Last Week

Yippee, last week at the academy. It's been a great time and a wonderful experience, but it's time to head home. Alexis and Viana will be flying out Wednesday (that's only two days away!) for the graduation ceremony on Friday, then it's back to the west coast.

Got lots of photos to share and stories to tell, but for now since I'm fighting off another cold, it's off to get some soup then nap time. Two more classes today then our final PT session tomorrow which I'll probably skip. Graduation rehersal Wednesday morning, photos and schmoozing then the real deal Friday morning. Wahoo!

Auction and Travel Plans

Yay for week 8! That means only two more weeks well, technically three, but who's counting? Tonight was the silent auction to benefit COPS (Concerns of Police Survivors) which raises money for the families of officers killed in the line of duty. There was a bunch of sports memorabilia and as much as I would have liked the the Clyde Drexler basketball (I know, no one knows who Clyde Drexler is) I was out bid. I was also out bid for the commemorative NA 242 1963 license plate which went for $580 (which is probably a good thing). Actually my roommate was outbid for that license plate...I wasn't THAT keen on the thing. At least it was all for charity.

I am officially done with my in-class requirements, reports, etc. with the exception of one group presentation next week. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself during that time, although we do have Mike Durant (the helicopter pilot from Blackhawk Down) speaking on Wednesday night which should be interesting. Other than that, I'm REALLY looking forward to the trip home this coming weekend and seeing the family, and it may take a significant amount of persuasion to get me back on the plane to Virginia for the last week-and-a-half.

All that said, it's been a great time thus far, there are some amazing people here and hopefully some lasting friendships. I know of two people (one from Canada and one from New Zealand) that will be visiting San Diego in the next few months. For now, that's about it, although I still have some great photos from International Night to post, so look for those soon.

Silent Drill Team

So last night we were able to take a trip to the Marine Barracks, Washington DC which is the oldest post in the Marine Corps established in 1801. It is also home to several unique units of the Marine Corps including The President's Own, which is the presidental band, and the Commandant's Own, which is the Marine Corps Commandant's drum and bugle corps. Also stationed here is the Silent Drill Team which does an entire drill using rifles with fixed bayonets and doesn't utter a single word or command throughout the whole thing! Very impressive.

The parade consisted of performances by the aforementioned groups and two companies that are responsible for the official colors and for burying fallen members at Arlington. I tried to capture some of the band and bugle corps but it was difficult to capture the silent drill team as they were too far away. My attempts to upload the video all failed, so I'll have to try again later, but believe me it was very cool! There are several videos on YouTube that show the performance better (try and watch one that is not at a major sporting event because it's much more impressive without all the noise).

Illness, Rain, Helicopters & a Pig Roast

So Wednesday was our 6th challenge, a 4 mile run on tank trails, called the "Munchkin Run." Don't you just love the Wizard of Oz theme? At any rate, I woke up with what I suspected was the beginning of a cold, the same one that has crippled about 1/3 of our session. To make matters more interesting it decided to rain during our 4-mile trot, which probably didn't help my situation any.

At any rate the run went well and I managed to beat my "nemesis" Fred from Austin, although I have little hope of ever catching EJ our P.T. instructor. It took us about 28 minutes to cover the distance, and we almost managed negative splits for all four miles! However it took close to an hour by the time I went back and forth running in the rest of our classmates. That's okay, that's the teamwork part that people so often miss.

After that it was a warm shower and nap! Then we took a tour of the facilities of the Bureau's elite Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), although that's a bit of a misnomer since they rarely actually resuce hostages any more. We saw what an unlimited budget will get you...something to the tune of 14 helicopters, state of the art training facilities and more specialty vehicles than you can possibly imagine.We got a run down on the capabilities of the team and got to explore all the helicopters (the dream is still alive!). Anyway, while most of what we saw was classified and super-secret, here are a couple photos from the tour. Thoroughly enjoyed the gadgets and gizmos!

Finally, it was time for the pig roast. Our section sponsored a pig roast at the local lake/park and a local guy came out and made the most amazing pork and brisket, ummm, yummy! Followed up by a brownie and fudge (courtesy of Alexis and Viana), some Tylenol for the ensuing cold and off to bed by 9:30!

