So Prince George's County

Predictions for Today

2008-11-04T11:31:00.003-05:00

Obama: Maryland, Maine (all), Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, Washington DC, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Hawaii.

McCain: West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska (all), South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Alaska.

Contested Senate Seats:
Democrats: Virginia, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana, Alaska, New Hampshire, Oregon, North Carolina, Minnesota.
Run-Off: Georgia
Republicans: Kentucky, Mississippi

House Seats:
Democrats: 255. Republicans: 180.

Presidental Election Stuff

2008-10-26T01:37:00.005-04:00

From Electoral-Vote.com:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2008/Pres/Maps/Oct25.html

I like this map a lot.

How could I have hope back in 2004 with a map like this?:

http://www.electoral-vote.com/evp2004/Pres/Maps/Oct25.html

I think Obama will win North Dakota and Montana. I think he will also come closer than expected in West Virginia. I wish I lived in a swing state this year. :-)

And another mochary of Governor Palin.

http://www.palinaspresident.us

Good night

Attempted Break-In

2008-10-26T01:08:00.002-04:00

I went over to the rental property on Thursday to put a ridge vent on the roof to slow down the dry rot of the plywood under the shingles. A gasket fell off the roof, I went down to the ground by the back laundry room door to retrieve it. I found the lock cylinder of the knob on the ground. I went out to Lowe's, got a new lock, and waited for the Prince George's County Police to arrive. Yet again, I got a rookie with a FTO. We have a suspect from the neighborhood, someone that the tenant's son knew. At least I have confidence that they will follow up with the person of interest because the rookie needs to learn.

Tim and I painted his dining room walls and woodwork too. It turned out great, a significant improvement over the oak stained wainscot. Now it's untinted white high gloss, with the chair rail and baseboard his unique gray color he picked out. The plaster is painted antique white. It is very appropriate for his house. However Kelly is not convinced the gray is the best color. Friday night I was able to get up there and put the first full coat of joint compound to detexture the ceiling in the bathroom. It already looks like a significant improvement, though its slow to dry. On Saturday I put up the curtains in the guest bedroom and installed some of the mortise locks upstairs and for the kitchen door. Then I stopped by Capitol Hill to do an inventory of the things left over from the complex, to give to the trustee, to determine where the remaining property will be distributed to. The last building goes to settlement on Thursday or Friday. Everything will need to be cleared out by then. I also have a few minor tasks to do around there before shutting the place down. I plan on giving letters to each of the tenants at the three buildings thanking them for being great people to work with. Small things like that can go a long ways for background check purposes.

Monday is a follow up interview with the chief judge for one of the District Court Commissioners positions I applied for. This is a great step in the right direction. I just need to track down my passport or birth certificate to prove I am a US Citizen. I also have to take my drivers license, social security card, and all my degrees. Unfortunately they are in frames, but I think they can work though that when I get to the interview.

And lastly, my low tire light came on in the Accord, and with my mom in tow, I went to the dealership to chew them out. They *finally* after a year of trying, found the problem. A black nail was in the tread. They plugged the tire. Hopefully that will last 50,000 miles, because I am not in the mood to have to buy two new tires early because of it. Hopefully they can figure out why the transmission is shifting so poorly. It even has spread to a stopped shift to reverse.

Wow, nearly a month gone by!

2008-10-18T00:28:00.005-04:00

This past month has been nothing like any others. Some epic fail and a few other good moments too.

I have had two interviews for District Court Commissioner positions in other counties. Both seemed to go well and the administrative commissioner that did the first interview said that she would be shocked if I did not get offered one of the five positions I put in for. She also seemed really helpful and interested in spreading the word to the other counties about my qualifications. When I went in for my second interview, a ghost from the past appeared. After being introduced to the administrative commissioner, I was introduced to the duty commissioner who was a classmate of mine at the University of Baltimore. Considering that her and I got along very well in school, I have a gut feeling she will vouch for my integrity.

I wrecked my truck twice in six days. I rear ended someone. I backed into a tree. Epic fail.

Sunday will be my last day maintaining 601. The settlement is Monday morning. I was depending on another week at work because of the damages to the truck. 402 goes to settlement October 31st. So I probably will have two days at Capitol Hill after Monday. However I have some work up in Northwest DC at Phil's building, plus Tim needs me to finish his house, and my parents have a few more small projects at their rental property which is now vacant. The vacancy caused a major problem: Someone gutted the A/C compressor for the copper. The Prince George's County Police came out, a rookie with a FTO. The FTO used a lot of colorful language to describe the situation.

I traveled to Deep Creek for the Autumn Glory celebration. Everything up there went well, and on the trip I hand delivered my application for the District Court Commissioner position up there on the way up. That was a much needed relaxing five days.

I helped Maryanna celebrate her 28th birthday last night. On my way home I stopped by the Super WalMart in Glen Burnie for milk and swirl bread. I walked out with a Wii Fit too. They had them in stock. I plan on getting it set up. I've also started going back to the gym, and even made a point to go to the gym twice up at Deep Creek. I've been maintaining a steady 5.7 MPH on the treadmill, increasing the amount of time I run each day or two, so I can get back up to agility shape. I am thinking I may end up trying for law enforcement positions again sometime next year. Plus it seems to be making my left ankle feel better, especially since driving the Honda irritates it.

Speaking of the Honda, the dealership still cannot duplicate the 3rd gear shifting problems, nor locate the leak in my tire. They replaced the power drivers seat track again when I was up at DCL, and it still seems like it is binding sometimes. I bought a Honda to have a reliable car, but these three issues still cannot seem to get resolved. I plan on putting the car into another dealership to get these things fixed.

Also does anyone think that the Maryland State Police recruiting billboard on Russell Street in Baltimore is an obnoxious waste of taxpayer money? They would not even need one if they had a more reasonable psychologist giving their psychological tests. And worse yet, right now the MSP has a hiring freeze making this even more of a waste of money.

Oh and Barack Obama seems to be turning more and more red states blue. The epic fail of Wall Street has brought America to its knees. I just hope that there are no late October surprises. I plan on posting more on the election later, when I can dedicate more space to the topic.

Well, I guess this gets everyone caught up on whats going on.

Is Senator McCain Governor Palin's Bitch?

2008-09-28T12:07:00.001-04:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-QevraCQUc

I need to figure out how to embed the video.

What could have gone wrong?!?!?!

2008-09-25T00:04:00.005-04:00

Rumor on the street was that I was going to be hired for the open District Court Commissioner slot.

Well, the rumors, were just rumors. Everyone that had inside information said "What the hell?" when I told them I had not got the job.

Since my last post, I finally met up with a US Park Police officer I have talked to online since 2000. In eight years, we never could get our schedules to line up right to meet up. He was even the person that gave me the right contact information to schedule the ride along that I enjoyed so much. Lately we have been texting and instant messaging each other, and we both happened to have a few free minutes, so we met up. He seemed to be a good guy, loves his job, gave me hell for not getting myself back to agility shape to apply to his agency, and whatnot. I told him I thought I was going to get hired by the District Court Commissioner and he was proud of me for finally making a step towards law enforcement.

Freddy and I went to the University of Maryland vs. California game at Chevy Chase Bank Field. Kelly's parents sold me the tickets for half face value because they had to go to something else, and Kelly was already working at the game. What was really annoying for me was the fact all the Troopers kept saluting Freddy, because of his rank before he retired from the MSP. It was already starting to annoy me a little bit, because of my MSP epic fail story. But then Freddy kinda rubbed it in my face making a comment about it. It put me in a bad mood for part of the game, until I saw a ghost from Christmas past. Above the section we were sitting in, was my Lieutenant from when I was an intern for the Park Police. I went up and talked to him for a few minutes, then he had to step away when his radio went off. I had expected him to have retired from the Park Police by now, but he told me he was staying on to max out his pension and time it so he retired around the time his wife, who is also a Lieutenant for the MSP, would turn in her badge. Grrrrrr, another MSP reference. At the end of the game I went over to the section where Tricia, Dan and Jessie were sitting and talked to them for a few minutes. Afterwards, Freddy and I went to Costco to get some random things he needed, and then he took me out to dinner at Jaspers in Greenbelt.

On Monday I cleaned out the remaining stuff in two of the vacant apartments and sent it up to Dan and Tricia's place in Tacoma Park. They were glad to get the dressing armoire, dresser, bakers rack, two random metal beds, a surge protector, light bulbs and a few other random odds and ends. When Tricia got home from class, the three of us went out to the diner in Silver Spring. When we returned, the broke the news to me that they were getting married! I was so excited for them, I knew that it was getting to be time. The funny thing was I kept joking with them about name changes and whatnot earlier in the night.

On Tuesday I got the letter that shocked the nation.

On Wednesday, I went to work, depressed, but worked enough to do what needed to be done.

Thursday I left to go up to Deep Creek Lake. I took it easy all weekend, going out to the new Microbrew off Sang Run Road. It was good. On Sunday some friends were having a cookout at their place. I got super drunk, made an ass of myself, including throwing up all over the place. My chest is still sore a few days later.

Tuesday at work I met with some staff from 4th Presbyterian Church to give away some of Adam's stuff. I'm kind of disappointed that I was not given the chance to ask for any of it, especially since I have given seven years of my adult life working at the complex. What is worse yet is the tools may be given away to the church, a few of which I have borrowed many times in the past to do side jobs.

Today before I went to work I filled out paper work for a few other District Court Commissioner positions that are open. Too bad two of them are contract and at will, but it would be better than being unemployed. They were working on the roof too when I got to work, so I finally will be able to fix the ceiling in Joe's apartment next week.

I dropped my car off at the dealership before I went to Deep Creek, I picked it up tonight after work. They finally fixed the leak in the tire (it was the tire pressure sensor), ordered the parts for a second fix of the drivers seat, and could not duplicate the problem with the gearbox. I'm getting really frustrated with the 2-3 upshift grinding problem.

Starting October 1st, my parents rental property will be vacant again. We are going to do some repairs, but not as extensive of a refurbishment as last time. Hopefully my parents can get it re-rented quickly so my mom can buy a new car. Also my sister and brother invited me to go to Las Vegas with them in early November, so I am looking forward to getting four new states (and unfortunately only four new counties) while I am out there. At least I will be able to clinch I-15 in Nevada and Arizona. :-)

Rembering Deputy Sheriff Jason Matthew Baker, #232

2008-09-17T02:12:00.003-04:00

We will never forget.

Jason, even though our friendship was only online, and we never got to meet in person, I'll always remember you.

Why do people like Sarah Palin so much?

2008-09-16T11:30:00.002-04:00

I have no answers. But this article in CQ Politics really does a great job of explaining some key differences between the tickets

Political Insider - Obama versus Palin

Take it with a grain of salt, because it is coming from the left, but I doubt very many Republicans can disagree with the strict facts on this one.

This is why...

2008-09-14T12:57:00.004-04:00

This is one of many reason I am opposed to using photo enforcement of traffic laws.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081601895.html

My friend Brett had a similar ticket mailed to him by DDOT in 2001 when DC's photo speed enforcement program started. The camera clocked him at 113 MPH on Wisconsin Ave NW near Tenleytown.

11:11 on my mind

2008-09-08T11:11:00.003-04:00

It's 11:11 AM.

It's nearly been a month since I updated my blog last. Tim had a house rewarming party a couple weeks ago. The house was not done, the upstairs hallway needed some remodeling, the bathroom needed it's textured ceilings smoothed off and cracks patched, and the dining room finally painted. But the rest of the house turned out fantastic.

After the party, I went up to Western Maryland for a few days. It was too cold to ride the jet skis, and I ended up giving up after a hour or so. It was a nice relaxing weekend however.

Labor Day weekend, Tim, Dan, Tricia and I flew to Chicago for Justin and Symi's wedding. Friday night we went to a catered light dinner at Symi's mom's condo in Water Tower Place. On Saturday, there was a rehearsal dinner that everyone was invited to. This included a top shelf open bar and a six course meal. Sunday was the actual wedding, which was in a pavilion outside of the Harris Theater. Monday was a brunch at Symi's mom's condo. This was the wedding of a lifetime, something I probably will never see again in my lifetime.

On Thursday I went for a follow up interview with the District Court Commissioner's office. I think I hit it out of the park. I normally give a very good interview. I know I did better than I did back in June.

As far as the political season this year, I think the Democrats are in for a rout this year. Also, Sarah Palin is a basketcase that was not fully vetted. Yes, she is firing up the conservative base that previously was unenthusiastic. However, she may drive moderates towards Obama, or other third party candidates. Also the fact that Electoral-Vote.com shows that Obama is in the lead in North Dakota. Who would have ever thought that a Republican candidate would be in trouble in North Dakota or Indiana? This is going to be an interesting election, to say the least.

At Least It Ain't You...

2008-08-10T17:00:00.003-04:00

Last week my truck was broken into in front of Tim's house in Baltimore. My guess is it was the neighbor we refer to as "Jail Bait". They took my maglite, two CDs (specifically Steely Dan - The Royal Scam and Rick Astley - Greatest Hits), and a belt that Tim had just bought at Mens Warehouse. No damage was done to my truck, which means either, A) The keyless entry was bumped at some point, leaving it unlocked, B) Whoever was good at using a slim jim, or C) The truck unlocked itself. I am betting on C.

Tim's house is coming together wonderfully. All three main rooms upstairs are fully painted with new light fixtures up. The kitchen walls and ceilings are painted. Justin is going to come over and help me mud the last two rooms that need to be done, hopefully getting that done by the end of the week.

Be glad you are not at the Bay Bridge. Six hour delays. A truck crashed over the side of the eastbound span, with traffic alerted to go via US 13 / DE 1 up to I-95. Poor Kelly is in the backup. At least I called her to let her know.

What have I been up to?

2008-07-31T13:22:00.003-04:00

Fixing Tim's house. It's coming along. We are painting the upstairs bedrooms and kitchen this weekend. Kelly and Freddy are going to come over to help, so I can work more on the joint compound work downstairs. All three coats, mudded and sanded in the living room and dining room should be complete sometime around the 12th of August. Then those can be painted, along with the upstairs hallway. Then painting that weekend and staging the following week so everything is ready for the House Rewarming party.

I still am working on Capitol Hill. It's been slow down there (thank god), though we had another burglary. This time the kid kicked in the door to the back stairwell for units 3&4. The kid then knocked on the door to unit 4, and fortunately the tenant was home. The tenant got a good look at the kid when he answered the door, and gave a solid description to the police. His description of the kid matches my description from last year. Most likely the same kid coming back for more.
I also ran into one of the US Park Police officers I rode with at Dunkin Donuts. He gave me a hard time about not applying with the last process. I just was not up to it yet.

