Echo Response for a Structure Fire.

September 30th, 2005

My alarm was set to wake me up at six o’clock in the morning so I could make my way to Seattle for work. Three minutes before my alarm clock went off I head the tones on my pager. It was for an Echo Response for a Structure Fire with someone still inside. I looked at my watch and saw it was still in my response time that I had to go. I threw on my boots and made my way to the station.

When I got there I said “What is up with all the five-fifty-five in the morning calls?” A few seconds later Shane came in and said the exact same thing. We got loaded in Rescue and went en route. On the way we were told it was a working structure fire. It was funny because when I got my new turnout pants on Sunday, Van Ness said that I was jinxing us and that we were going to get a structure fire now. And through out the week, during the “five-fifty-five” in the morning calls they all were fire related, each one more progressively worse. Starting with a fire alarm. Then a small fire at Dissmores and finally this big one.

We got on scene and I got my gear on and headed to the fire which was a little bit up the road. When we got there Turpin said that Brian and I are the back up team. He wanted us to pull a line and get to the door with it. We stood by as Tref was making his way out. Then I got paired up with Shane as Tref and Brain went inside to fight the fire. There was thick black smoke rolling out the door. We got on our knees and went about five feet inside the building waiting just incase we were needed for help. After being in there for a brief period of time everyone was called out because they were going to do some ventilation and get some of the smoke and heat out of the house. Then I was pulled away from backup duty to be on the RIT team.

The RIT team is the team of fire fighters who on a moments notice will get into the building and rescue people. Luckily we were not needed. We stood by the RIT gear near the house for the remainder of the fire. More crews came on the other apparatus. We also called in District Twelve to help us out. In all we were on scene for about two hours. Then I got back to the office. I got my stuff and headed back to Seattle to work. I did not get back here until almost two in the afternoon.

But It was a good day. Ricky and I spent time figuring out why there were some bugs in the code. He was helping me do things I did not have the computer access to be able to do myself. We got some of the problems discovered. Now we just need to pin point the exact problem and then fix it.

I left around nine o’clock pm to go to the monthly poker game at Newport Shores. We were playing in a house that is on Lake Washington. It is a multi-million dollar house. They had two boats parked out back on their dock. One was a nineteen foot run-about and the other was a larger cruising boat. It was amazing to see all the boats and the size of them that people had down there. I played for a couple hours and only won one hand. It was not a good night, but I only lost thirty bucks.

The worst day golfing is better than …

September 29th, 2005

This morning was early for me as I had to be at the WSU golf course for a round a golf with Josh. We planned on teeing off at seven o’clock in the morning. It was actually not all that cold outside so I did not have to bundle up as much as I thought I would.

My first tee shot went to the left onto the cart path. It wasn’t a bad shot over all. I spent a lot of the day three-putting. That is what really killed me. On many of the holes I had some decent hits and I was setting myself up for a couple possible pars. But I did not convert. I ended up shooting a sixty-three on the day. It was not upsetting. I was happy to get out there and had a good time hanging out with Josh.

After golfing I went to work and spent the day doing what I do best. Ryan and I met up for lunch. We went to Pizza Pipeline again.

After work I went to the fire station to help with the rig checks I talked to James about scene size ups. He photo copied a few things for me. We also talked about the new response for going code to fire alarms at commercial buildings. James made it clear that we would go code, but we would still do the speed limit and should be speed he would write us up for it.

I hung out at the station with a few of the guys and I was downloading some video clips and we were watching them on the computer. While we were watching them we got a call. We went to the scene. While there Brian forgot the chalk on the scene. So he bought us ice cream from Cougar Country. I also got myself some dinner while we were there.

I talked to the owner about being a sponsor of my IM softball team. It sounds like she is willing to do it. We are only looking for cheap shirts so we can put numbers on them and have a team jersey.

After we got back to the station and ate. We cleaned up Rescue and then we took off. I took my time card to station one and went to the office. I did some stuff on the computer before going to sleep.

Fire at Dissmores

September 28th, 2005

This morning I was woken up by a call at Dissmores. It came out as a structure fire. I was really shocked. But then when we got more information. It turned out to be a small fire and it was out. But we went code three to the scene. The other two guys from Rescue went in and did some destruction of the area that had burnt. I took a couple paramedics to station one so they could man a second ambulance in case a call came out for one.

