Censorship

My 3:30 AM post from a week ago was deleted. I cursed about my dad in the post. Censorship is a bad thing.

A long, long time between posts.

Thanksgiving went pretty good. I missed having my nieces here, they were with their father and step mother. We ate late, my mom did not get the turkey on the grill until 1:00, which meant we ate at like 8:30. That was fine for my sister and her BF though. They went to her BF's parent's place in Merrifeld VA before coming over and ate dinner there around noon. The turkey turned out wonderful as usual. We cook it on a Holland Grill. This year, I cut a slit in the top of the turkey and stuffed butter under the skin. I seasoned it with Kings Arm Meat seasoning, which is available in Williamsburg VA. Then it was stuffed with Oyster dressing. Couple that with putting it on the grill and then having two lumps of charcoal in the wood chip smoker thingie, it gave the turkey a very gentle charcoal taste. Everyone loved the turkey.

On Monday, my brother had to put his dog to sleep. She was only ten years old, pretty young for a cocker spaniel. She had cancer, we tried treating it, but it came back and spread too. She stopped eating on Saturday. So we are trying to figure out what type of dog my brother wants.

I've been working lately. Whatever day when it has not been raining. That's a good thing, I now will have some pay checks coming in. Christmas is a time when you need paychecks. :-)

Carol offered to do my plans for my house in Baltimore. I am trying to convince her to get her Maryland stamp so I don't have to take them to someone else who has a stamp. She told me that recessed lighting is going out of style. I personally like recesed lighting, but if that is true, I'm going to be rethinking a lot of my lighting ideas.

I saw my friend JR on Tuesday. He has a top secret government law enforcement job that takes him all over the country. He's a good guy, I wish I could hang out with him more.

I hope Robin has her baby soon. It is still inside her and is over nine pounds. Big baby. I never thought I would be using the words "Robin" and "baby" in the same sentence as it applies to her. I think the baby will probably call me Uncle Matt as he or she gets older.

Next weekend I go to Chatanoga TN to participate in Trashmasters with Tim, Trish and Adam. Tim, Trish and I are driving the Camry, leaving the Ram for my parents. Hehehehe.

Anyhow, it is time for me to put up Christmas lights.


You're British Columbia. You're hip and happenin'
but also a nice person who isn't a snob. Career
is important to you but it isn't your whole
life. People assume that your life is perfect
and that you have it all, like you were born
with a silver spoon in your mouth. But it's not
true; you do have your own set of troubles just
like everybody else.


What Canadian Province Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

A few minutes later

Now the old posts of my blog disapear. Why am I so unlucky?

An RIP to the ODB

I actually liked the music that ODB came out with. A lot of my teenage years were spent listening to ODB remixes of music by Mariah Carey.

The meeting last night on Linden Ave was pretty interesting. One of the controling interests of a halfway house, a soon to open halfway house, a 90% completed house, and three abandoned houses was the topic of conversation. He was requesting a zoning change on one of his properties (the one 90% completed) from one unit to two units. We are opposed, wrote in e-mails. Well, he was angry that we would oppose his plans. However, I don't have any sympathy for this person. Anyone that allows a house to get 90% done into two units without applying for a zoning change deserves this. His excuse: I got the house as part of a settlement with former business partners. This man owns other abandoned houses on this street, plus he has turned two other properties into transitional housing. One is tollerable, two is too many, three is dangerous. It is not that the Linden Tree people and the Techbalt people are trying to be bad neighbors, we are just going after ALL the problems on the block. The trash, the people driving 60 MPH up and down the street, etc. This is a multipronged approach, that utilizes other neighbors. Some of what goes on is steathly, some of it is in the open eyes of the public. This one person is either the owner or controling interest in "five or six" properties on the block. He is part of the problem, not the solution. Leaving properties abandoned for 2+ years is not responsible. The fact that this individual believes that by being secretive, he will get by us, won't work. We now have a critical mass of individuals that care about this block.

Oh yes, and for some entertainment value:


You are Mary Bell. At the ripe old age of 10 you
strangled a neighbor boy, afterwhich you carved
your initals into his skin. At his funreal you
laughed. Your next victim was a 3 year old. You
pushed him off the roof, resulting in a broken
skull. After he was found you went to his
mothers house and asked to see him, she replied
tha t he was dead. You smiled brightly and said
'Oh, I know he's dead. I wanted to see him in
his coffin."
You horrid little girl you.
-smacks your hand-


Which Imfamous criminal are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Arg. I can finally post

Every time I try to post, Blogger is down for maintence or won't log into the server.

