Non-Structure Fire Event

I slept in until around eleven. That is the norm for me these days. I have been going to bed around four in the morning and getting up around eleven. I got into this habit when I got the new computer and I was working on getting it set up and I have been this way for about a week and a half. I need to get back to getting to bed earlier.

I worked with Derek on his engineer stuff. We drove around for a while and I had him getting into tighter areas. We also did some stuff with pumping. As we were cleaning up the area around the tower we ended up getting a call for a structure fire. I drove to the scene. It turned out to be a small oven fire that was out and smoked the place up pretty good.

I work on the SR website a little bit. I got some of the client-side error scripting take care of. It was a slower day over all. I was on engine and we didn't get any calls for the engine to roll on.

Great, Wonderful Mood

After getting up this morning I was in great and wonderful mood. I don't know what it was, but I wasn't tired. And I also felt so great. So happy. Just in a good mood. I ran some errands around town including meeting with a PPD officer about a stop I was involved with recently. He asked me to do a report on it. I went to the fire station and spoke with Heston for a little bit while I was there.

I was working for Peter tonight on Rescue. I went to the fire station to get on Spillman to get some of the work completed that I needed to do. While I was getting things done I was asked if I would go help out at the basketball game because only one person was available. I said I would. I had to run home and get ready. I went straight to Beasley. The Coug women lost to the Huskies. It was a good game. They went to overtime.

After that was done I went home and got a couple things done on the computer before I went to the station. When I was there I got the things completed on Spillman and went to the dayroom where Pritch and Mully were watching TV. I sat down to watch with them. While there we were dispatched to a call. When it was done I went home.

I was there for a while when we got another call. While on the way to the hospital we were toned to a person down. We knew the call was coming in because of listening to the police. We were first on scene because we were about a block away when the tones actually hit. I took patient care to start the call. It turned out to be a release.

We got another call at the PD before we were done. Then we went to the hospital and picked up Mully. When we got back to the station that was going to be it for the night for us. It was after three in the morning. I stayed up until five watching some videos on YouTube.

No Oral Board

This afternoon I went to the fire station and met with the new station committee about getting some plans created for a new fire station. We talked about the things we needed and sizes they need to be. There is a student from WSU who is going to help us with the plan.

I went home and got my uniform on. I went to the SO. I was going to work with Ross tonight. I also had a coroner's meeting and the plan was to have an oral board to go to first class. The coroner's meeting was shorter than normal. We covered our on call schedule. We also covered some stuff with the chaplain.

I went to the report writing room and waited for Cooper to show up for the oral board. But he was dealing with other issues on the road. While waiting a call for service came in. I was told to go handle it by the sergeant. It was a transport from the hospital to the person's home. I took care of that.

When I got back to the station Cooper asked if I was done for the night. I said no. He said then get Ross and go get him an arrested. He said if I had to go to Pullman to get an MIP to do it. We headed into Pullman and ran around looking for something. We were not able to find anything. We made a lot of stops, but there was not a lot of people moving around.

We ended the night with a stop. I could smell intoxicants. We ended up doing SFST's and the person did fine. I cut the person loose and we left Pullman. We tried hard, but were not able to find anything.

Bowling with the Fire Guys.

I got some good work completed on the signup process for the SR website. But because of what happened this weekend I am still not a happy camper. I was able to get everything wired up and running. The sign up process is roughly done. I want to work on client side error checking next.

We had training tonight at the fire station. It was EMS training. It was pretty short and sweet. Following training a group of us went to Zeppoz. I didn't get there until later because I worked on getting the photoboard updated and completed.

When I got there I talked with Chapman about some engineering stuff. People were drinking and having a great time. About eight of them decided to go bowling. I did bowl, but I hung out and took photos with Tim's camera. I ended up taking about two hundred shots all together. I got some really funny candid shots. I would like to see some of them at some point.

Relaxing

I worked with Derek on his engineer stuff for a while this afternoon. That was a bigger part of the day. When I was done doing that I didn't do a whole bunch. It was a lazy day for me.

Getting Caught Up!

I went to bed, then I got up only a few short hours later to be an BLS evaluator for the First Responder class that just got done. I got my pop along the way. I got to the station and my area was bleeding and shock control. Everyone did an okay job over all. I didn't see any real issues. But the bleeding and shock is pretty easy. Cover the blood. Use pressure and elevation. Put on more bandages of needed and finally use pressure points. Then for shock. Lay down, elevate the lags, regulate body temperature with a blanket, and throw on some oxygen. That is the thing about trauma. If it bleeds cover it, if it is broken splint it. It is pretty straight forward.

I went home and started to work on my case report for the theft. I got about two and a half pages typed up and I have some way to go. But I have a lot done. This is my biggest case so far.

I worked on my computer programming job as well. I was doing the evaluations when I got a call from Tim. I didn't have my phone so I missed the call. A little bit later there was an E-mail from Tim that CCed several others about getting a hold of me. I was mad. He was complaining that he couldn't get a hold of me very easily after hours. I didn't take kindly to it. I fired back pretty much saying that I am free Monday through Friday and that I am busy on the nights and weekends. I said if it would be a problem that we should re-evaluate my contract.

I called him and left a message. He called me later and said in reference to my E-mail that it wasn't necessary that I was free all the time in the evenings, but we should try to find one night a week we can work together. We went through some of the code samples he sent to me to work with his web services. I tied all the fields together and put on some client side Javascript to make sure the data we are getting is correct. Everything pretty much fell into place. There is still some work to go, but I got a lot of it done.

I also got the photos of the new reserves edited and the photos for the board at The Deuce created for all the career guys and reserves. I was pretty busy on the computer getting things caught up.

I also responded to an e-mail from the editor of the Daily Evergreen. He wrote a piece saying that he wanted to work on focusing on more international issues in order to make those who are comfortable less so. He also made multiple references to race. I wrote a letter to the editor. He responded to it in an E-mail to me. I finally got a chance to read it and respond to him. I think he is off base on several things. I said so in my E-mail to him. It felt good to get some of these things completed.

Meeting with a Lawyer

I have never had to meet with a lawyer for the fire department in the past. This is my first time in a decade. We are being questioned for something involving the police. We are just witnesses. The problem it was a year ago and I don't remember the incident very well, so I was careful only to say things that I remember happening for sure. I didn't want to say anything I wasn't sure about. But that being the case there wasn't much I really remembered about the whole thing. I did the best I could.

When that meeting was done I went to Keegan's house and hung out until two in the morning. We watched a couple episodes of Being Human. Then we chatted about unemployment as well as living in Pullman.

I got home and stayed up until around four in the morning getting some stuff done on the computer. I have been working hard to getting my computer going and set up just the way I like it. So far I found I am not a fan of this keyboard because of the way it is set up and the feel of the buttons. My scanner doesn't work either. I would like to get that taken care of as well.

New Computer Purchased

Jon went to Frys today to get my HPE-170f model computer. It should be pretty cool. He is going to ship it out tomorrow. I am excited about getting it.

I went to the SO to write up my ticket I wrote the other day. I also got the hours for the reserves for ought-nine updated. I talked to Cooper about setting up a board for moving to first class. He at first said that until the gas prices go down he isn't going to do it. I said that I would like to get first class so I am eligible for some of the paid things. I think he was messing with me. Then he said "we will get it done".

Later he said that I probably wont pass my first time through. I said I understood that, but I figured that if I had one I would know what I need to work on to improve.

I left the SO and went to the rig checks. We went to station one to get some tarps that were missing from Rescue from when we were having the pipe breaks. We ran a couple calls tonight. It was another night where we had some calls in the wee-hours in the morning. I decided to stay up late after we got back from the last call. I was up until six in the morning. I got into an E-mail conversation with Kuhrt during this time.

Teaching First Aid

This morning I worked with Darren from the WSU PD to teach first aid to the police interns. We started at seven in the morning. I went with Darren to get him some coffee. Then we were getting the room ready. I moved the table and knocked his coffee onto the ground. That sucked. I didn't mean to do that and I felt really bad.

The first part of the class was bad because everyone was so tired they were not really into it and they all had blank looks. But as we got closer to lunch and after lunch they were really getting into it. Darren and I traded off with some of the sections giving examples and talking about some of the key points. As the class was coming to an end an echo response came out on the radio.

I helped Darren clean up the classroom. We went to the WSU PD station where I got a copy of the class roster. I went home and started to look up information about a new computer. I've spent the last couple days trying to find a new computer and I'm having a hard time because of all the information I'm finding on the Internet.

I got a call from Richards. He wanted to know if I wanted to go see a movie with him. I said that I would. We went to see the Book of Eli. It was interesting. I didn't know what to expect with it. It was an interesting movie. I was thinking in some ways it reminded me of Mad Max. But it had a different plot. It kept me entertained through out.

I went home and spent some more time looking for the computer. I decided that I would get the Gateway model I found on their site, but I couldn't find it anywhere online. I finally called Fry's and I learned it was discontinued. But Fry's had a brand new HP with the nearly identical specs. It was an Intel Core i7 with nine gig of RAM. It has a one-TB HD with Windows Seven. It has one-point-eight gig of video memory with two DVI plugs. It has a DVD burner with LightScribe. It is a pretty sweet system. I asked Jon if he would get it for me and send it to me. He is going to get it tomorrow for me.

John came over and we started to play cards. We tried to get a game going but only Richards was able to come over. We played until three in the morning. We played Acey-Deucy. Blake got hose four times when he said "Pot It". I was laughing so hard.

At the end of the night I was up about two or three bucks. It had been a while since we last played cards.

A Busy Night on Call

I went to Keegan's and we both filled out the application for Whitcom. We turned it in and then went to Winco together. He was doing some grocery shopping for dinner. I had to be on call tonight so I had to leave, but we were talking and I just didn't want to get out of there. Finally it was close to six and I had to run. He gave me a hug and I was on my way.

This evening we were supposed to have HazMat training. But instead we ran out on some calls. It turned out to be a busy night where we got a call. Then we had to wash the rig. We got home for about an hour and a half and then we were back out on the road. It happened until nearly four in the morning that way.

Starting a New Body for Life Run

This morning I started a new body for life challenge. But I didn't make it to the gym. But I am making sure I stay with the eating portion. I am eating six times a day with smaller portions and less calories. But I need to get to the rec center and get some swimming done at the very least.

I spent most of the mid-morning and afternoon working on the UI for the S.R. contract. It felt good to get done what I got done, but now I have to do the hard part. That is hooking it up to the database to save data.

I had training at the fire department tonight. We were covering the SCBA quarterlies as well as some practice with the RIT pack. It took a while to get everyone through the training.

When the class was done I went home and messed around on the computer for a while before I went off to bed.

SO then FD

So there I was. Working the road with Rich. We worked a dog complaint first thing. Then we went north to help take a runaway case. After that was done we started to run traffic on SR Twenty-Six.

We didn't have a lot of luck early on. It was pretty slow going. There was a lot of traffic of people coming back from Christmas Break. But they were not flying so much.

After it got dark we went worked the fifty-five mile per hour area. We got a few stops through that area. Rich had to be gone at six o'clock for something else. That was okay because I had to go to the fire station for weekly rig checks.

I helped finish up the check on rescue and then put the rigs back after the bays were washed out. We got a call before we left. Then we had one more in the wee-hours of the morning. It was a pretty tame night over all. But Christmas Break is over and I suppose we are going to get a lot of calls again.

Keegan the Dispatcher?

I was doing work on the maps for Pullman Fire for while and I also got the photos edited and ready to print. But I need a couple more photos.

Then I went to Whitcom for about an hour with Keegan to show him around the dispatch center. When we parted ways and I headed home.

I went to the fire station to put the maps and some photos from the badge pinning on the computer. I didn't stay up too late because I was working the road tomorrow with Rich.

More Hanging with Keegan

Keegan and I got together this afternoon and headed down to Clarkston to do some shopping at Costco. After we got back we went to his place and sat around chatting. He is a good looking guy. I would love to do something more than just be friends with him, but I am not going to move it to the next level. I am going to let him make that decision. I don't want to push it if that is not where he would like to go with things.

I went to the fire station and we did our daily rig checks as well as listened to a police chase that was happening. They caught the guy which was good.

We got a couple calls this evening as I worked to redo the map tests for Pullman. It took several hours to update the maps. I was going to redo the whole entire thing but I realised quickly that it would take way too much time to do that with little gain. So I just retrofitted the old tests with new streets.

A Crazy Busy Day

It turned out my trip to Seattle today was delayed until tomorrow. I was going to get going in the morning, but due to the fact I really didn't get my day started until after the noon hour I was behind the eight-ball. I started with a phone call for my new contract web job. It was clear that I should have read the e-mails. But from the ones I had read I was under a different impression. There are still issues with exactly what I need to get done. I guess I will get the UI work underway and work on hooking stuff up later on.

I went to Sprint to have my phone looked at. The year of some of my texts are coming back as twenty-sixteen. That was fixed by doing an update that was sent to my phone. I also considered updating my phone plan which will reduce my overall cost by about twenty bucks a month.

I went to the fire station to get some parts for a manikin for training tonight. I also talked to Ryan about getting the new maps made up for the map tests. I spoke with the chief about getting the career timesheets set up to work like the reserve timesheets I did. While I was showing the chief how it worked I found an error in a formula. The cells that I was looking for only covered about an eighth of what they should have covered. That meant I had a couple hours of work to update all the timesheets. That sucked. So when I got home I worked on that. It took me until nearly six to get done. But it is complete and I was able to update the server with the new timesheets.

I went to Colfax for fire training. We went over the King Airway. After practicing that I went to the SO to work on my supplemental report from the DUI from the other day. I also got my ticket written up and turned in.

When I got home I got a hold of Keegan on the computer. We went to Rico's and sat there talking for about two hours. It was good to chat with him. He is a good looking guy. But he is just looking for friends, so I am not going to cross any lines. After we were done I went to shake his hand and he preferred to hug. So I gave him a hug.

A New Friend

This evening we had weekly rig checks. It was only Parrish and I on duty tonight. We had a couple guys coming down to help us to the weekly rig checks. That was nice to have. It only took about two hours. Parrish and I had to go to the main station to get a couple things fixed before we went home.

I spent a while chatting online with a guy, Keegan, on g.com. We ended up having a great long conversation. He invited me to go have a coffee with him. He is only looking for friends. That is cool by me. He seems like a very nice guy.

Happy New Year "Oh-Ten"

I went to the fire station and put the timesheets I created for the reserves into their folders on the computer. I also had some scans for my Pullman Fire History archive that I placed onto the computer as well.

I worked on my annual review of the year. It is where I look at all my posts for the whole month and choose one to use as a highlight. Some months it is easy while some months have multiple options and I have a hard time choosing. It usually takes and hour or so to go through everything. It was clear being a reserve deputy was a major part of my year last year.

At around six I went to the fire station and did rig checks. Scott and I hung out there for several hours watching some bowl games on TV and talking. Before we left we got an EMS call. We transported and Rescue went to the hospital as well.

