Hanging out with Ryan and Dave

Having gone to bed as late as I did I woke up about noon. Dave stopped over and we talked for a little while. He told me about a car accident he witnessed in Renton off of Petro in Fairwood. One person was killed. He said he saw the cars come from behind him. Race ahead of him. He saw one lose control and then it crashed into a Ford Crownvic. One seventeen year old girl was killed. Dave said he was not for sure, but he thought he saw a leg laying on the road. It was very disturbing for Dave.

He had to leave and I got ready to head to Pullman. Ryan and I were going to hang out for a while. We went to the Palouse Mall. He was going to look for some clothes. We went to the Bon first. While in the Bon I saw a guy who looked just like Tom R. He was a guy who I was a friend with several years ago. He is a big M's fan and a computer guy. He is a cool guy. He is about six foot five or six foot six. He is also a ten-six-seven.

I pointed him out to Ryan and said that if Tom was still in the area I would swear that guy working at the Bon is Tom. I went closer and the name tag said "Tom". I couldn't believe it. He had not seen me yet. So I grabbed this floral designed shirt and held it up to my chest and said out loud. "Does this look good on me?". Tom looked up and then greeted me. He came over and we shook hands. We talked briefly as he was working.

Ryan and I went and search for his clothes in another store. Still no luck. So we left and drove around. I thought about going to Domino's for pizza. Ryan likes Domino's. While getting pizza Dave called me at told me about a field fire and about a three fire engines rolling down the road. He said I should see them go by my house. I told him that I was not home. I said I was in Moscow.

I wanted to go down and see how close it was to my place, but I had a feeling it was in the same place as last year, which was not really that close to my house. Sure enough, that was the case. While I was enroute to Colfax I got a call from AJ. It was cool to talk to him. He is from the Netherlands. We talked about some issues for about forty-five minutes.

I was going to go into the fire station for just a second. Ryan decided to wait in the truck and listen to the M's game. I walked in the back door. David and Rick were there. They both came out to the bay to see who had come in. David said "where have you been?" Rick said you have missed a motorcycle wreck, a big field fire and a small field fire. Then the tones went off for a roll over accident. It was not far outside of town. So I got my stuff from my truck and went on it.

We got to the scene the guy had self extricated himself from the vehicle. We took to the hospital for observation. He was my patient so I was filling out the paperwork. On the way in all the vehicles at the field fire left. It some how mysteriously restarted. It was going like crazy. So went got back in service and went to the station. I could have gone, but I am on call for the coroner's office. I said I had to not go. I waited for Ryan to get back from the store. He left after the M's game and had the keys to the truck.

I chatted with Rick about the motorcycle accident and a few other things. Then Ryan showed up and we left shortly thereafter.

We went back to Pullman. He got his cards and we went to play hand and foot. We played several games. I won a couple and he won a couple. I did not want to stay up late because I was tired.

I dropped him off and went to Colfax. I got a call from Dave and went to see him in the hotel. We talked for about two hours. We caught up on some stuff. Then I left to get to bed and he wanted to go to the river.

Job Interview with WSU

I got up this morning and started to get ready for my job interview. I got up and started to get ready. I was going to meet with George in the morning at first and talk with him about a few things. I headed in and parked. George was not in so I waited for him.

We talked until about nine-fifty-five. Then I went to Ken's office to meet with him for a second. He took me to the interview room. I had an hour long interview with several people asking me the typical questions about what I do and what I did in certain situations. How I handle stress and what not. Then I was taken to Bo, who would be my boss if I get the job.

We talked for an hour. A few things that I think went against me was the fact that I did not know a lot about servers. He also said my eyes light up when I talk about programming. I think he thinks I will not be happy if I am not programming. I think my odds are not the best in the world. But I do have a one in four chance because there were only four final interviews.

After it was done I went to see Ryan. We talked and decided to see a movie. We were going to see the Village. I went back to Colfax to get changed. I stopped by the IS Office and talked to Dan a little bit about the interview. He told me some more about the car wreck that killed the twenty year old kid. Sounds like the kid lived for a few minutes after the wreck and burned a little bit. I don't know that for sure, but if that is the case, that would have sucked to be him.

I went home and changed into real clothes. I grabbed a pop and took off to Pullman. In route I was talking to my mom and Ryan. I opened the pop and it fell out of my hand. It covered my shorts and got my truck floor all wet. A full twelve ounces sprayed everywhere and I was just about in Pullman so I could not go back.

I went to get Ryan and we headed to Cougar Communitions. Ryan was going to get a new cell phone. He got a SprintPCS phone. We looked over the different plans. He chose one that one was available in Pullman and Fresno, CA. It was fifty buck for unlimited minutes in the Pullman region.

Then we went to Moscow. We spent a few bucks hitting balls in the batting cage. Then we went over to the sports store and looked at some cleats.

On our way back the sun was there but you could stare right at it without a problem. The smoke and haze from the wild fires were blocking it out. It was this really cool color. I tried to get some pictures of it.

We headed to the Village Centre Cinemas to see the movie The Village. It was disappointing at the end. I expected more out of the movie. I thought it just ened. Without a lot of closure.

Heading to Pullman through a fire

I went to my forensic's class. We did some more case work. When it was done I was going to get on my way to Pullman. I have the job interview tomorrow. But when we got out I realized I needed to get something from my house and my digital camera from my work in Bellevue. So I was not going to get on the road at a decent hour like I had hoped.

There was a field fire outside of North Bend slowing everything down. In fact there was a three mile back up. It took an extra hour to get through it. Finally I was underway. I got to my house and made sure I knew were all the parts of my suit were located.

I did not want to stay up late and miss anything so I got to bed early.

Humpday fun.

I went to bed a little later than normal last night causing me to run late this morning.  On my way to class I had a chew.  I realized I only had one left so I went to AM-PM to get some pop and chew.  They did not have my pop.  Of all the fountain pop, they were out of Diet Pepsi.  I did get my chew though.

We talked about some legal issues and did some more work with the kitty porn case.  We started a new case where we had to figure out what Bart Simpson was up to.  It appeared that he was mad and wanted to bomb some place in Seattle.  I think it look like the EMP or the Seattle Art Museum.  I have to do more work to figure it out though.

I went and got my haircut tonight so I would look good for the interview on Friday.  I went to my old barbershop.  Haircuts are up to sixteen dollars!  I could not believe it. 

I got home and tried to do my homework for a while.  I kept getting interruptions.  I finally went to my room and got it done.  I watched Quintuplets.  There was a part where one of the kids in the family was dancing with another guy.  It was not supposed to be a gay scene, just two guys who enjoyed dancing.  But through out the show they made it seem like he was gay.  It caught my attention because the actor was a ten-six-seven.