Today, of course, I spent the majority of the day battling my cold. Although three naps, a bag of cough drops and a pretty tasty beef stew for dinner seemed to have worked wonders. Just have one more day to get through, including another P.T. session, then rest for the weekend...and two remaining papers to write.

Yay For Family Visits!

Woohoo, the family came to town this weekend! Just the break I think we all needed. Alexis and Viana came into town late Friday afternoon, I skipped out on class (pre-arranged of course), jumped in the 'ole Nissan rental car and sped my way northward to DC to meet them at the airport.

Viana was a bit groggy not having slept on the flight, but I got smiles from her anyway. It is amazing how fast they grow! This was also her 19-month birthday, if you can believe that. She's a walking, running, talking machine with long hair and a pint-sized attitude...and it was great to see. Of course nothing beats a true family hug! (The first photo is mom and Viana heading out for dinner, I think)

We were off to old town Alexandria, VA for our stay at the Lorien Hotel and Spa. Although there wasn't enough time for the spa part, the hotel was nice and perfectly located in historic Alexandria (right on King St. for those who know the area). We spent the first night lazying in the hotel and at the hotel restaurant. Free wine happy hour was a welcome addition.

Saturday we went out and explored the old town. A walk down King St. revealed a ton of shops, restaurants and other sights. There was an Irish faire at a park on the Potomac and we took a stroll through the Torpedo Factory...yes, an actual WWII torpedo factory converted into art studios and display areas. A stroll back the 14 blocks to our hotel and it was nap time for everyone!

Sunday it rained most of the day, and Viana refused to nap, but we set off on a car ride to Mount Vernon and then into DC for a visit to the American History Museum. We saw the history of transportation, the inaugural gowns of the first ladies and the original star spangled banner. The second photo is a photo of me and Viana in front of one of the train exhibits.

The last, but possibly cutest photo, the one of the cute little photog, is Viana after stealing mom's hat, taking pictures in our hotel room. Apparently she has become absolutely fascinated with cameras and managed to take a few pretty good ones (mom will have to upload those since they are on her camera...or should I say Viana's camera?)

Anyway, it was GREAT to see the crew again, and I can't wait for Labor Day when I travel home to see them again. After that, it'll be a short week-and-a-half until graduation and then home!

More Photos

Here are two more photos. The first one is from Geno's. Geno's makes, arguably, the best cheesesteaks in all of Philly. However, if you go across the street to Pat's, Pat's makes arguably the best cheesesteaks in all of Philly. Unfortunately for Pat, Geno's is very supportive of law enforcement and military and we got the behind the scenes treatment. That long line you see acutally extended out into the street when we first arrived. There are also some rules when it comes to ordering cheesesteak. There's wit-whiz and witout-whiz, referring to whether you want cheese-whiz or not. Then there's with or without provolone. And finally plain fries or cheese fries. Oh, and by the way, if you don't know what you want by the time you get to the window, they kick you to the back of the line. Can you say "No soup for you!!" Joey Vento, the owner, was not present but made sure we all got fed well and got souvenir pens and t-shirts.

The second photo was made possible and necessary by the cheesesteaks mentioned above. This was our 5th challenge session today, a 3.01 mile run around the academy. The other guy is Charles from Garland, Texas. He just bought a bunch of running attire because he wanted to go fast and be seen with the fast crowd. He also wanted to lead the pack, even for a little bit. This was taken just before the run actually started...notice that we're both already sweating! Gotta love Virginia in the summer! I managed a respectably 19:56 on the run and managed to tie the other running nut, Fred, for first.

Picture Time

So here are some of the photos from our weekend trip to Philadelphia. I figured it was time to share. We had a great time, got escorted around town by the Philadelphia PD and enjoyed some delicious philly cheesesteak (I'll include those photos later).

This is me with Commissioner Ramsey of the Philadelphia Police.

This is the view of Philly from the top of the Comcast Building, the tallest building in Philly at about 72 stories.

The Marine Unit took us out for a tour of the Delaware River. We went by several retired warships including the battleship New Jersey and the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy.

And of course what trip to Philadelphia would be complete without a visit to the Liberty Bell. Actually visiting Independence Hall, sight of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, was one of my highlights from the trip. It is amazing how much about American history most people don't know. Did you know that the Declaration was not actually signed on July 4th?