New Deputy Coroners

July 31st, 2007

Today at the coroners meeting it was announced that Ken and Bill will be coming aboard the coroners office as new deputy coroners. Also that when Patti leaves Pete may pick up one more.

In the mean time he is going to have the new guys go out with Patti and I on cases to learn how we do things out there. I am a little nervous to have someone overlooking what I am doing, because I still feel very green when it comes to it. Granted compared to when I started I feel very good about my skills, but it seems that there is so much more that I need to know.

We had dinner at Eddys and talked about some recent cases. I went to Colfax Fire and spoke with Jenny as well as Dale from the jail for a while before I left Colfax.

Infectious Disease Training

July 30th, 2007

I was asked to cover for Chapman for a while tonight because he was going to go play with D-Twelve on their fire.

I went to the fire station to do our daily rig checks. Then down to Station one for training. It was infectious diseases.

When it was done Chapman called to have me cover the rest of the night. I went to my place. John came over and we played poker. It was small stakes dealer’s choice. I was up and could not lose for a while. It was bad for John. They we started to play the silly games, like Acey-Deucy etc. He won back some of his losses and when he called it a night at two in the morning he was up about two bucks.

Opening of My Boating Season

July 29th, 2007

It is about time! I had a day off and made plans to go to the river with my boat. Russell, Peter S, and Kevin were all coming along. I got my boat started up at the house before we even headed out. I also put the battery on the charger last night to make sure there was a full charge to it. After it was started I put the equipment I figured we would use.

Peter and Russell showed up. We went to Safeway to get water, gas, and some food. We called Kevin up and went to get him. Kevin is ten-six-seven. Very nice blue eyes and blonde hair and good looks. We got to the river and launched the boat. I found shortly after launching that there is a pretty good leak on it, so I was going to have to make sure that I kept pumping the water out. It seemed like after being out there for a little bit the leaking slowed down.

We drove toward Granite Point and then down to the dam and back past Granite Point. I was looking for a good spot to do some tubing. Finally I decided to go to the Granite Point area because compared to everything else, it looked the best. Russell was the first on the tube. I hit a big wave and Russell went flying out of the tube. The guys in the boat loved it.

I got Peter out there next and got a couple good crashes on him. Kevin also had a good wreck. He sort of racked his balls. I took Russell over to Granite Point where he went diving for lost treasures. He found a Mountain Dew and a pair of sunglasses. Peter jumped off the cliff. Then I took him over to the other side of the river where he jumped from the sixty foot cliff. That was an impressive jump.

When we were done at the river we went to Cougar Country for some dinner. I went to the fire station and then went with the guys to the training tower where we were doing some stuff with the class A foam and seeing why the foam cell was getting overfilled. It appeared water was getting pushed into it.

We found we were unable to flow foam at all. We had some hoses out and sprayed water all over the place for a while though. Following that I went home and got a couple more applications installed on my new laptop.

Physical Agility Test

July 28th, 2007

The day started off with my alarm clock ringing. I got up and got ready to help with A paramedic testing. I went down to station one and wrote to the tower in the PL. I helped to set up the physical agility course. I was taking photos of the people doing the course. Three paramedics had tested. During the physical agility test only one paramedic passed. Following the paramedic testing I went to station two. While I was there I was talking to A. Wilcox.

I heard a siren in the distance I also noticed the exhaust fan in the bay was running. That meant a call had gone out. We went into the bay to get rescue we were waiting for Bien. Gribbon showed up first and we went on the call. It was just down the road. I helped to get the ambulance into the scene. Gribbon rode to the hospital. A. Wilcox and I went to get him from the hospital and then we went back to the station. Bien and I talked about bumping people. I told him how it would work. He was okay with that.

I went home and invited Bien up for some pizza. I first mowed my lawn then put the pizza in. We watched the movie The Matador. When it was over Bien left and I hung out at the house. We didn’t get any more calls.

I spent some time working on installing applications and files on my new laptop. Once I get everything off the old laptop I am going to reformat the harddrive and reinstall Windows on it. It will have a barebones install and applications on it. I will probably only have Windows, networking software, and Tournament Director on it. I am going to use it as my downstairs computer. That way if a guest needs to get online he will have a computer to use without any of my personal stuff on it.

I got a call from Pete. Patti will be on call for the coroner tomorrow so I will be able to go to the river. This will be the first time all season that I will get my boat in the water. I am excited about that.