After the show I was sitting on my bed and Jen came up stairs.  I tried to get her into my room but she was skittish of something in my room.  So she kept trying to get close to it.  I would make a "pssst" sound and she would jump back.  I laughed so hard.  It was funny.  Yes, I am a mean guy!

Day two is even more fun.

Today was day two of the computer forensic's class.  We worked more on the tools and we got a case of "kitty" porn.  Not Kiddie porn.  We are going through files.  Some are password protected.  We are finding clues and getting closer to some stuff, but we have quiet a way to go.

When class was done I got home.  I helped to water the plants around the house and I had to make some macaroni and cheese for Max's food.  Max is Janet and Lee's dog.  She likes to have it with her dog food.

I worked on doing my homework from my forensic's class and chatted with Ryan.  I was on his blog today.  I forgot his birthday on Friday.  I did not wish him a happy birthday until about three am on Saturday.  I feel so bad.  I call him my best friend and I forgot his big day.  I feel horrible about it.  I need to make it up to him some how.

Computer Forensics

Today was my first day of computer forensics class.  I signed up for it while I was working for Whitman County.  It is being taught at Highline Community College.  It is a pretty neat class so far.  We just started to play with some tools.  We were learning about the operating systems and a little about the profession.  A lot of stuff was overview information.

After class got out I had to get the oil changed on my truck.  I got that taken care of as well.  I got home and it was so hot in the house.  The A/C broke.  It sucked. 

I read in the book from my class to get that out of the way.  I watched the new Homestar Runner before heading off to bed.

Coming home and taking Nick with me.

I had no softball in Renton this weekend so I did not need to be home early.  I got up and went to get Nick at about one pm.  When I got there I was offered some french toast.  So I went into Russell's and ate before we left.  Russell gave me a hug for bring Nick over.  He was really happy.  I wished Russell a happy birthday again.  Nick and I talked about different issues the whole way.  Not quite the same one's as we talked about on the way to Pullman.

It was a short ride.  I had to take him back to the ferry terminal in Seattle, but we were going to miss the ferry and I had to go to my office and get some paperwork for my computer forensic class on Monday.  So I took Nick with me.  I got my paperwork and we played a game of ping pong.  I beat Nick and then we went to Seattle.  I dropped him off at the ferry terminal and came home.

Because I had to get up so early I decided to go to bed early as well. 

The next day

I went to bed at nearly eight am this morning and when I got up it seemed like eight am was yesterday even though it was today. So, anyway, I got up and went to get Ryan. We got some dinner and then went to my office and played Hand and Foot. We played that for a while. Russell was having a birthday party.

We went to Russell's at about nine pm. Fowler was there as were a few other people. We hung out and chatted. We ate dinner and had cake too. At about midnight Ryan and I left and went back to my office and played Hand and Foot until about four am.

We called it a night. I dropped off Ryan at home before I went home myself.

Taking Nick to Russell

I got the permission at work today to take the Computer Forensic's class. I am going to have to make up hours in the evening and get some work done. Today was also take your dog to work day. Amber came in with me. She fell down the cliff, as I talked about in the post about that.

I met with Jon and a few others for lunch at the Three Pig Bar-B-Q. That was good. I took off early because Amber was a chore to watch while I was trying to work.

I got home and hung out until I needed to go get Nick from the ferry dock in Seattle. I said it was funny that two gay guys were meeting at the ferry terminal! He laughed at that. While trying to pick him up there was a lot of traffic for the M's game. With the line to wait to get the ferry. It took for ever to drive the two blocks. Well. It was not for ever. It was only an hour and a half.

I finally got Nick and we got underway. We were heading towards Issaquah and he wanted to get some dinner at Burger King and then we headed out. It was a nice drive. We talked about being gay and coming out. It was a great conversation. Then we listened to Pink Floyd. He has great taste in music.

We got to Pullman and I took him to Russell's apartment. I picked up Ryan on the way as well. Then we headed to Mr. Z's casino. We played poker and also played some casino games. We played poker until four am. That is when the poker table shut down. Ryan and I went to get some food from Jack in the Box. Then we went to the casino again. Lumpy was there. He asked me for a ride home. I gave him a ride and then Ryan and I went back to the casino again. Russell put in for early leave. When they shut down another table he could leave.

They finally shut down a table at five-thirty am. Ryan and I rushed back to Russell's apartment. I got my camera ready. We had Nick get up and he was ready. Russell showed up. We went into the house and got Russell in the kitchen. We gave the signal for Nick to come out. We walked out and I had my camera in video mode. I recorded it. They hugged and were happy to see each other.

Ryan and I left after a few minutes. I went home and went to bed.

This Tear's for you, Buddy.

This Tear's for you, Buddy.
Saying Good-bye is Never Easy

I miss you Big-Guy, Stud Muffin, Buddy, Pal, Cat, Friend, Garfy, Garfield. I wish I could hear you "meow" some more. I wish I could see your cute little eyes look up at me as you want something. I loved to watch you walk with your little black tail stick straight into the air. It looked so cute when you walked around the coffee table. All I would see it the last few inches of your tail. And the last two inches would slowly wave back and forth like you were thinking about or debating your next move.  I miss how you were so good at being underfoot. You loved to try to trip me up. I will miss coming home from college and have you waiting by the door like you were expecting me. I will miss you waking me up by meowing and knocking on my door in the morning. I will miss you walking on my shelves in my room knocking things off as you walk. Then you would get up on my headboard and knock things off. I would wake up just long enough to try to lift you off the headboard while I was still laying down. You would stretch out your legs and you would be able to knock things off as I was trying to get you. I will miss being able to cuddle with you, or having you on my bed sleeping. As I come up the stairs I would see you and then go pet you. You always looked so peaceful. I miss you getting in my lap and sleeping as I would sit in the chair watching TV. I miss us racing around the house. As I would come up to your hiking spot you would jet out of it and run to a new spot. I miss seeing you stretch out in front of the fireplace. I miss you greeting me when I come home from a night on the town. I miss it when I would walk up the driveway after getting the mail or newspaper and you would run over then lay down so I could pet you. I miss seeing you sit up proud as could be. I miss you jumping onto the counter as I would be brushing my teeth. You would try to drink the fresh water pouring from the tap. I would turn on the tap in the other sink so you could have your own water and I could have mine. You were a young cat, only 15 years old, but you had a good life. You were loved by all of us. When you were missing for two weeks after being hit by a car I looked for you, I distributed hundreds of flyers and put up a lot of posters. We put adds in all the local newspapers. Then, being the Stud Muffin that you are, you showed up on our deck exactly 2 weeks to the day that you turned up missing. With your broken hip you walked up out long driveway. You had lost almost half of you body weight and your voice was really weak. We took you to the vet and he had to re-break your hip to set it correctly. Then he put a pin in it so your hip would heal just right. Then you and dad would sit in the chair together. You, Garfield, with your broken hip and dad with his new artificial hip. That was a great sight. I know you helped each other heal faster. At the old house I remember how you loved to play with the rings from the milk jugs. Every time we would open a new milk up you would get the ring. You would play with it until you lost it. When we moved to the new house we moved the china cabinet that sat near the kitchen. We found about 50 of your rings that you had lost. I cried hard for you Garfield, and I know I will cry some more tears for you, Garfield. You are the cat I grew up with. You helped see me through really tough times, including the time after Dad died. I LOVE YOU GARFIELD.

