Happy Halloween

I did not have much to do today. Pretty much drive back to Renton. When I finally got up and got ready and packed for leaving. I grabbed lunch and gas then hit the road.

With Dad's weekend coming to and end I knew there would be a lot of traffic on highway twenty-six. There sure was. I had a lot of passing to do, and that is exactly what I did.

I listened to the Seahawks win today. That was good because that means I am still in the running for the four-hundred-eighty dollars in the horse race.

I called Brandon and asked him about testing for Pullman fire. He said he is still going to do that. I am excited about getting a chance to see him. I have not seen him in a long time.

I also voted today. Go Republicans!!!

Number one USC in Pullman

I got up and got some of my warmer clothes set aside of the football game. I was expecting cold weather and rain. The game was supposed to be seven PM or so I thought. I had lots of time to get some taken care of. Last night while working on the computer I looked up WSU's no shutout streak. It was sitting at two-hundred-thirty-four games. Going back to Eighty-Four when we lost to Ohio State in the third game of the season. I was thinking, I hope I don't jinx the Cougs by doing that.

I went to Pullman. I stopped at my office and got my application filled out for the job of computer tech for Athletics at WSU. I then went to Kinkos and faxed it off. I went to CCN and parked my truck and walked to the bus stop. I was going to meet with Ryan after the game I figured it would be easier to take the bus and take the bus back after the game to his place at CCN.

I decided to call Ben and see if he wanted to go together. He invited me to his place. We walked from there to the stadium. He had a friend Taylor who went with us. He was a really nice guy. very outgoing. He was talking to everyone at the stadium where we were standing. I was surprised he wanted to get there so early. It was about three-thirty and we were on our way. When we got there the gates were open and it was full of people. I was surprised people got there so early and that the gates opened so early. Then I saw the clock counting down game time. There was less than thirty minutes. Then I found out game time was four pm. I was wrong when I thought it was seven.

So we looked for seats and it was full to the top and the standing room at the top. Everyone was being sent to the west endzone. But that was nearly full. So they followed me and too my lead. They will not let people without a ticket go up the isles where the reserved seating is. The student section was full so they were not letting people up that way. I told them that we had already been sitting up there. So they let us go up. We cut across the reserved seating to some standing room area. So we were golden and had a great view.

The game started with the kicker messing up the kick. The ball went two yards and then went out of bounce. So USC had the ball at their thirty-seven yard line. They scored. Then on their kick off the ball go into the air and was staying up. The returners did not come up quick enough and USC recovered the longest onsides kick I have seen. They were about twenty yards from another score. So they had a quick fourteen before we touched the ball. Before half time they had thirty-five points to our none. People were leaving by the dozens. Our area and most of the stadium was clearing out. We stayed like good fans. I was worried about the shutout streak. It was well into the third quarter before we scored. Then we scored on a interception ran back to the house. That was all the scoring we would do, but we were not shut out. The streak is now at two-hundred-thirty-five games.

I took the bus to Ryan's after the game and we decided to see a movie. We went to Cougar Country for dinner and then we went to see Saw. It was a great movie. It kept me guessing all the way through. At the end of the movie I was so surprised. I did not see it coming. When we were walking out I realized the gun should have had one spent casing and it did not. Little things like that which I missed. I was amazed with the movie though.

We went back to his place we were going to watch Third Watch that he recorded from Friday. We talked on a three way talk with Ryley for more than an hour before she finally went to bed. Then we watch the TV show he recorded from Friday and we watched the new SouthPark. It was an episode about voting. It was pretty funny.

Blood spatter training

I got into work and had the build moved to the testing server. It was not working totally correctly. It would get the data to the database but I could not get it to display. Something was not working correctly. Each change I made would take about an hour before I could test it because of saving it, getting the new build, and moving it to the test server. I worked and worked on it. Finally about two pm I had to get going because of the coroners meeting at six pm in Colfax. As it was I would be cutting it close.

I called Pete and told him I was running late. I got gas and was in Issaquah at about two thirty. The traffic was a little thick going over because of Dad's weekend. I actually pulled into the Coroner's office right about six-ten, so I did not do too bad on time.

We talked about a couple cases involving car wrecks. Then we looked over blood spatter evidence. We also did some of our own blood spatter testing to learn what we were looking at and getting ideas of what we would be seeing.

When that was done I went into the jail. I got the computer out of the inmate library and hooked it to the network to update it. It was a long time since that was done. I got the latest NAV on it plus the Windows updates. While working on that a booking came in. The sarge asked if I wanted to do it. I said I would. So I got a booking in and then later on I did two bonds. So I got some work done while working on the computer.

I went home after that and went to be a little after four in the morning.

Late night at work

I worked later than normal tonight to try to get my final major task done on the prices upload tool. They wanted a status button on it, to show whether the price upload actually was posted to the server. I have one that says it worked and the server accepted the post, but nothing that said whether it really updated the database or not.

So I had to figure out how to get it from them. Then I had to figure out how to store it in the database. Then I had to decide how to get it out of the database and display it on the page. I wanted to get it done early so I could go to Colfax early on Friday and not work on the tool.

I stayed until after eight PM getting the work done on it. I finally got it working on my box and moved the files over to the source control server so it could create a build to be put onto the test server.

I spent some time chatting online when I got home before getting to bed. I wanted to get to work early to get everything tested and going, so I could get out of there by about one PM.

