Thursday, September 25, 2008

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. :-)

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

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. :-)

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