WSU Closed for First Time in More Than a Decade

January 31st, 2008

This morning the snow was really falling. After my workout I was driving home and thought to myself how close today would be to a closing the school day that we had. The roads were abnormally snow covered. It was still falling and things were looking bad.

When I got home I asked Tyson to move his cars so I could use the plow to move snow that was in the area in front of the driveway and move it aside. He came out to do that plus he shoveled the sidewalk and helped a person get unstuck.

I ended up plowing Eric’s driveway and a girl up the street who needed to get her car out to take it to the doctor. I spent some time driving up and down the street plowing the road. I didn’t even try to do the sidewalks. There is just too much snow.

I was on my way to fuel my truck when the tones went off. I was in front of the station so I popped in. Soon the tones were going off for something else. Wilcox came down and we went on calls for the next couple hours. It was pretty busy. Nothing big, just lots of little things.

In the process of plowing, I was jarring my back enough that I tweaked in. So it hurt to walk or stand up. Going on the calls was hard. I was down on the ground to help someone and the others could see I was in a good amount of pain.

That morning word came that WSU was closing at ten in the morning. It was the first closing of WSU since the floods of the ninety-five/ninety-six school year.

The basketball game went on as scheduled. Cal came out and we just looked bad. We lost to Cal. It was very disappointing. By the time the game was done I wanted to get to bed so I could get up at my early time. Russell called to invite me over, but I didn’t answer it because I was already in bed.

Got a New Modem

January 30th, 2008

I decided to go to Moscow and just pick up a new cable modem. I was around eleven in the morning and the guy wasn’t even here. I wasn’t going to sit around all day waiting for him. It is a good thing because it turned out he didn’t make it here until almost three.

I stopped at the cable office and switched my modem. I went and bought a piece of rope I needed to get. I also bought some goggles for swimming.

When I got the modem hooked up at home it worked and I had internet again.

I stuck around until it was time to head out to Colfax for the coroner’s meeting. I got there and it was just Bill and I. We talked about some cases and the reasons why he is leaving the office. Pete and Ken showed up and we did our meeting. We really didn’t go over many cases. We did get our coverage set up for the next month.

I got back to Pullman and took over being on call. It was a slow night anyway.

Lost the Cable Modem

January 29th, 2008

Last night my internet stopped working. I figured it was due to the snow we had been getting. This morning when I still didn’t have connectivity I called work and let them know what was going on. Then I went off to Colfax.

I contacted TimeWarner about the problem. There were not outages, so to me that meant the modem went bad. An appointment was set up for me for tomorrow.

I decided to work in the jail followed by a trip to Colfax Fire for training. When I got to the fire station I hung out for a little bit. I helped Hickman chain up his car. He didn’t quite know how to use the chains that he had. I had them both on in about five minutes.

I told them I would be responding on call from the jail. I was told there was no training tonight. So I have not been to a training all year due to them either being cancelled or me being gone.

I went over to the jail. The snow had been falling and things were getting bad. The county sent people home for the day. Roads were getting closed. We were getting calls from people asking about the roads. I didn’t get to book anyone today, but I did get a couple teletype warrants sent out.

I worked eight hours in the jail and left shortly after dinner. As I was walking out the tones went off for an unknown injury rollover accident. I made the ambulance. We went en route, but firefighters who got on scene before us said that it was non-injury. So we cancelled and went back to the station.

Lunch with Forbes

January 28th, 2008

I went to lunch today with Tom. We went to Rancho but they were closed. So we ended up going to Neuvo. I had a taco salad and we spent time talking about a couple Pullman-related issues. It was a nice lunch with him. We were gone for about an hour and a half chatting.

I ended up getting a transfer to Spokane shortly after lunch. I was down for a call when the call for the transfer came in. I said I could do it and went off to Spokane. The roads were really bad. The last seventeen miles was like driving on a dirt road full of pot holes.