Meeting with Kyle

The plan for the evening was to meet up with Kyle, but he called me and said he got called on by his company to work in the Portland office on Thursday and Friday. So, we were not going to be able to meet up because he would be out of town tonight on his way to Portland.

That was okay. I was a little bit tired. I just went home and hung out for the rest of the evening. I was going to watch CSI:New York but I got into a long conversation with Kyle on the phone. That pretty much rounded out the night.

Removing the slimy boat

Jon called me and asked if I could help him get his boat out of Lake Washington after work. I told him I would. I spent the day at work trying to tie up a few loose ends with the price upload tool and also the secondary marketing tool.

I went to my brothers. We got the boat trailer hooked and got the boat. We cruised down to the South shore of Lake Washington. We went to eat there. Then we went back to the boat launch and got the boat out of the water.

I went back to my mom's house. I watched the end of the World Series game three. Boston won. They may be ready to break the Babe's Curse.

I was watching Futurama. I saw a sign on the wall of Fry's apartment. It read:
10 home
20 sweet
30 goto 10

I thought that was pretty funny. A nice reference to BASIC code.

Foreign Bigots

I saw a bumpersticker on someone's car. It was an American flag. I was thinking how people say that American's are not welcome in many places over seas.

So here is my question to people. Should we not have a war, defend ourselves, do what is right because French, Spaniards, etc will not like us?

What does that say about a Frech person who will not like me because I am an American?

If I got robbed by an Asian guy. And from that point on I started to hate all Asians because one person from that group harmed me, wouldn't most people say that is silly of me? Wouldn't I be called racist?

So, why is it that we do not recognize the French as bigoted rather than worry about them not liking us?

Helping those in need.

I got to work. It was another lay low day. I decided to get my ticket from KROCK in Seattle.

I got to the station and they wanted ID etc for tax forms. Well lets just say I did not get the tickets.

I was going to take Five-Twenty back home. Five-Twenty is a state route that is two lanes in each direction and it is a floating bridge across lake Washington. It goes right next to where Steve-O live (University of Washington).

On the way back I couldn't get to the correct lane so I ended up going South Bound I-Five until I could get turned around just before the I-Ninety floating bridge. I got back on I-Five going north to the Five-Twenty .

I was cruising across the bridge that gets thick traffic flows during rush hour. Going towards the East high rise the traffic slowed to five miles per hour. Then I saw two cars in front of me in the fast lane. One truck and a car that was in the jersey barrier. I figured that was a rearend accident. I got into the other lane. I saw two people standing by the car and they were knocking on the window. I also saw someone was slumped back in the seat. I knew something was wrong.

I pulled over and backed my truck towards the scene of the accident. I grabbed my trauma kit and walked to the scene. A lady had just slowly driving into the barrier. Her car was still in drive but was stopped by the barrier. Her doors were locked and she was unresponsive to the people knocking on her window.

A cop pulled up and we told him what was going on. We said the doors were all locked. I watched him grab for his baton and say, not for long. He broke the window in the car. I unlocked the back door and got in.

I told her who I was. She was unresponsive, but we still talk because sometimes they can hear. I was thinking a diabetic emergency. I had no equipment to test her however. I took her pulse and blood pressure. I checked her level of consciousness. I used a sternal rub and she made some sounds and sort of moved from the pain. So she was conscious to painful stimuli. I got that data recorded. I checked for medical alert information and she had no bracelets.

The Bellevue EMS got on scene and took over from there. That is one of the first times I have ever been to a scene where I was there before EMS and where someone needed some medical interventions.

Anyway, the traffic was blocked to one lane in each direction and soon the bridge was full of cars. There was a large back up. I am sure it will clear up a little before the rush hour starts in a few hours, but if it was closer to rush hour that would have been really bad.

I took some pills from the last time I hurt my back when I got back to my office. I hung out until around five-forty-five before heading home.

I just hung out here. Watched TV and chatted with a few people online and I talked to Kyle on the phone.

Justin's Birthday

I woke up and went downstairs around eleven am. I was still tired so I sat in the recliner and watched some TV. Justin's fifth birthday party was later in the day and I was planning on going to that.

I also wanted to watch some of the Seahawks game on TV before heading down. I helped fold some clothes as they were getting done in the dryer. The last load was done as the game started. I watched it for a few minutes before leaving.

I went to Issaquah for the birthday party. It was being held at Karate West. They did events with the kids and they had a lot of fun. We had cake and watched the kids. The adults hung out and talked. From time to time we would go out and get updates on the Seahawks game.

On my way home I decided I needed to use my gift cards from Home Depot to get some tools. I spent about one hundred-twenty bucks on stuff. I got some levels, a chalk line, speed drill change sets, and a few other items. It is fun to shop for stuff.

Then I got a gift certificate, some candy, and a card for my step-dad whose birthday was today. I gave those items to him. I stayed up and watched some TV and posted some messages on the Shack and Scottyland.

I watched Harvey Birdman. I was drinking water and had a mouth full. Something funny happened and I ended up spitting most of it out on me. It was funny. The show last night was funny as heck!

Sports and more sports

I was woken by my brother a little after eleven. It is nice to be up until after five am, have it be a weekend, and still not get to sleep after eleven. I was up, so I went down stairs and watched some TV. I got some chow and decided hat I was going to do for the day.

