Ride Along with Pullman

Friday I am supposed to work until noon, however to make up for being late and going home early, I had to work about seven hours. I talked to Ryan a few times and we decided I would go to his place and meet up with Kristine. She was having troubles and needed my help.

I got to Ryan's apartment. Kristine was there. I helped her out, and then we watched the segment of the ASWSU meeting that I was on. Ryan had recorded it. I would love to see it some more and see how I act and see how many OGT's I threw off during my speech. Then we went downtown to eat. It is Dad's Weekend at WSU so there are a ton of people in town. We drove to Top of China, which is now called something else. It is a Chinese buffet. I drove us down there. But my truck's backseat is so full of stuff, we had to have all three of us up front, but I only have two bucket seats. So, it was funny that I have five seats, but only two were usable.

After dinner I walked around downtown with Ryan and Kristine. We went to a place so Kristine could get her nails done. I was talking to my mom on the phone for a while. Near seven o'clock I had to get to the Pullman Police department. I was going on a ride with Officer Crow.

The evening started with briefing. Sgt. Dornes was the duty sergeant for the day. He went through a bunch of pass along information. Then a voicemail box is called and put on speaker phone. The dayshift sergeant leaves a briefing on what happened during the day. One thing he mentioned was that someone called about some deer running around near the library. The caller was worried that the deer would be hit by a car. That brought a chuckle from everyone.

Once in the car we were about five minutes into patrol when a call came out for deer running around the library and into traffic. So we chuckled again since we had just heard about it. We checked the area and no deer were found. We ran to Arby's for dinner. Then we went on patrol. Our beat was everywhere but college hill.

It was pretty darn slow. We had a noise complaint. We stopped a few cars. We went to a fight that never was. We went to Whitcom. I got a chance to meet Tom, one of the dispatchers. He is a good one according to Crow. Now that I have seen him I can put a face to the voice. And now that I have a name I can discern his voice from others easier. In the past I thought he was Tim. But now I can listen to him and pick him out. He reminds me a lot of Tod who left a few years ago. Tod and I were becoming friends when he left the area.

The night was more or less quiet. With times of total radio inactivity for thirty minutes or more at a time. This is not normal for Pullman. It was just dead. In fact it was Dad's weekend. I was not sure to expect it to be really wild or really dead. It was really dead. I rode with Crow until about three AM. That was a nice eight hour shift.

I grabbed some Jack in the Box, and went home to go to bed.

Flag Football

I woke around three thirty on Wednesday morning since I had to be at the jail at four am. I was pretty tired, but it got worse as the day went on. The jail was pretty uneventful; I mainly worked on staying awake. I worked until eight am. Then I went to the basement and worked Information Services. I worked the extra hour at the end of my IS shift. I was so tired that I was falling asleep at the keyboard as I was working on computers.

I had flag football tonight. It was our first game. The other team did not show up. We called them on the phone and they did not believe that we were waiting for them to play. We ended up with a forfeit. We play a little four on four. I ended the night with a interception thrown. That really sucked.

My first ASWSU meeting

Since it was Wednesday I had a shortened day at IS. I left at about two-forty-five to go to Pullman. I was on call at the fire department so I had to get ready for that, as well, as the fire critique, and ASWSU meeting. I e-mail Peter to see if he could tell me when the meetings start and how long they last. He actually responded to me. It was the first time he has responded to an e-mail of mine in almost a year.

In class I was so tired I was starting to fall asleep. I was sitting and chatting with Rob. I swear he always says things and makes a lot of OGT's. I am going to have to ask him about that one day. I just like to know to see how well my gaydar is working. A few seats down from us is a guy who is fine looking. I am always starring his way. Rob and I are getting together to work on our Case on Sunday.

I went to Safeway following class to get a teriyaki chicken rice bowl and I headed to station one to eat it and get ready for the fire critique. I asked Eric if I did indeed have the correct night for it. He said it was scheduled for next week. DOH! So, I finished my dinner and headed to the CUB for the ASWSU meeting. I saw Kristine heading there. She said I could come up and chat with her for a while if I wanted. I told her I would make my way up there. I went into the CUB Lair and watched some of the World Series. Then I headed to the third floor. As I got off the elevator I saw Peter in the hall of the ASWSU office. He said "Hey" and started to walk towards me, and just nodded and kept walking. I don't understand what is going on. In the e-mail response to me earlier he said it was it was good to hear from me. I don't understand. I try to contact him all the time and he ignores me. But once in a while he acts like I am the one who is ignoring him. Yet I am to *only* one who ever initiates contact.

Closer to meeting time I went to the meeting room. Chris was there. I sat behind him and chatted with him a little bit. I got my name on the speakers list. I was using my pocket PC. It is a Dell Axim X5. Chris said he has one of those too. Peter walked by and asked if I was playing with Chris' pocket PC. Chris said that it belonged to me. Peter asked when I got it, and Chris said that I have had it for a long time. I would have told him that I had it for almost one year, but I didn't. It would have been a good tool to use to show Peter that he is really out of touch.

Once the meeting started I was able to speak pretty quick into the meeting. I talked about the Sports Passes and my experience with how I was treated when my Sports Pass did not work. The senate ended up passing the Sports Pass resolution fourteen to zero. They went on an extended executive session to discuss the removal of a justice. Dan and I went to the main floor to watch the World Series. I had talked to him about the Peter Eichman Show and I asked him about the calls he got. He said he got about thirty calls over a three day span about it. This was in reference to the show we did talking about gays and the gay bashing events that had happened at WSU and UI. Dan said he felt we did not do anything outright homophobic but we did make it tough for people to take and he said we were really hostile towards gays.

I went back to the ASWSU meeting with Dan. I left when they took another recess. I went to the CUE computer lab and talked to Ryan. He gave me a fifteen minute sub shift so I could turn in a time card. Ryan and I left the CUE lab and headed outside of the CUB. We were waiting for Kristine. During that wait my phone rang. It was about five minutes after midnight. The jail was calling to see where I was. I was scheduled to work. However I had listed that I worked the next night in the jail. So I went home immediately and went to bed, as I was only going to get about two and a half hours of sleep.