Rescue Pump Training

July 27th, 2007

Tonight I worked with a guy on my crew on getting him through the pump training on Rescue. He is new to everything so we are taking baby steps. He is doing a good job with what he is doing. While trying to do training we got pulled away on a couple EMS calls. We finally got back to the station and washed Rescue just before eleven o’clock.

Because I missed Rescue Me on Wednesday night I decided to watch it down at the station. Bien joined me for Rescue Me.

Final City Softball Game of the Season

July 26th, 2007

I asked and got permission to leave work early to get back to Pullman. We had our final softball games of the season tonight. We are in a situation of win and play, or lose and go home.

I hit the road and was trying to make time. I got to Pullman around five-twenty. I left Bellevue around one in the afternoon. So not too bad of a trip time. I got my uniform on and went to the playfields. We were playing against Kimmel. En route to the playfields I got a call from Pete about an industrial accident in Pullman. So I gave him some info about how to get to the scene and I told him I would call when I was done with softball.

We could not get a rally going. We scored in three innings and each inning we only scored one person. It was a dismal performance for us out there. I was disappointed. I was batting last and playing EH. So I didn’t get to do too much. In fact I didn’t really do a darn thing. My at bats were both outs.

After the game was done I got my coveralls on and went to the scene. It was at the end of Terre View Drive. I helped to process the scene, then I went to the funeral home where we examing the injuries and made our final determinations about what happened.

Following that I went to the Zuu to meet up with the team for Jersey Night. We started at My Office, but I was not able to be there because of the coroner’s case. But I met up with them at the Zuu. I got a burger and some pop. We sat around for hours. We played some quarters while people were trying to drink.

Then it was off to Val Halla. We were there until nearly one-thirty in the morning.

Winning again

July 25th, 2007

It has been a little bit since I was winning at poker. The last couple cash games I was at, I have lost. But today would be different. After getting permission to leave early tomorrow so I could make it back for softball, I got some work done on our product.

Then it was off to Eric’s condo in Bellevue for a tournament. Eight people played in it. It was a twenty dollar buy-in with rebuys for the first three rounds. I did one rebuy, but no add-on. I was in fourty bucks.

I wasn’t catching hands, and I was the short stack all night long. Even as people were going out before me, I was short stacked and the guy who would go out would bet all-in, only to lose to someone with more money so the bet could be coverd.

Over time people were starting to go out, but it took a while to see people starting to drop out. Once that happened however, it started to go pretty quick.

I was short stack, as I was all night, and I only had about three times the big blind. I was nearing my exit when the number two chip leader went all-in. I could not believe my eyes. I was hoping the chip leader would call and win allowing me to get second place. But the chip leader did not call.

I ended up going out shortly thereafter winning third place and taking home an extra twenty-two bucks on the night.

Cruising at Work

July 24th, 2007

We have been working on the sprocs, business objects, and getting the hooked up with the UI. I have been a little of everything.

I also found out that we have a softball game on Thursday so I asked if I could leave early on Thursday in order to make it back in time to play some softball. I was okayed to do that.

Speech Recognition Software Installed

July 23rd, 2007

I had my appointment the doctor’s office today. The appointment was scheduled for eleven o’clock in the morning. I got to the office about 10 minutes early and filled out the paperwork that was needed. While I was in the office I saw a Sports Illustrated magazine. That cover have a picture of Grady Sizemore. He is a ten-six-seven. I’d had not noticed that until today. I started to read the article but then I got called back to the exam room.

I sat in the exam room for almost forty-five minutes. I was getting very upset while I was sitting there. I was about ready to leave when the doctor came into the room. He looked at my ankle and gave me a set of xrays. After I got the xrays taken the doctor went over the xrays with me. It was hard to tell if there was any damage. The bones appear to be okay but there could have been a problem we were not sure. I will have to get an MRI.

I got some doughnuts on the way to work and shared it with everyone in the office. The doughnuts one over very well. I worked with Ricky to get the business objects in the store procedures completed. I was in the office until after eight o’clock tonight. On my way home I called Ryan. Today is his twenty ninth birthday. It is hard to believe that it has been almost twelve years since I met Ryan. Ryan and I first met while living in Stephenson together. Over the years or friendship has grown closer and closer. Ryan is getting married next month and I’m going to be his best man and I’m very excited about that.

When I got home I grabbed some dinner and then started working on the speech recognition software for my laptop computer. I’m getting pretty good at the speech recognition software but it is a lot of work and definitely slower than typing the stuff out myself. For the most part it is doing a very good job but I have to speak a little slower and correct about one word per sentence on average. Over although it’s a pretty good experience and as I use it more I’m sure it will get better.