I needed to get a gift for Justin for his birthday. I went to Southcenter. I was listening to the Cougar game along the way. The Cougs were not doing too well against Oregon State. I went to KB Toys. I saw a football. I decided that was what I would get for him. But I opted to go to a sports store instead.

I drove to Big-Five in Renton. I decided to get a tennis racket and tennis balls while I was there. I found a tennis racket that was about seventy dollars off. I also got Justin a football.

I went to the Renton Museum. I spent a hour and a half there looking at the stuff. I ran out of time. They closed at four and stayed open for me later than they needed to.

I went to Liberty. Five-Star football was still going on. They were playing Bellevue. I watched for a little bit. Five-Star was losing. I went to the tennis court and practiced serving for a while.

When I was done I headed home and hung out there for the rest of the evening. I tried to call Ryan but he would not click over and chat with me. I am not someone he is willing to click over and at least say that he is on the other line.

Kyle was out of town but said he would get a hold of me when he got back. We talked on the phone for a bit, but he did not get back until after one in the morning. I was not interested in going out.

From High to Low.

I am really bummed right now as I write this. I just got notification the job I was so hopeful for was not given to me. I got word that it was given to someone else. That really sucked.

The day started with the alarm clock waking me at eight am. I was listening to the radio and I heard about tickets for a Halloween show that cost ninety-six bucks each. They gave a pair away and I did not win. Later on they had a section where people called and voted on something. They said they will give some away to those who give good reasons. I was given a pair. I was so happy. I am thinking about inviting Kyle.

I got to work and saw an E-mail from Jim at the county. He said that Dan, my former co-worker, is leaving for a job at WSU. The rumor was that he got the job I applied for. I got really worried that he beat me out. I talked to Dan on the phone, he said he got a job working up at Streit. So it was a different job.

I felt better. Then I got an E-mail from Dian that said I did not get the job. I was crushed. I felt like I was hugely in the running for this job. I always make it to the top four, but never the top one. It is so hard.

So I have been trying to get through the day and my disappointment. I was sticking around the office all day because we were there during the testing of our changes for the MBA show. It was in the final test before it was ready for the show. I just sort of hung out and that was about it. Around three pm food was served to everyone and they bought around beer for everyone. It was a nice relaxing day other than the high and lows I had this morning.

Because the day went so long at work I decided to call Pete and ask him about not coming out to Pullman to cover. He said that was okay. That was nice. I could stay at home and not drive a lot. I called Kyle and let him know I was going to be around.

I went home around five thirty. I ate dinner and was watching TV when my mom told me she saw Jon at the store. He was going to a poker party. I remember him talking about that to me. Each month there is a poker party at the Yacht Club where he lives. I called him up and he invited me to come down.

I drove down there and showed up shortly after a seat opened up. I sat next to Jim R. I opened with twenty dollars. I started with trips and lots to someone with a full house. After that I went up and down through out the night. A little after midnight the two tables combined into one.

During the conversations at the table I learned about a guy who was playing golf and hit a hole in one during a tournament. He won a Hummer. I was pretty impressed! Most of the people who live in that area own houses that cost anywhere to near a million to several million dollar houses. These twenty and thirty dollar games were nothing to these guys.

We kept playing and more people were dropping out. Sometime around two am there were only five people left. I stayed playing with everyone until the last hand at about four-thirty in the morning. I was up about eighty dollars for the night.

I went home and I worked on Gale's website. There was a sound file that needed to get uploaded to the site. So I got it linked and uploaded before hitting the hay.

Back in my own room.

I got the final touches on the E-mail application and the SQL server script. I got them all checked into SVN before heading home. When I got home dinner was not far off.

Following dinner I was watching the NLCS with Houston and St. Louis. I was pulling for Houston. They lost. So my teams are oh and two. I changed out the mattresses in my room and the spare bedroom. So I have a better feeling bed to sleep on. Now I can sleep in my room for the first time in about a month.

I watched some TV and then got into a conversation with Kyle. We talked for the better part of an hour and a half. We talked about some relationship stuff and talked about hanging out in the future. He said that if we are going to date that I have to be willing to got to his family functions. He said he would want to be able to show me off. I said I would want to do the same by taking him to Pullman and to a show in Moscow one weekend. He said he would. I am looking forward to seeing what this can turn into.

E-mail system is hacked

After Shawn said to hack something together for the MBA show that is what we did. I have something that is working. I spent the day making the E-mail work and then making it look pretty.

I went to a store and looked at its bars and poker chips. Out of my price range right now, but I am getting an idea of what I would like.

I still have not gotten a call. To me that means one of two things. Either the job was offered to someone else or they are waiting for the Coop board to vote on it, which will happen next Monday. I thought they were interested in me, but they could have been like that when they called other peoples' references. Worst case I don't get the job and I keep working out here.

I got home and watched baseball. The Yankees lost game seven to the Red Sox. That really sucked. Oh well. As long as the Red Sox don't win the World Series so the Curse will continue.

I chatted with Kyle online for a while. It was nice to talk to him. It sounds like he is open to talking and meeting with me. He said that I should not worry about things when we meet.

I talked with Ryan a little bit too as well as Kale. I also hit my six-thousandth post on G-Shack.

Kyle called me tonight. We talked on the phone for a little more than two hours. It was a nice conversation. I am looking forward to meeting him.

