People are talking about kicking "weird" people out of college.

I guess that means there won't be anyone left in school.

my math problem for the year

Taxes are due in 36 hours.

I should probably start on mine sometime soon.

Class M, here I come

I didn't want to drive all the way to the Department of Motor Vehicles just to grab a driver's manual. I thought that there had to be another way.

There is.

Visit SCDMVonline and you can download any one of the myriad of forms you might need before visiting your local office. I found the entire manual on the website, which saved me a trip down Bluff Road.

168 hours

168 hours ago, I was with CMPD, responding to calls for service. It feels like it was yesterday.

This past week has gone by way too fast.

furnace in april=not good

I'm sick of these gas bills. I live in South Carolina, dogonit. I shouldn't have to heat my house in April.

[rant is over]

I went to the career fair today with a jaded attitude. It was something to the effect of, "What can you give me that the feds and CMPD can't?" Though, the best answer I got was from the local department: "You can live here." Uhh...right.

The three departments I wanted to talk to didn't show; major disappointment.

I don't care what you say...

Even if you claim to like all music, there is at least one song/album/artist/genre that you cannot stand to listen to.

That is all.

Record Repot

Statement as of 9:02 am EDT on April 08, 2007

... Record low temperature set at Columbia Metro Airport...

A record low temperature of 26 degrees was set at Columbia Metro Airport this morning. This breaks the old record of 31 set in 1971.

This low also ties the all time record low temperature for the month of April at Columbia. The previous reading of 26 degrees in April was established April 20th 1983.

my interesting morning

I left Charlotte yesterday morning around 4:15am. I turn on Wilkinson Boulevard and then onto I485. As I'm accelerating onto the interstate, a high-pitch squealing starts being emitted from under the hood. About ten seconds later it stops with a small snap. And, as it stops, my battery light in the dash comes on.

And I knew exactly what had happened.

The belt that connected the flywheel, alternator, and water pump had just snapped. That means two very critical pieces of equipment on my vehicle were now in the "non-functioning" category.

Just as the temperature gauge nosed into the red zone, I pulled off I77 onto the exit, shut the car's engine off, and coasted into the nearest gas station, a Circle K (cue Bill and Ted). Now, it was 4:30 in the morning. Circle K was the only thing open. I went into the store to get a snack, and I asked the attendant about any auto part stores in the surrounding areas. After he mentioned one about a block down the road, I thanked him and told him not to worry about my car being around the store all night, how it was broken, and that I needed to fix it as soon as Auto Zone opened. He nodded, and I went back to the Sprint and took a three hour nap.

I woke up at 7:30 and bought the part just as the store was opening. After talking with the clerk for a few moments, he directed me to a quality garage about a mile away that could replace the belt for me.

Now being the moron I am, rest assured the story won't stop here.

I get to the garage and pull into the parking lot. I get everything out of the car that I think I'll need to get the belt changed. Apparently, car keys were not on that list. I shut the car door (which I always instinctively lock) as the mechanic walks up. He greets me and asks me to open the hood so he can take a look before he moves the car into the garage. It still hadn't hit me at this point. That is, until I reached my hand into my pocket. No keys. The other? No. That's when reality chose to arrive. The mechanic must've seen the look on my face, because he just shook his head and walked into the garage, reappearing a couple minutes later with a skeleton key. A few more minutes of monkeying with the lock, and I've got my keys again.

The replacement of the belt took no time after that.

I leave and get on my way around 9am, getting back into town around 10am, an hour before class starts, fully exhausted.

to protect and to serve

[rewind six days; 31 March 2007, 10:26 PM]
Officers Sean Clark and Jeffrey Shelton of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department respond to a domestic disturbance in the Timer Ridge Apartment complex in the North Tryon Division.

At 11:26 PM, Officers Clark and Shelton are shot in a struggle with a suspect. Both succumb to their wounds several hours later.

[fast forward five days; 04 March 2007, 9:20 PM]
As Officer Clark's memorial service draws to a close, I still can't believe that I'm here. The one department that I've been interested in being employed by since high school, and I'm with three of the officers.

I didn't pick this. This was not necessarily the best time to observe. But the ride-along request went through eight days before the shooting happened (23 March 2007). After I learned about the slain officers, I wondered what difference that would have during the shift I would spend with an officer.

It became quite apparent as the night progressed that the officers were in a different mindset. Things that would normally be joked about went unnoticed, while the smallest, most minute detail was paid a great deal of attention.

Not that the smiles weren't there. And there were a lot. The guy who got frisked at 1:30a carrying his "dinner" of just french fries from Jack In The Box. The guy who didn't realize he was giving a ride to a prostitute until we informed him ("...she's just a really nice lady, officers..."). The swarm of people near a crack house who bolted like rabbits as three cruisers drove up.

Yet, most telling point of the night was when the officer I was riding with and I drove into an apartment complex where fireworks were being shot off:

Chad: "Do you know why they're lighting fireworks off?"
Me: "No, not really."
Chad: "Two cops just got killed."

Cooper River '07

After practicing for almost two months, the day finally came. 31 March 2007. The Cooper River Bridge Run. It was simply incredible.

This story begins twenty fours and a half hours before the start of the race. 7:30am, Friday, 30 March 2007. After awakening and finishing my morning routine, I biked off to class. After sitting in class for four hours, I rode back home, made lunch, and drove off to work.

Nine hours later, I arrived home at 11:30PM. For a variety of reasons, I didn't sleep. Michael and I left my house at 1:30am, and after a stop for breakfast a Waffle House, we arrived in Charleston around 3:45am. After seeing the buses, and not wanting to sit around for another ride in another vehicle, we opted to walk the race course in reverse, all 6.2 miles to the start line in Mount Pleasant.

Sitting around for an hour an half before the race was about the worst part. Sitting around in the 50 degree weather in shorts and a thin shirt was not fun. Neither was the woman who was doing the announcements. Annoying to no end.

At 8am sharp, the race began. The excitement, nervousness, and whatever else had building for the past twenty four hours was suddenly released and my legs sprung into action.

I hit the top of the bridge, 250 feet above the Cooper river below, and I suddenly realized for the first time that day just how many people were running. Stretched out in front of me, I could see the course snaking around the corner into downtown Charleston, and 1500 people in front of me. It was incredible.

Forty-six and half minutes later, I crossed the finish line. I was thinking that I did fairly well, until I found out that the winner had just run the entire 6.2 miles in just over 28 minutes. Talk about intense.

And, as we were getting ready to drive away, Michael uttered the best line of the entire trip: "We. Are. Doing. That. Again. Next. Year," he struggled to get out as our stiff, pain-racked, bodies got into the car.