My goal is by using speech recognition there will be easier for me to get my longer posts inserted into the computer as I can talk through what happened versus having that I threw everything I might you’ll get more detail into what happened.

If an arresting so far I found certain words get abbreviated such as Dr. and vs. Also numbers get written and as numbers but anyone who reads my blog knows that I don’t use numbers I spell out every number.

Renton Old Timers Picnic

July 22nd, 2007

Some of them will be up this morning around ten o’clock in the morning. I decided text Jon to see if we were going to go to the Renton old timers’ picnic. He had not gone yet so him and I run a ride together. We met up at Ron Regis park and carpooled to Lions park from there.

Cost twenty five dollars for the entry fee. I covered the cost of food and drinks. They had hot dogs, barbecued spareribs, salmon, corn on the cob, a couple kegs of beer, and a case of whiskey. There was a horseshoe tournament that Terry and Jon were participating in. They only made it one round before they were knocked out by another team.

At noon everyone gathered around the main area where the American flag was presented. We were led by the oldest member of the Renton old timers’ and saying the pledge of allegiance. After the pledge, the president of the Renton old timers’ club and other executives members started draw ticket stubs for winners for the whiskey.

Anybody who won a bottle of whiskey would be cheered on to open up the bottle take a swig and pass it around. There were people of all ages people as young as in their twenties all way to people in their eighties. They went through twelve bottles of whiskey. I did not end up winning a bottle of whiskey although my number was one off. After the whisky was given out we went to get some food. I had a couple spareribs and I had already had a couple of hot dogs.

As soon as most people were done eating we all started lining up around the four-five-six table. I only had brought out sixty dollars with me. I did okay for a couple rounds and then it was my turn to be the banker. I risked all the money I had which was sixty dollars. I rolled a three. The first guy to my left had tapped me. He rolled a natural and beat me.

Jon asked me if I wanted to make a withdrawal from the bank of Jon. I told him know I did not and I watched him roll the dice for a while. Finally I did get some money and I played on the same table as Jon. I was winning money pretty well at this table. After a few minutes of playing I was able to pay back Jon the loan I had taken. We were at the party until about five-thirty.

We had consolidated the two different tables on to one. Jon was on fire, he could not lose a roll. As I watched join at the end of the night his stack of money was growing and growing and growing.

There was one younger guy there. He had blue eyes, and was a ten-six-seven. He seemed very nice and dressed well. Maybe next year I will get a chance to chat with him.

After we got back to Jon’s vehicle we spent some time counting his winnings. He had won over eighteen hundred dollars. A stack of dollars was almost an inch and a half thick.

I was very tired from not having a lot of sleep between last night and today. I still stayed up for several hours watching the Simpsons marathon before I went to bed.

Ride Along with Joe

July 21st, 2007

I was able to sleep in pretty well. When I got up I did some stuff on my computer for a while waiting until it was time to head to Bellingham. I took a small nap and then hit the road.

Traffic was light going up. I got up there and picked up Joe. We went to Apple Bees for dinner. We talked about Joe’s new phone and computers.

Then it was back to Joe’s. I played with Doug’s new kitties as Joe got ready. He came down stairs and played with the kitties. Then we hit the road. We started by going to the office where Joe did some paperwork. Then it was off to saving Whatcom county. It was a pretty quiet night for us.

We stopped by the dispatch center where I had a chance to see it and talk to Doug. I got some pop and they gave me a sticker that said Junior Deputy. I wore that for the rest of the night.

We ended up getting a drunk. While at the SO doing the processing of the drunk I noticed one of the jailers was ten-six-seven. I had seen him there before. There was also a Bellingham cop who was there and was also a ten-six-seven. That was really the majority of the night. We made a couple calls for service that were not too major. We went to one car accident that wasn’t much of one. A drunk ran off the road. Finally we found her and got her arrested. The State Patrol took that one.

After Joe’s drunk at the SO, he was going to have to do paperwork and it was near three in the morning so I decided to call it a night. Sort of a slow night, but it is fun to hang out with Joe. The drive home was uneventful as I stayed awake easily the whole way.

There have been times in the past where I was having a hard time staying awake.

Staying up Late for Joe

July 20th, 2007

I am doing a ride along with Joe tomorrow so I wanted to stay up really late tonight so I can be prepared for staying up late tomorrow. The last few days I have been going to bed pretty early by my normal standards.