When we returned to the station we cleaned the rig and called it a night. That happened to be the only call we received for the evening.

Ought-Nine in Review

Jan - Mr. President - I wanted to be the class president. There were two possible candidates that most likely would have been voted for. Myself and one other guy who works in the jail right now. He also would have been a very fine pic. But it is something I want to do. The vote was held by Ross putting out the ballots. When the counting was done it was nearly unanimous. I am now the Ought-Eight Reserve class President.

Feb - Final Mock Scenes - Today was going to be a long day. I was expecting to be done around three or four in the afternoon, but today was the day I was going to prove I could do the job, or I would prove I need more work, or that I am just not cut out for being a cop. I have spent sixteen hours a week for nearly the last five months

Mar - First Day on Patrol - Following the swearing, Jimmy was doing a couple things at the SO before we left to hit the road. We went north on One-Ninety-Five looking for speeders. We pulled over one car, my first as a reserve deputy. I was the cover officer. I went to the car and the passenger was talking with me. The person was given a warning.

Apr - My Latest Oil Change - I have lifetime powertrain and bumper-to-bumper warranties. It has a DVD player built into the radio. I have a rearview camera and backup sensors. It has the Hemi with MDS so it shuts down some of the cylinders when they are not needed to help save fuel. It seems to have some get-up and go. It feel great to drive it. Plus it has the newer traction control system so I feel better about driving it on the bad roadways.

May - First Code Run - we got to the first address we needed to go to Endicott for a call to back up the others there. We were going code and just passed some cars on SR One-Ninety-Five. After we got past the Albion road a burglary in progress was put out in Albion. So I had to turn around and go back to Albion. So I went code past the cars I had just passed.

Jun - Contract with MH Terminated - Since April of Ought-Four I have been working as a software engineer for NetUpdate and then I was moved to MostHome when they bought out NU. I worked with them until I got notice today that my contract was going be terminated. The application that I worked on since I started with NU was a mortgage application. That was then sold to a competitor a couple months ago. I told MH that I wanted to remain on with them. But as it turned out the project I was put on just got sold off. So they are cutting their ties with me.

Jul - Second Class Reserve - I was told I was moved up to second class. They shook my hand and said they had great expectations for me. They all believe that I will do a fine job. That was great. Now, I just need to start to set up times to ride so I can work my way to first class.

Aug - Final Shift as a PFD Temp - We got on scene in the ambulance and were made into the backup team. We went to the attic where the seat of the fire was. Eric, who was on his first day back, was on the nozzle and put the fire out. It was still pretty small, but growing. It was lucky that we got there when we did and that the fire was not in the wee hours of the morning when it could have really taken off. I ended up putting in an hour and a half of overtime. So my full-time tally was one year, one month, four days and one and a half hours. It has been a good run.

Sept - Bushwood Golfs Again - I was hot on my short game. The problem is that we would use after we all hit a drive we would pick one. From that point each person hit his own ball to the hole. I didn't do too poorly. I was able to keep up in score. In fact my putting made me lead some of the holes. I had some very nice putts including two there were around thirty footers for birdies. It felt great.

Oct - IM Championship Bound - I hit the ball well, as did the team. Our defense was very good. We went on to win and go to the Semi-finals. We were playing a team that had been using an illegal bat. Once they were called on it, in the previous game, they couldn't hardly score. It turned out we shut them out. We scored nine runs. We didn't hit the ball as well as I would have hoped, but we won. Ryan said it best, this is the most worried I have felt in a shut out. We never had a big enough lead that put me at ease. Not until we scored the ninth run and the other team no longer had a chance to win because of the eight-run limit.

Nov - Gay Firefighter - Then I was asked a question about how I feel I am treated being a gay in the fire department. I said since I have been outed to everyone I don't feel that I have ever been treated poorly due to being gay. Chris let me know that he has known for years. He said that pretty much everyone on the fire department on the career side knows. He said there are probably only a couple people who don't really know. He said that they probably have been told, but think that people are screwing with them. It is without a doubt that the information is told to everyone. I am not sure who actually tells the others but the information is freely available. But once again no one treats me differently.

Dec - Search for Missing Hunter - I was teamed up with three young men. It turned out it was the son of the missing man and his friends. They wanted to put a member of the SO with each team going out searching. We were sent down the road a ways to start our search. The son was leading the way as he knew the area well. We made our way along some level ground. There was about four inches of new snow. It was covering rocks on the ground so we had to be careful where we stepped.

This years review shows many things that were related to being a reserve Deputy. I guess that is the major thing that has happened to me over this last year. I am now a sworn reserve law enforcement officer. Many of the writings I had through out the year dealt with the class or going out to patrol. I also had an unusual suicide where I was able to trace the night leading up to the death of a young man. It was very unusual and probably affected me more than any other death I investigated. It didn't make the list this year because the fact that I am a gay man who is a firefighter is something I am always thinking about. When it was finally brought up with some people I have never talked to about it before it was a big conversation to me. It was nice to hear his perspective. Ought-Nine was a good year overall. I had some frustrations at the fire department, but they were overall small in the grand scheme of life. I am jobless, but I do have a new contract where I will finally start to bring in some money again. It has been a year that I am happy with.

Final Day of the Decade

I went to the fire station and met with Brenda about the reserve timesheets. I also met up with Ryan about the map tests and the upcoming fire academy. I am going to be making the timesheets for the reserves this year. I also was integrating the timelog into the timesheet Excel workbook. But more importantly something I have been working on is the ability to fill out the timelog and have it automatically fill in the timesheet. That is now completed. I also let Ryan know about some of the things I didn't like about the academy in the past. I also let him know the map tests are worthless for proving guys know the roads. So often they pass the test with one-hundred percent, but still are clueless when they get on the street.

I went home and started to work on the new spreadsheet. I had the basic stuff done for the timecard. I just did some tweaking on it to make it closer to the ones we currently use. The timelog has some updates to it. Then I started to put the two together.

I was trying to create a master workbook that would have every one's name and employee number. It would also include the pay. Then if information needed to be updated on any reserve it would only have to be updated in one spot and the workbooks would get that information by linking to the master. But I was running into problems. That is because I didn't want to hard code each firefighters workbook, I wanted to be able to have one spot where I put the firefighter number in their workbook and Excel would then take that number and concatenate it with the column number in order to get the correct data. But that is not nearly as easy as it sounds. I found a function called INDIRECT, but it only works when the master spreadsheet is also open. That is not going to work for what I want to do.

Finally I had to give up on that idea for this year. I just made a master in the workbook and the data would be updated there. So it is still only one place to update the pay information for people. But if four people need their pay information updated it will require opening up four spreadsheets rather than one. But I got the whole set done. I hope the guys like it. I know several thought it was cool with mine, because I was testing out the process. Now that I know it works I asked Heston about doing it for everyone. He said go ahead. Several of the guys who saw me using it this last year wanted me to do that for them. So I am sure for the most part guys will like it. But as with all change there are some guys who hate change and will complain about it no matter what.

I went to the Deuce and met up with Suggy for working the WSU Men's Basketball game. They were playing Oregon in the Pac-Ten opener. The first half was not very solid for the Cougs. But in the second half they started to come alive. They had an eight-zero and a ten-zero run. Soon it was tied up. With about thirty seconds to go the Cougs had the ball. But they ended up wasting too much time on the clock. That caused them to have to take a poor shot and it was missed. That put the game into OT. In the first OT the Cougs had a five point lead, but it came down to a dunk by Casto in the final second of the game. The Cougs were up by two and the crowd went crazy. There was three-tenths of a second left on the clock. But the Cougs were assessed a technical foul for celebration. They gave the Ducks to free-throws. The guy made both and they tied it up and went to a second OT. The second one was closer. But the game ended when the Cougs had the ball with less than ten seconds to go. It was tied. The Cougs missed the shot. The Ducks got it and drove hard to the bucket. They made it and got fouled. They celebrated without penalty. They made the freethrow going up by three with, again, three-tenths of a second. But the Cougs couldn't come back and lost. I was so mad. It was crushed. It felt the highest of highs only to be crushed.

During the game I talked to Kuhrt and he was seeing what I was doing for New Years. I told him that I had no plans. He said I should come over. He said he would get in touch with me after the game. I went home and completed my project to work on the timesheets. I got a text from Kuhrt to come over. I headed that way. When I got to his place we watched some TV and talked shop. I asked him questions about the way he learns and remembers traffic laws. We had a couple drinks. At midnight we toasted the new year. It was a nice evening with the Kuhrt's and their pets.

Movie Night: The Hangover

I was supposed to be on my way to Renton today, but due to the coroner's case last night I stayed in town an extra day. I worked the coroner's case for part of the day. I went to Moscow and got a Christmas gift for BKoe. I also got myself a copy of the movie the Hangover.

I was asked by Reed to cover him on the fire department. So I invited Melcher, Rose, and Gecas over to watch the movie with me at my place. So it was an impromptu movie night. The guys came over and we watched the movie.

The only calls we got were all for a fire alarm at the Village Centre Theatres. We were dispatched there three times tonight. We only ended up responding once, but we kept getting toned out and waking me up.

Three Hats Today

This morning Melcher and I hit the road. I was working out there until five o'clock. I am on call for the fire department starting at six. We hit the road and ran some traffic on twenty-six. We met up with BKoe, KStew, and Monte for lunch at Cougar Country. We ran a fresh arrest to Colfax for BKoe. Then we went north and ran more traffic. We made a couple stops along the way. We got back to the station and I was out of there around five. I got to the station and rig checks were done.

Robinson and I hung out at the station for a couple hours. But we didn't have any calls while we were there. I went home and I was online chatting with someone on facebook when a call came in for an injured person with blood. As I got to the station I heard the person wasn't breathing and was cold. We got cancelled quickly as it turned out the person was dead.

It wasn't very long before I went to the scene as a coroner. I told Pete that I was on call for the fire department and I might need to leave if a call came in. I worked the case for a couple hours on scene and then at the funeral home. After I was done with the funeral home the tones went out for a fire alarm. I went to the station and we headed out on it. We were cancelled nearly right away. That was all we had for calls, but because of the coroner's case I didn't get to bed until late.

Happy Thirty-Sixth Scotty

This morning I had a critique for a car accident. It was the one where the guy hit the two pedestrians. When the critique was over I stuck around for a little while talking to some of the people there. A couple people wished me a happy birthday. I was also getting a lot of birthday wishes on facebook as well.

Ryan met up with me at my house right about eleven. We took my truck to get the alternator worked on. Then it was off to my place. We made some fudge. But the first batch was not right. I cooked the base ingredients too long. It was dry. I tried a second one and more or less did the same thing. So I messed up back-to-back batches. We went to Moscow to Hastings to look at some movies. I wanted to buy the Hangover. We then went to Walmart. But they didn't have the unrated version available.

We went to my place and I tried a third batch of fudge. But because I was scared to cook it too long, I think I went too short and it was a little too creamy for what I like. But overall it is going to work out.

We then got ready to go bowling at Zeppoz. I met up with the Young's, Richards, Gollnick, Keeton, BKoe, the Caessens'. Ron and Heather came down as well as Dan and Michele. Jessie also came by. She brought me some crack for my birthday. We bowled several games. I wasn't bowling very well. But BKoe did awesome. He had two games over two hundred. He also got a game with no open frames. After bowling for several hours we called it a night at Zeppoz. Ryan had to leave to drive back to Spokane. Richards, Gollnick, and I went to Sports Page. We played several games of pool over the next couple hours. In the first game I played I nearly ran the table on John. I was sinking all my shots. But as the night went on I got worse and worse, without the help of alcohol to get worse.

It was a good birthday. I was happy to get a chance to be with friends. They make it special.

Happy Twenty-Fifth Pritch

This morning we had a critique for one of the two recent fires at Terrace Estates. It really didn't bring out a lot other than some communication issues and dealing with the cold.

Later on I had a transfer in the city with Chuck. I got a rescue crew to come along to help us with lifting. It was a round trip to the hospital and back to her residence.

After the transfer I had some time before I had to head off to the Rimrock Search critique. On the way down I called Chia to see what he was doing on Friday. He then said they were out with Pritch at Zeppoz for his birthday. They said I needed to come. But because I am going to the critique and on call I didn't think I would make it out.

I was near Zeppoz when that conversation took place. I popped into Zeppoz and wished Blake a happy birthday. I said hello to the other guys who were there before hitting the road for Colton.

This critique was a lot more involved than the one from this morning. We started with a slide show the Sheriff put together. Then they talked about how the search was started. Then on to things that went well. That was pretty brief. Then we talked about things that didn't go well. There was a bit of a longer list.

Several of the things they came out with were valid. One was communication problems. One was not having an ambulance or a visible designated EMS team for the searchers. Then there were a couple things that caused some grief that I was involved in. One was the use of the Spokane mountain rescue team to help with the recovery. I spoke up as to what my thoughts were. Pretty much when we are in recovery mode, there is no hurry and safety is of the utmost importance. Then there was one issue I brought up where I blocked the only pathway to get people out of the area where they searched. I got committed and I couldn't move. That caused some people to get upset because they wanted to get out of there and they were forced to wait. I explained what my mistake was and how I intended to correct it in the future. Pretty much, it was, me being the last unit out of an area like that.

When the critique was over with I think people were overall happy with the command and the decisions made. We learned a little.

I came back to Pullman. I called up another guy on the fire department to see if he would cover for me so I could go out with the guys. I was able to get coverage. I went to the hill. I met up with the two Blakes, Chia, Chuck, Timmy, and Mully at the Coug. I had two beers while there.

Later we went to ValHalla for some more action. I didn't drink anything there. Ross was working and we talked for a while before I made my way to the other guys. Chuck and I were talking about his upcoming promotion to Senior Firefighter. Chia was getting ready to go so we said goodbye to him.

After we left there we went to Mike's. While at Mike's a guy who Ben introduced me to a couple weekends ago was there. He saw me and came over to say hello and wish me a happy birthday. He is ten-six-seven and a very nice person. I enjoyed playing pool with him when we were at Mike's before. He told me to remember him when it came to softball season this Spring. I told him I would for sure.

Blake, Chuck, and I went to TLD after we left Mike's. We got a burrito to go. I went home and went to bed.

Rimrock Search Day Two

I came because of what Trevor said... See you tomorrow. After he said that I felt I had to be there. I got up and put on my stuff. I was bundled up well. I got to the command post at seven-thirty. There were more then one hundred people there. They were getting set up in groups to search specific areas. There was a morning briefing then the group leaders got a briefing and were sent out. There were a couple helicopters there as well.

It wasn't very long after the teams started to go out that a hit had been made. There was a ton of radio traffic. I knew they were on to something. Then the Sheriff called me into the command vehicle. I heard him talking to someone on the phone as he was giving them instructions to find Pete. That is when I knew they found the hunter. That was not good news, because if they are looking for Pete that meant he had died.

