More Fun in the Hood

So, because we're still waiting for our licensing to process so we can start knocking in Suburbia, we've continued knocking the the Hood. Life out here is crazy! Today, I was in a house talking to a home owner about home security, when he informs me that three months ago a lady was shot and killed right in front of his home! And do you remember the police man that was shot earlier this month (refer to previous post)? Well, two of the three thugs were caught when that happened, and the third guy was missing for a few days until they found him in a vacant home with his girlfriend. That vacant home was just three blocks from my area. The home owner then told me of another killing that happened last year just two blocks away, which was on the corner of my area. There are a lot of people out here in Phila. who need some serious therapy and anger management.

Today was a fun day for me and my office. This morning we went and took some pretty insane pictures in front of the Rocky statue and the Museum of Art (the location of Rocky's famous scene of running up the steps with his theme song blaring in the soundtrack). Afterward, a few of us went over to Pat's, apparently a super famous place for Philly cheese steak. One of my roommates got kinda sick, thought, after eating one. I just thought it was cool that they used Cheese Wiz on the sandwich!

West Philadelphia

So I've been in Philadelphia for about a week now and I've gotta' say that I'm loving it so far! I haven't really had time yet to check out any sites, but work has been pretty interesting. Our entire first week of work has consisted solely of knocking in West Philadelphia. I don't think it was this bad in Chicago, when we knocked down town. Here the people seem more rude, and there's definitely more work cut out for the police here than in Chicago. For example, I heard today that two Sundays ago there were 13 killings in Philly. Last Saturday in a home I watched a live news report that a police officer had been shot and killed just twenty minutes prior; his funeral will actually be today (Tuesday). Also on Saturday, there was another shooting on the exact same block that one of my friends made a sale on. My friend had to go back to correct some paper work and saw the police tape blocking that portion of the street. He went inside the home of the lady he sold and the techs were still installing the system. They said they were inside the home when they heard the shots outside. Today, there were two helicopters about a mile or two from my area, looking for a missing person and the kidnapper. It's only been a week, but I still have more stories that I haven't even shared.

Other than that though, I'm enjoying Philly. Although I'm right in the middle of the hood when I knock, I haven't had any problems. I did see drug dealers hanging around on a street corner, transacting business - that was kind of funny - but people have been pretty cordial with me. I've noticed that they give me the same kind of respect I give them.


This is a pic of a street I knocked on this past Saturday, compliments of Google map. These are some of the houses I knocked on. About 99.9% of the houses look like what you see in this picture.



So there's a little bit of my experience in Philly so far. Here are a few things, though, that I would like to check out this summer:

• Pat's Restaurant. Apparently, Pat is known as the Philly Steak King. His restaurant is downtown.
• New York City / Manhattan. The train ride is only 1.5 hours from Phila.
• DC. The train ride is about 2 hours from Phila.
• Liberty Bell
• Valley Forge
• 4th of July at the Museum of Art in Phila. I hear that's the place to go.

If you know of any other places I should check out while I'm out here, please let me know.