After I got back I met with George about reserves issues. I was supposed to meet with the other crew leaders as well, but that ended up getting messed up because I was gone. So George ran down the things they all talked about.

A Productive Day

January 27th, 2008

Today was a productive day for me. I started out with the early morning wake up. Today was a “free” day on my Body for Life workout regimen that I am doing. That means I don’t have to do a workout and I can gave a treat or two if I choose.

I started off working on the frame for the photoboard for The Deuce. I made some additional needed cuts, and started to put on the L-brackets to hold it together. I made sure the glass would fit. Then I did some sanding. After the sanding it down I put a layer of stain on it. I will need to put a couple more layers on over the next couple days.

I pulled out the quad and did my driveway and the sidewalks on the street. The snow was falling pretty hard. I was a little nervous about doing the sidewalks. I wasn’t sure what someone would say, if anything. There always seems to be someone who complains. Later on in the evening I did it a second time due to the additional snow fall. The second time through I just pounded through it.

Brandon and I were going to meet up for dinner and then play card at the Zeppoz tournament. We hit Golden Teriyaki. It is owned by the same family as the Emerald and New Garden so the menus looked identical.

Following dinner I drove to Zeppoz. I hit every green light along the way, except for the one at Bishop. But that helped me make good time. I went into the casino and the tables were full. They started a different tournament today. It was for today only, but that really bummed me out. When Brandon got there I told him what happened and we decided to leave. I was disappointed that happened.

I went to Safeway to get my weekly shopping trip completed and out of the way. On the way home from Safeway, as part of my freeday I got myself a small Blizzard with Reese Peanut Butter Cup. It is the best of both worlds! I also got home and finished up my laundry.

I got to be on Rescue

January 26th, 2008

Went swimming today at around ten o’clock. I had gotten up a couple hours earlier. I heard Colfax get toned to an echo response. Shortly after Steptoe got on scene they cancelled the ambulance and called for Paul-Sixty-Four. I called Whitman and let him know that if he needed help I would be willing to do what I could for him. He did say he probably didn’t need the help now, but he was thinking about getting me to cover the afternoon for him. I told him that I was doing the Cougar Basketball game and working for the fire department. Besides you are not getting two calls in one day anyway.

While swimming I was able to get the length of the pool once without breathing at all. That was pretty cool. I am going to have to work on that so it is not so hard in the future.

After the swimming I got cleaned up and headed to Beasley for the women’s basketball game. I called for KStew to come over because he was working for the police. I wanted to talk to him about softball. Specifically I was going to ask him to help me with the team. He said he would do so. We talked softball for about an hour. Heston came by like he said he would. He also plays softball with us.

KStew left and within a few minutes of leaving he called me. He said “speaking of the coroner” they just got sent to another call. I was pretty shocked. I tired to listen to the county to figure out what was going on.

After the women lost the game I went to the station to put the equipment away and went to the Deuce. While I was there a call came in. I stood by for that call. I was there for almost an hour because of the call.

I went home for dinner. Then back to the station. I was watching the Cougs. They were playing Arizona State. It was a very close game. It came down to the final shot taken and missed by ASU. So the Cougs won. That made me feel better.

I was on Rescue tonight. We went to the hospital to change out the linen from the Beasley first aid room with new stuff. We also dropped off some more boxes of gloves.

We only had a couple of calls and they were not much of anything. I made the guys wash Rescue with me after the calls. At first they didn’t want to. I said we were going to wash Rescue. They said I outrank them, so they helped wash it. They figured we would have a lot of calls and just wanted to wash it once at the end of the night.

We were supposed to get a lot of snow tonight, instead it rained. But tomorrow we are supposed to get something like seven inches of snow. I will believe that when I see it.

Poker in Moscow

January 25th, 2008

I spent a fair amount of time on the phone with Ricky today trying to figure out the estimates of working of Kroll again. I am not looking forward to this in the slightest.

