Wednesday, December 31, 2003

New Years Eve

I got up after sleeping in pretty well. I had to go buy some stuff for Bill since I never got it on Monday when I was out shopping. I started by running errands for Bill then I was off to get some stuff for Christmas for him. I got some sweatpants for him at the first stop. Since they were cheap I also got myself two pair. Then I was off to Southcenter again. I got some shoes for myself and then I went to Costco. I got a log of Skoal Pouches. I have never purchased a log before. But it will save me about ten dollars over buying them one at a time. I also looked for some other items. That is all I ended up buying there. I went to Home Depot and got some prices on lumber. Then to Work N More and got Bill some t-shirts as well.

I went home and fried up some fatback for dinner. After dinner I met up with Dave and we went to Diamond Lil's. I played some Omaha Hi Lo and Texas Hold'em. Dave and I both did well. I won around eighty dollars. Then we went to a few other casino's. I got chips from each casino. I won money at a few of the casino's. In all I am up about one hundred on the day plus all the money in chips I kept.

While at Diamond Lil's New Years hit. The whole place did a count down from ten seconds and then people started to say "Happy New Year" to everyone.

I went back to Shari's where Dave and I met up. I dropped off Dave and then I came home.

Tuesday, December 30, 2003

Job interview

I got a phone call only about five hours or less from going to bed. Jon said that Netupdate wanted to have an interview with me. Brian, Jon's brother-in-law said that the position he had talked about in the past is getting filled and they wanted to talk to me. I was going to go up there around one thirty and meet with them. They are looking at paying about fifty thousand for the position. That would be a huge raise for me. I got ready and headed that way. I got up there and had about an hour long interview then I chatted with Brian.

I left and headed to Jon's house. We were going to watch the Holiday Bowl with the Cougs versus fifth ranked Texas Longhorns. The Cougs pretty much dominated the whole game and ended up winning twenty-eight to twenty. It was cool. Jon and I talked about the job interview and other things. It had also started to snow. By the time I left there was about an inch and a half of snow on the ground and everyone was driving really slowly. It was frustrating to drive so slow. But I was able to pass everyone up. I got home and saw that Boy Meets Boy was having a marathon on. I watched all the episodes. There were some very good looking guys on that show.

Monday, December 29, 2003

Happy Birthday, Dave.

I started off the day with a call from Rob. He was a fire reserve with me when I first started at Pullman fire. He is not a state trooper with the Washington State Patrol. I had left a message for him to call me. He called me and with chatted over for a short period of time. Rob is a nice guy. He was one of the guys I always thought was a good looking guy. Before I was out to many people and before I was out to anyone at the fire department I was going to tell him on one day before he left. I knew he was hired for the state patrol. We were talking about stuff one day and I was close to telling him but I lost my nerve before I actually told him. So, as far as I know, he still does not know. I think he would be totally fine with it.

Today is shopping day. I have to get a Christmas present for the family exchange. I also need to get coveralls and a coat for the coroners office. I started by going to Blumenthal’s. I tried on a pair of coveralls. Afterwards I drove to Southcenter. I went to a few stores. I checked out some shoes. I think I will get a pair. Then I went to Spenser's. I was checking out all the things they have there. It is a bunch of abstract stuff. There is a lot of party type things. One item I found I think I may get. It has a bunch of LED's. It spins around and makes some cool shapes. I also looked for a calendar like I had last year. It was a wall calendar with pictures of hot shirtless guys. I did not find one. Then I went to Work n More. I got a pair of Levi's and a pair of leather gloves to use while working at the fire department.

I went home after that and I waited around until dinner. My brother and I were going to go to Diamond Lil's and play some Texas Hold'em. He said that about five other guys were going to come along. We played at the same table. One guy named Mark is a blonde hair blue eyed guy. He is a good looking guy. We were all at the table when some cards thrown in were accidentally shown. So the dealer let everyone know what they were. Jon said "You're kidding me." He thought the hand was going to get re-dealt. We all laughed since it was obvious that he had a nice hand.

Dave came down. It was his birthday. He played a little bit. We all left around midnight. Dave and I then went to Freddie's Club and played Let It Ride. It was cool they gave Dave and I a free dinner for his birthday. We played some Texas Shootout as well. Then we ate dinner and I headed home and let Amber out for a potty break. I watched TV and then it was off to bed.

Sunday, December 28, 2003

Fire guys playing poker.

I got out of bed between noon and one pm. It is nice to be on vacation. I played with Amber a lot of the day. I watched some of the football games with my Mom and Bill. The Seahawks are in the playoffs!

After dinner I went out. I headed to Diamond Lil's to play some poker. I had a choice of tables and I chose the one with a ten-six-seven with a fire department shirt on. I spent most of the next few hours checking him out. Once in a while as I was looking right at him he would look right at me. He had blue eyes. He has light brown hair. His eyebrows seems a sandy blonde. I stayed there gambling until just after four o'clock am. I went up and down and up and down a few times. I played on a four-eight table. The table I was at finally dissolved. I moved to a new table. I lost and lost and lost. It sucked. At one point I thought I was going to lose everything. I came back and won. Then I won another hand a little bit later. I ended up walking out of there up fifty dollars. So it was a good night. Most of it checking out a hot guy and the rest of it winning money.

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Bumming around town

I got up this morning and headed into work. I had to get some hours covered from earlier in the week. I went in and got a few things taken care of. I stopped by the fire station to chat for a little bit. Jim was working there, we talked about a ton of subjects. Then I went home packed and headed out for Seattle. Dave was in town so I called him to see if he wanted to get lunch. He said he was going to be busy.

I left town and the trip was moving along pretty quickly. In the area of the pass the cars started to move a lot slower because of the snow. Near the summit we were only doing about thirty mile per hour. Then on the down hill side we went to about ten miles an hour. After a few miles I was able to break free from the big pack and I was able to cruise a lot better.

I got home and hung out for a while. Then I went to Tukwlia police to fill out a ride along form. I then headed to the Lewis and Clark movie theatre. I was going to watch Elf. I had heard that the Theatre and Bowling alley would be torn down in the near future and that the bowling alley was already closed down. I got up there and I was early for the showing so I thought I would go to Funster's Casino and play some cards and get some of the free cards they give away. I got there and it appears that Funster's went out of business.

I headed to the movie theatre and I bought a ticket. I also heard the movies were all cheaper since they would be closing down. That was not true. It was full price. But the bowling alley was closed down. I was the only one in the whole theatre for Elf. After it was over I headed home. I went down the back road.

