First practice as a Mauler

I worked late today because I had practice for my softball team over by the Woodland Park Zoo. I did not want to drive home and then go to the field so I just stayed at work.

I got to the field and got ready. We did some team warm ups and stretching. I was pitching well, hit the ball well, and fielded well. It felt good to do that. Before we got going with practice one of the coaches who plays in a higher division asked me if I was gay. He said everyone wants to know. I asked why he wanted to know. He said, oh, you are gay. I sort of shook my head but that was it.

Following practice several of us went to eat. We were in a Mexican food restaurant and they talked themselves out of thinking that I am gay. By the time we were done eating all of them though I was straight. I never confirmed that. I just let everyone think what they wanted to think.

I am now a Mauler

I talked with Don from my softball team and decided that I would play on his team. I notified the other team that I would be playing on the Maulers. I am excited about practice coming up. I am still waiting to really get going on any real project.

Southpark!

The big thing that happened today was watching SouthPark! YAY!

Day two. Yawn.

I got to work closed to eight-thirty or nine o’clock today. It is getting to more of a normal time for me. I didn’t do anything again today.

I went to Jodi’s baseball game. They lost. They really got beaten pretty badly.

Day one at a new job

I went to bed early and I was able to get up early and started my morning. I got the instructions on how to get to the office so I did not get lost. I headed out the door and made a stop of Chuck’s Donuts for breakfast. I got some pop from Hop-In grocery. I was off.

I spent about thirty-five minutes getting to the office. I showed up at the front counter and I talked to the receptionist. It was shortly after eight am. Hardly anyone was here and none of the developers were here.

I was introduced to people around the building. I spent some time talking to the CEO. She had her dog here. I petted her dog. I was waiting on getting my computer. The IT guy was having problems getting it going. I was not in a huge hurry to get it.

Around nine o’clock I had met some of the other people who I would be working with including Win, Ryan, and Terry. I didn’t do anything through out the day except talk with new people.

I got my computer in the afternoon and started to get it fixed up for me to use. I customized everything and put on my favorites and some of my files. I have two monitors like back at IS in Colfax. I have my computer set up in many ways like I did when I was over there.

I went home around five o’clock pm. I got there and Bill was asking what I did today. I told him that I did not do anything. Everyone seemed to be asking how I like the job. I can’t say that I am too thrilled at this point.

On my way to Seattle and a new life

Today is my last day in Pullman. I have to head out to Seattle because I start a new job tomorrow. I have so much work to get done at IS that I don’t know if I will finish it all up. I worked for a few hours. I got some stuff filed but I did not get nearly as much completed as I would have hoped.

I still had to head home and pack for the trip. I got my clothes and laptop packed and ready to go. I put plastic on the back seat so Amber would not get her hair everywhere. I got the stuff out of the truck I was not going to bring back to Seattle. I loaded my truck and got Amber in. Away we went to Seattle. I got there in the same amount of time as normal. My parents were happy to see me. Amber played with the parents and unloaded my truck.

I stayed up and watched the Simpson’s and Malcolm in the Middle before going to bed at about ten o’clock am. I wanted to get up and get to work at eight am for my first day.

Thunder football Saturday.

I expected to sleep in a little bit today. However I had to get stuff done today. I had all sorts of plans that all flew out the window. I ended up keeping it simple.

After being woken up by Ron I started to get ready. The first thing I had to do was get to my office and try to get some work done. I worked for a while but I did not get nearly enough stuff done before I had to get headed out to Moscow for the football game.

I arrived at the Kibbie Dome at about four-forty-five pm. I went on the field with the other guys. I threw the ball around and ran around a little bit. My ankle was feeling great. I threw the football around for a while and then headed into the locker room to start to change.

We listened to music and started to get fired up waiting for the game to get underway. I got all my gear on looking like a guy who has major problems. An ankle brace, two knee braces, elbow pads, and under armor. I wear most of that stuff as a precaution. The only thing I have to wear in the ankle brace, but that is only for a few more weeks.

We ran out on the field and did our stretches and some run throughs of some plays. We went back in the locker room where the coaches talked with us. Then they announced the starting line ups for both teams, then we ran to our sidelines.

The game started well for us and we really did not look back. We won the game and never really trailed. As expected some of the Yakima players were doing a lot of cheap shots. One guy was almost thrown out of the game. When the game was over we went to shake each others’ hands. That guy ran to the locker room and did not face us. What a coward!

We all went to the center of the field where we prayed and then broke up. I got changed back into street clothes and called Ron. We were talking about going out and having a beer. It turned out that we did not. I called Ryan and told him that I would be by his place to pick him up in about seven minutes. I was there and waited for about five minutes. He never came out or anything. So I decided that I was not going to call or wait any longer. I left.

I went to my office for a while and did some stuff on the computer. I also had to go to the fire station and turn in my timecard. En route to the fire station I see a cop behind me. Then the lights came on. I could see it was a state trooper. I was worried because there were about ten troopers from out of the area and I figured I was getting a ticket for speeding. If I was speeding it was not by much. I saw him in my rear view mirror. It was the trooper from the night before. He was the one I let into the hospital. I reminded him of that.

I knew before I told him who I was that I wasn’t going to get a ticket because he pulled me over for no license plates. So, that was not a big deal. When he found out who I was, he loosened up and told me about taking the guy from the hospital to the jail. He said the guy left about an inch of pee on the floor of the patrol car.

I went to the jail and hung out there for about an hour talking with those guys. They told me more to the story. I also found out the patrol car was brand new with less than two thousand miles. Around two o’clock in the morning I decided to take off and go home.

Big Friday night.

Unless something happens I am starting the last day at Whitman County Information Services. I was holding out hope. I got in to work and planned on doing what needed to get done and ignoring the small requests from people. I ended up getting woken up by a call from Brandon. I was almost two hours late to work. Not a good day to do that. I got into work and found two fires I had to put out. One user’s computer was dead and another user’s files were all gone.

The first problem was not a hard drive problem like others thought it was. It was a problem of a dead monitor. The second problem dealt with using the tape backups and restoring the files. The best I could do was last Friday’s tapes.

I then started to get the other things that I had to get done. I did not have a lot of time because I was meeting Thomas for lunch. We ate at Top Notch. I told him of my plans of moving and asked if he could get my mail. He said he would. He asked if I would be going to the show. I told him I was on call and could not leave Pullman.

I went back to the office and got ready for my going away party. We were having a celebration from two to four pm. I wish it would have been only thirty minutes so I could get more work done.