Later I went to Moscow to play poker at Jeremy’s apartment. It was a little difficult to find it because there was a lack of street signs and house numbers in the area. Finally I narrowed down to the fact I was at the correct spot and went to find his apartment. There was no indication of apartment numbers from the parking area. So I went to the first opening I found. In the hallway I entered, I immediately found his apartment. What luck.

I knocked and was let in. No one else was there and it was almost exactly the start time. I was thinking I was at the wrong place until the guy asked if I was there for poker. I said I was.

Other showed up. One guy was a ten-six-seven with dirty blond hair. That gave me some good eye candy. He was also a big fan of Omaha. He spent some time teaching others how to play it. I helped it with some of the rules and how things worked. He said he was still new to it himself.

We played a simple ten dollar buy in. I wasn’t getting much of anything along the way and I just ended up giving money away on the night. I stuck around until the tournament was done. There were only six people anyway. We threw some darts and watched the action until Jeremy ended up winning the whole thing.

We played some Omaha for the fun of it, teaching everyone else how to play. We gave everyone a stack of chips and played for about twenty minutes. Those guys were going to go to the bar. I decided to head home.

Bought a Vending Machine

January 24th, 2008

After my workout this morning I went to the surplus sale. I needed to buy a computer for running Windows Home Server. I read about vending machines they had. I looked them up online but didn’t find anything about these models. I had no idea how expensive it would be. I talked to someone ahead of time to figure out how the auction worked. What I found out was that I could get one item rather than all six of them. I looked them over several times. I found one I liked.

Finally they got to that part in the auction. The auctioneer started at fifty bucks for all of them. Then he came down in price. Soon he said how about “by choice”. He then started at ten bucks. Then five bucks. He then asked “is anyone even interested?” I raised my hand. He said “how much do you want to pay?” I knew the lowest price allowed is two-fifty. But I said five bucks is fine. Someone said, right afterwards, I should have said that I would take it for two-fifty.

I also bought a new file cabinet. It is a nice Steelcase model. Very solid. I have been waiting to buy one for a long time. Finally I pulled the trigger.

I went home and cleared a spot in the garage for the vending machine. I got a couple people online with me to get the vending machine. I picked up Dearth and Bien. We went to the surplus stores and loaded it and the file cabinet in my garage.

I spent some time messing around with it. I found that it is in working order. I am going to talk to the people at Colfax Fire to see if we have a spot for one. I was thinking about one down at the Deuce, but I don’t know if we have room for one down there.

I finished up my report of my coroner’s case from yesterday. I had to go to Colfax to turn that in and meet with Ken. He was trying to find out what it would take to record his sermons directly to the computer. I checked everything out and it will be pretty easy for him to do. I dropped off my stuff at the coroner’s office and it was back to Pullman for me.

BKoe and I were going to hang out tonight. We decided that we would watch a movie or play a game. He came over to my place and we played a game he recently purchased. It was pretty fun. We played it for several hours. It was great to get a chance to hang out with him.

No CPR Teaching

January 23rd, 2008

I got a call this afternoon as I was eating lunch from Pete about a case in Pullman. He asked if I would take it. I went ahead and took it. It was several hours to get the whole thing investigated and find the information around the place that was needed to complete the investigation.

I had enough time to scarf down dinner and meet Bien at the fire station for a CPR class. It turned out that the class had no one sign up for it. So we just cleared and went back to The Deuce to work down there.

We did rig checks with Parrish. We spent some time talking about training issues. We only got one call while I was on duty and it was a fire call. I was hoping for something that would allow me to do EMS stuff. But no such luck.

Poker Night at Dan’s

January 22nd, 2008

The plan was to get together earlier than normal to play poker at Dan’s. John and Denise played as well. Denise did well with it. I also left up around ten bucks. We played dealer choice like normal. It was pretty amazing that we saw two hands with quads and one hand that was a straight flush in Texas Hold’em or Omaha. John and Dan didn’t do too well however.