I went sent in as the coroner. I got to the area where he was found. He was about two-hundred-and-fifty yards below the hillside from me. The teams worked to get him back up. It was a long process. After we got to the top the searchers got into two lines and we drove between them as they paid their respects.

There was a lot happening around the basecamp. People were asking how I was doing. They got me some food. I went to Adam. We shook hands and did a hug. I thanked him for helping me out. I said my condolences to Trevor. We also shook hands and hugged. I was stopped by a family member who gave me a hug and thanked me for the work I had done.

Then it was off to the funeral home for me. I worked with Pete for a couple hours to figure out what happened. I left around four to go home and get cleaned up before I was on call for the fire department. I got some dinner and went to the station to eat it before doing our daily rig checks and Monday night training.

It was a long couple days for me with the fire department and the searching. It was a sad outcome. It was the first time I had been part of something like that. It was a huge incident and it was great to see everyone who came out to volunteer their time to help search.

I started out the day as a sheriff, then changed to a coroner, and I ended the day as a firefighter.

Christmas Party at Chucks

What a day, I got up to go get the photos of the guys from the new recruit class, but they were dismissed from class at noon, just about when I showed up. So I didn't get the photos of anyone. I went into the kitchen and talked with Tractor and VanNess about both my article in today's Daily News as well as some history about Pullman Fire and the opening of the downtown fire station.

I was at home for a while waiting until it was time for me to head down to the fire station for daily rig checks. I got down there and worked on the rescue and engine. It was starting to snow and the roads has some snow on them.

The plan was to head to Chucks after rig checks. I got to Turner and I was dispatched to a call. So I turned around and went back to the station to run the call. After that call I went to Chuck's. It was going well until I got a call. I had to head from Chuck's place and it was an Echo. But it didn't take long to find out it was a nothing call. When that call was done Turpin said he wanted to see Togs and I. He gave us each a Christmas Gift. It was a very surprised by the gift.

We went to the call and got cleared when we got there. We then went towards a second call for a gas leak, but we were cancelled. So we went to the station and I went back to Chuck's. I was able to stay there for a couple hours before being called away. I left the house with no intentions of coming back. It was getting late.

I got a call from the Sheriff asking if I could help with a search for a missing hunter. He said I would need to head there around six-thirty in the morning. I thought it would be necessary for some sleep. But the calls would not cooperate.

I was getting called to service in a very steady fashion. There wasn't anything that was kicking our butt, but it was just a constant stream of calls.

I finally found my bed at three-thirty in the morning only to get called one hour later.

Coming in Early for the Meeting

I went into the SO early to meet with Cooper to cover the things that were going on in tonight's association meeting. I have a CISD to go to so I cannot be at the meeting. I showed him my gun was clean. Then I gave him my idea for training for this upcoming year. Cooper was asking everyone if we had any complaints so we could air them out one on one. I didn't have any to speak of.

I went back to Pullman and to the CISD. It was for the suicide in Pullman from a couple weeks ago.

Gun Cleaning Party

This morning I worked on my column for the Daily News. It is about how people substitute the word Holiday for Christmas and pretend nothing has changed.

I got a transfer to Lewiston around three. I went down with Pritch. When it was done I went to Papa John's to get some pizza. The profits are going to be donated to the Lakewood police officers' families.

I got home in time for the gun cleaning party. Only one person showed up to clean his gun. That was perfect because just after cleaning our guns the tones went out for reserve callback. I went to the station. I was there for several hours chatting with one of the new guys. We joked about lots of different things. He talked about his oral board and how the room was set up. He said it was pretty intimidating.

After I left the station I went to Kuhrt's house. We played video games until around one-thirty in the morning.

More Flooding

This morning I was dragging but I had to hurry to make it to the staff meeting. But what I found was it was cancelled in favor of shift meetings with the chief's. So I called up Ben and we started his engineer drive time early. We drove around for a couple hours to help knock out the drive time he needed to be an engineer.

When we were done I went home and started to watch the funeral for the Lakewood Police. Within a couple minutes a call went out for a smoldering cushion. I didn't want to go, but I had told the others I would be responding and I didn't want to not show up. While we were getting to the station to go a second call came in. We ended up going on that. It was for a water flow at an apartment building. We ended up working that scene for nearly two hours trying to mitigate the water flow as well as get some of the water out of the apartment.

When the call was done I got to see the very end of the funeral before going home to get ready for HazMat training. I went to the station. I helped get some stuff set up for Drew.

The new reserves were having their training. I gave Tyler a bit of a hard time for missing a call. He said he was having pager issues. I looked at Chuck and said "Chuck, how long were you on the department before you decided to skip your first call?" Tyler took the ribbing well.

The HazMat training started to get interrupted by multiple calls. So finally we just cancelled the rest of the training.

Drew left, but then called to see if I was interested in going out for a beer. I took him up on his offer. We were at My Office. We had dinner and a couple beers while talking about all sort of things. But one of the major topics was the changes going on at the fire department.

I hadn't talked to Drew about it before so it was interesting to hear things from his perspective. It was a nice evening hanging out with Drew and shooting the breeze with him. I thanked him for the evening as we left.

A Very Long Day

This morning I had planned on working out but due a horrible night sleep I turned off my alarm clock, but I was woken up by the coroner pager going off and a phone call from Pete. I got out of bed and I was on my computer when I heard Pullman Transit talking about someone being on the ground and needing an ambulance. I heard it get dispatched out. Then when I heard more about what was going on I went to the station. I called Victor and he came down. A car had hit two people. They were about one block apart.

We got to the scene and helped with one of the patients. He was taken to the hospital and I helped to clean up the ambulance before leaving. It was a very long call.

I went to Moscow to get the food for Gribbon's last day on the fire department. The plan was to do it at The Deuce. But after talking to Mark we ended up changing it to station thirty-one. I dropped off the food and went home. A fire alarm came out and I went to the station. Turned out to be a broken sprinkler due to the cold and water was flowing. We helped clean up for about ten minutes.

I went home and then back to the station to start with dinner. Due to a call I was stuck trying to do everything by myself for a while. Help finally arrived. I was able to get to the station to pick up the engine and get it back to station thirty-one for dinner and then training. Due to the cold we were not going to do any spraying of water like had been planned. So it was a classroom training only.

After that was done I went back home to complete working on my computer. Earlier in the day I upgraded my IE from six to eight. So the CSS from the duty calendar website needed some upgrades. I worked on those upgrades in order to get the page to appear correctly. Just before I was done a call went out for a structure fire at the trailer court where we had a fire last week.

We got to the place. It wasn't a large fire but it took us a while to do all the overhaul. When it was done it took another two hours to get everything totally back in service. The cold weather was causing havoc with freezing.

I got home and I was in bed for an hour and a half before we were dispatched to a fire alarm. That totally sucked.

Mr. Lightweight

I got a phone call this morning to go over a couple work related things with the company that is looking to give me a contract. That was only a five minute phone call.

I got cleaned up and put on my Class-B uniform for the fire department. I got my boots and headed to the Deuce. I needed to show two new guys around Beasley because we had no one else to work the events with the badge pinning ceremony going on.

I spent the time when I got there shining my boots and watching TV. I waited around watching TV until the guys got to the station to start the training. I showed them what equipment they needed and headed to Beasley with them. I helped them get the beds set up and walked around some of the places they needed to know about. As it got close to two I had to run out to the badge pinning ceremony.

When I got to the Pioneer Center I gave my camera to Ryan who was shooting the pics. We started to get our seats and the ceremony started. It was one career and about twelve reserves getting their badges. I had asked Gollnick to pin me but he wasn't able to. I also asked Chia, and he wasn't available. I then asked Turpin. He did it. The whole ceremony took just over thirty minutes.

I went home and Victor gave me a ride up to the WSU police station. We were doing the Wet Lab drinking in the old WSU Fire station. We played some cards and ate a little bit while drinking drinks as Matt made them for us.

I was supposed to be the most drunk. After a double-shot, I was blowing a just under a point-zero-two. I was going to have a long way to go to get where Matt wanted me. His plan was to have me at a point-one-two. But as I was getting towards the point-zero-eight, the legal limit in Washington, I was really feeling the effects. I am a bit of a light weight.

We made our way to the CUE. I was feeling pretty good, but Matt also had me get a couple more shots. While there I had a point-seven-three reading near the start and a point-seven-eight at the end. I wasn't legally intoxicated, but people would argue I was under the influence. I hardly could stay in the starting position.

I knew my eyes were not doing well, I could feel them spazzing out at max. dev. I figured I would not do too well when they decided whether to arrest or not.

Sure enough at the end they saw I had six clues in my eyes. That is the most possible. I also had about two to four clues in the other tests on average. Most people put me at a point-one-three or so. I was nearly half that. When they heard what level I was they burst out in laughter. It was a good time.

When we were done I got a ride to ValHalla to meet up with Ben. He was in town for a turf club Open To Close event yesterday at the Coug. I got to ValHalla and start to drink water. That was my drink of choice for the rest of the evening. We at ValHalla with a couple others guys Ben knows. Brandon, was one of the guys with Ben. He plays softball with Barge's IM team. Ben is telling me I should try to steal him.

Brandon was very nice. He was easy to chat with. Ben said he is competitive and a good player. We walked to Mike's and played some pool there. I could see Brandon's competitive edge come out. We stayed at Mike's until just before two o'clock.

I walked back to ValHalla with the group but I broke off with them. Ben gave me a hug and said good bye. I went downstairs and waited for my taxi to show up. I ran into Mully and Pritch. We all shared a taxi to get home.

Engineer Training with Victor

This morning I got ready for a trip to Pullman a day early. I was going to work with Victor. I went to Three Pigs to have lunch with Jon and the other guys.

Then I hit the road. It was a typical trip there. Nothing of note happened.

I got to Pullman and got ready for Victor's training. I got some engineer calculations ready for him to do. Then I waited for him to get there. First we worked on the calculations. I helped him go through them.

We hit the road and drove around. We did about an hour and a half of city drive time.

Christmas Cruise Ought-Nine

This morning I got up and started to get ready for my trip to Seattle. I was doing some stuff around the house. I responded on a call to the fire department, but no one else showed up for it.

I home and packed. Then I went to the bank to deposit a couple checks. I needed to stop by the fire station to get a photo of our new Training Officer, Ryan. I stopped and chatted with the guys there for a while. I stopped and got some pizza slices on my way out of town.

The trip itself was uneventful. I listened to a lot of talk radio, where the subject was mostly about the shooting of the Lakewood Officers.

I got into Renton. I stopped at my parents' place and dropped off my clothes. Then I went to the Eagles for dinner. I forgot how far I was from Mercer Island. Normally not a big deal, but there was a major back up on Four-Oh-Five from Newport to Renton. So I had to take surface streets. I found my way behind all sorts of slow cars. I would finally get out from behind one only to have a new one move into my way.

I got to the police station with about ten minutes to spare. I got my uniform on and headed to the water for the Christmas Cruise. I was pretty tired. But the cruise was uneventful. We went to Lake Union. There were about fifteen yachts following along.

Happy Birthday Wendy!

This morning I woke up to my scanner on the Pullman Fire frequency. I heard "Delta response for a structure fire." I got up and started to collect my things. Then I heard BKoe on the radio and running. I didn't totally hear what he was saying, but I knew by the fact he was running and talking on the radio that the fire was real. So I expedited my response to the station.

I was joined by two other reserves and we went to the scene. We got there and got assigned to a back-up line. Soon we were sent in to help with the overhaul. We pulled ceiling and put water on the hot spots. We were asked to help with the investigation. There were some interesting findings.

I went home and cleaned up. There was about two hours before training. I went to the station early. It was ICS training. It lasted about two hours.

Following the training I went to Zeppoz. Wendy was celebrating her fiftieth birthday. I was invited to have some cake. When I got there the Uskoski's and Peterson's were the only ones left. I stayed and had some pop with them as well as some cake. I wished Wendy a happy birthday.

Apple Cup at the Moose

I was invited to go to the Moose and watch the Apple Cup with the gang. I got there just before kick off. I was invited to help myself to some food they had there. I ate and had some pop. I am on call tonight so I cannot have anything more than pop.

As the game was going on I thought the Cougs had a chance. They were down by thirteen after half, but I was mad they didn't try to score when they had the ball and some time on the clock to at least try something.

The second half things went down hill. We ended up losing by a shutout. I cannot believe how horrible things are right now. But I believe we will see things look up in the next two years.

I had to leave before the game was done to get my uniform and do the daily rig checks at the station.

I went home. Brandon, Kevin, and I played some games. We played for a couple hours before Brandon had to go to bed. I went to bed myself around midnight. I need to get up and patrol tomorrow.

Before I got to sleep, I tossed and turned in bed for a while. Finally I was drifting off to sleep when a call came in for a Delta Response for a Structure Fire at the Elmhurst apartments. Pretty much every firefighter in Pullman knows that is a bad news place. It is very old building and it would be a big fire should one happen.

This time it was only an overcooked pizza.

Not Spending Thanksgiving Alone

After being up until nearly five in the morning I figured I would sleep in until noon or later. But at nine-thirty I got a call from the VanNess. He said that he wasn't sure if I was clear that I had been invited to Thanksgiving dinner. I wasn't clear about that at all. I sort of got the feeling otherwise. But I was very happy to hear that. So now I am going to get a Thanksgiving dinner. My alternate plan was for pizza.

I went back to sleep for another couple hours. My mom called and she wished me a happy Thanksgiving. I spent time on the computer and watched football to burn time. Around four I went to the fire station to do daily rig checks. I was meeting with my partner on Rescue at four-thirty to head to station one.

When we got there I jumped in and helped out. I was assigned the gravy making detail. I was doing strong work. I was joking with Drew about getting toned out while making dinner. He said, no, the tones will go out when we are dishing up.

I put the gravy on the table and the youngens started to get served. We got toned out on a structure fire. It turned out to be someone who had a fire in the fireplace with the flue closed. We opened the flue. Put out the fire and removed the smoke from the building.

We finally got back and started dinner. It was very good. I was very happy to have been included in the meal. After it was done we were sort of talking and telling stories when a second call came in. We ran that one and went to the hospital. I got the back of the ambulance cleaned up. Then went back to the station and helped to do the dishes.

When everything was cleaned up we left and went back to the Deuce. I went home and started to write to my friends. I was writing a letter of thanks to many people who I feel I need to recognize for positive things they have done for me. They were heartfelt and I said things that I felt, but I usually cannot tell people. I ended my final one just before one in the morning.

Spending Thanksgiving Alone

I was on call for the fire department this evening. I went through the December schedule and got it posted online.

I called down to the station about Thanksgiving. I was going to see if there were plans for a big dinner for everyone or what was going on. I was told last week it was brought up and all the guys made their decision about what to bring. I sounded like it was going to be just a small thing with the career guys and their families. I let Robinson know that we would not be taking Rescue down for Thanksgiving on Thursday.

