Baltimoremick.com

Yesterday was an interesting day, as I have made up my mind to undertake some personal projects.

• Run the Shamrock 5K:  I have been thinking about adding running to my workout mix, and I was thinking what better way to do it than to train for the Shamrock 5K.  I tend to do just under 2.5 miles in my usual treadmill spelunking at the gym–I jack the incline up all the way to 15 and set the speed to 4.4 or 4.5, depending upon how I feel.  If I train for the run there is no reason I cannot turn in a respectable time in a 5K race–about 3.2 miles.  At this point, I have more than 3 months to train, and the training dovetails nicely with another project of mine.
• Successfully Complete the FBI Special Agent Testing:  Some of you know this, but back in 2004 I tested to become a FBI Special Agent.  I have a cousin who is one, and he gave me a pretty good sell on becoming an agent.  I thought about it, poked around on the fbijobs.gov site, and put an application in.  My thinking was that my academic background coupled with my professional skills in IT make me a pretty attractive candidate.  Essentially, there are two testing phases that one must complete before the exhaustive background examination begins.  Of course, one also needs to successfully complete the physical examination as well.  The details of the process are here, but I did not pass Phase II testing in 2004.  After that, I had some interesting personal events that side-tracked me from this process.  I decided recently to restart this process, and the Baltimore Field Office replied to my online application with information on scheduling a Phase I exam.  As I had already passed that, I thought I did not need to retake the exam.  I spoke to the coordinator at the Baltimore Field Office, and she confirmed that I did not have to do Phase I again.  She also said she would send me information on scheduling for the next Phase II examination.  At the end of the day, I figure there is no harm seeing how far I can go.
• Take a Class:  A very good friend was discussing this with me, and I gave some thought to taking a class.  I don’t know what I will take a class in, and some of that class-taking depends on other things on the employment front (a tale for another post).  Nonetheless, I do feel the need to exercise my brain.  I have entertained the thought, though, of a couple of less academic classes.  Maybe I will take a cooking class or a ballroom dance class.  In the case of the former, what better way to enjoy my new kitchen and appliances than to actually know how to cook?  In the latter case, since I own a tuxedo and am guilty of being tragically bad on the dance floor, there is no harm in taking a class to at least make my two left feet a bit more coordinated.
• Teach a Class: Maybe I should teach people instead.  I do have this great voice (which people keep reminding me about all the time now), so why not make use of it.  I am a little leery of teaching technology to people, given my help desk annoyances at the office.  I think I could certainly offer my time in advancing new technologies to folks at the local community center.
• Figure Out How to Make Some Money from These Pipes: Since everyone on God’s green earth has been mentioning to me how great my voice is and asking if I am in broadcasting, maybe I should give it a whirl.  I have no idea how exactly to do so, and that will take some digging.  Nonetheless, I should give it a whirl.  How cool would it be for someone to say I know the guy who does that voiceover.  Or, even better, maybe I could get into public announcing at one of our local sports venues.  I think most folks will agree with me that the current talent at Camden Yards smacks too much of a drive-time radio DJ.  I am just waiting for him to say “Welcome back, everybody! It’s 7:35 PM, and now time for our traffic report on the 5’s.“  I digress, but I think I could get into this line of work.