Relay at the Park

Tuesday was pretty cool. For Colfax fire training we took the rigs to Schmuck Park and pulled a couple pre-connects. My team went on one side of a large out building, and there was a team of hosemen on the other side of the building. Soon they sprayed water in my direction. I did as any self respecting fireman would do. I protected myself and sprayed water over the out building back at the bad guys. This went on for a while and then we were told to break down and head to the engine. Then we laid the hoses out side by side, four sections, not connected to each other, and not connected to a nozzle and the engine. It was a team race to connect all four sections together, get the nozzle and engine hooked and flow water first. Marc and I were a team against Greg and Jamie. Marc and I kicked butt. I got the sections connected a lot faster than Greg. After that we broke the hose down again. Went back to the station and got the engines back in service. Following that I watched some TV with Ken and went home to go to bed.

Pete Isakson's response.

Scotty-

You have some very valid points. I understand exactly where you are coming
from. I am new to the university and I am not that familiar with this
policy. Let me make a few phone calls and check into this subject.

Thanks for your support of the Cougs, we do appreciate your loyalty. Thank
you also for bringing this issue to my attention.

Thanks,

Pete

Go Cougs!

Letter to Pete Isakson about Sports Passes

Mr. Isakson,

I am a part time student and full time worker. I am working on a degree in Management Information Systems. Where I have trouble is with my status as a "student". I am a student to the point where I can get a membership at the Student Rec Center. I am a student to the point where I am charged the transit fee. However, I am not "enough" of a student to purchase a sports pass.

I have been attended WSU both as a full time and part time student. I have enjoyed rooting on the Cougar Football and Basketball teams through both thick and thin. I was in the stands in 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2000; all the years when the Cougs were losing more games than winning. I was also there in 1992, 1994, 1997, 2001, and 2002. I am not a fair weather Cougar fan. I am there rain or shine, snow or bitter cold. I don't leave until I sing the fight song with the team at the end of the game.

I have always looked forward to Cougar Football Saturday. I don't think there is any question about my loyalties to the Cougars. Where there is question is why am I not "enough" of a student to participate in the sports pass program? I don't think I am less of a fan because I am not taking as many credits as the next guy. Times are good right now and the Cougars don't need to worry about the fan base. The fans are showing up. But, when the times are bad and the fair-weather-fan base leaves, the Cougars are going to look for their true fans to still be in the stands.

I would like to be in the stands. I would like to be with my fellow classmates in the stands rooting on the Cougars.

Can you help me change the rules and allow those of us, like myself, to participate in the student tradition of athletics?

Thank you,

Scotty Anderson

Flag football practice

Monday morning came up on me and I was a little bit on the tired side. Since I did not sleep in a normal schedule, I figured that would be the case. I worked most of the day, but I had a few things starring me in the face. I needed to get my prescription filled that was made for me about three weeks ago. I needed to make some deposits in the bank, and I needed to go to the office and get in touch with Jer.

I was able to get those things done, however due to doing those things I did not get my homework done for Account. I am going to get a zero. I would have had a chance to copy off of someone else's paper, but I thought I deserved a zero for not doing it. More so, than cheat.

Rob and I are going to do our case together we are planning on working on it at the end of Dad's weekend. We will finalize a time on Wednesday's class.

After class I met up with the others from my flag football team. Jer is also on the team. Jer is a really nice guy, and he is really good looking. We met up with the others. One guy on the team has nice blue eyes and a good build. We practiced playing on teams and moving the ball up and down the field. Then I had to go due to an EMS call. It turned out Rescue was not going since it was up at the training tower for extrication training.

I went to the station and then we headed to the tower for training. It was micromanaged pretty badly. We were not really able to get in there and just cut. After training we cleaned up and headed to the station. I went to Jack in the Box, got dinner and went to the office. I worked on the Christmas picture for the Waters'. I was getting rid of the people in the background. When I was done Jon said it looked great.

I sent a few messages on the Fantasy Football board and then I was off to an EMS call. We got gas and had another call before we even left the gas pumps. We were first on scene. We did not transport our second patient. When it was done I went back to the office and I quickly drifted off to sleep.

Phili-Chili is yummy

Sunday at noon I had to work at the jail. I had fallen asleep in my recliner and woke up about six o'clock in the morning. I went to my bed and went back to sleep. My alarm clock woke me up about eleven. I started to get ready to go to work. Ron's benefit was happening at Bulldog Pizza. I wanted to go and get some, but it started at noon, the same time I had to be at work. I stopped at Rosauers and get lunch, and then headed into the jail.

While I was there I saw Andrew. I knew he was going to be in jail since his sister had told me that he was there. I wanted to be the one to book him since I knew him, however I did not know he was going to jail so soon. I missed out I guess. I talked to him for a minute when he got back from litter patrol. We were out of bread so I went to Rosauer's and got bread.

I went home and was pretty tired. I went to lay on my bed for a while and ended up falling asleep for a few hours. I woke up about ten-thirty. I went to Rosauer's and got was water, chips, chili, and phili cream cheese. I went to IS and got on the computer for a while. I made some phili-chili and then went home and to bed.

Jason and Suz' going away party.

I woke up without the aid of an alarm clock. I let myself sleep until I woke up naturally. I hung out at home for a little while playing with Amber. I searched my house for my costume for the Halloween/Going Away party. I finally found the two necessary parts. I was going as the Scream guy, "Ghost Face". I manufactured a knife using only a piece of cardboard and duct tape. I headed into town. I went to the fire station and hung out there for a while. Stephen, Catlin, and Carl were there. I mentioned to Carl I was interested in still learning everything I needed to so I could man the station for a full timer. I told him I can only really do it on Friday's, Saturday's and Sunday's. So he asked if I wanted to do some stuff right then. I said I did. So he had me get the Ladder truck and drive it around the block to the hydrant at Mill and Island Street. Upon doing so, I set it up so I could raise the ladder and pump.

He showed me how to set up the ladder, how to extend it and whatnot. It was pretty neat. Then I climbed it. It was set to about sixty-five feet. It is a pretty nice view from up there. Then after doing it once, I had a scenario to do. I had to drive it around the block again, come to the scene, get it hooked to water, get the ladder extended to seventy feet and able to run a water cannon. I had five minutes from the time on scene to get it done. It took me eight minutes. Carl did it for me. He did the whole thing is about two minutes. I have some work to do. But I was learning. Seeing Carl do it was good as well, now I have some ability to know a better work flow of what I am doing. We had spent about a total of an hour. We went back into the station. I learned the Cougs were winning the football game.

