Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Sitting in

Yesterday, the chemist Albert Hofmann died yesterday at the age 102. What was his claim to fame? He was the scientist that discovered LSD. Well, at least he got to see one more Bicycle Day on April 19th. So lets all remember the man that brought us technocolored sky to the masses.

Yesterday at work I mowed the grass and did the usual keeping the properties kept up. Nothing too special. I was complemented on the flowers by a passer by on the street. I always enjoy that.

Yesterday evening was my sit in with the District Court Commissioner's office. It seems like a pretty good gig. You deal with the public and prisoners though bullet proof glass, which is good for the safety of the employees. All the Commissioners I met yesterday enjoyed their position. Being a District Court Commissioner would be an excellent preparation for being a Police Officer or State Trooper. Plus the pay, at nearly $44,000 a year to start, plus shift differential and overtime, is a very livable salary. I'm going to pursue this farther

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Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Happy Birthday to ME!

I am now officially 28 years old.

Saturday night, My parents, my brother, my sister, her boyfriend, her boyfriend's son, one of my nieces, Tim, Kelly and I went to Green Field Churrascaria in Rockville for dinner. I blame André for my love of Brazilian BBQ now. After a very filling dinner of meat, the servers came out singing "Happy Birthday" in Portuguese with a slice of plain cheesecake. At dinner I could not stop talking about my ride along with US Park Police the night before. My parents both commented my shifting has got significantly smoother since they last rode in the car. It just took time for me to get used to working a manual transmission after not having once since 2003, when the Mazda died.

Sunday was my roommate Julie's birthday. We celebrated by making BBQ Chicken, sweet potato fries, steamed broccoli, potato salad and baked beans. Afterwards we celebrated with an ice cream cake from Caravel. So yummy, so fattening. Earlier in the day I attempted to take my dad to get free mulch from Prince George's County. However they ran out as we pulled up. I took Dundee up the road with me to my parents house and I took him for a walk to the neighbor's house where there is a flock of sheep. He knew what they were when he heard them bah. He is supposed to be bred from working Australian Shepherd lines. I would really like to teach him how to work as a shepherding dog, but my roommate that owns him is opposed to doing that. Oh well.

For my birthday, I took it easy and went into hiding. Well, not exactly. I called the Commissioner's Office to schedule my sit in. Then my power went out around 2:30 PM. I ended up meeting up with Shannon at St. Charles Towne Center. I bought a new shirt at Aeropostale, some Watermelon margarita mix at Kohls. I picked up my contact lens order from Sams Club, and then we hit Circuit City. Shannon bought me a copy of Edward Scissorhands on Blu Ray for my birthday. Then we went by my brother's house to pick up my mail. Rusty and Trouble got Shannon's shirt full of cat hair (mostly Rusty). Then I dropped Shannon off at her car and I returned home. My roommates made steak and potato along with some left overs for my birthday dinner. At least the power came back on by 6:30. My roommates got me Cooking Mama Cook Off for my Wii, got me Juno and Independence Day on Blu Ray, Purple Rain on HD-DVD, a pair of Xbox sleep pants and a tshirt. I know I am getting more swag from my friends on Friday at my birthday party at Tim's house. My parents are getting me something too, I just need to get them the information from my Amazon.com wish list.

I am working on scheduling a ride along with the Prince George's County police. Even though the idea of doing Prince George's County police is not really appealing, I am running out of options on many fronts. At least the pay is reasonable and I'd get a take home car for use in the County. In many ways I feel like my world is shrinking, due to my parents deteriorating health. I have to stay close to make sure they are taken care of. I just hope they realize how much of a sacrifice I am making to keep them comfortable.

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Saturday, April 26, 2008

Should I Really be Doing This?

On Thursday at work, one of the tenants complained to me that I was making their building too nice. I guess since that building is under contract and going to settlement in early June, I should have scaled back the flowers a little bit. However, all the neighbors appreciated that I was making the building look as nice as I did last year. The grass is perfect, the flowers are looking great, and everything is clean and neat outside. I take pride in how the buildings I maintain are kept, both from a superficial standpoint (flowers, grass, clean common areas) and a mechanical standpoint (no leaking faucets, things installed properly, no roof leaks, no peeling paint). The care I put forth shows and is truly appreciated by our tenants and all around us.