We were done about an hour later and I did not go to bed. As it turned out I stayed up for the rest of the day and I was tired! I just worked on getting bugs closed. It seems like right now it is a two steps forward and three steps back type of day.

Ryan and I met up at lunch and went to Pizza Pipeline. Then we went to campus and saw George. We set up a lunch for next week with him. I also got my coroners ID card punched and a clasp was put on it.

I went to Moscow and got my boat. It was about two hundred and fifty bucks because something needed to get fixed so it would not over heat any more. The guy said it was pretty bad when he pulled out the old one.

After work I took my boat home and unhooked it. Then I spent some time getting the quad started and put the boat away. It took about three tries to get the boat exactly where I wanted it. I washed up and then got some food at Arby’s. I stopped at Colfax fire and watched some TV with Ken. I was starting to get real tired, but I thought I would watch CSI:NY before going to sleep. I fell asleep while watching it though.

Driving the new Ambulance

September 27th, 2005

I was rocking on my bugs today. I had planned to get the problem with the E-mail addresses not showing up to work when a loan is imported. There was no code to cover it and I had to go through all the ASP.NET stuff and figure all the places the save was touching and update them. I figured it was going to take longer than it ended up taking. A few more bugs had been assigned to me and I have been passing some off to the people who they should go to. I also worked on another one that after I was done doing my work we discovered it was the problem of another company. But it took some time figure that out and have the proof that it was not us.

After work we had fire training. First we had a meeting to cover the shifts. Then we went to station one to drive Ambulance thirty-one. In the process of that we got a call for a frequent flyer. We did not transport. When we got back to the station they were out in the Ambulance and we waited around for them to get back. When they got back we switched out the crews. I started the driving. It drove pretty nice. But the breaks are touchy. I drove for about fifteen minutes and then we switched. We did that one more time. We ended up getting back to the Deuce at about ten o’clock pm.

Following the training I went to my office and chatted online with a few people and chatted on G-Shack.

Seventeen Hundred Gallons flowed by me

September 26th, 2005

I got to sleep for about four hours before I had to be at the radio station. I was doing okay on time so I had a quick bite to eat. I talked to the Sheriff, but there was a problem with the phone and he could not be heard going over the air. I was very disappointed. My live stream recording also stopped after thirty minutes because I did not see where it was recording to. And the destination drive was full. So I am upset about missing a lot of the show.

After the show I got to work for a little bit. Nothing bit there. Then I went to the fire station around five-thirty to put my new turnouts together and take the old ones back to Colfax. When I was finished putting my tools and items in the pockets when the guys on shift for the night came down. They invited me to go to the tower and flow water. I used a cross lay by myself and flowed seventeen hundred gallons by myself. I was practicing moving around and spraying water. I found that the use of a hose strap was a really big help.

After training I stopped at Pizza Pipeline, now that it is open again, and got a pizza to go. I went home and watched some TV and ate pizza.

Calls all night long

September 25th, 2005

This morning I worked on the Bumblebee to find out why the headlights stopped working. It turned out a wire that is connected to the battery terminal was broken. I got a new connector and re-attached it. I also got the radio working. There was a bad fuse.

I hung out at the fire station for a while with Carl. I was watching Seahawks play football and I was watching for my team in the horserace. I was rooting for the wrong team. I thought I had chosen Tennessee, but I actually chose St. Louis. And when I saw St. Louis won, I was upset until I figured out that that is who I bet on. So I am happy about that.

I went to Pullman to talk to James about my turn outs. They have been getting put on the floor and Rudy is getting mad about it. So I think I straightened out that problem. Then I went to my office to get ready for softball. We had two games tonight and we have to win one of them. As it turned out both teams forfeited. I was mad. I wanted to play. But instead the team took the field and we all took turns hitting and running the bases. Sort of a game like setting. I played a little at third and short stop. I made a diving stop on one ball.

We were there for about an hour before I went back to my office to get in my fire department uniform. I met Ryan at Cougar Country for dinner and then we went to his place. We watched American Dad. Then I watched the rest of the Sunday shows. Just as the last one finished we got our first call. It was a code run. I went to the office after it and started to work on my show.

