2nd Day of D-Tac
Today I woke up and I felt that pounding that I didn’t feel at all yesterday…being held up in the prone cuffing position for a couple hours will do that to you. The extra half hour of sleep was glorious but I still felt very sleepy all day. When I was getting dressed I opted for a different type of socks, which actually helped a little bit. Who says cotton is rotten? We both actually packed our lunch today and made our way back for defensive tactics. We parked in the closer lot today which gave Nick the opportunity to perform his first Law Enforcement Officer duty, issuing a fake parking ticket to one of our classmates.
When we got into the classroom I discovered that some more of my classmates started reading this blog. That’s pretty frigg’n sweet. I’m not saying I influenced this with my last post but everybody was on the ball with their duty belts today…not one person left them around when they weren’t supposed to. We had a brief review of yesterday’s techniques and then it was on to the new stuff. We were introduced to searches and let’s just say we were very thorough; the student that searched me certainly found my concealed crack…and he showed it to part of the class haha. Our # of mistakes dropped drastically, the only way we got tick marks was from missing items in our searches…to make it life like we had a bunch of drug paraphernalia and fake drugs & weapons to plant in our pockets, socks, shoes, etc. The instructors informed us that they were thinking of ways to torture us last night and luckily we didn’t give them many opportunities to because when we did…it hurt…in a good way. That basically took us to lunch.
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| Be Unstoppable |
After lunch we were able to take a couple of class pictures. The consensus of the class was to take the picture under a feminine product banner in the classroom. At first I was against it, I even chatted with one of the instructors about it being unprofessional, but it quite possibly brought about our class motto. “Be Unstoppable.” We got our baton & weapon retention drills on. Travis certainly made sure I “honored” his strikes when the top of his dome bashed into my mouth and his knee knocked into mine...neither blow phased me…until the next day when it felt like I had a rock on my knee cap haha. I unintentionally planted Arkansas on the ground just by grabbing her shoulder…there was supposed to be more of a fight but whatever…I got my gun back. We laughed about what happened, apparently a lot of people were laughing about the use of fake violence within our pairs, and our instructors DID NOT like that…we paid for that in pushups. Once again, all of the instructors paid with us but they were trying to hammer home the seriousness of these scenarios. “Train to Work”
The day ended with a famous “Red Man” scenario…you and a partner respond to a verbal, now physical dispute (between a “blue man” & “red man” ) at a campsite…grab your foam “baton” and regulate the scenario. Before we entered the scenario we had to get our heart rates up…we did that by doing “bear crawls” followed by 5 burpees. I’ve never bear crawled in my life…if you don’t know it’s crawling on your hands and feet instead of your knees & feet…yeah I was very slow at it. My partner, Pat, was a pro at it…he was almost at the finish line by the time I got about 5 feet down the lane. They were calling him Golem after that haha. We separated the dispute and red man seemed to fade away while blue man attacked my partner…keeping my eye on red man, I started swinging my baton to help my partner…that’s when red man “joined the party.” I immediately turned toward him and delivered a “straight strike” and sent him straight down to the ground where I stood over him until Pat got blue man down and the scene ended. Naturally, I feel there were better ways I could’ve handled the situation but it was just a dry run for all of us on many accounts.
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| Golem or Pat? Hmmmm |
At the end of class, we formed an assembly line to get the judo mats away and I informed those who cared that the Packers made it to the Super Bowl. I couldn’t wait to get out of there to catch the Steelers game but one of the instructors was nice enough to give us a copy of a workout routine..which is one of the things I was really looking forward to going home with…and he demonstrated some of the techniques for us. Some of our classmates said they would meet up with us for some food and the game. I quickly changed my shirts into a black t-shirt and a black & yellow fleece (that I got for $2 at Old Navy…damn that place is great) and I headed to meet Nick at the car and that’s when I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. I saw a body ON the stone wall side of one of the school buildings and I thought it was a really well done 3-D painting…that was until it moved. There’s apparently hand and footholds on the side of this building and this student was climbing across the wall…definitely not in Jersey anymore!
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| He's hard to see but he got down right after I took this 1 |
We’ve passed this place called Granny’s Closet everyday we’ve driven to campus, I’ve heard great things about it and they advertise the hell out of it outside the building; Sunday’s message was “Watch Championship Sunday Here.” Sold! This place instantly became my favorite restaurant out here. The food was phenomenal and I think they have better wings than just about everywhere in NJ…maybe not the Picili (SP?) Inn in AC…but nowhere else comes close. There were TVs everywhere! Every table in the place had a TV at it, in the dining room, in the bar…it didn’t matter. What’s better? Every table had their own TV remote so they could watch whatever they wanted. Who watches Spongebob or the news during Championship Sunday?!!? There were Steelers jersey & sweatshirts everywhere…people even waved their “Terrible Towels” like they were actually at the game. As I’m sure was the case all over the world…the Jets fans were quiet until the second half but I think they were more Steelers Haters than Jets fans…considering the Steel Curtain denied AZ their Super Bowl victory 2 years ago.
