Another Year in the Books

December 31st, 2007

Wilson and I were planning on responding on calls today. When one came out, the Rescue was out of service, so we didn’t get to go anyway. The Rescue came back in service around five in the evening. So I didn’t get to play today.

I worked on my table saw. I want to get a new blade for it. So I was going to have to get the old one off of it. I got some stuff to help loose the bolt because when I looked at it, it appeared to be pretty gunked up. I worked on the bolt for about twenty minutes before I was able to get it off. It turned out that Pullman Building Supply was closed. I wasn’t able to get a new blade anyway.

I spent part of the day messing around on the computer. Some of the day was spent watching some TV shows. I feel like there are a lot of things I want to get done. I am at a point where I wanted to work on my big project involving the reserve website but the problem is I didn’t want to waste this day away just doing that.

The new years eve parties only come once a year and I wanted to partake in at least one. Doug said he was working at The Zuu. So I decided to go there. Mark was there and we spent most of the time I was there talking. Peter showed up for a while. He blind sided me with a new years kiss on the cheek. I saw Catlin there. His girl is the one who I always buy my pop from down at the Tesoro.

While at The Zuu I noticed the DJ. He was a ten-six-seven. I watched him for a while. Then I found out that Peter knew him, so I asked Peter what his name was. I also saw this other ten-six-seven. He was an all around hottie. He had the ski-jump style nose, a nice trimmed patch of hair under his chin. He was the boy next door type. I just enjoyed the view as I was standing there talking to people.

I left around one in the morning.

The End of an Era

December 30th, 2007

Ken the Fireman M is no longer. He has taken a job as a pastor at his church. He is giving up firefighting as a full-time career. He said he knees just cannot take it anymore. So, as he said, God has shown him the light to his new career.

I wanted to hang out with Ken on his last day. I have spent many hours in the last five years sitting at the fire station with Ken. I was at home when I heard Ken tone out a transfer. I called him and let him know that I was going to come down there and if there was not a crew that showed up, that I would be there shortly.

As it turned out I was needed. So I met up with the ambulance on scene. It turned out to be a mental patient. So that added a bunch of fun as I had to deal with someone who was not very happy that I was around. The mental health worker was able to help us out.

While I was writing my report at the hospital, David, one of the EMT’s had to get his wife. So he got a ride to my truck and drove my truck to the fire station. He then got his car and picked up his wife.

The hospital staff got what they needed and said we could take her back. So we called David and he came back to the hospital to help us give her a ride back to her residence.

Following the transfers it was time to go back to the station. I said hello to Ken and then went to Rosauers. I was going to get a cake for us to have. I was going to have it say “Happy Birthday Ken 3.0”. That was in relation to the fact he was military, then fire, and now a pastor. So this is his third iteration of a career path. He thought that was cool.

But do to the transfer call I wasn’t able to get the cake. Instead I got him and I some ice cream to share. I stayed at the fire station until around nine o’clock PM. We didn’t get any other calls while I was at the fire station.

We watched some football on TV and I worked on getting my reports completed from the transfers.

Playing Pool with BKoe

December 29th, 2007

I met up with Russell this afternoon. I wanted him to read my Town Crier III column. He read it and really liked it. So I was pretty happy about that. I wasn’t sure if it was going to make sense or be worth printing. It is sort of a fluffy crappy one, but it is the first one of the new year and I don’t want to do anything too outlandish yet.

Russell and I decided to go see Charlie Wilson’s War. We both liked the movie. Russell always gets more philosophical and tries to relate thing they are doing in the movie to real life. I prefer to leave it as a story. I don’t try to find the hidden messages.

When it was done I gave Russell a ride to someones condo. I texted Brandon and we decided to go to The Zuu. We played some pool with Kevin who was already up there. Peter was up there as well. I also saw Doug.

There was talk about setting up a poker game at my place, but that fell through quiet rapidly. Brandon and I stayed there until the bar was closed and we were kicked out. We were talking about his chances of being a police officer. We were also talking about guns and concealed carry issues. It was a nice conversation with Brandon. It was great to get a chance to just hang out with him.

Hanging with Mike D

December 28th, 2007

Today was the final day of the men’s basketball pre-Pac-Ten games. It was a pretty easy victory for the men. I worked it with Nick. I spent a fair amount of the time talking to the WSU cops. We first talked about a recent death that took place on campus. It was a pretty tragic thing.

Later on I was just chatting with a couple other ones about Colfax PD. One of them was a Colfax cop for a while.

Towards the end of the game the Cougar starters were all on the bench to make way for the young guys to get play time. They got a lot of it today.

I got a text message from Mike D. He was in town for the basketball game. He asked if I was interested in going to Pete’s for Wiley’s. I was on call for the Coroner so I could not drink, but I wanted to see Mike. It has been a while. He now lives in Montana.

I drove down there in the Bumblebee when I saw that Pete’s was closed. Soon I saw three people walking down the road including Mike. He had two girls with him and that all had Wiley glasses. We ended up going to Rico’s. I saw Johnson there. I gave him a howdy.

Then I was introduced to a guy named Nick. He was blue eyed and ten-six-seven. I also got some non-weedeater-owning vibes from him. Mike, the girls, and I went up stairs and played some pool. Soon Nick and the girl he was with joined us. At first I was thinking that he was her boyfriend. Later I found out he is not her boyfriend.