No word on the District Court Commissioner position. Still waiting. I decided to book my plane tickets for Justin and Simi's wedding in Chicago for the last Saturday of August.

My dad's new, final prescription of glasses are in. He's driving solo. He wants a new car. My parents Camry is pushing nine years old, with 150,000 miles on it. It's been reliable, but it's high mileage.

Who's Pot is it?

2008-07-31T13:20:00.004-04:00

From the "That's So Prince George's County" file:

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=74569&catid=158

Who knows? Sounds like someone did not like the mayor. Maybe the pot sent to him was from the pot plants in Rock Creek Park?

Seriously, this is very bad press for the Prince George's County police.

Some Past

2008-07-11T11:11:00.004-04:00

Since the last post, I went up to Deep Creek for a few days, worked at Tim's house quite a bit, went to Shannon's 4th of July Party at her parents house in Eldersburg, Worked at Capitol Hill, Clipped My Parents Toenails.

First since the last post, I text messaged Ryan to ask where he gets his hair cut. He got back to me with a small barber shop along US 1 in Beltsville. I went by there, got my hair cut, went to Costco, and then my mom was ready to be picked up from the doctors. After I got home, I packed up my car, then went to Capitol Hill for work for a few hours, then I drove up to Deep Creek.

The next day I took it easy, then on Saturday Freddy and I took the Jet Skis down to Jennings Randolph Lake, which is an emergency reservoir for DC on the Potomac River, in Garrett County. It's a small lake compared to Deep Creek, but very few people use it, so it was more fun than going around Deep Creek, with the crowds of people. Then on Sunday I left to come home. My second cousin from Denmark came over for dinner. It was enjoyable. Then on Monday I packed up some clothes, went to work on Capitol Hill, then I drove to Baltimore.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I finished the last couple coats of joint compound for the front bedroom and kitchen. Thursday, the 4th, Tim and I slept in, and did a few hours of clean up to his house, then we went to Shannon's parent's 4th Of July Party. We ate crabs, hamburgers, and ice cream cake. Then Tim and I went back to Baltimore, met Kelly, and the three of us went to Adam's roof top party. Steve was there, and we decided to call Maria (last referenced back in 2004) and see what she was up to. She never answered her phone, but called me back, after the three of us left to go to PaperMoon Diner. I also got a chance to meet the kittens, though the kitten I wanted was already spoken for.

On Saturday, Dave and Jessie came by to borrow my truck to pick up the grill they bought. Shannon showed up and brought us donuts. Then the four of us went to Target to get storage boxes and Home Depot to get a dehumidifier and Round Up. Then we got back to Tim's and proceeded to make Tim clean out every room in his house. Then we moved his office and bedroom into the front bedroom. I have never seen his house so clean in my life. Shannon crashed on the couch for a few hours, Kelly and I would bring things to the basement, and Tim and Kelly would sort though everything. Tim has been reminded to never buy office supplies again. Then the four of us went out to Timbuktu in Hanover for dinner and then Tim and I went back to his house, cleaned out more, then I went back to Upper Marlboro. Sunday I worked on Capitol Hill.

Monday I worked on Capitol Hill. On Tuesday, the electrician came. He fixed the ceiling electrical box in the dining room that I broke the neutral wire off of back when Tim bought his house in October 2005. We also had him add a length of wire to the ceiling in his office for the future ceiling fan, and we found the missing electrical box for in the living room. The electrician told me that he has not seen fabric electrical tape in 25+ years, so we think there has not been a ceiling light in present in Tim's house for the past three owners. How the home inspectors for the past three owners never caught the light switch to nothing and whatnot is a mystery to me. Wednesday I went to Home Depot to get more supplies, and Wednesday night we put drywall up on the ceiling in the back bedroom. Thursday I felt sick, so I just did some random stuff around his house, such as pouring concentrated Round Up on the random Tree of Heaven (aka: Ghetto Pam) growing in his back yard.

A Prince George's County Police Officer was run over and died two weeks ago. The guy that killed him died in jail. At this point, the corrections officers have been ruled out as suspects, with his death being ruled a suicide.

Jessie Jackson wants to cut Barack Obama's nuts off. Yawn. It shows the true colors of Jessie Jackson.

Oh well. I guess that's everything. I really need to find more time to update my blog regularly.

26 Days later

2008-06-26T11:28:00.005-04:00

Nearly a month later, I have not heard about the District Court Commissioner position I applied for. However, Kelly got a rejection letter a few weeks ago. My guess is I am in the running and my name has been submitted to the judge.

I moved back in with my parents. I had grown really sick of the commute from La Plata to DC every day. I was wasting a lot of money on gas, to the tune of nearly $800 a month between the Ram and Accord. And buying that much gas gives terrorist nations money to do stuff. It gives evil empire corporations, such as ExxonMobil, more money to be even more evil. With what I can save in gas for four months of commuting to my current job, I can buy a 46" 120hz 1080P LCD TV. Plus the roommates started to really get on my nerves, and what really did it was I wanted to have people over to swim one day, and I was told "no you can't have your friends over, we are having a party and we don't want strangers around." That tipped the balance for me very rapidly, though I was thinking about the move for at least a month.

The lifespan on my current job has been expanded further yet. The deal fell though. Originally the last large building was supposed to change hands on about June 15th. However the purchaser, who was from Iran, had his financing fall though. So the building is up for sale again. Additionally 610 transferred to the new owners, and they have started to gut it. I ran into Melissa(the former tenant) on the street yesterday and we talked for a few minutes. It was good to see her.

I am also working part time on getting Tim's house ready to sell. We are gluing and screwing drywall to his ceilings and refinishing and repainting the walls. Tim's commute to DC has been getting him very grumpy. I don't say I blame him much at all. Hopefully he can sell the house quickly and get a new house in Rockville.

Last weekend I drove down to Clarksville VA to Shannon's parents vacation home. I ended up having to help her clean up a massive amount of mice droppings before Dan, Tricia, Tim, Sarah, Brent, Pam and Steve got there. Shannon is very mousephobic, so I cleaned out the kitchen and Lysoled the place into a storm. We ended up having to make multiple trips to Wal Mart to get supplies. On Saturday, we rented a pontoon boat. When I shifted it into neutral because I wanted to stop and figure out where on the lake we were, the boat stalled out. I could not get it restarted. We called the marina, and they came out. They left a long rope tied to the back of the boat, and it got stuck in the propeller. Fortunately we were not held responsible for that damage. Sunday it was agreed that it would be a Matt does nothing day. I woke up and everyone cooked breakfast for me. Then Dan, Tricia, Tim and I drove down to Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. I got pictures in front of the North Carolina state house, and increased my NC county count by three. This trip also increased my county count by one in Virginia. However, the good news is that Shannon's mom is going to pay me for my labor, plus pay for the gas to drive the chairs they wanted brought back in my truck. Though I wish I could have had a true vacation where I did nothing.

Later today I am going up to Deep Creek for the weekend. I am looking forward to getting some time on the jet ski and on the ski boat. It also will be a good break from the heat and humidity of DC and Baltimore. I am coming back on Sunday to see my second cousin from Denmark who is visiting DC.

Well, I am off of here. More updates to follow. :-)

23 hours, 45 minutes

2008-06-01T14:20:00.005-04:00

I went to my interview on Wednesday for the District Court Commissioner position. I think it went OK, hopefully I will get it. Afterwards I went to my parents house and changed, then I went and got my dad a truck load of mulch. Trust me, it's better to buy it in bags.

Thursday I took my dad to a doctors appointment. He got cleared for his eye surgery. That's a relief to him. From there I went to work and did gardening and whatnot. We have mites of some sort plaguing the petunias. I sprayed bug spray all over the flowers.

I ended up going to Nordstrom and returning the pants and shirt I bought on Friday. The pants were the exact same color as a pair I already had. The shirt somehow stained when I washed it up. Tim also requested two pairs of pants too since they were marked down to $29.95. His pants and my pants are being shipped out soon, since the store did not have any in our sizes/colors in stock.

When I got to work on Friday, all the flowers had browned. I guess the bug spray killed the blooms or something. I was not pleased. The mites were still invading the petunias too. I went down the street to try to fix the guy's DVRs and get the new surround sound receiver installed. That ended up going so bad I went back on Saturday. Then I drove up to Kelly's house to the BBQ. Only Tim, Shannon, André and I showed up. André left early because he had a booty call, and Shannon showed up after him because she went to see Sex in the City. Everyone was hoping Ryan would show up, but since he was early car at work, the odds were not in favor of him showing up.

Saturday I ended up going to work. I ended up rewiring that guy's entire media closet. The spaghetti of wires is more manageable, and we are using twist ties to organize the wires, not ratcheting straps, so if a wire fails or needs to be changed, its easy. Afterwards I met up with Shannon at my work, we drove over to Old Town Alexandria, went to Il Porto to eat dinner, then hung out at Keith's apartment. I ended up getting home at nearly 4 AM because of the fog.

The Week From Insanity

2008-05-27T01:39:00.004-04:00

Monday: Worked on Capitol Hill. Got all the TV stuff resolved for the guy at the end of the block.
Tuesday: Worked in Upper Marlboro for some friends of my family. I took an angle grinder to the cement block wall in the basement. Ended up spreading dust all over their basement. The friend's garage floor can be ate off of. They were not as mad as I expected. Got a LG Voyager phone to replace my LG VX8300 which was dying.
Wednesday: Drylocked their wall. Cleaned up some. Went to Capitol Hill and did gardening.
Thursday: Went back to their house again to help clean up. Went to Lowe's to get supplies for the apartments. Did more gardening at work. Put down weed killer. Ryan invited me down to his family's vacation home on the Rockfish River in Nelson County VA.
Friday: Went to work. Forgot to pick up my suit from the dry cleaner before leaving for work. Swept the roof, cleaned the gutters, did gardening, trimmed a tree, cleaned off the walks. Drove 160 miles down to Nelson County in my truck. Got drunk after arriving. Met some of Ryan's friends from when he lived in the Norfolk area.
Saturday: Woke up without a hangover. Went to visit my mom's cousin, her partner, her daughter and grandkids. Drove back to Charles County to change Ram for Accord. Went to Sam's Club. Went to my parents house. Went to the family that I did the work for's BBQ, drove to Baltimore. Proceeded to set Tim's grill on fire. Spent the night there.
Sunday: Cleaned Tim's house. Went to Shoppers Food Warehouse in Forestville for groceries for my parents. Went to Home Depot for my parents. Cooked crab legs for my dad and I. Watched the HBO movie Recount. Went home.
Monday: Attempted to program my new phone. Went to Nordstrom in Pentagon City and dropped about $325 on a new pair of Kenneth Cole shoes, a new button down dress shirt, a new tie, a pair of khakis and a Tommy Bahama T-Shirt. Went to Best Buy to buy the OneRepublic CD and the new Donna Summer CD. Went to work, did gardening, cleanup, talked to Maggie, did laundry. Came home from work, cleaned my room.

I think this about sums it up. Hopefully I will have more time to elaborate on everything over the next few days.

Evil Mega Churches

2008-05-18T22:53:00.004-04:00

My younger niece, who is 16, is attending a non denominational bible church.

Those are scary things. On top of it, she is working at Best Buy. I guess if you are going to drink the evil empire's cool-aid, you might as well do it in gulps and not sips. My mom, brother and I are very concerned about this church's influence over my niece. And after seeing what a similar type of church did to my boss, well, I have more reason to be concerned.

Saturday I worked at a fundraiser for the Angie Holtz Scholarship Fund. I enjoyed working with the people. Afterwards, Tim, Ryan, Ryan's friend Leo, and I went out to a Sports Bar in Laurel. I can't remember the name however. Things went pretty well, despite the fact that Dan, Tricia, Shannon and Kelly could not make it. Shannon got tickets to the O's game though her friend Pam, and Chris took Kelly to the O's game. Dan and Tricia backed out of going. So it was just the four and we had a good old time.

Today I installed a new ceiling fan at home. My roommates and I may have to install a new wiring box, because the existing one cannot support the weight of the fan. Ooops. From there I went up to my parents house, running by Target for groceries, Circuit City to redeem my DTV converter box coupons, and Wawa for salads.

The cashier at Circuit City did not know how to redeem the DTV cards. I was sent to customer service, I had to wait in line at customer service, behind complicated returns. Once I got to the front of the line, the customer service cashier was able to ring me up in less than a minute. I was very disappointed with their employee training. No wonder Circuit City is loosing market share to the evil Best Buy.

I Can't Do It, We'll Do It Live

2008-05-17T01:08:00.005-04:00

Bill O's little rant back in the day when he was a host of Inside Edition. Funny. It's great to see people such as him have little hissy fits.

Tonight Tim and I went to the Oriole's/National's game in Baltimore tonight. The O's won 5-3. The new high definition score board had some glitches, such as showing the Boston Red Sox logo instead of a Nationals logo for the lineup. The worst glitch was the Old Bay Crab shell game malfunctioned badly. Otherwise the game was fun. Afterwards we went to XS and had sushi.

My mom went for her MRI earlier in the day. While she was being scanned at Bowie Medical Center, I went over to my friend Janice's house. I have not seen her since 2003, around the time I won the auction on 2211. She is doing well, her son is now 17. I remember him as a eight year old. Amazing how time flies.

I am proud to see the California Supreme Court took a bold step to allow gay marriage this week. I am also proud to see Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's acceptance of the ruling. Hopefully this ruling by a relatively conservative state court system will spread to other states.

My truck's battery has been replaced. The woman that wrote up my service ticket told me her 2000 Durango has the same random windshield wiper swipes and the steering wheel radio controls seeking instead of the changing the presets. The technician told me that he thinks my truck's body control module is having intermittent failure. I plan on dropping the truck off sometime next week to have it inspected more thouroughly.

Remembering All Those Who Served Heroically

2008-05-15T09:55:00.004-04:00

This post is to remember and honor Deputy Jason Baker of the Marion County Indiana Sheriff's Office. His end of watch was 9/17/2001.
This post is to remember and honor Corporal Steve Gaughan of the Prince George's County Police Department. His end of watch was 6/21/2005.
This post is to remember the other countless people that have served the public as police officers and have given their lives for the rest of us. May you all rest in peace.

Pleasure Reading Your For Posting

2008-05-12T20:56:00.003-04:00

I ran off to Deep Creek Lake this past weekend.