Around six I went to the fire station and we were about to do rig checks when a fire alarm came in. We rolled on it before heading back to the station to do daily rig checks.

Following that I didn't have a whole lot to do. I played around online for while before going to bed. I got woken up for a call around four in the morning. We had just gotten out the door when we were cancelled. I went home but could not get to sleep. I got up and watched the remainder of House online. I had started to watch it before I went to bed. I finally went back to bed around six in the morning.

Patrolling with Melcher

I was excited because this evening I was going to patrol with Melcher. I got up and went downstairs. The boys were up. We watched some football on TV. It was snowing outside pretty good. There was about an inch on the ground and more was expected.

We had breakfast and then they started to load up and got ready to head out of town. I was at home and watched some more football as the snow was piling up. At one point the tones went off for a bus rollover on Davis Way just outside of the city limits. They called for four ambulances. I went to the station. But it turned out there was only a bus driver on the bus and it never rolled. So everyone was cancelled. But that put me behind the eight-ball. I had planned on going to get some long johns.

I drove to Shopko and picked up two pair of long johns and got home. I got my uniform on and headed to pick up Melcher. This is his first patrol as a second class reserve. I was excited to patrol with him.

The weather was bad and I thought we would deal with a lot of car accidents. We ended up dealing with none. We got dinner with BKoe in Pullman. We traded driving after a while. The snow had stopped and the roads were starting to get better. We worked twenty-six for a while. Then we went north on One-Ninety-Five. But it was dead. We made it all the way to Pullman. I took Two-Seventy to the state line with no luck. As we were leaving Pullman I head a PPD officer getting ready to transport someone to Colfax. I offered to bring the prisioner to the jail. He happily took me up on the offer.

That was the final thing we did on the night. It was near two in the morning. We fueled the car and called it a night.

Final Cougar Football Saturday of the Year

I had breakfast with the boys and Jon before heading to the fire station. I went to The Deuce and picked up the minivan and some EMS equipment. I went to station one. I hung out there having some lunch and talking with some of the guys as we waited for the briefing. After which we headed to the stadium. I was working as the runner.

I spent the whole day in the South Aid Room, aside from the times when I walked to the top of the seats to see some game action in person. The Cougs looked good for the first half, considering all other factors. We were only eleven points out. But the second half belonged totally to Oregon State. The number of people at the game is horrible. I heard there were about eight thousand total. I am not sure if it was that few for sure, but it surely was empty.

We got some free pizza from Pizza Hut. They gave away all their remaining pizzas to people around the concourse level.

After the game I went home. We ordered some Pizza Pipeline. We also got Tricky Sticks. The boys love it. We ate the pizza and watched some TV. Before it got too late I went to my den and worked more on my suicide report. It is a very long report. It took a while to write it up and I still have some more I need to do.

When I was done I was looking at the Seattle Times website. There was an article about suicide awareness. I read it. There was one person talked about in the article. I soon realized it was a case that happened here in Whitman County.

I stayed up reading some suicide resources before heading off to bed around one in the morning.

Video Game Night

I started the day with my doctor's appointment with my eyes. He found the pressure in my eyes were higher than normal. He wanted to check my eyes to see if there was something wrong. The eye test included dilation of my eyes. The left eye was left seeing blurry for a couple hours. It was crazy to close my right eye and see the world as someone who needs to use glasses. There was nothing I could do to see clearly through it. That sucked. The good news was there is nothing wrong and life goes on.

I went to Loco Grinz with BKoe for lunch. Then I went home and did some work on the computer. While at home I heard them call for reserves to call for a transfer. But I had a meeting with Heston and the other crew leaders. I was called directly by the captain to see if I could do it. I let him know that I was supposed to do the meeting. I said he would need to clear it through Heston.

I was cleared to do the transfer. I was supposed to do it to Lewiston. I was told the meeting would be moved back. But when I got to the station I was told that transfer was cancelled and we were going to Spokane instead. I went with Tony.

Following getting to Spokane we hit dinner at Chili's. We got back and I went to Kuhrt's house. CBass' birthday was today and they were out celebrating. People went back to Kuhrt's place. When I got there CBass wasn't there, but BKoe and some others were.

We played Wii bowling and Scene It on the Xbox. It was fun times. I was there playing Scene It until nearly two in the morning. Kuhrt and I played two games after everyone else left. He won the first one. I won the second one. I won on the final question. I was down by about two-thousand points, and got the final question correct.

Blast from the Past for the Bumblebee

After sleeping in ever so slightly I got cleaned up and started my day. I went to Schucks to get an alternator for the Bumblebee. While at Schucks Hampton from D-Twelve was helping me. He said, you bought the Bumblebee. So he knew the rig, but it seemed he didn't know I always had it. So I let him know I have always had the Bumblebee. That is when I found out that we knew each other back in the day through the CB. We use to play CB tag and hang out. He was bringing up the names of all the people who were around back in the day.

I ran a couple EMS calls with Winter and Irving. After the first one we went to Heros and Sports for some food. Just before it was served we got another call. We loaded up in the Bumblebee to go to the call. We finally got back to our late lunch which turned into an early dinner.

I went home until it was time to head to the station for First Responder training. I wanted to observe the class to see if some of the reports I have been given were true. As I watched the class for about an hour and a half. I didn't see anything that I thought needed correcting, but I think there is probably a chance the behaviour that was reported probably did happen. I just hope it was a one time occurrence.

I went home and watched some TV for the remainder of the night.

Pool Playing Fun

This morning started with a meeting to discuss streamlining the response to calls to better utilize the resources we have. Ideas we brought up to use all our resources, to include the reserves before calling help from our local partners. Many of the things brought up universally accepted by the task force. It is good to see we have some positive ideas that can help make Pullman Fire more streamlined.

After the meeting I started to type up the notes from the meeting but the career guys started to go over reports on the Zoll's. I decided I should participate in the training, just to get better at reports and because a couple examples had my name on them.

When the training was done I went to the Deuce to meet up with John to go to Jefferson Elementary school to show off the fire engine to the second graders who were going through a book on firefighters. They kids had a good time looking at the fire engine and its tools. They all had a chance to get into the drivers seat and take a look around from there.

Tonight's OTEP training was infectious diseases. It was a short training. Chia did the training for it.

When it was done Chia, Blake, a couple other reserves and I went to Val Halla. We played some pool and had a couple drinks. I only had a couple because I planned on driving home. After my couple I didn't have anything more for four hours so it had plenty of time to go through the system. I was mainly out to hang out with the guys and have a good time.

As we were leaving to head to Mike's I checked my phone. There was a missed call from the fire department. They had tried everyone else on the career side. They needed someone to come in and cover for someone who needed to go home sick. They called to see if I would finish out his shift. I was so stoked. This would have been a big step to have a reserve work a shift. I wanted to do it, but I had drank a couple beers. I had to turn it down. It killed me.

At Mike's we played some more pool and shut the place down.

New Guy on the Shift

I worked the women's basketball game and when it was done I went to the fire station to meet up with the new guy who is on my shift. He is an EMT and in the current recruit class. Because he is an EMT he has been put on shift and is starting to go on calls as an observer for the most part.

We covered what calls he responds to and what he doesn't respond to. Things we do when we respond, etc. Then it went into rig checks. I had been thinking about going to Seattle for marine firefighting training, but due to the response committee meeting tomorrow I decided to skip it, because the response committee is important to me.

Another Cougar Loss

This morning with only four hours of sleep I was up and getting ready for Cougar Football. I got my uniform on and drove to The Deuce to give the van keys to Michael. I had forgotten to put them in the keybox when I left the station last night.

I was going to the station when I got a call from the developer lead of the contract I was interviewing for. It went about thirty minutes total. Kittelson and I went to station one together in my rig. We went down for lunch and the game briefing. I had a couple hamburgers and enjoyed the company of everyone until the briefing started.

I am working North One with Kittelson. Bien is going to be coming to the game to meet up with us and hang out. We stopped at Safeway to get some pop and supplies for the game. I found that Safeway switched from Pepsi to Coke. I was very annoyed by this. I am going to write some letters about this.

We got to the stadium and made our way to our place over the tunnel. It wasn't too bad on the weather side of things to start. I was wondering how my ankle would deal with the standing around. I was a hurting unit by the end of the game. Without a doubt. I hope things will get better. Kittelson and I talked about being a reserve sheriff. Keith showed up and we watched the game together. Bien made is way around a little bit going to see Reed and a couple others. For the most part he stayed with us the whole time.

The Cougs were not doing too well. They threw three INT's in the first quarter along. UCLA scored on their first possession because of the first INT the Cougs gave up. UCLA had a short field for a lot of the first quarter. The Cougs were only able to score one touchdown the whole game. The Cougs were having such a hard time they fans cheered for firstdowns. By half time many of the fans had left this extremely cold game. Near the end of the game one could almost count the number of people left. The Cougs went on to lose.

When it was done we went back to the station and turned in our equipment. I went home and took some medicine for my ankle and had some dinner. I was meeting up with Victor for working Jeff Duhman at Beasley. I was looking forward to working that event. We made our way to Beasley. The doors were open and people were pouring in. It looked like a lot of people were going to be coming. I hung out in the first aid room for the opening act. Once it came time for Dunham to come on I went to the place where we stage on the concourse level. He came up on stage to a lot of cheers. There were a couple bits it was doing that was cracking me up. I was laughing really hard. He did a couple things on the local area and poked a little bit of fun at the football game.

It was a good show and people were having a good time. Once it was done I went home. It was nearly eleven-thirty at night. I got a hold of Keith who was over at Reed's. He had me come over and bring some batteries. I went to Dissmores to get the batteries. They only had two lines open so it took a while to get through the line.

I got to Reed's and we played some Rock Band. It was my first time playing. I had a good time playing that. I had a couple beers while I was there. Keith was crunk in a big way. He was starting to go down hill while I was there. I think he is going to be hating life. Before I left it wasn't liking life too much as it was. I went home around two-thirty in the morning. I didn't stay up too late before going to bed. I was really tired because I didn't get a lot of sleep last night.

Interview in Spokane

The plan for the day was to drive to Spokane and interview for a contract position for a company based in Spokane. I would work from home with the position. The trip up to Spokane went just fine. The roads were good. I saw some snow flakes hitting when I was getting close to Spokane.

The interview lasted about thirty-five minutes. I went to get some pizza from Rocky Rococo's downtown and then hit the road. But the snow was falling pretty good. The drive home went a little slower as people were driving a bit slower. The more South I got the more the snow was falling and sticking on the road. After I left Colfax it was really slow going. The traffic was backed up from Pullman to near Shawnee road. That really slowed me down. I took the Albion road to cut off the traffic.

I got home and got my uniform on and went to fire station. I got the minivan ready to go and waited for Walker. We went to Beasley and worked the men's basketball game. The Cougs were playing in their first regular season game and they won it pretty easily, but they didn't look great. It was a win all the same.

Just before six o'clock the tones went off for a rollover accident with extrication required. Rescue rolled on it. One of the people from the accident needed to get to Spokane. But Spokane had no beds, so we ended up needing to go to Kootenai Medical Center.

I got a call from Foster to see if I could drive. I said I was at the basketball game, but if it could wait until the game was done I would drive. I was told it needed to go out now. I was told he could call a couple others. When no one was able to do it, he called me back to see if Heston was good with me going out now and leaving only one at the game. It was nearly over, so that was okay with Heston.

I went to the station and we grabbed the ambulance and hit the road. It took about thirty minutes to get the transfer moved to our cot and to get going. It was a code run. It was one-hundred-and-three miles. The roads were in bad shape until I got close to Spokane. It was slow going at time. I was really concentrating on making sure we got there safely. Then on I-Ninety the road was fine. We were able to cruise along there very well. This was my longest overall code run and the longest on a multiple lane highway.

We didn't get back to Pullman and back in service until almost four-thirty in the morning. I didn't get to bed until five in the morning. I was not going to get a lot of sleep tonight.

Working without the Boot

I worked rig checks today without the walking boot. I pretty much have it off totally. Now I am get waiting until Thursday for being back to full service.

Rig checks went pretty well. I worked on the engine and helped Togs do the pump test. Everything went swimmingly.

DUI Crash Demo

Parrish woke me up this morning with a phone call to let me know the guys are coming over to start work on the installation of my new heater. It is a gas forced air furnace. It is made by Carrier. I went ahead and went with the upgraded model because with rebates it turned out to only be five hundred more than the lowest model. In the long run it could be the best option for me.

I left the house around ten-thirty to head up to the CUB mall for the DUI demonstration. The reserves are going to work on extricating some people out of a car as part of an example of what could happen in a car accident.

When I got up there WSU PD had booth and they had drunk goggles. I tried on a couple pair. I was amazed how those made it hard to walk.

I was talking to Garner who was up there as well. He said he is going to stick around Pullman for a while. He got a job working at Les Schwab. That is great for him.

I was thinking that Les Schwab seems to hire a lot of ten-six-sevens. Including the one I had written about several years ago who worked in Clarkston. They should do a men of Les Schwab calendar.

As it got close to the event the guys from the fire department came up. They were looking over the scene to make plans on how to do the work they needed to do. I got my video camera ready and started to video tape the whole thing. I got them coming to the scene with the sirens. Then the whole job of the extrication.

When they were done we went into the CUB and had lunch together. I went home afterwards and got the video downloaded to my computer and working on putting the video to some music.

I went to Colfax Fire for training tonight. We were doing OTEP. It was spinal injuries. The guy did a good job with the presentation.

Gotta Fix Things

I went to the bank to deposit the movie BKoe gave me. I stopped by the fire station on my way by and talked with Blake, Foster, and Jay. We talked about the very busy weekend.

I went home and worked on my den some more. I have a couple stacks of papers that I need to go through and sort out. First I was sorting it by job. I got that completed. Now I need to decide if I want to get rid of it or file it or what. I have six stacks of papers to go through. I also need more space to put my folders away.

We had a meeting at the fire department. It was in reference to some stuff happening that needs to stop because someone is having a bad experience to the point where it is detrimental.

The meeting went for about two and a half hours. We also talked about some other irritations that the reserves have about how we feel like we are underutilized and that we are viewed and worthless by some of the full-time guys.

Silly Faggot

I spent much of the morning watching football. I watched Farve go to Green Bay. He is my starting QB for FFL. My team was doing okay, but this week, like every week this season I have been matched up against the team that scored a lot of points. There are eight teams that scored less than me. There are three that have higher scores. I am paired against one of the three. This is a bad season for me.

Tonight is weekly rig checks for A-shift. I went to the station around six o'clock to do rig checks. It only took us about an hour and a half to get everything done. I went home and watched some TV. My normal Sunday night shows were not on tonight so I had to choose to watch something else.

I got a response to the message I sent yesterday about being called a faggot. The response said that he didn't know that I was there, that he didn't remember making any mention of me, and that no one there knew me, so why would he reference me.