After I got home I watched a Queer as Folk mini-marathon on Showtime then I went to sleep.

Friday, December 26, 2003

Two car accident

I got to work about three hours late. I guess I was on the tired side. I got into the office and worked on some computer issues. I worked on a laptop for one of the deputies. I worked on getting my timecards complete. I am going away on vacation for a week so I was trying to get slightly organized.

On my way back from the sheriff's office I went to the fire station to find out about the structure fire from this morning. It came out at about three in the morning. I did not head down to the station for it. It turned out to be a small one. We were talking about that when a call came out for a two car accident "west of Colfax". The dispatcher said she is working on a better location. We went en route since there were three of us hanging out. They came back saying that they have received multiple calls about it and it is highway twenty-six about mile post one-thirty. That is near the fair grounds. Dispatched came back and said to upgrade to Delta. She said it is now being reported as a one vehicle rollover.

We got on scene and there were two cars. I saw one car with people still in it about one hundred and fifty feet from another car with someone in it. I went to the car far away to deal with those patients. The others from the ambulance went to the nearby car. They asked for Rescue for extrication and a second ambulance. I had patient care on the two people in the car. The lady who was in the driver seat of the ninety-five Chevy Caprice was okay. Her airbag went off. She claimed no injuries. Her husband was in the back seat. He had surgery recently and he was okay as well. Both were in their seventies. The driver fell asleep and caused the crash.

I got the people out and into Ambulance eleven-two. I worked on them with David. I got a full set of vitals and made sure I could not find any injuries. The other car was having its roof cut off to be able to extricate the driver. There were a few passengers in that car. They were self extricated. They came into the hospital with only the driver.

I got both of my reports written and then we took off to the station. I went back to work and was there for about thirty minutes. I had to be in Pullman at six pm and as it was I was going to be late. Dave is in town from Renton. So I talked to him on the phone while en route to Pullman. I went to the fire station and watched the Cal-Virginia Tech football game. John came down and was watching it with me. After the game I put in Two Fast Two Furious with Paul Walker! He is so hot. When that was over I headed off to bed. I stayed at the station since I was the only one there.

Thursday, December 25, 2003

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I was up and heading to Colfax this morning since I was working at the jail. I had to put a full eight hours in. But I was getting holiday pay for it. I got a few things completed. I ran the booking stats. I got a few other computer issues taken care of.

I called my mom and talked to her about Christmas and a few other things. I told her about the sewer problems. We talked for about twenty minutes.

When I was off work I went home and changed into nice clothes and headed to John's house. I was going to have Christmas dinner with John, Meg, and Elijah. It was a very nice meal with mashed potatoes, prime rib, cheese rolls. It was very good. I hung out most of the evening watching some football and chatting with everyone.

Then John broke out his new poker chips. We played cards for a while. At one point I was down about twenty five dollars. Then my fortunes turned and John started to lose. I ended up winning twenty-seven dollars and fifty cents. Meg game me some cookies and rice crispy treats and I headed home.

It was a nice Christmas for me. It was nice to have friends to celebrate it with me.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Christmas Eve Two Thousand and Three.

Christmas Eve. What a wonderful day. It is a half day for me. But since I am making up time it will be more than a half day for me. I went to the assessor’s office and the commissioner’s office. I spent time waiting for the staff meeting the commissioners were having to get over, so I hung out longer in the assessor's office. Shawn, Bryson and I played a few hands of Texas Hold'em to show Bryson how to play them.

I went into the commissioner's office and talked to Jerry who was having the printer problem. I fix it. On my way out Greg and Jerry stopped me. Wished me a Merry Christmas and then Jerry said since I worked so hard all year he was going to give me tomorrow off. Then Greg said I will do you one better I will give you this afternoon off. Of course those are holiday days so I get them off, however they were making a joke about it. It was pretty funny.

After work I made a couple audio CD's. I went to the store and got some dog food and cat food. I then headed home and worked on the trench a little bit more. I had to get ready to be on call at Pullman fire so I showered and got dressed and drove to Pullman. Since no one was staying at the station I chose to stay the night there. I was there watching some TV when a call came out. It was a Delta call but we were downgraded pretty quickly. After the call Dan and I stayed at the station and watched the Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg (HOT!). Following that we watched Basic with John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson. Dan left and I went to bed.

Tuesday, December 23, 2003

Card in Colfax

I got into work at seven am. About forty minutes later the tones go off for a car accident with someone having chest pains. I went to the fire station and we were off. It was out on the Walla Walla highway. That turn off is in Dusty. We cruised to Dusty and then turned onto the Walla Walla highway. It was still about another eleven miles from there. Someone who was on his way to a doctors appointment was the passenger of a car driven by his wife. They slid off the road. We got on scene and called for MedStar to be launched. They were to land at the Dusty airport. We loaded the patient, and then I drove to the Airport. We got there about fifteen minutes before the helicopter. When it touched down they took the patient and took off. We headed back to the barn.

I got back to work. It has been a quiet Christmas week with everyone but Sharon and I on vacation. After the call I went to my house where Sampson Plumbing was working on my sewer system. I chatted with Glen for a while. He said things could be worse. It looks like thing will cost less than one thousand dollars. That was good news.

I went back to work until about five pm. I went to bury the trench. I told Glen I would do that to save me money. I headed to the fire station to play cards. There were about seven of us to start with. It was fun playing. Then ome people left and a new guy came. Then it was down to Jim, Carl and I. We played some more complex games. We finished playing cards at about midnight.

Fire guys playing poker.

I got out of bed between noon and one pm. It is nice to be on vacation. I played with Amber a lot of the day. I watched some of the football games with my Mom and Bill. The Seahawks are in the playoffs!

After dinner I went out. I headed to Diamond Lil's to play some poker. I had a choice of tables and I chose the one with a ten-six-seven with a fire department shirt on. I spent most of the next few hours checking him out. Once in a while as I was looking right at him he would look right at me. He had blue eyes. He has light brown hair. His eyebrows seems a sandy blonde. I stayed there gambling until just after four o'clock am. I went up and down and up and down a few times. I played on a four-eight table. The table I was at finally dissolved. I moved to a new table. I lost and lost and lost. It sucked. At one point I thought I was going to lose everything. I came back and won. Then I won another hand a little bit later. I ended up walking out of there up fifty dollars. So it was a good night. Most of it checking out a hot guy and the rest of it winning money.