Noteworthy: More button copy signage is disappearing. Some mileage signs along I-70 and I-68 have been replaced with reflectorized BGSes. Also along I-68, the "Watch for Maryland Wildlife" signs have been replaced with the text in black on a yellow background, opposed to the former brown on white with the old signs.

Also, Frostburg has a "Paris N. Glendenning Recreation Center". Amazing. I would have never thought that anything in Allegany County would be named after him.

The DC area flooded while I was gone. Oh well. Apparently there was over 5" of rain at Andrews AFB in the past 24 hours. My parents said they had trouble sleeping due to the wind driven rain hitting their house all night. US 301 was closed at Western Branch. Just a total mess. My trip home from Garrett County was uneventful. Thank god.

My prediction for the West Virginia primary tomorrow is Clinton 59%, Obama 41%.

Whew

2008-05-07T22:45:00.004-04:00

At least my throat infection is getting better.

At work today, I did some gardening, tried to figure out why the sound was not working at that guy's house where I installed the TV yesterday, cleaned up some dead baby birds, bugged Verizon about the low hanging wire in the yard, replaced seats, springs and stems for a faucet and did some vacuuming.

On the way to the hardware store, when I walked by the Eastern Market Metro station, I heard this guy spewing off religious nut job stuff over an amplified megaphone. So I dialed 411 and tried to get the number for the US Park Police. The wonderful Verzion 411 person put me through to the Kennedy Center Security desk. So I had to call my brother and have him look up the number. I hope the USPP came by, because he kept spewing off "A doe, a deer, a female deer" and "bird, bird, bird, bird is a word", which now reminds me of the scene from Pink Flamingos where a contortionist who "lip syncs" the song with his exposed anus. Thank you John Watters for ruining this song.

This will probably be my last post until I get back from Western Maryland on Monday May 12th. See you all then!

Presumptive Nominee

2008-05-07T11:10:00.003-04:00

I think Barack Obama has done it. Yesterday's overwhelming 14 point victory in North Carolina for Obama, coupled with Clinton's slim two point victory in Indiana has tipped the scales very heavy for Obama. Granted, I expected Obama to win Indiana roughly by four, however, the places where he had to do well, such as Marion and Lake Counties, he did not perform as needed to swing the whole state. However, the fact he came so close, when people were predicting a Clinton blow out, suggests that he is gaining momentum again.

Yesterday I went to the doctor, found out I have a throat infection, and was put on penicillin four times a day for a week. I am starting to feel better. Afterwards I went to work, installing a flat screen TV for one of the neighbors. He's much more happy with his new 40" Toshiba 1080P LCD over his old 30" Gateway 720P LCD. The old one had major ghosting issues.

My parents neighbor suggested that I write a letter to the new CEO of Chrysler Group, with photocopied service records, complaining that I want them to find the problem with the truck. It's worth a shot. I'm getting frustrated with the truck, that's for sure.

I bid everyone a good day

What happens in Williams Arizona?

2008-05-05T22:31:00.008-04:00

Congratulations to Kristin and Justin. Kristin is pregnant again. She right now has a nine month old in the house. That will put the two siblings about eighteen months apart. My brother and sister are eighteen months apart. So are Robin's two kids. So are (another/different from the one at the party) Jessie's two kids. All have said it's nuts doing that.

Today at work I ran into one of the tenants at the building the church ended up with. I told her about the job opportunities I am looking into, and I asked her if she was hiring anyone. It ends up she is looking for Summer interns, with pay ranging from $35/hr to $50/hr. I e-mailed her my resumé when I got home from work tonight. At work I mowed the grass, cleaned the area ways, did gardening and adjusted a lock. The trash has not been picked up since last week, the cans are overflowing and stink. I called the management company to know their garbage contractors are not doing their jobs.

Today I also noticed in my sent text message file that someone texted K9 John at 12:30 AM on Saturday, in the middle of the party. Fantastic. You bad pranksters sent a text message to a land line, which of course does not go though.

Kelly had her sit in with the District Court Commissioners today. She said she thinks she can handle the job. While I need the job more than she does, if they hire more than one, it would be nice if both of us were chosen.

I spoke with the mechanic that worked on my truck at the auto electric shop. They said the battery was bad. I mentioned all the strange electrical problems it has had, the fact that this is the THIRD battery since the truck was new in May 2004. He checked the voltage regulator, the alternator, and some other accessories, and everything turned up normal. I am guessing I will be selling the damn thing to Carmax or something once I find a new job, because these gremlins are driving me up the wall.

When I got home from work, in addition to sending the resumé, I helped uncover the pool with my roommates. After doing that once, I probably would never want a swimming pool, unless I can pay someone else to do all the work. I like to keep homeownership simple.

Prediction for tomorrow with the North Carolina and Indiana Primaries:
North Carolina: Obama 58%, Clinton 42%
Indiana: Obama 51%, Clinton 49%

I bid everyone a good night, I go to the doctors tomorrow to get this sinus infection taken care of.

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

2008-05-04T23:55:00.005-04:00

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.

My Truck is Posessed by Evil Demonic Forces

2008-05-02T14:45:00.005-04:00

Well, lets see: The steering wheel radio controls, when I hit preset instead seek. Occasionally when I hit the keyless entry to unlock, the windshield wipers sweep. Occasionally, when listening to the CD player, and hitting the gas, the windshield wipers come on. The ABS computer self destructed. The seat heaters don't work properly. The FM radio randomly picks up stations from Alabama, Oklahoma, North Dakota and Vermont instead of local stations. Now, the truck wont crank over every time. Last night, when I tried to start it, the headlights, windshield wipers and seat heaters came on, despite the switches being set to off, yet the truck would not turn over. Chrysler wonders why they are loosing market share. Need I say more?

The DC madam, Deborah Palfrey, committed suicide yesterday. She was visiting her mom in Tarpon Springs Florida, when she apparently hung herself in the shed. Poor woman, I actually feel sorry for her. And for her age, she was extremely attractive and very well spoken. I don't think what she was doing was a drain on society, despite being against the law. May she rest in peace.

This morning, I took my mom to the eye doctors. When she was called to go into the exam room, she collapsed onto the floor. The doctor checked her vital signs and her blood pressure and pulse were high. She needs to get that looked into. At least her vision is still 20/20.

Tonight is my birthday party at Tim's house in Baltimore. I'm excited, it looks like we are going to get between 20 and 25 people tonight.

The District Court Commissioners Office has scheduled an interview for me later in May. I'm excited.

I am off of here until tomorrow. Have a good one.

Sitting in

2008-04-30T10:38:00.002-04:00

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

Happy Birthday to ME!

2008-04-29T01:11:00.003-04:00

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.

Should I Really be Doing This?

2008-04-26T13:01:00.004-04:00

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.

Counting on a Wing and a Prayer

2008-04-24T00:17:00.004-04:00

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.

Don't ever go looking at eBay

2008-04-20T01:09:00.002-04:00

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.

Forget the Pope, I saw Cobert

2008-04-16T23:43:00.005-04:00

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.

I guess I am back to claim what IS mine

2008-04-10T00:50:00.007-04:00

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.

MSP Oral Boards and I am Charles County

2006-04-22T14:30:00.000-04:00

I did my MSP oral boards this past week. Word on the street is I did very good on them. The background investigator has started to process my book. My hope is to be in the late June starting academy class.

And for your pleasure:

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Charles County
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I'm still alive.

2006-03-29T01:28:00.000-05:00

I passed my Maryland State Police written test with a score of 83. A slight disapointment for me, but it's still enough to pass to get hired.

I am still waiting on one last document to submit my final application and polygraph booklet. This is two months later, which is annoying, but is life.

Everything else seems to be going well. February had a trip to Deep Creek Lake with Tim, Tricia, Dan, Jessie, Shannon, Josh, Michelle and Justin. I did the Deep Creek Dunk, got my picture taken with the Gov. All and all that was a fun time.

Two days later, I was involved in an auto accident. No one was injured. $1800 worth of damage to my truck. The other driver had just bought his 1996 Ford Taurus earlier that day. My guess his car will be totaled, due to the significant amount of damage.

OK, I am off to bed. I am still alive though.

And for your entertainment:

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The Results

2006-01-23T15:45:00.000-05:00

I had my Maryland State Police agility test at 8 AM today at the Wayne Curry Sports and Learning Complex in Landover, Maryland. You had to do 18 pushups in a minute or less, 27 situps in a minute or less, a sit and reach score of 16.4 or better, a 1.5 mile run in 15:19 or less and then do 10 trigger pulls in each hand. Well, guess what? I PASSED!!!!!!! I banged out my pushups in about 25 seconds, my situps in about 30-35 seconds, my sit and reach was about 17.5", and my run time was somewhere between 11:30 and 12:00. When I was on lap 12 of 12, they called out the last five minutes warning. One person lapped me around the track, and six others passed me, but generally I was only slightly behind them. Out of the sixty or so taking the test, about 35-40 were left afterwards. While the test was only geared to the 40th percentile, I have some doubts to what type of person they were using to evaluate with. But overall, I am satisifed with the results of my test. I have definitely come a long way since August when I first started working out at the gym. Between loosing about 35 pounds and just overall working out, it helped me obtain a passing score.

Then at 1:30 today, the written test was administered at the Maryland State Police headquarters in Pikesville MD. The test was tricky, but nothing someone who studied the guide could not pass. I will know those results in 1-2 weeks.

I am proud of my progress, but I still need to do more conditioning to be ready for the academy.

Well, I am off to dinner with a friend here in Baltimore. I will post something else later.

Goodbye Independence Air and Z-104

2006-01-05T23:48:00.000-05:00

Goodbye to two dear friends, who departed the metaphysical world in the past two days.

Z-104, DC's top 40 station, and later "Modern Music" station of the past ten years signed off at Noon on January 4, 2006. WGMS, the local classical music station, which had been at 103.5 ever since I could remember, moved to 104.1 Waldorf and 103.9 Frederick. WTOP moved to 103.5. That's the only good thing that came of the move was the DC area can now get WTOP reliably, which before had spotty reception. Traffic reports are very important. However, the loss of one of DC's radio stations has led me to decide to get sattelite radio installed in my truck. Sirius is compatable with the factory head unit, so I will go that route.

Independence Air, the low cost airline, based out of Dulles International Airport, restored my faith in flying. My previous expirence with flying, on Southwest, was not pleasurable. The cabin pressure in the plane was not kept under control, and my ears were clogged for nearly a week. When I flew to Chicago to go to Kenosha back in April, my mom and I flew on Independence Air, and it was a great expirence. I had a sinus infection that week, and when I walked off the plane, I felt like I had been on the ground for the past few hours. My parents flew on Independence Air, in September 2004, when their car had issues and it was questionable if it would make it to Wisconsin. The flight was super easy for them. In July 2005, my parents used Independence Air to fly back home. Again, great flight, great service. My mom and dad have limited mobility and the airline worked with them extremely well. I enjoyed flying with them a whole lot and their prices were normally the best around. I will miss their customer first philosiphy towards flying. I will miss their (loss leading) low fares. The DC economy will miss their economic benefits. A sad day there.

My thoughts go out to the coal miners that died in West Virginia. The mine should not have been operating due to the numerous safety violations present. However, this may not have been prevented, even if the mine was opperating at 100% safety. This brings forth the question, should the US go back to strip mining, which is more enviromentally damaging, but significantly safer for people working. I'm more inclined to allow strip mining with strong enviromental protections, to hopefully prevent another tragic mine collapse or explosion.

My Christmas went pretty well. I got an iPod Video 60 GB. It needs to go back to Apple for a warranty repair. I tried to buy an interface cable to go between the stereo in my Ram and the iPod. However, it was not compatable with the RBQ stereo installed. Vince had a 2004 Dodge Ram and had the other stereo in his, and when he traded it in for a 2006, he kept the post assembly Chrysler navigation radio installed as opposed to putting the tape/CD back in. So he ended up with this extra stereo lying around doing nothing. I plan on installing it and getting an interface cable. The only thing is, it may interfer with my plan to get sattelite radio. So we will wait and see what is done exactly. I got my brother's house a 42" Plasma ED TV, a Panasonic one, with high ratings from CNet and Consumer Reports. My mom got him a new Onkyo home theater system, so now his basement is pimping out good sound and great pictures on the TV.

I guess I am going to call tonight a night.

I've got does, I've does, in different area codes.

2005-12-05T23:27:00.000-05:00

I went hunting for the first tmie ever about two weeks ago.

Wow. What a boring thing to do.

I could not actually obtain a hunting license because I have not taken my hunting safety course. So I was a spotter for my friend who has his license. Something about getting up at 4 AM to be in the woods by 5:30 AM, when it's 15° outside is not very appealing to me. Most of my friends did not think I would be able to survive all day with my cell phone turned off. I kept it turned off, because knowing my luck, the Can Can (my parents) or Beethovens Fifth (my boss) would start ringing when my friend was about to fire at a deer. So the phone was turned completely off. Also in Garrett County, we could only hunt bucks, which for the uninformed, are male deer. Does, which are the female version, were protected (until the weekend of the 9th of December). We saw over 15 does, but only one buck that was really not worth taking a shot at (a spike, a yearling)

In my time of reflection, since I was sitting in a deer stand bored as can be, I came up with some off the wall ideas. First one, is a parody song, Called "Does". It would parody Ludacris's "Area Codes". It would go... "Does, I've got does, in different area codes, area codes." Something about the 304s, which is absent from the real version (304 is the area code for West Virginia) and other rural states where deer hunting is a common sport. Second. Warm coffee is better than iced coffee when it's cold out. Probably not a surprise to most people, but anyone who actually knows me, knows my prefered way of drinking coffee is on ice. Those were the two most obvious things I could come up with.

My friend that I went with actually thought I would wimp out, either because of the time of the morning, or the coldness of the air. I just woke up, put on cammo wear, and went hunting. I need to take a picture of me in cammo wear, I looked really funny. I normally wear low rise jeans, a decent t-shirt and shoes. Not tree print pants, jacket, and boots.

So between going hunting, the rental F-250, and other events of November 2005, it will go down as the month I got in touch with my redneck side.

On to a December 2005 where I get in touch with my generous side.

Have a great week!

Oh my god, it's huge.

2005-11-15T23:06:00.000-05:00

My rental car. Or should I say truck. I have a 2005 F-250 Super Duty Crew Cab 4x4 with a 8' bed. The meaning of large has taken on a new meaning with this truck. I thought my Ram was bad enough to drive. However, this is just plain worse. It's at least 4' longer, and 1/2' wider than my truck. I honestly think anyone that buys one of these things as a daily driver has a small endowment. No sane person would have something like this. But many people do, and I just question their sanaty. Why did I select such a beast? I had the choice between a Dodge Neon, a Ford Excursion and this thing. The person in front of me snagged the last normal car which was an Altima, and the Liberty was reserved for someone else. Oh well. I can handle driving this thing at least.