I responded back with a better run down of what happened and pointed out that he was talking to someone who did know me. I also pointed out that I was close enough to hear the whole thing very clearly. There was no doubt about what I heard.

I asked him straight up if he thought that way about me. He didn't answer that in his response back to me. All he said was "I can't take back what I said. It was obviously stupid and incredibly disrespectful. All I can do is apologize."

So, he didn't deny thinking that I am a faggot. I think that the only thing he is sorry about is that I heard him, and he may not even be sorry for that.

Den Cleaning

I found out my heater is going to run me about twenty-five hundred bucks. That is going to take a pinch out of my budget.

Today was room cleaning day, and I went to town on it. My den was way over due for a cleaning. I had a lot of stuff that needed shredding and to be cleaned up. I would say I made a hug dent with about four hours of work, but I have a way to go. I still have to go through a couple more things. I need to organize my stuff a little better. I have a couple more stacks of things to run through. But it feels good to walk into my den now.

I went to the fire department and got my timecard completed and turned in. This is the last A-shift of the month. We have to turn our timecards in on the final working day.

In the evening I spent watching some TV and just relaxing. I tired to go to bed around midnight, but it was so busy on the scanner after a tiny bit of trying I gave up for a while longer.

Unemployment Orientation

This morning I had to report to a unemployment orientation training session. It is mandatory for everyone on unemployment. It took a little under three hours. But I suppose, without having a full-time job, this is something that I can find the time to do.

This evening I had training with the fire department. It was ventilation training. but due to the bad weather we were going to keep it short and sweet.

I just supervised because my foot is in the walking boot. It was a short two hour training session.

Movie Night with C-Shift

Brandon and I met up for lunch today at the Mongolian Fire. He was going to go to Moscow to looking for a hat for his costume. I tagged along. We went to Goodwill and WalMart. Finally we found it at Tri-State. After dinner we went to Loco Grinz for dinner.

I pulled a newspaper out of the Bumblebee when I noticed it had a front page article that showed Turpin, Christensen, and Wedam on it. I wanted to scan it in to the computer so I went to the fire station and got it scanned. Turpin was covering for someone at station one so I showed him. I went to the kitchen and the guys were

The guys there wanted to get a movie and asked if I would go to the store to get one. I picked one up from Safeway. Richards, Young, and Caessens all watched the movie. They wanted me to get a scary movie. After the movie the Young and Richards went on an EMS call. Caessens and I stuck around chatting about fires and the differences between Pullman and Shelton. I left around midnight.

Gave Marv a Ride

I went to the fire station today. It has been a while since I was last there because of being over in Seattle. The chief saw me and said something about my lack of shaving. But I showed him my boot and then he understood that I was pretty unavailable to do much of anything until I get it off.

Within a little bit of being there we got a call from a Palouse EMS worker. He needed a ride back from the hospital. We no longer send rescue. So when someone is needed in the back they have to send one of their people. But then we have a situation where someone needed to drive down to pick them up, or we need to give the a ride ourselves. It will be interesting to see how that works out.

In the IM Championships!!!

Victor and I were going to respond to calls today. There really wasn't a lot going on. I was getting some things taken care of on the computer and around the house. I had to get my shirts folded and put away. I also had to take the motorhome to the storage place and bring the Bumblebee back. Before that got going we got a call for EMS. Victor and I went to the station but we were cancelled. So I went home and got the motorhome. I drove it to get the Bumblebee. Then I got some lunch and deposited a couple checks. I went to the worksource office but they were closed for the lunch hour.

I saw a sign while I was there. It said that you were not to leave your kids unattended in the car. I thought that it was strange such a sign was needed there, but then again... Anyway, I went to the fire station for training at one.

It was on the air cart. We pulled it out and took a look at it and the air lines that went with it. It was a short training, but it was good to go over it again.

I went home and started to think about playoffs. We had two games tonight. I also had a telephone job interview. That started at four. I got the phone call and spent about thirty minutes answering some questions. If I am good enough I will come in for another interview.

I went to the field and met up with the others from the team. People started to show up and I was getting the line up set. We had fourteen guys there. One was hurt so I didn't worry about playing him. But we needed to win so I only batted eleven. I hit the ball well, as did the team. Our defense was very good. We went on to win and go to the Semi-finals. We were playing a team that had been using an illegal bat. Once they were called on it, in the previous game, they couldn't hardly score. It turned out we shut them out. We scored nine runs. We didn't hit the ball as well as I would have hoped, but we won. Ryan said it best, this is the most worried I have felt in a shut out. We never had a big enough lead that put me at ease. Not until we scored the ninth run and the other team no longer had a chance to win because of the eight-run limit. They were done. We had a couple guys on with no outs. So we were poised to score some more.

Ryan and I went to Rancho Viejo for dinner. We ate and talked softball. We set the line up for the championship game on Sunday. We also talked about finances. Ryan told me he advised his bosses that we was planning on resigning in November.

With us playing in the championship game on Sunday, I will miss it. I am going to be in San Diego playing softball in a tournament down there. We are also playing Kelly's team. It was a game we have been wanting to have for a long time. Our team, defensively, is as good as his team, but hitting, we need to bring our sticks. We have a lot of pretty-good hitters. We need them to do their really good hitting on Sunday.

I got home and started to pack for my trip to San Diego. I was going to have to be out the door around eight in the morning. I wanted to wash my uniform so it was clean for the start of the tournament. I didn't get to bed until nearly midnight.

Second CPR Class

I was teaching CPR tonight for Avalon. It was the second group that I was doing. The first game, yesterday, was great to work with. I was hoping today's class would be as good. It wasn't quite as good, but it wasn't bad.

I got to the station around three in the afternoon. I got the classroom set up and then I edited the department website.

The class got there and we got underway. I was pushing to be done by seven, because that is when some of them were supposed to leave. There had been a scheduling change, that wasn't passed long to them.

After the class I got the stuff from the class cleaned up and put away. I then got some ice cream from Reiber. After the class I went home and watched some TV and relaxed. It was a quiet night for me.

Another IM Softball Playoff Game

I got up and went in to the fire station to teach CPR to a group from Avalon. It was a great class. We had a lot of fun. It seemed like I was hitting on all cylinders. It was a lot of fun.

After the class I went to Moscow to get my vent for the motorhome. I went to the roof and worked on resealing the vent and then put the cover on it. I did that until it was close to the time to get ready for the softball game.

This evening we were playing in a softball game without Ryan. We had twelve guys there. I hit everyone. We were playing against a team that could hit. We had some of our better players there tonight. We had a four to three run lead then we let up eight runs. It was sort of deflating. Then we scored a goose egg. The next inning we held them scoreless and then scored eight of our own, including about four after two outs had been recorded.

We went into the sixth inning needing to score two runs to win. We were down by one run. We quickly got guys on base and scored one. Then Peter hit one down the line scoring the game winning run from third base. We are going to the quarter finals.

I got home and watched a new episode of NCIS with Brandon. I stayed up sort of late just lounging.

First Round IM Win

Victor and I responded on calls for a while this morning and into the afternoon. We had a couple runs.

I was excited for the softball playoffs. Tonight was the first game. I went to the Rec Center to get Bruce's eligibility form turned in and then to the field. Ryan met me there. I was pitching. We were playing very well. Our hitting was good. We scored fifteen runs, only having one inning without a single run scored.

With the first round win out of the way, Ryan came over and hung out for a while. We watched Saw IV. He left and then I realized that I was going to have to get up early to teach a CPR class.

Oral Board Interviews

Today the big plan was to run the oral boards for the reserves who are applying to be firefighters. We have around eleven people to interview. Each one was given a half hour time slot.

It is helpful to sit in on the oral boards because I get to see things from the other side. I can see how different people interview and how the panel looks at them. I can see what things are good and bad. I can see how I should work to answer the questions. It was a great experience.

I think when it was done, my position was the voice of the weak. I looked for the positives in what they said and their possible future for the department. I tried to bring up the positives in order to make those points shine and hope that I could convince the other, including myself, the candidate would be a good fit. I think when it was done the panel did a good job in the decisions we made.

When that was done I went home and watched some TV before going to the sheriff's office to write up my MIP arrest on Friday. I was pretty tired and when I got home I went to bed.

Full Day Testing and Training

This morning I got to the fire station. We were doing the physical tests for the paramedic list and for the reserves. That took several hours in all. We had a lot of people go through the test. Unfortunately, the physical agility test knocked a couple people out of the running. Our test is not overly hard, but from what I have heard from some people who have done other tests, they say ours is harder than others.

When the tests were done I went to pick up the recruitment signs that were placed around the city. I got those delivered to the fire station. I went to Safeway to get some garlic bread and then to the Deuce to start dinner. I was making some broccoli and chick fettuccine Alfredo with garlic bread. It was good stuff. I could have used more sauce, however.

When dinner was done we worked on radio operations and SOPs. We used photos that the Lt gathered to practice doing the arrival reports. Then he would ask us what we would do next. We talked about the decisions that people made and how they were good decisions or why we might decide to think about other options.

When the training was done we had to fill some air bottles on Rescue. We started to get some calls. We didn't get slammed, but we did have about three calls on the night. One came in around three in the morning. That sucked.

Hitting the Road with Cooper

This afternoon I was responding on fire calls with Victor. We went to do some work of cleaning up around an hydrant on Derby street. As we were finishing up we got called to an EMS call. En route to that we got diverted to a HazMat call on Campus. We set up command and then passed it along to the ambulance that came in. We made entry and assessed the problem. It was minor. EH&S from WSU came to clean it up. We cleared and went back to the station.

I was going to go to a Pre-Law get together on campus, but I then got brought back on a car accident. By the time that was done it was so late I decided to start to get ready for working tonight with Cooper at the SO.

I met up with Cooper around five-thirty pm. We went to Clarkston on follow-up. After Clarkston we went to Pullman and met up with some of the other local cops. We had some dinner and talked shop. We left and hit the road.

I really liked working with Cooper. It was great to see him in action. Sometimes we would stop someone and he would ask me why we were stopping them. I told him what the reason was. It was good to have him quiz me along the way. I was doing good with his questions.

We made contact with a couple really drunk students. After I worked with one of them we were concerned for the safety of the person and called for EMS evaluation. Later we saw two students walking in the middle of the road. We made contact with them as well.

I didn't write any tickets tonight. I did get one criminal cite. I worked until about three in the morning. I was on my way home when he got called to a rollover accident. I missed out on that by fifteen minutes. But it was okay, because I had to be up early in the morning.

I Hate the Waiting

I was down at station one. Turpin saw me and walked up to me and said "we need to talk." I always hate that kind of thing, because you don't know what it is. So the rest of the day I had to stew on what he wanted to talk about.

Chia and I went to Tam's Place for some breakfast. It was nice to get out and chat with him for a while. We left and I took my motorhome to Moscow to get a new vent for it. They were out. I did get some food at WinCo as I wanted to.

I went to the station a while later and Victor and I went painting a couple hydrants and cleaning up some shrubbery around them. We got the rescue back and washed up before being done with it.

I went in to talk with Turpin. I was nervous about the conversation because it is never a good thing when someone says "we need to talk."

The gist of the conversation is some of the reserves think that I am not playing well with them and I need to work on that, but I wasn't told what the exact problem was or examples of things I have done wrong. I am being asked to change but not being told what to change.

There is a perception that I am on an ivory tower. Also that I micro-manage. I don't like being thought of as someone who does either of those things. I hate the idea of being a micro-manager. Turpin gave me some ideas, in general, of what I can do. More or less he said that I will have to let some guys fail at their attempt to complete a task so they can see that it doesn't work. I wouldn't let someone fail in a critical situation, but in the daily routine things. It is the way they learn. I am taking from that point that people think that I am giving out tasks and telling them how to fulfill the task rather then letting them do it their way. Point taken.

That is also what might make people feel that I am believe that I am better than them. I have seen some people have a chip on their shoulder over me. The sounds conceded, but it is true. I am not sure where that is coming from. I never have pretended to be better than the other guys or to hate them, but for some reason, that is the feeling some guys have. It is possible that a couple people have fed it to others. But the issue is one I have to deal with. I have to make sure people don't feel that one. I really don't want people to feel that way about me. I would like to get along with my co-workers. I just hope that can be done.

Parts of me though feels like if someone has a problem with me that should deal with me man to man. They shouldn't go to the chief and tell him. That is not using the chain-of-command. That is not dealing with the issue. That is causing more problems and drama. Well, there is nothing I can do about that. I just need to be who I am and keep doing a good job. Maybe over time people will get to know me and they will be willing to accept me for who I am.

Last Night With Brown

Today it appeared our training was going to be cancelled because Brown called in sick. But with the training subject, yearly sign-offs, I didn't see why it needed to be cancelled. I spoke with Brown and found it wasn't supposed to be cancelled. So we had it go. I also told Brown what I had planned. He liked it. I also let him know how the guys were looking forward to going out with him tonight after training. He said he had been getting well enough to come to training.

We were doing some hose pulling drills. I set it up to be some races between teams to pull a line and spray water to knock over several cones that were set up. The idea was to be able to pull the hose, get water, and spray down the cones, then break down the hose and have it rolled after than the other teams. The training went well. Brown talked to the group and set up the purpose of what we were doing.

After training we went to Zeppoz. There was several people from the two shifts not working. A. Wilcox also showed up. We had a couple rounds to toast Brown and give him good luck on his new job over in King County. It was a good time with everyone and it was a nice time to say our goodbyes to Brown.

Robinson was trying to tell a story about how he got his truck. As he was telling his story we kept interrupting him. He was getting frustrated. We were laughing hard. He was pretty intoxicated so it made it all the more fun. It took nearly forty-five minutes to tell the whole thing. Then at one point he told the whole story in about twenty seconds. We all asked why it took so long to tell the other version.

Last Day Working for NU/MH

Today was my final day at MH. I have been with them since they acquired NU nineteen months ago. There is not enough work for me and they needed to downsize. I made it through several downsizings at NU over the years. I didn't do much today because there were no projects for me to get done.

I ran a couple calls for Pullman Fire. We started with an echo call. Unfortunately things didn't turn out well. The coroner was called. I went back to the scene to help with the removal. We had a couple car wrecks and a medical call. When I was done with the fire calls I went home and sent a final E-mail to the people at MH. Many of them didn't know me, so it is lost on them I am sure.

I worked the sheriff's office today. I was out with Keller. I drove the whole night. We didn't have a lot go on. I did take two cases that I have to do the reports on. I also got a couple speeders while I was out there. It was a pretty quiet night over all. But it usually is when I am on duty. The night ended with helping Colfax with a deer that had been hit by a car. It was still alive but in the city, so we had to get it out of town to put it down.

Good Service from Jim

I went to put out the trash this morning for pickup. But I found they had already come by. But when I was outside I noticed my trash can was not in its normal place. i took a look and it was empty. I figured that Jim had done it. He works with me at Colfax Fire. I sent him a text and it turns out he had. I said thank you. Then I wrote a letter to his company to let them know how happy I am with his service.