Saturday was awesome. First, I went with Dan and Tim to the Comcast Center for a Maryland Basketball game. Maryland beat Carlton College of Canada by 29. We sat in the alumni association box seat. It was great. Comfortable chairs, etc. On the way back to the car, I ran into my friend Justin. He's a public safety aide on campus. He was directing traffic and the three of us chitchatted with him. I've not seen him in about a year, though we talk every so often.

Then Tim and I went to Expo Design Center in Bethesda to look at granite, cabnets, appliances and lighting for my new place. So much to think about. I have a great idea of what I want now. I have picked out some rosewood red finished cabnets, granite that is red and green swirled together, stainless steel front appliances including a pro style cooktop with six burners and a double wall oven. I'm going to go out on the kitchen, and cut back on moldings probably.

Then Tim and I went out for Vietnamese food. It was OK, not my choice. Our friend Josh was having his birthday. Then we went bowling out in Gaithersburg. It was a long day, I was exhausted. Got home at 2:30 AM.

Sunday I went to the dump. I got into a shoving match with my dad over some very rusted out concrete mesh that he wanted to keep. He needs to realize he has to use the stuff he keeps. He won't use it. I ended up being able to throw it out. The guy at the dump said it was too rusted to be recycled. My dad's comment later when I repeated it was "He obviously never worked on one of my construction sites." Whoa.

Robin has been having some problems with her horses. Someone is tampering with them, doing cruel things. I don't want to disclose details, because we have a 90% likelyhood of knowing who the suspect is. We want the person to hang themself by talking about it. But what this person did was very cruel to the horse. Robin does not need this stress. She is going to have her baby any time now.

Today I went back to work on Capitol Hill for the first time in what feels like weeks. It has been. I'm glad that I have enough stuff to do to keep busy on Wednesday and maybe Thursday too. Today I had to remove a dead squrel. Yuck. At least I got the yards looking good at the complex. Things were very ratty looking.

Tomorow I get to go do battle in Reservoir Hill. Again, I don't want to let in on what the plan of attack is in case someone is reading this.

Eh, rain...

My complaint about bright lights gets worse when it is raining outside. These people think it is appropriate to drive with their bright lights on all the time. Tonight the glare was nearly blinding.

Anyhow. I was on my way home tonight, stopped at the traffic light from I-395 to South Capitol Street. A early 1990s Ford Explorer is coming off I-395 South and is approaching my car at high speed. I floor the Camry, to move up enough to give this idiot more stopping space. He ended up sideways behind me, within inches of my car. If I had not moved, I estimate that I would have been hit at aprox 15-20 MPH, which would have given me neck / back injuries. I do my best to get away from this idiot. Then after I cross the Douglass Bridge, I notice the same vehicle hit the jersey wall on the 90° turn at the end of the bridge. I guess the driver of the Explorer was drunk or high. By flooring the Camry, I might have got a red light camera ticket, but if I did, it is well worth not being injured.

Earlier in the night, I went to a Triva night with Tim. It was fun. It was at some Bar in Rockville near Rockville Pike and Shady Grove Road. Before I went to the bar, I got a price on a replacement Jenn Air for the kitchen at the Great Indoors. They want nearly $1900 - 10% and then a $100 rebate. Not as good of a price as Sears was going to give me. What is amazing is how the Great Indoors is owned by Sears. At least I got some more ideas of things I want in my Linden Ave. house.

Later I go to the Basketball game at Maryland. I am expecting a total anhilation of their opponent. They are playing some small liberal arts school from Minnesota. hehehe

Good night everyone.

Cleaning out the shed

Today I started to clean out the shed. It used to be on my parents property, but my parents sold some of our land to our neighbor, and he needs to park his new (used) tractor in the shed. God, there was a lot of building material crap left over in there. I think I removed about five bundles of asphalt shingles, mind you, there were about 20 styles, all mismatched. There were toilets, bathroom sinks, used windows that were cheap to begin with, carpeting (it has been outside for 20 years!), downspouts and gutters, etc. All of it is total crap that needs to be pitched. I looked in the 1980 Econoline to see what was stored in there. 90% of it is unusable for me in Baltimore. There was some 1/4 round moldings, and some old doors. Everything else was just random scraps of moldings. Trying to piece together what is in the van might cost more than just starting completely from new. My dad wants to save some knotty pine paneling, despite having no use for it, just because it was expensive. He needs to get with reality, he's going on 71 years old and does not work for people anymore.

