Chemistry was recommended, not required. I had a year of General Science and a year of Biology. But I had those test scores. I had no interest in Electricity/Electronics, or anything Mechanical. I was a Music Major, I played French Horn, and taught myself how to play Trombone. So no hands-on experience, and minimal course completions. Still, there were those test scores. If a recruiter manages to get a potential sailor designated for the Nuclear Power Program, it was quite an accomplishment and a feather in his cap. I have no idea if he was given a bonus for that feat, but in my opinion he/she would deserve one. There was a high attrition rate in this program, and remains close to that today. The attrition rate was about 35%. My first at sea assignment was on the USS Theodore Roosevelt SSBN 600 (G), repoorting there in September 1974. I earned my dolphins on 25 April 1975, something I am very proud of. There were other things I did, other qualifications, but earning my dolphins is #1 on my list, I was promoted to E-5, then E-6, followed by E-7 (Chief Petty Officer), a promotion I earned with less than 8 years of service! This was unheard of then, and is even more rare in today's Navy. In 1993, I'd been passed over for promotion to E-8 (Senior Chief Petty Officer) many times. Promotion to E-7. 8 or 9 was different than anytthing below that because your Service Record was reviewed by a board. Emphasis was on external community involvment which earned you points. I had none, so I wasn't really surprised to not be promoted. I decided to retire, and did on 1/31/93. Now, my post Navy career. I worked at a Firestone Tire Plant for 6 years. First as a Maintenance Electrician/Mechanic, later as a Supervisor, mainly the Maintenance Training Supervisor. It was my plant that was involved in the tire recall of 2000. As a result of that, I posted my resume on Monster.com, where it was found by a head-hunter for Motorola. The rest is history. I am proud to say that Motorola asked me to interview for the job, in essence, I didn't apply. The interview must have gone well, and I was hired, I knew 2 things about radios. I knew what the acronyms AM and FM mean, nothing else. 24 years later, I will retire from Motorola. May 2nd, 2024 will be my last day of employment there. I will say that the man who hired me asked me a serious question. He said something like, "Jim, your students will have upwards of 20+ years of experience working on and maintaining radios and their systems. Are you sure you can teach them these classes?" I don't recall my exact answer of course, and I know I probably sounded conceited, but I said something like, "Well, I qualified to operate, perform maintenance and stand watch on a Nuclear Power Plant, I'm sure I can handle radio subjects." Like I said, the rest is history. The day I retire from Motorola, it will be 50 years and one week since earning my dolphins, still #1 on list of accomplishments. In the meantime, I still have classes to deliver, I refuse to adopt a 'short timers' attitude and waltz into the sunset. There's still a lot to be done. My Current Schedule - Below is my schedule through the end of my career at Motorola. I have thought about this a lot, at times thinking I wouldn't retire, at times knowing I would. I can't continue to hem & haw over it, I've told my manager about the date, I will stick to it. As you can tell, I don't really want to retire, I'm not ready in some ways, but this old body on mine says I should. If anyone is in any city I'll be visiting between now and the end of April, I'd love to meet up. I'll even buy you dinner if we chose to meet at night! (e:smile} Dec 2: Seattle Dec 9: Work From Home Dec 16: Fort Lauderdale Dec 23: Christmas/New Years 'Relaxation' Dec 30: Christmas/New Years 'Relaxation' Jan 6 - Sacramento Jan 13 - Upstate NY (I don't know where yet) Jan 20 - Work From Home Jan 27 - WMATA Virtual Class (teach from home) Feb 3 - Washington DC WMATA Feb 10 - Vacation Feb 17 - Vacation Feb 24 - Harris County Tx (Houston) Mar 3 - Washington DC Mar 10 - Vacation Mar 17 - Schaumburg Mar 24 - WMATA Virtual Class (teach from home) Mar 31 - Sacramento Apr 7 - Schaumburg Apr 14 - Work from home Apr 21 - Work from home Apr 28 - Work from home RETIRED! That's it for now. Until my next entry, write all you can, and love everyone, especially those special people who fill your life!  Jim Dorrell |