Note: I wrote this two days after I got word my Best Friend, Garfield, died in his sleep. I really miss him and I will never stop loving him.

Amber the amazing

Today is take your dog to work day.  I brought Amber in.  She is a pure-bred Golden Retriever.  She loves tennis balls.  She got one that I brought and then we got her and she stole one from another dog.  People around the office have been throwing to for her.

At one point Terry asked if she could come out with him while he smokes.  I said sure.  Then he came back in about a minute later and said I needed to get out there.  I went outside and he said she went over the edge.  The office building I wokd at is built with several buildings on a hill.  So the back side of each building has a drop off from the upper level from the one before.

He said the ball went over and she went following right after it.  She did not even stop to look.  He said she just disappeared.  So I went to the edge of the drop off.  It went down about ten feet.  There she was standing there with her ball in her mouth.  She was not hurt.  She was just waiting for someone to get her! 

The story of Dave the Cat.

I love my cats.  I got Dave as a stray.  He was hanging out around my parents' house.  He had no collar and we put signs up and asked around.  No one seemed to own him.  Finally I decided to give him a home in Pullman.  I decided to name him Dave.

He was AWESOME...  When he would lay on your lap he would snuggle his head between your arm and the side of your chest.  He would sleep there for hours.  He was an active cat.

Then one day he let out a terrible meow.  I knew something was wrong.  Dave had a loud voice, but this is unlike anything I had ever heard.  I went to the kitchen and he could not stand on his own.  He was leaning against the fridge.

I took him to a vet who referred me to the WSU vet clinic.  I took him in and his PVC level was half of what a cat should have.  The doctor said it looked like cherry kool-aid.  It was not good.  By the time I had got him there he was actually doing better and could walk again.  The vet said that he must have been that way for a long time because he was actually well adjusted to it.  She said most cats with that level would not be able to do anything.  Granted Dave was more into napping and relaxing, but he was doing okay for the most part.  He would still play.  The doctor put Dave on predizone.  It is a steroid.  He was on 10mg which is a lot for a cat his size.  It made a difference.

His PVC volume with up a little bit, and he got more active.  However, they were not sure what was causing the problem.  So I took him in for check ups every two weeks and kept giving him pred twice a day.  After a while he got so good at taking it I would just open his mouth and it was done.

Then I got a job in California.  He went to stay with my parents in Seattle.  While he was there he got really sick.  My parents took him to the animal hospital.  They did some stuff with him.  I talked to a nurse on the phone who said that he was doing bad and I might consider putting him to sleep.  My brother and his wife who are big huge cat lovers themselves.  They thought I should put him down too.  The doctor said he could not keep his head up and he was super weak.
The next day I got a call from the vet and she said that when she came in that morning Dave was standing up and have made a 180 degree turn for the better.  That was when I decided that as long as Dave wants to fight to be alive I will fight with him.  My brother talked to me on the phone about putting him down.  I was mad.  I told him that as long as Dave fought I would make sure he got medical attention.  He came home and things were good.

Some time later I moved back to Pullman and I was watching TV.  He was in my lap and it sounded like he had an upper respiratory infection.  When he was breathing it sounded like his nose was all stuffy.  So I took him in to fix that.  But it was worse than I thought.  They kept him over night and give him some meds.  When I went to get him from the vet I was given about 4 meds that he would take at different times of the day and some meds that would happen every couple of days.  I also have to give him some IV fluid to help with his hydration.

He was at home for about two days.  We were sitting on my couch watching TV.  At about eight PM he looked into my eyes.  I looked into his eyes.  I think that was him saying goodbye to me.  I didn't know it at the time.  I could see his pupils were huge.  I had to go for a while.  I sat him on the cusion that I was sitting on and left.  When I came home he had died.  I had home for about a year after I was told to put him down.  He was a fighter!  He wanted to live and I loved him with all my heart.

Watching Max

I got a call from Janet.  She said that my mom and Bill said they would watch Max while Janet and her family go on vacation.  She said she would be bringing Max over sometime in the afternoon.  I decided to leave work early so I could be home when Max was brought over. 

I left at about three pm so I could be home when Janet got there.  I decided it was time to wash my truck.  I wanted to have it clean for when I brought Nick to see Russell.  I washed it front to back.  It really needed a good wash.  It looks so much better now.  I was happy I did it.  It was so hot though.  I sprayed my hair down a few times to cool down.  When I was done washing my truck I went in to house to cool down. 

I watched some TV and had my night planned out.  I was going to watch the Mariners, Ken Jennings from Jeopardy, the Simpson's, Family Guy, and Futurama.  I was also online chatting with Ryan and Jephren. 

I went to Renton IGA and got some pizza for dinner.  I went home and fixed one while watching the Mariner's.  Janet and Lee finally came over around eight pm.  They dropped off Max.  Max and Amber we crazy with each other.  They were running around, playing, dancing, the whole works.  They were having good times.

I let them outside one time and they ran at full speed around the yard.  Then they stopped to go to the bathroom.  I brought them back inside.  I went out and watered my mom's plants and missed Bret Boone's game winning two-run homerun.  I got in at talked to Ryan until about eleven o'clock before I went up stairs and went to bed.

Re-doing it

We were talking about the fix and how it worked.  I gave my report to Terry.  I then said that I had been thinking about it and I realized that I could re-do it and make it better.  There were some changes that I had made that were not really needed.  So I spent a little while making those changes.  Once those changes were done I took some time to run some test cases.  They appeared to work just fine. 

I headed out to my house.  I made dinner.  After I was done eating I pulled out the hoses and watered all my mom's plants.  I thought about washing my truck but it was too hot and I did not feel like it.

I watched the Mariner's game.  I spent time chatting with Ryan online.  Then I had Ryan call me.  We were on the phone talking about relationship issues.  We talked for about two hours.  At one point someone pinged him online.  This was a gay guy.  Turned out that Ryan knew him.  They talked for a little bit.  Then Ryan talked about me and that guy hooking up.