Many people from around the county showed up and said good-bye. They had cake and talked with me. I got some cards from people and I got a nice mirror with the Mariner’s logo on it from the IS department. I got a trophy of an apple with the words “Good to the Core” on it. I also got some books. It was nice to see people stop by.

Eunice was there and she snuck up and gave me a hug. But I did not know it was her and thought it was Scott who did it. Scott is a ten-six-seven. I pointed at him and said “I didn’t know who was hugging me... the scary this is that I thought it was you.” He said “What is so scary about that?” He then came over and gave me a hug.

After the party I went back and got to work. I had to also get to Pullman to do my last shift at Pullman Fire. I tried to finish up the day as good as I could. But it is pretty obvious that I was not going to be able to do everything I needed to do.

After failing to do what I was hoping to get done I was off to my house to change into my fire department uniform and then over to Pullman. I met up with Ryan and we went to rent a movie and picked up some dinner at Burger King. We got American Wedding then headed to the fire station.

I talked to Russell. He asked if I was going to go to the show in Moscow. I told him that I was not planning on it. I had to stay in Pullman because I was on call.

Ryan and I started to watch American Wedding on TV and were waiting for Third Watch to start. We ended up watching American Wedding to the end and only saw the last twenty minutes of Third Watch. After Third Watch was over we were talking with some of the other people down there. We had a call come in, but we did not leave the building on that one.

Mirenda, Brian, and I were talking about stuff. Then Brian asked him straight-up if I was gay. I looked him directly in the eye and told him the truth. We then talked about it for a little while. I told him about the article in the Daily Evergreen. He said he could tell. I asked him how. He said it was nothing big, but a bunch of little things. He said he lived and worked in an area where everyone was gay. He said he has finely tuned gay-dar and can see that stuff very well.

He said he did not have a problem with it at all. He said that he wanted to know the truth from me rather than listening to the rumor mill. That is why he came directly to me. Brian is a really cool guy. When I was having a bad week a few weeks ago and was in a bad mood, he was the only one who saw it and asked if everything was okay. I think he is the kind of guy who can be friends with anyone.

I took Ryan home after that. I called up Russell and he said he was going to the after-party at Nik’s apartment. I decided that I would go to that. It was going to start at two-thirty in the morning. I went to get some pop from the gas station and the drove to Nik’s apartment. Russell said that he and Nick were going to go to it.

I found a place to park about one block away. I walked up to the apartment and there were many people coming that direction. I went to his apartment and went inside. I saw Nik. He came over and shook my hand. He invited me outside with him to have a smoke. We went to the main level and he had a smoke and I chatted with him. There were about five or six other gay guys standing around. Some of them were very obvious when they talked, a few others were less obvious. I chatted with them and listened for a little bit, then a call came out. It was at Stadium Way near Monroe. That was bad, because that is the way I needed to go. I ended up going to B street and then to Stadium way.

I went past the scene of the accident. I could see there were a lot of cop cars there and one of the cop cars was involved in the wreck. We got into Rescue and headed to the scene. I helped to get the guy out of the back of the patrol car where he had been placed by the police after the accident. He had tried to run from the cops and ran his truck into a county deputy. The deputy was unhurt.

We took the kid to the hospital. He did not have a lot to say to us at the time. We dropped him off and then cleaned the cot. When I was going into the hospital there was a state trooper who needed into the hospital. I unlocked the door for him to get in.

We cleared the scene and went back to the station. I got my truck and headed back to Nik’s apartment. I had a voicemail from Russell, he said that he and Nick left about ten minutes prior to me getting the voicemail. So I diverted to Russell’s. I pulled in to Russell’s apartment complex and I could see the car in front of me was Russell. I thought I would play with them. So I got right up on their bumper and the backed off and did the same thing again. Russell figured out it was me. We got out of our rigs and talked for a few minutes. I said goodbye to Russell and Nick. I gave a nice firm handshake to Nick. I got a small hug from Russell.

I then got to Nik’s apartment. I went inside and there was loud music blasting through out the apartment. I could not believe how loud it was. Some people were still drinking and being loud. It was about four-thirty in the morning by this time. I sat on the couch and watched the guys dance. Nik said he was getting ready to pull the plug on the party at about five o’clock am. It was good because I was getting tired, but I did not want to go back and sleep for an hour in the uncomfortable chair I use to sleep on while in Pullman.

I gave Nik a big hug and he said he wants to hang out and do something later this summer. He also said he was real happy for me with my new job. I went to Jack in the Box to get some breakfast. It was about five-thirty in the morning. I decided to head to Colfax and call it a night.

A downer day.

I came into work from working Pullman fire. For the first hour I was okay, and then I started to go down hill. I got really tired. I thought about skipping class at WSU and sleeping, but I chose to go. I had to get some work done around the county. I was really starting to think my time was up.

I went to the HR department and talked to the HR coordinator. She told me what she had discovered. Then she pulled out the book and read the section again. What she found was something that said my job could be made critical without having to re-advertise it a few times. So she was going to notify the commissioners and my boss. I thought that was a cool little development. I had some hope again.

I headed out to class and I called my boss. I told her what I had found out. Then I went to Pullman and to class. Class was pretty good. There were people doing their oral presentations on the completion reports we did. After class was over I went to my truck and headed back to Colfax. I had gotten a call from Twiggy to see if I could cover for him for a while. I told him I would.

I got a few more tasks done that I needed to get done. I was really hopeful through out the day. I was in the Sheriff's Office talking to Poffenroth. We were chatting about where I would be going and my job. I also was trying to get the last laptop deployed to the deputy who gets it.

When it was close to five thirty I left for Pullman. I did not change into fire clothes. I just went in my normal clothing and I figured if there was a call I would just wear turnouts. It turns out there were no calls. Twiggy came to the station and we talked about the WSU/Pullman fire merger. I don't want to see it happen. I like that WSU has its own identity and what not. He thinks it will be good for the community.

It was a little after nine o'clock. I wanted to go to the IM fields and see who was playing softball. I was hoping it was Joey's team. I got there and found it was Garrett's team. I stood there talking to an IM staffer. We were talking about our teams and watching the game. I was quietly rooting for the Swamp Donkeys. They are a good team. But more importantly I did not want to see Garrett get the championship. He won the whole thing and he said to me "I finally got a shirt, Scotty."

That he did. I went home and spent about an hour talking with Ryan about his situation and him being unhappy at the moment. I talked to him about the upcoming move I am not looking forward to.

Second to last night on call.

I was so tired this morning I slept in too long. I kept trying to get up but I couldn't finally I called in and said I was not feeling well enough to work right now and that I would be in later. I finally did get up and going at about eleven o'clock. I worked out the rest of the day.

