Goodbye Sarah and Aiyshah

It appears that Sarah and Aiyshah have decided to leave the RFP group. We are actively seeking out a replacement household for them. It's too bad they are leaving, they added quite a large amount of diversity to the group. They were both active participants during meetings and with contracts. I did not always agree with them, but I was more glad that they were actively participating. However, I did see this coming, over the past few weeks it seems they became more and more disilusioned with the group at large. At the end of the day though, I'm not going to chase them and beg them to come back. They have made their decision, for better or for worse, and I fully respect and honor it. They will still be invited to my housewarming party, regardless. They are both good kind souls, and I wish nothing but the best for them.

The neighbors by the rental property won't even say Hi to me. Today, I was leaving to go home and get something to eat. I saw the person that lives next door, on the left if you are inside the house facing the street. I said "Hello" to him. He shot me a dirty look and walked right into the house. I wonder what I did to make him angry at me.

Later today, I get to go to the home remodeling expo in Chantilly VA. Mostly to see what's hot in home products, so I can make my house a little more livable. Considering the TLC that I am giving to the rental property, you can expect a very high level of quality to my own house.

I guess it is time for me to roll into bed. Good night.

Oooooh, I am a Redneck Bear

Redneck Bear


Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
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Though if I changed the last answer (I had three possible ones I wanted to choose), I ended up as either Tramp Bear or Gay Bear. I think Redneck bear is most accurate for me though.

The house is coming along. I think I am running out of things to discover that are "wrong" with it.

I'll blog more extensively later.

Just more stuff going on.

My dad is still in the hospital, they kept him overnight for observation. It appears he is just suffering from some inflamation. He's doped up on morphine too.

I guess in response to Dan's post, New England was different. They have a lot of unique problems that we don't have here in Metro DC/Baltimore. And many problems that we have in Maryland are not unique to where we are. I was not complaining about drug use/abuse/recovery, but more of the quality of service. It just appeared that people that work in fast food and whatnot in New England put more pride into their work. That's just an example.

Many social ills need more money thrown at it. The drug eppidemic in Baltimore is not unique, but the numbers are staggering none the less. About 1 in 11 people in Baltimore is addicted to at least one illegal drug. Other cities with similar numbers per capita... Gary Indiana, Camden New Jersey, Chester Pennsylvania, Birmingham Alabama. That is just four examples. My cousin in Wisconsin is fighting a drug addiction. He has been in and out of rehab since he was in high school. My cousin has avoided going to jail, something that I believe he needs to expirence to make some of the rehab stick. I wish more money that is being sent to Iraq was being sent to cities, to try to fix social ills. My solution. Get the hard core addicts into jail like rehab centers, keep them there for 2-5 years, give them job training, but keep them away from the drugs. I know that won't be easy, but it could be done. And the dealers need to be shut down, permanantly, forever. Again, not an easy task. More police, more jails, longer sentences, are neccisary to shut dealers down.

And I was equally as shocked at the 31 Marines that were killed in the plane crash. I imediately thought of Alex, I hope he is coming home from Iraq soon. I believe that the war in Iraq is completely senseless, I never supported the war, from planning to now. However, I do support the troops. I don't hold them responsible for what is going on over there. I hold the command staff responsible. I just hope that Rumsfeld will personally sign the condolance letters. Oh wait. He rubber stamps them.

The guy with the commuter train in California may get his suicide wish, via the State of California lethal injection table. I'm glad to see he is being charged with 10 counts of murder. A deputy sheriff was killed in the train wreck. And when I hear about law enforcement officers dying, I think of Jason's murder on September 17 2001. But with each passing day, I realize that life does move on. I hope that this sick person is brought to justice.

I guess I need to point one thing out. I just found I liked New England more than the mid Atlantic. I liked the snow, I liked the friendly people, I liked the radio. I do have a friend base already, and I know I can make more friends up there if I just left. The hardest thing is to leave my family behind. My parents in their old age really have become co-dependent on me. Yes, the Baltimore project is keeping me here, but I would not be doing that if it was not for my parents. The shock and surprise of Maine having TWO urban-rhythmic radio stations (think WPGC), the amazement that MA can support nearly 1,000 Dunkin Donuts, the fact that six states are within two hours of a certain spot, these things all have some neat appeal. I also realize that there are certain problems that span the nation, from California to Maine, Washington to Florida and every point in between. However, I see how the New England region copes. And I appreciate the difference enough that I could easilly see myself living there. But for now, Maryland is my home, and at night as I sleep, I will dream of a new life in New England.

I'm back in Prince George's County

And I hate it...

Lets recap the second half of the vacation though.

I got to go see Russ on Sunday after it stopped snowing and I got my truck dug out. I was glad to see him. I did not get to see Rob. It ends up he has not got his move done yet, because of the 24+" of snow they got in Boston. I survived sub 0° temps and one of the top five snowfalls ever up there, and enjoyed every minute of it.