My dad (unwisely) is proposing that I use the dishwasher, fridge, washer and dryer that people have given me, instead of buying new appliances. Granted, I would be saving a little bit of money up front, but I would have mismatched appliances that are heading into their twilight years. I would think it would be better for me just to get all new stuff and have (hopefully) many years of trouble free stuff. My dad wants me to take the Jenn Air and put it in my kitchen. Never mind they are replacing it from our kitchen now because I melted it and the thermostat is fried on it. I think if I take it, it would go in the basement, in the bar area. Another friend of mine told me she found a bathtub for me. Unfortunately, it is not a claw foot, just a generic suburban bathtub. Now if someone is throwing out pocket doors, claw foot tubs, marble mantles, historic light fixtures, etc, I would be interested. Otherwise, new fixtures are more appropriate in this case. I don't want this place to look like a Vito Simone rehab job.

My mom went out to lunch with some of her old co-workers in Baltimore. One of them bought a house in Hamden, near Café Hon. On their way back down to Prince George's County, they took a spin by where my house will be. All the people in the car loved what will be my house. They saw so much promise. And that was without revealing the fact that it was used to film a movie.

In a little bit, it will be time for me to pick Tim up from work and go to the furniture store to pick up his new dining room set his mom bought him about a month ago. I'll assemble it for him. I'm trying to save his mom some money.

Oh yeah. The terror alert level went from Orange to Yellow for the DC area today. Yawn.

In my next post, I'll probably bitch about the DofMA, respond to Dan's comments, and other stuff.

Ashcroft Resigns, Jeb Bush promises no 2008

I'm glad to see "god" is resigning.

Jeb Bush promises that he won't run for President in 2008. Thank goodness on that too. Tom Ridge? Bob Ehrlich?

Speaking of phone numbers

Verizon just called my parents land line. There was a recording of James Earl Jones telling me how I could win a GMC Envoy or an Apple iPod.

13-3333-3333

Can you believe that someone paid $215,000 for the phone number 13-3333-3333 in China? Someone has way too much disposable income. Granted, my cell phone number is a mathematical sequence, and it was randomly assigned by Verizon Wireless when I got my phone back in September 2001. However, I would not pay for a special cell phone number.

President Schwarzenegger? Yes, you heard right. Mr. Terminator himself supports to amend the US constitution so he can run for President. I fully disagree with this, not because he is a Republican, but on principle. To change a 225+ year old document to suit one person's political desires is very dangerous. I would be opposed to changing the constitution for this reason, no matter who it was that wants to be president. I vote no for President Schwarzenegger.

My dad took me to lunch today. We went to the Rips in Bowie. My cream of crab soup had many shells in it, and the waitress spilled water on the table, which ended up on my jeans. Oh well.

Nightmare. TiVoed exclusively from my bedroom

I just woke up from a nightmare.

I was serving in the military, somewhere. My unit was guarding some train tracks, when I got the sense to start building a snakehole under the tracks for cover. And I needed it. As the unit was ambushed, I was able to go into my hiding place under the tracks. Seeing the rest of the unit get murdered was not pleasant. I was able to survive, but I was later found. I was taken as a POW, but when I was taken to a holding facility, I was able to take one of my captuers guns away in a life or death fight of wrestling, wit and grit. I shot him. Dead. Shot another man. Dead. I grabbed body armor, and was able to shield myself and get out of the building. I ran out, into the street. I eventually ran into an American soldier, that did not believe I was for real. I was then taken into custody. I kept telling the American soldiers that I wanted to talk to my parents. They kept thinking I was a member of the other side, an American that had left the country, joined the other side and now wanted to defect. I got my ass kicked. Finally, I was able to call home. I told my mom to get Sarbanes, Mukulski, Hoyer, and anyone else to get me the hell home. I then woke up.

This was one scary dream.

On a semi related note. Aparently in the Denver area, it has become trendy to steal propane tanks. Considering that in South Texas, and Washington Metro, there have also been propane tank thefts, I suspect that something bad is on the minds of terrorists.

This is one scary reality.

Late to blog

I had an interesting weekend.

Friday Night, I thought I was supposed to go out with Maria. She did not call, so I went out with Tim, and ended up bringing Rich along in the process. I want the same cabinets that Rich is putting in his kitchen for my kitchen on Linden Ave. They are cherry with a rose colored finish. Very urban chic. Couple those with some granite countertops and glass backsplashes, stainless steel front appliances, and Halogen Track lighting, and we will be set.