I got my battery for the quad. I installed it and used it to plow what was left on my driveway. I also hit the sidewalk down my side of the road to the mailboxes. I need to do the other way as well. We are supposed to get snow soon. I will do it after it snows next.

Playing on Rescue

January 21st, 2008

I picked up my glass for the project I am working on for the fire department. I also tried to get a new batter for the Quad, but Pullman Honda was closed. So I was on my way home. I realized that I did my measurements correctly and added correctly… for one side of the frame! Not both sides. So I am off in the glass size. That is a problem because now the glass will not fit snugly like I had hoped. So I am going to either have to spend about thirty-five bucks fixing it, or I am going to have to figure out a way to refit the wood. I think I have come up with an idea. It should work. We shall see. But I am going to have to trim down the posterboard a little bit.

Without training tonight, and with A. Wilcox’s vehicle being out of service, I decided that I would run Rescue calls with the other guys until the other crew got here. I was able to respond on one call.

Cougs Roll On

January 20th, 2008

There was some drama today when two reserves took a transfer. Several people are up in arms over it. They are mad because that could set a precedent for the future. I was at the station when a couple guys were talking about it.

Later I went to Beasley with the other guys to work the Cougar Basketball game. It started out slowly for the Cougs. Oregon was scoring and the Cougs couldn’t. Oregon held on the lead most of the game. But the Cougs chipped away at it.

In the final minutes of the game the Cougs were even with the Ducks. Then it went to a shot made by the Cougs putting us up with less then forty-five seconds to go. The Ducks took a shot and missed. The Cougs rebounded. The crowd which was already very loud, got very very loud. The Ducks fouled the Cougs. And from there we just kept adding points as we would make the free-throws and get rebounds off of the Ducks’ misses. It was great to see the Cougar victory.

The Whole Day on the Clock

January 19th, 2008

I was teaching a first aid class with Bien. We only had two people in the class. So it gave for a lot of one on one time with everyone. But it was harder than most classes because they opened up and asked a lot of questions. That was a good thing though.

Because we got done with class so quickly we decided to do some engine drive time with Bien. We spent about two hours in the engine. The roads were so dirty that the engine was terribly dirty. We washed it up and made it look nice.

Russell and Nick needed a ride to SEL for the band banquet. I had enough time to give them a ride there before the time I needed to be at the fire station for our training tonight.

We did the rig checks at the station and then spent a couple hours covering the new SOP’s that cover several different subjects. We went into more depth on the SOP covering the Passport system.

We had a ton of calls, but only ended up getting one engine call. A. Wilcox was the command on that one. He had to do the report, so I helped him fill it out on the computer. He did a very good job on the radio. Parrish and I both commented about it.

Met the New CEO

January 18th, 2008

I met the CEO of the new company. I am a little more worried about everything. I need to write a skills sheet. I am not sure if it is only going to be used like the CEO said, or whether he will be using it against us when it comes to negotiating wages.

I started out the day by picking up my quad from Renton Honda.

We went out to lunch and met up with Chris. We went to the Crossroads Mall. Because the new CEO was in the office and because we had to do some things I ended up not leaving too early.

The trip to Pullman wasn’t bad at all. While I was driving Mitzel called me about giving the softball team over to me! I have waited for this opportunity for a long time. It has gone from JT to Mitz and now me.

I contacted KStew about playing on the team. He said he would think about it. He is planning on possibly putting a team together again. I let him know that there is room on the team for him and Jake as well as some others.

Lunch at the Pigs

January 17th, 2008

Today was the normal lunch at the Three Pigs with Jon and the crew. Noah and Ricky came along as well. We got there around eleven-thirty to make sure we got a big enough table for everyone to sit at. I was able to make a trade with someone who had a larger table.

We all had our meals and talked about the status of NU and the possible upcoming changes. The all joked about me being the eternal optimist. It was pretty clear that everyone knew that about it.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being an optimist.

The Day After Failure

January 16th, 2008

After failing to get a workout completed and eating way more than I should have, I needed to buckle down today. I had to shake off my failure and rebuild my confidence in the fact I can succeed at doing this.

