It's My Party, and I can, oh Nevermind

Friday afternoon I did a phone interview with Northrop Grumman. While the position is not exactly what I am looking for, I decided to throw my hat in the ring. I still hope to get the District Court Commissioner position, since that would be more pay, keep me local, and get me closer to a career in police work.

Friday night was my birthday party. An extra special thanks to Tim for hosting it. Of course a special thanks to Freddy, Shannon, Shawon, Dave, Jessie, Steve, Adam, Kelly, Rick, Tricia, Dan, Tara, Justin, André, Tatyana, and Chad for showing up. We had great food, Tim's iPod on shuffle, lots of stories about me from high school (Justin and Tara) and college (Shawon) to entertain everyone. Jessie gets the quote of the night about the Tofukey sausages I got a Trader Joe's, along the lines of "They are the sausage equivalent of a dildo." At 11:30 PM or so, we had a campaign toast and served the ice cream cake. I proceeded to get even more plastered until I opened presents around 2:00 AM or so. I received a friendship book, E=MC2 by Mariah Carey, Blackout by Britney Spears, two copies of The Smurfs Season 1 on DVD, an iPod dock, a deck of playing cards, a Swiss Army type tool. Some other presents ordered by other people are on the way to my PO Box. Around 3:00 AM, I was sent to bed because, well, the party was coming to an end. Shannon, Freddy and Rick spent the night.

I woke up the next morning throwing up. And kept throwing up from about 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM or so. Finally after my stomach settled down, I felt it was safe to leave Tim's house. Freddy drove me back to my parents house and went home with the Accord. Chris then brought my parents Chinese food, which helped settle my stomach. I ended up catching a nap from about 7 PM until 10 PM, then got ready for my ride along.

OK here is the short of the long of it, community relations with the Prince George's County Police have come light years along since 1999 when I last rode with them. The level of respect that the citizens showed the officer I rode with amazed me, considering he was a white guy. In the past, there was quite a lot of tension between police and citizens, which I witnessed quite a bit on my ride alongs with the department. I rode along in District III, which is Palmer Park, and specifically was in the "H" sector, which was roughly bordered by Southern Ave on the West, Suitland Parkway on the South, Central Ave on the North and the Beltway on the East. Areas included District Heights, Capitol Heights, Suitland, Forestville and Boulevard Heights. We responded to three noise complaints, a hit and run, two shootings, did a traffic stop and gave some hookers a good scare. While en route to one of the shootings, we went though a red light camera intersection with our lights and siren on. This led to my favorite quote of the night by the officer, on the radio, with dispatch. "Had a Kodak moment at Donnell and the Pike on priority". The second noteworthy event of the night was when we pulled the traffic stop. We clocked a Zipcar doing 53 in a 35 on Ritchie Road. The guy had his children at a movie until nearly 2 AM. That raised the eyebrows of two other officers. The third noteworthy event of the night was with a woman walking along Southern Avenue with her two children at 2:30 AM. She was emotionally distressed, and the officer calmly asked her questions about her welfare despite her agitated state. She claimed she was coming home from work and just picked the kids up from a family member's house, and she lived about two blocks away. The fourth noteworthy event of the night was when we rolled up on some hookers in Suitland across from the Census Bureau. Both were white women, born in 1962. One looked to be about 80 years old, the other one looked to be in her late 40s. The one in her late 40s was strung out, and when the officer asked if she was on anything, she told him she had just smoked a rock. While giving her a field interrogation, she tried to flash the officers on the scene. However, due to her very point blank honesty and cooperation, we ended up sending both on their way with a stern warning to leave the area. The final noteworthy event of the night was the second shooting, however other officers on the scene had the incident under control. At this point it was 4:30 AM and the officer and I both concluded that this would be a good time to part ways. I got back to my parents house around 5 AM, my dad was up watching TV, I ended up going to bed until 9 AM or so.

I woke up around 9 AM, my dad cooked me breakfast. Afterwards we tried to go get free mulch from the County, however the facility was closed. There was a stray dog walking around. She tried to follow my truck, so I got out and tried to bate her over. However she ran away. Poor dog, she definitely looked like she had been dumped there by a heartless owner. We then went to Dunkin Dounuts, to get coffee and donuts. Then I did random chores around their house. My brother came by, met me, we took the truck to the electrical mechanic in Upper Marlboro and dropped it off, and he ran me home. When I got home I proceeded to take a hour long nap. Afterwards I ate some dinner, watched some TV, and sent out a couple copies of my resumé before starting to write this post.

I bid everyone a good night and good luck.