After waiting around for hours of waiting around the house I finally went out the door and headed down to Diamond Lil’s. I was going to play poker to the wee hours of the morning in order to not be tired tomorrow for my ride along.

It took awhile before I got to sit at a table. There were a lot of people there. Finally I found a table to sit at. I was playing very conservative. Finally I found a hand and I moved. I made bets and raises. One guy said that I had been quiet for a long time and now that I was betting he knew I was playing a good hand. he was giving me respect. Two other stayed in. I had the nut straight, ace-high on the flop. As it turned out one other guy got the same one.

So I ended up splitting the pot with him and only taking some money from one guy. I guess that is better than what could have happened.

I came close to busting out totally, but I caught some all-in moments and crawled back. I did walk out down about forty, but I had been down a lot more for a while. I made it home around four in the morning which was the goal, anyway.

Chatting with Dave

July 19th, 2007

Tonight I spent a while on the phone talking with Dave. Seeing how things were going for him. He has been working on becoming a plumber. That is good for him. His parents are letting him live at home while he made it back to his feet. We haven’t done anything in a while, but it will be good to see him soon.

Back on the Wet Side

July 18th, 2007

I am working on being in Seattle for the next nine days. That means pretty much doing nothing but working and watching TV.

Tonight that was okay, because Rescue Me was on tonight. I got a chance to watch that. Plus Jon dropped off my new Microsoft software for my new laptop.

The boys came with him so I played around with them while they were there. They always like to attack me so I get them back.

Got my Parking Permit

July 17th, 2007

I had missed the deadline for renewing my Orange parking permit. There is a waiting list to get one. Usually it takes a couple years to work your way up the list. When I saw I missed the deadline I was so mad.

I talked to them a couple days ago, and I was told that today I could buy a permit online and put my name back on the waiting list, but due to my priority points I would probably be high up on the list, but that still might mean I have to wait a year.

I went online and to my surprise the permit I wanted was available. I was able to buy it right then. That made me feel a lot better.

Fatal Car Wreck

July 16th, 2007

They are not happening like they use to, but we still get them from time to time. We got another one today. I was listening to my scanner when Colfax got dispatched out to it. While I was listening to the updates it because clear it was a fatal wreck.

I spoke with Pete who told me to take the case. I let Whitcom know and I got en route to the scene. On the way I heard Colfax fire saying they wanted water brought out. So I stopped at the fire station on my way through town to take the stuff out there. While going there I heard that three birds were brought in for the survivors.

I investigated the scene and did my report. I did not get home until pretty late after making my phone calls and writing my report.

I had to get home and get to bed, I was not going to be getting a lot of sleep. While I was in bed, I got two phone calls after midnight by people who know I normally stay up late, but due to having to be up early I was actually sleeping this time.

Day Two of the Tournament

July 15th, 2007

We started out the day sitting on top of the standings. All we had to do was win two games and we were going to be the champs. I spent a fair amount of the day hanging at the field watching My Office play their games.

They way they were playing it looked like we would be playing against them for the championship. After they won out, we ended up playing them. But we had been sitting for a couple hours and they were already warm. We went out there and hit really poorly. We also could not field the ball as they got solid basehits.

They went on to beat us. Then we were in a pinch because Misty had to leave shortly after the second game started. We were hoping to get the game going right away, but the umpire wanted to use the break we were suppose to have. So we finally got going on the second game. Misty had to leave about three innings into the game.

Our women did not hit very well. But we finally had a decent inning and caught up to My Office in the top of the seventh inning. We tied up the game. But we were not able to make the quick outs on them. They were able to get the bases loaded. Then one of their people hit to Matt at shortstop. He made a good diving play, but the throw home and the catch were a little offline and we lost by the run that scored.

We took our second place trophy and went to Cougar Country to celebrate it and have some dinner.

Post Season Tournament

July 14th, 2007

When I woke up early this morning it was time to go play some softball. I got my uniform on and headed down to the playing fields. We had a rough ending to the regular season and this was our chance to redeem ourselves. It’s the post season tournament for the Cougar Country coed softball team. This season we have been a very strong team beating most of the competition we have faced.

Our first game we went out and killed the other team. Our defense was good our offense was good. Due to the victory we had a very long wait till our next game. Some people left to get lunch some people on around the field, I hung around the field.

We were playing pretty well over all. We were in the lead in each game. I had a chance for an inside the park homerun in a game, but the third base coach didn’t tell me to go. So when I turned and looked, after I stopped of course, I saw I could have made it. Later I hit a popup behind second base. I rounded first base. I saw no one was around second so I kept going. But the pitcher ran to second. I had to slide. I did. But I was still called out. That sucked. My chapstick in my back pocket broke open making a small mess.