Saturday night was Adam Meister's 28th birthday party. I ended up staying at Lenny's apartment upstairs so I could drink. And drink I did. Vodka and Bubble Gum soda works very well together, as does Orangina and Vodka. I had a little bit of Coors beer that was in the keg. Adam normally gets Rolling Rock, I noticed the beer was not as good but I could not put my finger on it. Oh well. Allison and I get the awards for being the most drunk at the party. And the old Nintendo classic, Duck Hunt is much more fun to play while drunk. Maria would not show her boobs. Maria had a boob job done, she succesfully increased her bust. I had my Lords of Acid CD with I Must Increase My Bust in Adam's apartment.

Saturday night I also announced my canadacy for Baltimore City Sheriff in 2008. I need to read up on the Baltimore City Sheriff to determine if he can be beat, etc. I would be running as a Democrat.

The RFPers had their first meeting on Sunday night. Other than Sarah and Aiyshah, all other members were at the meeting. It will be great to have all these people as my neighbors. Kate seems very interested in 2244, so it appears that she will be my neighbor. Unfortunately, she will have to live next to Tony Kirkland's abandoned shell, but then again, I will be next door to a Housing Authority Baltimore City shell.

It appears that Deputy US Marshal has had restraing orders taken out on him by his wife. This guy honestly should not have been allowed to keep his badge and gun, and it is tragic that some road dispute lead to murder. There are so many good police officers out on the streets every day. It is too bad we only hear about the bad ones.

Anyhow, I hope everyone is having a good Monday.

WE WON THE RFP!!!

Just when I was expecting things to get worse, they got a hell of a lot better!

Linden Tree won the RFP. If you want an explination of what the RFP is, this is the best article.

My house will be one that was used to film the movie Ladder 49, during Jack's first fire.

I need to give special thanks to Adam, Remington, Paul, Kate, Brian, Beth, Sarah, Iesha, Alex, Eric, Mike, Tawani, and Achu for going forward with this, and all my friends at home and around the country for giving me support with this project.

My day looks a lot brighter.

Election Day Post Posturing

I slightly eagerly await the RFP results. The way things have been going for me, I have my doubts.

As of right now, they still don't know what caused the courthouse to burn. It made it onto CNN and Fox News, plus the local TV stations. I'm so sad to see a landmark of my community go up in flames. It is where Mary Surratt was put on trial, for aiding John Wilkes Booth after his sucessful assasination of Abraham Lincolin. Also Arthur Bremer, the man who shot George Wallace, was put on trial in the same courthouse. Clearly, a 300+ year old piece of history is in ruins. I cried watching it burn down. I had been in that wing of the courthouse many times, for tours in Elementary, Middle and High school, jury duty when I was 18, and whatnot. I hope that what is built in its place is historically accurate to what was there this morning. My best guess is that this was a construction crew accident, maybe caused by a tired worker watching the election returns the night before.

On a semi-related note. The Deputy US Marshall was charged with first degree murder, reckless endangerment, and using a handgun during a violent crime. It was becoming increasingly apparent that this man was due for charges against him. This does not appear to be jurisdictional rivalry at work here, these are based on concrete evidence and convincing eyewitness reports.

I am wondering if Bush had been shown to win the election a few days ago, how many senate seats would have been picked up by Democrats? It seems that America wants balance, not a runing of the table by the right wing of this nation. Considering many of the close senate races were in heavilly Republican states, one wonders if this may be the case. The bright spot for the Democrats is that they at least picked up Colorado. I thought Alaska was in the bag, but that did not pan out.

As Democrats, we need to look to 2006, to offer canadates that can play very well in each race. A good example, for Governor of Maryland should be Doug Duncan, the Comptroler should be Jennifer Doughery, on down the line. If the Democrats put up good canadates, and come out with a Contract for America'esque platform, they will pick up seats. It was clearly a bad night for Democrats last night, but most everything was won by large margins on the Republican side. No bitter court battles that divide the nation. Granted, Bush will run with this win as if it was a total mandate, because he was the first president since his dad ran in 1988 to win more than 50% of the popular vote.

I am just waiting for the $3.50 a gallon gas to start showing up at the pump.