I got a call about helping out with the fire extinguisher class. I got my uniform on and went to the fire station. We went to the tower and taught two classes. During the classes we let everyone fire off an extinguisher and practice putting out a fire that we would light up.

We got done and everything taken care of just in time for me to head to Colfax for the monthly Coroner's meeting. The meeting was pretty short. But I helped Pete with some of the photos and we talked about upcoming work opportunities for me.

Three Hats Today

I ran a call with Pullman fire early this afternoon. We took it all the way to the hospital. When I got home I heard a call go out in Albion. So I went out there for that call. Due to manpower needs we called for D-Twelve to come and help. When they got there we got things taken care of. Parrish made a comment about my hat changing.

This evening I worked the sheriff's office. I went out with Zehm. We had a call for some goats on the road near Palouse. We took care of it, it turned out they were not located. After some looking we found a neighbor who said he chased them back where they went.

I ran some traffic on some county roads. I got a couple tickets out of it. I also learned some more from Zehm. It seems like I learn things from Zehm. This time it wasn't in reference to something where I messed up. He told me about asking people if they looked at their speedometer.

The night was pretty uneventful again. It seems to be uneventful whenever I go out on patrol. I seem to have the white cloud around me.

Missed Fire Training in Colfax

Tonight I was supposed to go to fire training in Colfax. But due to things around the fire station I decided that it would be best if I didn't. We had an ambulance leave town for an emergency transfer. Without any people for callback we were down to four in the system between the two stations and the six reserves on the night.

It turned out to be a quiet night and we didn't have any calls while they were gone, so things turned out okay.

Blake the Teacher

This evening for fire training we were working on Cardiac emergencies. Blake was teaching the class. He gave me some money and asked that I go and get some supplies for rootbeer floats. I got those things back and we all has floats while doing the training. Blake is a good lecturer. I enjoy his classes.

After training a group of us went to Zeppoz for after training dinner and beverages. It was a good time. Blake and I spent a lot of time talking about training and issues surrounding people and getting them excited about training.

Everyone left around midnight to head home. It was great to talk with Blake. He is a good person and I really like working with him. I have worked shifts with him in the past and I also did some hospital transfers with him.

Come From Behind Victory

This morning I got up early to help with making the meal for the football game today. I got to the fire station and helped with the final aspects of the meal. I was sort of tired from not getting a lot of sleep last night.

We had burritos. It was a good meal. Then we made our way to the stadium. I was working North One. It was a slow and boring game, quite frankly. I was not impressed with the ability of the defense to stop SMU. The offense was lackluster. It just was ugly. By the fourth quarter a lot of the people had left the game. But the Cougs had run two interceptions back for touchdowns.

Then with minutes to go in the game the Cougs got the ball back and had a chance to tie it up. By this time more people started to come back to the stadium. Soon the Cougs scored and got the PAT. Now we are tied and it went to overtime. On the first play SMU threw an interception in the endzone.

We went out there and ran the ball a couple times. A fieldgoal was attempted and made. We won the game and a lot of fans ran on the field. They were excited about the come-from-behind victory. It was funny to think we would storm the field after beating SMU, but I think the way we won caused great excitement.

When the game was done we went back to the station and got everything taken care of.

I went home and decided to lay down on my bed for a while. Without a doubt I knew I would fall asleep. I did and didn't wake up until five in the morning. I was tired.

Working with Jordan

Today I went on a couple EMS calls with Pullman. After the calls were done I went to lunch with Victor. We ended with a trip to Pizza Pipeline for lunch.

Tonight I was working the road with Jordan. I was having a good time. We first went on a call to Albion. Then we went to Pullman where we were going to have dinner, but we had to run back to Colfax instead. We ran some traffic on SR Twenty-Six waiting for our fellow officers to get to Colfax to have some dinner at Zips.

When dinner was on we worked the road some more. I had one car that refused to pull over for nearly two miles. Finally we got the car pulled over.

We worked our way to Pullman. We worked by the gyms on foot. I was able to get a couple MIP's. We were there about about two hours. Then we went back to the SO and I dropped off Jordan and went home myself. I had to be up for the football game tomorrow.

SWAT Training

I was helping with the with SWAT training today. I was a bad guy guarding my marijuana grow operation. My job was to walk around the front of a barn in the middle of nowhere waiting for the SWAT team to try to get me. I had a gun and I was told if I chose to use it during the exercise I would probably be shot, so it was up to me.

It took a while for the to get where I was due to the amount of ground they had to cover to get to where I was. They got to me and made the arrest with no one getting hurt.

I left to get back to Pullman for being on call for the fire department. We had a meeting that I was going to hold I wanted to cover several topics to make sure everyone was on the same page now that I am back as a reserve. The meeting took just under two hours because we discussed a couple of the topics.

When the training was done I went home. I was on the engine tonight. It was a quiet night until about five in the morning when we had a fire alarm to respond to.

Code Take Over

This morning I had a meeting with the new station committee at the fire station. While I was down there I got a phone call from MH. The guy said "What did you do?". I didn't know what he was talking about. Then he said that he was asked to get my code and do some changes for something we have been working on. It is something that I don't believe is wrong on our end. I did what I was supposed to, but because some things were not getting into the database it was assumed to be on my end. So they want this other guy to do it. I told him I would get him the code.

I sent him a copy of the code. I was at lunch when I got a call from him saying it was older code. I let him know I was at lunch and would fix it as soon as I got home. I realized I did send him some older code, so I zipped up the new stuff and sent it his way.

I was supposed to go to Colfax Fire training today, but due to some issues on my shift I decided to stay in town. I went to the station at six o'clock to do the rig checks. We also planned on going to do the fire drills on campus. Turpin let me do the whole thing with his help. We got the building evacuated after I notified dispatch. Then I did the talk with the residence hall staff. We did some walk arounds of the building and looked at the fire safety items in the building. Then we talked about vehicle placement and tools we might use in various fire situations.

The Rescue crew took a dinner break together then we went to the second building we were going an alarm in. I did the whole thing all by myself again. We also did some more fire walkaround and talked about the fire safety systems they had through out the building. It was a good night of training.

We had one call in the wee hours on the morning. One guy on rescue didn't make the call. So when I got home I called him up to make sure his pager was on and working.

New Safety Committee Member

Today we had our quarterly safety committee meeting. I am the new member representing the reserves. We go over the safety concerns, any incidents and exposures that happened that quarter. One of those incidents was mine. It was a horrible day for me while on the ambulance. I wrote about that a while back. They didn't seem to think it was a huge deal, but for me it was and still is a big deal. I was so embarrassed over it.

When the meeting was done I did some stuff at the house including E-mailing back and forth with a guy who needs a web developer. I found that he wanted a php guy, so I am not sure I am going to be the guy he needs.

Fire training tonight was aerial operations and stand pipes. Due to my ankling being incredibly painful I was put on engineer status for the training. It was good because it gave me some pump time. We started at station thirty-one. After the Powerpoint we went to the tower. One guy had some issues he wanted to talk about with some of the things that was happening on the shift. So he told me that he was mad about the fact we haven't had a lot of participation with the Sunday rig checks. I told him I would put in a policy to correct that. Pretty much everyone will need to find coverage for the rig checks even if they are taking an Ollie day.

He also was concerned over the way I had the schedule set up with who was on the engine with him as the officer. He wanted someone with more Pullman fire experience. I had someone who had been a firefighter for a while somewhere else. So I made some changes to the schedule. He also thought I was having a hard time adjusting to being a reserve and our role on the scene. He said on a call when we got to the scene it was clear they wanted us to wait in the rig. But I had gotten out.

I told him that I had gotten out because Thompson was not answering the radio when someone was calling him and I was letting him know he was being asked for on the radio. I let him know due to the loud engines in the area it took several attempts to let him know. Then he started to talk to me about other stuff. He and the other guy were in Rescue and they were miffed over it, but they didn't know the whole story. So that was just someone getting mad when they didn't know the whole story. It was one reason why I don't like to get mad about things without knowing the facts. Making assumptions can cause unneeded bad feelings.

Him and I left and went to the training at the tower. All went good from there. The training went well. When it was done we went to Zeppoz and hung out for a while. We were there until about midnight. We got some dinner and had some beverages. It was a good night over all.

Second Place In First Annual Garden Tournament

Today was my second day of softball. We had ten guys on the nose. I started by pitching, but I was having a hard time pitching a strike. As I tried more I kept getting worse. Finally after walking the bases loaded I changed pitchers and went to play first base. I stayed there the rest of the day. My ankle was hurting pretty bad. It never got better like it normally does so I was really a gimp out there.

I was doing okay at the plate. I was hitting the ball well and taking some walks when it mattered. We won the first game beating the team we lost to last night. We destroyed them. Then we played Sports Page. We were close at first, but they took a seven run lead into the seventh inning. We were sucking it up at the plate. Then the hitting just clicked. We scored eight runs and took a one run lead into the bottom of the seventh. We held them scoreless and won the first game. So we had to play them a second time.

The second game we hit poorly again. He did have one big inning scoring around nine runs. But it wasn't enough to take the lead. Then we gave up a big inning. We were down by eleven. We had one more chance. We scored four runs and lost the game. It was fun to come back, but it just wasn't enough.

I went home and relaxed and worked on getting some work done around the house. I went to Cougar Country with BKoe for dinner. We sat there and chatted about stuff. Rhonda came over and talked to us for a while. Then I went to the fire station for weekly rig checks. I went to the fuel pumps with Togs after rig checks to fuel up the engine. I am going to see about getting him to be an engineer, but I don't know if he will be around long enough to make it worth while.

I got my timecards done and went home to go to bed. I am planning on going to Seattle in the morning for my vacation.

First Show in Years

This morning I had to be up early. With the number of calls and when we got them I was running on just over three hours of sleep. I went to Pullman for the first softball game. As it turned out we had four games. The first three were round-robin. When those were done we started the double-elim tournament. The first few games were pretty ugly for us. We were not hitting the ball very well. We lost several of the games by a pretty big margin. We had a two hour break. I went to Cougar Country for some hamburgers and then drove to Moscow for our first double-elim game. We were playing a team that we should have no problem beating.

But it was not to be. We had a battle back and forth. We would score and they would answer. A couple runs at a time. Finally we had a one run lead. The other team hit a three-run shot and went up by two. We ended up losing the game. That put us in the loser bracket and playing at nine in the morning tomorrow.

I hurried back to Pullman and got my fire department uniform on. I was working the event at Beasley. It was a play, the same one I went to last night. I was working with Walker. We spent most of the time chatting about testing for different fire departments. Then I put on Transformers. We got about half way through it when the play got over.

Then it was off to my place again to change for the drag show in Moscow. I am not into drag at all. It is not my thing. But the show is sort of a gay get together. I don't really know many gay people in the area, but I thought I would go and see what it is like. I got cleaned up and went to pick up Gunnar.

We went to the show and they were in the middle of a set. When it was done we went into the main room and sat down at a table. We spent a lot of time people-watching. There was a group of ten-six-seven's dancing with their shirts off. It is a time for them to show off their stuff. So the scenery was good, but I had a boy there with me so I didn't really want to not pay attention to the hotties dancing. I haven't been to a show in many years. It was when Russel and Scotty were still in the area. It was a little different because of the venue.

We watched and talked about the various people we saw there. Some faster songs came on so he went out to dance a little bit. I watched him do that. When he got done it was very hot inside the place and he wanted to get some cool air.

We went outside and walked towards my rig. It was near the end of the show anyway so we headed home.

I went to his place to drop him off. We sat outside for about ten minutes talking about stuff. We had dated a little back in December. He wants to get back with me. So we talked about getting together again. I went home and got some dinner before I went to bed. I was pretty tired and I had to get to bed for our softball games in the morning.

I Don't Like Musicals

I was scheduled to work the event at Beasley tonight. I also picked up the next banners for the reserve recruitment. I went to Kinko's to get them and I went to station one and set one up on the sandwich boards. I put it out in front of the station. I also got my stuff ready for the show tonight.

I went to station two and checked on the equipment there. Then I went home and got some of my computer work taken care of.

When it gets closer to the time to go to the event I went to the station and put the events stuff together. Young comes to get me and we drive to Beasley. I watched most of the play, but it was a musical. I am not a fan of musicals at all. So I got bored of it and went into watch some TV.

After the play I was working on Rescue. It was a slow night for the most part. We had three calls spaced out enough that caused me to hardly get any sleep on the night. I have a softball tournament to play in the morning so I was going to be very tired.

Monthly Coroner Meeting

This evening was the monthly Coroner's meeting. I was going to the fire extinguisher class, but I ended up doing a transfer to Spokane. We went to pizza at Rocky Racoco's. Ryan and Anna met us there. I got a chance to hold Zoey for a while. They asked me to be the godfather. That was great!

After we ate we went back to Pullman. I cleaned the ambulance and got ready to head to Colfax. We had pizza for dinner and talked about some cases. After everyone left Pete and I talked about my future with the Coroner's office and the chances of me being the next Coroner.

Fall Co-ed Season is Under Way

After the second straight night of going to bed late I woke up around ten o’clock. The big plan of the day was to go a movie with BKoe. I got the photos for the photo board at the Deuce cropped and ready to go. I took a motorcycle and drove down to the Deuce. I updated the photo board at the station and then went to station one. I met up with Heston and showed him I printouts for the possible reserve recruitment sign.

I was at station one for while talking with Heston and Brown. I let Brown know that I would not be able to be at training tonight because something going on over Moscow. He asked what I was going to be doing, but I didn’t tell him because I did not think he would understand that I want to play softball.

After I left the station I went to the bank to deposit my coroner’s check. I got ten dollars cash back. I went to the Man Shop to get my hair cut. I got my normal short haircut and I was able to get a razor shave on the back of my neck. I wish it was a standard at most barbershops but it’s not.

On the way out of the barbershop I saw Joseph from the Thunder football team. He asked me if I would be the announcer for next year’s team. I told him that I would do it. I told him that I was too busy this year to make any games.

I got ready to go see the movie with BKoe. I took my motorcycle to Safeway to get some pop and pretzels for the movie and then I drove to the theater. BKoe got to the movie theater just as I was getting there we walked in together and went into the theater. Matt and CBass were supposed to go to the movie with us but they were not able to make it.

After the movie was over I got home and got my uniform for the softball game. I headed over to Moscow and met up with the rest of the team. While at the field I could see some smoke in the distance coming from a grain bin. I watched it for a while and it did appear that there could have been a fire in the grain bin. I finally called Whitcom and talked to a dispatcher. Moscow fire was advised but they found it was actually dust from farming operations and not a fire.

The game started and I was an extra hitter but I got to play first base after the second inning. The shortstop for the other team was a ten-six-seven. I spent part of the game watching him play his position. The one thing I noticed is his throws to first always seem to loft over there. In the sixth inning he was coaching first base and grabbed a bag of Redman chew and took a plug of dip.

