Training Week (well not that kind of training)

I spent last week at the Motorola Training center in Horsham, PA. The training was on the operation of some software upgrades my employer will be adding later this year. Travel out took me through Memphis were I met up with a coworker traveling from Springfield. Also on board our flight from Memphis to Philadelphia were the members of the band Great White. I had two Great White cassettes back in the 80's (cassette was the music format that was popular between vinyl and compact discs, and yes I'm dating myself. I still have about 300 tapes in my basement)

The first couple days were uneventful but Wednesday night brought some weird Disney-esqe things when we decided to dine at Otto's Brauhaus



I was relaxing in a German beer garden enjoying a Franiskaner Weiss and thinking of "World Showcase"


When out of the corner of my eye I spotted a store across the street that sold SEGWAYS. Of course my thoughts immediately turned to Bryan Ripper and episode nine of the AATM podcast. (I could almost picture Bryan zooming by as I enjoyed my beer) Dinner was quite good and afterward we decided to drive to the local mall.


and that's when I saw the HESS service station. So now I'm thinking to myself could this get any stranger. And yes it could, as we drove toward the mall there was a corner bistro called "The Contemporay Cafe" Sadly the picture I took did not turn out. By now I was feeling like I was in a Twilight Zone version of some disconnected Disney Park.


On Friday before driving to the airport we decided to visit a few of the sites in Philadelphia. As we walked up to Independence Hall I noticed that this was not the view commonly seen in History books.


Across the way a new Museum had been built to display the Liberty Bell. Next we inquired about tickets to tour Independence Hall (which are free) but we found out that no more tickets were going to be given out for that day.


Next to Independence Hall is the "Old Court House" which served as the Home of the First Supreme Court between 1791 to 1800


Half a block down the street you can enter a court yard and see the other side of Independence Hall. Now there's the view I was expecting.


After lunch (I had a Philly Cheese Steak) we had one more stop to make. A short drive over to the Philadelphia Museum of Art for a quick run up the steps made famous by Sylvester Stallone as "Rocky". I thought I would feel silly running the steps but as I took them two at a time it felt sorta cool.


At the top of the stairs I found many people standing in this spot pumping their fists in the air and posing for pictures.


The view from Rocky's Shoes


The Rocky statue that was seen in the films stands on the side walk level just off to one side of the steps.


Right after taking this picture I turned and saw an entire bus of teenagers unload and run up the steps together.

The whole Rocky thing was very inspiring and since I have not watched it in a couple years I plan to watch the film some time this week.

Now that I'm home and "training" is over, its time to really get training if you know what I mean.