You guys can hate on me for having 2 favorite teams all you want. I’m True (Big) Blue through & through…that’s the way I was raised. But when I started getting into the NFL in college I adopted the Steelers too thanks to Cousin Hines and the Black & Yellow that resembled my high school’s colors. Ok it’s corny to like a team just because of their colors but I know a bunch of people that pick their favorite teams based only on their colors and they can’t name 4 players on the team…and I’m not just talking girls here. Hell, if girls didn’t pick their favorite teams by their colors then Starter would never have sold any Hornets or Panthers Starter Jackets back in the 90s (don’t forget the drawstring clips!!!) Giants are number 1, Steelers are number 2. I know a bunch about both squads but I get nowhere near as fired up watching the Steelers as I do for the Giants; I’ve had plenty of experience in Super Bowl games these past few years to illustrate that point. The only other team I care remotely about is the Dallas Mavericks…but I don’t follow the NBA at all. That comes from my Dirk nickname in college cuz I was usually the only white boy balling at Stockton and I made it rain 3s….other than that, sports don’t exist…that’s just my thing. Can’t get into baseball unless I’m at the stadium…all they do is stand around…and hockey…welllll….the one Rangers game I went to with J. Kush was mad cool but I’m mad at that sport for fighting being allowed but James Harrison (Steelers) gets fined for devastating but clean hits on his opponents…so screw hockey.
After the game it was shower, read, and hit the sack time.
Three of these physically tough 4 days down, 1 to go.
Three weeks down, three months til I’m back in NJ! (but for how long???)
Be Unstoppable
I woke up after nearly 10 glorious hours of sleep and my knee felt like it needed to be cracked quite a bit. Silly Travis and his “fake” knee strikes…the WWE won’t be calling him anytime soon. My knee didn’t hurt too bad but I could definitely tell something wasn’t right. Got out of bed, got ready for PT, got some Ibuprofen in me and we were out the door.
We got into the PT building and I passed by the NAU Outdoors office and there was Matt, my instructor from WFR, so I stopped in and chatted with him for a little bit and met up with the rest of the class.
We all shared stories of soreness, showed our battled wounds, and reminisced about our first of 2 weekends of D-Tac while we stretched and bellyached about how we didn’t know how we’d be able to run today. We were sharing our instructor with the general fitness class again today so we warmed up on our own…and that’s when “Be Unstoppable” was unleashed. Not everybody got it at first but soon just about everybody was on board. We’d be doing our jogging warm-ups and in almost like a cadence fashion I’d ask whoever was near me if they were/felt unstoppable…if they responded lowly…I belted out “I can’t hear you” and then they yelled their response. Hahahaha. I was getting so carried away with it that I was trying to get the class to huddle up and put their hands in the middle for a 1-2-3 Be Unstoppable! But it wasn’t flying. I even borrowed the famous 300/ Drew Brees “This is NAU PRTP Class 21…aaooooo aaooooo aaoooo” or however you spell it. I even went GHETTO for a little bit and tried doing a “role call” song & dance deal that you see some basketball teams do. “Hey yo Carter!(Yeah) You unstoppable? (Yeah) I can’t hear you (YEAH!) Role Call!” and then Carter’s supposed to call somebody else out…it didn’t happen though…everybody just laughed at the big dumb idiot. Some people were into it. Nick brought up the idea of getting class t-shirts made with somehow working Be Unstoppable on the front and our class ID #s on the back…I’m #24 just like my main man Rath in our SJV Days. I’d totally do that. I’m trying to get us unified and keep this morale up.
As much as I tried loosening everybody up with the Unstoppable business, the reality was we still had to run and whether they laughed or not I still announced that I’d be the guy coming in last in the run today. We took a different approach today. We essentially “raced” each other in a sprint on the tennis courts in the gym; Nick cheated when we went but I was right on Forrest’s heels when we went. “You’re a fast (something I don't remember) ain’t ya?” one of my classmates noted. “I can run fast I just can’t run long”, I responded. Somebody else chimed in, “you’re like a bear”. That’s the 2nd time in 3 weeks that I heard that out here hahaha. We had 25 minutes to lift, which sucked, but I already see my strength improving because back home I was lucky if I got 1 “dip” off on the dip stand; I got 3 sets of 3 in today. Today’s distance run was shorter but more challenging than Friday. We ran a mile around a road on the outside of campus, which included some serious hills, and then back through campus. I felt slightly better on this trek but I was pissed because I still walked about 20 steps. It was pretty cool seeing cars stop for us and students watch as we wheezed by them…some of them were very encouraging. I still have a hard time breathing while running but I catch my breath almost instantly when I’m done. I wasn’t last but most of the class was at the finish line cheering me on to finish…I passed them and bellowed out a booming UNSTOPPABLE! The student body, which at this point and location looked like Times Square around Christmas, looked around to see what was going on as if I startled them. Some of my new chums got amped up by my war cry and started pumping me back up talking about representing Jersey…then CJ asked how I could be from Jersey if I wasn’t a guido; it took 3 weeks but I finally got the much anticipated Jersey Shore reference hahaha. Thank you CJ, the seal has been broken.
