The meaning of respect

Last Friday night, I went on my ride along with the Maryland State Police. I rode with a veteran Trooper of nine years. He grew up in Prince George's County, Suitland to be exact, and his dad was a former police officer. The ride along was slow, because it was a rainy night. We responded to an accident scene where a guy lost control of his car, claiming to avoid hitting a deer. The other main call of the night was backing up the local sheriff's office. There were already two deputies on the scene. There were about eight young men, at the scene, loitering at a car wash in a rain storm. We heard one of the men say... "There are not enough of you guys to make us leave.", which was directed at the deputies. He was detained, and the others left in a hurry. What was interesting was the man mouthed off at the deputies, but he showed 100% respect to the State Trooper. That detail may have sold me on the Maryland State Police as my main focus, but I do need to shop around I think.

Harriet Meyers won't be a surpreme court justice after all. Her nomination was withdrawn. I'm glad to see the least qualified person to be put up in the past 100 years won't be making it to the senate floor. Here is my two cent advice to President Bush, put up Alberto Gonzales as his nominee. Or if he has to stick with a woman, put up Marylin Patel. She's the judge that brought Napster down.

It looks as if Carl Rove is going to be indicted. Good. This is President Bush's Watergate. I'm hoping that President Bush and Vice President Cheney are either impeached or resign.

Tropical Storm Beta formed last night in the Cariibean Sea. This is the absolute record for tropical storms since records were kept in 1851. Amazing. I believe that this is a product of both global warming and the natural climate cycle. But I predict that next year, storms will make it into the greek alphabet again. There is talk of using the Swahili alphabet next year if storms go out too far. But then again, the Chicago White Sox are the World Series Champions.

By now, unless you were under a rock, you know that the White Sox swept the World Series this year, with a 1-0 win over the Astros in game four, which handed them the title for the first time in nearly ninety years. Last year, it was the Red Sox. Next year, it will be the Cubs, which have gone since 1908 without a World Series win.

I also got a pay raise at work. It will mean significantly more money for me.

I'm out of here.

¿Pregunta?

OK. Tom DeLay is in a lot of trouble. Lots. A warrant has been sworn for his arrest, with bail set at $10,000. Is this the end of the Republican dominance at the Federal level? I think we are heading towards a major change in Washington, similar to a 1994, as long as the Democrats can come up with a good common platform. If they don't, they will have blown the biggest opportunity of the past 50 years of politics.

Wilma? Ain't she the woman from the Flintstones? Well, she is a hurricane too, a record setting one late in the season, with the strongest winds ever recorded in an Atlantic based hurricane. With eyes set for Florida, with a possible direct hit on the area around Tampa, I have to wonder if my friends in that part of Florida will be OK. I hope and will keep them in my thoughts as things do the evolution. Next storm? Alpha.

I joined Napster a couple days ago. I am enjoying downloading tracks such as Baba O'Riley by The Who, Tuff Enuff by the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Area Codes by Ludacris, and other songs here and there. I am a big fan of unlimited downloading.

Good news on the computer. HP accepted my rebate forms late, and I will be getting checks in the mail that will defer the cost of this computer.

OK, it's time for me to go to bed. Everyone, good night, and to my Florida friends, I hope the storm weakens enough to just be a minor hastle, not a devistating blow.

Ha!

Ha! This year, 2005, keeps getting more and more interesting.

I had my interview with the barracks commander. I think it went well. He seemed interested in having me join the State Police. He gave me the paperwork to go forward with the "Initial Interview", with a real recruiter. The date for that is November 15. Though I had an embarrassing setback after the interview. I lost my debit card either at the interview or at Sams Club. I had to call the barrack commander to ask if my card was found (it was not). I called PNC, got the existing one canceled, and got a new one issued at a cost of $7.50.

After the meeting with the commander, I left for a relaxing weekend away at Deep Creek Lake. I was near Grantsville, heading West on I-68. I got a phone call from an area code 540 number that I did not recognize. I answered the phone. They asked me if I had entered a contest at the County Fair. I had. They asked me some other questions. It ends up I either won $30K towards a new car, a crappy vacation, or $500 in cash. I will be receiving an envelope in the mail that I am supposed to take to my attorney to read over. Interesting stuff. Quite interesting indeed.

My mom has ordered me some new dishes. Fiestaware. Some of it is in shamrock, some is in sea mist. I got a 4 sets of five piece place settings in sea mist, a 7" covered butter dish in sea mist, a 1 quart pasta bowl in shamrock, and a sugar and creamer with tray in shamrock. I later in the day went to the manufacturers website and ordered two round candleholders in juniper and a utensil crock in juniper. The juniper color has been discontinued, which means it is a collectible item, plus I like the color. Also the sea mist will be discontinued at the end of the year, which makes any sea mist stuff good to get.

My work life is going pretty well. My workout routine is going OK. It's kinda frustrating sometimes though.

Oh and I am now the proud owner of two domain names. One is http://www.anonymousoctopus.com ... I plan on making a movie with a digital camcorder, putting it online and then seeing if anyone watches it. The other one is http://www."my name".com. I'm probably just going to keep that one for the e-mail end of things, though I might post something there at some point.

I hope everything is going well for everyone else. I guess things are going well for me.

Running away with the world

Well, interesting stuff is abounding.

President Bush has nominated a basic nobody to the Supreme Court. Who is Harriet Miers? Other than she is in the close circle of friends of the president, no one really knows. I personally would rather fight or speak up for the known, than guess the unknown. I think this is about the poorest choice he could have made for such an important post.

Now to switch gears. Aparently I got two parking tickets in DC, two days apart. However, the second one never made it onto my windshield. I only found this out by paying the ticket online. I cannot get a parking permit as a contractor, so as these tickets end up on my windshield, I have to charge higher prices for my work. But what angers me the most is that I never got the second parking ticket!!!!

Thirdly, later today is my first official step towards becoming a State Trooper. I am meeting with the barrack commander to go over some stuff, and get me set up on some ride alongs. I'm nervous, but calm.

Well, it's nearly 3 AM, and I must be going to bed.