I found out that the critical position designation cannot be given and therefore I cannot get the raise we would like to see, therefore I am going to be leaving. I am very bummed about that. I e-mailed a huge list of people I know to let them know what is going on.

I headed to Pullman for training and to be on call. We had HazMat refresher training. Then we went to the station and watched the end of the M's game. The M's gave up three runs in the ninth inning and ended up losing the game.

I went to my office and chatting online for a while. I went to Jon's room in Rogers for a little while. We had some fun and then I left and went back to the office. I talked with Ryan online and finally headed to bed at about midnight.

But sleep was not on the schedule for today. We had two calls back-to-back. It was four in the morning. The tones go off for a detox. We got there and we were cancelled. The police came out from the apartment. It was Matt and Mike. I told them I was off. Matt gave me a good firm hand shake and wished me luck. Matt is a really good guy. We got back to the station. We all got home and were crawling into bed went the second call came out. It was a detox at the police department.

We got on scene and I fully expected to be cancelled. We instead were asked to bring the cot inside. We got inside and a young man was sitting in the restraint chair. The restraint chair is something people get strapped to when they are a danger to themselves or someone else. Someone's arms, legs, chest, and waist are all strapped so there is no movement.

There was some substance all over the floor. It looked like something was sprinkled on the floor to clean up another spill of some sort. It turns out the kid peed in his pants and it was all over the floor. That was not fun. Taking one limb out of the restraint chair's straps at a time we put our own restraints on. He was tied down to the cot using each limb, then we seat belted him in. We put him in the cot. He went from crying to angry quickly.

This went on to the hospital. At the hospital we moved him to a hospital bed. We restrained him again. During the time there we talked about stuff. I tried to keep him calm. I asked him about being an EMT. I asked him where he was an EMT. I asked him about his plans after graduation.

We cleared the hospital a little before six o'clock AM. I decided that I would get my stuff and head back to Colfax so I could get some work done.

Our of the playoffs

Today is day two of our playoffs. I am excited for our game this evening. I also realize that it could be my last one. But I am not thinking about that at this point. Right now I am more worried about my presentation for class.

We get there and we go second. We did not practice so it was going to be very rough. It turned out that we had too many slides. Or maybe that we took too much time on each one. We never got into our subject. We were still on the background before we even got into the policy. We were cut off due to time restrictions.

I got back to Colfax and worked on finishing out the day. I found out what the commissioners had in mind. If they could say my position is a critical position they could move me to a step K which would give me a raise. Now I just have to wait to see what will happen with that.

We had two ambulance runs today. The first one was to Endicott for a sick lady. We finished her transport and were cleaning the Ambulance when a second call for an injured boy at the high school came out. I drove code through town to get to him. We packaged him up and went to the hospital with him.

I went back to IS and worked until to the time where I had to get ready for softball. I then headed out to Pullman for the big game. We were playing the Swamp Donkeys. Later I found out there are eleven and zero dating back to last season. They are a good team.

I got to the field and got ready. We all warmed up. I was told by someone that the bats they used are illegal. The field manager checked them and said they are okay. I don't know about that, but oh well, we just have play our A-game. We did not however. This is one game where we got beaten. They hit the ball well. It did not matter where I placed it. They found gaps and hit a ton over our head. We hit somewhat okay, but we were not able to keep up pace with these guys. They took an early lead and never looked back. We ended up losing by more than ten runs. It was disappointing. My last at bat I went to the plate with confidence. I got in a good stance. I watched a few pitches go across the plate. Finally I saw my pitch. I got ahold of the ball and sent it flying. I knew it was going to be a big hit, I was not sure how big though. It was close to going out, but it ended up staying inside the park. I got an easy standup double out of it.

After the game I told the team I may be leaving the area. I talked to Garrett a little bit as we all walked to the exit. Ryan and I met Mark down at the Sports Page bar. Joe and Eddy were down there playing video golf. We talked about our summer traveling tournament team. We also had beer. I had three tubs and I was feeling it. We were there for about two hours talking about a lot of social issues. It was my first chance to interact with Mark on that level. It was fun.

I got home and I was not feeling too hot. I went to bed and the room was spinning. I went to the bathroom to try to make myself puke, but I can't. I laid on the bathroom floor for a while. Then I felt my face go numb. That is my clue puking is on the way. Within a minute I was spewing. I had six good bursts and then went to bed. I felt better.

Balk!

This is the start of my final week in Pullman. I started out the week on a good note by being a little late due to staying up late on Sunday night. There is a plan in action to see about keeping me here. I am hopeful it will happen.

We had a team meeting to review tapes of the football game in Moscow. I headed over there after work. The tape watching took about two hours. Then a few guys sat around and talked about our team and area sports teams. We all left at about ten-thirty pm. I was listening to the M's playing the A's. It was going into extra innings. I listened all the way to Colfax.

I was in bed listening to the game. The M's finally won it after midnight. It was the bottom of the fourteenth and a balk was called on the pitcher. There was a man on third. He scored and the game was over.

In the playoffs

After getting home from Walla Walla as late as I did, I planned on sleeping in as long as I could. I had to get up to work on a project in the afternoon, but I really did want to sleep in. At about ten-thirty am I got a call from Ron about the softball game this evening. He said he would not be able to be there. I did not sleep much more from that point and I got going on the day.

I headed to Pullman to meet with my partner in the computer lab. We had to get a PowerPoint presentation built for Tuesday's English class. We spent about two hours putting it all together. It is about twenty slides long. After we were done Meredith and Nick came into the lab. I hung out for a while chatting with them.

I went to my office and got ready for some softball. We had our first playoff game against the Red Roosters. We lost by one run earlier in the season to them. The score of that game was four to three. I knew we would do better this time. I picked up Ryan and we went to Dissmores.

Then we went to the field. I was ready to go, I had the line up made and we took the field. We had the home field advantage. I was pitching and I was on fire. They were not hitting against us. I faced only one more batter than the minimum needed. We let four guys on base. We turned three double plays, and the one guy who was on base we did not get out remained at first base. No one made it safely to second base. We scored ten runs. They scored zero. We had an easy time beating them.

After the game I went to Russell's and we watched QaF. It was the season premiere. While that was on Russell picked up Nick. It was good to see Nick. He is a good kid. I hung out there until almost three o'clock in the morning before going home.

First game in Fourteen Years

It is going to be a big day. I have my first football game tonight in fourteen years! I am pretty excited about that. I got up realizing that I had not EMS calls so I went to my house to sleep for a little while longer. I was able to get about another four hours of sleep.

Before football I went to the IS office and tried to get some of the coroner's work out of the way. I had two cases this week and I need to get caught up. I stopped at my house and cleaned out my truck because I had a couple guys who were going to come with me to the game.