Monday, December 22, 2003

No training

I am covering for Jason at the fire department so I am on call and I have to go to Pullman. I originally planned to stay in Colfax and go to bed early. I got to Pullman and found out there was no training, so I invited John and Dan over to poker. We met at Station Thirty Four (my office) and played there for a few hours. I ended up losing about four dollars to John. I think I won a few bucks from Dan.

I got an e-mail from Joey and Jer. It was nice to hear from them. Joey said that he will be getting back into the Pullman area after New Years and that we all should go out for a beer. Jer had bad news. He said he is leaving WSU. That was sucky. I just got him back on my softball team. He is fun to be around and a good guy. He will be missed.

Tyler died

I slept until about eight am when I needed to get up and go to the bathroom. After going I went back to bed for a while. Waking up at about eleven am to a lot of gurgling. My plumbing system was having troubles again. So, I called Sampson Plumbing to come look at it for Monday.

I went to the IS office and worked for three hours I needed to make up. I got some of the computers worked on that I needed to get done. Now I just need to meet with the owner and get the rest of it finished. I went to the fire station and chatted with Ken for a little while before heading home to change and getting to Pullman for duty. I went to Mr. Z's Casino for a while. I lost sixty bucks. My biggest loss to date there. Then I went to the fire station and waited until it was time to rig checks.

I went out to start to work on the rigs at seven o'clock. I turned on the radio and got underway. I took the cabinets on the right side of rescue apart and did a good cleaning. I also cleaned the door. I inventoried the equipment. Bryan worked on the rest of the rescue. he did not do any cleaning, just checking to make sure the equipment was all in working order.

After we were done with working on the rescue we washed the engine and then went in and talked about the crew. Since it is just four of us now we really need to make sure we have coverage all the time. We also talked about my coroner's needs.

Bryan and I went to station one to get equipment. It was a long quiet ride. I did not say anything to him and he did not say anything to me. It was like that the whole way there and back. I think it is clear there is no friendship between us.

When we got back I wiped down rescue from the road grime and left. I went to my office and played on the net for a while. I found a website a long time ago called A Thousand Deaths. Saying that a suicide victim dies ones but the survivor dies a thousand times. I read the site and it is full of many sad stories. Many young people who kill themselves. Many times they are good looking people. I think about what a waste that is.

I was readying about a Tyler Scott Burbank who died from suicide at age nineteen. Then when I was looking for more information I found that there was a fictional story about an eighteen year old who died as a result of a car accident. The teens name was Tyler Burbank. At first I thought it was a story about the real Tyler. I thought that it would a tale of the "beginning of the end for Tyler." I did not think he would die in the car accident. I contacted the author who said the article was pure fiction. He had never heard of the real Tyler. My last e-mail to the author of the story is attached:

Jordan,

Actually I was trying to find out more, that is how I
came across your site. Here is all I know:
http://www.1000deaths.com/library/writing/tyler19.html

Pretty sparse. When you described the blood going in to
his curly hair, I was surprised since the photo of Tyler
shows him with a curly looking hair.

I can say they story that you had I was pretty into it.
I was pulling for Tyler to live. Since I was reading it
thinking this happened to a real person, I think it
affected me differently.

It was frustrating to have Tyler go so far and get so close
to getting help to only die right there. The poor mother
and father. It is such an all round sad story for them.
Mom would always kick her self in the rear for not acting
on your suspicions earlier. She will always have those
"if only..." doubts in her mind.

It is like the parents who came home seven minutes after
their son shot himself. They will always think of something
they did that they did not need to do that would have
changed that time line. Their son wrote his note and signed
it at 11:45. They got home at 11:52. Suicide is such a
terrible thing.

What was really getting me was thinking that your story was
a real one about Tyler. And since we knew what he was
thinking, I was assuming he lived through the car accident.
And I was thinking about how he worked so hard to live.
To me I was thinking about Tyler had such a will to live, I
wondered many times through out the story what caused him to
lose that will to live.

Of course now knowing it was fiction answers those questions,
but it is a little eerie to have something have some parallel
to real life.

Scotty

Saturday, December 20, 2003

The big Christmas Party

I got a call at about eleven thirty from Dale saying I could deliver his sunglasses. So, I got up to start my day. I was planning on going to Costco and Hastings today.

I went to the IS office and got the sunglasses for Dale and delivered them. Then I went to Moscow to Hastings. I called Ryan and Kristine since they said they were going to go with me, but neither answered their phone. I was running late since I wanted to go to Chris' Christmas Party. I needed to be back before it was way too late. So I only went to Moscow. I stopped at Office Depot and got some CD-R's for the coroner's office. Then I went to Hastings to get Freshman magazine. This issue had Christopher Michael who is from Seattle on the cover. He is a very good looking guy. Nice blue eyes. I had to get a copy of it. So I picked that up and got a copy of XY and Sport Illustrated.

I was there looking through many magazines to decide if I wanted any others. Then I was looking at books that talk about doing finish work for my basement. I decided not to get one. I went to a line where a younger guy was working. He had a wedding ring. I wonder what he was thinking as he sold me the magazines.

I went from there to Radio Shack in Pullman to pick up some connectors for my laptop computer to hook a VCR to the computer and record stuff on to the computer. I got a couple RCA cables. I saw Michael there too. He asked me a few questions about the party.

I went to my office to see if the connecters would work. Sadly they did not. I could get sound but no video. Maybe I will have to get a capture card for one of my machines. Maybe I can bring a VCR into work and use my work machine.

I went to Dissmore's and got some water and candy for the Christmas Party. I got there before many of the other showed up. I got a beer and settled down to watching some TV. As the night went along I would continue to get beer and drink it. I had seven keg cups of beer total. There were a lot of wonderful food items. Bryan, Matt, and Chuck all came. They all started to drink. A state Trooper names Mark showed up. He was telling some funny stories. One was the "gay bar" story that he told during our drug recognition class. It was pretty funny. I was laughing pretty hard. Afterwards I told a joke to Mark. But he would not fall for it, and Merinda had not heard it, so I thought I could tell it to Bryan.

I said to Bryan, if you went camping and you woke up in the morning with a condom sticking out your ass would you tell anyone? He said "no". I said "you want to go camping?" I was not sure how it took it. I knew better than to say it to him since he is homophobic towards me. However he will joke about sucking someone elses dick all the time. It is just me he is uncomfortable around since he knows I am gay. It is frustrating. So a little later I went to him and asked if I crossed the line. He said it was all good and that I had not.