I hung around the station until about nine o'clock pm. I was running late for the Halloween/going away party. I went home and got dressed in my costume. Then I went to my office where I had about four shots of hard-A. I got down to the Moose Lodge. There was food. I chowed on some shrimp dip and hung out. I sang four songs on karaoke. They included Cat's in the Cradle, Dust in the Wind, Ring of Fire, and one other one, but I can't remember what it was. We all hung out there about two o'clock am. I went to my office and chatted on the computer for a while. I found out I got on a Flag Football team. I heard Rescue Thirty-Two was clearing the hospital. I thought it would be fun to play a joke. So I went to the station and hid by the small door between the two big bay doors. When the backer got to the small door I would jump up and scare him. It was Michael backing Rescue. I jumped up and scared him. After that I drove home and went to bed.

Watching videos at the Bone Home

Four and a half hours after going to bed, I was up again, it was still technically Thursday. I started my Friday before it was even Friday. I drove to town and got some pop and then in to jail. This time Dale was on the floor for the first four. I manned control. I answered the phones, took care of paperwork, computer work, opened doors, monitored the intercom, and closed-circuit camera system. I got on the floor at four o'clock am and did my rounds. I also served breakfast. Captain came in to relieve me at seven o'clock am. I went down stairs and worked for IS. Around ten o'clock am I was at the fire station, I had just stopped by for a tiny bit. A call came in. It was a Delta response for a heart patient at a fire scene that St. John fire was at. Greg was already at the station. Jamie, Ken, and Milt showed up. Ken said he would stay back. I went along as well. About two minutes into the response we were told about a second patient with burns to the hands and face. We asked for a second ambulance and for Med-Star to go on stand by. The ride was pretty rough, traveling over dirt roads that had bad wash boarding happening.

We got on scene and we dealt with the man with heart pain. We took him code three to the hospital. The second ambulance was about five minutes behind with the burn patient. His burns were not serious. Through a communication problem Med-Star had launched. So they showed up about five minutes after we did. I got back to IS about an hour and a half afterwards. I had to work until two pm to make up for it.

Once I got off work I went home and took a long nap. It went until about six-thirty pm. I got up and headed into my office where I was going to meet Dan. We were going to look at making a website that would do some product tracking for a company in California. When I got to the office I was early for our meeting. I called Gabe. I wanted to see how he was doing. There is a long story with Gabe and I. He is a good guy. He said he had been hired on full time with King County Fire District Forty-Four. That was good news. He is also an EMT there. He sent me a couple pictures of him in his fire gear and one of him on the fire ground. I went in to the office and Dan showed up a little bit later. We talked about the website for a little while. I then met up with Russell at his apartment. We watched the unaired episode of the Family Guy. We ended up watching it three times before the night was over. We also watched a few other episodes. We watched one Mr. Bean, and one Blackadder Goes Forth. I headed home around one o'clock am.

Another fine sixteen hours of work

Since I was working graveyard in the jail on Thursday I had to be in to work by midnight. That makes for a long day. In fact I got to the jail and spent seven hours working there. I had the first four on the floor. Which means for the first four hours I was doing rounds, filing paperwork, and fulfilling the requests the inmates put on the kites. I talked to a few deputies who wanted some sunglasses from Oakley. They put in their orders.

At seven o'clock am Brian came in to relieve me. I went down stairs and started to work in IS. It was going to be a full ten hour day. I did not have class at WSU to deal with. I made sure of that since I would be so tired if I had to go to class after I worked all night and all day. When I got off work at five-thirty I went home shortly thereafter and was in bed sleeping by seven o'clock pm. I had to be at work again in five hours.

Spam wars

Wednesday I had a Microsoft Excel class in Pullman at nine o'clock am. I got into work and waited until it was time to leave. Then I got behind the clock and I was rushed. I left about eight-forty am for the twenty-five minute trip. I made it in less than twenty-five minutes. This was only to find out that the class started at nine-thirty. Oh well.

Following class I went back to Colfax and rebooted my computer. This is a big deal since I only do it once in a great while. I had about twenty IE windows, as well as Word, Excel, SQL Server Manager, Outlook, WinAmp, Trillian, and a few other choice applications running. My last reboot was almost two months ago.

I sent an e-mail out to the whole list of softball players about the Oakley's. And then it turned in to a big e-mail everyone thing. So far forty-nine e-mails have gone to everyone. They are all rude, crude, and funny.

I headed back to Pullman at about three o'clock for my Accounting class. Rob was there. We chatted a little bit, and ended the day with a quiz. I drove straight back to Colfax from there. I had to go to bed since I had to work graveyard in the jail.

Oakley's! Oakley's for sale!

What a wonderful Tuesday. I got up in the morning in Pullman and headed back to Colfax. I was noticing the days are getting shorter. Instead of being light out, it was still pretty dark and I needed my headlights. I got in to work a little after seven o'clock since I stopped at the store to get some milk for my cereal.

I helped the prosecutor's office switch some files from the old peer-to-peer network setup to a peer-server network set up. I can't believe it is almost the end of AD two thousand-three and there is still peer-to-peer networking going on in county.

I got the Oakley sunglasses catalog in today, so I have been showing it to people. I have two orders and I am waiting on a few others. I hope to get the order off in three weeks. I am ordering Oakley sunglasses under the government purchasing program.

I went to our monthly Business and Safety meeting at the fire station in Colfax. I got an order from one of them so far. I am going to be meeting up with Ken on Wednesday to see what he would like.

Rob, Dave, or Both?

How quick the morning comes when you are tired. I tried to go to bed early. But I stayed up a little late and played with Amber while I had my bedtime chew. So, not only is it an early morning, it is a Monday morning.

I headed off to class a little early so I could get gas along the way. When I got there Rob was already there. We chatted about the test, he asked how well I did. Sounds like I did better than him. He said he grandpa had died and that is why he wasn't there. The teacher also told us to study a particular item in the lecture since we are having a test on it this Wednesday. The first case for the class is due early next month. I asked Rob if he wanted to work on it together. He said he did. So, we are going to get together in the next week and get something going with it.