I headed to Moscow because we had to be there at two o'clock pm. We waited in the parking lot for everyone to show up. I had three other guys besides me in the truck. We cruised a long. I would pass people up and the guys in the truck would laugh and make Hemi references like in the commercials. It was fun. We got to the field after about two hours of driving. We first went to the field and walked it a little bit.

We were playing the Walla Walla Stars. They play their home games in a town outside of Walla Walla called Waitsburg. We were playing at a high school field. The locker rooms were about four blocks from the field. After we walked around a little while we went to the locker room and changed. I had to put on knee braces as well as everything else so it took me a while to get ready.

I drove to the field and had a truck and bed full of guys from the team. We got on the field and walked around a little more and started to stretch and warm up. Then we got together as a team and stretched. We did a team prayer. It was going to be a few guys at first and as people saw them they would join in, before we knew it half the team was there for it.

Finally it was game time. We started out strong, but guys were playing both ways and they were getting really tired. You could see it in their play. They were getting beat. We were down twenty-four to six at the end of the first half. We went out in the third quarter. We had guys only playing one way. We scored three touchdowns and took a lead. But as the time was closing on the fourth quarter they scored again and sealed the deal. I had a chance to get in on two plays. It was so cool being out there. I remember the coach said "Anderson, get ready, you are going in on the next series." I had immediate butterflies. It was my first time playing in fourteen years. I was defense tackle on the right side. I fired off the ball getting ready to beat my guy. Then I saw him drop to the ground. Too late! I was on the ground and they played pig pile on me. I was stuck there trying to get up. They were doing what they could to keep me down. It worked. My next play I worked my ass off to shake the blocker. He was pretty good. Then I came out. The defensive tackles were playing two downs at a time then switching.

That was my semi-pro debut.

After the game we changed and got ready to go. The team manager wanted a ride home so I was taking him and the three guys I came with. So we had five in the truck. Our team owner, Jerry, could not find a ride. I kept telling him to get in with us. He was looking for other options. Most everyone on the team went to a restaurant in town that stayed open late to feed us all you can eat pizza and lasagna. We got there and I had a lot. We were there for about an hour. Then it was time to go. Jerry still did not have a ride. I kept telling him to pile in my truck. Finally he did. We had five linemen in my truck and the team manger. There was about half a ton of players in my truck. It was a fun ride home.

We were listening to music, singing along, and chatting about the game and other things. They wanted to have some beer as we were driving. I did not like that idea. Finally I decided that I didn't care. We stopped and got some beer. I let them drink and I drove. We sang to the music and got back to Moscow at about two o'clock in the morning. I dropped everyone off and headed to Pullman.

I went to Ryan's apartment for a little while and talked with him and I also spoke with Russell on the phone. I was so tired I decided I was going to leave and go home. I drove as quickly as I could because I was so tired. I got home and crawled into bed at about three o'clock am.

Busy, busy, busy... I will miss that.

Today was the end of my first of the last two weeks at work for the county. I was told by one of the commissioners that he did not want to see me go and he was going to try to get me a raise so I would stay. That puts a new wrinkle into the mix. I have a hard time thinking about what way to take it. Should I take the job in Seattle and be happy with the extra money. Heck I could sell my old boat and get a new one. Or I can stay in Whitman County and keep the old boat. I would like to get a new boat in a lot of ways. That is for sure. I really like the boat I have, but it would be nice to get one I could leave in the water for a week without sinking.

I am going to let it work itself out. Fate has a way of working. I always believe that no matter what I do to change things or do things the way I want, that fate really is at work and I have no real control. The only thing that comes out of getting worked up over things is stress. I am going to attempt to avoid the stress.

I went to Pullman because I was on call for the fire department and it was my first practice with the football team. I was going to be able to suit up. Before football practice there was softball practice and before that I had to meet with Pat about the business. I was going to tell him about leaving the area.

I talked with him and I was running late because we talked longer than expected. Then I tried to get to the Valley Road Playfields. The traffic was horrible because all the mom's were coming into town for Mom's Weekend at WSU. It took almost ten minutes to go from Military Hill to College Hill. That really sucked. I got to practice in time to do some batting practice. Then I left and headed for Moscow.

I got to the Kibbie Dome with about ten minutes to spare but I had to put all my pads in the uniform and get everything on. There is no better feeling that suiting up in full football gear and going out on the field. Makes you really feel like a man. I love it. I walked on the field and found it was a helmet's only practice. So I took off the shoulder pads and only wore my helmet and football pants. Practice was sort of long. People were worried about me playing because I am getting off my ankle injury. I want to play, but I am still gimped up. When I try to run it is obvious I have a problem.

After practice I went to Ryan's apartment to hang out for the evening. I changed into my fire uniform from the football uniform. Ryan doesn't have cable so we were not going to be able to watch Third Watch. I decided that we could try to watch it at the fire station. We grabbed some chow at McDonald's. At the fire station we ate our dinner and talked with the guys down there. When Third Watch was to come on, the others let us watch it. So we saw it. We left shortly after it was over. My cellphone battery was almost dead because of all the talking I had done on it through out the day. I had it turned off and sitting in my truck.

When we left I turned it on to see if there were any messages. There was one from Whitcom asking for me to call. I was not the on-call coroner that night but they could not get a hold of Patti so I was asked to do the case. It was about eleven-thirty pm. I was going to have to come back to Colfax and get my camera to do the job. I told that to Whitcom who passed that along to the deputy. The deputy asked for my number. He called me up and said I could use his camera.

I headed to the scene which was down near the Port of Wilma on the river. I was told to go down the Spiral Highway" because the main grade had a big wreck on it. I cruised down to the scene. One of the deputies waited for me outside. He gave me a briefing and then I took over. I was on scene for a while doing my investigation. The funeral home removed the body and took it back with them. I accompanied them to the funeral home and did some more investigation.

I was pretty tired and it was almost three in the morning. I was ready for bed.

Hmmm.

I worked late tonight and watched CSI.

Running out of time in Whitman County

I sent out the e-mail to everyone in the county to let them know I will be leaving. I got a whole bunch of messages back from people saying good-bye. I think I am ready to leave for the most part. I have had enough time to think about it and prepare for it. I am still going to miss some stuff, but the shock is going away and now I am looking forward to it for the most part.

I started to get some stuff done. I need to get a couple computers deployed and in a hurry. Then I will start to clean the office up a little bit and start to get ready to leave.