It is fixed

I got into work and found out the fix I made on Monday did indeed work.  I worked on commenting my code better and cleaning it up.  Now I am going to check it into SourceSafe.  I played some ping pong against Brian.  I beat him in the first game twenty-one to eight.  The second game was much closer.  I beat him twenty-two to twenty.

I went home and let Amber out.  I was going to head to Hazen to meet with Jon, Brian, Jim and their families.  We were going to play some tennis.  I got dinner and then headed to Hazen.  I did not have a tennis racket so I borrowed one from Jon.  We played team tennis.  It was Jim and Jon versus Brian and I.  The first set was close but Brian and I came up short.  We make it to a score of three to one in the second set when the women were ready to leave. 

I was serving.  It has been a long time since I last played tennis.  I tried a hard serve on my first attempt.  I would always miss it.  So I then would lob an easy one over the second time to make sure we did not give up an easy point.  On one serve I decided I was going to do an easy serve on my first one can catch Jon sleeping.  I did it and then giggled.  He returned it and then they got the point.  Jon made fun of my giggle by giggling back at me.  The others were laughing. 

We went to Dairy Queen and got some ice cream before everyone headed out. 

I went home and talk to Pete about coverage for the Coroners office this weekend.  I am taking Nick to see Russell for Russell's birthday.  So I am not going to be in town on time for being on call.  Pete told me about a call he had on Sunday morning.  He said Whitcom tried to call but could not get ahold of me.  I did get a call on Sunday and it no one was there.  It turns out it was Whitcom.  I am so mad that I did not talk to them.  I wish they had called me a second time.

There was a car accident were a twenty year old kid died.  He was injured baddly and had actually gotten burned as well because the car was also on fire.  I wish I would have gone on that one I could have learned a lot.  I am really mad about missing that one.

I got home and I had to water the plants around the house for my mom.  She is on vaction with Bill.  I decided to watch Extreme Dodgeball before going to bed.  I have to be at work at nine am for a meeting in the morning.

My new bestfriend

What a heck of a day.  I had to get up at four-forty-five am to take my parents and their friends to the airport.  My parents loaded my truck and we headed to Factoria to pick up the others.  Then we got on Interstate Four Oh Five.  We made it to Renton, about four miles from the airport when one of the friends said she forgot her purse.  So we turned around and drove back to Factoria for the purse.  Then back to the airport.  After dropping them off I drove to work.  I put about sixty miles on the truck in the two hour drive to get them to the airport. 
 
I was in at work at seven am.  I was tired all day long.  I am still working on the problem with re-issuing credit.  We had a phone conference with a few companies we deal with.  I think I have the problem fixed now.  We will not know for sure until tomorrow morning.  If it is fixed I will be happy. 
 
I played Brian a few games of Ping Pong.  He beat me in both games.  That is the first time he has ever beaten me.  It was terrible.
 
I chatted with Ryan online.  I told him that I consider him my bestfriend.  I told him to me a bestfriend is that one and only person who I like, check that, love more than any other friend I have.  It is not something I take lightly.  You do not have two or three bestfriends.  By definition only one person can be the best friend.  I have not had someone I considered a bestfriend since Peter was.  I still don't know what happened with Peter.
 
Ryan said he was happy and that he did not take that lightly.  I am happy about that.  Ryan is one of those guys who I have been friends with through thick and thin.  He is the guy who if everyone else on Earth died, that I would want to have with me.  Over the years I have shared so much of my life and my growing with Ryan.  He looks past my faults and weaknesses and still loves me as a friend.
 
After I left work I came home.  I have been watching Jeopardy.  Ken Jennings won again.  I watched the M's and QaF.  I am really tired so I am probably going to go to bed earlier than normal.

Last day of regular season co-ed softball

I got woken up by a phone call but no one was there.  So I went back to sleep.  I was so hot through out the night I could not sleep at all.  I tossed and turned all night long.  Finally, near the time I had to get up I was able to get some sleep.  That is how it always works.

I got up at about eleven am and got my truck ready to go.  I got some food and gas and headed out.  I was on the road at about noon.  I got home just before four pm.  I was making good time on the road even with a car accident that slowed traffic for about two miles.

I sat around the house and relaxed before getting ready to head to my softball game.  The game was at five-thirty, so I headed out about four-forty-five so I could be there by five.  I got to Ron Regis field and started to get ready.  It was so humid it was uncomfortable.  I started the first game and pitched the whole thing.  Then I did the line up in game two and I sat on the bench until the fifth inning.  I pitched two innings.  My hitting was ON FIRE.

I went three for three in the first game and 1 for 2 (I had a deep hit and the outfielder had a long run to get to it, and it hit off the outfielders mitt and it was dropped, so that is a Reach on Error).  I also had a walk.  I was onbase six for six in the two games.  We lost both games, but they were really close.

After the game I went home.  I had to get up early to take the parents to the airport, but dinner was not done until after nine pm.  So I got to bed later than I had wanted.

Boating with my friends

I got up early and got the boat ready for the boating trip.  I headed to Pullman and picked up Chris, Russell, and Ryan.  Kristine took off for some reason.  We went to get some gas and food from Safeway.  We headed to Wawawai Landing.  I could not get cell coverage.  So I had to go to Lewiston to put the boat in the water.  We stopped at Granite Point to get Kristine.  I had assumed she would have gone there.  She had.  It was my first time up on the rock.  Russell and Kristine jumped off of it and then we left for Lewiston.

I launched my boat at Roosters Landing and we took off and drove around a little while.  Then I pulled out the tube and we all took turns.  It was a lot of fun.  After riding on the tube for a few hours we decided to try riding two people on the tube at the same time.  Russell and Ryan.  Russell and Chris.  Then Russell and I.  Everytime we tried to get on it, the tube would flip us off of it.  Finally we got balanced on it with me laying on the tube and Russell laying on me.  We started to head out.  The boat was having a hard time getting us on a plane. 

It was going down a little bit.  I thought we were going to get up and then the fabric that holds the tube to the rope ripped away and that was it for tubing.  We pulled it in and drove around for a while longer.  We decided to trailer the boat and head to dinner.  We went to Old Country Buffet.  We were there and they said "are you guys students?"  They said students with ID cards get a discount.  So we all showed them our ID cards and got dinner.

While sitting and eating I saw Carl from Colfax Fire come in.  He and him wife were in the area camping for the weekend.  We talked for a short period of time before he went to his seat.

After dinner we went back to Pullman.  I got some pop from Safeway and then we went to Russell's apartment.  We were going to play Hand and Foot.  Ryan and I were on a team.  We ended up winning.  We only made it through three rounds because the other teams we so slow and Chris had to get going.