The drive home was interesting. I finished all of I-384, I-291, and I-691 in Connecticut. Tim and I took a four mile detour at Waterbury and turned north, to get Litchfield County, which both of us have never been to. We turned around and followed CT 8 South to I-95, and then we cut over I-287 to the Tappan Zee Bridge and turned south on the Garden State Parkway. Took that to the NJ Turnpike, followed that to I-195, took that West to I-295 North, looped around Trenton, and that turns back into I-95. That's when it started to snow like hell. Philly ended up geting 1-2" of fresh snow, at the height of rush hour, when it was not forcast. It took roughly two hours to go about thirty five miles. We met up with Tim's friend Rick in Springfield PA, and turned back South on I-95. I now have I-95 done in NJ, PA, and DE. The drive, after Wilmington DE was pretty uneventful. I nearly had a heart attack when I turned on 107.3 and heard talk radio. Aparently the signal was not working at full strength from DC, and I was not able to get it in Cecil County like I normally do. 107.3 did not become another HFS. Tim got home safe, I got home safe, and it was back to work the next day.

Speaking of HFS, it's back on the air. Sort of. From 7 PM to 6 AM, during the week, and on weekends, on 105.7 Baltimore. It's on the web 24/7. It's not the same as a 24 hour FM broadcast, but I'll take what I can get.

Yesterday, I went to the McDonalds in Marlton. As usual, they were out of stuff. I wanted a Ceasar salad. They were out of them. I had to get a cobb salad. Then they were out of cobb dressing, ranch dressing, etc. That's So Prince George's County.

Tony Kirkland has made the news.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/bal-te.md.treatment17jan17,1,1097114.story
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9584

I'll let the articles speak for themselves. I have composed a letter to the editor of the City Paper.

This morning, I woke up and had to take my dad to the emergency room. I'll keep everyone posted on that.

Generally people get homesick when they are on vacation. I'm sick of Maryland. Our radio is awful. Our fast food restaurants are rarely fast, don't have things in stock and are employing rude people. The traffic sucks. Everything here is about keeping up with or beating the Jones'es. Even the neighbors where the rental property is would not have the decency to shovel the snow on the sidewalk at the street. I miss MA.

I remember back in 2000 how much Rob was trying to get me to come up there and take the Civil Service exam for police. He was actively recruiting me for the MA State Police. I wish I had just f*^$ing done it. At that time I felt I could not leave Maryland because of my parents. What a huge mistake.

Have a nice day.

Hello from New England

Well, I finally made it up here. The past five years, I have had four trips up here canceled. First was the 1999 ski trip to Vermont with Sherrie, Paul, Stacy Ann, and Anthony. Canceled because I had to write an essay. Then there was the 2001 trip up here to visit Rob. Canceled because Rob's work schedule in the Post 9/11 world was too eratic to have me come visit. My 2003 visit was canceled because I did not have a car. My Christmas 2004 visit was nixed because of my dad's health. But I made it up here. Amazing, considering it was snowing pretty much the whole drive up here.

BUT I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

The cold is not too bad, I'm dealing with it really well. Even better than many of the natives.

On Thursday, Tim and I got to go to the Yankee Candle flagship store, and then we drove the extra few miles to Battleboro VT and Hinsdale NH. On Friday, Tim and I drove up to Augusta ME. I got to see the state capitol, plus visit the Maine Law Enforcment Officers Memorial. On the way back, we stopped in Freeport, which basically is what happens when an outlet mall takes over a small New England town. Today, we are supposed to visit Russ before the snow starts really coming down. Supposed to is the key word, because he's right now fighting a house fire in the town where he is the fire chief. Because of the impending blizzard, it looks like I won't be getting to Providence RI or Boston. Not the end all be all, but it would have been nice to get to see both again after nearly 20 years. I probably won't get to see Rob either, because he is moving from one house to another, the blizzard and his work schedule.

So far I have clinched some new milage of interstate. I-684 in NY & CT, I-84 in CT & MA, I-91 in MA, I-291 in MA, I-391 in MA, I-190 in MA, I-290 in MA, I-95 in NH, I-195 in ME, I-295 in ME, I-495 in ME. I have roughly finished 1/2 of I-495 in MA, 1/2 of I-90 in MA, and some other odds and ends. I hope to get some of I-384 in CT, I-395 in MA, I-691 in CT and another 3DI (either it's a x91 or x84 in CT near Harford) on the way back. I'm also going to get the remaining pieces of I-295 in NJ, and I-95 in NJ, PA and DE on the way home. Believe it or not, I have never been to Philly. That will leave the Augusta - Holden ME and Daytona - Homestead FL pieces of I-95 that would be undone.

Anyhow, I probably should get off this computer and go out and enjoy more of the +5°F weather before the snow starts flying hard.

See you guys when I get back to Maryland.