While I was working on my show another call came out. We went code to that call. I rode in the back with the patient. I helped John with patient care. Then I went back to my office to continue working on the show. At about four in the morning we got another call. The other guys were really tired. I was still up and going.

I drove on this one. It was a code run. When we got on scene we were cancelled. VanNess got on the radio and said “Rescue Thirty-Two follow us back to the station I need to talk to one of your personnel onboard.” We were wondering what he wanted at four in the morning. I was worried someone complained about my driving. Which was all within the SOP’s so I was covered, but still I hate getting complaints against me.

We got to the station and VanNess so “So who drove code on that run?” I quickly spoke up and said “I did”. Then he smiles and said that my turn out pants were in. I got my new pants and I am happy about that. I will have to put them all together now.

On the way back we had to stop and get gas. I mentioned that if we had done that earlier like I said we would not have to do it on the “four in the morning call.” Brian said he did not think we would get another one. I smiled.

Then I went back to the office and continued to work through the show material. It was almost six in the morning and I was thinking about getting some breakfast when the tones went off for a fire alarm. It was five minutes before six so I had to go.

I got to the station and no one showed up for a long time. The response code said that on the South side of town only Engine Thirty-Three goes. Rescue stays. But I went to the station anyway. Finally Chuck showed up. He was the only one who came. They others should have shown up. Because during the day Engine thirty-Two goes, but during our shift time our rig goes.

Chuck and I went to the scene and stood by. VanNess called for a runner to come and get a toolbox and bring it to the scene. There was a duplex that had hardwired smoke detectors. But the power to the building was off and the building was empty. The batteries in the smoke detectors were going dead causing the alarm to sound. We took all the batteries out and left a note to the owner that we were there and why.

Then I got back home, but it was almost seven by this time. I decided to take a short nap before I had to do my radio show at one in the afternoon.

Comedy in Spokane

September 24th, 2005

I slept in this morning, but I did get up in time to watch Alec play Five-Star Football at Liberty. They have changed a lot of rules since I played there. To “level” the playing field if one team is up by a lot of points they will have to start deeper on the field, rather than where they recover the ball. The clock will also not stop for any reason towards the end of the game. They call it a mercy clock. I think it is stupid that those rules are there. Let the kids play the game rather than worrying about “leveling the playing field”. Alec’s team won without a problem.

Then I went to my mom’s house with Jon. He helped me move an exercise machine from the garage to the shop for my mom. Then he pulled out an old BB gun and let the boys shoot it a couple times.

I hung around the house and then Ryan called and we had plans to meet up in Spokane for a comedy show and so I could meet his new girlfriend. I left around three to head over there. On the way I was passed by a car. I was doing about seven over. A few miles later it was pulled over and another cop was there using the radar. I was clocked at seven over and he never bothered to come and get me.

I got to Spokane at about seven-thirty pm. I went to Ryan’s girlfriends place. We watched some TV until she got home. Then we went to Taco Bell for dinner.

Then it was off to the comedy club. We had two comps and one half price ticket, so it only cost the three of us five bucks to get in. The opener was really funny. During his show he ended up striping off his pants, and shirt. He had on a pair of Depends and a red g-string. I was laughing about that.

Then the main guy came on. He is from Seattle and works for KOMO. He was good. After the show I headed to Colfax and watched some TV before going to sleep.

Celebrating Jon’s Birthday

September 23rd, 2005

A big problem appeared at work today when a lot of data was missing from the ten-oh-three apps when logged in as a pricing user. After a little bit of stress over that and the incoming bugs, it was figured out that a bad SProc was checked in and it was causing the breakage. Once that SProc was rolled back life was good. I was able to close out a few of the bugs I had assigned to me. I also got the property address to show up under the REO tab. That was a good find. I spent a while throwing in DebugOut commands all around the COM+ until I got everything covered. When I compared a file that worked with a file that did not work I did not see any difference, but that lead me to look closer at something else. That is when I found a call was missing to a procedure that added a delim to the address when it did not have one.

I played Roger some ping pong. I beat him in three straight games. The second game we had to go to extra points. But this was the first time to took him three to zero.

I went to Jon’s around six for his birthday party. We had some pizza and cake. Jon’s opened his presents. I talked with Brian and the others who were at the party. It was pretty tame.

