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.

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.

What have I been up to?

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.

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.