We ended the day undefeated for the day. We go into tomorrow and with a couple victories we will be the post-season champions.

Ryan B is Moving to Hawaii

July 13th, 2007

I was the debating on going to Colfax today. Around five o’clock PM, I got a phone call from Joe who said that Ryan and his new wife were having a get together for the friends down a Pete’s Bar and Grill. I was told and Joe and Michael B we’re both going down as well as a couple other guys from the softball team. Food and beer was being served to everybody there. Ryan had bought keg and was barbecuing hamburgers and hot dogs. Joe said everyone was getting there around five-thirty.

I got down to Pete’s Bar and Grill at the time everybody was gonna get there. Michael B was already there and ordering himself a drink, Joe showed up shortly thereafter. We went out on the patio and hung out with Ryan and his new wife and his friends. Dan showed up about an hour later to be with us. I went into the bar and got him a glass of beer. We talked softball and relationships for the next couple hours.

As it was getting dark we went inside the bar and hung out some more waiting for Ryan’s wife to get the video. They had a video of their wedding ceremony from Hawaii. It took a couple hours to get it from the computer with finally was ready to be shown. We went into the restaurant portion of Pete’s Bar and Grill. The video was about 10 minutes long and it was really good. Ryan look happy to be getting married a little on the nervous side. While at the bar he been drinking most the day and was very drunk. He was passed out in the back of the car and Joe and I went to get him to watch the video.

After the video was over everyone was getting ready to go their own way. Ryan and his wife are moving to Hawaii. This is one of the last times we will the chance to see them. As each person was leaving we gave Ryan a hug and his wife of a hug.

I had a good day I was glad I did not go to Colfax. I had planned on working at the jail but this call came in shortly before I was going to leave. I had a good time hanging out with Ryan and Dan and Michael B and Joe.

I was going to have to get up early in the morning so I was not able to stay out as late as everybody else. I went home around midnight and went to bed

Records Not Broken

July 12th, 2007

Tonight the records were supposed to fall, however, when the other team could not come up with enough players to fill the team, we would end up getting a FFT. That sucked because Michael B, Bill, and I were all up for records to be broken. I needed one walk to tie Skyler. That was my goal. I did not want to beat the record because it has been around for so long.

Michael B really wanted the doubles record. I was going for that one too. He needed one to break it, and I needed two. We gave Michael B so much ribbing after not getting that record. We went to My Office to hang out for a while.

I was disappointed because I hate getting ready to play softball only to have it cancelled. I took some photos of the guys. Michael B was upset that he was not able to get his record. He said “that is gay” in reference to the other team not being there. Then he looked at me and said no offense. So he must know, but if he does that was the first indication that he knows. Only a small number of guys actually know, and those who do never make an issue out of it.

We went down to My Office and had some food and just hung out. Some of the guys got some beer and drank. I had my typical pop. I went home and worked on the website after the bar to get it completed and uploaded.

Rescue Me Night with Friends

July 11th, 2007

I took my truck to the Dodge dealer this morning. While it was in the shop the water pump went out and sprayed all over the engine compartment. So they are going to have to keep it over night to work on it. I went home and put the Toyota on the charger to get the batter charged up and ready to use for the day.

Tonight is Rescue Me and I invited some people over to watch it. Russell also invited me over for dinner. I went over Beren and Denise were there. We had sloppy joes. Then we went to my place to play Spades and watch Rescue Me. Keith also came over to watch it.

Turns out the Chief who appeared to commit suicide last episode actually did kill himself. So he is off the show for sure. I figured that they were going to find a way for him to come back to the station. But the writers wanted to show the “young firefighters” what they had coming if they did not think about the path they are taking in their lives.

After the show we finished up the game of Spades. Denise and I ended up losing to Russell and Beren. They had to take off around midnight night, when we were finishing our game, so that was it for the evening. I also wanted to get to bed early so I could be up and ready for the meeting with some of the union guy at the fire station to talk about the Association that I am working on putting together.

It Ain’t Over Yet

July 10th, 2007

Though softball season is getting towards the end of the season, it ain’t over yet. We have tonight and one more game on Thursday before the regular season is over. I got a call from Joe about going to the bar before the game. I decided to make my way down there.

While we were sitting around talking Michael B said that he was only one double away from tying the record. I didn’t know he had been sneaking up on my doubles record goal. So now we have a fun little competition going on.