There is an interesting story with Rob, he is a country boy. He raises mini horses. He is into the whole country line dancing at the Beach on Thursdays. Where I get lost is that he throws off signals that hit my gaydar. He has a few OGT's (Obviously Gay Traits) however it could be just that he is that kind of guy and there is nothing gay about him at all. I am not sure how to read him, but if I were a betting man, I would place five bucks on him being gay. Dave from my softball team on the other hand, I would like to think he is family, but I don't really get that feeling from him. I think he is a super nice guy but I don't think he is anything near being gay. What is funny when Garrett was told there was a gay guy on the team. I told him I would not say who it was. He thought about it and guessed Dave. So, I would not be the only one to see some OGT's in Dave, but I don't think Dave's OGT's are due to being gay, I think they are caused by something else. Rob on the other hand I think his OGT's are caused by being gay. Only time will tell, but I will try to get to the bottom of it.

After class I went to my office and did some stuff on the computers. I was on call and we had training as well. I headed to the station. We headed to the main station for training. It was report writing. Following we headed back to station thirty-two. I showed Michael information about the workings of the web and then I was off to my office again. We got a couple back to back calls. I was on fire so I thought I was safe, but instead I got called to the station for reserve call back.

What is a Nadir? A softball team that can not win a championship game.

I woke up Sunday morning at about seven thirty to a call where someone said he has been pouring water on smoke, but the smoke wont go out. I laughed and then headed to the station. No one else was planning on going, so I wrote down standby time and left. I drove home to sleep some more.

I got home and Amber came to my bed and we went to sleep together. I was sleeping good, until about eleven am when I heard a call for an ambulance to Steptoe for an unknown medical emergency. We got there and a lady had fallen. We got her on a backboard and took her into the hospital. I took some vitals.

After the hospital I was watching some football at the fire station with Carl. Then I got lunch and headed home. I was there for a while when I got a call from Ron. Inviting me to go to Zeppoz to hang out and watch football. Everyone loved my socks. I was wearing them for the softball playoffs that evening.

I drank a tiny bit. We chatted as well. At about four thirty I headed to the playfields. I got there and started to warm up. We played the team that we had played the very first game. We beat them again. It started out bad and they took a quick six to zero lead. Then Meredith started a rally and when scored six runs as well. From there we owned that game. So we were in the finals against the team that had beaten us once before and was undefeated on the year. In one inning we came alive. I was in for Ron. The bases were loaded with one out. I hit a hard hit ball to right center field and it got past the fielder. I was on second base and the bases were cleared. The next batter hit me home. We had a nice three run lead. They score two runs on an inside the park homerun. Then we had a one run lead. We went out there and did not score a run in the top half of our inning. They went out and got a triple from the get go. Then we got an out. Following that, they hit an inside the park homerun to win the whole thing. We came in second place.

We headed to Zeppoz as a team and drank some more beer, had dinner, and had a good time chatting about softball and other things. I invited Russell to come up. Jason heard me on the phone and said, Scotty is making a booty call! I laughed. Russell did come up. I was talking with Dave about his birthday coming up.

After the Seahawks game everyone started to funnel out. We said our goodbyes and then Russell, Ryan and I went to Ryan's apartment. We watched the recordings we made of FOX. I thought it was the season premier of the Simpson's but I was wrong. We did watch Futurama. I headed home after that. I had a dip and played with Amber. Then I was off to bed.

Two Delta's, you only told us about one.

I got up Saturday and got underway to Pullman for our Open House at the Fire Station. I helped get the stuff set up. Lynn and Don were cooking breakfast for everyone. Lynn put cream cheese in the eggs. They were very good.

The ladder was up, so I climbed it. When I got to the top I looked around. It is a pretty neat view from up there. Afterwards I helped to break things down. Michael and I went to the fire tower to lock up the gate. There was a guy delivering two vans for us to practice extrication training on.

We got back to the station and I was dirty. I wanted to get a new shirt. But it was in Colfax. So I asked Chuck if he would cover for me if I did not make it back on time. He said he would. I have about one and a half hours. I got to Colfax. I got my shirt, and then I headed to Rosauers for a hamburger for lunch. I ate it at the fire station with Tim who was covering for Carl. Just as I finished the hamburger a call came in for a Delta response in Steptoe. I called the station to find out if Chuck would cover for me longer since I would not be back by six o'clock. But I found out that they were gone on a huge car accident at Airport road on SR two-seventy.

We took off in the ambulance to Steptoe when dispatch advised us of two patients. One was hemorrhaging on his hand and had difficulty breathing. He was a Delta response. The other one was unconscious. He was a Delta. So, I asked for a second ambulance. We got on scene and I dealt with the guy who was bleeding from the hand. We transported him to the hospital.

Went we left the hospital I high tailed it to Pullman. I got there and tried to find out what the accident was all about. I mentioned that it sucked that I missed it. Bryan said, that I went on a call with Colfax. And I said I had. Chuck said he thought he heard my voice, and then knew it was me by the way I said "received." The car accident was a black car with a drunk passing other cars going fast. Hit a guy on a Harley. Threw him and almost killed him (Turns out he did die. Three other cars were involved. Pretty bad one.

Brandon and I hung out at the station for a while. We watched Old School and then got Animal House. We also got a shake from Cougar Country. While there I saw Theresa from the task force. She was with her son. Ten-six-nine (too young).

After Animal House was over Brandon left and I watched TV alone. Bryan came out. He sat on the couch and watched TV. It was quiet. I did not talk to him and he did not talk to me. I was getting ready to go, so I slid the remote control over to him on the coffee table. I got up and left.

A 44 is a Big Gun

Friday afternoon when I got off work I headed to my dentist. I had an appointment to get some cleaning done as well as x-rays. I chew so there was not much surprise that I had a few cavities. I will have to get them filled this Halloween. After that appointment I stopped by the credit union and deposited my coroner and Colfax Fire money. All my Colfax fire and coroner money goes to my college fund. I need about nine hundred each semester to go to school and pay for books. That means I have to tuck away about one hundred and fifty a month. I know I don't do that from the coroner and Colfax fire alone. I will have to make some of it up with my wages.

Around five o'clock I met up with Tory. He has a S&W revolver he is selling. It is a six shot Forty-four magnum. It is a sweet little gun. I look forward to purchasing it. While at Tory's I got a call from Russell. He and April were going out to the Coeur D'Alene Brewing Company for dinner. He asked if I wanted to go.

We went over and sat outside since it was so full inside. I told him the joke...