On the right track

I spent more of today trying to figure out the E-mail system. After lunch I talked to Shawn. We came up with an idea to make it work for the MBA show that is coming up. I am going to use CDO and ASP to send out E-mails. I got going on the E-mail form before I went home.

I have not received a phone call about my job or non-job offer at WSU. I am hopping to get a job offer. I sort of thought one would come today. But I did not hear anything. That does worry me a little bit.

I watched the Red Sox and Yankees play game six. I will pulling for the Yankees. In the eighth inning a play involving A-Rod where he hit the ball out of the pitchers' mitt. The play was talked about by the umpires. They called him out for interference. The fans started to throw balls on the field and at people. These were my next thoughts when I saw what was happening next:

So, when the cops in riot gear came on the field at Yankee stadium today I said out loud "This is only a game". It is clear the fans are being a little violent over a game.

Granted I want the Yankees to win, but, come on. The umpires made good calls. A-Rod hits like a girl. And the fans were throwing stuff and causing a dangerous situation.

Well, I hope the fans see that they are being idiots and think about their behaviour. They would be spanking their kids for doing something that stupid, but they seem to lose common sense in groups.

After that I talked to Kyle online and on the phone for a few hours. We are talking about meeting up tomorrow. He works mortgage loans. I work mortgage origination software. It is like a perfect match.

Final days at work?

When I got into work, it was latter than normal. Almost ten-thirty. I got going on the system E-mail problem yet again. I was sort of waiting to get a phone call from CAHE offering me a job. But nothing came in. I am holding out hope.

I came home and watched baseball. The Yankees and Red Sox were playing again. I want the Yankees to win so Olerud can get a ring. When that was over with a little while later CSI:Miami was on. I watched that too.

I chatted online for a while then it was off to bed.

Heading to Seattle for one of the last times?

The weekend drew to a quick end. I got on the road and started to head back. There was some traffic but it was not as bad as I thought it was going to be after a Homecoming weekend at WSU.

I am still wondering if I will be offered a job at WSU. So this could be one of my last trips. But I don't know for sure about that. I will not know for a few more days or a week I am sure.

When I got home I had some dinner. I watched baseball and some other shows. I chatted with Ryan a little bit before going to bed. It was a short day for me. I woke up after noon and I was back in bed before two am.

Argh! Another Cougar Loss

Not a day to remember at the gridiron. The game was not until seven-thirty. I wanted to make sure I was in Pullman in time to get good parking. But I had time to burn. I went to Colfax fire and hung out there for a while. Ken and I wanted a movie about hunting. It was pretty wacky.

I went home and got ready to go cheer on the Cougs. I went to Pullman and parked near the hospital. I talked to Peter. We were going to meet up and go to the game together. He said he would give me a call on their way to the stadium.

I walked to the CUB and hung out there for until a little after five-thirty. I went to the game room. I got something to eat. I went to the third floor and read a newspaper. I went to the main floor and watched some of the Yankees-Red Sox game.

I got into the Stadium. I did not know where Peter was going to be. I went to the top row at the fifty yard line. I sat down and waited until game time. The rain was going so I used my poor man rain coat. That is a plastic garbage bag with a hole for my head and two for my arms.

Peter called and said he was on his way. He was going to call me when they got there. I looked for him but I did not see him. Finally the stadium was getting filled all around me. Still no Peter. It was near game time and had been more than an hour. So I knew that he was already there, but I could not see him.

The game started. After a little while I spotted him. He had never called me. So this is the second straight game that I was stood up by people who were going to with me. That sort of sucks.

The game got underway and the Cougs were not keeping up once Stanford got on a roll. Soon Stanford had a pretty good lead. I knew the Cougs could come back if they started to pull it together. People in the stands were getting more and more quiet as the third quarter was coming to an end.

Before long the Cougs were starting to roll. We started to score and make a game out of it. We got the ball back. We were down by six. We needed to go pretty much the whole length of the field. The drive sputtered as we kept getting penalties. On fourth and long there was an incomplete pass. The game was over. Two heart-breaking losses back to back.

I walked to my truck and headed to my office. I spent a few hours there doing some stuff online before I finally went home. I was watching TV and listening to the scanner. I heard a cop say that he wanted Colfax Ambulance to meet him at the jail. So I went to the station.

We went en route to the jail and were there for a drunk guy. He did not have a medical problem but he claimed he did. We took him to Colfax Hospital. Then we were going to take him to Pullman Memorial for detox. I did a HEAR report both times. We dropped him off at Pullman and went back to the station. It was almost two and a half hours total. I went to bed after stopped to grab something to eat from Jackpot.

New Lobo contractors

I got to work a little earlier than normal so I could get out of there and to Pullman so I could meet with the next Lobo contractors. I E-mailed Brian about the project I am now working on. I got most of it done yesterday, but now it is the hard part. I am putting together a system that needs to shoot out E-mails. I have to figure out how they are getting done now so I can do it.

I took off around one-thirty pm to get to Pullman. One the way I found there was a fair amount of traffic heading towards Pullman on Highway twenty-six. I rolled into town around five-fourth-five. I got my mail. I had a ticket from WSU parking services in the mail. I checked it out it was for a car I do not own and it happened on a day I was not in Pullman.

I went to the parking services office. I got the ticket straightened out. It should get wiped off my record. Then I went to my office. I had a meeting with the new contractors. I got some paper work and I talked to all of them. I hope things will go well. They seem like good people.