Peter and Kevin showed up. We were messing around texting each other. We were making some sort-of inside jokes about Nick being gay. Or really we were insinuating that he was gay. The thing about him was he was flamboyant and he was cocky at the same time. He was beating me in pool and we were really crap talking each other. I was doing it all in fun.

As the night was winding down and we were getting ready to go he was asking me some honest questions about buying or renting houses. I was trying to give him some good information. But with his intoxication level I was thinking at best he was going getting sound bites. He did let me know where he worked. I might poke my head in there someday. I am going to not write it in here as I don’t want to give away who I am talking about here.

Coroner Christmas Party

December 27th, 2007

This afternoon we had our Coroner’s Christmas Party. We had a normal meeting but Pete brought in food for us to chow on during the meeting. I brought in the large car crash collage that I was putting together some time ago. While it sat in my room I got so use to it, that when I took it out of here coming into my office, there was a huge missing item. The wall looks so white in that area now.

Pete and the others really liked it. I was happy about that. Everyone looked at it, and we talked about all the cases involved with each one.

We just spent time talking about random stuff and make our schedules. It was a good time there. When it was over with I went back to Pullman. I was on call tonight, but turned out to be dead again tonight. It has been really quiet during the evenings here.

Take the long way home

December 26th, 2007

The only real plans for the day was to head back to Pullman. I got my stuff packed and loaded into my truck. I had to make a couple phone calls about the insurance coverage from my surgery as well, but that was something I would do on my way to Pullman.

I hit the road. I knew they pass conditions where not great, but not bad either. I was told that the state patrol was holding up traffic near mile post forty-seven to check for chains or four-wheel drive vehicle. That caused nearly a SIX MILE BACKUP! It was stop and go for a great length of time.

Well the urge to relieve myself of liquids was great. I saw mile post forty-two coming up and Tinkham road was there. I worked my way over and took the exit. I was dismayed when I saw the exit was crawling with people participating in recreational activities.

I went up this road. I was pretty sure it would end at I-Ninety near the police road block. That would cut out about five miles of traffic. I also figured I would find a place to go pee. The problem that I ran into was that the snow was really deep on the side of the road. There were two tracks where peoples’ tires drive.

In front of me was a car and a truck. The car was starting to have problems. The guy stopped and came back to talk with me and the guy in the truck. Finally it was decided that he could not continue up the hill. So without a place to move out of the way, we would have to back out of there. I wasn’t worried about that. But I wanted to go forward not backwards, and I still needed to go to the bathroom.

After backing a short period of time I thought I saw a spot I could pull over. But what happened was instead I got stuck in deep snow. I was mad because I was stuck. I was also worried because I was stuck. The people above me could not get around me either. So they stopped and assisted me in getting un-stuck.

While we were digging the truck out, I said, “just a second, I need to go look at something”. I jumped a small stream and ran up a hill. I was finally able to relieve myself. I got back a little more relaxed. It took a bit more digging to actually get the truck out. I had some people in the back to give more weight over the back axle.

We continued down, but now vehicles were partly in the roadway. That caused me to move wide, and I got stuck again. After I got stuck, one of the guys came down from where he was and moved his truck, that didn’t do me any good. But some people helped me get out.

I got back on I-ninety and continued my slow process of getting over the mountain. Once across the mountain, it had been nearly three hours to get from Seattle to Ellensburg. Some of that was the time getting stuck.

The roads were now bare and dry. I was able to fly. I made up for lost time. When I got to Whitman county the roads looked wet. I was not sure if it was icy, or if it was the chemical that is put on the road to stop from freezing. I drove with caution.

But around milepost one-twenty-six on SR Twenty-Six the roads were icy. I slowed down. A truck I had been following all the way in lost control on a corner. She swerved back and forth across both lanes. She was lucky no one was coming. She lost control because as we rounded a corner someone else had gone off into a ditch.

She hit her brakes and started to lose control. I thought she was going to hit the other vehicle. But instead she missed it and just went on to the opposite shoulder of the road. No injuries in either situation. I continued on. I saw one other vehicle that had gone off the road. I called in both on my radio. I let Whitcom know that we had three cars off the road within one mile. I said the road conditions were really bad.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out there. But no calls came in while I was there. I was hoping for something. Tim was working and Bryson was on for the police. They gave me a hard time about not stopping to take care of the slide offs. I laughed and said that had I done that I would have probably be run over due to the bad road conditions and the fact I had no warning devices to allow the other drivers to know of the danger.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

December 25th, 2007

I spent a fair amount of time sending out messages to friends on MySpace and via text messages wishing people a Merry Christmas.

When I got up my Mom had breakfast ready to go. We ate then went in to open presents. I made out really well. I got pretty much everything that I asked for on my list. I got a power router (the tool not network device), a chainsaw to go with the Ryobi tool set I have, some three ring binders and dividers, a Jeff Foxworthy Redneck calendar, an ought-seven proof set with the presidential coins, and a WSU t-shirt.