Because of this I decided that I would get both a workout completed and I also did a session of cardio. That caught me up to my missed items. That was a good step in the correct direction.

Running Around

January 15th, 2008

I had to meet with the doctor this morning about the CPAP machine and see how things were going. I also needed to go to Apria to get a new mask. I also talked to them about a new machine. I wanted to have two of them. One would stay in Renton and one in Pullman. I wouldn’t have to travel with one anymore. It will be that much less packing. I did get one. It was smaller than my old one. It also had some newer features that the old one didn’t. One will recognize if I am breathing and the machine is not on. It will turn on. One also lowers the air pressure when I breath out to make it easier.

After work I had to run a mattress to someone who bought it from my mom. I helped to get it upstairs in the buyers’ house. I got paid ten bucks for my trouble. Bill and I picked up some pizza from Papa Murphys on the way back.

That killed my plan for the day. I ate way more than I should have. I felt bad when I was done eating. I just love pizza. I love it while it is first cooked and warm. I just can’t let it sit there. So I kept eating, and ended up finishing off four slices. I should have only had two. Plus I didn’t get into the workout today because of the morning doctor appointment and the evening of doing the work for my mom.

The Darkness of the Unknown

January 14th, 2008

With the whole unknown about what is happening with the company taking us over, we have had some interesting conversations. One of the first things Ricky told me is that I should start looking for a new job. He said he has been. I know that Noah has pretty much not been asked back, so he is out and about looking for a job.

I am not sure how to take it all. I would like to stay here keeping everything going as is. I am hoping that when they come down to work with us that they offer some nice pay and we retain the people we have.

I made it into the East Highlands Fitness to do my workout tonight. There was one group of guys who were working out together. One younger guy, who was ten-six-seven, had ripped arms. Very well defined. But his legs weren’t overly defined like is arms. When I see that I always wonder if these guys only work on their arms to make them look good, but let the rest of the body just go to heck. I am sure he does some stuff for legs, but compared to his arms, they looked weak.

Speaking of ten-six-seven, the TV show Kyle XY is back on the air. I started to follow the show last season. Now I am pretty much hooked and I keep watching it. I like it, and the main character is very ten-six-seven.

Leisurely Seattle Trips

January 13th, 2008

One of those days where I am not in a real big hurry. It was a free day from my workout routine. I was able to sleep in a little more than normal. I had some breakfast. I wasn’t going to splurge because I spent a week getting here. Why ruin it in one day.

I worked on getting packed. Got a couple things completed on the computer. Then it was off to get some gas. I went to Safeway for that because I had a big fuel discount coming my way.

I hit the road. It was strange because there were no Seahawks to take me across the state. There was nothing to listen to sports-wise. I tried to listen to my music in the car, but it was coming out mono. That really sucked.

Now it was off to Othello. I planned on getting a six inch Subway sandwich from there. I got one of the lower calorie sandwiches they offered. There was one group in front of me. We got there about the same time, but they were ordering a ton of sandwiches. Rather than offering to let me go first, they let me sit there for the ten minutes it took to get their stuff done. I hit the road again.

When I got back to Renton I stopped at the store to get some food for breakfast. I planned on making my meal plan very simple and straight forward. I am pretty much going to have the same breakfast all week. It was the easiest way for me to do anything.

At home I spent some of the time finding something to eat around the house for dinner that was good. I put my stuff in my room and called it a night. I just watched some TV, but the Sunday night shows I like to watch were not all on.

First Case of Ought-Eight

January 12th, 2008

After my final workout of the week today I planned on doing several things. Such as working on the frame, going to the women’s basketball game, watching the men’s basketball game, watching the Seahawks game, doing some work on the computer. I really only ended up being double booked.

I found I was on call for the coroner. But it is rare for a call. I had to go to Beasley just before noon for the women’s basketball game. But before eleven I got a call from Pete. Someone died in St. John. Normally he would take the case, but he wasn’t there. So I had to go up there. That meant I was going to miss part of the game and be late getting there.