When I got home I worked on freeing a tape from my VCR that was stuck in there. As it turned out about seven feet of tape got tightly wrapped around a metal bar. It sucks because that part of the tape was heavily damaged. I hope I can record most of what was on there so I can get it off the tape. It had recordings from back when I was a senior in high school.

Ryan’s big conversation

September 22nd, 2005

While I was at work Ryan wanted to talk to me about some stuff. He said that he wanted to be more open in our friendship. He said that he was worried about what I would say about things sometimes and he did not want to be totally open with me. I told him I was happy that he wanted to be more open. He is my best friend and he is important to me.

He told me that him and Ryley had planned their wedding out. I was going to be his best man. And he said I was the only non-blood relative who would have been invited. That was pretty cool. He said that he really values what I have to say and looks for acceptance from me.

We talked about me not being outwardly emotional. He said that I always am the tough guy who plays through injuries and who is always the tough guy when it comes to bad or sad situations. Sort of a man’s man. I pondered outloud to him that maybe I do that because I am over compensating for being gay and that is what gets me to make people not think that I am a big Mo.

He said he knew I would always be there for him and I proved it on July first. That was when I went there to be with him when he got word about Ryley. He also said I am honest, trustworthy, and a really good person.

I hope this helps our friendship get stronger and closer.

We spent most of the day talking off and on between us having to do some work. I mainly was working on getting some of the bugs taken care of as they were coming in because I wanted to have them all done. But I was having a problem with a bug where there was a REO property address that would disappear in certain circumstances, but not others.

After work I went to Jon’s house and watched the boys for him. They had to go to the kids’ school for the parent-teacher conferences. It was also Jon’s birthday today. The boys and I played some poker. They are pretty good poker players for being under six years old. I helped Justin win the whole thing.

Jon and I watched CSI when he got home and after he looked at the code where the property address is missing. Everything was looking like it should be working. After watching some TV with Jon I headed home for the evening.

Just another day in paradise

September 21st, 2005

I got up a little late but I made it to Seattle in good time. I spent time working on some of the bugs that are new with the work that I have done. It was a pretty laid back day really. Even though code complete is nearly done, I was not stressing today.

After I got done working I went home and worked on Joe’s website. I got the policies page updated. I got the book for working on my Toyota. I will that back to Colfax with me.

I spent the rest of the evening watching TV and chatting with people on the computer.

Bumblebee is running

September 20th, 2005

I got Reid to cover me at the fire department tonight so I could go to the coroners meeting tonight. He is taking the whole night so I don’t need to worry about it.

I stopped at Schuck’s Auto Parts today and got a battery for my Toyota and the lawn mower. I got them both installed. I did a little bit of mowing of the sides of the driveway and I got the battery installed in the Toyota before I had to get to the meeting. I was actually a few minutes late.

We covered the case I had up in Tekoa with the premature birth of the baby. We also got our call coverage taken care of. We made the ID cards for everyone. I went home and watched House and then I took my Toyota for a drive. I went to the store and got some pop and stopped at the jail. I washed the truck and went into the control room. I did a round to help them out a little bit and stuck around until midnight.

I wanted to get the truck out on the highway a little bit so I went North towards Steptoe. Then I turned around a few miles outside of town. About three miles outside of town my highlights went out. My CB also stopped working. So I checked the fuses as best I could without any flashlight. I used the backlighting from my cell phone. With the moon as bright as it was I just went back into town carefully using the moon light. If I saw a car’s headlights I would pull over and wait until they were out of sight. When I got into town I took a turn and took back roads home. I did not want to get pulled over because I had no insurance, no current tabs on the truck, and no headlights. Once I got onto Mill Street I went by the SO, the Colfax PD, and the WSP office. I had to weave back and forth across Main Street for a while. Finally I had to make a run on Main for a little way. I did it without a problem.

I took the back road into the house and parked the truck. I am upset the lights went out and now I need to figure out why, but until then I had to get to bed because I have to get to Seattle in the morning.

The PES is on the air and rocking!

