SWAT in Action

Working for the police department has some fun perks. Today, the SWAT team had training, and I was one of the role players. The elementary school I attended when we first moved to VA is now empty, and this is where we played today! We had a lot of fun. I knew, of course, the SWAT guys, as well as the other role players since they were other PD employees, both civilian and sworn, dispatchers and friends.

The best scenario, or at least most fun, involved Joe from dispatch being my estranged husband who was off his meds. He came to the school to kill me and the principal, with whom I was having an affair. Joe was absolutely fabulous and really did a good job for helping the negotiations team. In the end, though, he killed me mere seconds before SWAT breached the room.

My friend Amber and I got to be nutty tree huggers who were angry about all the development happening in our county. Unlike all of the other scenarios, we were NOT given a script or storyline. That made it tricky for us to really play along, as neither of us are good story spinners. In the end it became a suicide mission on my part. I used my hostage (one of the officers!) as a human shield as I walked up the hallway. He dove into a classroom we passed, so then I had to, as well. He had to pay for that, though, so that was the end of the line for him...after a few flesh wounds, of course. Since I knew they were going to come in, I was able to position myself and picked off the first SWAT guy through the door. He's one of my buddies, so I told him it wasn't personal. :-)

Despite being a long day, it was a lot of fun!! However, if you are ever an innocent bystander, I strongly suggest you comply with SWAT commands, because until they know you're a good guy, they're pretty rough, and it hurts!!

Vegas....but really Hoover Dam

Oh, goodness I don't even know where to begin. I guess I'll skip all the stuff I can't remember anyway and go right to Vegas!

Last week I went to Vegas with a few friends from work and a couple of their friends. We all had fun to varying degrees. The best day, for me, was when Kelly and I went to Hoover Dam. And of course what's the ONE day of the year they're NOT doing tours?? That's right, the day we went! But that was ok; we still were able to walk around and check stuff out. They are in the process of building a bridge which I assume will relieve the dam of all motor traffic. Nothing was mentioned in the visitors' center about it, but I figure that's a safe assumption.

After leaving the dam, we stopped at a place we noted on the way which was offering helicopter rides. I have always wanted to ride in one, so I was pretty psyched. It was definitely the highlight of my trip!

The bridge under construction

Hoover Dam & bridge from Helicopter!!