In the game Michael B hit a double which put him in a tie for the double record. I also got a double which put me one away from tying the record. I also got one walk to come within one walk from tying the record that has been on the book for seven years. I could have gotten a second walk, but I decided against it when the pitch was close.

The team went on to win the game by tweleve runs in the sixth inning. We went back to My Office. I got some dinner and pop. We hung out there for a couple hours. Then it was off to The ZUU. Nick, Michael B, Bill, and I went there. Brandon and Peter showed up. Joe was there working.

We were there for a couple hours. I had another pitcher of pop. I went home around midnight. I had to be up and take my truck into the shop in the morning to get worked on and I wanted to make sure it was there on time.

Another Job

July 9th, 2007

Just what I needed, another job. This one is a part-time on-call basis gig with a local nursing home. My job will be to run patients from the hospital to the nursing home or visa versa. It will only be non-emergency runs. A way to save money from using an ambulance. I will get paid fifty bucks a trip. Not too bad.

While I was talking with the guy today, he asked if I have a good driving record. He asked if I was a safe driver. I smiled and said I have a good driving record.

For fire training tonight we were doing wildland operations. We used the tools for wildland line construction as well as hoselines from Rescue in order to practice pumping operations. We spent some time working the hillside behind the station.

Then we had a short break and went back out with a scenario. I was Command. Bien was the engineer. The other guys were there helping. We had two fronts on the fire. We had two crews out working it. It was a pretty laid back exercise. When it was done and we put all our stuff away, we went down to the Deuce.

I spoke for a while with Bien about the way we do our duty nights. Currently it is assigned by rig and whomever drivers on whatever call. Bien wants it where the driver remains as such for the whole night. I am going to chat with the other guys and see what their thoughts are. If that is the way they want it as well we will move to that method. I think that made him feel a little better.

Last Coed Regular Season Game of the Summer

July 8th, 2007

After finally waking up I spent most of the day just watching some TV, doing the laundry, and dishes. I was on the phone with Chapman when a call came out for a sick person. I told him I would come down for it. I got into my uniform and away I went to the station.

We headed out to the scene. The call lasted less than an hour. Back at the station I got tied up on the computer and showing Chapman a photo. I got home in time to quickly change and race to the fields. I was just getting home when I would normally like to be at the fields.

Kelly was giving me crap about driving fast. He said if he were in his patrol car he would have pulled me over. I told him if he was in his patrol car I wouldn’t have been doing it.

The game did not turn out too well. We were playing Zeppoz and could not hit the ball very well. It was strange playing against a lot of the guys I play softball with normally. To not root them on was strange. Steve, who got tossed last week, couldn’t play. Last week someone on the team said the umpired sucked so he threw Steve out, because Steve was the acting captain.

When I did the toss today I was told if Steve steps on the field today he would be thrown again, and I would be thrown as well. So I called up Peter and he came down to play. He showed up while we were in the field and went straight to the outfield. He played very well for us making a lot of outs.

We still ended up losing the game after only scoring three runs. After the game I went to Cougar Country with the rest of the team. We ate and talked softball. We have the end of the season tournament coming up next weekend.

I got home to finish up my laundry and caught a couple TV shows before calling it a night.

A lucky day?

July 7th, 2007

With the date being seven/seven/seven people thought it was going to be a lucky day. I wouldn’t say it was a lucky day for me, but it was a good day and I didn’t get struck by lightning, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Starting out this morning with golf was fun. I was running late getting down to Colfax. I was pulling into the parking lot as the group was heading out to the first tee. But we had two groups and I was able to get part of the second group. I was playing with Carl, Brian, and Diane. My first tee off was very nice. But the day was about normal for my kind of golf. I got a one-thirteen on the eighteen holes. I actually did worse my second time through.

I won a prize for hitting the most trees during my round. I didn’t realize how many times I hit trees, but I counted and I hit about seven per round. That is nearly one per hole on average.

After the golfing it was off to Colfax Fire. I hung out with Ken for a while watching some TV and having lunch. We were watching Mythbusters. Around four I had to leave to get back to Pullman to be on call here. I told Ken that I was done keeping it quiet for him. I was going to be heading out.

When I got home I heard Colfax get dispatched out to a car vs motorcycle accident. That had to have been dispatched shortly after I left. I really was keeping it quiet.

I got cleaned up and went to the station for rig checks. We were talking about Rescue and being a driver. A. Wilcox asked if he could ever go on the ambulance and not be the drive all the time. I told him that because of the fact he doesn’t have all the Rescue training he shouldn’t be the driver at all.