September 19th, 2005

I had my radio show again today. I talked a little about the hurricane that hit New Orleans. I talked about other political topics. I talked about sports – Cougars, IM Sports, and the NFL. It was a good show and I got it recorded. I was going to record it using Mini-Disks. But I ended up using the Internet stream and Total Recorder on my computer in the office. That worked out really well. Better than the old way where I used cassette tapes.

We had training at the fire station tonight. The training van came into talk about trauma. It was nice to get to train with everyone like we did back in the day. Following training I went to my house and watched CSI-Miami.

I went on a EMS call while in Colfax. We just helped a lady get up and that was it on that. It was a very quick call.

One game and one FFT

September 18th, 2005

During the day all I did was listen to some the Seahawks football game on my way to Pullman. I stopped at my house and dropped off my clothes and then headed to Pullman for the softball games. We have another double-header.

The first game we played against the Asian team that plays competitive ball each year. They are not very good. But they are a fun team to play, because they just go out to have fun. We ten runned them. The second game was a FFT because the other team did not show up.

We did some batting practice and called it a day. After BP was done I wanted the Zeppoz team play some ball. They were beating the other team pretty easily. They are undefeated this season so far.

I went to my office and got into my fire department uniform. I stopped to get some dinner at Cougar Country. I went to Ryan’s to watch the Sunday night shows he recorded. He let me talk to his new girlfriend on the phone for a little while and then he went back to his bedroom to talk to her and I watched the shows.

Grambling State’s Band is Loud

September 17th, 2005

Cougar Football Saturday!!!! Dave and I went to the field and got tickets to watch them play. We also got to see the Grambling State band play. When I got to the field I saw several people I knew from back in the days living in Stephenson. I also say Ohlsen and Mayhew. I stopped off and talked to Hawkes. Then I went into the event center and talked to Jon for a few minutes. But I had to boogie to get to my seat in time for kick off. We were way up on the three-hundred level. We were on the Grambling State side of the field. But it turned out to be the good side to hear the Grambling band better. They were fun to watch.

The Cougs crushed Grambling State. Their band was a brass band and they were loud. They did a lot of neat maneuvers and some dance moves as well. After the game they had a show. At the end of their show they invited the Cougar Marching Band onto the field to play a little with them and run around. It was really cool they did that.

Staying really late

September 16th, 2005

I stayed really late at the office today. I got in sort of late, but I was working on getting something done and I did not want to leave until I knew I had it complete. At one point Ricky and I played some ping pong for about twenty minutes, just hitting the ball back and forth.

Then finally when I did my final rebuild of the box and checked in my latest code I headed home. I got home after dinner was done. I just heated it up. Then I relaxed around the house by watching some TV and that was about it for the night.

I thought about going out and doing something. But I decided to instead not do anything at all.

Code Complete Extended

September 15th, 2005

Code complete was extended to next Friday, but I still hopped to have everything that I had to do, completed and checked in. I came really close to the reality. It seems like there was always something. Actually, I had some outstanding bugs, but all the features I was done with and had been turned in.

Other than the code complete extension it was an average day, going home after work to get online and mess around and watch TV.

Amber still under the weather

September 14th, 2005

I could tell Amber was not feeling well today because she was listless and pretty much just layed around and did not want to play much. We did not get her canned food today just in case it was the food that made her sick.

Other than coding at work and watching TV at home it was a normal day.

Amber is sick

September 13th, 2005

I got up really late today. I had the alarm clock set for around six in the morning. It was not until nine in the morning that I was on the road. I kept thinking about staying in Pullman for another day. But finally I decided to head to Renton.

I got to work around one in the afternoon. I got to work on the loan comparisons problem. I was able to get the right information and got it fixed. I was all stoked about that. So that problem is out of the way and I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I hope.

I stayed around until around seven o’clock to make it seem like I was here for a full work day then I headed home. I got home as dinner was being put away. It was still warm so I served myself up some food.

After dinner my mom was telling me Amber was not feeling well she has had a couple runny bowel movements. So she just may be sick, or if you believe my stepdad it could be that she is not doing well with the new can dog food we got. I played with her a little bit, but I made sure that I did not play too much incase she was ill.

I saw the season opener of House. It was yet another good episode. I have come to expect that out of House. I remember while watching the series premiere I was not impressed, but I gave it another chance and fell in love with it.

I also E-mail Andy Savage to ask him if he would be a guest on my radio show. I hope he says yes to it.