The final out of the sixth inning was a ball hit up the first baseline. I charged the ball and hit off my mitt but it stayed on the ground right below me. I picked up the ball and tossed it to Joe who was covering first base from pitcher and we make the out. In the seventh inning I wrote the pine. We won the game and a group of us headed to the Sports Page tavern in Pullman. I got something to read and we sat around talking sports. I left the bar around ten o’clock. I got home and started working on the speech recognition on my laptop. It seems right down to take the longer to write anything however as soon as I learn how to use speech recognition better this should really be cool.

Going Out with a Structure Fire

As I was waking up this morning I wasn't sure how my final couple hours would end. I was thinking that I should have ended the night of the Staley fire so I could end on a fire. Before seven o'clock rolled around the tones go off for a structure fire. We could see the smoke from the station.

We got on scene in the ambulance and were made into the backup team. We went to the attic where the seat of the fire was. Eric, who was on his first day back, was on the nozzle and put the fire out. It was still pretty small, but growing. It was lucky that we got there when we did and that the fire was not in the wee hours of the morning when it could have really taken off. I ended up putting in an hour and a half of overtime. So my full-time tally was one year, one month, four days and one and a half hours. It has been a good run.

I got back to the station and got the last remaining items from the station cleared out and headed to Tam's Place for breakfast with Chia, Keeton, Young, and Pritchett. I left after I was done eating so I could get a couple things done before meeting up with the guys to go to the river. I dropped off my turn outs at the station and went home. I got a couple things taken care of at home and packed my stuff to go to the river.

I went to Pritchett's place. We were meeting up there. From there Keeton, Pritchett, and I rode together to the river. We got there and made our way to the beach. It is a long haul from the parking lot. I didn't know how long it was because I had never gone there without being on a boat.

We set up our area. I put on some suntan lotion and we went into the water. We played fetch with Chia's and Pritchett's dogs. We were there for hours watching as more and more people showed up. As the college students started to arrive the scenery was great. You couldn't look somewhere without finding a couple ten-six-sevens. I really enjoyed the scenery while playing with the dogs.

Brown showed up with his boat. We hung out for a while near his boat and then went for some tubing. I hit the water and the rope on the tube was really long, so I was getting whipped around pretty good. I had a couple good wrecks along the way. Including one where I went about twenty feet sliding on the water before rolling.

It was getting close to five so we started to pack up and make our way back home. It was a good afternoon on the water.

I got cleaned up. I waited from BKoe to show up but as seven o'clock was rolling around he was no where to be found. I texted him and he was in Moscow. He forgot he was going to give me a ride to the bar. So I called Pritchett and he gave me a ride down to the bar.

We got there just after seven o'clock. Guys filtered in over the next two hours. It was a going away party for me from the career ranks. It was very nice to see some of these people stop by and wish me well and let me know they enjoyed working with me.

I had a couple guys over the last few months let me know that at first they were not sure what to think about me coming on at first. But they said that I have been a great addition. They really have enjoyed working with me and think that I am a pretty darn good guy.

One guy and I talked for a while about stuff. I remember when we would go on calls together I didn't know what to think. We talked and all was good. But when we were on shift together at first I think there was the feeling that we didn't know each other. And as time went on he warmed up to me and got to know me and the same of me towards him. I really think he a good person and I really enjoy talking with him.

As the night rolled on I got some beer purchased for me and we sat around talking, playing pool and darts. When it was nearly eleven o'clock we made our way to TBag. Pritchett was already there. I was given a couple shots of hard-A. I wasn't really wanting to have them, but I cowboyed up and drank them. We played pool and sat around talking.

Then one guy came up and said the words that I know will lead us to a specific conversation. It was, something along the lines of "It doesn't matter to me, you're a good guy, so it really will not make a difference, but..." That is the start of someone wanting to know if I am gay.

With the guy who was asking, I wasn't sure if he knew or not. But he has been around for a long time so I had to assume that he had heard through the grapevine. He said he had heard some stuff, but he didn't believe it until he heard for himself. I told him that I hit for the other team. I told him that I don't really tell people because I don't want them to act differently around me. I told him I like the fact that when I have been around him for all this time he wasn't afraid to say things and not worry about offending me. I told him I wanted him to remain feeling that way. He is one of those guys who always says "That is gay" or things like that. He said he sort of knew that something was probably up because I am not interested in the hot girls as everyone else is. He could tell so he figured something was up. I am glad that he asked and now I know that he knows.

I had asked Chia a while back if others on the shift knew. He said he didn't know. He said that no one would care. I believe that is true, but I wanted to know. I would like to think they all knew and still were the way they were around me. Which would show they are comfortable with me. I just feel like if I walk into a room and people feel like they have to watch what they say, that it would be a strain to be around me and they would just choose not to be around me. I don't want that. I really don't care what people say, because I believe you have to choose to be offended. I choose not to be offended by that kind of stuff.

The other Blake came up to me and started to say the same thing. I thought it would all be coming out that night. But before I confirmed anything I had to know exactly what he was asking. As it turned out with him he was talking about something totally different. So I don't know if he knows. I guess thinking about it now, I am not sure if I just want to come out to those guys and that way I know that they know and I can just get on with things, or continue to play the game I have been playing. I am not sure if I want the reserves to know. I know that some do know, but I always hate it when the new reserves find out about me because it is always something that someone else brings up. Over the years I have had a couple guys ask me straight up. I always will confirm it if they ask. I like it when they ask, because if they are willing to ask they will typically not make a big deal about it at all.

Two Days To Go

This is the start of the second day of my set and the second to last day as a full-time firefighter. We went to College Hill and did some walk abouts of the area apartments to become more familiar with the area. We also did a walk through of the new residence hall on Olympia Ave.

We had a nice meal together for a brunch. It was eggs, sausage, and pancakes. It was pretty good. We had some time in the afternoon. I was going to take a nap, but that never happened.

In the evening we made sloppy joes for dinner. Just as we were completing dinner we had a call for a fire alarm at the place we have been running to for the last couple weeks nearly daily. It is getting old.

Chia's wife came and we all watched the new Fast and Furious movie. It was fun to watch and with Paul Walker in it, the movie is juts that much better.

After the movie I was starting to think about bed. But then we got a transfer. No one called in, so Tony and I had to take it. We went code-three to Spokane. We had a really fast turn around at both hospitals, so it was a pretty quick trip, but it still sucked to lose all that sleep.

The Begining of the End

Today is the first day of my final set. Once I work these three days I will be back to reserve status. I am excited about it, but at the same time I will miss working with the guys. It has been very great getting to know them and hanging out with them all the time. I am going to miss the lifestyle. But I am going to use this time away to get back into the groove for working out daily and getting my weight loss underway again. It is something I need to do.

The day involved a walk about in the CCS and CCN are as well as North Campus Heights, which is now called Terre View Crossing. The walk about took a while to get done. When we got back to the station we needed to work on getting the engines checked so we could do walk abouts during our Sunday shift.

We ran a couple calls plus we got a free dinner from Erickson because he was working a twenty-four hour OT. We also got a lot of desserts today. With Heston's birthday on Saturday and Wehrung's mom bring in some pie, we pretty much had stuff to eat all day long.

Back to Back Nighst with Three Hours of Sleep

It was way too early to be waking up. I was tired from only three plus hours of sleep for the second straight night.

We started by doing some walk abouts on campus looking at alarm systems in the gyms. When we got back I made breakfast for everyone with the help of the other guys.

I was going to try to get some sleep in the afternoon, but when I did finally get to lay down the tones went off three times. I had to go on the third thing that was toned out.

By the time we got back it was too close to having to start to make dinner, so I stayed up and started dinner for everyone.

After dinner I had some stuff I wanted to do. So I still didn't get to bed right away. I did go to bed around ten o'clock. but we got woken up about every three hours for a bogus fire alarm. It was a bad night of sleep.

First Night Out with Another Second Class Reserve

I was very excited about going out to work this evening with the County. It is the first time that I will be on the road with one other second class reserve. After I got off work I went to Reaney park with the fire department for a wellness fair. Various groups had booths. As people went to each booth they had to do something to earn a sticker. Once they got their "passport" filled with stars they would get a prize. I was helping to run the PFD booth. We had a two and a half inch hose for the young kids to roll. We also had a high rise bundle for people who were a little older. Our booth went over really well. It was the first wellness fair and it wasn’t too well advertised, but I hope that as time goes on it will be more popular.

After that I went home with the hope of getting some sleep before I had to get ready to hit the road. But I was not able to get a great amount of sleep. I only had a couple hours last night due to the EMS calls that we had. So I had hoped to get a good nap in. During the time I was laying down, it felt like I had a thousand things running through my mind all at one time. I was so excited about going out tonight and I had random thoughts running through my mind.

Before I knew it I had no sleep to speak of and I was getting ready for my time on the road. I cranked up some tunes and got my uniform on. I headed down to Colfax for my shift with Rich.

We started by getting a car ready. I had planned on going to Lamont as well as work down towards the river. I was told to stay up top because there were very few people on duty.

We were heading towards Wawawai road when we got a report of a dog that was running around. It looked like a stray dog with its fur all matted down and it looked like it had not been eating. We started to head towards Pullman where the dog was seen. At first we were going to take Staley road into Johnson road where the RP said the dog was, but those roads don't even cross. As we were getting to Staley road a second RP said the dog was at Sand road and Johnson Road. We turned around and went to Pullman and drove out Johnson road to Sand Road. The second RP was waiting there. He showed us where the dog was located and and worked to get it to come out from his hiding spot in a huge bunch of bushes. We were not able to. I spoke with the OIC who said there was nothing we could do about the dog anyway. There is no ordinance in the county about dogs running loose.

We also had a call for a car that was erratically driving. I found the car as soon as it was put out and stopped it. We spoke to the driver and cleared it.

We had dinner with the OIC and one other Reserve at Quizno's and talked about the two calls for service we had. We learned a lot from each of them about how to handle them. Those kinds of calls we really don't talk about in the academy. We get on the job training for those. That is exactly what I received tonight.

After that we were running some traffic on Airport road. We stopped some fast cars and wrote a couple tickets. Then we went out Twenty-Seven towards Palouse. We went through Palouse and Garfield then we took Dry Creek to One-Ninety-Five. There was no traffic on Twenty-Seven to speak of. We went all the way to Rosalia and back. I was going to call it a night sort of early because I had to be at the FD in the morning. But a good song was on the radio and I thought I would drive until it was done. We were nearly in Pullman. So we continued in. I went through town and I was going to head to Airport road again via Valley Road. The OIC was at McDonald's. He asked or us to come back and road side him.

Just as we were pulling in to McDonald's he left going code. So did the other reserve. We were going to follow. As I was pulling out a Pullman Cop came down going code. We got in behind him. It was a burglar alarm at Rite Aid. We stood by for a while watching one side then we got cleared. I drove around Pullman until after two in the morning and then we headed back to Colfax via Albion. I didn't get home until four in the morning.

More Blog Readers

This morning I was called into a coroners case in Pullman. I was listening to the beginnings of it on the scanner because the fire department had been dispatched to it. Anna and I went to do the investigation. She took the photos and I took the lead. It was an interesting case and we spent some extra time on scene trying to sort out everything we were finding in the apartment. I also spend nearly an hour making phone calls with various people trying to get information.

When I was done with the case I went to the fire department to do the Night Out in the Park up in Palouse. It is a year event. It brings in the Red Cross, the SO, the Posse, the PFD, Palouse fire, and some local high school kids' bands.

I was manning the ambulance and talked to the kids who wanted to come by and look at it. It was a pretty easy gig compared to some of the events that we do.

Whitcom also had a booth there. One of the dispatchers said they her and one other dispatcher read my blog from time to time. She said one thing they didn't know was what I meant when I write ten-six-seven. I got that question a couple weeks ago by a friend who saw it on my blog too.

At first I wouldn't tell her what it meant. Later I let her in on it. She was hoping it was going to be more exciting than it was, but now she knows. When I have a friend or someone I work with tell me they found my blog I always ask how they found it. I don't have links to it from anything I have. You have to be told where it is, or find it via a random search. I also wonder how much of it they have read. I don't write about being gay a lot, but enough that if they read enough of it they will find out that I am gay. It is one of those things I don't advertise. I never ask if they know, just in case they didn't see the posts that include that information, but I am guessing they know. I got that impression when she asked how the ten-six-seven related to hot guys. So, yeah.

I have been writing this blog since ought-three. It is pretty interesting to go back through some of my old posts. There has been a lot of stuff that has happened to me over those years. Job changes, boyfriends, new vehicles, and becoming more comfortable with being gay and letting more of my friends in on it.

Monthly Coroner Meeting

This morning before I left the fire department we got a transfer for eight-thirty. I took it with Young. We went to get the patient. We were deciding where we were going to have lunch. He said "Where ever you want." I said "Rocky Rococo's." He said not pizza. Then I pointed out how he said anywhere and then when I suggested a place he said no. So then he said we could go there.

After we completed the transfer to Spokane we went to the pizza place. I tried to get Ryan but I was unable to reach him so he was not able to eat with me.

We went back and I worked at the house trying to get a couple things completed before it was time to go to the coroner's meeting. While I was at home I got a call to work on a computer for the TF. They had several computer issues they need worked on. I went to their office and picked up a couple computers to work on. There is one I will need to go into the office and work on.

From there I went to Colfax for the coroner's meeting. I stopped my Steve's Glass and went to look at a motorcycle. It is a Suzuki that is an enduro style motorcycle, more or less a street legal dirt bike. He wants just under two grand for it. It isn't a bad looking bike. I am thinking about it. I am not sure if I am going to do it but I very well might. I talked to Steve about the house he bought from me and the boat his son bought from me.

I went to the meeting. We covered several items and a case that was pretty interesting. It was pretty involved and we discussed it for a while. We got our schedule set up for the next month and a half as well.

When I got home I worked on one of the computers. It was a simple problem where the admin password had been forgotten. I was able to reset it and we were good to go on that one. The next one will probably be a bit harder. I am going to work on that on Sunday or Monday.

Bi-Weekly Columnist

I was added as a bi-weekly columnist for the Daily News. I got an e-mail asking me to call the Daily News. I was told the guy who is doing it now with the right-leaning tilt is leaving. They are looking for a replacement and I was offered the job. I was told the editorial board met and my name was brought up and kicked around. So I accepted the job. I will not do my final Town Crier columns and I will start with my first column in a week and a half. Then every other Saturday from there on out. I will get paid twenty-five bucks a column. They are going to introduce me in the paper this Saturday. They also put information about me taking over the duties in the newspaper's blog.

We’re welcoming Scotty Anderson to our Opinion pages as he takes over the every other weekend slot opposite Pezeshki. Actually, Scotty’s arrival to the page isn’t entirely new — he’s been contributing as a Town Crier for the last couple of years. His tenure as a Crier was coming to a close so we brought him on board with a regular gig after longtime columnist Michael O’Neal announced he was done.