I started to look into the proof sets I have. I didn’t get them for a couple years. So I went online to re-order the missing sets. I also found out one set I have is worth about one-hundred and seventy five buck. I am not sure what makes it so valuable, but it is at a crazy level.

Bill went to pick up his dad to bring him back for Christmas Dinner. While he was gone it started to snow. We had a brief white Christmas. The weather reporter earlier had reported that there have been about five white Christmases in the last one hundred years. So they are rare. It snowed enough to cover the ground, but the roads were left untouched for the most part.

It was a nice Christmas with the family.

Christmas Eve with the Extended Family

December 24th, 2007

The commute in today was fantastic. I was able to fly in. It was to the point I could have gotten a speeding ticket. I made it to work in record time. We were told we could cut out two hour early today. But I planned on being there until after five because that is when the party at Jon’s started.

When I left work I went to Safeway and got a HomeDepot card for Bill. I looked at the GPS units at Staple’s one more time. Then I went to fuel up the truck at Safeway.

I hit the road and went to Jon’s. Dinner was served shortly after I arrived. It was Chinese food this year. I ate at the table with all the young kids. I had fun as there was a Husky fan with the rest of us Cougar fans.

When it came time to open presents, Jon gave me my birthday presents. I got Windows Home Server and a WSU T-shirt. Jon was showing me Windows Home Server and how it works. I am excited to get it set up at my place. Now I just need another P-IV computer.

Online Comments

December 23rd, 2007

I got an e-mail today from someone who was a professor of mine. I related a story about something that happened several year ago. However, he doesn’t remember it happening at all. So he got very upset about the comments that I made. I wasn’t trying to degrade him.

During the course of our e-mail exchanges I pointed out that I never referred to him as being homosexual, one of the charges he leveled at me. After he re-read what I wrote he saw that was the case. Then I also tried to talk to him about the other incident. He swears that it didn’t happen about gay marriage. That event in question took place about gun rights.

I asked him if he remembered the paper I wrote about gay marriage and the photos he found objectionable. He said he didn’t remember that. So not remember that, it is possible for him to not remember that we also had a discussion. I am not going to push the issue. He has threatened to sue me for slander. I have no idea what the level of his burden is to prove that it happened nor what my level of burden is to prove it didn’t happen. But I would think that it would be easier for him to prove that I harmed him. I don’t have a specific date that I can point to. No witnesses were present that I know of. So it is my word against his.

The bottom line it is that it was not a big deal to me, but others are seeming to make it into a big deal. Due to that, I just want it to go away. I meant no harm in the comments that have come from them. So I sent him an apology.

Maybe some time down the road when this is water under the bridge I can show him my paper and talk to him again. It may jog his memory. I just wish he would remember that event.

In other news I did the last Christmas Cruise of the year. We went to Lake Union. One stop was Gasworks Park. One more was just out of the Mountlake Cut. That was so packed with boats and the wind was blowing enough that no one was able to sit still. Boats were constantly moving about. The second show at Gasworks was much better as far as elbow room went. We really didn’t do a while bunch other than help clear the way for the ship as it moved about.

National Treasure Part two

December 22nd, 2007

I went to see National Treasure down in Renton on the East Valley Highway. I have been going to that theatre since it opened. For a while I have had some really rude experiences at the hands of other customers. Many times I would hear people talking through out the movie. I would hear cell phones ring. On top of the ring, the person would answer the phone and talk on it. When did people become so self-centered that they could careless about anyone around them. Now movies have to play reminders on the screen to turn off the cell phones.

The movie itself pretty much was the same as the first one. Using tricks and high-tech gadgets to get information to find the treasure. In this movie like the last one, the bad guy would get there at the end demanding to have the treasure, and then something would happen where he would not get the treasure. But it was still a fun journey to get the treasure.

After the movie I went to the Silver Dollar casino. I didn’t do very well at all. I pretty much raked one pot, and it was only the blinds after everyone else folded. I tried some four card poker, Paigow, and Spanish Twenty-One. Nothing worked for me tonight.

I couldn’t get a hand while playing Texas. I did get pocket Queens. I raised, and I kept betting. The big blind played along. He had four-five off suit. He called six bucks to see a flop and kept calling to get his straight. I lost a lot of money there on someone who was just calling and calling. That is how my night went.

This same guy when I sat at the table really caused me to be confused about his background. He was a white guy around twenty-four years old. He had a well groomed beard. He wore a baseball hat with a very curved bill and it was on straight. He had well manicured fingernails. He had on a designer-looking denium coat. He voice sounded like he thought he was a G. Sort of like Eminem. But as the night wore on, I was starting to think it was more of a gay voice that gangsta. Soon that drifted into thinking he sounded southern. Maybe a gay southern. I was not sure.

Christmas Cruise

December 21st, 2007

Tonight was the first time in a very long time I got to do something with the marine patrol. With summer over there is not a lot of stuff going on out there.

I got to work this morning after waking early. I knew I had the doctors appointment, plus marine patrol. With doing Shawn’s project I was going to have to get some stuff done while I was there incase I ran into some problems.

When I was in talking to Barb I told her what I want for Christmas is for Shawn to show up. He had been unreachable for more than two weeks. I went to the doctor. I was cleared to do stuff. I was given a prescription for Physical Therapy should I need it.