Joe the auto mechanic decided to further his education and went down to the local community college and tried to sign up for classes. The only one left open was "Deductive Reasoning." Joe asked the Dean, "Just what is this deductive reasoning stuff?" The Dean answered that an example would be easier to understand than a definition, so this is the example that he gave: He asked, "Joe, do you own a weed eater?" "Sure. I've got a nice gas-powered weed eater." "Ok Joe, since you have a weed eater, I can deduce that you have a lawn right?" "Yup." Answered Joe. "Got a nice green lawn." "Right Joe, well since you have a lawn, you must have a house then." "That's right," answered Joe, "just painted it." "Well Joe, since you have a weed eater, a lawn, and a house, I think you're probably married then." "Yessiree! Love my little lady." "Ok. Then I'd also presume that since you have a weed eater, a lawn, a house, and a wife, that you probably have kids as well." "Sure do. Got 2 wonderful boys," answered Joe mystified. "So then if you have a weed eater, a lawn, a house, a wife, and children, I can probably deduce that you are a heterosexual." "Dang straight," proclaimed Joe. "I like this deductive logic stuff. Sign me up for the class." And so the Dean did.

Joe went back to the shop and told Ben he signed up for a deductive reasoning class. Ben asked, "What's that?" Joe replied, "I'll show you," attempting to follow the Dean's example. "Do you have a weed eater Ben?" "Nope. Sure don't," Ben replied. Then Joe said "FAG!"

So, Russell and I had a new way to talking about people without them knowing what we mean. I said now we can say whether someone owns a weed eater or not. After dinner we drove to Hastings. When we got there I saw that the Bon in the mall was still open, so we went there first. In the parking lot, at the end of a row was a awesome looking, brand new Corvette. I told Russell as a joke he should park right next to it. So we did. I was laughing.

At the Bon I bought a fifty dollar gift card and a pair of bright orange and black socks for my co-ed softball team uniform. Russell got some stuff as well. I went to this hair dresser place next door to the Bon. I got blue gel for my hair. I use it when I go to the shows. I have used Russell's in the past. Now I have my own.

We walked over to Hastings from there. I checked out the magazine collection. I saw there were no magazine's I was interested in. From there we headed back to Russell's place. We were going over to a friend's of his. His name is Ben. Ben is a Ten-Six-Seven. Very nice guy. Gracious host. Him and I chatted after everyone left. We talked about computer stuff. He had his computer hooked to his TV and they were playing MP3's through the stereo system. I asked Russell if Ben owned a weed eater. Russell said he was pretty sure he did. What a disappointment. After talking to Ben I went home.

Ladder the building

Thursday morning went like most others. I got into work and installed Windows XP on a computer in the prosecutor's office. In the afternoon I was working on finding a place for Jon to be able to go hunting around Whitman County.

I had ladder training in Pullman. I headed up there. I was also on call. Ryan taught the ladder training. It was a good exercise. We practiced throwing ladders and a one-man raise on an extension ladder. It was good training. When it was done I went to watch some TV.

I made it to my office and chatted on the computer with four people. I got to bed somewhere after midnight. Within minutes of my head hitting the pillow the tones went off. We headed to the call, only to be cancelled by the time we got to Grand and Stadium Way.

I got a B?

Due to getting to bed well after midnight I figured I would have problems getting up on time. And sure enough I was an hour and a half late getting into work this morning. I set my alarm clock, I woke up and promptly went back to sleep. I got a few printers set up around the health department. I ordered a few items. Then at three o'clock pm I had to head to Pullman for my Account class. I did not know homework was due. The teacher said since some of the things in the homework were not discussed in class yet she would only grade us on whether it was done or not. I did not realize we had homework so I did not do it. I left my book in my truck so I could not work on it during class either. I asked someone next to me to use his book. I got the homework done, but there is a rule it is due at the beginning of class. At the end of class the tests were getting handed out, so I put my paper on top of the stack of homework papers when I got my test. So, I was able to get it turned in. That is an easy five points. I got my test expecting to have a C- or a D. I instead was between a B+ and a B. I did a lot better than expected.

After class I came back to Colfax and worked until my Coroner's meeting. We talked about some issues. I asked questions about what to say to people when they ask questions like "did my loved one suffer" or "could I have done anything to save them".

After that meeting I went to the SO, I talked to Vinny and set up a couple of printers on his laptop he got last Friday.

Next season will be ours.

Tuesday was an exciting day for me. It was the second day of play offs for my softball team. We were playing against the number one seeded team in the brackets. We had to hit the ball to win. We also needed to make the routine plays. We go out there and we battle each and every inning. Both teams would score two to three runs an inning. Going into the fifth inning we were held to zero runs. The other team got a little rally going scoring four runs. They went up by three runs. We went into the sixth inning. Since IM's are six inning games, we had only three outs to play with. Our first batter flew out. The second batter got on base. Then we got two more outs to end the game. We needed to score at least three runs to continue with the game. We had lost. My hopes and dreams of playing Garrett's team were dashed. It was funny; I think Garrett truly wanted us to win. If we had won, we would have played Garrett's team on Wednesday night. That would have been a huge game. We are cordial with each other, but I think there is the burning desire within each of us to have our teams play each other. It would be vindication for the winner and a little piece of feeling good for the winner. The winner would have the bragging rights. But it more than bragging rights. It is the other emotions. It will be interesting as the semester goes along to see if Garrett will ever meet up with me.

Mark and I are putting together a tournament team. We are talking to people to see if we can get some interest in playing. Right now it looks like we have a few people who are interested.

After the game Ryan, Mark, Ron, Heather, and I went to the Sports Page. We talked softball and the next co-ed game coming up this weekend. We also talked about the upcoming Spring season. We were talking a little bit about the summer season to come as well. Joe and Marliss were also there. We had a few beers and chatted. Softball is a ton of fun. Softball is life!

Ryan said afterwards that he is going to play summer ball for sure. He had a lot of fun at the bar. He was laughing and having a good time. He finally is loosening up around the other guys and seeing they are fun. He is even talking about hanging out with us at other events. That is good.

Kristine showed up, and the three of us went to Jack in the Box. We saw Lars, the Vice President of ASWSU there. I told him about the sports pass issue. I told Kristine as well. I have a few people in ASWSU who are looking into the issue of part time students getting sports passes. Hopefully something positive can come out of it. We went to Ryan apartment and ate while watching MacGyver.

