Of Cockpits and Kiwis

A quick recap from the last few days:

Spent the entire day Saturday in class learning about aircraft (something that's a little redundant for me so not really the most exciting thing). The high point of class was getting the chance to walk through and tour many different aircraft over at DEN. We had the opportunity to walk through and open every door and hatch on a retired Fedex 727. (Yes, they do still exist. This one was from 1952 and was retired in 2007.) Also, we were able to take a look at a Frontier A318, a United A318, and a United 757. Getting the chance to crawl around all of these was thoroughly enjoyable. I got plenty of pics, but the internet here is being disagreeable so I can't upload them right now.

Following the day at work, most of the class including myself went downtown for steak dinners (I love my per diem.) and giant mug beer at Octoberfest.

At Octoberfest, I had the opportunity to watch one of our Kiwis and a former football player battle it out American Gladiator style on an elevated, narrow beam with the big foam sticks. The Kiwi added a little bit of flavor by doing some kind of native battle/warrior/cry. I managed to get it on video, but it's not uploading right now, either. In the end, the Americans lost to the Kiwis, though by 2-1 both times. We're okay with this, as we plan to give them a run for their money at rugby on the ice.

Sunday was a nice, quiet day. Didn't really do much except rest up, get some studying and other paperwork done so I would be ready for Monday. My productivity lasted about two hours before I dozed off.

Today (It's Monday, right?) we went back for another day of class. There was less lecture today and some more wandering around the airfield and fireballs. Aside from being startled by the cat that resides at the training academy as it jumped up in my face and the brief snow, there weren't really a lot of surprises.

We did get a chance to look around one of the airport's firehouses, though. We got the chance to take a look at the giant four axled monster ARFF rig that we'll actually be getting to drive around in a few days. I'm looking forward to hopefully not running over something by accident.

Past that, I actually did catch up on a few things tonight. Went back to the now imfamous Night Shift Saloon for dinner as the hotel restaurant was packed. I didn't mind the good food and cheap beer. Also, we're regarded as some kind of heroes over there. Not sure if it's because we're the youngest people that have been in there in twenty years or the fact that they all think we're nuts for going to the Ice. Either way, they keep buying us coondogs and are always friendly. We're hoping we get our picture up in there before we leave.

And that's all I have time for today. Need to get some sleep before I wake up to nap in class. Hopefully some more pics soon. Also, I'm on the Ice in about 12 days. Crazy.