I hit the road and started to head to St John. I went as quickly as possible with the road conditions as they were. I also got to listen to the Cougs. But they were not able to do anything against the Bruins. It was ugly.

I did my investigation the scene and went back to the funeral home to finish up the investigation. By this time the Cougs had made a run at winning, but were not able to pull it out of the fire. They were down by double-digits most of the game. But they came back to within three.

The Seahawks came on. I was expecting a lot when they went up by two quick touchdowns within the first few minutes. But that is as far as it would go. The Packers just kept scoring and scoring.

I was able to watch the last part of the game on TV at Beasley. I had made it home and back to Beasley at half time. I was able to put in my time there and watch the Seahawks. But it was ugly as well.

A. Wilcox is a Packers fan so I told him if they win he is sitting in the back of the engine for the rest of the year.

We were having a meeting when the tones went out for a structure fire. Turned out to be nothing. Later in the night we got toned out for another structure fire. That one also turned out to be nothing. In both cases they appeared to have been smoke detectors set off by cooking.

A Job Offer

January 11th, 2008

I lost some sleep last night over what E-mail I got from the marine patrol. I was angry over the whole thing. It feels like we are going to be tested on something, but we don’t know the standards. I am told that everyone should be able to do it, yet we were all given warning to prepare for it. So what is it, should we be able to do it without preparation? Should we have to do some workouts to get ready. All this was floating in my head.

That is when I decided that it shouldn’t be causing me any stress at all. I do that for the fun of it. Something to do to keep busy. I got to the point that if that is how he felt, I would just turn in my stuff. I don’t need a “fun” job cause me any kind of stress like that. So I finally felt good about the whole thing, because I put it in perspective. I got to the point where I was willing to just let it go. I got to the point where I am ready to walk away if that is what is needed. I am relaxed.

I got a call today from the CEO of the company that is buying mine. He said I should be getting an e-mail with an intent to offer me a position with the new company. There wasn’t a lot of questions that I had, that I wanted to ask at that juncture, but I have a lot of questions. I am not sure what this will mean to my work-from-home status. I don’t know about pay, benefits, stocks, etc. I am sort of excited to do some negotiations.

I made some rounds today, getting some stuff done that I needed to complete. Including getting the glass ordered for my picture frame. I got my checks dropped off at the bank. I exchanged the shirt Jon got for Lisa for a larger size. I also picked up some new windshield wipers for the truck.

Most of the day was pretty quiet. I spent a fair amount of it on the computer. I also responded on a couple daytime calls. I had planned on working on the frame, but without the glass I don’t want to make any cuts or holes until I know how the glass will fit into it.

A Difference of Opinion

January 10th, 2008

A while back I was sent an E-mail from the Sgt in charge of the marine patrol. The marine patrol techs were told that we needed to do a swim test coming up. We were told that we should start to get ready for it. This was some cause for concern as I wasn’t sure what it would include in the test. Normally you practice for a test to make sure you’re going to pass it.

I wanted to know what events would be needed, but I never really got a good response from the Sgt. So I started swimming and doing some stuff to get ready for the test. It had been scheduled last week. So I knew it was going to be in the middle of February. That meant that I was down to crunch time.

So I wanted to see how much more I needed to do in order to pass the test. I sent an E-mail to the Sgt. I really wish I hadn’t done that. He responded to it saying that he is concerned over my concern about the test. He went on to explain what is expected out of the MPA’s. I don’t know how you can expect someone to be at a certain level, then warn them to “get in shape” for the upcoming test and not tell them what the test is. Then when I ask about it, I become a concern. He wanted to meet with me again. I am not sure what he wants to meet about, but he asked when I was next coming to town.

It caused me some stress, but I responded to the E-mail. I re-read and changed it around until I only had about three lines in the E-mail back to him. I much told him I believe I can do the things required of me, that I wont fail. I also told him when I would be back there. That was a bummer for sure.

