Week 7 Wednesday

We experienced the Winged Monkey Assault this morning!!!  It actually worked out better than I thought it was going to.  From the description I was given by a couple different people I was expecting something along the lines of a middle-of-the-night drill experienced by Gunny Highway (Clint Eastwood) in Heartbreak Ridge (if ya know what I mean).  This took place on the track.  We had Steelbells, Kettle bells, jump ropes, TRX straps, Rubber bands, rubber straps, dumbbells, pullup bars, dip bars, hills, agility ladders and cones, sandbags, and of course the track itself.  The only instruction was to stay busy for 30 minutes!!!  And I did!  It was a good workout.  I sweated a lot but didn't feel like a trip to the morgue when I was done (like last week!!!!).  And for the first time since we started I forgot my camera!!  It's just as well, I don't know that it would have fared well with this circuit!

This past weekend was the trip to Philadelphia.  I actually used to live not to far away from Philadelphia, of course that was 40 years ago (man I'm getting old...I did something over 40 years ago!).  I still have family there...A shout-out to the McCann's in West Chester and surrounding area!!!!  And I will apologize now for not making contact...we had a pretty tight and very busy schedule.

We left out Saturday morning and went straight to Philadelphia PD where we were supposed to meet with Commissioner Ramsey.  Unfortunately, he had other business that had to be attended to.  We met with one of his Deputy Commissioners.  After a quick talk with him and tour of the facility we headed out to Northeast Philly to the new FOP Lodge #5.  This was a brand new building and our class was the first NA class to visit.  It was a beautiful building and great lunch...philly cheesesteaks!!!!  Thanks to the FOP members for their hospitality.  We then went to I guess what could be considered Philadelphia PD's special ops.  We were given a bomb demo; it's always great to see stuff get blown up!  then a short K9 and a SWAT demo.  Philadelphia PD has some cool toys!  Another thank you to the guys of Philadelphia PD.  From here we finally checked into our hotels and then went for dinner.

The next day we started about 8:30 and went to Independence Hall, The Liberty Bell, and the National Constitution Center.  From there we went for lunch at Tony Lukes...Philly cheesesteak and fries!!!  After lunch we were given a tour of the Phillies stadium.  And of course you can't take a trip like this to Philly and not stop by the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Some of you may be thinking "ART?"  Don't think art...Think Rocky!!!!  Yes, we all ran up the steps while someone was playing the theme to Rocky through a small, but fairly loud external speaker for their iphone!  We finished up the trip with dinner at Table 31 at the Comcast Center.  I was about as impressed with their dinner as I am with the prices of their cable service!

Overall it was great trip to Philadelphia and I'm glad I went.  I have visited family up there several times and have never seen some of the stuff that I saw while I was there this weekend.  Thanks to Tom Fitzpatrick of our class and Philadelphia PD...you did a great job putting this together!

We've only got about 3.5 weeks left with only the next 2.5 weeks being solid classwork.  From some of the rumblings I have heard I think I'm doing pretty good with the classwork I have left to complete (which I plan on doing this weekend!!!).  And I am down to 3.5 miles left in my swim!!!! I will be done Friday!  Bring on the blue brick!!!!

Tonight is International night.  We have 27 students in our class that are from other countries.  In week 7 of each class the International students get together and provide the rest of us with a sample of their country; food, drink, uniform, and culture.  We are all looking forward to this evening!

Till next time...Be Safe!