Well well well, look what
Cthuhlu drug back into the world of blogging. Little
ol' me.
I guess everyone is wondering what happened to me. Did I get into the Maryland State Police? Who did I support for Maryland Gov? The presidential primary?
Lets flash back to May 2006 for a moment. My brand new 20" Sony LCD TV did a face plant in my bedroom. I was
devastated because the damn thing cost me roughly $500. Later that evening I was on the treadmill at the gym,
runing at 7.2 MPH. About 15 minutes into my 25 minute run, I
misplanted my left foot, causing me to fly off the treadmill and bust my ankle bad. This happened
precisely at midnight. Fortunately my personal trainer was there, watching the NBA finals. He was able to render first aid. Later that day, I went to get it checked and ended up with a very severe sprain. My ankle looked like a red tennis ball. The doctor told me that I would have been better off if I had just broke it.
On Friday of that week, I had my physical with the
MSP doctor. That seemed to go well, and he was hoping for a quick recovery on the ankle.
Then the following Monday, all hell broke loose on that end. I had my first polygraph. That did not go very well. Some issues were dug up that really should not have been issues, but since they were issues in my mind, I failed on some questions. The
polygrapher worked to get to the bottom of what was bothering me and it ended up to not be that big of a deal, it would just require a second polygraph. However this held me over by a couple hours. My psychological scheduled for 12:30 in
Towson. At 1:45, I was just leaving the
MSP barracks in Glen
Burnie. Not good. The
polygrapher called recruiting and I called recruiting. I burned rubber to get to
Towson. I did my psych. Despite being over two hours late, I thought everything went well. The following Tuesday I got invited back for a second polygraph. I passed this one. I thought everything was in the clear. Well, I noticed that no one was being interviewed or contacted from my background booklet. Then I got the letter. I was given a lifetime disqualification from employment with the Maryland State Police and my conditional offer of employment was withdrawn. After doing some checking around, I found out that I failed my psychological. I was labeled "socially
awkward", "a high risk for domestic violence", "high risk for substance abuse", "would be habitually late for work" among other
derogatory statements. Before going to the psychological I had my ass torn apart by the
polygrapher, so I was not on my best. He held me late. That was not my fault. It is not my fault that my dad was abusive towards me. It is not my fault that I have had two cousins that have been in and out of rehab. Yet so much was used against me to paint a picture of someone that would be an chronically late, unstable person. I was
devastated. Even today, almost two years later, I am still
devastated. Many people that have read the report wondered where some of these profound conclusions came from. I have no answer for them.
Things kept getting worse. In June 2006, my truck was hit for a second time, same front right corner, because someone decided to run the shoulder of the entrance ramp and thought that I was going to let him in. I did not even notice that Toyota Corolla next to me and all the sudden I feel my truck get jammed between this Corolla and the left curb of the highway entrance. The driver was not cited by DC Police, but got a stern lecture. His insurance ended up picking up the tab for the accident, however I had to live with the scars for nearly two months while this mess was sorted out.
Then once I finally got the truck to the body shop, I was issued a Ford Five Hundred as a rental car. I was on my way over to Rich's house in Arlington one evening. I was heading down a long hill on the highway near my house. I misread the speedometer and got clocked going 71 in a 50 MPH zone. The State Trooper that pulled me over was the most mechanical person that I have ever encountered. He wrote me for all 21 over, despite having a clean driving record by the computers eyes and the fact I was driving a rental car. I went to court,
received probation before judgement in lieu of points, 16 hours of community service, and the full fine, court costs, and community service costs. I was
disappointed in myself for making such a stupid mistake, but I was also
disappointed that the Trooper showed very little mercy considering this was not my regular vehicle. At least after completing my probation before judgement, the ticket is completely gone from my driving record and it cannot be used against me for insurance purposes.
As the 2006 election season came upon us I had a choice that I was not happy to make. I could vote for Bob Ehrlich, a moderate Republican that started out to take over Annapolis. While I was extremely dissatisfied with his first two years, his second two years seemed to be tempered by reason and restraint. However, would he be emboldened by a reelection and turn into a second coming of Mitt Romney? Or I could vote for Martin
O'Malley, the mayor of Baltimore City. As many long time readers of this blog are aware, I was very dissatisfied with his performance in regards to housing issues and I had a major bone to pick.
I picked the neither of the two choices. I voted for Ed Boyd, the Green Party
candidate, despite the Green Party's view on the ICC. I also supported Ben Cardin in the Dem primary for US Senate,
because the idea of
Kweisi Mfume as one of Maryland's senators scared the living daylight out of me. I was
disappointed that in Charles County every opposed Republican lost, which left our county government without a balance.
Especially worrisome was the loss of Sheriff Fred Davis to Rex Coffey, who is a very sketchy character.
As the disaster of 2006 closed and 2007 began, my truck started to fall apart. The
iPod dock stopped working. My drivers door handle jammed. The steering wheel radio controls started to do crazy things. The heated seats died. The rear
differential had to be rebuilt. The ABS computer self destructed. Many of these things were not covered by the Chrysler backed extended warranty that I was sold when I bought the truck. In October 2007, after having the ABS computer go bad, I ended up buying a 2008 Honda Accord EX with leather. I picked the 4 cylinder with a manual transmission, because I have always wanted a stick shift car. I got a good price ($400 over invoice) on it considering this was a new design of a popular car. I kept the Ram for my business, driving it back and forth to work, while driving the Accord for "pleasure use".
In January 2007, the owner of the buildings where I work died. The trustee who had become strangely religious over the past few years, had convinced the owner to leave one building to his church. Well, some issues between him and the church lead to him attempting suicide and his mom taking him to her home away from the DC area.
In March of 2007, some of my friends made some very poor decisions during a weekend getaway at Deep Creek Lake. I will not elaborate, but it has put a lot of strain on long time friendships, some of which have gone back over ten years.
At least in December 2007, I went hunting and got a rather large doe as my first kill. I was very proud of myself. However I was not proud of the Maryland legislature increasing taxes as much as they have. This, along with Martin
O'Malley's fetish for bringing photo radar to Maryland, has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I had suspected back in 2006 he was going to be bad, but never *this* bad. There is no way I will ever vote for him after his first term as Gov. There are two types of Democrats. One type wants to help people be their very best, protect them against anti people business practices and whatnot. And then there is the type of Democrat that likes to protect the people from themselves. Martin
O'Malley is the second type. And that's the dangerous type that leads me to dabble on the red side.
As far as the Presidential election, I
initially was supporting Bill Richardson. I believed that he was the best qualified
candidate, along with having the ability to bring a change of direction and the ability to work with all sides to bring about political and global peace. However, after he dropped out, I turned my support to
Barack Obama. I have a strong dislike for Hillary Clinton, despite the fact that I liked Bill Clinton when he was president. If she ends up the nominee, I most likely will vote for John McCain, despite the fact that he is psycho hawkish about the Iraq War.
At least as I come up on the middle of April 2008, I know changes are in the wind. My job will be ending soon and I am already looking for work. I know by this time next year we will have a new President. And I know that the earth will turn in a period of 24 hours per day, 365.25 days a year. The more that things change, the more things stay the same.
Sorry about two years of absence. I'm back.
Labels: friends, Maryland State Police, MSP, presidential race, ticket, treadmill, TV