I left when everyone else did.  I went home and got my pager.  About five minutes after settling into a show a call went out for a transfer for a guy who cut his arm and needed surgery in Pullman.

I went to the station and one other person show up.  We picked up the guy.  He was bleeding pretty good.  There was a lot of blood on the floor of the ER.  He was getting a unit of  blood because he lost so much.  We went code three to Pullman Memorial.  I was the attendant with a nurse from Whitman Hospital.  We got to Pullman in a hurry.  There was a lot of blood in the ambulance and on the cot.  So we spent time cleaning up before getting back into service.

We dropped off the nurse and then went to the gas station to top off the tank in the Ambulance.  I went home and went to sleep.

Seeing I,Robot

I only spent an hour or two at work.  No news came in about the re-issue problem so I took off to get back to Colfax.  I was going to meet up with Dan at the IS Office and talk to him about some server related stuff to get some buzz words should I need to talk the talk at my job interview.

After meeting with Dan I headed up to Pullman and met up with Ryan.  We are planning on heading to see I,Robot.  We were going to meet up with Kristine and Chris.  We actually met up with Kristine at Arby's.  We ate and then it was off to the movie.

Early in the movie there was a scene where Will Smith was in bed wearing only underware.  He was getting out of bed and lifted his leg.  A guy in front of us sort of blurted out "EWWW."  We laughed about that.

Kristine was going to go to a bar an celebrate her new job.  Chris was going to a different bar to drink with some of his friends.  I was on call for the coroners office so I did not want to go drinking.  Ryan suggested that we go to Zeppoz and play cards.  I was up for that so we went there.

I played some blackjack, Texas Shoot-out, and Spanish Twenty-One.  I was waiting for a seat at the Texas hold'em table.  At a few of the tables Cole was dealing.  He is a ten-six-seven.  I have always like him.  I asked him if we was still dealing Texas Hold'em.  He said he wasn't.  Now he was just dealing inside the casino.

I finally got a seat on the table.  I sat across from a guy who was wearing sunglasses.  He was a dork.  Later on I found out it was the guy who shot and killed his roommate in Pullman.  There was some oriental guy sitting at the table wearing sunglasses and a visor.  He was criticizing everyone's moves.  It was annoying to listen to him.  I played until about two o'clock in the morning.  I won my last hand after having gone all in.  I walked out with about forty dollars.

Good-bye John Olerud

I got a call from Ryan today.  He told me about John Olerud being put on waivers.  I was so bummed about that all day.  I am still bummed about it.  I am so mad at that decision to do that to Olerud.  I cannot wait until he is back in the league and I hope he gets one more World Series ring.
 
I was at work all day but we did not get anything done with the problem yet again.  I left a little after four pm to come home and hang out.  I had to get the mowing done still.  I also learned that someone got killed in a car accident on Cemetery Road near One-Eightieth.  I don't know much more about it yet.
 
I watched the Mariner's win today and I saw Ken Jennings win again.  He had a run for his money again, but by the end of the game he was untouchable.  After that was over I did mow the lawn with the push mower.  We have about an acre of grass to cut.  Most of it is done with the riding mower but some needs to be done with a push mower.
 
When I was done with that I pulled out my old motorcycle and rode it on the streets a little while.  I decided to put it away.  The tires need some air and I do not want to cause an accident due to the tire breaking.
 
I chatted with Jephren from G-shack for a while.  He is one of the guys who I said I would want to meet if I could.  He has a brother in the military.  He is a Cougar fan.  He is a really cool guy.  We talked for about two hours.  He is really interesting to talk to.  I told him that I am gay.  I did not just come out and say it, but it came out in the course of the conversation.  He did not even bat an eye.  He didn't care.  It was all good to him.  He is such a great guy.
 
I also talked to Alex from G-Shack.  He wanted to know why he was not one of the three guys I would have chosen to meet.  I told him that I did not pick him, nor Justin.  Both are decent guys, but there are compelling reasons to pick the other people.  I may have chosen Justin and Alex a while back but it does not seem like we ever really talk much anymore.  Justin and I don't really talk unless he needs something.  We don't just chat.  So I told him why I chose the other people.

Wenis - He is a Cougar.  He is a smart guy who is a deep thinker.  He is someone I would love to just talk to.
JP86 - for some of the above reason that I talked about in the part about our conversation.  He seems like a good conservative young man.
AJ - He is a really cool guy.  He is amazing in some ways.  English is he second language.  He is not afraid to talk his mind.  He is not afraid of being labeled by other people.  He is outgoing.  Him and I chat all the time.  He has actually called me on the phone in the past and we have talked. 

RIP - Mark R. Plumlee

Mark R. Plumlee
Mark Raymond Plumlee of Renton died Jan. 11, 2002, in Renton. He was 30.
Born Oct. 21, 1971, in Renton, he graduated from Liberty High School in Issaquah in 1990 and received an associate degree from Bellevue Community College. He was a psychology student at the University of Washington and lived was a lifetime resident of the South County area.
Mr. Plumlee was a member of Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Renton.
He enjoyed playing bass guitar, music, computers, snow skiing, hiking, swimming and soccer.
He was preceded in death by his father, Donald Plumlee in September 1996. He is survived by his mother, Carol Plumlee of Renton; and sister Donella Plumlee of Renton.
A memorial service will be held at a later date.
Memorials may be made to the King County Humane Society.
Arrangements are by Greenwood Funeral Home in Renton.

More of the same

Sitting at work waiting for someone else to get me in the information I need in order for me to fix something here is brutal.  I would like to work on something.  That is why I am going to work on my softball site in the future.
 
Following work I did the weedeating for the lawn.  I was supposed to do it Monday but I am doing it today instead.  The weedeating only took a little while to get done. 
 
I went in and dinner was nearly done.  We were having beans and wieners.  It was grub.

Dinner at the Eagles

Today was a sit and wait game again at work.  We had a telephone conference with some other people on this issue.  But it was almost a worthless call.  I sat around bored most of the day.  When I get to Pullman I am going to get the database for the softball application I want to build.  I will bring it out here and during times like these I will work on that program.  It will give me something cool in the end and help me learn C#.
 
After work I went to the Eagles for dinner.  We had some steak and potatoes.  I also watched the Baseball All-Star game.  After dinner I told mom about the interview with WSU.  I wanted her to know in case I got the job she would have more than two weeks notice about me leaving.
 
 

Nothing happened

I got to work this morning, expecting to work on the problem of re-issue credit. But we did not get information we needed to do it, so I sat around all day long.

I went home and relaxed. I watched Ken Jennings on Jeopardy kick some more butt. I watched Trauma: Life in the ER. I spent sometime on G-Shack and chatting with Zach online. Turns out today is Zach nineteenth birthday. So I wish him a happy birthday.