When I got back to work I saw Shawns rig there. I was so happy. The rest of the day was easy around the office. Did some meetings on some of the database stuff. Then it was off to Mercer Island.

We took the boat to Kirkland to meet up with the cruise ships. We helped them cruise to Bellevue. There were a lot of yacht’s that were following along. They all had decorations. It was pretty neat. It took about three hours total.

When we were done I went to Sharis in Fairwood to meet up with Dave. I haven’t seen him for quite some time. We talked about my job prospects. He talked about his work as well. It was great to see him.

Big Night at Poker

December 20th, 2007

After work I met up with Jon to play some poker at Mike’s. He is one of the guys who puts on the games at Newport Shores. We got there around nine o’clock PM. There were six others already there. I was getting some good cards, but my community cards were really doing well.

As time went on I just kept winning. While I was there I only went to the showdown once and lost. I had a couple split pots. I had one situation that really burned me up.

I had a three-four offsuit. I was in an early position. I was only in due to being in the blind. A three-five-six rainbow came on the flop. So now I am one card from the straight and I have a pair. So I stick around for a little bit. A ten was on the turn. It was checked around. A three on the river. I had trips, but when the seven dollar bet was quickly raised to twenty-seven bucks. I felt that he had trips with a better kicker. So I threw it down. He let me know he had a ten. I told him that he made a good bed.

We played until one in the morning. When the card game was done I was up three-hundred and thirty-five bucks. Jon found some dice. We played some four-five-six. We only rolled a couple times. The first round Jon won with boxcars (trip sixes). Then I played again. He got a point of two. I rolled a four-five-six. I took bank. I got some bets and rolled a four-five-six again. I had sixty bucks now. Jon played sixty. I rolled trip-fives. I won again. I was on fire. Because of four-five-six, I ended up leaving with four hundred bucks.

While at work today we had our company Christmas Party. We were told we were being bought by a Canadian company. It was sort of a shock. Our future is known. My future is unknown. They want to be closed by the end of the year. So that means that by the second of January I will have a new boss. I spoke with my CEO to find out some more. She said that I have a great skill set. I can do all parts of the new code set, plus I can work on all of the old code. I am a valuable person.

Plus I proved to her that working from home is a viable thing. I proved to her that I do a good job without coming into the office. She said that our potential buyers has a president who works from home. So the new bosses are all for it. She pretty much told me I don’t have anything to worry about. I told Jon about that tonight while we were playing poker. He told me about a job opportunity at his company. I also told him I have yet to hear anything back from SEL. I don’t know how I am doing there. He told me that I could possibly get a job working for his company. I might look into that one way or another.

Following Suit

December 19th, 2007

Today is Eddie’s birthday. For years I have always sent him an E-mail on his birthday. He was born one day after me. Him and I grew up together at times. It started with football. We both played Five-Star football. Then I moved on to the street where he lived. That is when I really got to know him and several other guys. I had known the Peery’s because they use to live in my old neighborhood. Now I had all these new friends and once again Eddie.

Over the years we would ride motorcycles, learn to drive, ride bikes, build camps, go camping, go to the river, the mountains. We went to school, movies, swimming, and sometimes we would have long talks.

Those times were while our younger brothers were playing basketball. We would go on the playground. We were around fifteen at the time. Eddie would sometimes dip. I didn’t dip at the time, but I would have some Skittles and get them chewy, then pack it in like I was dipping.

During these times we would talk about everything under the sun. We always talked about what we were going to be like at parents. How we were going to have kids. How we were going to raise them. We talked about many other things as well. I sometimes wonder if Eddie remembers any of those conversations.

It is funny calling him Eddie, because I am the only one who does that. That is the only way I knew him, but now I guess everyone else calls him Ed. But I am stuck on the old ways.

I have seen Eddie once in the last couple years. He was living in the highlands with his kids and wife. I believe now he lives in Redmond. He has been working for the same company for years. I can’t wait to hear back from him. I was thinking recently that he and I have never had a drink together… legally. I am not sure if he is a golfer either, but I would love to see him again.

Happy Birthday Scotty!

December 18th, 2007

Well I got the normal phone calls and text messages from people wishing me a happy birthday. I got several on facebook and MySpace as well.

Reed McPherson wrote
Happy Birthday. Don’t mix too many of your drugs with your booze. Have a fun one

Andrew Wilcox wrote
Happy B-day man, hope your recovery doesn’t hinder you from partying tonight!

Sarah Daoud wrote
Happy Birthday Scotty!!! Hope you have a good one!!

Bryce Cuello wrote
Happy Birthday Man! Hope you have a good one!

Kristiné M. Reeves (Spokane, WA) wrote
Happy Birthday! Loved the photos as of late…you are looking stellar!

Denise Keeton wrote
Happy Happy Birthday Scotty!!

Dax Berven wrote
Happy early Birthday old man

When I got to work today there was a $10.00 gift certificate for me from NetUpdate. They also made cookies and put them in the break room.

I actually got a couple things productive done today and checked in. Then the rest of the day it was spending time in meetings and having lunch. We went to Crossroads mall. Ricky, Noah, and I met up with Chris a former employee.

While there I got a couple different styles of die for my board game. I got several styles so I can play with them and see what I like the best.