Why do I have a rental truck that is bigger than the Queen Elizabeth II? My Ram's seat heater control module is fried and needs to be replaced. It won't be done for at least another two days. I also am going to get the brake issue taken care of. The pads have about another 3K worth of wear left on them, and I just want to get them taken care of at this point, instead of loosing the truck. What is disapointing is the front brakes have only lasted about 26K miles. That's dispaointing, because the Camry went 70K on the first set.

Tonight was the Maryland State Police initial interview process. No surprises really. They line you up in a formation, invite you into a room one by one, you fill out some basic information on a piece of paper, show a video of what the first hour of the academy looks like (just like boot camp), tell you some stuff, then ask you to fill out a second application with more personal information, and then give you some forms. I got a date of my agility test, which I am going to request a change of.

Well, I'm going to get off of here and make more calls. Bye.

The Dog Would 'er Done Got Ya

2005-11-12T13:55:00.001-05:00

I did a second ride along with the Maryland State Police, this time at "W" Barracks, which is in Garrett County. The Trooper I rode with was a native of Alleganny County, and was a eight year veteran of the department. He was an excellent Trooper to ride with, he kept quizing me on where we were, what the speed limit was along the road we were traveling on, what the lookout is for that was just broadcast on the radio. The first thing we did was pull over a car traveling on US 219 South near Northern High School. He was traveling 71 in a 55 zone. However, we let him go with just a verbal warning, because we got dispatched to a domestic dispute in Friendsville. We were the first unit to show up on the scene. The woman was injured, and the Trooper asked for an ambulance to transport her to a hospital. The the Garrett County sheriff's office responded to the call, and took over from there. The gentleman who assaulted the woman came back to the scene and was arrested. This incident made the local radio station this morning, which was kinda a surprise to me. Then we ran some more traffic stops using moving radar in the cruiser. What is interesting about that is the fact that the radar can get a clock in about half a second, which would make a radar detector useless. Then we stopped and ate dinner, which was obtained from the drive thru at the Burger King on US 219 and I-68 in Grantsville. Then we rode down to MD 495 (not the Beltway) and ran more radar with a canine Trooper. The first thing I noticed is that the Trooper looked a lot like K9 John. That was interesting to say the least. Then the second thing is his dog was verbal. We clocked a car traveling 93 MPH in a 50 MPH zone, and the Canine Trooper went after them. We followed suit, because it could have been a chase in the making. About a mile down the road, the man driving the car lost control and went into a ditch. Both the driver and passanger were not injured, but the car was probably totaled, even though the body of the vehicle looked fine, the undercarriage had a lot of damage. The driver of the car asked about if the dog was trained to sniff for drugs, and the Trooper I was riding with responded. "Nope, that dog is for if you ran in the woods, the dog would `er done got ya." That's probably the most notable quote I have ever taken from a ride along. Then we finished the tour of duty running more radar, and then entering traffic stop stats into the state police database. Overall this ride along was one of the best I have ever been on. The ride along I did last week (which I did not blog about) was an excellent one too.

Virginia decided that they prefered Democrat Tim Kaine over Republican Jerry Killgore. Jerry Killgore spoke at my niece's high school graduation back in June. I was not impressed with him at all then, and as the campaign geared up, the negative tone turned off a lot of voters, resulting in a Democrat winning office. Virginia is a very conservative state, and this win might signal what could happen next year in other states.

Well, I'm enjoying Garrett County. I hope everyone is enjoying their weekends.

The meaning of respect

2005-10-27T11:16:00.000-04:00

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?

2005-10-20T02:11:00.000-04:00

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!

2005-10-10T16:49:00.000-04:00

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

2005-10-06T02:41:00.000-04:00

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.

Fall + concrete floor = hurt very

2005-09-22T19:13:00.000-04:00

Ooops, I did it again.

I fell at work. In August 2001, I fell though the floor, because of termite damage, that we were repairing. Yesterday, I was on a 2' step ladder, drilling with the angle drill to put the coaxial cable in for a satellite TV. I must have pushed the ladder in such a way, because it warped, and I went falling to the floor. I landed on my side and my back, perpendicular. Today my right arm, my right side + back, my right leg and my left knee are bothering me something fierce. I took off work, to recover from the fall.

I also went "Eviction Shopping" last night. Someone in the next street over got kicked out of their house. Their belongings were on the street, and after a certain amount of time, they are considered garbage and can be taken by anyone. I scored a dresser that was in good shape, and a love seat and chair that were in OK shape for Tim. My brother's roommate got some random odds and ends, including a old Panasonic fax machine.

Apparently Hurricane Rita is about to make landfall somewhere in Texas as a Cat 3 or Cat 4 storm. Already gas prices are going up in large chunks. I filled my truck up at $2.899 for midgrade at the Wawa. The thing that sucks is if I had drove closer to where I live, I could have got midgrade at either Citgo or Wawa for $2.819. Ooops. But already there have been 10-20 cent increases at pumps around town.

Also, another funny but true story out of Prince George's County. Aledgedly a school bus driver was caught driving drunk, with a .16 on the breath test, which is double the legal limit. The bottle of vodka was found in the bus too. This bus was hired by the Prince George's County Public Schools, as a contractor, to run some routes. The driver is being held with a $20K bond in the Prince George's County jail. Driving a school bus while drunk is So Prince George's County!

WTF is going on?

2005-09-20T01:00:00.000-04:00

OK, Tara is living at my parents house now. She got kicked out of her parent's house Saturday night at 11 PM, after a fourway fight between her, her mom, her dad and her sister. Aparently each were fighting with each other. I predict that Tara will go home by the end of the week, after letting each member of the family cool off. My dad is driving Tara to work, and my mom is picking her up at Branch Ave. Metro in the evenings. I'm glad she is staying in a safe place with people that care about her. And I think she finds my bed at my parents house to be comfortable. LOL

Meanwhile, aparently, Tim knows Nerd John and his sister, Meghan. I have low oppinions of both of them, and if you can't say anything nice, you should not say it at all. I found this out at Edmund's going away party at the Brickseller in DC on Saturday night. Tim and I showed up, and Jessie, a guy I went to high school with was there. I asked how Jessie met Edmund, and it was though Pete, who met him though Meghan. BTW, the Tara mentioned above tried to date Pete for awhile. That was pretty bad. LOL

Oh yeah, and Canine John and I had a civil talk recently. That was interesting, considering I thought he thought that I had jumped the shark.

I decided to go with PNC Bank as my new bank. They don't charge a POS fee, and they refund ATM fees charged by other banks. The cost per month is $10, unless I can get direct deposit. I am trying to work with my main client to get direct deposit for their vendors. I liked how promptly I got my ATM/Debit card from them.

Today I kicked my workout routine up a notch. I increased my run speed from 4.3 MPH to 4.6 MPH for 30 minutes. My heart rate reached 170 BPM towards the end of the 30 minutes. I was very miserable with the walk/run speed, but this is the cost of getting into the Maryland State Police, I will do it with pride. Speaking of the MSP, I am planning on going in and talking to the barrack commander sometime after the first of October, to start getting me on ride alongs and get my application process going.

At least the Redskins beat the Cowboys. LOL. My poor Ravens are 0-2 right now. :-(

OK, I hope to blog more often, but I always say that. LOL. Good night friends.

Interestingly enough

2005-09-13T21:58:00.000-04:00

I should have had a lot to say about the developments over the past few weeks. I am not happy about John Robberts being appointed as Chief Justice. I am glad to see the head of FEMA getting the boot. FEMA stands for Failure to Ever Manage Anything. I give Gov. Blanco a B- for her work, President Bush a B- for his direct work, and Mayor Naggin a B- for his work. Honestly, this was a mess that as much careful planning, could not go off without a hitch or two. My commentary though is, why were people not given a bus ride to the Astrodome before the storm hit?

On to my life. I just got back from Ocean City. I had a great weekend. I left Friday after work, and drove direct to the beach. I spent Saturday in the waves, Sunday relaxing, Monday in the waves, and Tuesday driving back to work. The water was warm, the surf was wicked hardcore, and the food good.

I got a new trainer last week. She is helping me get ready for the MSP agility test. I am right now on Week #5 of the MSP recomended running routine, which is two miles in 28 minutes. My new routine is getting me sore, but, tylonol is helping with that.

I am getting a new bank. I've decided to go with PNC, because they don't charge a POS fee everytime I use my check card in a debit function. I don't want to pay $.50 everytime I go to Sams Club. That's insane.

I guess that's everything for now. I will try to blog more often. Good night friends.

Ouch! MY KNEE!

2005-08-30T01:35:00.000-04:00

I went to the gym tonight. I hurt my knee. I tripped over the smith machine towards the end of my workout. Ooops. At first it did not hurt, but then after five seconds I was in agony. I think I dislocated it, but eventually by walking around got it back into place.

My parents got a puppy today. A dachshund. I hate those dogs. At least this one has a calm demeanor. Humphry attacked at it twice. Humphry is geting over lyme disease, so that may be part of it. Or maybe not. I'm upset with my parents though, in addition to picking out a breed of dog that I hate and that has health problems, they had not finished treating the house for fleas, or shopped around to other breeders. The puppy's littermates, two have minor health problems (one female had a hernia, the other male's testicals has not dropped). I think they should have drove to the other breeders to make a decision out of what was being offered. I'm disapointed in my dad's impusliveness with this process. I just hope the dog is healthy when it is checked out by the vet.

My parents were not home to sign for the computer, while going out and getting their new dog. I told my parents they must be home for the computer delivery tomorow.

Tara has been told by her family she can't move to Takoma Park. I am trying to decide between living with just Dan, or getting my own place in Waldorf. Interesting to see what I decide.

I am off to bed now. Good night.

I guess back to the swing of things

2005-08-23T00:44:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm going to be back in the habit of blogging again. I took a short break while I recovered from being kicked out of my parents house, and moving in with my brother. I am investigating permanant housing, either solo in Waldorf, or with Tara and Dan as roommates in Silver Spring or Takoma Park. I'm concerned that I might not be able to afford to have my own place, and considering my commute from Waldorf to DC is costing me about $500 a month in gas, Takoma Park is looking better.

I picked up a new client on Friday. Their son called me to ask if I could unpack from a move from a house to an apartment. The work is in Chevy Chase, a pretty long haul from Waldorf. However, work is work, and I got started on Sunday, with a four hour run of unpacking books, lamps, china and vases. The people were very plesant to work with, unfortunately, their health is failing. The husband has an artifical leg, and the wife is undergoing chemotheropy for cancer. Both are in great spirits however, and are looking forward to getting their life back in order.

I went to the rental property to haul garbage to the dump. My dad was there, he yelled at me the entire time, accusing me of doing things that I had not done, and accusing me of not doing things that he had asked, but I had either done or he had not asked for. He's still quite unreasonable.

I went to the Home Depot in Oxon Hill on Friday, and bought a prehung door. However, I did not inspect the door closely, and it ends up someone had bought it before, and tried to install it, and then returned it. It went back on the shelf, and I bought it. When I got it to Capitol Hill, the frame came apart. I tried to take the door back to the Home Depot in NE DC, and Oxon Hill. Both stores refused to return it, citing policy that they can refuse returns of items that are not saleable. However, what happens when the item is marginally saleable, and then falls apart? I went to the Home Depot on Waldorf today, and bought the same door again, and when I was loading it into my truck, I noticed the frame was coming apart. I took it back into the store, and asked the clerk for store credit. She copped an attitude with me. Yes, it's easier for them to credit it back to my credit card, however, it will take three days to process that way, and I would have to make another $75 charge on my card, again, putting my card close to over the limit. However, to give store credit involves about three extra touches of the computer touch screen and scanning a card. Not rocket science. At least I was able to go to Capitol Heights Home Depot to get a working door, and it was installed today. In the process, I trapped myself in the bathroom, because the anchor that holds the door in place during instalation, would not pop out like it was supposed to. A tennant had to help free me.

I ordered my computer on Saturday from Circuit City. It's a HP Media Center Photosmart Desktop PC, model M7170N. I also ordered a HP 19" LCD monitor for Tim, he reimbursed me. And to top it off, I ordered a HP Color Laser Printer, 2550. I have wanted a color laser printer for a long time, and they have finally hit a price I can afford. I will be getting $170 in rebates in about ten weeks too, which will be a good thing. My old desktop will be shipped to Florida, to be given to a friend that needs a better computer.

My workout routine at the gym is going well. I can handle running on the treadmill better, I can handle weights better, and I have noticed a drop in my weight. All good things, I really want to become a State Trooper now, more than anything.

I guess that's everything. Good night my friends.

Jumping the Duck

2005-08-16T22:13:00.000-04:00

Well, a week ago (August 9), I was in a very very bad fight with my father, and ended up kicked out of the house. I am living at my brother's place in Waldorf for the time being. I plan on getting my own place to live in the next couple months, because it has become apparent that my dad and I just don't get along. I won't do any more work at their rental property, I asked my mom to pay me a sum of money that I believe covers the balance that she owes me for the work, and they can hire someone else to finish the work. I will not tollerate a person touching my body out of anger, and I will defend myself every time with adequate force to protect myself, but not inflict other injury.

After the past month I have had, I am due for a change of luck for the better. This past weekend I went to Deep Creek Lake with a friend of mine. We rode jet skis and between waves was a duck, and the jet ski jumped over it. Funny stuff. :-)

I am going to be buying my computer on Thursday, and starting to look for a permanant place to live for the future. I am trying to find out if my Comcast e-mail can be transfered to another person's account, or if I will loose that when my parents kill the internet access here. That will suck big time if I loose that.

Well, time for me to go read my e-mails and then hit the gym. I bid everyone a good night.

Crab Legs, Kings Dominion and Fat People.