Also on Thursday, my sister called me, spent over two hours on the phone with me discussing my Resume. She asked about my duties at each job I worked at. I think she is starting from scratch because my Resume looked like a college English project (it was).

On Friday, I took the day off of work. I scheduled my ride along with the US Park Police for 6 PM through 2 AM. I also mailed my paperwork back to the District Court, went to Target to get some groceries and health care products, got the Accord washed and cleaned out, and some laundry. I arrived at the US Park Police D-1 Substation at 5:45, got to watch roll call. My first impression of their officers were that they were very proud of their jobs, to help people, but not to the point they feel the urge to over power people that are honest with them. They may not have a flashy take home car program, or fancy computers in their cars. They just do their patrol duties in a more pure, old school way. I was extremely impressed, to the point I thought... "Why would I ever want to be a Trooper?" That question goes a lot deeper, but I think if I had done this ride along back in late 2005, I would have chosen the US Park Police ahead of Maryland State Police, not in a heartbeat, but with a lot of thinking things over. Hopefully when I apply, I will have better luck. In the end, things might after all work out for the better.

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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Counting on a Wing and a Prayer

The weather today was very very nice. So nice my allergies kicked into overdrive. Oh well, so is spring. At work I did gardening, sprayed for weeds and bugs, and went on the roof to investigate where the leaks could be.

Today I turned in an application to be a District Court Commissioner. The pay starts in the mid 40K range. A perfectly acceptable salary. I also picked up, and dropped off a ride along form for US Park Police. My sister rounded up a list of jobs with Northrop Grumman I can qualify for. Loosing my job in 6-7 weeks has been a unnerving process for me, that's for sure. But at least I know I am not the only other person looking for a job. André suddenly lost his job last week and has been frantically searching for one too.

Hillary Clinton won Pennsylvania. No shock there. The 10% win was slightly higher than I expected (6%-8% was my prediction) What was surprising was the fact that Barrack Obama carried Dauphin, Lancaster, and Union Counties. Dauphin County has a +10 Republican registration advantage. Lancaster PA has the largest concentration of Puerto Ricans by percentage outside Puerto Rico. Union County just leaves my head scratching. Spill over from neighboring Centre County (where Penn State is located)? Any thoughts?

My birthday party is coming up on May 2nd. As usual, K9 John won't be able to make it. For some reason the idea of putting K9 John, Tara, Shawon, André, Shannon and Tim all in the same place at the same time seems like a John Waters movie in the making. Actually my life in a lot of ways is like a bad John Waters movie. At least there have been no chickens harmed in the living of my life.

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Sunday, April 20, 2008

Don't ever go looking at eBay

Don't ever go looking at eBay, it may make you depressed

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/07-PASSAT-PKG2-SPORT-PKG-RARE-6SPEED-NASHVILLE_W0QQitemZ380018712745QQcmdZViewItem

Yes, this is almost the car I *wanted* when I bought my Accord. By the time I was ready to buy, the dealership was only able to locate two 2007 Passats with a manual trans with package 2. One was in Illinois and it had all sorts of boy racer bodywork stuff done to it, inflating the window sticker past $35,000. The other one was in Washington state and had Navigation, Dynamo Audio, Xenon headlights, and all sorts of other luxuries that zoomed that price to over $36,000 sticker. I really could not afford either. What I wanted was a strict Package 2 with rear seat side airbags, which stickered for roughly $28,000. If I had been able to buy a month earlier, I probably could have got what I wanted. The 2008 models could not be ordered with a sunroof, which gave me the go ahead to look closer at the Accord, which is what I ended up with.

The other thing I did today was lay in bed in extreme pain. I must have pulled a chest muscle pretty bad because I felt like I was having a heart attack. After talking to André, his opinion was that I pulled a muscle. That's a relief.

Yesterday I went and got my eyes examined. My prescription improved, to -2.25 from -2.50. I ordered a years worth of contact lenses. If I squint, without my contacts in, I can read the 20/100 line, which is required to get a federal law enforcement job. I also bought a pair of non prescription sunglasses, which came in handy after my eyes were dilated and I looked like a Japanese cartoon characters' eyes. Afterwards I went to work and did gardening at both the main buildings, making them look good for open house tours.

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Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Forget the Pope, I saw Cobert

The pope is visiting Washington DC right now. Blah, I really could care less.