Later on Scott and I were talking about stuff. Scott was interested in getting a big boating trip to the river this summer with lots of beer and boats and babes! Little does he know his kind of babe and mine are a little different. And I was also informed by Scott's girlfriend he does not like the whole gay thing. So, obviously he does not know about me. Either that he does know and he is not as bad as his girlfriend things he is.

I told Scott that joke I told Bryan. Scott thought it was funny as heck. I stayed around chatting with people and having fun until about one o'clock am.

Friday, December 19, 2003

Happy Birthday Eddie

Today is Eddie's birthday. He was born one day after me. So he too is the big three-oh. Wild. We use to do stuff all the time. I first met him while playing football for Five-Star. It was a local organization that offered football, basketball, baseball, and softball. We played Eighty-Niners together all the way up. He was fast and smart. He was usually a running back where I was a lineman. We went to different elementary school but the same middle and high school. When I was twelve I moved to his neighborhood. We moved about one mile from my old house. So we were still really close to where I grew up. Most of the people in the neighborhood I already knew. It was cool. Eddie and Josh were guys I have known forever. Actually Josh was in my old neighborhood. We were together again. Eddie, Josh, and I all lost our dads. Mine was in the first grade. Josh's in the third grade and Eddie's while in middle school.

We did a lot of stuff together. Learning to drive. Riding motorcycles. Chewing tobacco. Drinking party's. He was the popular guy in high school. Good looking. Hot girls. But he was my friend. He was always good to me. He was a real friend. School, classes, building camps. Then we graduated. I went to WSU and I never really looked back. Now, I have only seen him a few times since graduation. He has a kid. He has a good job. He has done well for himself. So, my tradition is to call him on his birthday each year. But his number is different and I was unable to get ahold of him. So, I wrote him a long e-mail. He will not get it until after the new year since I saw an e-mail returned to me saying he is out of the office until Jan fifth.

I got to work late since I allowed myself to sleep in. I only worked seven hours. I had to be in Pullman at six so I could not stay late. I was allowed to come in this weekend to make up those hours.

I got to Pullman and I worked a little bit on my computer. I called up Ryan to do something. I went to his apartment and we headed to get Kristine and then to dinner, Dissmore's, then to Blockbuster to get some movies. I bought the Italian Job with Mark Wahlberg! And Two Fast Two Furious with Paul Walker! How cool is that. We rented the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. We went back to Ryan's apartment to watch them. I got a call. When I was back from the call we were able to watch the movie. Then I got another call while watching the Simpson's. I told them I would not be back since I was tired and it was about two am. I went to my office after the call and did some stuff on the computer and chatted a little while. I went to bed and within about two hours I got a call in Palouse. I got back from that call after seven am. I was off call so I drove to Colfax to go to bed.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

Happy Birthday to me!

Today is my thirtieth birthday. I woke up and headed to Colfax to get into work. I got here and I got a call from Debbie from Pullman Fire. She called to wish me a happy birthday. Through out the day I got some IM's and other "Happy Birthday" messages.

At lunch time I went home to give myself a haircut. I was getting really long hair. A good inch and a half long I would say. I cut the side to one eighth inch. Then The top I trimmed to one quarter inch. The very top I left long. I out some of my blue gel in it to see what I would look like with a Mohawk. I did not like the look. Then I shaved off the rest of the long hair and took a quick shower.

I got the Oakley sunglasses in, so I was delivering those to everyone. I had to set up a computer computers in the Treasurers office. When we moved the mainframe all the direct serial connections were broken, so we had to use computers with a terminal application to access the mainframe. Everyone had been converted except for the Treasurers office. They still had two dumb terminals. I got those switched over.

Once it hit five thirty I headed home to let Amber inside. Then I was off to Zeppoz. I got there a little after six pm. I had a camera. I got a pitcher of beer and headed to the table where everyone was. Michele was there but Dan was home sick. Ron and Heather, Carl and Ronnie, Sean, Ryan, Tom, Brian and Dianna, Ty, Kristine, Mark, Meredith, Nick, Joe and Marliss, and Russell.

I had a few beers with everyone. I got some food. I would go between the place where we were sitting and playing poker. Carl and I went in and played some poker. I won a little bit of money. Then we went out. I cut the cake and opened the presents. I got some pop and cashews from Ryan. Ron and Heather got me Seahawk sunglasses, a Mariners hat, and a tiara. I got a few cards from some of the other people. It was nice to have everyone there. It made me feel good that they showed up to wish me a happy birthday.

When Sean left he gave me a kiss. It was in front of most of the people. It was so nice to get a kiss from him. It felt good to do it in front of the other people. No one said anything but it would be so fun to hear what they were thinking. Tom had to go to work so he left before the cake. After the cake and a little more chatting other people started to leave.

Soon it was Ryan, Russell, Michele, Kristine and I left. Russell, Michele, and I were doing some gambling. I lost most of the money I had won earlier, but I won some of it back and cashed in. I ended winning about twenty dollars. Which was perfect. My bill was about seventeen dollars. So, I was able to give a decent tip to the server. I pocketed the rest of the money so I was even.

During some of the card playing Joe and Marliss came in, and made a scene. They gave me a birthday hat. They blew some noise makers. It was fun. Everyone was looking at me. People were wishing me a happy birthday in there.

When I was at a table playing blackjack there was a good looking blonde guy. He had nice blue eyes. A great smile with nice dimples. It looked like he had a nice chest too. Later on when I went back Michele was playing Texas Shootout. They guy was then at that table. I sat there staring at him most of the night. He also chewed. I like that for some reason.

I decided to play some Texas Shootout as well. Michele left after a little while and it was just me, the cute guy and his friend. I was doing well at Texas Shootout. I did end up walking out of Zeppoz up about thirty or forty dollars, plus my food and drinks were paid for. Near the end of my night I asked the guys if they were done with finals. They said they did not go to WSU. I asked where they were from. The cute guy said he was from Montana. Then he said he lives in Colfax. I told them I lived there too.

I cashed in my chips and I stopped to talk with them a little bit more. The cute guy has been in Colfax since ninety-five. The other guy lived in Kent and works at Ikea. He was from Colfax as well. He said that he was visiting. They both knew Bryson who works for the Assessors office. They said they were going to go steelhead fishing. I asked if they had seen Bryson's boat. They said it was Bryson who was taking them out on his boat. What a small world.

The cute guy does tree trimming with his dad. They own a business doing that. It was wild. It is such a small world. After a few more minutes I left and went home. Hopefully I can meet the cute guy again some time.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

My last day while being twenty-something.