2005-08-08T23:47:00.000-04:00

First off, Saturday was a wreck. The McDonalds in Morningside screwed my lunch order up. I had ordered a chicken club sandwitch, grilled, with no tomato. I got a crispy club sandwitch, with tomato, but no bacon. I discovered it when I got to Capitol Hill, and just ate the thing. On my way home from work, I went to Giant, to get alaskan snow crab legs and alcohol swabs. The seafood department is open from 9 AM - 8 PM on Saturdays. I got to the store at 7:40 and found that there were people in line, and there was a sign that said "Seafood Department Closed". I went to the front of the store and pointed this out. I was directed to the head cashier who told me "The only seafood department person has been working since 9 AM, we had to relieve him with a cashier, and so we closed the department down early." After working eight hours in a hot basement, I was not happy. I said that's unreasonable, because if you have a cashier working to finish out the people in line, they could easilly keep it open until the closing hours of the department. I walked out of the store, angry, that they did not have full service as promised. I had planned on calling the Giant management to complain today, but work prevented me from getting around to it. Then I went to CVS to try to get the alcohol swabs for my dad. After looking on the shelves where the bottles of rubbing alcohol and bandages were, I found nothing. I went to the front of the store and asked the clerk and she told me "We don't sell them." I walked out of CVS, angry. Then I went to Safeway, to try for a second time to get alcohol swabs. But my first stop was the mens room, because with the 2+ gallons of water I am drinking a day, nature calls often. When I finished washing my hands, there were no paper towels left. I did manage to get the alcohol swabs, but I had to wait in a line ten people deep. After working in the heat, I was not happy.

Sunday was Kings Dominion. Just Tim and I went, and we had a good time. We still have yet to get on Volcano, but we got a good number of rides in on the other coasters. We also hit the water park, twice, to cool down in the heat. I deviated from my diet on Sunday, but I kept with drinking plenty of water, to help loose weight. On the way back, I stopped to get gas in Dahlgren VA, where midgrade was $2.19 a gallon, a full $.30 cheaper than gas is here in Prince George's County. That was a welcome relief for my wallet, where the normal fill up for my truck sets me back over $80.

Today was a trip back to Capitol Hill. I finally got the dry wall mudded for the bathroom. On my way home, the check engine light came on in my truck, which for a vehicle with just 20,600 miles on it seems very very odd. I'm not happy with the squeek when the truck is in reverse and now the check engine light. I'll have one more call to make tomorow before I go to work at the rental property.

Tonight I went to the gym at 10 PM, a late start. I noticed that this is when most of the overweight people were in the gym. I actually did not feel self concious about having a small belly, because mine was the smallest of all the guys in there. It also is a good time to cool down from working all day. I timed that I can do 32 sit-ups in a minute on my first set, and 25 sit-ups on my second set. I'm able to do 20 pushups, elevated, in aproximately a minute. I'm getting closer to meeting the MSP agility standards, which is very important to me. I'm really driven about this whole State Trooper thing. Tonight I was sore, just from walking around Kings Dominion all day yesterday and then working on my feet all day today. I just reminded myself that I want this State Trooper thing, I must go to the gym, no matter how sore or tired I am. It helps that my friends and family are behind me 100%, pushing me to do better, but even in my mind, I want it for myself, completely and totally. After the gym, I went to Wendy's and got a side ceasar salad and a 5 piece chicken nugget as my late dinner. I've been cuting back on my portions, that's plenty of food to keep me going into the night. I notice, except for the soreness, I feel better lately, and I seem to be sleeping more regular hours.

It is time for me to go to bed. Good night to all and to all a good night.

Goodbye Carmel

2005-08-06T10:56:00.000-04:00

We had to put the collie to sleep on Friday. It was a difficult thing to do, but the right thing. He stopped eating after he collapsed Wednesday night, stopped drinking on Thursday night. He was yelping and wimpering starting Friday morning. When we took him to the vet, she said it was definitely the right time for him. I feel relieved that we did the right thing, and we were not doing it because he was just inconvienient to have around.

The big thing now is getting a new dog, and my parents are about to have a fight over it. They seem to be leaning heavily towards having a Dashound, I want a Lab. I hate dashounds. I HATE THEM. My parents excuse is "Well, you won't have to live with the dog." But in reality, I will have to live with the dog, because I still live with them, and if their health further deterorates, I will probably have to take care of the dog. I just feel like my parents are not considering how I feel, like every other dog they have ever got. They bought what they wanted, and what they got were dogs I did not even like.

My first full workout at the gym was a success. Today I just go back to run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, then I am off to Capitol Hill to get some work done. Tomorow I go to Kings Dominion with Tim.

And I bid everyone a good day.

Good news on my dad.

2005-08-03T21:01:00.000-04:00

My dad was just released from the hospital. He just had heart burn and was put on an acid reducing prescription.

First trip to the gym

2005-08-03T18:08:00.000-04:00

I met with my personal trainer, Julie, today. It was interesting what I could and could not do, from the get go. I am definitely flexible enough to do the sit and reach test with minimal difficulty. My situps are nearly at the Maryland State Police standards. I have good form on my pushups, I just have trouble doing more than about ten. Julie has me on a regiment that will help me if I have to do a dummy drag or pull ups, stuff that will be of value for an application with Frederick City Police. The workout plan also includes exercises that will reduce my run time and increase my run distance, upper body strength, and help with weight loss and weight redistribution. I can already tell that I am going to need to meet with her more than the once a month that is included with my membership.

It's interesting to know that the Maryland State Police has changed their agility test since 1998. They have lowered their standards for my age group, but raised them for other age groups, so everyone has to meet exactly the same standards. In 1998, I would have had to do: 29 pushups in a minute, 39 situps in a minute, flex 16.5", and run 1.5 miles in 12:51. Now, I would only have to do 18 pushups in a minute, 27 situps in a minute, flex 1.5" beyond my toes (16.5"), and run 1.5 miles in 15:20. This is great for me, but bad for older men and women who want to try to become a Trooper. However, it seems like a major dumbing down of the standards, leading to Troopers that are less able but younger. Interesting stuff indeed.

The results are not in from my dad's angiogram and other tests, as of yet. We will know something closer to 7 PM.

The collie, had a sezure last night after I blogged. I had let him out while I was blogging. When I was finished, I was ready to let him in. He went up the stairs on his own. I then went down the stairs, leaving the dog out near the front door, while I moved the Camry for my mom. Then as I was about to get in the car, I heard this thud noise, then he started to wimper and whine. He was stiff as a board, and yelping, and drooling profucely. Finally he was able to relax, but even after he woke up, he walked around like he was drunk, and he has been panting and yelping all day today. I feel sorry for the poor dog, but with my dad in the hospital, we are not sure what we should do about him.

I guess everything else is going well. Good night.

National night out was my time to bow out gracefully

2005-08-03T01:22:00.000-04:00

Last night was National Night Out, a program to get neighbors to meet each other and the police. I spent the time at Linden Ave, with the members of the LLC and other people that live on the block. However, I made an announcement to the group and neighbors that I am leaving Linden Tree LLC, to fully pursue my career in Law Enforcement, preferably with the Maryland State Police. Everyone there was very supportive. I was relieved that things went well. The search is on for a replacement member, one I can sign my share of the corporation over to.

My dad went into the hospital earlier in the day, he had chest pains around 8 AM, I took him to the emergency room to get him stabilized. Hopefully later today they will give him an angiogram and we can determine what is causing his chest pains this time.

Between my dad's eyesight and heart condition, the delays with the city, and my desire to move forward with my dream of being a police officer, I decided that it was my time to move on from the LLC. It's very hard to say goodbye to something that I have been working on actively since 2002, but the fruits of my labor have yet to blossom, and I'm heading towards a change of life anyways. It's best that I move on. I will still keep an eye on the group, and will track things as they go forward. I wish the best for the other seven remaining households, and my replacement member, whoever they are.

The rental property is supposed to be done by next Tuesday. THANK GOD!!!!

Good night or good morning, depending on your perspective.

Dumping, Impassable.

2005-07-31T02:22:00.000-04:00

OK the assholes that dump in the middle of the street did it again. I discovered it at 2 AM on my way home from Kristin's birthday party. This time, they put the stuff square in the middle, so no vehicles could pass though. However, they made a fatal flaw. They dumped a recent computer on the street. I am going to hook it up to a monitor and find out if there is any clue to who the machine belonged to, and contact them and bitch them out for being part of the problem.

I got my gym membership. It set me back $274 for six months, paid in one installment. Yes, that's expensive. But it's convenient, and includes one meeting with a personal trainer per month, and if it is what helps me get hired as a State Trooper, it will be worth every penny, and then some. In case I don't get hired as a trooper, it will bring me into better physical shape, which will make me feel better.

I looked at the computer(s) I am considering today, in person. I like the HP a lot more, and since I have had good luck with my HP laptop, I will probably end up with the machine. On my way from the Comp USA in Glen Burnie to Baltimore, the ramp from MD 10 NB to I-695 inner loop was closed. I ended up having to go over the Key Bridge (the ramp to Curtis Bay Road was backed up with about 100 cars waiting to exit), and then go up Broening Highway to I-95 and go though the Fort McHenry Tunnel. That cost me $4.00, but since it is billed to the EZ Pass, I won't really notice it.

It's time for this man to go to bed.

Prince George's County Police = Bad?

2005-07-30T13:32:00.000-04:00

OK, as I think that Jack Johnson can't get any worse with the Prince George's County Police, he has done it again.

He is blaming the spike in crime on about 150 bad officers that are doing nothing. Never mind that most of the officers with no stats are either on desk duty, FTO duty, or medical leave. The chief is supporting our racist county executive's assertion that the police are responsible for the crime increase. These brownbeatings are going to decrease officer moralle even more, resulting in less work being done. Prince George's County is at a cross roads, where it can become the new urban poor enclave where crime runs rampant, and people live here out of need, not choice. Or it can move forward, break the crime cycle that is causing residents to leave at an incredible rate, and recover to being a decent and affordable place to live. However, with leadership, such as Jack Johnson and Marlyn Bland at the helm, I believe the county will suffer further decline. Young white professionals such as me that live in the county are here just because their parents have not moved for whatever reason, and most people like me are planning an exit strategy that involves either Charles County or Baltimore City for affordable housing, or if they make even more money, Montgomery County, Arlington or DC. Prince George's County is a depressing place to live, with it's high crime rate, lack of middle to upscale shopping opportunities, restaurants, poor quality of service at establishments and from the county government, and even racism directed by newcomers towards the remaining white people. I know my patience is wearing VERY thin, very quickly.

In another Washington Post article, yesterday, they talk about an oak tree growing out of a ten year old pothole in Fort Washington. Potholes are not supposed to remain in roads for ten years, leading to mature oak trees growing out of pavement. There are other county maintained roads in Prince George's County that are in similar shape. Rosaryville Road in Upper Marlboro, a major commuter road with at least 20,000 vehicles a day traveling on it, has not been repaved in over 20 years. South Osborne Road has not been repaved in over 15 years. There are parts of Old Crain Highway that are literally washing away. The pavement quality on Good Luck Road is substandard. The list can literally go on. Montgomery County does not seem to have the same problem with road maintence as Prince George's County does. Nor does the State Highway Administration, which has repaved MD 223, a road that connects with Rosaryville Road at least six times in the past ten years.

I think I have had it.

Last night

2005-07-30T12:34:00.000-04:00

Last night I threw up around 3:30 AM, EDT. It was mostly lettuce. However, my dad, with all his heart problems was going though the symptoms of a heart attack. After that, I could not get back to sleep until nearly 5:00 AM, worried that I was just having a heart attack. At 25, a heart attack was probably very low (however not impossible) on the list of things that could make me throw up. I think I just had improperly handled lettuce from one of the salads I ate yesterday.

I'm going over to the rental property for like three hours today, to do some painting, then I am getting ready to go to a party in Baltimore.

And I bid everyone a good day.

Goodbye Hecht's

2005-07-30T01:12:00.000-04:00

One of the last Washington/Baltimore homegrown chains will be no more. It will disapear into the minds of people, along with Woodward and Lothrop, Garfinkels, Dart Drug, Jumbo Food, Hot Shoppes Cafeterias, Hechingers, People's Drug, Lansburgh's, Hutzler's, Crown Books, Sutton Place Gourmet, Erols Video, Drug Fair, and Waxie Maxie's. Each have been bought out or been forced out of business. Even the Nextel cellular provider has been purchased by Sprint, who knows if they will be around much longer in their current form. Federated's impending merger with May Company will leave Hechts to become Macys, and will involve the closing of the Wheaton, White Marsh, Owings Mills and Marley Station (Glen Burnie) Hecht's locations. It's sad to see one of the last DC/Baltimore region chains disapear. I bet that the Baltimore area stores to close end up as either Boscov's, Bloomingdales or Lord and Taylor. Federated has not yet decided anything (at least in the public's eye) for the Lord and Taylor chain, though I suspect they may become Bloomingdales. However, White Flint Mall in Bethesda has both a Lord and Taylor and a Bloomingdales. Will Lord and Taylor disapear too? Time will tell. While it's sad that the DC area has none of it's home grown chains left, we still have AOL and XM to call their roots to DC. And for the time being, that may be the best we can do.

And I bid everyone a good night.

Praise the Lord, but not the child

2005-07-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

This is actually from Fairfax County, but it sounds like it is So Prince George's County.

A woman left her four year old son along side the Beltway and drove away, because he was misbehaving. The Washington Post tried to contact her home, and got a full voice mail box, but a recording of the mother and son saying "Praise the Lord" and ending with "Have a blessed day". The mother should be focusing on praising her son, and not leaving him alongside the Beltway. She was only caught because she was in a car accident down near Richmond and the VSP came out to the scene. Leaving your son along side the Beltway, yet having a voice mail message with "Praise the Lord" and "Have a blessed day" is So Prince George's County.

It appears that bad parenting has run amock in the DC region in the past few months. Not one, not two, but THREE parents have had their children put in the trunk of a car. One, in Frederick County MD, had an excuse of "The kids wanted to ride in the trunk." The second one, a parent from Alabama driving though rented a Nissan Sentra, because it was "cheaper", had the car overloaded and with people in the trunk. The third, at the Cosco in Prince William County, locked her kid in the trunk because it was misbehaving. While I will agree that being a parent now days is probably harder than it has ever been, it appears that these parents have not figured out how to be responsible. Locking kids in the trunk, leaving kids along the Beltway, the public outburts are really becoming unacceptable.

Also, it appears that Charles County is going from film red light cameras to digital ones. The intersection at Acton Lane and 301 has been changed already. Howard County has been using digital red light cameras for over a year with much success. These systems do not use a flash, which means that the reflective covers and paste people are putting over their license plates will be useless. I wonder when DC and Prince George's County, the land of the reflective license plate covers, will go digital? Already the town of Morningside is starting its changing over, and I am sure Greenbelt and Cheverly will be next. The only thing about these digital red light cameras are they are ugly compared to the film ones, which looked very tasteful (except the ones that were deployed in Baltimore City, Prince George's County and DC). I am 100% in favor of the use of red light cameras, but I am 100% opposed to the use of photo speed cameras.