Scotty’s been a resident of the Palouse since 1992. He works as a software engineer and is a community volunteer who had a radio show until last year. He describes himself as “a workaholic who plays softball to unwind.”

On the political spectrum, Scotty says he’s torn between conservative and libertarian views, which should make for some lively contributions to the Op/Ed page.

Scotty’s first column will run Aug. 8, and I look forward to his contribution to the community discussion.

It was a pretty quiet day at the fire department for the most part. We did some more walking tours of the buildings on campus. We ran a couple calls, but nothing after we went to bed.

Walking Tour

We had a small walking tour of buildings around the engineer part of campus. We were checking out the locations of the FDCs and fire alarm control panels. We spent several hours walking through the building and getting a better idea of the lay outs.

I shot some hoops today with the guys. I didn't win either game. But in one game Blake had to shoot the ball from the foul line, hit the rim without making it. He threw it hard for the front of the rim. But he was about three feet below the rim. I was laughing so hard I started to tear up.

Mush Ball Tournament

This morning I was up after only three hours of sleep. I went to get some Five-Hour Energy and breakfast. I followed Joe down to Lewiston for our softball games. We were playing in a mush ball tournament. It is softball with a ball that you can squeeze in about a quarter inch in all directions. When you hit it off center it tends to pop-up and hit the ground and bounce. It also bounces a lot on the ground. On defense you have to catch it just right or it can bounce out of your glove.

We won the first game and then lost a couple other games along the way. I was EH in a couple games. When I looked back, all the games I was on defense we lost and the games I was EH we won. It was not because of my bad defense, but it was funny that it worked out that way.

The first two games I really struggled at the plate. I was having a hard time figuring out how to hit the ball. I switched bats and everything trying to find something that would work for me.

When the fifth game was done it looked liked we got second place. I ran off to get to Pullman for working the Indian All-Star football game at Martin Stadium. We got to the field and parked the ambulance. I met a guy who turned out to be the brother of a guy I was in the reserve fire academy with back in Ninety-Nine. He had been a cop for several years and then quit and went back to WSU for a new degree.

The game was okay, there were not a lot of big plays, but what sucked is the game was almost played totally on the opposite side of the field due to the quarters and turn overs. So we were never very close to the action.

I found out that we had actually won the tournament in Lewiston due to run-differntial. So we got t-shirts!

First Two DUIs

I worked some overtime this morning at the fire department because some of the guys were getting their yearly physicals done. I helped to unload and re-load all the five inch hose on Engine Thirty-Three and Engine Thirty-Two. That was a lot of work. That is big and heavy hose. It takes several people to do it all. So I earned my money today.

I wanted to go patrolling tonight. I called Keller and Cox. Both had a rider, but Cox told me that Jordan was coming out tonight. I called him and got set up to ride with him.

I went to the SO and got a car all ready to go out in. I waited for Jordan and then we hit the road. We started towards Lamont. Before we got all the way out there we were told everyone was meeting up for dinner in Colfax. So we headed back to meet with everyone. After dinner we went to the SO for a couple minutes. Shortly after we left we made a traffic stop. As we were clearing a call went out in Garfield. We were going code to the call, but got cancelled en route. We lowered code and drove into town. We drove around the town for a little while then headed south on Twenty-Seven.

We came across a car driving poorly. Stopped the person and talked to the driver. We found it was DUI after some tests. We we went to the PPD and did the rest of the work there.

When we left we drove around Pullman for a bit. I was getting ready to leave town. We were on the edge of town when I got a speeder. I talked to the guy and I could smell alcohol. We did the tests with him. It was my first time doing them. I did it like I was trained. We had a second DUI. We took him to the PPD and did the rest of the stuff there.

When that was done it was so late we just went back to the SO and called it a night. It was after four in the morning when I finally got off duty.

Two Bigs Wins

Today is Ryan's birthday. I called him up on the phone and we talked for a while. I wished him a happy birthday. He told me he got an iPhone for his birthday.

In the evening we had a couple softball games. We are in the losers bracket. We had to win both games to move on. We were playing Sports Page first. They beat us in all but one game this season. We went out and hit the ball very well. We ended up scoring twenty-two runs against the four they scored. It wasn't really ever close. We just played very well.

Then it was to play the Bomb Squad. They beat us every game this season except for the first playoff game. They beat us by one run. It was a much closer game. We did go on to win, but it was only by three runs. We played good defense in both games.

It was great to win and now we have the semi-finals next Tuesday.

No Sleep

Today at the fire department there was not going to be any sleep. With a call in the wee hours of the morning as well a two chlorine alarms I was able to put about three total hours of sleep under my belt. I really would have preferred more sleep than that.

Men's Playoffs Start Tonight

I decided that I would be on pager today. That pretty much means that anytime there is a call I go to the station to staff it. There are a couple call types we don't respond to when on pager, mainly low level EMS calls and fire alarms. As it turned out we had a lot of calls happen yesterday. I ended up coming down to the station six times through out the day and night. It kept me busy outside of the work I was doing for MH.

I had completed some work that I turned it, but it didn't appear to work. I knew it should be working. My boss was really worried that it wasn't working because my code was dealing with live leads for real estate. I told him that it should be working so we got a conference call. Before long we found the problem was not with my code, but it was because a certain mailbox wasn't set up correctly. Once it was fixed all was good. That was a load off.

Tonight is the first night of our softball playoffs. We were playing Bomb Squad. We have played them about four times this season and beat them each time. If we won we played again. If we lose we go to the losers bracket and don't play again on Thursday.

The game started off well and we scored three quick runs. But then we went to heck. We went four straight innings without scoring a run. Our defense was awesome. We were making the outs we had a chance to make. But the longball cost us as they scored seven of their nine runs on the long ball. We lost by one run.

When I got home I worked on my MH stuff a while longer. At around two in the morning we got a call. I went to the station. I was so tired I just went to the recliner and went to sleep.

Battling the Beast

Just before noon we were toned out to a structure fire at a trailer park in Pullman. We got on scene with the PL. I was on the attack team. I had to "donkey" kick the door in to make entry. The fire was incredible small, but it was putting off tons of smoke. We put out the fire and then ventilated the building.

I was acting as the attendant today. We had a couple calls where I was the attendant. Nothing was that big. But because there was no way I was going to get a full night of sleep we got paged out around two-thirty in the morning and the call lasted about an hour. So that made it so I was not going to get myself a lot of sleep tonight.

No Softball and it Sucks

This morning Tony and I went on a transfer to Spokane just went we got off duty. It was a pretty quick trip there and back.

The rest of the day was pretty slow. There was no softball today with the season being over. I just didn't know what to do with my time. It sucks that the season is over. Before long the men's season will be over. Then we have fall co-ed and IM's. Then I will have no softball for about five months. It feels like the seasons go so much faster than they use to.

No Time to Eat

At the fire department today I bought everyone breakfast. We first went to look at a couple parking structures. Then we came back and started breakfast. Before we got far into it, we got toned out to a call.

When we got back breakfast had been made and was starting to cool down. But it was still good. After breakfast I sat in a recliner with the other guys and watched the end of a show that we started to watch while eating. This is the first time I have sat in a recliner. I was waiting until I put in a year. My one year anniversary was on the fourteenth.

We went out and worked on the ambulances for the weekly checks. Once done some guys took a nap. I stayed up.

For dinner we were having burgers and tater tots. I got three bites into it and we were sent on a call. I got back to a cooled down burger. But that happens.

After dinner we cleaned up and watched some TV. The plan was to watch COPS and have some ice cream. I just finished my ice cream when we got toned to another call. It seemed like every time I had something I wanted to do I got called away.

I also spent time talking with James a mo from Moscow. He and I spent time talking online for quite a while. Then he called me and we chatted on the phone for a little bit. He is a nice guy, but he was hard to understand on the phone.

I was getting tired after watching the Red Green Show and went to bed.

Lots of OT

The tones went out for people to respond to the station for stand by because they were working a gas leak that was going to take a while. I came in and ended up running nearly the whole time I was here. We had to run three straight EMS calls. We did have a bit of a break, but it was very busy.

When I was done working I went home and made sure my update for my MH stuff was put onto the server. It was put on, but I don't know if it is working or not yet.

I watched some TV and got some pizza for dinner. It was a pretty relaxing night over all. I watched Rescue Me in the evening before I went to bed for the night.

Working on a Software Update

I am working on some stuff for MH. There are some new e-mails that come into the automated system. So I need to set up the parser to parse the e-mails and put the data into our lead system.

It took some time to do that, but once I got going, things just came along nicely. It was fun to do that kind of work today.

I also put in some time at the fire department. They called for people to man the station. I came in and we never ended up going on any calls while I was down there.

When I got back from the station I continued the project and got it done around midnight. I packaged it up and sent it off.

Second Place

This morning came early because I was going to work at the FD for a couple hours to cover for a test they other guys were taking for the LT position. I picked up Blake and took him to the station so he could get his truck. I worked without incident, but I was pretty tired due to being up so late the last two nights.

I went to get my cell phone switched over to my new one. It finally came back from getting fixed. The screen had started to have problems. So I got the phone switched over and I am using the new phone again. That is pretty cool.

Then it was over to Blockbuster. I am not very happy with them. There was a movie that was rented a few months back. Someone was supposed to return it for me, but it wasn't returned, as I found out. Well they just charge you for the movie and you keep it should you not return it after a certain period of time. So I had this charge on my account.

Rather than send me an invoice or anything that said I owed them money, I got a letter from a collections agency saying I owed money. I was all sorts of upset over getting this letter.

I paid for my bill and then I told the guy they need to do something other than just send bills to collections. It is hard to pay bills when you don't even know that you have one. After I paid the guy gave me a receipt to show that I paid my bill, then a second print out comes through the printer. He started to grab it saying I received a coupon for a dollar-ninety-nine rental. I was walking by him and I said "don't need it" and walked out of the store.

I think I will be going to Video Quest when I want to rent video's in the future. I am very disappointed in how Blockbuster dealt with this.

After having a good couple games on Saturday our time on the field Sunday was cancelled due to rain. The rescheduled game was made for tonight. We had a solid core of guys going out to play, but it was not to be. In the first game I started at third base, but I was in a lot of pain with my neck. It hurt to turn it. So playing a fielding position would not be that good. Eric got there and I had him take over for me at third. But we could not string the hits together like we did on Saturday.

Sports Page took the first game by a homerun in the sixth inning. They won by three. In the second game they had a couple big innings and beat us pretty good. We ended up in second place in the post-season tournament. I was disappointed by the finish. We had the ability to win it.

After the game Sheila and I spent some time talking before I went to the Sports Page to chat with Jessie.

Lack of Sleep Before the Party

I was hoping that I would get some sleep this evening because I stayed up late watching Rescue Me. It was a pretty laid back day. We ran a couple calls, but nothing big.

I went to bed at nine thinking I would get some good sleep. I was the driver for Chia's bachelor party and I thought that if I got good nights sleep I would be good to go for tomorrow. I was wrong.

It was eleven and I got called upon to do a transfer to Spokane. I also had to be in the back. It sucked because I was going to lose out on a lot of sleep.

When I finally got home and to sleep I was only going to get another four hours. That would mean I would probably have to get a nap sometime during the day tomorrow.

Second Class Reserve

Today is the first day Captain Thompson was back on the job in the last sixteen months or so. I had been working for him. Now I am working for a different firefighter. So I am continuing working as a temp full-timer. It was pretty quiet, but all of a sudden all heck broke loose and we ran several calls back-to-back. But that was it for the day.

I left to go to the reserve meeting. It was pretty short. Following the meeting I had my review board for moving to second class. I was nervous about it at first. But for this step it is a little less formal than moving to first class. I was asked why I thought I should get moved up. The situation where I made some errors was brought up. I explained what I learned during that call.

I was given advise from the deputies. The biggest thing they brought up was when I have questions and am not sure what to do, to call someone. That was a big point they emphasised.

I was told I was moved up to second class. They shook my hand and said they had great expectations for me. They all believe that I will do a fine job. That was great. Now, I just need to start to set up times to ride so I can work my way to first class.

Back to Back Wins!

A little bit after I got up the tones went off for a transfer to Spokane. I called in to take it. I worked with Chelsea. In Spokane we went to Red Lobster for lunch. It was very good. We talked about my position as a reserve deputy on the way back, then we talked about the fire department and ways to make it better within the budget that we have with the city.

This evening brought on the final two softball games of the season. It didn't mean a lot in terms of standings because we are about half way down, but we wanted to beat these teams because we are a competitive team. We were playing the A-League champion who hasn't lost a game all season. We were also playing the number two team in the league.

In the first game we were playing Coors Light. They were unbeaten. We came close the first time we faced them going into extra innings. This time we put nine runs in the first inning and lead the whole way. We let them get back into the game, but we kept the lead the whole time and the time limit of the game hit in the bottom of the sixth inning with us up to bat. I had three balls pitched to me when the umpire called the time limit.

In the next game we were playing the number two team. We took a big lead but let the other team work their way back into it. But we were home. We had given up the lead in the top of the seventh inning. We were down by three runs. We scored a couple runs. Then with the bases loaded Jered hit a double scoring two more runs for the win.

After the game Brady broke out a couple beers to celebrate our win. Brady, Cole, Faber, and I shared the beer.

Melcher, Jessie, Faber, and I went to My Office. We shared a couple pitcher of beer. Then we went to Sports Page to hang out until a little after one in the morning. It was a good end to the season.

I was thinking that I would be going to McCoy's team next season, but I am not sure if he is still interested in adding me. I will see in the off-season. If he wants me I think I will go, I am tired of running the team with guys that seem to be undercutting me all the time. I just want to go and play. Plus McCoy is good about getting his team into the tournaments.

No Fires for Me

Today I am scheduled to work the fire station. I was really hoping to be able to go to the park and work up there, but it turned out that no other career guys wanted to work. I was going to be stuck at the station. It was a very quiet day for the day hours.

When we went to the park to set up the ladder we were close to the time of the flag ceremony. We were going to stay through that. I planned on getting photos of the fire department honor guard doing their thing. But ten minutes before the ceremony we got an EMS call. So we had to run off on that.

When that was done we went back to the station to work on dinner. When dinner was done we cleaned up and watched some TV as it was getting closer to fireworks time. The captain said that if we go up on the hill behind the station we could see the fireworks from the park.

More or more people were lighting off fireworks. I was getting excited. Before the fireworks were supposed to be shot off we got call to a call outside of town. On the way back to Pullman it was very close to the start of the show. I was heading towards Pullman and I saw the first couple things shot off from the park, but I didn't get a chance to see anything else.

As we were getting back to the city all sorts of calls went out for grass fires. We hurried to get into service. Once we were in service the calls for the grass fires stopped. At the station we got toned out for one around midnight. But before we got close it was said to put out. We were cleared to return to the station. That was it for the fires. I didn't get to see one at all. We ran two EMS calls and I didn't get to see the main fireworks show at all.