I woke up this morning and headed to Pullman. Starting my last day of being in my twenties. I got to Pullman and parked in the parking garage. I headed to Todd hall. I went to the professor's office. He was not in, but there was a copy of the review for the test. I started to work on the review in one of the study areas in Todd hall.

At about nine fifteen the professor showed up and I was able to take my test. It took me about one hour and fifteen minutes to do it. There were a few things I was not prepared for. So, I know I did not do all that well on it. I then headed back to Colfax where I met up with Greg at the fire station. We were going to Spokane to take the fire department test.

When we got up there we met up with Jim at the Onion for lunch. The Onion happens to be two blocks from where we were taking the test. The waiter was a young guy. Blonde hair and blue eyes. His hair had that purposely messy look to it. Every now and again I would hear the ever so familiar twang in his voice. He would throw off the slight OGT. I had a suspicion. He seemed interested in Greg. He was staring over our way a lot. I would look over to where he was and it seemed like he was totally staring our way. When we got our bill I paid mine, gave a tip and wrote at the bottom "keep it in the family". I figured if he was gay that he would know what I was saying, if not he would either be confused as hell, or would still know what I meant and be pissed that I would say that.

We then walked to the convention center. We were waiting outside. Tim showed up, then Matt came by. We all hung out until they started to seat people. There was a huge room full of tables. Hundreds of tables. I was one of the first to finish my test. I went through it pretty quick.

I went outside and waited for Greg. While waiting for him Mirenda who was waiting for Chuck came in and we talked for a while. Then Matt came out. Followed by Jason, then Chuck, and finally Greg.

Greg and I headed back to Colfax. I dropped him off at the fire station and continued to my house. I got changed and headed to Pullman since I was on call. At this point there were only six more hours of being in my twenties. I went to the station and we headed down to station one for cascade system training. That was a brief training. I watched TV and worked on my computer a little bit at the station. I watched SouthPark down there and then headed to my office.

When I was there Meredith and I chatted online for a while. She asked if she could bring her new boyfriend and Nick along. i said that would be just fine. We chatted until about eleven thirty. Only thirty minutes of me being a twenty-something. I was thinking about going to bed, but I decided to stay up and wait out my twenties. Soon it turned midnight. There settled it. I am no longer a twenty year old. I am now the big three-oh.

I headed off to bed.

===written early today===
As I write this I am in the waning hours of my twenties. I am only a short period of time away from being the big three-oh. It will be strange for me to never again tell anyone that I am twenty-something years old. I guess it was bound to happen, but many times as a youngen I would want the time to fly by so I could be older, now I would be happy for it to slow down so I am not older. I have many friends in their twenties. Most of them in the early to mid-twenties. So being in the late twenties, I was always was older than the others. But being around them I never viewed myself as being "old". But it is hard to get around it when you are thirty.

I suppose I can make friends with a bunch of forty year old people. That would make me seem younger. I would feel younger too.

What is interesting now that I am thirty does that mean I need to be in bed by midnight now and no more all night drinking. I surely hope not. Because that would be no fun.

My twenties have been an interesting time in my life. I have seem my later years of college. I have been able to go to bars. I went through training to be a county deputy. Graduated from the academy only to miss the run by fifteen seconds. So, I went to work in the jail Which in of itself changed my life. It became a career for a while. I worked there full time and part time. I went to the corrections officer academy. I saw myself get really big into softball. I worked for a computer company and moved to California. I because a fire fighter. I bought a truck and a house. I got a dog and a cat. I came out to myself. I came out to my friends. I came out in the school newspaper so then my co-workers knew. The only ones who don't know are those at Colfax and those at the county. I have seen friends come and go. I have seen a lot of things happen to me and for me.

I got a Corvette then a few years later traded it for a boat. I because really good friends with a gay guy, something I would never have done ten years ago. My life perspective has changed but still is very much the same. I became a college graduate. I chose to leave Renton and live in Whitman County.

If you would have asked me when I was nineteen if I would be a fire fighter, a jailer, a gay man, a East-sider. I probably would have said no to all of it. I am finishing up another ten years of my life and I think I have more to do, more to accomplish, but I am proud of what I have done so far.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

Christmas Season

I came in late, so I worked late. Not that big of a deal. I skipped fire training so I could study for my test in Accounting for tomorrow morning. I could not get into studying. I talked to my mom for a while, Bill had gone in for a surgery to fix some stuff. She was worried about him going in, but he did fine. He will be in the hospital for a few days recovering.

I went to the fire station because I thought there was going to be a card game. Turned out that one did not start up, so Carl and I chatted for a while and watched some TV.

The fire department every year has a toy give away to needy family's. People are able to come in and get a free toy for their kids. We spend thousands of dollars buying the toys. Most items are worth between ten and thirty dollars each. There are toys for really young kids to seventeen year olds. What has made me frustrated is that with the tons of people who come in and are happy for the help. There are a few who come in and ruin it.

One person came in grabbed a stack of DVD's and a few other toys and pretty much scurried out. One other person came in and complained about the selection saying there should be more "high ticket" toys available. You look at these people and shake your head in disbelief.

Monday, December 15, 2003

My response to the editor.

I got the letter I planned on writing to the editor completed and sent in. I have a copy of it below. I also spent the whole day at the sheriff's office redoing the report writing computer. I put in a new CD-ROM drive and then blew away the HD. Reformatted and started over. It now runs better. I hope that it will not get messed up again.

When I left here I went to Pullman for fire training. We were doing patient assessment. It was a quick training. I got my photo taken for the fire board. I had long hair and I was unshaven. I looked horrible. But Tony wanted to take it, so I said screw it. I don't care how bad I look.

John, Dan, and I went to play cards at my office for a while. We were done at ten pm. I went back to Colfax.

I decided to do push-ups and stretching each night before bed. I am doing three sets of ten push-ups and then a full stretching regiment. This is the second day. I will keep you posted on my results.

Below is my letter to the editor.


Editor,

When I read an article with arguments that are as poorly supported as the one Alex Whitefield wrote, I have to demand that WSU require basic logic or philosophy classes.

The premise of Whitefield's article is that WSU Fire does not meet the needs of WSU. He claims a "logical examination" will shed light on why WSU Fire should be eliminated.

He says that Pullman Fire should cover WSU for fire and EMS calls. The law says differently. Until 2005 WSU cannot contract with the city for that protection. So, WSU must supply this program.