I've decided on a new computer. I hope to be buying it sometime next week.

Lastly, I have matched Tricia on something. :-)

the Wit
(78% dark, 39% spontaneous, 16% vulgar)

your humor style:
CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK

You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're
probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean you're
pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the
Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor
and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat.

I
guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the
perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor
takes the most effort to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my
opinion.

Also, you probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm
talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on dark
You scored higher than 58% on spontaneous
You scored higher than 0% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on Ok Cupid

Hot Hot Hot

2005-07-26T19:54:00.000-04:00

I hate the heat.

Seriously, I worked today in the Basement of Capitol Hill, sans air conditioning, but with a dehumidifier. It was very hot, I drank the equivlent of six liters of water, and a liter of Gatoraide. At least I got the ceiling up in the bathroom, and got some of the drywall up on the sides of the room. Tomorow I finish putting it all up, and start the mudding.

My parents asked me to water over at the rental property, my dad had planned on doing it, but today he tried, and became overcome with the heat. So I will have to water every evening on my way home from work.

I think I have decided on a new computer. It's a HP, with a 3.0 GHz P4 processor with a 800 MHz bus, 1 GB of Ram, 250 GB of HD space, a DVD burner, and a seperate DVD rom. I just need to find out if I can upgrade the video card, and if I can, that will be my machine. Right now they are priced at about $850 with a $50 rebate.

It's time for me to take a shower. Stay cool!

Dad's out.

2005-07-26T00:11:00.000-04:00

My dad is out of the hospital as of Saturday. That's good news. He seems to be recovering nicely.

This heat here in the DC area is just plain nasty. I already have a low tollerance for heat, and now we are having the hottest temperatures in a few years, with oppressive humidity levels. Heat indexes for Tuesday may reach 120. I don't work inside air conditioning at the job I am doing right now. But oh well.

On Saturday, the weather was very nice, after a huge thunderstorm in the middle of the night. Rich invited me to his pool in the evening, and was asking if I could bring some friends for water volleyball. I was able to put Tim, Tricia, Dan, Tara, Nicki, José, Stewart and David up to the task. Rich provided Political John and we had a great time.

I'm off to bed. Please stay cool, your life depends on it!

Posting difficulties

2005-07-22T11:46:00.000-04:00

The past 24 hours, I could not get blogger to let me post. I hate it when that happens.

Well, the conclusion on my dad is he needs to have some angioplasty done with stents inserted. One of his three, non bypassed ateries needs a stent, and one of his three bypassed arteries needs a stent. It's a good thing he went to the hospital, without playing around.

The kittens are removed from the road. Poor guys. I still feel sorry for them.

I am looking forward to eating at the new Hooters in Waldorf MD. It opened earlier this week, to great fanfare. I am sure this location will do great.

I hope everything else is going well for everyone else. I'm off to work.

Kittens hit by a car or cars.

2005-07-20T10:21:00.000-04:00

There were these two very cute grey and white kittens that have been playing along my street. They were very tiny, the mom a very friendly black cat. Most likely, after the cat gave birth, the owner dumped it with the kittens. I had tried to catch the kittens numerous times, but could not get to them. Last night when I was coming home from dinner, they were dead. I forgot to put this in my post last night, because of all the stuff going on with my dad.

This morning the doctor decided to give him an angiogram, because he had another chest pain last night around 3 AM. Once I hear some results, I will post them here to the blog.

I am off to work for today.

Heatwave. Heatwave.

2005-07-20T00:25:00.000-04:00

I passed my boating course. I got a score of 48/50 (96%) on the test. That means I now am legal to drive a boat or a jet ski in Maryland. Jet skis are fun, I am looking foward to being able to drive one, instead of being a passenger on one.

My desktop computer has bit the dust. I ran out of hard drive space, and to upgrade it to what I want would exceed the cost of buying a new computer. I hope to be buying in the next two weeks or so.

My dad is back in the hospital. Today he was supposed to work for me on Capitol Hill, however, on the ride down, he started to have chest pains. I ended up taking him directly to Washington Hospital Center. He said his care in the emergency room was excellent.

I am not happy at all about John Robberts being put up for appointment to the Surpreme Court. In my eyes, he will disrupt the delicate balance that has been struck over the past decade. I definitely would have prefered that Gonzoles be put up. I am sure there will be a fight in the senate, and Roberts might possibly still be brought down.

Alright folks, I am off to bed.

Congrats to Indiana Jon

2005-07-17T01:45:00.000-04:00

Indiana Jon had his first pursuit as a police officer. It even made the paper. Too bad I lost the link. The guy crashed into a tree after Jon gave pursuit. At least the bad guy was caught.

Traffic is pretty bad on 301 still, even at 1:30 AM. At least the lane drop will be done in about 24 hours.

Good night.

A nice man, on a nice day, jumped off the (Gov.) Nice Bridge.

2005-07-16T21:56:00.000-04:00

This weekend, I-95 Northbound as it crosses from Virginia into Maryland is shut from it's normal three lanes to one lane, as traffic is shifted to a new alignment as part of construction of a replacement Woodrow Wilson Bridge. VDOT is advising motorists to use US 301 to travel North, to avoid the workzone.

However, some idiot decided to jump off the US 301 bridge over the Potomac River, closing it for nearly 90 minutes. God that nice man picked a nice day to jump off the Nice Bridge.

I am enroled in a boating safety course at Prince George's Community College. I've already gone to the first two classes, the last class will be on Monday July 18, where I will take my boating test. Spending time up at PGCC brings back lots of good memories of 1998 and 1999 when I was a full time student of Criminal Justice there. Lots of cars held together with duct tape and inccorect parts abound in the parking lot. I saw a 1997-1999 Toyota Camry with the trunk lid from a 2000-2001 Camry parked in the lot. That's So Prince George's Community College.

Aparently Carl Rove is in a heap of trouble for being the leak. My prediction is that President Bush will fire him within the next two weeks.

The Linden Ave properties still have not gone before the State Board of Estimates. I'm becoming increasingly disillusioned with this project, because it seems at every turn, the City of Baltimore is stalling out on holding up to their end of the bargan.

I am very busy with work. I still have two things left to do on the rental property before it can be turned over to tennants. There are other delays because of the landscaper, the plumber and my dad doing the tile work. A project that could have been knocked out in two months, if timed properly, has stretched out to nearly eight months. I want the monkey off my shoudlers, the money I am owed in my pocket, and the free time to get focused on Linden Ave and doing ride alongs. Latest thought: Maryland State Police. I've been told I would make a great Trooper.

OK, who knows when I will blog again. LOL. Everyone have a great summer and stay safe.

Officer Down

2005-06-23T16:47:00.000-04:00

A very good Prince George's County police officer was killed in the line of duty yesterday. I knew him personally, and his wife was one of my favorite professors at Prince George's Community College. He was a great man, a great father, and a great officer. He came into our classes and spoke a few times. Steve, we won't forget you.

Happy F'ing Father's Day

2005-06-20T12:11:00.000-04:00

I ended up having two fights with my father yesterday. Both were over the rental property and him finishing his work over there. He of course turns it into a trial on who I am and the way I do things.

Then I go outside to plant flowers, and I find the tire on my truck was flatter than a pancake. I had gone to the landfill earlier in the day, and probably put a nice gash in it. I will be buying two new tires, at a cost of $160 each, to replace what I have on that axle. The tires should be in on Thursday.

Then when I finally got to planting flowers, I got stung by not one, but two bumble bees. One got me square in the forehead, the other went into my shirt and got me in my abdomen. Then the dumb things chased me around.

At least my parents leave for 12 days on Friday. Less drama, more fun, etc.

I'm off to work late today because I had to deal with the tires, the clock and getting my parents rental car reserved.

June 14 2005

2005-06-14T21:38:00.000-04:00

Pizza Hut runs out of Pizza again. I've about had it.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/rnr/78893937.html

I just returned home from Ocean City Maryland. I have been there since very early Saturday morning. I enjoyed my trip there, though this time I did not get to go to an all you can eat feast with Snow Crab Legs. I guess that will be saved for when I go back in July, August or September.

My niece graduated from High School on Friday night. Other than the Attorney General of Virginia being the keynote speaker, it was a pretty nice event.

Since my last post, I have also traveled to Deep Creek Lake MD and Worcester MA. I got a whole bunch of new counties in MA, RI, VT, NH, NY and PA on that trip. I think the total of new counties on that trip was 23. I also completed some new interstate milage, most notably I-81 in PA, all of I-88 (east), all of I-90 in MA, all of I-89 in NH, most of I-93 in MA, and some 3DIs. All cool stuff. I just need to figure out where to go next to get some more milage.

I guess everything is going well.

Cr...Chromium

You scored 30 Mass, 27 Electronegativity, 62 Metal, and 10 Radioactivity!

Oooohaaaaah.... shiny! You probably have an incredibly stable and
well-maintained group of friends... that probably also don't get out
much either. You're not one to get bogged down by a problem. Of course,
I'm basing this upon Chromium's ultra-low water-exchange constant and
it
's corrosion-resistant properties, and I wouldn't be too surprised if
the analogy doesn't even apply.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 25% on Mass
You scored higher than 35% on Electroneg
You scored higher than 71% on Metal
You scored higher than 40% on Radioactivity

Link: The Which Chemical Element Am I Test written by effataigus on Ok Cupid

Happy Birthday to me!

2005-04-28T20:45:00.000-04:00

I turned 25 today. Yes, a quarter century as passed since I popped out of my mom.

And I have a sinus infection. Boo. At least I am on antibiotics and getting better by the minute. That's a good thing.

Since I blogged last, I finished my taxes, like most americans. I paid $0.00 to the Federal Government. I paid $329 to the State of Maryland. Why? Well, I expensed my truck for federal purposes, but the state would only allow it to be depreciated. So therefore my tax burden for 2004 to the federal government is $0. My state was much higher.

I traveled to Wisconsin for my cousin Leslie's wedding. She married a fire fighter. It was cool to brag to him and his coworkers about my house being used in the movie Ladder 49. While in Kenosha/Racine, I visited Chicago. I went to Navy Pier which seemed like a ridiculus version of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, and I went to the top of the Sears Tower. My mom and I flew on Independence Air, which I highly recomend to anyone that lives in the DC area. Too bad they may not last the year.

I went to an Orioles game a few weeks ago. Was fun, they absolutely crushed the Yankees. After going to the game, I went out fire chasing with my firefighter friends. Too bad there were no fires worth going to. Speaking of baseball, my fantasy baseball team has been either in first or second place in the AnswerGuy baseball leauge. Which is a good thing, but then again, I have a lot of high scoring Yankees on my team.

But to all my regular readers, yes I am alive and happy to be twenty five.

Please be careful out there

2005-04-07T11:00:00.000-04:00

So far this morning, there have been three or four shootings on the Lower Eastern Shore, á la the DC area snipers. As of right now, there is one counted fatality in Sussex County DE. There have also been other shootings in the Salisbury area.

Everyone, if you are within a easilly drivable distance of this area, please be careful.

Otherwise, have a good day.

Good news all around

2005-04-06T10:47:00.000-04:00

There is good news all around for almost everyone right now.

Good news for Dan: He has been hired for a long term temp job doing proof reading. It will last about three months, and has enough pay to make it worth his time.

Good news for me: My auto insurance dropped 40%. Geico recognized I am going to be over 25 when the policy is renewed, making my truck much more affordable. Unfortunately for me, the price of gas will be up 40%, esentally wiping out any insurance savings.

Good news for me: I was approved for a new credit card yesterday. I had been having problems getting one with a limit that was enough for me to breathe. Well, I can now charge materials for work, and pay the balance every week or two and build up even more credit.

Good news for Linden Tree LLC: The city appears to be coming to some sort of agreement on the price of the houses. I can't spell out the details just yet, but what I see looks good at least for me.

At least everything this week looks good for almost everyone.

Slow news day, eh?

2005-03-28T20:13:00.001-05:00

I guess it was a slow news day for the Washington Post. On the front page, and two full pages inside, was a story on Sgt. Brett Parsons, the head of the DC Police Gay & Lesbian liaison Unit. (GLLU) OK. This is front page news? Come on the Post, you can do better than that. I've met the guy before, on a ride along with DC Police. He's a big lumbering goof of a guy, I can see why he is very well liked in both the gay community and the police world. But a 2.5 page article, complete with about ten pictures? Geez, the amazement and wonder.

Today, I got the pleasure of trying to get a building permit for the concrete work at my parents rental property. It's basically a process of: #1. You wait for your name to come on a screen. #2. Spend two minutes talking to someone #3. Sit down for 45 minutes and then wait to repeat #1 and #2. It was the most disorganized process and waste of time that I have been though since I was in high school. My mom used to work at the permit counter, being on the customer service end of dealing with the public. I am sure she got yelled at by people from time to time, because the process is so utterly ridiculous.

When I got home from geting the permit, a truck had come down our driveway. The truck ran off the driveway, got stuck in the yard, tore up the grass, etc. Aparently the UPS person came and delivered some stuff my dad had forgot in his hotel room a couple months ago. In the process, he had tried to avoid hitting the tree, and got stuck in the yard. A report has been put in to UPS, and they are going to pay for a landscaper to come in and fix the damage.

This evening, my parents have started to have a war of annoyance. My mom came into the TV room and started talking on the phone to her friend Cathy during the middle of the news. I go lay down because my stomach is bothering me, and I come downstairs. My dad has the TV in the family room at FULL sound, my mom has the TV in the TV room at a high sound level too, and is talking on the phone. The kitchen is a total mess, with $10 worth of cold cuts laying on the counter, because my dad did not feel like putting them away, because he left them out for my mom, who thought my dad was being careless. My dad cooked my mom breakfast yesterday, and in the process, got egg all over the stove, and has never cleaned it up. There are cupcake wrappers all over the place, plates stacked up, etc. I've spent virtually no time in the kitchen, and they have messed it up. I told them both that they are acting like little spoiled brats and that they need to find a hobby outside the house that gets them interacting with other people. I'm sick and tired of having to play parent for my parents. It is becoming painfully obvious at an accelerated pace that they are not able to take care of themselves and get along anymore. I am going to have to move out in the near future, because they are bringing me down to a level that I can't live with.

Last night in the middle of the night, I felt like I had ate a box of thumbtacks and I was trying to digest them. My guts feel like they are inside out, and still feel that way. I am completely miserable. I doubt this is related to my parents, instead, my guess is food poisoning.

I'm a d100

2005-03-25T12:51:00.000-05:00

Take the quiz at dicepool.com

Again, why are we not surprised?