When the meeting was done I went to Ryan's apartment. We watched Third-Watch. I like that show but it seems to be turning into a police drama and not so much with EMS and fire anymore. I get so into the show I hate to see it end.

When it was over Ryan and I got some dinner and went to my office. I E-mailed the contractors their paperwork and other information. Then Ryan and I went to his place and got some tennis rackets. We went to the tennis courts and plays some tennis. Ryan beat me seven to two. I have some learning to do.

After that we went to Zeppoz and talked to Russell for a little while. I had not seen Russell in a few weeks so it was good to see him. I dropped Ryan off at his place and I went home myself. I watched some TV before drifting off to sleep.

I learned my lesson

After my alarm clock went off to get me up at eight am I turned it off like I do every morning and turned on the radio. This morning however I fell back to sleep, not waking up until ten am. So I got up when I am normally getting to work. I quickly got ready and got in.

I worked on the secondary marketer changes to the application for SR-two. That filled my day with fun. There were donuts because of a couple birthday celebrations. One of the guys, Curt, is a big Husky fan. So I went by his cube to see how he liked my decorations. I printed off Cougar stuff and replaced his Husky stuff with it.

I went to lunch a little later than normal. Rick came with me. I got a few things from Safeway. When I got back I talked with an analyst about checking to make sure what I was doing was going to work. There are certain places where the secondary marketer should not show up.

I was going in the correct direction. In order to check this changes on my box I had to do a rebuild of our product. Rick helped me with that. We switched the way we are doing it. Now my box works like a champ and I could get some testing done.

When I got off work I went to get my oil changed as well as the front and rear axel oil changed. I got out of there and on four-oh-five. I was thinking that the traffic would not be too bad. I was wrong. It sucked. So I learned my lesson. I have to wait until later than seven for the traffic to ease up.

The third debate

I have been getting several E-mail responses to my offer of a part-time job at Lobo Computer Services. I should pick up a could people out of the deal. That will be nice to have the extra help.

I helped to set up the cube of one of my co-workers, Curt. It is his birthday tomorrow. He is a huge Husky fan. So I helped him by getting Cougar stuff put around his cube.

When I got home I watched the third presidential debate. I think Bush did better. But the thing is people seem to only care about presentation and not what the person says. Kerry talked about using biometric information to track people, raising the minimum wage, using a litmus test for Supreme Court Justices, affirmative action, and he pulled out the race card.

I cannot believe that people don't pick up on stuff like that and question what Kerry is thinking. He also likes to divide American's by demonizing the rich. He wants to soak them because of their success. It is like being punished because you were able to make the American dream work for you.

Yes I would like Bush to win. He has some things I don't like. He wants the assault weapon ban. He also does not want to do what needs to be done with social security. What needs to happen is that every born after say, seventy-five will not get social security. It will be a system that will go away. Sure those who are young will have to pay and see no benefit. However, the future kids will not have to deal with it anymore. Those who are still young have time to plan for retirement and can set aside money for their own retirement. It is not up to the government to set aside money for my retirement. Also, on a side, ask anyone if they think they will get by on social security alone. Of course not!

Dealing with Lobo Computer Services again

With Phillip leaving I now have to deal with the Dell issues and get them processed and moved out. I am looking for a few people to sub-contract them out to. I called Peter and he said he would like to do some. I also put up announcements with the MIS department and on the WSU HRS website.

When I got off work I called Peter and he was going to call the people who he needed to talk to for the Dell jobs. I got four responses so far from people who are interested in sub-contracting work from me. I am sending out more information to them. I would like to pick up one more person, maybe two more to do the work. It is just that there is really only the work for one person. So having too many people makes it so no one gets enough work.

I will look through who I have and decide on who will be here the longest crossed with who has the most experience.

I called and talked to Kyle for a few minutes. He is sick right now and he is not at work. I hope he gets better. He are planning on hitting lunch one of these days pretty soon.

I am waiting to hear from WSU to find out if I got the job. It will not be easy to talk to Terry, but I will have to be straight forward with him and be honest. I will also have to talk to the people at the department that I would be going to in order to feel comfortable with the funding and making sure my job will be around for a long period of time.

Back in the grind

Today is my first day back at work. It was not very nice to get back. I realized that I don't necessarily like what I am doing so much. Maybe it is my fear that I don't really know some of the stuff that I am working on and I am afraid that it will get out and they will dismiss me. It is not that I don't know how to program. But the problem is that I am working on stuff where I seem to be a sidelight.

I talked to my old boss. She said the people at WSU called her on Thursday and talked to her. It sounds like they may be willing to offer me the job. I am pretty excited about that. She said they are looking at me for one of two jobs. I don't know about the second job. It sounded to her that it is a database job. I would like to know more about that one. I can't wait to find out.

I came home tonight and made some pizza. I spent most of the evening watching TV and petting my dog and cat. Not much excitement. But it is relaxing. I will know in the next two weeks if I get a job offer.

I was also informed by Phillip today that he is not going to work for Lobo Computer Services anymore. It seems sort of abrupt that he quit like he did. I am not sure what he has going on, but I think there is something more than on the surface. This job did not take a lot of time and could be done on his own time. I think he is looking at trying to get me to give him the Dell contract. He has been trying to take it over from me. It was starting to get me mad. I put up the time and capital to get the business going. He wanted the main profitable part of it. I was disappointed at that.