Instead, Dan, Tricia, Shannon and I went to Philadelphia on Monday to a taping of the Colbert Report. Shannon scored free tickets online. We drove up in my Accord, had lunch at Abner's Cheesesteaks. Lunch was very good, though if we had gone to the gentleman's club in the basement, we could have got the same lunch for free. At 5:00, we got admitted to the taping, which started at 7:00. He interviewed Mayor Nutter and Chris Matthews. I was about six rows back, stage left. Kelly TiVo'ed it, I need to ride up to Burtonsville to watch it. It was exciting to watch a TV show being taped, though I think I would have preferred to have been there for Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton. But this was his first taping outside of his studio in New York. The University of Pennsylvania campus where the filming took place was amazing. It reminded me of a good cross between the University of Baltimore and the University of Maryland College Park. The ride back was peaceful too. $20 for parking, $19 for tolls, and 32 MPG average for the Accord. Plus I finally got to clinch I-495 in Delaware, completing all interstate mileage in Delaware.

Rewind to Sunday. I volunteered at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland College Park working a concessions stand for my high school reunion committee. However, the event on Sunday was the Capital Classic, a basketball tournament. Turnout was extremely low, which will have cut back on the profit our reunion committee will make. Oh well, but it was a good time, and it gave me a chance to see some friends from high school.

Well, good night friends.

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Thursday, April 10, 2008

I guess I am back to claim what IS mine

Well well well, look what Cthuhlu drug back into the world of blogging. Little ol' me.

I guess everyone is wondering what happened to me. Did I get into the Maryland State Police? Who did I support for Maryland Gov? The presidential primary?

Lets flash back to May 2006 for a moment. My brand new 20" Sony LCD TV did a face plant in my bedroom. I was devastated because the damn thing cost me roughly $500. Later that evening I was on the treadmill at the gym, runing at 7.2 MPH. About 15 minutes into my 25 minute run, I misplanted my left foot, causing me to fly off the treadmill and bust my ankle bad. This happened precisely at midnight. Fortunately my personal trainer was there, watching the NBA finals. He was able to render first aid. Later that day, I went to get it checked and ended up with a very severe sprain. My ankle looked like a red tennis ball. The doctor told me that I would have been better off if I had just broke it.

On Friday of that week, I had my physical with the MSP doctor. That seemed to go well, and he was hoping for a quick recovery on the ankle.

Then the following Monday, all hell broke loose on that end. I had my first polygraph. That did not go very well. Some issues were dug up that really should not have been issues, but since they were issues in my mind, I failed on some questions. The polygrapher worked to get to the bottom of what was bothering me and it ended up to not be that big of a deal, it would just require a second polygraph. However this held me over by a couple hours. My psychological scheduled for 12:30 in Towson. At 1:45, I was just leaving the MSP barracks in Glen Burnie. Not good. The polygrapher called recruiting and I called recruiting. I burned rubber to get to Towson. I did my psych. Despite being over two hours late, I thought everything went well. The following Tuesday I got invited back for a second polygraph. I passed this one. I thought everything was in the clear. Well, I noticed that no one was being interviewed or contacted from my background booklet. Then I got the letter. I was given a lifetime disqualification from employment with the Maryland State Police and my conditional offer of employment was withdrawn. After doing some checking around, I found out that I failed my psychological. I was labeled "socially awkward", "a high risk for domestic violence", "high risk for substance abuse", "would be habitually late for work" among other derogatory statements. Before going to the psychological I had my ass torn apart by the polygrapher, so I was not on my best. He held me late. That was not my fault. It is not my fault that my dad was abusive towards me. It is not my fault that I have had two cousins that have been in and out of rehab. Yet so much was used against me to paint a picture of someone that would be an chronically late, unstable person. I was devastated. Even today, almost two years later, I am still devastated. Many people that have read the report wondered where some of these profound conclusions came from. I have no answer for them.

Things kept getting worse. In June 2006, my truck was hit for a second time, same front right corner, because someone decided to run the shoulder of the entrance ramp and thought that I was going to let him in. I did not even notice that Toyota Corolla next to me and all the sudden I feel my truck get jammed between this Corolla and the left curb of the highway entrance. The driver was not cited by DC Police, but got a stern lecture. His insurance ended up picking up the tab for the accident, however I had to live with the scars for nearly two months while this mess was sorted out.