The traffic home was worse than normal, but probably normal for the time of day. It just seemed like everything was backed up. I don’t like to spend time in traffic on my birthday. I was thinking that they should just open up the roads and step aside for the birthday boy.

When I got home my special dinner was being cooked. It was fatback and potatoes. Following dinner I got a universal power supply for my computer from my mom for my birthday. She made a cake with pudding topping. It was very good.

Compared to last year it was a pretty tame birthday. That is okay though. Actually, this is the first birthday I have been here for a while. My last few birthdays have been spent with just a couple friends.

I am thinking if there is anything ground breaking to say right now. It is the one time a year I can reflect on the past year of my life and think about it. But I have not done that. Maybe I can do that tomorrow. Make a decision what letter grades I earned this year in many categories. I am not sure it was one I can look at as one of the best. That is a shame. Every year should be better than the one before it. That would be a sign of a good life.

Maybe that means it is time for me to uproot my life as it currently sits. Maybe it is time for me to move to some new random place and get a new job. Get new friends. Get new activities. Just do something different.

But then again, when I think about the car fire recently and how it was still a new experience to me, that leads me to believe I still have things I can do here.

I think if there is one thing I work on this year it is to be more active in my down time.

I have worked hard this year to keep on top of things. Like washing my clothes and new truck, not when I am out of clothes or I can’t see the paint on the truck, but on a regular schedule. I do things and put things away rather than leaving things out when I am done. It is the new more orderly self.

But what is a problem is that when my work is done, and there is nothing more to do, I need to get to the rec center. Go for a walk. Go for a bike ride. Do something that will keep me from sitting around the house watching TV. I really want to get into the swimming pool and get some swim time in. That is the goal.

I hope in one year from now I can read this and say that I did a good job keep up with that change I would like to make.

One thing that I have noticed about myself is that it seems more people know about my homosexuality than don’t know in terms of my daily interactions with people. I thought I had done a good job keeping it quiet at the jail. But that is not the case. Everyone seems to know and those who don’t are told by those who do. I don’t like it when people tell others. That is not their business to do that.

So really the people who don’t know are those over in Seattle. All my friends who I went to high school with other than Matt. He found out when I admitted it to him on the Rose Bowl trip.

Playing on a Tournament Team

December 17th, 2007

I got a phone call from Jake. I told him that I was thinking about him today. I was thinking about the messages I would send to various people for Christmas. Jake said that he is with Kelly. They are talking about a tournament team. Kelly wanted me to send him a face shot because he is working on getting corporate sponsorship.

They are talking about only playing on a tournament team. I am thinking about seeing if they are interested in playing on the My Office team. If so I will let Mitz know they are available. They would both be a good addition to the team.

Getting the thing to work

December 16th, 2007

Got up this morning pretty late. I watched some TV before heading downstairs. My plan is to take the Quad into the Honda dealership to get it worked on. I also thought about looking at campers, but I don’t think that is in the long term plans.

I got out to the shop to load it up, but it didn’t want to start. I used the pull cord on it several times, but that didn’t even come close to starting it.

I got the battery charger out and put it on the battery. I was able to get the quad to use the electric starter, but it still wasn’t starting.

Bill came out and I was ready to disconnect the batter charger and push it into the truck. However, he said to try it once more. It started just fine. I let it warm up for a short period of time before getting it into the truck. I was down to the crunch time before they closed.

I hit the road, and by some miracle I got every green light along the way. I hit one red light to get on to I-Four-Oh-Five and one when I got off of SR-One-Sixty-Seven. I was able to make it there in thirteen minutes total! That is one fast trip.

A Grand time at the Casino

December 15th, 2007

The plan today was going to be going to some RV places and look at campers for my truck. The problem is that I didn’t make it out and about like I had planned to do.

I got together with Jon and Jim around nine o’clock PM. We ended up going to the Silver Dollar Casino on the West Valley Highway. It turned out to be a good move.

I have a bad head ache and I drank a lot of pop and took some Motrin to try to make it feel better. It wasn’t until nearly four in the morning that the pain was pretty much gone.

We started playing at a poker table with two others. I started out winning the first two hands. After that I did okay. I never really was down all night. Jon and Jim were also doing really well. Between the three of us we ended up almost a grand. I was only around one-hundred and fifty of that. Jon had the most. We were just winning a lot of hands. I really couldn’t lose.

We were there until nearly four in the morning. On the way out we got some of the free cards that they give away.

Pizza with Peter

December 14th, 2007

After work today I met up with Peter at his place. We were going to watch Blade of Glory. It was a good movie. I have some good laughs. After that was over Peter and I watched a couple episodes of House.

Peter and I messed around like we use to where we could try to battle each other over silly stuff. He was trying to leave the room to go to the bathroom. But I wouldn’t let him. We battled until I won.

It was weird. I have been wanting to ask him about the thing that happened a long time ago, but I have yet to do it. But it was weird. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to be around him tonight. This was the first time I can think of that I had those feelings. I am sort of thinking I am going to not contact him again, and if he wants to get with me he will call.

Back at work

December 13th, 2007

After having spent the last couple days doing some recovery from surgery I was on my way back to work. I haven’t slept very well lately so I was very tired at work today. I went to my truck and tried to nap for about ten minutes because I could not keep my eyes open.