I am about to go run and get a building permit for the driveway at the rental property.

I paid Dan $60 yesterday to help out with a run to Lowes and to do some electrical wiring in the rental property. It really sucks that some of the outlets wont "sit" right, because the boxes are warped.

It has recently been pointed out by some friends that very little, if anything has been said about the Red Lake Minnesota shooting rampage among our nations elected politicians. They right now are more focused on keeping a brain dead vegtable alive, than comforting the families of fifteen victims. Many are wondering "If this had been at a white majority high school, would it be getting more attention." I unfortunately think the answer would be yes. I doubt the answer would be, no, we are getting "used" to these type of attacks.

I remember back in high school, a some of my fellow classmates expected me to go off on a shooting rampage, complete with Ralph running around the school. Um, no. Yes, I was teased, but I knew one day, I would earn the respect that I deserved back then. Even at my five year class reunion, a lot of people were surprised at what I had accomplished, while others said "I knew you would be involved in something big." While this teasing was awful, hurtful, and juvenile, each person involved has entered an age of maturity and looks back and thinks it was stupid. I was able to deal with it while it was going on, beacuse I knew it would not be forever. And maybe that's what the public education system should be emphasizing, that high school is not forever. That middle school is not forever. That elementary school is not forever. It's just thirteen years of a person's life, and what they make of it afterwards is what counts the most. I feel the pressure put on high school students, to get 4.0 GPAs and be involved in twenty extracurricular activities is just insane. And it leads to more teasing, more drag racing, more drug use. These are all escapes from the over pressue being put on young people today. When I was in high school, I did my own things. I knew I could get into college by going though a community college. To me, there was no shame in going that route. But teachers and parents seem to think there is shame in going though community college. I had the best years of my life at PGCC, earned over a 3.9 GPA, earned a internship with the Park Police, and earned the respect of people of all ages. And in high schoo, I tried, depsite the teasing, to have a good time, to relax and to be myself. And at nearly 25, I feel like a better person, because I did not sircume to the rat race that has become high school. And I never, back then, nor today, felt that the answer to being teased was with a gun or bringing my sheep to school.

Off to pull a building permit.

I have to admit

2005-03-22T11:34:00.000-05:00

I have to admit; I like the new play list at 107.3.

The question though is this some sort of ratings stunt or a real wake up call here in DC with a major radio personality calling the entire industry onto the carpet? Either way, the outcome sounds the same to me. I've noticed that the radio personalities on 107.3 sound more cheerful than they have sounded in the past, and I can't predict what they will play next. Yes, they are still playing Maroon 5, but not every hour. I have a feeling that this expanded play list is here to stay, and demographic ratings management will be loosened up enough. DC needed a jack of all trades radio station. 107.3 and Z-104 were virtual clones of each other, both playing off the same small demographic plate. Granted, I wish the 107.3 play list would play more R&B music, I've yet to hear any Toni Braxton, Whitney Houston, Monica, Montel Jordan, or any of the like. I predict that some will filter in, giving the station even more variety that was sorely needed. Right now on the air: Passion by Rod Stewart.

Now to transition to another subject. Already this year, I have been to every county in Maryland, Delaware and Connecticut. On Saturday, I visited Carroll, Frederick, Washington, Allegheny and Garrett Counties. On Monday, I visited Talbot, Dorchester, Wicomico, Somerset, Worcester, and Caroline Counties yesterday. Add in the fact I got Kent County DE and Sussex County DE too, and the rest were either covered by my trips to MA, or a going to the new years party in St. Mary's County, or my run to Dunkirk Supply, and I will have officially got every county in Maryland this year. Delaware too, because when I came back from Rehobeth Beach, I took DE/MD 16, instead of 404 across Delaware, and 16 briefly goes into Kent County before crossing into Maryland.

Now it's Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day transitioned to Bonnie Rait's Love's Sneaking Up on You. Which I have not heard on 107.3 in like five years. Wow.

Jack Diamond Takes Over

2005-03-22T00:16:00.000-05:00

This morning, Jack Diamond took over Mix 107.3. The programing director said that he has taken the station hostage. However, I have never heard such a good mix of music in my life on any radio station. My prediction, the station, with a greater expanded play list, could see its rankings go from the range of 10th-15th to 5th-10th. Most people I know are sick and tired of hearing the same fifty songs played over and over again. I'm just waiting for Ru Paul's Supermodel to come on the air. I've already heard Fleetwood Mac, Maroon Five, Pink Floyd, Alisha Keys played in a row.

Today I went to Ocean City and Rehobeth Beach. I did some outlet shopping, Tara dropped a large sum of money at a craft store in Ocean City. Saturday, Tim, Trish, Dan and I went out to Western Maryland. Got to see some waterfalls, had a lot of fun. I always enjoy going out to Garrett County at any opportunity.

Anyhow, It is time for me to go to bed. Good night.

Heads popping up

2005-03-16T01:11:00.000-05:00

Hehehehe.

I am driving down my street. At the driveway to the barn, I catch a mid 1990s red Nissan Sentra with FOP plates parked there. A man was sitting in it, and then lo and behold a woman's head pops up from the passanger seat. I know what they were doing. I think my stare of disgust made for a deflating experience for the both of them.

Today I worked on Capitol Hill. I reassembled some cabnets, screwed them together in a whole bunch more places. Hopefully they will hold up for another couple years until Adam is ready to gut that house and refurbish it.

I'm looking forward to Saturday when I go to Garrett County with Tim, Trish and Dan.

Oh yes, my dad is still in an angry mood. He's mad at my mom and I because we want to hire a tile person to do the floor.

Anyhow, good night for now.

And why are we not surprised?

2005-03-10T00:20:00.000-05:00

The first shocker:
Today was my dad's 71st birthday. He was in a fowl mood. I took him to the rental property to do some work. He really wants to work, but the entire time he is crying and he takes 30 minute breaks after working for ten minutes. I would feel more sorry for him, if he was not cursing at me and making my life a living hell.

The second shocker:
I'm doing well with my Futurama game for my XBox. I am so surprised I did not get one of these gaming systems before. Oh well.

The third shocker:
Aparently Wal Mart wants to open a Supercenter in Dunkirk MD. The locals, as usual, are opposed to it opening. They claim it will kill small business. What small business? Wal Mart does not compete against dry cleaners, or most any of the rest of the businesses in Dunkirk, at least directly. There are no clothing stores, no shoe stores, who the hell would buy hardware at Wal Mart (except in a pinch), Blockbuster won't close because of a Wal Mart. Calvert County has an ordinance that would make the Wal Mart too large. The solution? Split the store into two or three stores, each with it's own cash registers, bathrooms and whatnot, and connect them via a breezeway. The supermarket would be in one part, the general merchandice would be in a second part, and the home improvement center would round out the third part. I gotta admire Wal Mart's slipperyness on this idea. Oh yes, and it would be the first Wal Mart to ever be constructed in this way in the United States. Calvert County's other claim to fame: The oldest Pontiac dealer still in opperation is in Prince Frederick.

And for the fourth shocker:

1985 by Bowling for Soup

"Where's the mini-skirt made of snakeskin?
And who's the other guy that's singing in Van Halen?
When did reality become T.V.?
What ever happened to sitcoms, game shows?"

You took the bitter with the sweet in 2004 - and kept laughing.

What 2004 Hit Song Are You?

Looking for Ladder 49.

2005-03-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

Trying to buy a copy of Ladder 49 was not the easiest thing in the world. I went to Wal Mart, K-Mart and Blockbuster Video in Clinton. All three were sold out. I ended up going to Bowie to Wal Mart, and I was able to get both a widescreen and a full screen copy. Good for me. My house is at 18:23 in the movie, the one with flames coming out. My reference point is Paul's house at 2240 has form stone on it. Three houses up is 2246, and it has flames coming out the 3rd floor window. The castle still has phone booths in front of it, so the scenes were filmed before July 2003. The grafiti on the brick next to my front door is still present to this day. The rats are coming down the stairs from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor. Then I think they transition into Kate's house, Because there is no such massive damage in my house, and Kate's has huge amounts of damage. Then it transitions to a scene outside my house.

I can point out other "flaws" in the movie. Why would a fire unit, based in the North East part of the city go up Fulton Ave. to get to my house? Why would they be shopping at the Save-A-Lot in Fells Point? I can continue on down the line.

The "Check Engine" light is on in the Camry. I was cruising along, came to a traffic light. The car spuddered and then the light came on. Then the car started to burn gas like my old hooptie van. I guess it will have to go in for it's 120,000 mile service a little earlier than planned (the odometer is at 117,500 or so). We average about 22,000 miles a year on the Camry.

The head of the Franchise that owns the McDonalds called my parents house yesterday. I was not home to take the call. My dad explained the situation. The owner said that they had replaced the manager last week. I think the new manager was the guy that went off on me. I've been too busy with the house to get my complaints filed with the AG's office and the BBB.

My dad believes that he is getting some of his sight back. He's been testing his eyes every day and he can see more and more out of the right eye, the one that was basically blind. Either he is adapting, or the damage is somewhat reversable. I'm glad to hear this, because I am going to need his help to renovate my house, the one mentioned above, used in the movie Ladder 49.

Anyhow, back to the movie. They just had the goose scene.

Good night.

XBox and Dad

2005-03-05T20:11:00.000-05:00

My dad is home from the hospital.

I got an XBox on Thursday. I enjoy it a lot. I am obsessed with playing Futurama. XBox is so much better than my old NES system. Dolby digital sound coupled with high definition video. Sweet.

I am still planning my moves against that McDonalds. They caught me on the wrong day.

Anyhow, back to the XBox. Good night.

The Customer Is ALWAYS WRONG

2005-03-04T19:15:00.000-05:00

I blew up today at the McDonalds in Marlton, MD.

I went inside, ordered two McChicken sandwitches with cheese, a double cheeseburger and two apple pies. They ran out of chicken pattys and the wait was about five minutes. OK, that's fine. Other people after me ordered McChicken sandwitches too. However, they recieved their sandwitches before me, and they ran out of chicken again and I had to wait. I asked for a refund. The manager was hostile, and I started yelling at him. The store would not provide me a copy of my recept, despite me asking for the recept I handed them back. I called McDonalds corporate headquarters and complained. I've had it with this crappy service. I should not have to wait 20 minutes to find out that I need to wait another ten for my food. That's absurd. That's So Prince George's County!!!

Oh yes, on a note that could fry my nerves, my dad is going to be permanantly blind in one eye, and partially blind in the other.

New England is looking to be a better option every day.

Good night.

Back from New England

2005-03-02T23:17:00.000-05:00

Tim's grandmother died on Tuesday at about 4:45 AM. I pass along my sympathy to his entire family.

Tim got back to the DC area around 10:15 PM from New Jersey, we left the DC area around 10:30, got into Falmouth MA around 7 AM. Tim and I ended up not going to Worcester, but directly to Cape Cod, because of the gravity of the situation. The drive up was super easy, two stops for coffee, one in Maryland near Joppatowne and one in New Jersey at Fort Lee was all I needed to make the all night drive. Road conditions were good, we outran the snow by a large margin. I prefer driving at night, the traffic is nice and light and the idots are sleeping. Tim got to say goodbye to his grandmother. The entire imediate family made it to town, one came from Hawaii, another from Californa, one from Florida and of course Tim from DC. I can offically say I have clinched I-195 in RI and MA, giving me all milage of interstate in RI. Too bad it was not for a happy trip though.

I drove back from MA today though. I left Falmouth at around 10:45 AM. Made good time until I got to Bridgeport CT. Got stuck in a five mile rolling backup. Just as I was about to start heading towards Long Island, I called my mom. My dad was being admitted to the hospital in Baltimore. So I just stuck with I-95. Big mistake. It took me a hour to drive about 3/4 of a mile on the Cross Bronx Expressway. I ended up bailing and taking the expressway service road and some surface streets. New Yorkers are scared of my truck. No one pushed me around. I also got stuck in Wilmington DE's rush hour. Blah. I got to Baltimore, and had my mom follow me home, since she had no clue how to get home from the hosptial.

Aparently my dad has an infection in his optic nerve. They are giving him injections to reduce the swelling to determine what should be done next. I am guessing some sort of surgery. I'll be focused on my dad for the next couple days, instead of going to work.

Return to New England

2005-02-27T19:58:00.000-05:00

You must think I am crazy. You must think I am insane.

Seriously, I am going back to New England, tonight, leaving in a few minutes. Tim's grandmother is dying. There are no flights left to the Northeast, because of a little snowfall that is going to hit the Mid Atlantic and move up the coast. We will litterally be a few hours ahead of the snow the entire drive. I need coffee.

Oh yes, other things that developed:

I was paid $500 today to help my boss move stuff from one location to another. Lots of antiques. I'm buying a Xbox and a Nintendo Game Cube with this money.

My dad is going blind. After his doctors apointment on Tuesday, he will find out if he will be able to continue driving.

The rental property is going to gain hard wired smoke and carbon monoxide detectors.

I don't like the architect's conseptual plans for my hosue in Baltimore. I don't want a four bedroom house. I want a seven bedroom house. I don't want to move my stairs around. I don't want to remove my servants stairs.

Anyhow, it is time for me to go pack my bags.

See you later this week.

A few minutes later:

I heard the sound of brakes squeeling and then a loud crash sound outside. I go out to the street, there is construction debris all over the road. I called it into DPW&T. Dumping construction stuff all over the middle of a road, on a blind curve and hill is So Prince George's County.

Hang up the phone while driving the bus!

2005-02-23T10:52:00.000-05:00

This one is So Prince George's County.

Yesterday, a Prince George's County Public School bus, transporting about 30 students to Thurgood Marshall Middle School (once called Roger Taney Jr. High, but that's a whole other blog in and of itself) was involved in a single vehicle crash on Temple Hills Road. No student was seriously hurt, all were transported to Southern Maryland Hospital, about a 15 minute drive away. Police issued the driver tickets for negligent driving, which carries a $275 fine, and failing to stay on the right side of the road, punishable by a $75 fine.

The school system ordered bus drivers a few months ago to not talk on cell phones while driving their bus. I don't think cell phones and buses mix. It's too bad that social Darwinism did not take care of the bus driver. And if I were the parents of the students, I would be at SMHC with pitchforks and torches, trying to find the room where the bus diver was being hospitalized. And I hope that this driver gets fired.