Then once I finally got the truck to the body shop, I was issued a Ford Five Hundred as a rental car. I was on my way over to Rich's house in Arlington one evening. I was heading down a long hill on the highway near my house. I misread the speedometer and got clocked going 71 in a 50 MPH zone. The State Trooper that pulled me over was the most mechanical person that I have ever encountered. He wrote me for all 21 over, despite having a clean driving record by the computers eyes and the fact I was driving a rental car. I went to court, received probation before judgement in lieu of points, 16 hours of community service, and the full fine, court costs, and community service costs. I was disappointed in myself for making such a stupid mistake, but I was also disappointed that the Trooper showed very little mercy considering this was not my regular vehicle. At least after completing my probation before judgement, the ticket is completely gone from my driving record and it cannot be used against me for insurance purposes.

As the 2006 election season came upon us I had a choice that I was not happy to make. I could vote for Bob Ehrlich, a moderate Republican that started out to take over Annapolis. While I was extremely dissatisfied with his first two years, his second two years seemed to be tempered by reason and restraint. However, would he be emboldened by a reelection and turn into a second coming of Mitt Romney? Or I could vote for Martin O'Malley, the mayor of Baltimore City. As many long time readers of this blog are aware, I was very dissatisfied with his performance in regards to housing issues and I had a major bone to pick.

I picked the neither of the two choices. I voted for Ed Boyd, the Green Party candidate, despite the Green Party's view on the ICC. I also supported Ben Cardin in the Dem primary for US Senate, because the idea of Kweisi Mfume as one of Maryland's senators scared the living daylight out of me. I was disappointed that in Charles County every opposed Republican lost, which left our county government without a balance. Especially worrisome was the loss of Sheriff Fred Davis to Rex Coffey, who is a very sketchy character.

As the disaster of 2006 closed and 2007 began, my truck started to fall apart. The iPod dock stopped working. My drivers door handle jammed. The steering wheel radio controls started to do crazy things. The heated seats died. The rear differential had to be rebuilt. The ABS computer self destructed. Many of these things were not covered by the Chrysler backed extended warranty that I was sold when I bought the truck. In October 2007, after having the ABS computer go bad, I ended up buying a 2008 Honda Accord EX with leather. I picked the 4 cylinder with a manual transmission, because I have always wanted a stick shift car. I got a good price ($400 over invoice) on it considering this was a new design of a popular car. I kept the Ram for my business, driving it back and forth to work, while driving the Accord for "pleasure use".

In January 2007, the owner of the buildings where I work died. The trustee who had become strangely religious over the past few years, had convinced the owner to leave one building to his church. Well, some issues between him and the church lead to him attempting suicide and his mom taking him to her home away from the DC area.

In March of 2007, some of my friends made some very poor decisions during a weekend getaway at Deep Creek Lake. I will not elaborate, but it has put a lot of strain on long time friendships, some of which have gone back over ten years.

At least in December 2007, I went hunting and got a rather large doe as my first kill. I was very proud of myself. However I was not proud of the Maryland legislature increasing taxes as much as they have. This, along with Martin O'Malley's fetish for bringing photo radar to Maryland, has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I had suspected back in 2006 he was going to be bad, but never *this* bad. There is no way I will ever vote for him after his first term as Gov. There are two types of Democrats. One type wants to help people be their very best, protect them against anti people business practices and whatnot. And then there is the type of Democrat that likes to protect the people from themselves. Martin O'Malley is the second type. And that's the dangerous type that leads me to dabble on the red side.

As far as the Presidential election, I initially was supporting Bill Richardson. I believed that he was the best qualified candidate, along with having the ability to bring a change of direction and the ability to work with all sides to bring about political and global peace. However, after he dropped out, I turned my support to Barack Obama. I have a strong dislike for Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that I liked Bill Clinton when he was president. If she ends up the nominee, I most likely will vote for John McCain, despite the fact that he is psycho hawkish about the Iraq War.

At least as I come up on the middle of April 2008, I know changes are in the wind. My job will be ending soon and I am already looking for work. I know by this time next year we will have a new President. And I know that the earth will turn in a period of 24 hours per day, 365.25 days a year. The more that things change, the more things stay the same.

Sorry about two years of absence. I'm back.

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