I started to get to work on some stuff for the PDF’s. That work was going along fine until it was time to meet up with Peter.

I went to his place. We watched the Futurama movie as well as had some pizza. We made plans to get back together tomorrow as well.

Recovery Day Two

December 12th, 2007

This is the second and final day of receovery with my leg in the air. I pretty much did the same stuff as yesterday. I got up every couple hours and went down stairs to eat and check my e-mail. Other than that I was in my room taking pain pills, trying to stay awake, and watching some TV.

Recovery Day One

December 11th, 2007

I wasn’t sure what as in store for me today. I had my surgery yesterday. Today was going to be spent just laying around the house. I watched TV in my room. I would go down stairs every few hours to get something to eat or to check my e-mail. But for the most part I just keep my ankle elevated. I kept ice on it. I kept taking my pain pills.

Ankle Operation Part Two

December 10th, 2007

I went in for the first ankle operation in February of ought-four. The operation was more involved. The ligament was repaired and the bone chip was removed. From the time of that surgery I was on crutches for four weeks and a walking boot for an additional two weeks.

The long term outcome of the surgery was that my ankle pain was not as bad when it came to recovery time. I went from a recovery of weeks down to a day or two. But would still have major problems when it was hurting. It was even at the point that I would sometimes crawl just so I didn’t have to deal with the pain. I knew I had to get something else done.

I went to a doctor in Seattle because I wanted to get a different opinion on everything and a different set of eyes looking at it. Over the next several months in the middle to late ought-seven, when I would visit Seattle I was seeing the doctor. I got X-rays, MRI, and an injection. The injection made the ankle pain go away.

Finally it was time to have another operation. Today was the big day for that. Jon picked me up from the house. I went to work for a couple hours before going to Overlake Hospital.

I got to the doctors surgical area. I went back and had them start to ask questions, and fit my with a surgical gown, slippers, and IV. Soon it was my turn to go for surgery.

I walked into a room with a table for me to lay on. I got up there and the anaesthesiologist started to prepare me to go under. Before I knew it I was asleep. Later I woke up not feeling well. I was being wheeled out to the recovery room. I heard one of the nurses talking to someone else, saying “you’ll have to break it to him.” I still don’t know what they meant by that.

I sat in recovery for a while. I felt sick and tired. Jon showed up and talked to me a little bit. I was not in the mood to speak at all. I ate some apple sauce and a Popsicle. I took some pain meds. I was there for a while longer before Jon got his rig ready to take me home.

On the way home I felt horrible. He stopped to get my prescription filled, but they said it would be an hour. So we left it there and continued home. Jon swerved from something. I looked at him with the evil eye and asked if he was trying to make me puke. He laughed and said he wasn’t. That he was just swerving to miss something.

When I got home I made a straight line for my bedroom. I just wanted to lay down and relax my stomach. I thought I was going to puke for sure. After laying in my room for about two hours I started to feel better.

I made my way downstairs at one point to check my e-mail. The pain was never very bad. The worst part to me was the nauseous feeling.

Calls Getting in the Way of Driving

December 9th, 2007

I just couldn’t get out of town today. It started in Pullman. I was up and getting cleaned up. I was thinking about the things I needed to pack to take with me. While doing that a call came in for someone who had fallen at Kamiak Park. I had never been there before so I was actually looking forward to heading there. I got a call from Dearth who also wanted to go, with some of the same feelings that I had about going to the park.

While en route it sounded like they didn’t know exactly where we needed to go. The call was a relay from Latah County Sheriff. We were one of the last units to get on scene. We helped to get the equipment loaded onto a John Deere Gator that was being taken up a trail. The first units on scene split up on the trail where it forked. One crew found the person and we were sending the Gator in. We were told to get the ambulance ready by turning it around and heating up the back.

We went into the hospital with the person and then Dearth and I went back to the station. I had said that I am not responding on any additional calls. It was around noon when that one came in. It was nearly a two hour call. So I was getting behind the eight-ball in terms of getting home during the daylight hours.

I started to pack my stuff. I got everything prepared for me to be gone for almost three weeks. I loaded my truck. Dearth had asked me if I had chains for my truck. I am glad he said something. That helped me remember there were not in the truck. I put them in the truck and took out my Coroner’s stuff.

I hit the road. There was a bit of snow on the roadway and it was snowing. It was slow going to Colfax. One truck decided to take his sweet time driving down there. But like I say, there is a reason for everything. I drove past Island street and looked down the road to the fire station. I thought that a call would have to pretty much come out right now for me to be able to go. Colfax had actually been out on a couple car accidents already.

Just as I was going to turn into the Rosauers parking lot we got dispatched to a roll-over car accident on Airport Road. The car was fully engulfed in flames. I went through the parking lot and got to the station. I put on my turn outs and hopped on Engine One.

We went to the scene. As we were getting to Airport road I didn’t see a column of smoke. I said that outloud to Carl and Jenny. Shortly thereafter Carl said “Hey Scotty, there is your column.” I could see a big column of brown-black smoke. We got on scene. I was packed up and ready to go. I grabbed a blitz line and went into the field where the car was burning.