Back on the Air and Ben’s Tryout

September 12th, 2005

I was supposed to be in Seattle today, but I traded today and Friday with being here so I could see Ben try out for the WSU Baseball team. I had talked to him about it on the boat. I told him that if he did not try out now he would regret it years down the road. He would always wonder if he could have made it. He would regret not trying to do it when he was young.

As it turned out I also had the radio show today so it worked out great. I spent the morning trying to prepare for the show. I ran to Colfax and got my headphones and my radio CD. I got a bunch of things to talk about put into a word document. I had to take my truck into Neill Motors for some recall work. I got a ride to the CUB and did my show. I played a fair amount of music because I did not have a lot to talk about today.

After the show I walked to the Bookie and took the bus to pick up my truck. I got back to my office. When I was done working I got some dinner and headed to the WSU Baseball field. The try-outs lasted about four hours. First it was running, throwing, and fielding drills. Once those were done they played some real innings of baseball. The guys who were trying out to be a pitcher were the ones throwing. They got twenty pitches or three outs which ever came first. One guy in the group had a pretty good fastball and did well. Most of the people did not do that great.

It was funny to watch the guys trying out go from not really talking to much to talking and rooting for each other. It was a good team atmosphere. I don’t think any of them will make the team however, because they have a full roster already and no one really kicked a lot of butt. But Ben did it. He had some good throws and some good hits. I think he is happy he did it and will be able to never wonder “what if”.

Four years later…

September 11th, 2005

Today is the fourth anniversary of the terrorist attacks. There were a lot of shows on TV talking about the attacks and why things failed, buildings, communications, etc. It was pretty interesting. I was going to get my boat moved around but I was having a hard time starting the four wheeler and I decided to move the boat by hand. Once I got it turned around I left it where it was so I could hook up to it easier to take it to get winterized.

I went around town to see if any places had batteries for sale for the Toyota. No place was open that sold auto parts so I gave up on it and went home and watched TV and just totally relaxed. As the time was getting closer to the softball games I got my stats sheets ready and got my uniform on.

I went to my office and was online for a little bit and chatted with Ryan. Then I headed to the field and started to warm up while we were there. We had twelve guys. I was hoping we would do better than we did. In game one we had a lead but people started to have a hard time hitting for the most part. Ben had a monster homerun that went off the roof of the apartment buildings past the outfield of field four. I was pitching. My knee is hurting right now. I think I hurt it in the pre-season game we had. So I could not pitch my normal way, but I seemed to do really well. I was not having a problem getting the ball across the plate, and I was even able to throw in my backspin on the ball.

We lost that game by one run, seven to eight. In the second game we were shut out. That may have been the first shut out in the history of the team. It really sucked. They were a good hitting team. But they hit at our pitcher and it made me mad. So I went up there with the idea that I was going to hit at their pitcher. The first pitch was mine! I swung really hard it was clear to the catcher and the pitcher, had I made contact it would have gone right at him. The catcher yelled out to him, “your heart beating fast after that one?”

I found out the first radio show is tomorrow and my partner will not be able to be there so I had to get the show ready and do it by myself tomorrow.

Ryan and I went to Cougar Country and got some dinner. I was also on call for the rest of the day. It was quiet. We did not get any calls. I hung out at Ryan’s house. We watched the season premieres of the Sunday night Fox shows. Then I headed to my office.

Forty-year-old Virgin.

September 10th, 2005

The day started out with a practice at the Valley Road Fields. We had about seven people show up. All we did was batting practice. Everyone went through twice and the others shagged the balls. It was a good practice. It was looking like people were hitting the ball well.

Ben, Ryan, and I were going to see a movie later on. But first Ryan and I went to Taco Bell for lunch. Following lunch we went to the movie theatre and met Ben. We went to see the Forty-year-old Virgin. It was very funny. If felt like someone was punching my kidneys all movie long. By the end they were so sore. I was laughing a lot.

After the movie I dropped Ryan off at his place and then I went to my office. I was online for a while chatting and posting at the Shack. Finally around nine o’clock I went to Colfax. I stopped by the fire station and talked to Ken. I had ordered a pizza from Bulldog. I got that and went to the jail with it. I offered the guys working a slice and we talked about the typical things. We also watched some more funny video clips we always watch when I am there.