In many paragraph’s Whitefield has no arguments that are valid or serve in proving his premise. In one paragraph, the first part says that WSU Fire does not meet the needs of today's WSU students, because "today's firefighter is also a trained EMT." This claim is false since many firefighters are still only trained to a basic first responder level. However, in WSU Fire’s case, all of the firefighters are EMT's.

The second part is a moot point. Rarely, if ever, do EMT's respond to a rape call. But the argument is that what if the all-male WSU Fire showed up on a rape call. I am not sure how he can logically equate an all-male department with the need for elimination of a program.

In another paragraph he claims WSU Fire should be eliminated because "Pullman Fire left the back doors of the ambulance open". HUH? Where is the logic he promised earlier?

A fire call at the CUE nearly causes the death of hundreds of students. That would be a great headline if he were writing an article for some fantasy newspaper. In reality, the wheel chocks are made to hold the weight of the fire engine. Fire departments all over the world park on steep hills. Does Whitefield think that steep hills only happen at WSU?

If Whitefield believes that WSU needs to have a fire science degree to have a resident program, I think that shows his lack of understanding of the WSU Fire resident program. The statement that WSU is not the place to educate future civil servants is again without logic. WSU is a university. Not surprisingly people of all walks of life and in all fields of study come here to learn. Yes, even future police officers and fire fighters come here to learn.

Whitefield seems to be bitter about something and has a vendetta against the WSU Fire department. This has clouded he judgment and made his arguments illogical, even though in the beginning of his editorial he claims that he will make a logical examination of the program.

I am not a WSU firefighter, nor have I ever been. I have a background in fire services. I know many of the services provided by WSU Fire. I encourage anyone interested in learning about the legitimate and timely services provided by WSU Fire to talk with them. They are friendly people who are here to help all of us.

Scotty Anderson
Senior, MIS

Sunday, December 14, 2003

Working days at the jail.

I had to work at the jail this morning. I got up at about six am and headed to Colfax. I got out of my fire department uniform and into my jail uniform. I booked two people into jail. The rest of the day I spent in control. It was quite boring after that.

I stayed late to do a hearing on someone who was caught smoking and then I went home. I got out of my uniform and vegetated. I watched the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle before finally heading off to bed.

Saturday, December 13, 2003

Illogical at best.

I got up this morning and drove to Colfax. I let Amber out and then went to bed. I was still tired. I figured I could either get stuff done or get some sleep. I choose sleep. I was up in time to get ready to head to Pullman since I was covering for Shane on C Shift. While at the station I was working on my laptop. I had upgraded to Visual Studio.NET 2003. I am working on learning Visual C# and web forms. I am working with a book to do this learning. I made one small app. All it does is takes a name from a field, that someone types in, and concatenates it with the word "hello". Nothing big really. But it is all mine!

I was talking to Jason and he pointed out a letter to the editor that appeared in the Daily Evergreen. It was claiming that the WSU Fire services was no longer needed. It was a horrible letter. The letter is posted below.


WSU fire services not necessary

Editor:

Our education is being undermined by WSU. As class sizes
grow and teachers and resources are spread thin, we
continue to maintain past programs that don't meet the
needs of this school. One of the most visible examples
of this is WSU Fire.

A logical examination of this program's illegitimacy
will shed light on why it should be eliminated.

We must consider who is responsible for protecting this
school If WSU falls within the city limits of Pullman,
then it would seem logical that Pullman Fire should cover
our school. WSU brings in millions of dollars for the
city of Pullman; I think the least they can do is provide
these services.

WSU Fire doesn't meet the needs of WSU students. Today's
firefighter is also a trained EMT. Medical calls
overwhelmingly predominate fire calls. Half of the school's
population is female, yet there is not one female
firefighter. Rape is a sad reality on this campus.
How well will a male firefighter meet the needs of a
female rape victim?

At a WSU-Cal football game three years ago, Pullman Fire
left the back doors of the ambulance open as it drove
across the field with an injured player.

At the beginning of this year, WSU responded to a fire
call at the CUE. They parked their truck a couple hundred
feet from the station, on one of the steepest hills at
WSU, with hundreds of students surrounding it. This is a
recipe for disaster. Brakes fail, and what if the wheel
chalks were not able to stop the weight of the truck on
such a steep hill? Fortunately, in both cases, no one
was hurt.

Many of these fire-fighters are in a learning program,
but WSU is not a fire science school. I realize the need
to educate future civil servants, but this is not the
place.

There are hundreds of institutions around the nation
that specialize in fire science and emergency medical
education. I wish the best for all of WSU's firefighters,
and I want them to get the best education possible, but I
wonder if they are getting it? How much real life
experience can the Palouse provide these people?

Next semester, when you are signing that fat tuition check,
think about where you want that money going.

Alex Whitefield
junior, CES.


Wow. That was illogical. The evidence he used does not back up his claim. I plan on writing a letter to the editor in response.

Friday, December 12, 2003

Fixing up the report writing computer... alllll day.

I nodded off in the report writing room as about four gig was copying from the computer to the server. So, I got up and started the install. It was slow going. I worked on it for about seven hours. Leaving at about one pm. I had installed it twice. I also found out the CD-ROM drive was dead. That did not help anything.

Then I got home and was expecting a call from the Cobalt Group for a job interview on the phone. They talked to me for about twenty minutes about technology stuff and customer service. When that was done I went to sleep for a while. I was really tired.

I got up since I had to be in Pullman by six pm for being on call. I spent most of the evening at the fire station. Nothing at all happened. It was dead all night long. I finally went to bed around midnight.

Thursday, December 11, 2003

Working all day and night.

I worked a full ten hours today, and then I was called to cover for Bryan who was covering for Michael. I went to Pullman. We took the rigs to the tower and helped with the rookie training. It was dealing with fire extinguishers and taking a hydrant. Then they crawled in the tower for a little bit on air to get use to it.

Afterwards Brandon and I went to Papa John's for some pizza. I drove back to Colfax to work on the deputy's computer. It has been acting terribly. I worked on it starting at midnight. I was copying files from the computer to the server so I could blow away the machine. At about two am I went to sleep for a few hours.

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Second A Shift. We got a call.

Today was the last day of Accounting Two-Thirty. I was in class and I spent some of the time enjoying the sights for one last time. The other time I spent listening to the teacher. I found one new ten-six-seven. Too bad it is the last day of class. That is okay though, since I did not notice until today, obviously he was in a hard place to see real easy. There were two ten-six-seven's that I spent most of my time looking at. One was in the same row as me. He was good looking in a twinkish-rugged way. The other one sat a few rows below me. He was well toned. He had nicely done hair. Good eyes and face. I saw his back and his arms all the time. Very nice to look at. A fine looking guy for sure. It is too bad I will not get to see him anymore.