Getting a big butt kicking

I got up and headed to Seattle early in the morning to make sure I would be back in time for softball.  With going to bed sort of late I was already tired.  Away I went.  I actually made good time back to Seattle.  When I got home I went into my room and started to get ready to play softball by getting my uniform on. 
 
I drove to the field and parked close to it.  I thought I would park far enough back that the backstop would stop foul balls.  I was wrong.  During the game a ball went foul and hit the bed of my truck.  It put a small dent in it.  That sucked.
 
We started the first game.  We had four girls to start.  Brenda showed up late and started to play in the second inning.  I was pitching okay, but the other team was hitting the crud out of the ball.  They went up for a few innings the we played catchup.  It was tied eight to eight for about an inning and then they started to tee-off.  sadly, we were not able to keep up.  Part of the problem was that I would tell the outfielders to play a different way, shift around or whatnot.  They would not listen to me.  It was terrible.  We could have made some outs if they were willing to listen to me.  We lost eight to twenty-three.
 
We had a five minute break and then went at it again.  I let Mark start pitching.  I sat on the bench.  We were getting shelled and we were not able to get any runs scored.  In the second inning they batted round twice and were working on their third time round when I changed pitchers.  They hit a few more times before we finally got out of the inning.  What was dumb is that the outfielders were not adjusting to the other teams' hitter.  One girl could not hit it much past the infielders.  Yet the outfielders chose to play ten feet back from the grass rather then getting to the gassy/dirt edge.  After a while that team had crushed us.  They kept pouring it on.  They beat us and then continued to thrash on us.  Not very sportsman-like of them.

After the game a few of us went to a bar.  We played some pool and drank beer.  Talked about the game and a few other things.  It was nice to relax after the game.  We stayed there for about two hours and then we headed home.
 
I got home in time to grab dinner.  I chatted online for a while and watched Six Feet Under as well as QaF.

Zeppoz softball tournament

As expected Saturday morning came very fast. I woke up at seven o'clock am on the floor of my friends room. I turned over and got some quasi-sleep for a little while. We were planning on getting up at eight o'clock am. Within an hour Ryan knocked on my door and let me know it was eight. I got up and brushed my teeth. I thought about allowing myself the pleasure of a bowel movement, but I decided against it. I figured I would wait. That was a mistake. I don't normally talk about this kind of thing, but it played a role in my game.

We got to the field and I was able to play short stop. I did not do all that great at it. I played there for two innings and made two errors. I also played first base and catcher. My hitting was okay, but nothing was too special. As the games was going on I was not feeling well. Each inning I wanted to just run to the bathroom. I couldn't though. Finally we are in the last inning. It actually felt okay to sit on the bench. But getting up was bad. The game ended and we were supposed to sit around and get some information about the upcoming game. I chose to head out.

I went to my truck and cruised quickly to my office. I was able to hit the head and I felt so much better afterwards. Ryan and I went to Pizza Pipeline and got some pizza. Then we went back to the field and hung out with the Uskoski's and a few others. We drank beer and I had a dip.

The next game was ready to get underway. We were playing against the Tax Dodgers. We went out and beat them pretty easily. A few of the guys asked where I had been. I told them I was living in Seattle. John and I switched off pitching. We won that game.

We had about an hour until the last game. We all sat around and drank. Garrett was there. I was thinking about calling him aside and talking to him. I never did. I will have to do that one of these days soon. It is not going to fix anything at this point, but I have to talk to him. He also acted like he knows I am gay. I am going to have to try to find out.

We got ready to play our last game. I was going to pitch the first half of the game and then John would do the second half. I had a shut out going in to the fourth inning. John told me to keep pitching. The first batter hit a homerun. I called for a relief pitcher by tapping my right arm with two fingers from my left hand. John came out and continued to pitch. I ran and got some beer.

We ended up winning by a large margin. We more or less control our own destiny now. Ryan and I were walking to my truck. We were going to meet with Meredith for dinner. On the way to my truck a guy from the team we had just beaten offered us some beer. I took one. We talked some small talk. Then we drove to Ryan's apartment and changed out of our softball stuff.

We went to the store and got some milk, pop, and water. We went back to Meredith's. Marshall, the People's Tech, was there. We talked about computer stuff. I asked how things were going for him. I took pics of him, Meredith, Kristine, and Ryan. Meredith was fixing some traditional Mexican dishes for us. It was a very good meal. I was full when we were done eating. I was also really tired.

I was ready to go home, but I ended up staying and we played three-man Hand and Foot. Ryan was killing us. At the end of the game it was between Meredith and I for second place. I won by fifty points. Shortly after that game I headed home as quickly as I could because I ha to be up early and get to Seattle so I could play softball over there.

Hanging out with Deth

I did not have to get to Colfax within normal business hours so I stayed at work until almost four pm. I was working on the re-issue credit problem. I had help with it. We are not finding a solution as of yet. There is more work to be done on it.

I was going to stay at home in Colfax and do some work there. I got an IM from Ryan who invited me to come to Pullman and play cards with him and Meredith. That was a good idea to me. I have been friends with Meredith for many years and she is getting ready to head off to the Navy at the end of the month. So I will not be able to see her for a long time.

Ryan said I could bring a sleeping bag to his apartment and stay the night there. That would allow me to get more sleep because we had a softball tournament to play in on Saturday morning at nine o'clock AM.

I rolled into Colfax at eight pm. I got a pillow, sleeping bag, and other stuff that I need for softball and then sped off to Pullman. I got some food at Cougar Country. I saw Deputy Paul there. I talked to him for a bit while waiting for my food. I ate it along the way to Meredith's apartment.

When I got there Kristine had some breadsticks from Little Caesars. I had some of those as well. Then we played four games of Hand and Foot. We split the games. Ryan and I won two games and Meredith and Kristine won the other two. Ryan and I went to his apartment and I was off to bed at about four am.

I am on the short list.

More or less today was pretty uneventful. I spent time working on the problem with the re-issue of credit.

On my way home from work I got a phone call from WSU IT. I was told I made the short list of people for the final interview for the computer position at WSU. I was really excited about that. I have my formal interview on July thirtieth.

I called George and told him. He was really happy about that. He said that if I get that position that I will be in line to take over SCS from him because I would be on the inside. He would love for me to get the job at IT. He said that he would look at the people who I am going to interview with and he would tell me information about them so I am in a better position to know who people are. I am excited about the chance at getting this job and getting back to Pullman.

Ho hum.

The untabled project got into high speed today. I worked with a few other guys through out the day and we got something that was working. When we went to talk to the people in marketing to test it we found out the direction we went was wrong. We have to do it all over again tomorrow.