It gets worse

The Prince George's County Courthouse in Upper Marlboro, a historic structure is on fire. Four alarms. The new wing of the courthouse is threatened, despite having sprinkler system. The old wing is where the fire started, at about 7 AM, which had been under rehab.

I need to cry. This is so terrible. The election. The courthouse. RFP?

I feel as if my dog died

I never thought they would fucking do this. Four more years of hell. I feel like my dog died. Ohio does not look good, Kerry is down 100K votes. Kerry did pick up New Hampshire. He may pick up Nevada. I feel like an idiot for beliving exit poll data. Kerry still came closer in Virginia than Gore did. Yay. I am so frustrated.

Election Day is Upon Us

Here it is, 3:34 PM on Election Day. Most people are on pins and needles, regardless if they support Kerry or Bush. There are so many varriables that can come into play.

Yesterday, my friend Paul had his 1995 Dodge Carivan stolen from the 2200 block of Eutaw Place in Baltimore. It was recovered because it had Lo Jack in it. This is the next street over from Linden Ave. Paul is in the process of finishing up his house on Linden, to move in soon and in the meantime, is renting an apartment on Eutaw. My question to the world is this: Did Paul's minivan get stolen because it was easy to steal, or was it stolen because it was Paul's minivan? I am hoping it was the first scenerio, because if it is the second scenerio, that may make me pause on buying a house on Linden. My plan is to have a garage to keep my truck in, along with another car for a roommate or whatnot. My Ram does have a key based antitheft system called SentryKey, so it is slightly more secure than Paul's, which they just jamed a screwdriver in the ignition. But if it was stolen to send Paul a message, then Adam, Steve, Lenny & Lena, Cem & Julie and Mike F may have trouble brewing on the horizon. Lets hope the RFP goes though, so we can have thirteen houses versus five.

One of my friends, who is a police officer and volunteer firefighter in Ohio attmepted to save the life of a man. My friend went up the ladder, and lowered the man off a third story balcony. The gentleman was flown to Toledo to critical care hospital, where he later died. My friend is OK, but shook up by the fact the gentleman died. Here is a link to the story.

This reminded me of something quite important. Despite how politics drives our world, the world goes on independent of who wins or looses, at every level, today. I wonder if this man, would have cast the deciding vote for Kerry or Bush, or his grieving family and friends decide to not go vote, to visit him in the hospial in his dying hours, leads to a victory for one canadate or the other. Between now and 2008, babies will be born, people will die in fires, cars will be stolen and houses renovated. This goes on no matter who is president. While I hope my canadate wins, the world will go on, just not as much to my liking.

Speaking of voting. I went at 11:30 AM local time to vote. I had to wait in line for roughly 25-30 minutes. This is the busiest I have ever seen my voting location, ever. People are turning out, at least in Prince George's County. There were many first time voters in the line of about 70 people too. I am glad to see people fired up about carrying out their civic duty.

Expect more blogs as returns come in.

-Gungy

Election Eve 2004

Well, it looks good for Kerry supporters. According to Electoral-Vote.com, Kerry is leading 298 to 231, with New Hampshire (4) and New Mexico (5) as ties. I think Kerry will win both, plus Virginia and Colorado, but loose Florida. This gives Kerry 280 electoral votes with the toss ups, and Kerry gets 302 if he wins both of those upsets. We will see tomorrow.

The Senate does not look that good for now, with maybe a 52 / 47 / 1 split. I think DeMint probably will carry South Carolina, unfortunately. I am holding out hope for a pickup in Oklahoma. Daschle may be gone from South Dakota. I predict an all out effort to get rid of Bill Frist when he is up for re-election. Which is sad, because Allison works for him. Colorado, Florida and Alaska look good though.

I found out some details on the 2005 Dodge Ram. There is a sunroof option on quad cab models, but it cannot be combined with Side Curtain Airbags. They are getting closer, though I would want both on my truck, I would stick with safety over sunlight. Both options look like the black sheep of the options list. I know Side Airbag Rams are very hard to come by. I had to order mine to get them. But then again, I got a very black sheep truck. A Laramie Reg Cab LWB. I have only seen one other like mine, and it had Alaska plates and was driven by a guy my age with a haircut like mine. Can we say Military? Oh, and the manual transmission goes from five gears to six gears. Woohoo! More shifting!

A decision is expected sometime this week on the Baltimore RFP. I think they delayed it until after the municipal elections which are held tomorrow. My gut feeling is we won, though I don't want to wait another two or three years before I can start fixing it up. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.

I am off to work for now, again.