When I got out of class today I had planned on going to my office and working on learning about JSP and Flash. I was only there a short time when I realized I had HazMat training. I headed to the station as a call was toned out for a car on it's top on highway one-ninety-five. I was pulling into the station as the Rescue was about to leave. Then I heard dispatch re-toned it and say to cancel. Police on scene said it was non-injury.

I went inside and got my turnout top into the rescue to take to HazMat training. I am on call, so I was going to be on rescue down there. We got about an hour into training when a call for a car accident came in. It was snowing and was slippery. We went code to the scene behind the Ambulance. We got on scene within a few minutes. Alex and Shane both happened across the accident. They had C-Spine and some medical history going. We got the patient out of the car and took her to the hospital. Seems her car went out of control and went head on with a kid in a Toyota truck. He was doing okay.

We got back to training. We were doing chemical experiments on unknown substances. That was a lot of fun. Reminded me of being in Chemistry. When we were done, we went back to the station and washed the Rescue. Chuck was going to get some pizza. I wanted the same thing. He asked Bryan if he wanted to go in on a pizza, but never asked me. That was once again disappointing.

I drove to Little Ceasers pizza to get a pizza like Chuck. I had just walked in the door when a call came out for an electrical problem. I knew I was not going to go since I did not have full bunker gear, but I responded to the station. I wrote the call in the book. Shortly after everyone left in the rigs, the incident commander said that all incoming units could cancel. So when the rigs got back I helped to wash them.

Then John and I played a round of cribbage. I was in the lead, but he counted first. He needed a certain card to come up, and he got it. So his hand was worth fourteen. He needed only twelve. So I lost. I left and went to McDonald's for dinner and then I went to my office. I looked up some stuff on JSP and Flash. Then I read a little bit about JavaScript.

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

Tuesday night poker.

So I got to work late. Damn it anyway. It seemed like it was a long day, sort of dragged on. I have been working on getting some computers ready to use in the treasurers office. When the mainframe is moved from the basement of the jail to the in IS building, then the old dumb terminals will no longer work.

The country treasurer also needed my help trying to get files off an old five and a quarter floppy disk. I had to get one of the surplus computers hooked up to do that. I got the files, but it was not what he was hopping it was. I stayed and worked late to make up for being late on Monday.

Following work I went to the fire station for our monthly business meeting. We voted for new officers. I was nominated with six others for president. Clark ended up winning. After training Jimmy, Jim, Carl, and I played cards. It was a lot of fun.

I was talking about playing poker back when I was in middle school in band. Jim said "this one time at band camp..." Then I chimed in, "I got a flush." Then I paused and said "it was called summer's eve." Everyone was laughing so hard. We were having fun.

A call came out at the high school for a person with an injury at the basketball game. It seems that three players collided; one of them broke his collar bone. He was in a lot of pain. We got there and the dad wanted to take his son to the hospital himself. Dad was not happy that we were there. We did not do a whole lot, except to help the kid to the car.

We went back and played about two more rounds of cards and that was it for the night. Jim, Ken, and I talked for a little while and then we headed out. I got home around eleven thirty.

Monday, December 08, 2003

First A Shift. All is quiet.

I went to class today. The homework that was due was not collected. That was good since I did not get it done. This was the second to the last class. I was told that I would be able to get my test early so I could get to Spokane for my fire fighter test. That is good news.

I got a call from John asking me about what had happened between Matt and I on Thursday. He said that Michael had mentioned to him that he was concerned about my behaviour on my last day. I explained the whole story to him. He said he understood.

He said that since there was no training he wanted to play card at my office. Dan was going to play as well. We met up at about seven pm and started to play. I did really well. I ended up beat John. Dan I think broke even.

John and I played until just after eleven pm. I was also on call on A Shift for my first time. Dan had asked about why I traded shifts. I told him simply that there were some problems on my old shift. I will tell him the whole story another day. We did not get any calls on my first night.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

Out of the dog house

Since I did not have to work this morning I slept in again. Actually I only got about seven hours of sleep, but I did get out of bed at one pm. I went to bed at five o'clock am, however.

I Got lunch, and then started in on building my deck railing. I need to get it done for the insurance company. They said they are going to drop my over it. So, I am getting it done finally. It was not all that easy with the tools that I have and the lack of extra hands. Actually I should have used my saw horses I have. I did not even think about it at the time.

Dan was on his way over to help with the dog house and he got to my place just as I was finishing the railing. It worked out pretty well. We started in on the dog house. We made a few measurements of Amber and got started. It took until almost five thirty to build it. We started at about 3 pm. So that was not too bad. We used some old two by fours that Dan had given to me. They worked out great. Plus I had some plywood that I used. It is about ninety-five percent done. I still have to put some indoor/outdoor carpet on the roof so she can lay on the roof. I am going to put some of the carpet to use as a door as well.

When Dan left I went in and cleaned up. I vegetated in front of the TV watching the Simpsons, Malcom in the Middle, and a few other shows I flipped through.

Saturday, December 06, 2003

Four Hearings!

I slept in, because I could. And it was nice! Then I decided it was time to start my day. I went to the fire station first. I ate lunch and talked with Jenny as I watched Gonzaga win their basketball game. Then I headed out for Pullman Building Supply. I had to get some lumber for building a dog house and a railing for my deck.

I got there and Brandon was working. It was nice to see him. He is a good guy, and a good friend of Russell. He actually went on my boat with me this summer. He helped by select my wood and I got come nails and screws. Wow, if you have a dirty mind that could be sort of funny... talking about getting wood, nailed, and screwed!

Back on topic now.

I went home and unloaded the wood. I was going to need to use it on Sunday when Dan would be coming over to help me build the dog house.

I got in my corrections officer uniform and went to work at the jail. I did not have to work Saturday dayshift so I thought I would make money instead of spending money this evening. I figured we could do some shakedowns. We ended up doing a shakedown on Male Work Release. We found a number of contraband items, including tobacco, ink pens, unauthorized food items from the kitchen and more. We got about four hearings out it, plus the whole unit lost smoking privileges for two weeks.

I worked about nine and a quarter total hours when it was all said and done.

Friday, December 05, 2003

Adult Swim without getting wet

I worked for a fair amount of the day in IS. I was hoping to get off in time to get to the lumber store before they closed. I missed them. I was not able to get the lumber pick up done like I was hoping.