Carl programmed my radio to get the Pullman fire channels as well as the marine frequencies. A call came out shortly after I got my radio for a person who had been throwing up all day. I didn't want to go because it was close to quitting time and I had to be in Pullman for HazMat training. After a second alarm tone went out I decided I better go. I called Dan en route to see if he could cover me in Pullman. He was able to. So, I went on the call.

It was okay, nothing huge. It was a sick person, just like it sounded like. After we left the hospital we got back and I went to my office and checked my e-mail. I ran home and got changed for the fire department. I was off to Pullman. I got my turn outs and went to the sewer treatment plant. Immediately following the HazMat training it was off to EMS training. It was dealing with burn wound care. That went on a little over an hour and a half. On the way back to the station we were going to stop and get some pizza for the crew.

We called Little Caesars. We ordered three pizzas. When we were sitting at the bottom of Wilson at Stadium Way the tones go off for a car accident. We turned on the lights and siren and away we went. There had been a car that went off the roadway into the river near the railroad tracks on Bishop Blvd. We got on scene and the people has self-extricated.

We took them to the hospital. Then on the way back from there we stopped for the pizza only to find that someone had picked them up. We thought it was the guys on the engine. We drove back to the station only to find that the pizza was not there. We ordered three more and picked them up. While there they told us that someone came in asking for the three pizzas. They assumed it was us.

The crew ate the pizza. A little after the pizza was eaten another call came out. It was a stomach-problems call. We transported. That was it for calls. I sat at the station and chatted with the others and watched TV until it was time to go to bed.

It's official. This is the end.

Today is the day I was going to find out if Bev would be able to get me more money to stay or if I would be gone. The day was pretty normal. Only Bev and I knew about it to this point. The others in IS and in the County were in the dark. I got my normal things done. I also got to school as well. At the end of business I was called into Bev's office. We talked about it and she said they were not able to do anything. That means I am done with Whitman County.

We had a board and business meeting at Colfax Fire. I told Carl that I am going to be moving to Seattle. I asked if he would be willing to let me continue to work Colfax Fire when I come to town. He said I could. I also asked him if he would call Eastside Fire and Rescue to see if I could join them for training to keep up my EMT skills. He said he would do so.

I talked to Jon for a while about the job opportunity as well. He wanted to know what my decision was going to be.

My final Monday night on duty?

I got into work knowing that I would have to talk to Bev today about the job opportunity. I wanted to get a few more ducks in a row. I spent the day working with some of the employees getting things working for them.

While I was in the Sheriff's Office a "welfare check" call came out. The only deputy on does not like to find dead people. He said he hopes the person is not dead. The person had not been heard from since the day before and the person had been very sick.

The deputy got to the house and had to break a window. When he did he could smell a slight odor. He knew what he would find. Sure enough the person was dead. So, when I saw Pete call me about forty minutes after the deputy got the call I knew what Pete was calling me about. He wanted me to cover the call.

I went the scene and met with the deputy. He gave me the information he had. Then I talked to the local EMS providers and some neighbors. They all game me some information. I went into the house and investigated the scene. I had the funeral home come out about twenty minutes after I left Colfax. That would give me enough time to investigate and not wait around forever for them to get there.

Afterwards I went to the funeral home and did more examining of the body. I talked to Pete about it. We were not sure of the cause of death at that time.

I had some lunch after I got back. I stopped by the fire station to see how bad the car accident was. They had been dispatched to a car wreck shortly after I was called out on the death.

I went in and talked to Bev about the job. I told her how I was struggling with the idea of leaving the area and that if I could make more money here I would be willing to stay. She said she wants me to stay. She said she would talk with the powers-that-be to see if there was something that could be done.

I worked at IS until five-thirty. I had to get to Pullman to be on call at the fire department and for training. When we got to the CUE for training the second alarm tones went off. They were canceling training. Our crew walked to the CUB and played pool for a little over an hour.

We fueled up the rigs and Rescue stopped by Dissmore's so one of the guys on the crew who's picture was in the paper due to the arson's could buy ice cream for us. We chowed on that and watched some of Super Troopers.

I headed to my office and worked on QuickBooks for a little while trying to get my business set up. I think I am all caught up.

Win some, lose some

I started the day looking for someone who could possibly move into my house and act as a roommate. I found someone who is going to be a vet student at WSU. She has a dog and a cat. She is interested in moving in. That is cool. This could be someone who lives here for four years. We talked for about an hour.

I chatted with my mom about moving to Seattle and taking this new job. I really am up in the air on it. I will talk myself into and out-of taking this job all day long.

After talking to my mom I headed to the Valley Road Playfields where we were taking on Garrett's team. He has not contacted me yet. It is like he does not want to meet. I don't know what the deal is. He definitely goes out of his way when we see each other.

We start the game. Garrett said he is looking forward to hitting off of me. He hit a pop-up, a foul-out strike out, and one base hit. Not very good in my view. I actually did not let any of his teammates hit a homerun off of me.

At the beginning of the game they did not have enough people to play the game we have the choice of taking the forfeit or giving them ten minutes. I gave them the time. I figured that I would rather play and lose than take the forfeit and show that I am scared to play them. The guys they needed to play the game showed up.

At one point they challenged my cleats. They thought I had spikes on. They also whined about a few calls. They were a bunch of whiners. In some ways I wish I hadn’t given them the extra time.

When it was said and done we lost seven to four. Without scoring a run after the first inning we deserved to lose.

The second game was a must win game. We won that one pretty convincingly. We will be in the playoffs.

Craig offered to buy the first round of beer at Zeppoz. I got up there with Ryan. Ron, Heather, and Eddy were up there as well. We drank and sat around talking softball for about two hours. Then I took Ryan home and went home myself.

Our first regular season win.

Not being able to concentrate very well because of the job offer in Seattle, I am sort of in a surreal state of mind. I could be living my last full two weeks in Whitman County. My life will be turned upside down. I am not sure I am totally ready for this.

I got up and watched a little TV and then headed to my IS office. I was going to start to back up my files on my computer and uninstall some of the applications that I purchased to use while at IS.

I had to be at football practice at one o'clock PM at the Kibbie Dome. I left from here and went straight there. We were there for about two hours. Afterwards I went to Dissmore's got some pop and then went to Dan and Michele's for the bon fire. I hung out there for a little bit and said hi to everyone who was there. By four-fifteen I was heading back to the Kibbie Dome.

We were all filtering in. I threw the ball around and then I was in the locker-room listening to the music and waiting for game time. As time went on more and more people arrived. Everyone was getting ready and getting pumped up.

We were playing WestPlains Cowboys, a team out of Spokane that is supposed to be really good. I missed the kick off because I was asked to run to WinCo foods and get some plastic bags for ice. I got back about two minutes into the scoreless game.

