26 Days later

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I bid everyone a good night and good luck.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I am now officially 28 years old.

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

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

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

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