Being the first Friday of the month I knew there was a show in Moscow. But I was on call for the coroner's office and I was not sure if Russell was going to go. I chose early in the day not to go. I talked to Ron about Pullman/Moscow Building Supply. He told me their hours and said they would be open on Saturday.

He invited me to Zeppoz where everyone would be meeting for the Adult Swim presented by Cartoon Network. I got a DVD of Space Ghost and a stress ball. I gambled a little bit and chatted with Russell and all the others.

Michele stayed and gambled more after everyone else left, I stayed with her to make sure she would be okay and safe. She had won some money and I did not want her to be threatened by anyone. I was there until around two am. We both left at the same time.

Thursday, December 04, 2003

Last original C-Shifter is gone.

Today was my final day on C shift at the fire department. We had training tonight. We met at WSU fire. Right around seven o'clock we got a call for a dumpster fire at the Old Post Office. We went in Engine and Rescue to the call. Started out going code, however we stopped going code when we heard it was just smoking.

We got on scene. Then command asked from Rescue to come up to the scene and pack up. We got up there, however I did not have my turnout pants, since they are getting fixed. So I hung out by the engine and helped do the mop up. After that we headed back to WSU and we turned the new communication building, saw the outside of the new power plant, and then looked at one other building.

We headed to Station one since we had to use our engine to show the reserve recruits some of the hose lays. While we were down there I was helping to load the hose on the truck. I saw it was starting out messed up, I started to say "hold on, hold on, hold on,..." Then Matt said "Scott, you're messing it up." I responded "fuck off, Matt". I don't normally say things like that, but he was accusing me of messing something up in front of the new guys. What was funny was that he said that it was not appropriate for me to tell him to fuck off in front of the recruits. I was pissed.

When we got back to the station we cleaned the rigs, then had a little chat with Michael. The other person who did not know that I was leaving was Jason. But, when we told him, someone had told him. So he actually knew. No big deal really.

After everyone left the bay Matt came out and talked to me. He told me again he did not like it and thought I was out of line. I told him what I heard him say and what I was doing, and I thought what he said was out of line. He said that he think, and so do many others, that I have had a bad attitude. He said that he thinks that I heard him wrong and that I was looking at something to get mad over. I told him that is not the case. I told him it could be the case that I am not all that friendly anymore, but that is because I don't care and I am not trying anymore. If someone wants to be my friend he can put forth some effort. If someone does not care about being my friend, then I am not going to be mr. nice guy as I am crapped on by those people. I told him how I feel used by many of those people. I told him how it seems that no one is my friend, don't really want me around, but if there is a problem, they come to me. I am tired of that.

I guess in some ways I am not fake. I am not going to hang around someone and pretend to like him. If I don't like him I am just going to be quiet around him. I think both Matt and I left with a better understanding of everything. He ended by saying, so really there is not a problem; this is just the "new Scott".

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

Mr. Z was nice again.

We are all using the Virtual In/Out Board I built as part of ISMan. ISMan is an intranet application I have been working on the last year plus. In the old office we share a large room and it was easy to see where everyone one was since we had a white board by the door and we would write on it where we were going. Now we are in a new office building. Here I can not easily see where other people are. I built an In/Out board that is online. It will update itself every few minutes so I can say where I am going on the board without making announcements before I leave. At first the other guys did not want to use it and the women did. But everyone is on board with it now. It is cool to see my application get use.

I went to class. It was one of my last classes. I have two more and that is all. Then I am done with that class. After the class I was sticking around Pullman since I had a doctor's appointment at six thirty. I am finally getting my ankle looked at and my sore muscle in my right arm. That has been hurting for a while.

I went to the fire station to try on a few different pair of boots to replace my old ones. I found a pair I liked so Capt Van Ness issued them to me. We were talking about fire department stuff when the second alarm tones went off for WSU and Pullman fire. There was a kitchen grease fire going in a house. So they left.

While I was talking to Capt Van Ness I got a phone call from Michele about going to Zeppoz to hang out. I headed up there and had a few beers and played some cards in Mr. Z's casino. I won pretty well at Mr. Z's. I had a one hundred dollar chip with me. So I decided to play it on one card of black jack. Russell was dealing. I was dealt a seventeen. Russell had a six showing. I was still slightly worried. His bottom card ended up being a two. He had eight. He flipped a seven. Now he had fifteen. I was feeling better. He flipped another seven. He got twenty-two. I won. I walked out up a lot then.

I paid my bill for the beer and food. Michele, Heather, Ron, Dan, and I all sat down at a table. We drank some more and chatted. Then I went back to the casino. I won about two bucks after I did some tipping of the dealers. I did well over all on the night.

I headed home and watched Futurama and the Family Guy and headed to bed.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

Merry Christmas! My first party for the Christmas Season.

I am still working on cleaning and moving in to my new office. I have most of the surplus equipment in the office. It is pretty full. It is like someone said when building a house the large stuff goes quick, but then the details are painfully slow. I am working on the details now. I have a ton of boxes with small stuff in them. I have to sort through the boxes and then find a place for everything.

At six o'clock I headed down to the Colfax High School for the Colfax Fire Department's Christmas Party. It was a nice time. I had a lot of food and fun with people. I hung out with Greg for a bit. I sat at a table with a different Greg. His son was there. I did not know Greg had a son. He was a nice guy also could be considered ten-six-seven. I was also with Jim and Connie. I helped to clean up before I left.

After the dinner I went to the IS office and filled out an application to get on the Spokane Fire Department's hiring list. I doubt I will get a job there, but I figured I have a slightly better chance if I fill out an application rather than if I don't.

I went home pretty late. I watched TV for a few minutes and then headed to bed.

Monday, December 01, 2003

Missing a quiz is bad.

It is only seventeen days until I am the big three-oh. I am not looking forward to saying I am in my thirty's.
Since Thanksgiving is over it is time to hit the books again. We have only two weeks of classes before our next and final test. I need to talk to Rob about which class he is taking next I plan on signing up for it so we can help each other again.

I got out of work about thirty minutes late for getting to class. I ended up being late. When I came inside they were taking a quiz. So, I thought I missed the points. After class I went down and talked to the teacher. She let me take a make up quiz.

There was no fire training for me tonight so I went back to Colfax. I spent some time working on getting my stereo system working well. I hooked the cable to it, and now it works well. I hooked additional speakers. It is nice and loud. I also hooked the CD player to it.