It was about one hundred feet into the field. I called for water. Approached the car from a corner and started to spray the water. I got the fire on the ground put out. Then worked my way up. One thing I had to be aware of was that we had no hydrant. Only tank water, so I couldn’t be wasteful. I got the passenger compartment of the car put out. Carl opened the hood of the car so I could put all that fire out as well.

I was able to get the whole thing extinguished on tank water. That was a good thing. Really this was my first real car fire that I started, attacked, and put out without anyone else doing anything.

After we got back to the station I helped to clean up everything. I went to Rosauers. I got some stuff for dinner. I hit the road. The Cougs were playing basketball. I was able to listen to the game on the way back. The roads had snow on them causing some slow going at times. Actually the pass and into Issaquah were the best parts of the drive. I was able to cruise along at a good clip most of the way anyhow. The Cougs won and I got home safely.

The PFD Christmas Party

December 8th, 2007

This was put on for year by Chris and Nancy. But recently Dan and Denise have taken it over. The plan was to get to their place around six-thirty.

But with the time I had during the day I worked on finding some stuff for my project at home. I am working on a photoboard for the Deuce. It will be better than the one at station one for a couple reasons. One will be that it is easier to maintain. The one at station one is a pain in the rear to maintain. I started to get things layed out for it on the poster board. Got it lettered. Worked on resizing the photos and adding the person’s name and rank. I also printed them all out and cut them out. The only problem was the missing plastic sleeves to put them in. I found some online, after my search around town turned up nothing. I went to several stores in both Pullman and Moscow.

It was just after six-thirty. I went to the Keeton’s. I was the second one there. I grabbed my camera and spent much of the night taking photos of everyone.

This years’ party had a lot of people drinking and having a good time, but we didn’t have the token drunk that provided hours of entertainment like in years past. Really I was thinking that it is clear everyone is getting older here because the amount and length of drinking that was going on was greatly reduced. It was a good time. Chuck had come to the party. It was Blanks’ last night out on the town with a couple of the B-shift guys. They also stopped by. I was disappointed no other reserves showed up except for Parrish.

When it was done I went to my house and got the photos downloaded and posted on facebook.

Last Duty Night of the Month… Almost

December 7th, 2007

I was responding on some daytime calls with Dearth. I also had to run over to Moscow to try to find some items for my photoboard project. I needed posterboard, plastic sleeves to store the photos, letters, and a glue stick. I went to Crimson and Grey. I found some of what I was looking for, but not everything. I was thinking Michael’s in Moscow would be my best bet.

I went to Moscow to go to Michael’s. I found a couple of the things I needed, but not the plastic sleeves. I was also going to try to find some dice for my boardgame. I went to the mall to go to the hobby store. But that was no longer there.

I was on my way to downtown Moscow when I heard the tones. They were looking for a reserve to do a transfer to Lewiston. I called in and said I could do it, but I had to be on duty at six. Heston said that would be fine. But as it turned out the timing was not working out perfectly. I did the transfer with Pritchett. The length of time it was taking to drive to Lewiston, plus the in hospital time was throwing off my time getting back to Pullman. I ended up getting back after seven. I wanted to be back by six.

I had a training down at the Deuce at seven o’clock. I was able to make it down, however, to the bulk of the training so that went well for me.

When that training was done I went home and worked on the board game. I was getting all the board pieces cut out and glued together. Then I put it on to a larger piece of poster board and glued it down. It is starting to take shape. I still need to the dice and the rest of the rules written up. I also need to get it mounted on a harder piece of board, like my poster board.

We did get a call for a fire alarm, but that was about it for the night for those of us on the engine.

First Aid Class Day Two

December 6th, 2007

Spent a couple hours on the phone with Ricky about some bugs. We ended up trading a couple bugs.

Then I got to the station to meet up with Bien for day two of the first aid class at Pullman Heating and Electric. They invited us in for dinner. Last night was Pizza Hut, today it was Subway. We chowed down and then started in with the class.

We did the CPR and worked our way through the video tapes. It finally ended with me going over a lot of the topics we covered through the two days of videos.

During the class one guy asked me about protecting the scene with the vehicles. I told him that we would park in such a way to use the vehicle to keep other cars from hitting us. We would rather fix a damaged engine that get someone hurt or killed.

I said it easy to pull out dents or replace a door that got tore off… then I looked at Bien and smiled. He gave me a look back. And I continued to talk. It was a little inside joke with Bien.

First Aid Class

December 5th, 2007

I talked to Bien about last night. Sounds like him and Megan were up dealing with his aftermath. He was pretty sick through out the night and all day today. We were teaching a first aid class together. He was sick going to the class.

It was up at Pullman Heating. They had pizza and invited us to have some with them. We went through a bunch of the stuff covering a lot of topics. Tomorrow we will be going back to cover the other topics.

I was also on duty tonight. I wanted to get to bed early because I was pretty tired. I went to bed around midnight, only to get woken up around two-thirty for a call. I stayed up until four in the morning.

A Night on the Town

December 4th, 2007

I got up late this morning, allowing myself to sleep in. I got on the computer and worked on a couple bugs for work before I went to Colfax. I was there for only about four hours. But I got three bookings and releases done. It was the guys who were busted for the frat fight last month.