One shot, one kill

Monday morning is one I don't mind because I know I have class which makes for a shortened work day. I did a few things that needed to get done, and then I went to class. It was so tired I was falling asleep today. Following class I went to the fire station to find out what training was. I found out it was on Thursday for me. So, I went to Colfax. I watched Monday Night Football. I watch the Colts kill my Fantasy TB Defense. I lost this week due to that! Then Carl and I watched CSI: Miami.

I went home and watched the Family Guy. I was then off to bed. During the night I had a dream. It was unlike dreams I have had before. I was in a shoot/don't shoot situation. That is normal. But what was weird was the fact the gun actually shot. Normally I pull the trigger and it is all the way back and still has not shot. I pull harder and harder and finally the bullet come tumbling out and falls to the ground, or hits the person and does nothing. The bullets velocity in the dream is directly proportional to the speed at which I pull the trigger. In the case of my dreams the trigger has no travel room left so when it does click it just barely comes out. The other thing is the dream always deals with a gun I own. One time it was my mom's gun.

In the dream I had it actually shot the person. I had my Glock Model 22. One shot, one kill so to speak. Directly in the heart. At one point the person who I shot was Chong from Cheech and Chong fame. They were fighting and he was the bad guy. So I shot him. Then at one point I am in my room and Chong is dead but someone used a blanket from my bed to cover him up. I was mad because it was going to get blood on my blanket. Soon I was thinking in coroner mode and was upset someone contaminated the crime scene by cover the body of the dead guy. Finally it shifts again, and someone notices Chong is still alive. Which was interesting because on CSI: Miami, the victim who was thought to be dead was alive.

I will find my writings about my dream sequences and when and how they started.

Knowing is half the battle.

Sunday morning started with me getting a voice mail from Ron. He said Heather, Jon, Eddie, and himself would be at Zeppoz watching football and drinking. I got up and got ready for my game. We had our first play off game. I went outside to find Amber and when I looked over she was on her leash. I was shocked to see that. I assumed it was a neighbor who had done that. When I was ready to leave I found it out was. The guy below me with the blue house had done it. So, I did not have to find Amber. I talked to the neighbor for a while before headed to Zeppoz.

Once at Zeppoz I got some beer and finger steaks. The others were bowling. When they finished bowling we grabbed a table and watched some more football. At about four fifteen we headed to the playfields for our first men's playoff game. We won that game hands down. We skunked the other team. They gave us a poor rating since they did not have fun playing, and Ron said that they did not have fun because they have a shitty team. During the game we had some nice plays, Phil threw a guy out from deep right-center. It was a ball that went right to third base without a bounce. Jer laid the tag on nicely. Then we had another guy try to make an inside the park homerun. He was out by a mile.

After the game we got team photos and headed to Zeppoz. Jer, Dave, Ron, Ryan, Dan, and I all were there. Plus some of the women. We drank beer and were merry. We had some good laughs and then everyone headed home little by little.

I went to the fire station and talked to Carl about my oral board. He was one of the interviewers. He said that I could loosen up a little bit, but where I lost points was just not saying certain things. On the mechanical I could have said that I could do a tune up and got three more points. Saying that I could change the oil was worth one point. Plus I did not say anything about my ambulance experience in Pullman. It was one point per year. So I lost four more points there. I was mad. I could not believe how close I could have gotten to being third. Oh well, now I know for next time. I will say those things next time. I also need to mention the fact on rescues that I have done training in rope rescue, I get points for that. I need to spell out my training so they will give me as many points as possible.

Now I know.

Cougar Football Saturday

I get up on my own at about nine am. No alarm clock. That is nice since it is a rare day I wake up without an alarm clock waking me. I get up and start to get ready to head to Pullman for the football game. It is Homecoming and the Cougars are going to play Arizona. But I did not want to get there and wait hours in line, I thought I would go to the tail gate party with Jim. I was on call as well, so I knew I would not make it back to Colfax at all. Therefore I had to give Amber as much time outside as possible.

I put Amber outside on her leash and headed down to the fire station. Ken was working. We were talking about football. I hung out down there until about eleven o'clock am. I went home put Amber inside and I was off to Pullman to watch some Cougar Football. I got into Pullman and headed to the office. Dan called and asked when I wanted to head to the game. I told him whenever. So, he went to get a ticket to only find out they are sold out. I told him we could hit the tailgate party and see if they guys there had any tickets available. Jim and Tom and the other people had already given away their tickets. So, Dan did not get one. I hung around tailgating, minus the drinking since I was on call at the fire department. I did chat with people and eat some food. There was one guy who is always there with his son. His son's name is TJ. Last season I noticed him and I was pretty impressed. A good looking guy he was. I was checking him out all last season.

This season I saw him at the Seattle game. I did not see him at the first Cougar home game since I was working with the fire department at it. But he arrived again, looking as good as normal. I overheard him talking about playing football. So, I then knew he was in high school. I was like "DOH!" I was totally checking out some high school kid. I was like damn it! I am a dirty old man. I asked him how Pullman football was doing, I had assumed that he plays football for Pullman. But he didn't. He said he plays for Liberty in Renton. I was like, hey there is where I went to high school. So, we talked about going to the same school, the teachers, including Bob Carlson and his recent death. He said he is in survival science. With about thirty minutes to go, I decided to go to the game.

I had my card swiped. They said I did not have a sports pass. I said I had paid for one. I was escorted to a woman in a small room with a laptop. She typed my ID number in and said I am only part time and I can't have a sports pass. I said I paid for one. She raised her voice and said "NO YOU DID NOT!" Then she pointed to a CMS guy and pointed at me and said "he needs to be escorted out of here." I was walked to a side entrance where numerous people were standing around. The gate was opened for me and then CMS worker who walked me to the gate said to the gate keeper "He is out of here." I felt like dirt. I was upset at the way I was treated. So, now I had to find a ticket to the game.

I was standing in a line and I heard a guy say he had one for sale. He said he was selling it for face value. I bought it from him. I got into the stadium and walked to the Cougar side of the stadium. I went to the top row like I like. I stood there for a while and then I decided my ankle hurt pretty bad so I would head to my seat and sit down. On the way there I saw the rescue guys working the game. So I stopped and talked to them. It was Michael, Dan, and Matt. At half time I went to the tailgate party and talked to Jim about what had happened to me. I grabbed a brownie and headed towards my seat. I made it up to the seat and sat for the rest of the game.