We all talk on our cell phones while driving. I have a headset, though I left it at Adam's place in Baltimore recently. And if it is too difficult to plug in the headset while driving, I sometimes just answer the phone without it. Driving a school bus, in and of itself is a very distracting profession. The vehicle is extremely large, there can be up to 50 kids screaming in the back, etc. It was raining at the time of the accident. I think this woman needs something else examined, because it's obvious she does not have a brain.

Talking on the cell phone while driving a school bus is So Prince George's County.

Meanwhile, I found out that Justin got his acceptance to the Maryland State Police. He turned it down. He realized that he did not want to be a State Trooper. His dream, ever since I met him five years ago, was to be a MSP Trooper. I'm in shock, and would nearly kill to have that opportunity that he just got. However, I support him, because if he feels that it was not right to go though with it, it was not right. And he should be congratulated for even making it to that point, which is a very very high honor. He is now trying to figure out what he will do with his dual bachelors degrees in Criminal Justice and Spanish from the University of Maryland College Park.

And everyone: Have a good day. I am looking forward to tomorow's snow!

Feeling better

2005-02-22T10:57:00.000-05:00

Today is the first day when I am feeling reasonable.

Yeay!

Anyhow, apparently Paris Hilton's cell phone was hacked. The phone numbers and e-mail addresses of Eminem, Vin Diesel, Lindsay Lohan, Christina Aguilera, Ashlee Simpson, Andy Roddick and Anna Kournikova were some that were posted online. The FBI has opened an investigation, and T-Mobile is trying to change some security parameters in the wake of this incident. At least, as of yet, there is no reference to Britney Spears. I wish the one trick pony (Paris Hilton) would be put out to stud, but apparently, she keeps showing up more and more and more.

I am working on getting my plans drawn up for my new place. I am so excited!!!! This house is so sweet, 3100 square feet + 1150 square feet in the basement. At 25, I will be the owner of a very very large rowhome that overlooks downtown Baltimore. And that place will be nice once it is done.

I still planning on blogging about the Gannon thing. I'll try blogging about it when I get home from work tonight.

Tootles.

Feeling marginally better

2005-02-21T11:22:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling marginally better. I still have the headache, but the dizzyness is gone.

In the episode of Smurfs, All Creatures Great and Smurf, there is a mistake. Papa Smurf's pants are white instead of red.

I'll have more to say later.

2246 is officially going to be mine

2005-02-20T23:49:00.000-05:00

The LLC decided on how the properties would be distributed. Achu and Ngi got 11, Rem got 13, Beth and Brian got 15. Eric and Mike got 30, Kate got 44, I got 46, Alex got 52, Carter + wife + kids got 54. Each even side member will pay aprox $5900 more for their house, and each person on the odd side will get a $8900 price break on their house, for a grand total of $15,000 in added price difference. My proposal was accepted by the LLC, to bid on the actual difference, not a percentage of construction costs. After the meeting, Rem, Beth, Brian, Achu, Eric, Mike, Tim and I all went out to lunch, to celebrate this milestone.

I planed on commenting on the Jeff Gannon / James Guckert gay hooker + white house press corps patsy. However, I think I was exposed to some mold in one of the houses today, I have a spitting headache and I am extremely nausious and dizzy.

Good night.

New look

2005-02-17T22:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I gave the blog a new look.

Wal Mart is eyeing up two new locations for stores in Prince George's County. One is at the very blighted Capitol Plaza in Landover Hills. Great location for a Wal Mart. The shopping mall has been dead since Montgomery Wards and Hechingers closed. A Wal Mart, coupled with another larger retailer would do wonders for that center. The 450 cordior is Prince George's County's version of Rockville Pike. However, 450 is very very blighted. A Wal Mart may be the spark to make things better. The second location would be in Upper Marlboro. On the other end of 20772, at the intersection of the Beltway and Ritchie-Marlboro Road. I think Wal Mart is trying to split the difference between the Target in Largo and Forestville. However, by choosing this location, they are ignoring the other end of 20772, which has absolutely no retail at all. The best we have been able to do is a large Giant Food store and the new Home Depot. Target has eyed up a parcel of land across from the new Home Depot. Honestly, is this the best that Upper Marlboro can do? We have a per capita income that rivals most of the high end parts of Montgomery County. Yet, we have no shopping, and we must drive many miles for the same retail that other parts of the area take for granted.

Anyhow, time for me to go to work.

Frodo fails, Carol visits.

2005-02-16T01:36:00.000-05:00

Saturday night, I got to watch some bad movies with Guy, Carol, Tim, Trish, Justin and two other people I can't recall their names right now. I missed most of Baby genius, however, I got to see all of White Chicks and Catwoman. I liked White Chicks enough that I could have got away with buying it. Catwoman was very boring to watch. Tim and I ended up going to IHOP afterwards, because we were both hungry for a snack.

André had his 30th Birthday Party on Sunday night. Tara, Tim and I all attended. Before hand, the three of us went to Target in Greenbelt and bought him some presents. We got him a Latisha barbie doll and a ceramic fish. I ran into Rachel, I had not seen her since Grad Night for high school. She's living in Springhill Lake with her BF, until he finds a better job so they can move somewhere nicer. We exchanged phone numbers, hopefully we will get to hangout sometime. André's party went pretty well and the food was excellent. I highly recommend Brazilian barbecue.

As a side note: I had to IM Canine John to figure out the name and location of this restaurant. André promised he would e-mail me the info, and never did that. I looked up Brazilian restaurants in the phone book. None listed in Rockville. Since I knew it was on Rockville Pike, I had enough info to ask Canine John where it was. Of course, he knew where it was, thank god. And shortly after I was done chatting with John, André calls me with directions. Dolt.

On Monday, I worked on Capitol Hill. Only could bill for four hours, but that was OK. I saw an interesting bumper sticker on a early 1990s Chrysler minivan. "Frodo failed. Bush has the rings." Huh? I asked Tim what it meant, it is a reference to Lord of the Rings. He explained the saga and that bumper sticker does completely explain how things are right now. Bush does have the rings.

On Tuesday, I worked on Capitol Hill again. I called 311 to get the #2 in command at Friendship House ticketed or towed for parking in the alley. He does it every day with his powder blue 1997-2004 F-150. Never mind the tags expired in August 2004, and he peeled the year sticker off the plates. This is the same guy I had a run in with back in August. At that time, he cursed at me when I asked him to move his truck back a few feet. Ever since then, when I see his truck parked in the alley, I call it into 311. I can imagine the ad for Mastercard:

"Cell phone - $95 a month.
Truck payment to go to work - $310 a month.
Seeing the #2 in command's vehicle get towed for illegally parking - priceless"

Later in the day, I got to see Carol Schwartz (at large Republican in the DC city council) in person. She was coming out of the house where Former President Bush was sited last year. What amazed me is she has a rear end of a black woman. Something I never saw on TV before. My god, she had a plump butt.

Also, apparently, Ben Stein is on some Faux news program every couple of nights or so. That probably eliminates him as being Deep Throat.

Later today, I get to do more mindless repairs at the Rental Property. :-)

Good night.

You can't park there.

2005-02-10T23:24:00.000-05:00

Today I went to Panda Express (yet again).

Today, two women, I will give them names of Shanaynay (driver) and Laquita park their 1989-1999 Chevy Suburban in the fire lane in front of the Panda Express. Laquita gets a young boy out of his child safety seat, and all three go into Panda Express. While they are getting their order filled, a Prince George's County police car pulls up. Since there is no front licence plate, he has to go to the rear of the vehicle to run the plates. He procedes to write two tickets, one for no front plate, and one for being parked in a fire zone. Shanaynay and Laquita come out of the restaurant, and start pitching a fit. He hands Shanaynay her two tickets (I watched [and heard] this all from my seat in the restaurant), and Laquita calls him a "dumb f*$ker." All the mean time, Laquita has her young son in his child safety seat.

Wait a second. What's wrong with the description of what happened here? They become disorderly, because they got a parking ticket for being illegally parked.

Thank god the officer was black. Because these two women would have played the race card if he had been a white officer. There was plenty of available parking, if they would have just walked another 20 feet. But that's too difficult. Their $12 meal at Panda Express just cost them roughly $260. Oh well. I'm not paying their fine. And they completely deserved what they got.

What gets me even more is another #1 female, we will call her Swazette, pulls up, does the same thing with her 1998-2002 Corolla. Again, kid in tow, and walks into Panda Express. And I saw the county officer walking out of Quiznos. I can only imagine what happened to Swazette.

I'm sorry, but cursing out the cop because he ticketed you for parking in a fire zone is So Prince George's County!

At least the rental property is coming a long nicely.

Happy Chinese New Year

2005-02-09T01:07:00.000-05:00

Too bad Deep Throat is dying.

Prediction: Ben Stein.

Academia has researched this, and most people have come to the conclusion that it is Pat Buchanan. However, considering he's in pretty good health, and we have not seen much of Ben Stein lately, that may boost my theory.

Today Dan helped me out with fishing wires for cable TV, internet and phone. Tomorrow (later today) I'll finish up the job by installing the boxes in the walls and making patches in the sheetrock. I can also get some painting done, get the sheetrock down in the bathroom, and a few other random things.

I went to Lowe's today. Got a few things there. I went up to the cashier. He was talking on his personal cell phone as he was ringing up my order. That is So Prince George's County.

Anyhow, I wish everyone a good night sleep.

examine cherub cannibal

2005-02-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

And that was the subject of an e-mail I received in my inbox this morning. Of course, it was attempting to get me to cheaply buy via the internet, drugs to enhance erections and make you sleep.

The electrician definitely needs to come out to the rental property. I found out yesterday that the new cooktop requires an electric line for the pilot ignition. The current cooktop did not have electronic ignition. Ooops. Well, he can fix my boo-boo in the basement too, where I accidently wired the fixture together and when I turn off the light switch, it trips the breaker. Plus the pendant light was not wired to the switch. Ooops. I do understand electric wiring though, I just can't fix these two problems or run the new line.

I am watching that "unaired" "Wish Upon a Weinstein" episode of Family Guy. It was unaired, because Fox thought it was offensive. However, every one of my Jewish friends that has ever seen it thought it was funny. It seems acceptable to me, I don't see why Fox did not air it. Fox reguarly airs more offensive things all the time. And who can forget Married With Children?

I got invited to André's birthday party on Sunday. However, the waiter at the Silver Dinner wants Tara and I to come back on Sunday. Should I call him and say we will be back on Monday instead?

I'll probably have more tales tonight.

Roxie Ann.

2005-02-07T13:29:00.000-05:00

No, she's not a hooker.

$90, $159, $245 per credit hour.

The $90 is for in county residents, $159 is for residents of Maryland that don't live in Prince George's County and $245 for people that are residents of somewhere else. As you can see, there is a financial benefit to finding an address in Prince George's County and saying you live there.

Well, our last tennant in the rental property let a Roxie Ann Robertson use her address to register. I'm on hold with the Community College to find out how to get this woman to pay back tuition.

I know this sounds vendictive, and it is. However, Prince George's Community College in county students pay some of the highest rates for CC's in the state. Every time a person "uses" an address and does this, it increases rates for real county residents such as myself. As an alumni of Prince George's Community College, I benefited from my Criminal Justice coursework, and enjoyed my time there. However, I think it is wrong for students to do this. Some of my friends used county addresses, and had moved to other places. I thought it was wrong then, and I think it is wrong now. But at the same time, it had never been on my watch and they were not using an address that I was in charge of. This woman was using our address, and that is just plain wrong.

Have a good day.

I can do it. And Home Depot sells it.

2005-02-07T01:45:00.000-05:00

That rental property will be almost all new when I am done with it.

The latest is, the entire hall bathroom will be remodeled. First, I started to remove the tile from around the tub, for a repair. Well, a lot of the wallboard behind the tile was rotted. Where it was not rotted, the tiles started falling off randomly. Well, then I uncovered rust on the tub. The turquoise green tub will be replaced. The vanity was rotted. All and all, I dropped another $650 at Home Depot on new fixtures, and that does not include the tile.

I finally got the wall paper down off the stairway to the basement. I patched the walls, and started priming them. Well, it would not be Matt's luck, without a problem. The primer started to peel away some of the paper from the gypsum. So I am going to have to do some more wall patches and reprime those spots.

The new appliances arrived. The fridge is neato, though it did not come with a digital temperature readout/adjuster. The floor sample had one, the fridge we got had just some LED lights coresponding to warmer and colder. The ice maker has an adjuster for the size of ice it spits out. I went ahead and flipped the pannel over on the dishwasher from almond to white. Again, it would not be a Matt thing without a problem. Under the pannel, the dishwasher was rusting out. There are rust stains on the white side of the pannel. We may have to replace the dishwasher. I saw some decent ones for around $350.

I got the interior doors. My dad needs to hang them this week. It is absolutely amazing all the stuff that this house needed. I don't seem to be getting everything done. I may need until the end of the month. But that place will be super nicely rehabed for a rental. It just sucks that everything was bascially trashed up at the same time, making for an expensive process for my parents. But the house is a cash cow for my parents, so I don't feel so bad.

Today Brian, Rem and I did some work on the Linden Tree houses. We did a little bit of clean up, and I made a trip to Home Depot for boards, hinges, locks and other things. That trip was nearly $700, out of the LLC's account. But we hit a snafu. We still only had starter checks from the Bank. Rem had to put it on his charge card, and he's going to have to write a check to himself for the materials we bought today. I just hope none of the LLC members throw a fit. Paul is moved into his house, finally. It has turned out nice, I would do somethings differently than he did, but overall it will be a great house for many years to come for them.

Tonight was the Super Bowl. I only half heartedly watched it, because none of the teams I really follow or like were in it. The commericals were not as ingenious as in years past. The Simpsons afterwards was very creative, even injecting the Super Bowl halftime show where Pac Man and Ms. Pac Man got married. The new show American Dad was definitely So Northern Virginia. The attitude of the dad. The affluenza. So on and so forth. I don't see it being a huge hit for Fox though. Futurama lived up to it's hype. And then Fox killed it after only four seasons (that lasted five seasons). American Dad will last two tops.

My next purchase with my big paycheck coming my way will be an XBox with some games. And I will make three truck payments. I just want to get back to my daily routine at Capitol Hill though. That income is provable, since I get a 1099 every year. I won't get one from my parents since I am just a GC.

Well, I wish everyone a good night.

Goodbye Sarah and Aiyshah

2005-01-29T01:51:00.000-05:00

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

2005-01-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

Redneck Bear

Which Dysfunctional Care Bear Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

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.

2005-01-27T01:01:00.000-05:00

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

2005-01-26T11:01:00.000-05:00

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

2005-01-22T13:19:00.000-05:00

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.