Vacation is now over

With the end of the vacation approaching I decided to get on the road early to make it back to Seattle early. I got the house cleaned up and took off. I left right when the Seahawks game started. The Hawks were winning and life was good.

There was a lot of traffic on highway twenty-six because of everyone coming back from Pullman. I just set the cruise control and made a ton of passes.

When I got near the pass I got a call from Brandon. I had left a message for him about the Pullman Fire test coming up. We talked about that test and some that he had done in the past. I told him that he should test. He said that he was going to do that. I was pretty excited. I have not seen him in a few years. It would be nice to see him again.

Right after I got off the phone I turned on my radio. I heard a play happening. I heard touchdown and the game is over. The Seahawks lost in overtime! They were leading and had good control on the game until the fourth quarter. It reminded me on the Cougar game all over again.

I got home and saw Amber she looked a lot better than she was described to me the other day. I hung out at the house for the rest of the day. Mainly watching TV and surfing the web.

Cougar Football Saturday - Oregon Ducks

I got up after having a dream that the job working as a computer tech for CAHE that I interviewed for was given to someone else. I was mad. It seemed that it went to a girl in a sorority. It was like she was not qualified to even have the job.

The Oregon Ducks were coming to town and the Cougs need to win. I drove to Pullman and stopped at my office before heading to the campus. I ended up parking way down on Spokane Street. I got my stuff and walked up towards the stadium. I hung out in the CUB for a while and then decided to go to the field. I found a good seat at about the fifty yard line. I was going to meet Ben there. I had two seats saved. Time was melting away as the stadium started to get more and more full.

I called Ben once he said he would be coming in a while. An hour and a half later I did not see him so I called again. There was no answer on his phone. Ben and I did not hook up so I gave up the seats I was saving. There were a bunch of frat boys sitting around us. One of them had really cool looking blue eyes. When I had a chance I looked at them. They were great.

The game got under way it was a sea saw battle for most of the game. We had a good lead on them in the forth quarter. Then we let them come back and with about ninety seconds to go they scored the go ahead points. We tried to drive down the field but went four and out. We lost a game we should have won. I was disappointed by that.

I made my way back to my truck. I was down about that loss. I was still on call for the coroners office. Nothing came in.

Lunch with Ryan

When I finally got going this morning I went to Pullman to meet up with Ryan for lunch. I also needed to get a hold of Zach for getting my tickets. Peter went out of town and left my tickets with Zach.

I got Ryan. We went to Rancho Viejo for lunch. Then I told him we should see Friday Night Lights at the four-fifty showing. It would be a cheaper price. He asked his boss if he could do that. She said it would be okay.

I went to Moscow and got my concealed pistol license photo taken. Then I went to Pullman and got my medical bill taken care of. I went to my office and I was going to get online. But my Internet was not working. I called FSR and left a message for tech support. I also called back the people who had left messages.

I got a hold of Zach and he gave me my football tickets. He lived near where Ryan works so I wanted for him to get done working and we headed to the movie theatre. Friday Night Lights did not have the Hollywood ending you would think it would have. On the way back the tech support called me back. I headed to my office instead of Ryan’s place like was the plan. I got my Internet working!

We stopped at Little Caesars and got some pizza and then went to Ryan’s apartment. We watched Third Watch from last week. Then we watched Rescue Me. Following that I watched the end of the Presidential debates.

Ryan and I played Life, Clue, and Hand and Foot. He was getting ready to go to bed so I headed back to Colfax and watched TV for a while.

EMS calls and napping. What a day!

I planned on getting some good sleep but instead a call for a roll over accident came in about fifteen minutes before eight AM. I hurried to the station. As I ran out my door I forgot that I had shut the screen door and busted through it. Luckily I did not break it.

I was able to drive the new Ambulance on the call. It was cool. It was a little way out on highway twenty-six. A lady had rolled her car. She also had a dog with her. She was taken in to the hospital, but appeared to not be injured. Her dog was okay as well.

I hung out with the dog for a while after we were done with the call. Then she was getting ready to be discharged. She got her dog back and Scott and I found out we have another call. It is a transfer to Tekoa Care Center. I had never been there. It was a BLS transfer so I took patient care.

We cruised up there and I got the paperwork done. Then we went back to the station. It was a little after-noon. I was going to eat with Ryan, but that would not happen because I was late. So I let him know I would not make it.

I went home and took a nap. I slept until about six pm. It was nice. I needed the sleep. When I got up I watched some TV and then went to Rosauer’s to get some dinner. I took it back to the fire station. I ate it and talked with Tim who was covering for Jenny. Colfax Officer Robert was there too.

We talked about some war stories and how it was that he got to Colfax. Then a call came in about a missing dog. He said he would keep his eyes open for it. Shortly after that a lady stopped in and said that there was a dead dog on the road. It was the dog that was missing. He took care of that.

We watched CSI before I took off to go home. I stayed up sort of late watching TV and talking with Kyle. He text messaged me and said I still owed him a goodnight. So I called and bit him a goodnight.

Becareful with that Chainsaw.

I had to get the apple tree taken care of that had fallen in the windstorm a few weeks ago. So I got the chainsaw I brought over and started in on it. It was taking forever to get cut through all the branches and limbs. My shoulder was hurting.

