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.

11:11 on my mind

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...

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.

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.

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

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.