A new camera

Well, the damage is done. $1600 in new appliances for the rental property. The fridge was $600, a Kenmore 75952. Interestingly, this is not energy star compliant, yet the energy star compliant one is $750, and gets the same kilowatt hour score. Interesting. The new cooktop is a Fridigaire FGC30S4AS in white. The big advantage on this is it has sealed burners, which is less to clean. The new wall oven is a 24" gas Fridigaire #FGB24S5AS in white. The main advantage to this oven is it has a self clean mode. I'm taking the door panel on the dishwasher and flipping it from almond to white. The main advantage to this is I can make it white for no cost to my parents. I have not decided on a new range hood, but that will be in white. I'm donating the washer and dryer I was given from Capitol Hill to the rental property, since they work well and are only a few years old, and best of all, they are free and not being used at the moment. My parents can get more rent for the place, and if they break, they buy new ones.

The damage is done. My digital camera died a few days ago, eating about 50-60 pictures, including a bunch that Dan and I took down in Southern Maryland, some taken at New Years, some taken at the first Linden Tree LLC meeting after winning the RFP. The new digital camera is a Kodak Easy Share LS753. It's a 5 MegaPixel camera, my old one was a Fuji 2.1 MP camera. I bought a 512 meg card for the camera too. In total, the package set me back $350 at Sams Club, or roughly about $60 more than I wanted to spend. But I bought a better camera than I was planning too. The new camera is not much larger than my cell phone, and only marginally heavier. The old camera was the size of a brick. The new one can record audio with video, has A/V outputs, a bigger LCD, etc.

I leave for Worcester MA on Wednesday, I should be back in time for a Linden Tree LLC meeting on Sunday at 6 PM. I might have come up with a solution to the pricing issue. Stay tuned to see if it works.

It's time for me to go to bed. Good night.

The loss of HFS

HFS is gone.

However, in many ways this is not surprising and it wont be a huge loss for me. I am used to good DC radio stations coming and going. The DC market is not big enough to have nitch radio, but it is not small enough to have blanket radio. So we have this awful hybrid approach to radio.

HFS has always been a preset on my car radio. The Beretta, Aerostar, Econoline, 626, Camry, and Ram all had a 99.1 preset on it. I've already changed the presets on the Camry and Ram to 100.7. I can't even appreciate the music on El Zol. My nearly 18 year old niece was starting to listen to HFS. She will never have the memories that I have. I remember my first HFStival when I was 18, a senior in high school, and I ran into a lot of my friends at the Festival. And that was true in 1999, 2000 and 2001. I did not go in 2002, 2003 or 2004. Now I regret not going in 2004. I still have my t-shirts. I plan on wearing mine proudly this weekend, to demonstrate a point. I have other great memories of HFStivals, and some bad memories of them too. But overall good memories. I remmeber listening to Cowboy Mouth's - Jenny Says on the Golden Mile in Frederick in 1997. Yes, I know it was 99.1 instead of DC 101. I was in the 626, and Tara, Goth Jon and Chris were in the car. HFS was also the first radio station I tuned in on my Ram.

DC has had a lot of radio turmoil. XTRA 104 was oldies, then an all 70s format. In 1996 it became Z-104, it was Top 40, until 2002, when it became More Music 104, then back to Z-104. 99.5 has been easy listening, R&B Oldies + disco and top 40. I can go down the list. Really the only institutions on DC radio have been DC 101 and HFS. Everything else has come and gone.

The DJs at DC 101 were sympathetic. The DJs over at 98 Rock were gleeful. The DC 101 people got it.

Oh well. I've lost a part of me, but honestly, there are not too many parts of me left.

The other shoe is dropping

I'm working on my parents rental property.

It's not fun. Every day, I discover something broken or missing or needing replacement. Today, I found the toilet in the basement bathroom has a split in the ceramic and is leaking water. I'll be replacing the toilet and the sink. The faucet and drain pipe are all rusted out and corroded, and by the time I put a new faucet on there, I could replace the sink and have them matching. I'm finding melted wires on light fixtures, etc. A lot of these problems are age related, but the tennant could have informed us of problems with the place.

All hail being a landlord.

Blah blah blah.

Aparently I have come a long way since high school.

Tuesday was my sister and Tim's birthday. Both born exactly 10 years apart, on nearly opposite parts of the East coast (my sister, Jacksonville FL; Tim, Worcester MA) they are some of the closer characters in my life.

I've been working like a dog this week. I am working on my parents rental property, and working on Capitol Hill. In fact, on Wednesday I worked a total of 10 billable hours. My friday is going to be the same, plus my Monday, Tuesday and Thursday won't be cakewalks either. At least I will be rolling in dough towards the end of next week. I need to work on finding a gym membership, one that is month to month, so I can get rid of my spare tire stomach. Speaking of which, my brother's Liberty, and my brother's roommate's Crapaleer are parked in my driveway. The Liberty's oil light is coming on with a full oil tank, and the Crapaleer is parked here for suspision of dead tags. Meanwhile my brother is running around in my parent's Camry. Which means, if I want to go into DC, I better Metro in, because parking a Dodge Ram in any trendy part of DC is touch and go. I've spent a hour looking for parking before.

Happy New Year everyone!