We then went out and did some training at the tower with setting up the rig, putting water on the fire, doing pump and roll attacks and other such scenarios. We did a good two hours of training.

Afterwards Bien bought the ice cream he owed for getting into the newspaper. We went to Dissmores to get that. Back at the station we had some cake and ice cream. I went to Peter’s afterwards for poker. I was not doing too well. I had one big win, then I had a big loss where I tried to push someone off a hand when mine was weaker. But he did not get off his hand and ended up beating me. I re-bought a couple times. I was sort of up and down on my third buy-in.

When the tones went off for a call. I quickly went all-in and Kevin called me. I ended up winning that all in and left. I was only down two bucks on the night after that point. I had the best hand after the flop and took it to the river as the winner.

I went on the call followed by a second call just as the movie Desperado was starting. I was hoping to watch to the scene where the bar is shot up. But I got called out to a second call at the very beginning of the movie. That was it for calls. I went to bed around three in the morning.

No Poker Game

July 6th, 2007

I spent time working on getting the CardSpace to do a password and CardSpace without typing in the user name. What I am finding is my Vista box is running really, really slow via Remote Desktop. I have not found anything about fixing that. It is to the point I cannot work very well. I think I will have to bring it here to work locally on it. I am not sure what I can do, but I cannot get real work done with how slow it is going.

I went shopping today and got a bunch of stuff. I have needed to get out there for a long time but I have been putting it off. Finally today I made my way to Safeway. I got everything unloaded and put away.

Andy showed up for poker but it did not turn into a game because no one showed up. We sat around talking for about an hour and a half. He left and I made some hamburgers on the grill. It is so nice to have the grill.

This is a pretty laid back day, without a lot of things going on. I am going to go golfing in the morning. So I will get to bed early tonight.

First Coroners Meeting this Summer

July 5th, 2007

I had to get several things done today. I needed to cash some checks. Put money from one bank to another to pay for the laptop computer. I also planned on getting the license for my boat today.

But around one in the afternoon a call came out for a tree on fire. I wasn’t going to go, but when they asked for Rescue I went to the station to find it was not even there. Bien came down and we went to the scene. We took the old Rescue. It was a pretty good sized grass fire.

It was pretty much out when we got there. But we helped with some of the overhaul. Then we helped get one of the engines back in service.

After that call I got cleaned up and did my bank runs followed by a trip to Colfax. After the licensing of my boat I went to the jail. I was there for a few minutes when a call for the fire department went out. I ran over and got in with Ken in the engine. We did not transport. I was back at the station hanging out until it was time for dinner.

I grabbed some food and went to the coroners office for our first meeting in a couple months. It was Patti’s last regular meeting as she is moving to Spokane. It was not be the same without her around. I am now going to be the senior Deputy Coroner. Pete is planning on hiring two or maybe three people. We talked about the people on the list. We gave the pros and cons of the people on the list that we knew. Pete is going to work on the decision for the final hirings.

I then went back to Pullman. My ankle was killing me and I was thinking about not responding, but I decided that I was not going to be a whimp. I did wrap it and ice it. That really helped. After about a half hour of that the pain was nearly gone.

I went to bed around midnight. The tones went off for a motorcycle accident on SR one-ninety-four. I talked to a deputy on the scene and he said he just happened on the accident. He was doing something else and he just found the motorcycle laying there and it was one fire and someone was sitting there. That was our only call of the night.

Happy Birthday America!

July 4th, 2007

The fourth is a great time. I love fireworks and I love the time in the park. I still think back to the old tradition of going to Ocean Shores with the gang. We would stay down at this camp ground and we would light off fireworks and party all the time. We would drive on the beach and just have a great time. I still remember my first time there. We were staying at a state camp ground. When I showed up the Confederate flag was flying. One of the guys came up to me and said that he made sure it was put right side up. Making sure the star in the center right side up. Dave and I would always drive down the beach just after dark and helped to pull people out stuck in the sand. That was our good deed of the day we did each day out there.

Over the years the group had split up and the Oceans Shores trips are no longer. But now I go to Sunnyside Park with the fire department. We show off the fire engines. Wilcox and I went on a call together before it was time to get ready to head to the fire station for the show.

I drove the ambulance up to the park again this year. When we got up there we set everything up. Then people started to show up. We helped them try on the gear. Took photos of everyone. I climbed the ladder and got some photos of the park and the area.

A couple people I knew came down and got in the gear included Andy the poker player I met through Mike. BKoe was working for the parks department, but he stopped by to try on the stuff. Dan’s wife, Denise stopped by.