Palouse Empire Fair EMS

September 9th, 2005

I woke up this morning with a sore knee. That is not good. I think I may have tweeked it somehow when I was pitching last night. I had to be at the fair grounds at seven in the morning. So I was up early. I stopped at Rosauers to get some breakfast and head to the fairgrounds.

It was Jeff and I for most of the day. It was so slow. There was nothing going on for us. I left at eleven am to head to work. Then after work we had training with the full timers. We were working on scene size ups. We spent about an hour doing scene size ups. The full timers also bought some pizza’s and fed us.

After training we turned on the Cougar game and rooted them on, to beat Nevada. They did. It was not much of a contest. The Cougs crushed them.

Softball Scramble

September 8th, 2005

Today we had the softball scramble at the Valley Road Playfields. We were teamed up against a rec. level team. It was bad. We were crushing them. We all were messing around. I was pitching for the first inning. Then I played a little at firstbase.

After ball Ryan and I went to Subway and discussed the team and who should play where. We talked about the players who would never get pulled out of the game and we worked on defining those players. When we were done Ryan was still stressed about having to set up a line up and getting everyone play time. We have thirteen guys on the team this year.

Nine-One-One dispatch…

September 7th, 2005

I went into work because we had our company meeting today. I worked on getting the copy loan app completed. We are on the right path to do so. I was able to get it done just as lunch was being served. I went to lunch and ate and we had the meeting. Then I went back and checked in my changes. I talked with Brian about a couple bugs and I talked some more with Barb about the comparisons that I need to work on. Code complete is next Thursday.

After meeting with them I took off for Pullman. I had to do some hydrant maintenance. While out doing that we were talking with Bolton, one of the new guys who came from WSU. He is a ten-six-seven. Him and Nick were joking about some stuff, then Bolton said that he would be the pitcher and Nick would be the catcher. Then they asked me who I thought was more gay. I said that Bolton would be my pick. I clarified that I did not think either was close to being gay, but the question was between them two. I said he seemed more Metro than Nick. He laughed and said he is nothing close to Metro. He laughed and said I guess that is sort of a compliment.

Then we went to station one and looked at the ambulances. While I was there I got a call from the Nine-One-One dispatch center. They guy said a nine-one-one call came from my phone. I guess in my pocket it rang through after hitting the right keys and send. I asked who I was talking to and it was Corey from the Thunder from two years ago. We spoke for a few minutes about playing football.

Then we headed back to station two. When Bolton got off the truck I asked Nick if he knew I was gay. He said he did. Then I said I did not want him to tell Bolton or any of the new guys, because I do not want it to get around. Nick said he understood.

I went to Ryan’s apartment and we watched SouthPark, Family Guy, and Futurama. I headed back to the office and checked out G-Shack for a while. I was tired but when I when to go to sleep it took a while to fall asleep.

Friday’s Dev Meeting today

September 6th, 2005

I got to work and started to plug away at the Copy Loan App. There were problems with it and I was trying to resolve the problems so I could close it out. I am working with the database guy, Roger, to discover the sprocs I need to add to the product to make it work correctly. It is sort of slow going.

We had our meeting and I told them that the dexma changes I have figured out I believe and it should be about five lines of code. I was told to implement those changes. I put those together and posted them. So I have one more issue completed.

I went home around eight o’clock pm. I stayed there for a while posting on the shack. When I got home I posted some more and just watched the boob-tube.

Brunch with the team

September 5th, 2005

I got a call this morning from Michael. He was seeing if I was in Pullman. But I was not. So he let me go. I am not sure what he was looking for, but I suppose it had to do with the fire department.

Later on I got a call from Don. He said there was going to be a brunch with the team at Kevin’s house. I got ready and headed there. He lives near Northgate mall. I got there a little late, but food was served. I had some bacon, french toast, and danishes. It was good. Then we hung out for another hour and everyone was talking and having a good time. We pretty much all left at the same time. I got some gas because I saw it was ten cents cheaper up there than it was down here. I filled my gas tank.

I got back home and just watched TV.