I have been growing a goatee. Mainly because Brian likes guys with goatees. I like the feel of it. I normally cannot have one because firefighters have to get a good seal on their mask for going into fires. So, when I move back to Pullman I will have to shave it off.

I ate fatback for dinner. It is one of my favorite meals. When I was done I found out that I had to head to softball practice. I got there and only two others showed up. I went home and helped do the dishes.

I chatted with Justin online. He was wondering why I did not want to be his friend. I told him that it is not that I don't want to be his friend. He is a great guy. But it is that we are not friends. Just talking to someone does not make you friends. You have to do more than chat online to be a friend. A friendship is a deeper relationship. It takes time and effort to have a relationship with someone that will turn into a friendship. Someday Justin and I can be real friends. For now I will settle for being good buddies. I hope I did not hurt his feelings because that is not what I set out to do. I hope he understood. AJ is a really awesome guy, but he is in the same boat as Justin.

I was watching Death Wish. I was thinking about vigilantism. There is something to someone taking the law into their own hands and taking care of the problems that the police can't.

Back at the job

After a short three day weekend I was back at work. It turns out the tabled issue with reissuing credit was untabled. So I am working on that again. I got into the office and my computer had a blue screen that said it was performing a physical memory dump. My computer was dead. Turns out it appears to have been a problem with the motherboard. I had my hard driver changed out with a different computer and I was off to the races.

I went to lunch with a few people from work. We went to the Crossroads Mall and to the food court there. I will probably make my way there again for a meal. I downloaded my photos from boating on the fourth of July. I had a picture of Chris with the orange flag. He was standing in such a way and his look on his face made him look gay. So I changed the orange flag to a rainbow flag. I e-mailed it to him. He responded saying he really liked it. I left a little after five-thirty to head home.

I got home and played with Amber for a while. I watched some TV shows including Jeopardy. Ken Jennings is still kicking butt. He is up to twenty-five wins. The answer to final Jeopardy today was Captain Cook. What was funny was on Paul Harvey's the Rest of the Story it was partly about Captain Cook. With the clue from Jeopardy I figured the answer was Captain Cook. I was right. How cool is that?

I chatted with Zach for a while online. He was in Spokane from Alaska. We were not able to meet up to say hi or anything. I was hoping he could have come to a softball tournament because we really needed some more guys. Zach is a very cool guy. AJ hit me up as well as he was on his way out the door. It is in the Netherlands. That is nine hours ahead of me in the Pacific Time Zone.

Nothing much today.

I got up after tossing and turning for a few hours. I unhooked my boat and then headed to Seattle. It was a pretty easy ride without any cops along the way. I got home and sat around until dinner.

I threw the ball for Amber for a while and watched TV. I got caught up on G-Shack posts before going to bed.

Happy Birthday America – 2004

The day started out with getting up early and getting the truck and boat ready for the river. I put on the new license plate on the boat. I put on the new tabs. I headed to Pullman. I made a few phone calls to people to see if anyone was interested in going along.

I had called Chris last night. With the way I treated him last time we hung out I doubted that he would want to go. But he said he would go. This was going to be my chance to apologize to him. I went to pick him up first. He got in and we headed to get Ryan from Kristine’s apartment. I tried to find a way to say sorry but I couldn’t until we were at Kristine’s apartment. Finally I told him that I wanted to apologize for the way I treated him last time we went out. He said that he thought I was just in a bad mood. I told him that it was not a bad mood. I told him there was no reason that I should have ever treated him the way I did. I told him that sometimes I have a hard time letting a grudge go. I again said that I was sorry. He said that he accepted it. I felt better. He said if I ever want to talk about what he did that caused me to get mad he was open to talk about it. It is so petty that I am not going to bring it up.

Ryan came out of the apartment and joined us. We headed to get some gas in the boat and the truck. Then we went to Safeway. We got some food and I picked up some pop and water. On the way to my truck I saw a few full-time guys from Pullman fire. They said hi. Away we went to the river.

Once at the boat launch Chris helped me get the boat ready to launch. We got the canvas covers removed. I got the boat plug in. I undid the straps and unhooked it from the front of the trailer. I waited for someone to get his boat out of the water. I got my boat in and it started quite rapidly. We pulled away from the dock and got into the water. We got everything situated and then I took a few pictures of the area as well as Ryan and Chris. We decided that we would go to Clarkston and Lewiston. I first drove to the dam. It takes forty-five minutes to get from the dam to the L-C valley. Like clockwork that is how long it took. The water was rough in a few areas, but for the most part it was okay.

We got down there and cruised between Lewiston and Clarkston on the rivers down there. Then we went tubing for a while. Chris was the first one to go. The water was a little bit on the cold side. After Chris went a few times and fell off it was Ryan’s turn. It took Ryan a while before he would finally get into the water. He did not want to deal with the cold. Finally he jumped in. Then he got on the tube and I drove him around a little while. I also was teaching Chris how to drive the boat and tow someone. So I actually had Chris do the towing of Ryan. We did that for a while then I took my turn. On my first crash I rolled on top of the water about four to five times before crashing into the water. After a few crashes I got into the boat and we headed to Rooster’s Landing for lunch. We sat on the deck for a while and chowed on good food and we all had a dessert. I found out that Chris will be leaving town in about a month and will be gone for about three to four years, including a trip to Afghanistan. I certainly hope he will be safe. I am happy that I heard Pastor Casey Treat on the TV a few weeks ago.

We got back to my boat and fueled it up again. It was a little after four pm when we headed back to Granite Point. Once we got there we went near the rock and watched a few people jump. I saw a few of them do some belly flops. It looked like it hurt. I unhooked the tube to do some more tubing. Chris and Ryan both said they did not want to go. I wanted to. The water was so nice. It felt great. I was on a big corner when I fell off the tube and slide on my back a few feet on top of the water before I finally went in the drink. After a few rounds. Ryan decided he would go out too. Ryan did a few rides. Chris said he would go out now. So Chris got on the tube. Ryan challenged me to ride backwards. I said I would if he would. He did. It only lasted a little while before he said it was hurting his back. So he got out and I tried it. It felt like someone was punching me in the kidneys. It started to hurt more and more. I realized that it was probably do to the rough water. I got out and Chris went in the tube.

I had Ryan in the tube when he was sitting upright in the tube. He wanted his sunglasses so he could see because the water kept splashing in his eyes. I had him going around a few times and he finally bit it. He came up without the sunglasses. He said he felt one arm break off and then the glasses got ripped off his face during the crash.

We traded out for a while back and forth. Pretty soon the night was moving along and the water started to get more and more smooth. Then Ryan and I rode backwards a lot. It felt so nice to do so. We continued to take turns and ride the tube as the sun was getting lower and lower in the sky. We headed back to the dock. It started to rain really hard. That was strange because it had been hot and sunny all day.