I cheered and yelled my head off. It was really cool. Cooper got a pick off and ran it back for a touchdown. That was teh first score and from that point we did not look back. The extra point try on that touchdown was blocked, but Sumner got the ball and ran it in for the two-point conversion. Later we got a safety. They ended up scoring ten points to our twenty-four.

I missed the last two minutes of the game because I took someone else to the hospital. Young was hit in the backfield and messed up his knee. I stayed with him at Gritman until his girlfriend showed up. I then left and went back to the party at Dan and Michele's. I got some pizza from Little Caesars. I hung out there for about two hours and I had two beers. I talked with them a little bit about the job coming up.

One of the big things is not being able to play softball another season with Joey. He is a great player and a great team guy. He is so nice to everyone, he is everyone's friend. It will suck to miss out on that. The thing is in some ways I didn't think I was going to get to play with him again, but then I found out that we were going to play again this year. I was really looking forward to it. But I realize that he would be leaving next year no matter what. I gotta look long term. I am looking three or six months in the future and not long term.

I think this will be for the best. I am just so scared to pull the trigger.

Be careful what you wish for.

Today was one of those days where I only had to work part of the day. We had practice in the Kibbie Dome at six-thirty for the football team. This should be my last week sitting out. Before I left for practice I worked until noon and then met Thomas at the Top Notch for lunch. I went back to work an hung out for a while. Someone needed my help so I went to help even though I was off.

I went home and cleaned up a little bit and got my truck loaded with my coroner stuff. I was on call for the coroner's office. I headed to Moscow. As I was getting to Pullman I got a call from someone from a computer company in the Seattle area. He talked to me a little bit. He asked what it would take to get me over there. He asked me when I could start. He wanted me on Monday. That was just too quick. I needed to give notice and think about it. I was offered about one and a half times when I am getting now at IS. That is big. Plus it will be a change of career's working in the computer business. It will be a programmers job and with time and experience I can move to bigger and better pay. It will mean however that I will have to leave Whitman County and all the things I have for myself. It has taken a long time for me to get all my jobs out here.

It is a big change. I cannot keep my foot safely on first base and still end up at second base. I will have to remove my foot and go for it. Most people would be happy getting such a huge change in money, but there is something that I am not ready for. I keep worrying that I will not be able to cut it and that I will get cut. Then I will be jobless and moneyless. Then that would cause great problems for me.

I am not sure what I should do. I know in my head it is what I need to do, in my heart it was me to stay here. Keep the status quo. Keep my softball team. Keep going to school. Keep working all my jobs.

The also leads to another question, why am I going to school? I am going for a degree to get me a job getting more money. But was I looking for work at WSU or anywhere I can find it? I am not sure. I love my softball team and everyone knows softball is life, but I think I can get on a team over there. I will for sure miss the fire department and I will miss my job here. It pains me to think that my time is up. It is like the doctor said I have two weeks to live. I want to spend more time doing what I have been doing.

This is a painful decision. It reminds me of the time in ninety-nine when I was offered a job. It was going to require me to leave everything. It was horrible trying to decide. This is going to be the same way I am sure.

They say be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.

Other than that I went to practice. A guy hurt his shoulder so I drove him to the hospital. I waited until his wife got there. Then I went to Pullman. I watched Third Watch with Ryan and talked with Meredith. She got a new car and showed it to me. Then I headed home and went to bed.

Arson!

I got to work late because I was up so late last night. At work my friend messages me about the "fires" in Pullman, asking me what happened. I did not know what he was talking about. It was not until I saw the news that there were two arson fires that caused five cars and a motorcycle to burn up. It was at North Campus Heights. There was some video footage shot by someone at the apartment. I don't know much else about it at this time. If I had not found coverage I would have been on the fires. I think I am happy I was not there.

I was going to work in the jail but the Sgt said that there were going to be three people on and I can't. Then I was going to leave and he said he was joking and that I could come in. I said, no I have other plans now. I left and then went back to my office. I worked until about seven pm.

I got home and rode my four-wheeler on the back-seven. There were eight deer and a couple pheasants that I scared. They are always up there at night.

When I got back to my house I was going to let Amber in. I normally have the glass door open. But I had it closed. She normally runs right into the house. However the door was closed and she ran right into the door. There was a loud thud. I was like Sorry Amber!!! She forgave me. We went inside and hung out and watched TV.

Walking in someone elses shoes

I have been in a conversation with someone I bumped into online. She is from Pasadena California. I hope to make it down there this New Year. Of course making it down there would mean the Cougs are in the Rose Bowl. So let’s keep our fingers crossed. We were talking about people watching. In real life you sit in a bar or at a store and you watch how people act. Online it is different because there are some many places you can find stuff about people. I have a blog so there is a ton of information about me. I have many websites where there is information about me. If someone wanted to stalk me they could online. They would probably have a tough time keeping up with me in real life because I am always on the move. I never have a set schedule so no one would know where I will be from day to day. Most of the time it is a surprise to me.

In reference to some things she said, I responded in part with the following:

I like to do that too. In the bars or other places I will watch people. Look at how they are dressed, who the hang out with, what they look like. Then I will imagine what got them to this point. What do they do for fun? What is their home life like? What they do when they are bored and hanging out with friends.

I always wanted to go up to some people and just ask them their life story. I would love to see someone doing something and join them. I saw some guys getting their quads ready to go riding. I looked at them and wondered what their life was like. Wonder if they have fun a lot or if their life sucks. I wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall for a while and see what they are like.

One other thing that I made an observation about is my attitude towards friends:
One thing I noticed last night is something I do, and I don't understand why. I have some theories, but I don't have a good answer to it. But I was looking through my phone numbers on my cell phone and I scrolled through a lot of names of people I have gotten in "fights" with. They were not real fights. In fact I think I am the starter of most of them in some ways. It is that I start to get a chip on my shoulder that they are not reciprocating the friendship very well, so then I look for things and when I find something I let myself get bent out of shape and get mad over it. Then I will take it out, non-verbally on the person who is the focus of my rage. That person usually does not know there is something wrong. And that makes me more upset. By the time it is discovered that there is something wrong other things go bad or so much time has accumulated that our friendship all but over.

It is almost like I am testing the person to see if he is my friend.

hmmm... The more I think about this the more female-like I sound... I hear comedians joke about this kind of behaviour, and here I am doing it. I am a choad!

Speaking again of being able to be somewhere else I can't be:
So anyhow one thing about classic rock is knowing that at one time it was new rock. When I walk around campus and hear people blasting rap and R&B I think about what it was like when Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and other great bands were getting the same kind of air time on people's stereo systems.