The ride home for the transition from PT to class was quicker today but I felt like I moved a little slower once we got home. I showered and texted La Stone a bunch. Her new furniture made it to the warehouse and is set for delivery to Stephanie’s….sweet! I ate a protein packed lunch and then we made our way back to campus. We left almost 10 minutes later than we wanted to but not only did we make it with plenty of time to spare, I got a parking spot in the front row too. We began our section on legal stuff and our first of 2 instructors today was a US attorney that talked like the Micromachines guy, despite being a woman. Not a lot of her info registered in my brain but she forewarned us that it wouldn’t as this was just an introduction. The next instructor was a Chief Ranger at a local park and covered authority & jurisdiction…very informative and he seemed to really have fun talking to us about that and our fitness levels. In the middle of his lecture I got a bad case of the coughs, it felt like a needle was piercing my throat. I couldn’t wait for break so I was the first student so far to the leave the class in the middle of a lecture…unless you count Brad’s asking for permission to go to the bathroom last week. Hahaha. The lecture ended early and then “always looking to do the right/common sensical thing Jeff” made an appearance into my brain. The instructor essentially dismissed us but, as I was saying to Nick on our drive over to class, we never get let out early. I didn’t say anything to hold up the class but Kathy came in as more than half the class was gone and she told Travis that if we’re ever done early that he should get her to see if she has any announcements…low and behold she did. I wonder when I’ll start opening my mouth for the right reasons. HA!
It's the Micromachines Guy
Believing that part of my breathing problems when running comes from the dryness in the air, Nick and I headed to Target to get me a humidifier for my room as well as a bunch of other stuff. Thank you for the birthday gift card Katie & James! Our fitness and diet plans have been pounded into our heads this entire first week of the program so we decided we were going to grab a rotisserie chicken and cook up some of our vegetables for dinner tonight. We stopped at Fry’s (grocery store) on the way home to get our chicken and I deposited my final fantasy football championship check at the Wells Fargo branch they have…IN THE STORE. When doing that, my sweetness called with some great news. The job that she’d been hoping to land for years was finally hers and she got it on her own terms! If you know her, make sure to send Laura some form of congratulations because this is almost like her Will Smith at the end of Pursuit of Happyness moment. She’s busted her ass for years to get this and all the years of tears, frustration, and sleepless nights have paid off. Congrats Babe! Big Things Popping!
When Nick & I got home, Jane was cooking herself a nice dinner…if you consider tofu nice…and she handed Nick his FIRST PACKAGE!!!! YAY!!!!!! Put him on the board. We got changed, I threw in some laundry, and we got cracking on making dinner…that was already half made when we bought it. The three of us sat down for a nice “family” dinner and we discussed things like the Pangaea, Jane’s childhood friend that she reunited with recently through some of the crazy “It’s a Small World After All” happenings, and some stories from class. I retired to my room for some “maintenance” and I watched some episodes of Undercover Boss on Netflix which brought me to another observation…
Flagstaff Observations
1.) Unless I’m completely oblivious…there’s NO 7/11s OUT HERE EITHER. One of the bosses on the show was the CEO of 7/11 and that’s when this dawned on me. Could you Jerseyians imagine no Dunkin’ Donuts AND no 7/11s? Following up on the other day’s no Dunkin Donuts observation…Jane informed me today that there are no donut shops of any kind out here. What do all the cops eat?
2.) This was just something cool I saw today. When stopped at a red light, my window was right next to the head of a gorgeous Siberian Husky that was just chilling with his head between the little triangle between the glass of the rear window and the window pane (I guess that’s what you call it). He was just staring right at me then the driver and front passenger caught wind of it and turned around and started laughing at the site. The dog was just staring…not moving…not even panting. Dog was beautiful!
3.) Speaking of dogs. I got some potentially bad news about my Golden Retriever, Casey, aka…probably the best dog that’s ever lived. She’s had a hemorrhoid –esque bump on her butt for awhile now and 3 different vets said it was nothing. Well reports from my sisters say that the new vet my dad takes her to took a piece of the lump for a biopsy as they think it could be cancerous. So please keep her health in your thoughts.
4.) It’s so weird being out here and meeting new people and making new friends because I keep thinking I’m going to run into somebody I know. In Freehold, if I went out ANYWHERE I bumped into somebody I knew to some capacity. I don’t know if its home sickness or what but I swear some people I see out here remind of people I know from home. As far as running into people I know out here goes…Brad is that guy. We ran into him out at the Grand Canyon then today when Nick and I were at Target…we bumped into Brad and Lauren C from class. It’s pretty freaky that I’m essentially establishing these kinds of roots out here in AZ.
5.) It’s been just over week that we went to the Grand Canyon, it feels like it was 2 years ago already.
6.) Although some of my habits & tendencies remain the same, I haven’t played videogames in over a month…and I have my PS3 with me…weird.
7.) This is the longest I’ve gone without working in over 10 years and it’s freaking me out a little bit. I really hope I pick up a good gig after all of this is said and done.
Alrighty then. We have our first late start day on Tuesday, nothing organized to do until 1pm. Wow already 1 week of the program down, 12 more to go. WOO HOOO!
Have a good day everybody.
MOUNT UP!!!
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