I back my boat trailer into the water and by this time the rain was done. We got the boat out of the water and got it ready to travel. I took a few more pictured before we headed to Pullman.

When we got back we went to Safeway. I talked to Russell to find out what we needed to bring to his place. He said just us. He said we will eat later on but if we got something small to hold us over that would be good. While talking to a ten-six-seven was shopping as Safeway. Once he was out of ear shot I described him to Russell. He was a blonde with blue eyes. He was well built.

I got some pop and then we all went to McDonald’s for some hamburgers. I dropped Chris off at Orton so he could get his car. He followed us to Russell’s apartment. I brought in my fireworks. We all said hi to each other. It was close to ten pm. The Pullman show was supposed to happen soon and I wanted to see it. April, Ryan, Chris, and I went to the Wheatridge Condo’s and hung out by Tori’s condo. He was on his deck. I chatted with him for a while waiting for the show to start. It was cool. You could see the whole thing, but the big deep booms could not be heard there. After the show we went back to Russell’s apartment.

I got a beer and gave one to Chris. I held mine up for a toast with Chris. I said “to friendship.” We drank to that. Then we got the fireworks and headed out back to the courtyard to light off the fireworks.

We did a few aerial shots. I set up two to go off at the same time. One went off first and it knocked over the second one. It was shot at an apartment building across from us and it hit it, then it blew up. Everyone was wow-ing that. A few people from an apartment below Russell’s out watching our stuff and lighting off their own. Jason who is a cook at Safeway and who I have gambled with was there. He reminded me of Jason from Pullman and WSU fire. He has great blue eyes and blonde hair.

We continued to light off fireworks until they were gone. By the end we were lighting off five or six aerial devices at once. I shot off my three-hundred shot Saturn Missile Battery. It was awesome. I will buy one again next year. I tried again to make a sparkler bomb and ended up only with a big flame.

After the fireworks were done we ate and had some more beer. Chris had to leave early. I said goodbye to him. The rest of us sat around and chatted about some stuff. We talked about jokes, South Park, and some other stuff. We were joking about the South Park episode where they had a Michael Jackson guy. He said that one quote he said in an interview. “No, that’s ignorant.” So we laughed and made a ton of jokes about that.

At about two am I finally left and went home.

Hanging out with Ryno

I let myself sleep in today. Sort of that is. I called Ryan up and asked him if he still wanted to go to the movie. We were planning on seeing Dodgeball. I picked him up and we went to get tickets for the movie. I stopped at a fireworks stand and bought about fifty bucks worth of fireworks. I got sparklers for making a sparkler bomb. That is where you take a few sparklers and tape them together. It makes a loud boom.

We headed over to Dairy Queen for lunch before hitting the movie. The movie was good. I enjoyed it. There was an actor in it named Justin Long. He was someone who was worth watching through out the movie.

After the movie Ryan and I went to Shopko and got some cards to play some card games at Kristine's apartment. I got some tape for the sparkler bombs. I stopped to get some pop at Safeway then we went to Kristine's apartment.

Tracy and Kristine were there. We started to play a game called Hand and Foot. It is a pretty cool team game. At about ten pm we called to get some pizza delivered. We had made a bet on the game. The winner of the second game would get free pizza and the losing team would pay for it. Ryan and I won. We went out and tried a sparkler bomb. It turned into a sparkler torch. Nothing really exciting. We lit off a few aerial displays and some jumping jacks.

We went back in and started another game. We did not finish the whole game Tracy wanted to leave after the third of four rounds. So we stopped playing. But that was okay by me because I was tired and I knew I would need to get up early in the morning for boating.

We went outside and chatting for a bit before I headed home. I got home and in bed about two am.

Last day at IS

I got in to work for a little while before heading off to Colfax. This would be my last day working under contract for Information Services. I met the guy who got my job. He is a young guy. He had a highly annoying voice. His computer is set up with a ten-twenty-four by seven-sixty-eight resolution. That is weird. I wonder how people around the county will take to him. Over all he seems nice but I think he is a bit full of himself.

I talked with AJ on the telephone when I was in the pass on my way to Colfax. He called my cell phone. He has such a great voice. He sounds very nice. He speaks great English. You cannot tell that he does not speak English as his first language. He is a really cool guy. We talked for a brief period of time because the Netherlands is a highly long distance call.

I got a call at Colfax fire that I went on. We did a transfer to Spokane. I drove. We went code. That made it a quick trip. We got some food on the way back. I went to the sheriff's office for a while and into the jail. I found out that Howard quit the jail. Following that I went home and watched some TV when another call came out in LaCrosse. I got to the station and made the ambulance. We got on scene and I helped to patient care on the way to the hospital.

I went home after that and then I did go to bed.

Headache

I did not get a forty-four ounce pop like I normally do today so I was hating life later in the day. It sometimes get bad caffeine headaches. That is exactly what I got.

While at the office today was Ryan's last day. He is doing some other stuff now and left. So I got a chair from his cube. We played a few games of ping pong. A group of us went to an Indian food place. I don't like Indian food, neither does Brian, so we just hung out.

When I got home I got online and chatted a little bit while my parents cooked a pizza for us. I watched Ken Jennings kick butt on Jeopardy again. By final Jeopardy he was well ahead of the other people. But early on a ten-six-seven from Canada named Chris gave him a run for his money.

I watched TV the rest of the night while chatting online and that was about it. I was thinking that I need to go get some sparklers to make a sparkler bomb. They don't really do anything exciting except make a loud noise.

Letter to the Editor

Editor,

Is nothing sacred anymore? Many students probably don’t know this, but the legal rights to the WSU Cougar Head logo is not held by the university. They sold the rights to a private company in the mid-west who then sells the right to use the logo on merchandise. That company has the right to refuse your ability to use the Cougar Head logo on your personal WSU website.

WSU Fire is being taken over by Pullman Fire. Are the WSU Police officers next?

Now Barnes and Noble is running the book store. Another private business took over something from the university.

What else we will see taken over by private industry. How about Parking Service? I am sure a company like Diamond will come in and run it. How about Martin Stadium? I am sure some private company can find away to receive corporate welfare by taking it over too. Naming rights maybe? I think that playing our baseball games at Starbuck Grounds would be great. Followed by Pepsi Stadium for football and not to be outdone our basketball team will play in US Bank Arena.

When you call the campus operator, the helpdesk, or the registrar’s office we expect a human on the other side of the phone. But workers in America are expensive as Dell Computers and Microsoft have found. So maybe we can outsource our telephone bank overseas.

Someone remind me? Are we at a state institution or some private company that is looking to downsize and outsource?

Scotty Anderson