I wonder what it would have been like to walk around campus and see Greek row and campus in that era. How much different it would have been. It seems to me it would have been a little dark or dreary. It would seem to me that there would be some more open drug use and a lot more alcohol use. I try to imagine the first time people heard Stairway to Heaven. How weird that would be to have someone say... And new from Led Zeppelin... Stairway to Heaven.

It would be interesting to see those days. I wish that I could live a day in the life of someone in college in the 60's and 70's. What is different is that I think I am a lot more conservative than the stereotypical college student back then. I would not have been one of the big time protesters, as far as I can tell.

Other than talking about that kind of stuff I was thinking about my attitude towards moving and what that will mean to me. I think in many ways I am ready to go. I am in a bad mood. I hope it is not a phase. Emotionally I am tried of the friggen games and all the drama. Physically I am tried of all the work, but I cannot stop all my jobs. I do not make enough money to do so at one job. That is another reason why I think moving would be a good thing. I could work less hours for more money.

I would miss out on my softball teams, but I know of one league, the Emerald City Softball Association, that I could get into. There are others. If I am around long enough I would find something. I would have to try to rekindle old and broken friendships. I would lose those I have over here, but that happens with time and distance. I think there would be parts of me that would miss riding under the red lights, but maybe I could find something to fill that void that would not be so full of drama. I doubt it.

I went to fire training tonight even though I planned on not going. when I talked with Bob about possible make ups, he said John has waited so long for me to get healthy. So I decided I better go. We were crawling around in the fire training tower. We crawled through some stuff that is tight without turnouts and an air bottle. With those things it is even tougher. There was one point where I was working my way through a wall where the studs were sixteen inches on center. I had to fit through the opening while wearing turnouts and a SCBA air tank. I was going through and was sort of stuck, I was forcing myself and then I got caught by an electrical cord. I was hanging upside down. I fought some more. Finally I got free.

It was a long training. When it was over I put my gear away and went home. I still had to get dinner. I was starving by that time.

It is time to walk away.

I got my response from Chief about interviewing for a room in the station. He said I will not be getting one and he would not interview me. He also said that he asked about the sores on my arms because people were worried that they were some sort of contagious skin condition. I call bull crap on that answer. I do have one problem; I like to pick my scabs. That just sounds so gross. But I do it all the time. I can't help it. There is something that keeps me picking at them. So my sores stay around longer because I am always messing with them.

So that has gotten me into a pissy mood. Top that off with the little things that happen to me at Colfax fire. There is one guy who is hugely anti-Pullman. I think he does stuff to give me a hard time. They are little things but they add up. The latest was him telling me that people are complaining about me not wearing coveralls on calls during the day. He said that it has been talked about and people should wear only coveralls or a full uniform. A Colfax fire shirt is not enough. The reason that makes me mad is that I was only doing what other people who have been on the department for a long time do. I will watch to see if the others stop doing it or if I am the only one who has been talked to.

I am at the point where I wanna just tell them to take their fire engines and stuff it. All I want to do is help people. I want to get out there and do my best. It seems like that is not enough for some people. They all want to bitch and make an issue out of everything. They are a bunch of drama queens. I am tired of it. You can't just go and do your job. Someone else is there to put you down behind your back and make fun of you.

I am tried of all of it. I am sort of getting tired of working all the time in some ways. It is not bad when I enjoy what I do. I work about three to four hundred hours a month. More than one hundred of those hours are at Pullman Fire and then there is between twenty and thirty hours at Colfax fire. Feeling the way I do, I don't enjoy the work anymore. Instead of doing what I like, now I am doing what I don't like.

I think I am going to actively pursuit a job in the Seattle area and get out of here all together. I want to get paid about six or seven thousand more a month than I get paid now. I want to work less than two hundred hours a month.

Anyway, I found coverage for my shift tomorrow at the fire department. John is mad because I would be missing training. I will see about going to training and then going back to Colfax afterwards. I need to find coverage for some of the other days. I just want time away from the fire department for now. I have also turned off my Colfax pager.

I know fate has its way of working. So many times in the past I did not get what I wanted at the time, but in the long run it was for the best and things worked out okay. I try to use this as assurance and to make me feel better but it does not help too much.

When I got off work I looked up a few jobs and applied for them. I went to the store and got some groceries. I did the dishes. It was nice to get some stuff done around the house. I made myself some dinner and I was in bed shortly after ten pm. Hopefully I will be able to sleep and get some good rest for once.

First night back in Pullman.

Today I am back in service at Pullman Fire. It will be my first duty night in a long time. I also e-mailed Chief about interviewing for a room at the station. He also asked me about sores on my arms. I asked why he wanted to know about the sores.

I e-mailed Dan, the other captain on the Nacho Man Nadirs softball team to ask him about my idea for changing the line up. I also e-mailed Garrett about getting together. I pointed out that he has ignored my requests. I said because we are going to be playing on the same team we should at least talk. I CC'ed Dan on the e-mail so he knew what is going on. I want people to know where the problem lies.

I got off work early to go to the doctor. I was checked out and all is good. I will not see the doctor any more. He said if there is a problem to come back, but I do not need any more appointments.

I headed to my office and delivered some packages to Pat for him to have picked up. While I was there I got a fire pager from him because I left mine at home. I went to the station and got ready for being on call.

Before we headed to the WSU CUE for the training I went to the store and got some pop. Then I got back. We took Rescue to the WSU. Training was about confined space. It was similar to the training I got in Colfax recently.

When training was over I waited at the station to watch CSI, but it was not on. So I went to my office and worked on Quickbooks a little bit. A call came out. I was very surprised. That is my first call in ages. It was an Alpha for a diabetic problem.

After the call I headed off to bed.

Three family members on the FD

Without question I knew I would be tired getting up after drinking, partying, and staying up late. Plus with daylight savings hitting that was one less hour of sleep too. I had to work on it, but I got myself going. When I got to the fire station I found Francie was not there. I waited around for about ten minutes to see if she would show up. I called her. No luck. So I left for Wawawai Landing.

When I got there I was the only one there. I was wondering if I was in the wrong place. Every year that is where I go, however I thought that maybe it moved and I was not told. I was so tired I sat in my truck and closed my eyes for a tiny bit. I could hear people pulling in and talking. I then saw the check point was about one hundred yards farther down the road than normal.

I got the medical bag and walked down that direction. I said hi to the people working the checkpoint, then made my way back to my truck. I was looking at the water. It looked so nice. It was glass. It was clean. Normally this time of year it is full of logs and other debris. This year it is empty. The weather was warm. I wanted my boat. I was walking back to my truck thinking about the fact I don't have my boat with me. That is when I saw Francie show up.