At one point I was getting careless. I let off the gas on the saw but the blade was still running. I let the chainsaw fall to my side and the chain hit my leg. It slightly cut my pants but did not get me thank goodness.

When I had it cut apart I started to haul off all the pieces to the back seven. I got most of it taken down there. The rest of the small limbs I was going to burn. But they were too green and I could not get them to burn. I tried for about an hour. No luck.

I went to the IS Office and talked to Brandon for a while about working for the CAHE department. He use to work there. He told me about what it was like working there. I did not learn anything that scared me off, but I wanted to know about what it was like for him. I know he had some problems there.

When we were done talking I went back to my house. I was going to go to Pullman to watch CSI:NY with Ryan but I was not feeling like going there. I was both tired and sore. So I stayed at home. I talked to Jeph on the phone for about an hour. It was a nice chat with him. I then got into a conversation with Kyle. We talked for hours again. We can talk for a long time.

He thinks that he will be too feminine for me. He thinks I will have a hard time with that. I told him that he doesn’t know and that I doubt he is too feminine for me. After talking to him for as long as I have I have the feeling that he will not be.

My phone died before I had a chance to give a good good-bye to him.

Firetraining for the first time in almost six months.

I woke up and started to be prepared for my interview. I went in and shaved. Normally I would shave my little soul patch under my lip, but I decided to keep it. I got my suit on and drove to Pullman. I was ahead of schedule.

I went to Hulburt Hall. I sat in my truck for a few minutes waiting for time to slip away. Then I went in and off to my interview location. I met Dian and she took me to the room where the interview would be held. Jim from the Chickenheads was one of the interviewers. It turns out if I get the job he would be my boss. I already knew him a little bit from our conversations surrounding softball. He is a really nice guy.

The interview went for about an hour with him and one other person. Then the rest of the interviewers came into the room. They all had a chance to ask me questions. I hope I made a good impression.

When it was done Jim took my to the office area that I would work if I get the job. Then I went to see Dian and she gave me some papers with information about the department and how the chain of command was set up.

When the interview was over with I was going to go to Moscow and get my concealed pistol license. But I was not in the mood to do that. I wanted to get out of my suit. I drove to Colfax instead and changed. Chris was there making dinner. He made some chicken and rice. It was good.

I went to Colfax fire for training. It was EMS training in Steptoe. We loaded in the ambulance and drove up there. We got a new ambulance in Colfax as well. So I had a chance to look around it.

The training was about pharmacology. We were learning about drugs and their affect on the body. When training was done we went back to Colfax. I hung around for a while and talked with Carl.

A week off of work.

I went into work today and made the final touch ups to my application that I have been building. Once that was done I hung around for a while. Shortly after lunchtime I fueled my truck and headed off to Pullman.

I made pretty good time. The traffic was not all that bad on a Monday night. I made it to Colfax. Ryan and I had plans to see Ladder 49. When I got to Colfax Chris was there. He is the new roommate. He was making food and gave me some food for dinner. I ate and talked to him for a little while before going to Pullman.

I was running a little late and we needed to get to the theatre to see the movie. I picked up Ryan and we cruised to the movie theatre. We got seated just as the movie was about to begin. I loved that it had a growler siren in it. It was cool to hear. I was disappointed about something though. It was not until the end of the movie. With about ten minutes to go I thought to myself there was something I did not like. I could not put my finger on it.

We went to Ryan’s apartment and watched CSI:Miami before I went home. Chris was asleep on the couch so I went into my room. I got a book and read through it before going to sleep.

Edgar Martinez's Last Day as a Mariner Player

I got up and ate breakfast and hurried to Safeco Field for the last game ever for Edgar as a Mariners player. I got to the field. Dave was going to go with me but I was not able to get a hold of him. I know he left town, but he was going to be back in time for the game. When I got to the stadium I sold his ticket so I did not totally lose out on the money.

I made my way to the three-hundred level and I took pictures of the Edgar logo that was painted on the grass behind home plate. They also put “11” in the batters box. I got some pictures of that as well. I made my way to my seat. It was in the second to last row.

The crowd made a loud roar for Edgar when he name was announced. Each at bat they gave a standing ovation. Edgar ended up not getting a hit. That was sad. I wanted to see one more hit on his last day. In the ninth inning when it was clear he would not get another at bat he went to the mound to make a pitcher replacement. The crowd had one last chance to cheer for Edgar. The Mariners lost that game as well and that was that. Edgar’s career was over.
I went home and had dinner and watched TV. I waited until later and then I called Kyle up. We chatted on the phone for a few hours. He is a super nice guy. We can talk and talk. Finally my phone battery was starting to go dead. I told him that it would all of a sudden die and I would have no warning. We talked until it did that. It was after midnight and I finally went to bed.

Edgar Martinez Day at Safeco Field

Today is day two for me going to see the Seattle Mariners. The game did not start until early evening. I had to clean up the yard for doggy-doo-doo. That was the highlight of my day. NOT! Seriously, I was looking forward to seeing the Seattle Mariners and more importantly Edgar Martinez.

I headed down to the field early so I could get a close spot. I was not close enough. I still parked almost the same spot that Jim and I parked last night. I walked to the field and the gates were not yet open. I stood in a long line waiting to get in. I wanted to make sure I was there early enough to get an Edgar Martinez DVD. It had highlights and other stuff about Edgar. I also picked up some Edgar Martinez magazines. I got one for Ryan.

