What could have gone wrong?!?!?!

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. :-)

At Least It Ain't You...

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.

Some Past

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.

23 hours, 45 minutes

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.