Attempted Break-In

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!

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.

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. :-)