I helped a couple people on EMS things, but both were minor injuries. While I was going to one I saw Juan from Colfax. I have not seen him in a long time. But I walked by him. We made eye contact and I wanted to stay and talk to him, but I had to go and help someone who needed EMS help. When I got back he was gone. So I ended up calling him to say hello and let him know that I was sorry for missing him. I think I will invite him over to watch a movie again. He is a very nice guy.

The day went off very well. We got out of there just after eleven o’clock and got all the rigs back in service. It is weird that I have to work in the morning. It feels like I should have another day off. In the future I need to take the day after the fourth off.

Done in Bellevue

July 3rd, 2007

I got new tires on my truck for the front to go with the ones I got for the back a few weeks ago. Shawn, Ricky, and I ate lunch while waiting for my tires to get completed. Once we were done with lunch it was off to get my truck followed by going back to work. I was working on getting the passcards to work with the forms authentication. It took a while for it to work as I had to iron out a bunch of different issues from dealing with Vista to client certificates.

But it was around seven o’clock pm when I got it to work. I was pretty excited. I am going to set it up now that it will take a password and a passcard to allow for a log in. Something you have, and something you know.

I then hit the road for my trip back to Pullman. It was a nice relaxing trip. The M’s game was over and they lost to Kansas City, so that was not an option for listening.

When I got home I spent some time getting my e-mails combed through, moved all the files I downloaded from my laptop to the external drive. I made it to bed around two o’clock in the morning.

Got a New Laptop

July 2nd, 2007

After spending time with my P-III – Eight hundred laptop for several years and how slow it is these days, I finally decided that it was time to upgrade. I have been wanting to do it for a while but I never wanted to spend the money while the other laptop worked. But for the last two days I have been scouring the web looking for deals and a good laptop. I went from not wanting to spend a lot of money and get something that was middle of the road laptop to wanting to spend around fifteen hundred and getting a real good one. Then I would go back and forth on that for while.

Finally I found one and speced it out. I was at just over a grand. I was happy with it. More than I wanted to spend, but less that I was going to spend. I did a lot of research on the duel core chips. Finally I was ready to pull the trigger when I found one on the Dell Outlet site that was a nice system, had nearly everything I really wanted and it was only a couple hundred more. At that point I decided that was the one I was going to get.

So after doing a little bit more looking I decided to buy it. Because the system is already built I should get it by the tenth. I am looking forward to that. I also am going to get the brand new Office Ultimate and Vista Ultimate. I have been using Vista lately on my newest desktop at work. I now have three machines. Two dev boxes. One with Vista and one with ought-three Web Server. I have been reading up on some of the new Vista stuff. I am excited to use some of these new features. I am not sure how much I will like Office at first. It is a lot different with the menus, GUI, and other layouts, but I hear people really like it after using it for a while. I am going to jump in feet first and get use to it.

Day Two of the Emerald City Classic

July 1st, 2007

We had our first game at ten in the morning again. So I was up at the field at nine in the morning for warm ups. We were in the rec C-division. It is a single elimination tournament from here out. We lose we go home. Our first game was against another Seattle team.

We should have really beat them down, but we allowed them to scored eleven runs in one inning which game them a huge boost. But we battled back and ended up beating them by a couple runs. We then went to play Chicago.

They scored early and often against us. We could not get runs going. We had a play at second base where our guy was running to second. Their shortstop was in the way and they collided. The short stop was down for a minute. Then he got up. Later in the game he was hurting bad and was having a hard time breathing.

I had hit a ball to the new shortstop. He made a throw across the diamond. I ran out the ball and was safe. When I got to first I looked over and he was on the ground being helped by a couple EMT’s. Then an ambulance came and took him to the hospital. We ended up losing.

On the way to Red Robin to have some lunch with the team I had a message from my mom. She said that Hargrove quit the M’s. That was a shock with the M’s on a seven game win streak and being four games out of first place.

When we were done eating we were sitting around the table talking. I remember something I just learned about the diameter of the opening of a glass compared to its height. That it is usually quite a bit larger. So I was showing everyone. I ended up putting the glass on top of a container with the packets of sugar, plus a cell phone. I measured it out and the mouth opening was still bigger. Then the glass fell from about three inches off the table and actually broke. Everyone was laughing.

When the food was done I went to Best Buy and got some CD-R’s that do lightscribe for my new burner. I went home and watched the M’s game. It was Hargroves last game. The M’s won again.