I went to Colfax for training. We were doing cardiac emergencies. Before the training started we went on a ambulance call for a cardiac emergency. The class went from seven until almost nine-thirty. I was put in charge a group doing CPR.

Following training it was back to Pullman. I was going to meet up with some of the guys from the FD at Pete’s for Wiley night. I got down there and it was packed. The line to get anything was long and thick. It took about forty minutes to get to the front of the line. Dearth and Wilcox were in front of me. Anton, Bien’s friend, was also with them. We spent the time talking about various things. I finally got my pitcher of beer and went to the table. I saw Grim and Andy from poker playing fame. A. Wilcox was there so was Pritchett. Blake was on his way out the door. A. Wilcox came up to hang out with us. I finished off the beer and we headed up to the Zuu.

I was in the very back of Dearth’s blazer. I left my truck at Pete’s. On the way I farted. I didn’t think it was bad, it people started to make a huge deal about the smell. Bien was pretty drunk, so I was able to get everyone to blame him.

When we were going in the Zuu Bien’s girlfriend, Megan was texting him. I took over his phone and started to respond to her. She wanted to pick him up. We were able to keep him until midnight.

At the Zuu I saw Peter as well as Loren. Doug, Denise, and Neils were there as well. I had another pitcher of beer as we sang a couple songs on karaoke. We closed out the bar. Dearth was really drunk and left. Wilcox also left because he was drunk. So it was just Anton, Bien, and I left. I got a ride home, and I was feeling the alcohol.

I drank a lot of water before finally going to bed.

Last Show of the year

December 3rd, 2007

Today was my last show of the semester. I had Tom on the show, as a follow up to his appearance last week. We talked about the Republican debate. He had to leave at one. I had Forbes on the phone as well. We talked for nearly an hour about local politics.

I finished off my pop. I made a big noise crushing it and I was going to throw it in a garbage can that I saw just inside the door of a gym across from hall from the KZUU studio. But as I made all the noise and stepped inside the door, I had about twenty women looking at me. I was sort of self-conscious when I threw away the pop can and went down the stairs quickly.

I was going to have to walk a way to my truck parked out by Beasley. As I was heading out the door. There was a young lady standing there looking out the window at the snow and ice on the ground. I figured she was waiting for a ride. I thought I would be outgoing and I said “horrible time of year to be on crutches.” She then said, into the cell phone that I didn’t see that she had “I couldn’t hear what you just said, can you repeat it.” I just went out the door and chuckled to myself about those two events that took me by surprise.

Following the show I got home to get some of my work done before making my way to the station. We had the fire critiques from the night of the arson’s. It was a pretty tame night as far as critiques have gone in the past.

When it was done Irving and I sat at the station talking about the critique followed by looking over the fire engine hose lays. I was there until around two in the morning chatting with Irving.

More Zeppoz poker

December 2nd, 2007

After only about two hours of sleep I was woken up by a phone call from Pete. There was a call waiting in the wing. I had guessed it had to do with the call we had this morning. Later on in the morning I called Pete and it turned out to be what I was thinking it was. As it turned out I had transported the same person to Spokane about ten days prior. So I was familiar with him.

In the rest of the day Wilcox, Dearth, and I responded on EMS and fire calls. The first one was a pretty bad looking accident. Turned out it wasn’t much of anything when it was done. A lot of people stopped to help. I was talking to one person who was there. I got the vibes and the gaydar was going off. I found him on Facebook and sure enough he is family.

I was running really late for poker. Sign ups were at five-thirty, and it was almost that time when we got back to the station after our fourth call of the afternoon. With the heavy snow covering the road we had a long day. But now it is raining and the roads are getting all slushy.

I got to Zeppoz in time to get a seat at the table. Due to the weather, I believe, there was a limited number of players. We ended up having three full tables, but it took almost until six o’clock to get there.

A ten-six-seven who has been in all the tournaments since I started to play was there. He is not the normal blonde/blue but, he is still ten-six-seven.

Towards the end of the night I was knocked out in seventh place again. The ten-six-seven was in the final four. All of a sudden there was a small uproar at the table. I was playing a table game right next to the poker table. I turned around and saw the ten-six-seven with tears in his eyes. Someone said he would chop the pot with him. I didn’t know what had happened.

Later on I found out his dad had died and he was called about it during the game.

Busy day and night

December 1st, 2007

Spent most of the day responding on fire and EMS calls during the daytime hours. We also took engine thirty-one to the High Street Mall to bring Santa to the Christmas tree lighting. I brought a camera to take some photos. We were there for about an hour before heading out.

It was covering for Chapman tonight. It was great. At first the night started out slow. I bought a couple movies including Death Wish and Transformers. I went to the station where we watched Death Wish. Then Irving and I started to play Ghost Recon. But soon we started to get some calls.

Before long we were running from call to call without making it back to the station. We were slammed for a while. I got Rescue first on scene on two different calls. That was pretty cool. I ended up taking one patient. It turned out to be a refusal, so I spent time doing the necessary paperwork.

I had said before the end of the night we would get a five-forty-five in the morning call. I was close. It was five-forty in the morning. While at the hospital I knew things were going to go bad.

By the time I got home and in bed it was around seven in the morning.