The Cougs won and following the game I went and grabbed the North side bus to get me back to my office. I left my truck there. The bus ride was long due to the traffic. I finally got to McDonald's, my drop off point, and to my officer just before six o'clock pm. I was now on call. I ordered a pizza and headed to station thirty-two. I was going to meet Dan there to play cribbage. I bought the pizza to be nice since he had bought one for me recently. I got to the station to find he was gone. He had a really bad headache and went home.

So I sat down and ate by myself. I hung out at the station. Brandon was there as well. We were on Rescue. It was a while before our first call happened. But it was out to old Wawawai road. It was cat lady. She was having problems. We took her in. When we got back to Station thirty-two we started to watch Old School. Brandon and Michael had not seen it before. It was less than five minutes until the end when we get a Bravo response for a Mushroom OD on Spring street. We were en route right away. The dispatcher said the person had taken mushrooms. She gave a quantity. But since we did not know what a normal dose would be the amount was lost on us. We got to the scene. There was an older man there, and young man and a young lady. It was the girl who was about twenty two who was having the trouble. She had had one-third of two "one-eighth" bags. He friend who was the eighteen year old boy would talk. It was pretty quickly clear by his many OGT's (obviously gay traits) that he was family. The paramedic, Lynn, cleared us. As we were walking to the door a Delta in Palouse goes out for an unconscious girl.

We leave in a hurry and go code to the scene. She was sixteen and had been drinking a lot. We were in front of the Ambulance the whole way. When we were close to Palouse Michael said he did not know if it was a good idea for a girl strung out on mushrooms to be left with that eighteen year old. I laughed and said that, I don't there will be a chance of anything like that happening. I said the kid is family. At first the family reference was lost on the other guys, but when I explained it, they understood.

We got on scene, a girl was laying on the road, puke in her hair and on her. She had been drinking heavily before a school dance. We took her to detox. After returning from the hospital and gassing up Rescue, we went to the station and everyone was ready to go home. I stayed at the station and chatted with Matt for a while. We talked about the testing for Pullman fire. Matt had ended up in seventh place, down from first, Bryan was second, Jason is fourth, and Dan is sixth. I did not know my position since the letters had come out on Saturday and I had not seen mine yet. I was hoping to be first or third. If you are not in the top three you will probably not see an interview. I left the station about four fifteen and headed to my office. I got online and chatted with Rob. I signed off about four thirty. Within fifteen minutes we were being toned to a mushroom OD. I was wowed. In my time with Pullman fire I had not been on any mushroom OD's, and now I am on two in one day. We got on scene and the guys apartment smelled like marijuana. He claimed he was not smoking dope though, only the shrooms. We took him in to the hospital.

That call took us to within fifteen minutes of us being off duty for the night, so I went to my office, gathered my things waited a few minutes and headed back to Colfax. It was a little after six in the morning I had been up all night long. I was going to put Amber out on her leash. When I got her from the basement she said I left the sliding glass door open. She bolted. I yelled at her and she did not listen. She was gone. I did not chase her, I said screw it, I will get her when I wake up. I opened the letter from the City of Pullman. I found out I wound up in fifth place. I was hoping for better, but thankful it was not worse. I went to bed.

Hey everyone, it's Brandon

Friday I had to work the whole day. I came in to work in the morning and worked on Vinny's laptop. I had the Microsoft Access class in Pullman as well. So, I did not get to the prosecutor's office computer upgrade like I had hoped. After class I came back and had lunch around two thirty. I was at the first station, about to leave when a call came in for a motorcycle accident. I went on it and did not get back until about five thirty. I worked longer since I now had to make up more time. Around seven I went home and changed. The Show was going to happen in Moscow tonight and I had been planning on going. But I decided I did not want to go so badly. So, I went back to work. I got Vinny's laptop and brought it to him. I helped him get a few things set up on it, and then taught him some stuff about Microsoft Excel. I was at the SO until about ten o'clock PM. I went home and got Victor and brought him into the house. I watched some of my old video's. I was video taping one of my old softball practices. Brandon was in it. It was so cool to see him.

Follow up poem by Ron

After Ron, Team Apple Cup, saw my poem about him, he made this follow up:

I tell you often Scottie,
I tell you all the time.
While you are witty,
you cannot fucking rhyme.
Your party thoughts are funny,
but I think that you are dreaming.
I like women not men,
it was Ty that you were creaming.
So please don't reply,
don't go and have a tussle.
Roll over in your bed,
and give a nice hand job to Russell.

Another dead night on call.

Thursday I had Access class again. This time it was a lab. After the lab I had time to go back to Colfax, finish out my day at work. I had to shave and get back to Pullman by six o'clock pm since I was on call. I am on fire, so that pretty much means I will not get a call.

Jon had given me a different structure for my softball database set up. I recreated some of my database and then started to make the pages that would allow me to do the inserts of data in to the DB. I worked on that and some of the bugs with it until about thirty past midnight.

Happy Birthday Michele

Wednesday I got to class and Rob was there. We talked about the test and Cougar sports. Then I was off to Michele's birthday celebration at Zeppoz. From there I had to go to the fire station for a First Aid/CPR instructor's meeting.

Test time.

Tuesday was my first test in Accounting 230. I had to study some more for it. Plus I was starting a Microsoft Access training class. So, I got out of work at about ten thirty am to study and have time to take the Access class. I also got my checks for the home loan. I paid off a few credit cards, and I have one more to go. The biggest one being the MBNA account. That will be paid off and I will shred that card.

After the Access class I went to the CUE computer lab and studied for the next three hours for the test. It was not what I was expecting, but I think I did okay for the most part. I chatted with Rob a little bit and then headed home.

High Rise

Monday we had our yearly high rise/stand pipe fire training in Pullman. We worked at the Fine Art's parking garage. We sprayed some water and then went home.

In the playoff's!

Sunday morning I had to get up and get ready for my oral board. I had to scour my house to find all the pieces I needed for my suit. I found all the pieces and headed to Pullman. I had the oral boards for the fire department. The Pullman fire department only tests every two years or so, so when you get the chance to get on the list you don't want to miss out. Last time I ended up number five over all. That is not good considering to get an interview you have to be in the top three. It is even worse when you consider that turn over is so small we only hired one person off the list in the last two years. I was going into the testing in the top ten, but I needed to end up better than that.