The gates opened and I went inside. I found my seat and got on the phone to Ryan. I was straight back from the infield dirt. I was about thirty-five rows back. It was really cool how close I was.

Before the game got started they had a tribute to Ichiro for breaking the record last night. The Sissler family was there. They gave him a signed baseball hat from the St. Louis Brown baseball team that was signed by George Sissler.

Each time Edgar or Ichiro went to bat the fans would stand up and cheer. In one inning Edgar was at second base. Right behind him in the dirt was his name “EDGAR”. Tons of people were taking pictures of it. That would have been a cool photo to have.

At the begining of the 9th inning I could some people standing and pointing. I hear some murmers go across the crowd. I was looking around trying to see what they were looking at. I had hoped Edgar would get one more chance to play the field. Then I looked at third base and it was Edgar! The stadium announcer made the announcement "Your attention please, now playing third base, number eleven, EDGAR MARTINEZ!" The crowd went CRAZY. I was so happy. The first pitch was a ball. Then Willie Bloomquist came out to replace Edgar. The crowd first booed, then they got into one of the loudest stading ovations of the day. Then the crowd went into a fast Ed-Gar chant. Soon Edgar appears out of the dugout for a curtain call. The crowd went nuts again.

The Mariners lost the game. Then they got ready for the Edgar Day celebration. They brought out many old M’s and old teammates of Edgar. Bud Selig was there. People booed him. He had a shattering announcement. Major League Baseball was renaming the Designated Hitter of the year award for Edgar Martinez. The crowd went nuts. Then the Governor of Washington announced that the week was Edgar Martinez week in Washington. The Mayor of Seattle announced that the street next to Safeco Field was being renamed Edgar Martinez Drive. It was pretty cool.

Then near the end Edgar made a lap around Safeco Field giving fans high fives along the way.

On cloud 259

Wow, what a day! Work was pretty interesting. I got some more updates for the price upload tool. I also helped one of the workers with some VB questions. I got a call from Jim about going to the Mariners game tonight. He scored a ticket for him and I. I had set out to head to the stadium at about four-thirty.

Ryan and I chatted online. We had a really great talk. He opened up to me a lot and I really had a chance to get some questions answered. He also told me that he called me his best friend.

But like I said earlier I was helping someone with VB. So I did not get out the door until a little after five pm. I was not sure exactly what way I wanted to go to get to I-ninety. It was not good. I ended up transversing four-oh-five four times from Bellevue to Factoria.

After many miscues with what I was going to do, I finally was near the on ramp to four-oh-five. Then my low fuel light came on. Doh! So I passed it up and went into Factoria to get gas. Then I got on the road. I was close to I-ninety again. So I was going to jump on there. However the roads were so packed two people per light were getting through. I decided to run a juke. It worked I got to I-ninety about ten minutes sooner, no joke. The on ramp was backed up to the main road. It was about ten minutes to get past the on ramp and get on the interstate.

Finally I was able to cruise! A whole ten miles per hour. That was the speed we were doing from Factoria through Mercer Island and halfway across the bridge to Seattle. As we were on the floating bridge the traffic broke and I was doing over sixty. So I was able to qualify for a speeding ticket.

I got onto I-five and went to the museum of flight. I met Jim there. I got in his car and we drove to park the car. We were running late we were walking really fast to get to our seats. We had to make sure we did not miss Ichiro's first hit. He was looking at breaking the record that has stood since nineteen-twenty.

We got into the stadium with one out for the Rangers. We made our way to the third level. We got to our seats was the third out was made. I saw Ichiro walk to the plate. The crowed stood up and started to cheer loud. Each pitch the flash bulbs from around the stadium would light up. It was a neat sight. Finally he made contact a chopper than got over the third baseman's head and in to left field. That was it. He tied the record for most basehits in a single season. He had two hundred-fifty-seven.

Fireworks went off. There was a huge standing ovation. The game paused for a minute or two for it. Then in the third inning he lead off the game. It was a sharp basehit past the shortstop. The crowed went crazy. Tons of fireworks. About a four or five minute break. He was surrounded by his teammates. They were all cheering for him too. Then he tipped his hat a few times to the crowd. He went over to the family of George Sisler who owned the old record from the twenties. He shook their hands as well.

Then the game got going again. The Mariners went on to get six more hits in a row. That was a Mariners record back to back to back to back to back to back to back base hits. It was so cool. The Mariners took a lead and never looked back.

Jim and I talked business for a while during the game. With two outs in the ninth inning Ichiro was replaced. That gave the fans one more chance to cheer for him. That was pretty cool. The game ended with Jeremy Reed making an awesome grab in centerfield. He ran in a long way and slide at the end. It was amazing. Ichiro ended the night with two hundred-fifty-nine hits.

Jim took me back to get my truck. He pulled out his laptop and showed me Activault and its new abilities. I thought it was pretty cool. It use to only work with SolidWorks files, now it will do any.

I took off to go home. I called Ryan and left him a message. A little while later Ryan called me back. We talked for more than an hour about relationships and the Mariners game. Married with Children was coming on and we both wanted to watch it so we hung up with each other.

I got online. No one was out there to chat with. So I went to a Seattle area chat room. I started up a conversation with someone. He was from Redmond. We were able to talk like old friends. He really held up his half of the conversation. We talked until about four thirty in the morning. It was great. He said he wanted to chat with me again. I told him that could be arranged.