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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 am a Senior Training Specialist for Motorola Solutions, and teach classes on a wide variety of subjects centered around 2 way radio communications (for eight more weeks). I knew that when the time arrived that I would retire. That time is now. 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 are not in demand anymore. My students were/are 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? This probably won't have daily entries, but I will make entries to update you about my life before and during my employment with Motorola Solutions. I also intend to update you all about what I'm doing in retirement. Well, here we go with this new adventure, let's see where it takes us.  Best Cultural And Regional Honorable Mention |
Houston, Tx Week of 2/24/25 Finally traveling and teaching again after 6 weeks of no delivery. I wasn't being punished, there were classes scheduled, but the customers chose to cancel all classes (not just mine) for undisclosed reasons. I didn't mind, in many ways it was a welcome break to my hectic schedule. With retirement looming on the horizon, I didn't really want to end my career in quite this way, then again, I didn't want it to end with me traveling most weeks. Y'know, an 'in-between' those two extremes really. Oh well, it is what it is. The customer this week past week was Harris County, I learned during the class that their system extended into other counties because smaller communities wanted to use their system. Of course they paid for it too, but I've no idea what the fee was. The class was another Networking class (my last delivery of this subject!), and was challenging in some ways. At least three students had a pretty extensive knowledge of Unix, and two of them had worked with Unix quite a bit. Our new Juniper Routers are built on a Unix platform, I ended up leaving the two experienced Network techs to themselves. Lord knows they didn't need my help. Everyone else was 'okay', but they needed a lot of guidance during the hands on sessions. I wanted to keep the Juniper Router activities under some amount of control. Only because it's easier on me, knowing that each group was essentially doing the same steps. That idea went out the window when one of the groups asked for help, saying they were on the fourth session. Ughhh... I know I said to perform only the first activity. Oh well, all was well in the long run. I flew in and out of Houston George Bush Airport because it was close to the training site, as well as close to my hotel. So Friday after class was completed, I drove down south to The Houston Farmer's Market. Of course there are a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, some I didn't recognize. I knew it would be hard to carry fruit back in my luggage, not to mention being unsure about their storage, so I didn't even look at those. There were a few stalls that had decorative pieces for your yard as well as the house. Let's just say it's a good thing I was alone, otherwise I'd have spent upwards of $300 on small decorative items. Overall it was a very pleasant afternoon of walking, people watching, and seeing things I hadn't seen before. Noteworthy Restaurants: BB's TexOrleans https://bbstexorleans.com/our-menu/ Excellent choice in deciding to dine there. The Blackened Texas Redfish was very good, even if it did look a lot like Catfish. That night I checked the web for images of Blackened Texas Redfish, it looked exactly like my entree, making me feel a lot better. You can't go a good Cajun Restaurant and not have Boudin (it's pronounced in a variety of ways, one of those is Bou-dan, which is what I use) of some kind. Both were excellent, of course I took leftovers to the hotel with me. Los Cucos https://loscucos.com/menu/texas/ After having leftover the night before, I thought I'd dine lightly. I ordered their Cal-De-Res Soup, and the Shrimp Stuffed Jalapenos. However, neither was small in size! Wow. I ate what I could, but didn't take leftovers with me because I had to get up about 3 am to get to the airport for a 6:30 flight.... I hate wasting food, even if it's marginal in taste. This wasn't, it was very good. I just couldn't see taking it with me. 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 (mentally) in some ways, but this old body of 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} Mar 10 - Vacation Mar 17 - Work From Home, 1 Day in Schaumburg x-training a co-worker. Mar 24 - Vacation Mar 31 - Schaumburg (Cross Training a Co-Worker) Apr 7 - Schaumburg (Cross Training a Co-Worker) Apr 14 - Schaumburg for the last time! (As of now) 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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Although, I hope you've got a portable table set up for prep while you wait for counters or a microwave for those frozen meals.