Emerald City Classic

September 4th, 2005

I did not get up until around noon today. I got ready and headed to Redmond to watch the Maulers play softball in the end of the season tournament, the Emerald City Classic. I got there just as they were beating the Kozmos. They kept them in the tournament. They were in the losers bracket after losing a game this morning.

We went to field four and started to play game after game. One loss and they were gone. They kept winning though. I was the first base coach. Finally we got to the finals against the Phoenix who during the season was not a very strong team. But today they were kicking butt. We went out there and beat them by four runs in the first game. The weather was starting to turn ugly. Then we started the second game. We had to bead the Phoenix to win the whole thing because they didn’t have any losses. Beating them in game one put both teams in the losers bracket.

Then we played them a second game. But it was raining bad. The field started to get worse and worse. By the third inning the score was tied four to four and they called the game. They decided to make both teams the first place winners. I was soaking wet. I went to my truck and put on a dry shirt then headed home.

I got my pictures from Brandon’s wedding off my camera then went into the house and sat around watching TV and relaxing.

Brandon’s Wedding

September 3rd, 2005

I got up and got my stuff packed and I was on my way to see Brandon and his wedding in Cashmire. I got there around three o’clock pm. I saw Craig first. I had not seen him in about five years. It was good to see him. Then I went to the place the wedding was being held. It was an outdoor ceremony.

It was still about thirty minutes before the wedding was to happen. I got a seat and watched the ceremony. It was nice. Devon was there too. Finally they got to the I-do’s. Here is where they were able to give their first kiss as husband and wife.


The First Kiss


Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Kunz

After the ceremony we went inside and had dinner. Following dinner they had the toasts and the cake cutting. I had some cake. I also got a chance to talk with Bill the man who Brandon said helped him get so good at softball. I spoke with Criag some more. I also talked to McCool and Harris who were there. I said hello to Jordan, Brandon’s younger brother.

After the wedding I drove to see my mom and Bill at their camping ground not far from where I was. I was there for about an hour. Then I headed home. It was a pretty quick drive.

When I got home I watched TV. I wanted to see the film from the Husky’s loss. I was watching NWCN and they said it would come up at the end of the hour. I waited for almost an hour. Then I took a quick cat nap, not on purpose, though. I fell asleep just before the sports came on and woke up just after the football part was on. So I missed it. I was not going to wait up for another hour becuase it was already four in the morning.

Hazen vs Pullman in High School Football

September 2nd, 2005

I was resolved to figure out what it would take to fix the Dexma problem today. I worked on it for the day and I finally figured out what was going on with it. I took a new direction and figured it. I was excited to tell everyone about it, but it turned out that our meeting today was cancelled so I will not be able to say anything until Tuesday.

I went to the fire station around six o’clock and worked on the rig checks. Then I saw a car pull in and it appeared the driver had a map. So I went out to greet him and give him directions. However he had someone who needed some medical attention. We brought the lady inside and started to do a size up of her. Then we called for an ambulance to come down. We had used the four-lead heart monitor. When the paramedic got there they put on a twelve-lead.

After handing off the patient to the paramedic we left on Rescue to the high school football game. The Greyhounds were beating up on Hazen pretty well. It was thirty-three to nothing after the first half. Hazen could not move the ball. The Pullman second stringers played the second half and they held Hazen to seven points. The final score was forty to seven.

After the game was over I went to my office and I got some dinner. I was just finishing up on the fries when a call came out. I drove to the scene. It was a student who needed detox. When we got to the hospital the helicopter was landing on the roof. Then I saw the lady we were dealing with there. She had refused transport to the hospital. As it turns out, however, she was being flown to Spokane. So it is a good thing she came in to the hospital.

The rest of the night was quiet and I was able to get some sleep before going to Brandon’s wedding tomorrow.

Cougar Football!!!

September 1st, 2005

Today Cougar football is back in service. It was also the first time Pullman Fire would be incharge of the EMS without WSU. After I was done working I went to Station one and we had some hamburgers and dinner.

Then I was given a ride to the football game. There were a couple detox’s during the game. I was in the East Endzone. Ryan stood by me for the game. There was nothing happening on my side but just about everyone else was busy going to calls at different places.

It was not a pretty game, but the Cougs won and started their season off on a win. You cannot complain about a win. We got back to the station and then I headed off to Colfax for going to bed.