She parked next to me and we sat near the back of my truck and chatted for a while. We talked about "family" issues. She said that she had learnt that we have more in common than at one time thought. I knew what she meant. She said she was at the show in Moscow when Kyle was there handing out condoms. She chatted with him and he mentioned that I was family.

We talked about what it is like in our situation. I told her about meeting and hanging out with Scotty and Peter. She said she thought Peter was family. I laughed. I said I have not met anyone who thinks otherwise. We talked about that stuff pretty much the whole time.

After the run was over I went to Pullman and dropped off the medical bag. Then I drove to Colfax and went to sleep. I slept for about two hours. It felt good to get some sleep. But my alarm clock was going off and I had to get back to Pullman for our softball games.

We won our first game ten to zero. Then the next game we could only muster five hits. We scored six runs. We lost six to nine. I am not sure what the problem is, but something needs to change.

Ryan invited me over to watch the Simpsons and Malcolm in the Middle. After those shows were over I went home and went fast to sleep.

Welcome Back Jason and Suzanne

Dragging myself out of bed to get to softball practice on time I rush around the house and get all my things I need to get into my truck. I realized that I was on call for the coroner and I could not find my phone. I turned on my radio and listened for things where I might have been needed. I loaded my truck with softball and coroner stuff and I was off to Pullman. I was running a little late so I had to make up time driving.

I got to Stimpson where I was picking up Bryce. He was out side waiting for me. We were off to the Valley Road Playfields. We were the only ones there for a few minutes. Then Mark, Ryan, and Renaldo showed up. Shortly thereafter Matt and Aaron made it. Renaldo had my mitt, so I got that back. That made me happy. I thought I had lost it after the game last Sunday.

We did a lot of fielding and hitting drills. The practice lasted for about two hours. I had to be at football practice at noon and that is when we were finishing with softball practice. So I rushed over to the rugby field behind the French Ad building on WSU's campus. We were having a helmet only practice. Tomorrow is game day and we need to be ready. Practice went about two hours. When it was over I headed to Zeppoz to see if my phone was found in the casino.

I saw Russell in the parking lot of Zeppoz and we chatted about his night working. Brett was working in the bar. He walked into the casino with me. Sure enough the phone was there. It had fallen out of my pocket. I got the phone. On my way out the blackjack table was calling my name. I sat down with twenty bucks. After losing one of the next seven or eight games I was up to one hundred bucks. I tipped the dealer ten dollars and walked away. That was so nice.

I went to Safeway to get lunch. I saw Russell there. We talked a little bit more. In one isle a ten-six-seven walked by and gave Russell a check-out look. Russell and I went down the isle to get a second look. Definite ten-six-seven. I got my lunch and headed to my office to get some computer work done while I was waiting for the bar-b-q with the team. While on my way to the office Ron called and asked if I was going to Zeppoz to watch the basketball games. He said that Heather and he were down there right now. So I said I would come down. I went to my office and ate most of my lunch and then headed to Zeppoz.

I shared some beer with them. Then I bought a pitcher. One the second pitcher I went to get Brett gave it to my on the house. I thought that was nice. I had to leave a little before five pm to go to the bar-b-q. It was over in Moscow at the team owners' house. I got there shortly after five pm. I had been chatting with my mom on the phone while I was driving over. She was telling me about the fact she may retire at the end of the month. It is unknown for sure when she will retire however.

At the bar-b-q I hung out on the deck most of the time. A lot of the guys on the team were on the deck. Everyone was joking with each other having a really good time. We ate and sat around for a while. Around seven pm everyone started to take off. That would give me a nice chance to get to My Office Bar to meet up with Jason and Suzanne who were in town.

When I arrived at My Office Bar I saw Suzanne first. She ran over and gave me a big hug. That was nice. Then Jason came out of the bathroom and gave me a hug. It was nice to see them both. We talked about old times and talked about who things are going now.

Ron and Dan challenged me and someone of my choosing to a game of pool. I had Ty. We won by a scratch on the eight-ball in the first game and got beaten by someone else who was challenging us. One of the guys who challenged us was a ten-six-seven. He had nicely made up blonde hair and blue eyes. He was very friendly and outgoing. We ended up playing each other again when I got Jason as my partner. We still lost.

I stayed until a little after midnight. With daylight-savings time hitting I was going to lose an hour of sleep. I had to get up early for the One-hundred-K run. I was working EMS at Wawawai Landing at eight o'clock AM.

Long night at Zeppoz

Today is Friday and unlike last week I don't get it off. In fact making up hours I have to work the whole day. I spent some time getting Jim's computer set up. Shawn walked me to his storage shop to show me some of the stuff. There were motorcycles and a Corvette plus all sorts of cool things from the past. His grandpa would get in a kick of buying something, then he would buy a lot of them and then he would stop as switch. It was amazing the stuff he had. A lot of it was from the early nineteen-hundreds. When I got off work I had to go to football practice. It was my first night not being a total gimp, but I still did not practice. Practice went from seven to about nine pm.

After practice I went to Zeppoz to meet up with the some of the others. They were doing some drinking and watching of TV. John was there gambling as well. I had some beer with the others and then I got my name on the list to play poker. It took a while but finally my name came up. It was a two-four Texas Hold'em table. I had a few rakes. If I would have left when I wanted to I would have won money, but John talked me into staying. I wanted to get to bed because I had softball practice in the morning and I wanted to be rested. Instead I stayed at Zeppoz playing Texas Hold'em. Finally I went all in during a hand and lost. So, I went in and played some Texas Shoot out. I did okay there, but Russell came over and kicked my ass on every hand.

I gave up and went home. It was about three-thirty by the time I was in bed.

Two years.

Happy April Fools day. This is my two year anniversary at my job with the County doing its computer work.

Today was the day of the coroner's meeting. That started promptly after I got off work at my first job. I picked up the pizza and went to the office. We chatted about a recent suicide. Went over the findings and what investigative steps had been taken. After the meeting I spent some time organizing our supplies. We have a lot of supplies that are out of order. I labeled all the file cabinets and got things looking better.

At nine o'clock I went to the fire station and watched CSI with Ken. I was pretty surprised how many loose ends were left. It seemed like it should have been a "Too be continued" but it was not. I took off and went home. I got Amber inside and tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour.

While in class today Joe did not show up. We got our completion report back. We did okay. We got twenty-six out of thirty. We talked about the typical stuff in class surface errors and what not. The teacher seems to make class last until the very last minute.

I turned in my "off-light-duty" form to Pullman fire. I will be back in Service on Monday. I am happy about that in many ways.