Schaumburg Week of 11/18/24 Wow, I did not realize I was so far behind in keeping this blog up-to-date! I'd love to say I've just been too busy, but that wouldn't be entirely true. Let's face it, I just forgot. This past week I was in Schaumburg once again. Before that I had a week of no-delivery, a week in Seattle, Vacation, and a week in Schaumburg. I've been busy, but I've also had weeks off with no delivery, so there's really no excuse. Howver, I'm off for Thanksgiving this week, and will be in Seattle next week. This week's class in Schumburg was a good week, and another Networking Class. Everything went well, other than one hands-on activity we couldn't accomplish satisfactorily, but in not accomplishing that the students said that the problem we encountered is one they would see at times. The best thing about it though, is that I showed them why we couldn't complete it, and what should be done so it could be completed. So despite not completing that hands-on activity, it was a win-win. I'm hesitant to go into details here about the issue, mainly because I think most of you would become glassy eyed pretty quickly. Either way, here's what we we doing. The students had the exact routers used in our system. The idea is to copy the configuration file to the router, then go to our system and place it in service. To do that, we remove the operating router from service and connect the cabling so the 'new' router operates in its place. The crux of the problem was that the routers had an older operating system, one that is not compatible with the current system. As a result, the alarms we received would never clear. Like I said above, the students might encounter this at some point when replacinfg a failed router. Fortunately, those things don't fail very often. All in all though, it was a good learning experience for them. Noteworthy Restaurants: Chicago Ramen Annex https://chicago-ramen.us/collections I really loved this place, and will return. Why? I enjoyed some of the best Ramen I can remember having in recent years, simple as that. I had their Spipcy Red Miso Ramen W/Sweet Corn. My mistake was taking the red clump of pepper that sat on top of the dish, and just stirring it into the Ramen. It was just a little spicier than I wanted that night. It wasn't too hot for me, but it was spicy enough. Westwood Tavern https://westwoodtavern.com/menus This is a nice tavern and very close to my office. I dined there because I was invited to join several of the students for dinner Thursday night! I don't normally have company at dinner, I usually dine alone. So dining with them was a treat. I enjoyed their Braised Short Rib Foot Long Grill Cheese (Mushrooms, Gouda, Cheddar & Fontina Cheeses served with a tomato basil dip. I still have leftovers in our Fridge here too. My Current Schedule - Below is my schedule through the end of my career at Motorola. I have thought about this a lot, at times thinking I wouldn't retire, at times knowing I would. I can't continue to hem & haw over it, I've told my manager about the date, I will stick to it. As you can tell, I don't really want to retire, I'm not ready in some ways, but this old body on mine says I should. If anyone is in any city I'll be visiting between now and the end of April, I'd love to meet up. I'll even buy you dinner if we chose to meet at night! (e:smile} Nov 25: Thanksgiving Dec 2: Seattle Dec 9: Washington DC Dec 16: Fort Lauderdale Dec 23: Christmas/New Years 'Relaxation' Dec 30: Christmas/New Years 'Relaxation' Jan 6 - Sacramento Jan 13 - Upstate NY (I don't know where yet) Jan 20 - Work From Home Jan 27 - WMATA Virtual Class (teach from home) Feb 3 - Washington DC WMATA Feb 10 - Vacation Feb 17 - Vacation Feb 24 - Harris County Tx (Houston) Mar 3 - Washington DC Mar 10 - Vacation Mar 17 - Schaumburg Mar 24 - WMATA Virtual Class (teach from home) Mar 31 - Sacramento Apr 7 - Schaumburg Apr 14 - Work from home Apr 21 - Work from home Apr 28 - Work from home RETIRED! That's it for now. Until my next entry, write all you can, and love everyone, especially those special people who fill your life! Jim Dorrell |
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is better than suspended upside down in the 'void'. 