I got into the room and Carl, Assistant Fire Chief Colfax Fire, was there. I was expecting that since I had heard he was going to be on the oral board. Since I am a Colfax Fireman as well, he knew me. I was worried that would actually hurt me a little bit. We should hear by next week where we ended up on the list. Hopefully I do well. They asked the typical question's. Things like seeing someone drinking, seeing someone playing golf who had called in sick. After it was done, I went home and got out of my suit. I was going to be helping Jason move some heavy stuff from his house.

I had some time so I went to Colfax fire and chatted with Ken. At about one o'clock pm I headed back to Pullman to help Jason. I got there and within a few minutes all the others showed up. We moved the items and then it was off to Zeppoz to have some beer. Our payment for helping. We were not at Zeppoz for ever when we had to go to the softball fields for softball.

I got there first and everyone else started to filter in. The co-ed team was already in the play offs. It was a matter of having fun. In game two I was able to play short stop the whole game. It was fun to do, I really did not get any plays out there. However near the end of the game Michele tried to field a ball that was bounced to her on the throw. Her thumb got in the way. She was sure she broke it. So, her and her husband went to the hospital. We finished out the game, and instead of going to Zeppoz with everyone else, Ryan and I went to the hospital to show support. We hung out there until game time. Michele was still being taken care of so I did not get to see her, but we hung out with Dan.

Ryan and I got some water and headed to the field. We had two games to play. The first game was terrible. Neither team was hitting the ball, I had a perfect game going for a while so did the other pitcher. Finally we both started to hit the ball. We were done with a full six innings in less than thirty minutes. It was amazing. It ended up a tie game. So, now we either had to win or tie in our last game to make it to the play offs. We get home team and they go to work against us. They hit the crap out of the ball. They scored eight runs in the first inning. The run rule was invoked. They did not have three outs, but since they scored eight runs their half of the inning was over. I could feel some of the enthusiasm bleed from the team. The first game everyone was joking around and having a lot of fun. But after we held them to one run in the second inning and we scored six, the attitude changed. Everyone lightened up and started to have a lot of fun.

Soon we took the lead. We would not give up the lead and went on to win the game. During one point in the game I was at third base with less than two out. The ball was a medium length fly ball to center field. They caught it. I tagged up and knew I would be out if I tried to score. The problem was the fact of the "commitment line". It was a point of no return so to speak. Once you cross it, the catcher only has to posses the ball and touch the home plate. It is a force out. In fact if the catcher tags the runner past the commitment line the runner is safe and the run scores. On the other hand if the runner touches home plate, he is out, no matter what, even on a homerun. I could tell the catcher was more or less clueless. So, I ran up to the commitment line and waited. Sure enough he bit. He came up the line to tag me. I waited until he was close to the commitment line. I then crossed it which meant the only way to get me out was to touch home plate. He on the other hand tagged me. That immediately made me safe. My team rejoiced. The loved it. We did win. We were excited since we were hitting the play offs for the first time in a few seasons!

I dropped Ryan off at the Roto and went home.

Rabbit Season... Duck Season... Rabbit Season... DUCK SEASON!!!

Saturday morning came around, and I got a call from the jail. It was a wake up call. I wanted to make sure I did
not miss my test at Pullman Fire. They test only once every two years, and I would not be able to live with missing
the test. I went to Rosauers and got some pop and a breakfast sandwich. I drove into Pullman and headed to the room. The room was pretty packed and I found a table with three other people at it. I talked to the guys there. They said they were all applying for the reserve program. One guy was also going for the full time list. The test started and it was not that bad. It had a memorization portion, as well as reading comprehension, plus a few other areas. When it was done, I went to Station Thirty-Two to hang out for a while. I watched Herbie the Love Bug and then headed off to get some lunch. I went to Dairy Queen sat down and ate a smaller meal. I was waiting to get the results of the written test to find out where I would end up in the physical testing. I got to City Hall. There were some other people there waiting as well. The Cougar game was just getting underway. The Cougs were playing Oregon Duck's in Oregon. It was supposed to be a tough game. The Cougs started on a high note and ran that way as I listened. They scored a few times.

The test scores got posted. The top forty people were going to be invited to go to the next round, the physical's. The rest were invited to go home. One of my fellow Colfax firefighters, Greg, was not in the top forty. I ended up tied for sixth place. Everyone headed to the training tower for the physicals. I listened to the Cougar game on the way there and when I got there as I was getting my ankle brace on. The Cougs scored again. I raised my arms in celebration. A guy was just getting out of his truck, and said "you must have been listening to the same thing as me". I smiled.

I walked to the tower and I was the first to go through the physical agility tests. I passed all the tests, but I was drained. I was a little light headed. I walked to my truck and went to the fire station and watched the Cougs continue to beat up on the Oregon Ducks. When it was done, the Duck's were crushed fifty-five to sixteen. I talked with Bryan for a little bit before everyone else got there. He was decent to chat with. He actually made it appear that he was trying to have a conversation with me for once. Usually, unless he wants something it is like pulling teeth to have a conversation with him. He is not like that with everyone one. Actually I found out that he has a problem with me in some way, but when I asked him what it was so we could work through it he denied it.

I stuck around and we watched the whole Cal Bears versus USC Trojans. The Trojans were ranked number three in the nation and were knocked off. We all cheered for that. After the game, I called Dan. We decided to go to the Sports Page and play some pool. I won many of the game. Jim and Mike were there. I talked with them as well. Finally the coaches showed up, Robb Akey was there. The crowd in the bar started to chant "turn the hat" over and over again. It is a tradition at the Sports Page that after a Cougar win the helmet of the opposing team is turned away from the rest of the bar. It is a football coach who does it. Then the Cougar Fight song is played and the whole bar joins in singing the fight song. Shortly after the turning of the hat, I was about the leave when Brian, the Canadian guy who played for SEL softball came in. I sat with him and one other guy chatting about softball and sports. Then I left since I had to do my Oral boards in the morning.

Pullman High Dominates

I had to work all day in Colfax since I had gotten off work early and came in late a few times this week. So, when I get off work I found out I had to be in Pullman for the Pullman High School football game. They won in a major way. After the game I headed home. Got pulled over for doing seventy in a sixty. I was released with a warning. I got home and watched the Red Green Show and went to bed. Tomorrow is a big day.