Adventures of HG at NRTI

So I started the day with PT. Originally we were supposed to wear our boots, duty belt and warm clothes to run outside. Well, when we showed up for PT, our instructor changed his mind and had us run inside instead. Since we didn't have time to change, we had to run indoors in our long johns, boots, long sleeve shirts, duty belt and whatever else we were wearing. And it's not like we were taking a slow jog either, we were doing agility runs over and over and over again. During an agility run, you must lay on the floor on your belly and when the instructor yells go, you jump up, run straight across the gym,run straight back, then run through the chairs across the gm, then run back through the chairs, then run up and back one more time, all in about 30 seconds. I didn't keep track, but I'm pretty sure we each ran about seven or eight times.

Anyhow, that was fun. During the rest of the day we went over terrorism and bombs and other explosives. It was all common sense stuff. Our instructor told us the first rule if you see a bomb is 'run!' and apparently we don't have the authority to evacuate a building. If we see a bomb or other similar device in a building, school, etc. it is up to the principal, owner, etc. to decide whether or not to evacuate. I think that's dumb but what do I know? Sorry, but if I see a bomb somewhere, I'm telling people to get out of dodge whether they like it or not. I don't care if you lose a little bit of money, it's better than losing your life.

Today we got out an hour early as our scheduled instructor was out sick again. And apparently he has called out for tomorrow too because we get to go in to class at 1000 (10:00 a.m.). I'm so excited! I feel really bad for our sick instructor, but I'm also really glad we get to go in late! I took the extra hour that we had today and filled out nine paper applications. A couple were really short 2-3 pages and the rest were long as usual, about 9-11 pages. It's so much writing and my hand is killing me so I think I'll call it quits for the night. I'm also attempting to upload videos from my cell phone. They've been sitting here a while and I can't remember what they are, but I know they're good so let's see what we've got....


OK this is three rattlesnakes and yes, the noise you hear are their rattles. A few classmates and I went over to the nature center last week to inspect their secutiry system and looked at the snakes while we were there. They also have fish, turtles, frogs, etc.


This video shows a view of the river from my living room. Yes, there's lots of tractor trailers too.