I was on duty for Pullman tonight. I went down early for rig checks. I got two of the guys’ SCBA quarterlies completed. We went down to Station One for the fire critiques from the Earthtone apartment fires. That took about two hours total.

I took two guys out to the bay there and got them through the SCBA Quarterlies.

Then we went back to Station Two. I had one more person to get through the SCBA Quarterlies. I got that knocked out. I spent some time with the new guy, Clark, to go over the response codes and when to show up and when not to show up.

Movie Night at Russells

January 9th, 2008

After working out I spent some time taking photos and cleaning off my driveway of snow. I also cut away some of the tree limbs from the tress that cover my walkway. It is nice and clear for walking through that area now.


From NE Terre View Drive on the way back from my workout


The Bumblebee Before cleaning off its snow


The Bumblebee filled with *some* of the snow in the driveway

Russell, Nick, and I met up tonight to watch Another Gay Movie. It is more or less a spoof of American Pie. With some parts of other movies. It had some very funny parts. I agreed with Nick when the part where one of the gay guys came out to him mom.

He always wore lipstick, fingernail polish. He was very feminine, and just girl-like. But he thought he mom was clueless. So finally he came out to his mom, she looked at him with some surprise, then said “Well, Duh!”

A day of lots of snow

January 8th, 2008

We got a call today that Wilcox and I went down on. While en route it turned to an echo call. We ended up doing CPR. When we got to the hospital it turned out to be a save. I did compressions at the scene, in the ambulance, and in the hospital. When the call was done we went to the fuel pumps.

I was running late getting to Colfax. I was meeting up with Ken at the Church to go over some computer and networking things before training tonight. I covered the questions he had as well as looked around the area where the equipment would be set up.

As it turned out fire training was cancelled tonight. It was going to be OTEP. With it cancelled I went home and had some of my final meals for the day. I got a call from Russell asking if I would like to watch a movie with him and Nick. I said I would like to, but I needed to get up early.

I have been working on going to bed earlier than normal so I could get up earlier. I don’t know if that will last. I like to be up late. But I don’t know what I am getting out of it. I know what I am losing. My early morning exercise time.

First day on Body for Life

January 7th, 2008

Today I got up very early in the morning for me. I made myself some breakfast and went to the rec center. I did my complete workout. I was a little sore afterwards. When I completed that I came home to clean up. I took a short nap because I was very tired.

This afternoon we had fire training. It was the SCBA quarterlies. We only had to put them on and then we did a search in the bay looking for a sounding PASS alarm. Two different teams went at once in a race to find the item. The training was quick overall.

Ken is Senior Pastor

January 6th, 2008

Being as tired as I was I hard a hard time getting out of bed for getting to Colfax for Church. I got cleaned up, dressed up, and drove to Colfax. When I got to the church I shook the hands of the greeters and found my place near the back.

Joy saw me and gave me a hug. I also saw Tim, both chiefs, and Milt. Ken also saw me and came over. The church service was nice. They played a couple modern Christian songs. During that time everyone stood up. Some people sang along. They would raise their hands. Some of the songs were good ones. I guess I should say they were all good. But a couple got me tapping along with it.

Then they did a ceremony for accepting Ken as the pastor of the church. Following that Ken did a sermon on Time. There were some good points that he brought up. What is interesting to me is that this blog is called “Shorter of Breath”. Which is part of a line from the Pink Floyd song “Time”. I have included the whole verse in my blog description. It is big to me.

There was a period of time where I feel like I wasted my life. I spent my early twenties working every evening. I missed out on a bunch of things that my other college friends did. Maybe it was all for the best, but I still had the feeling of lost time. But I look back over my life and I feel like there is more that I could do.

I don’t know if that is really the case. Maybe I can work harder and filling my day with less down time. But I don’t think it is about quantity of things done, but the quality of the time I spent doing it. I have a blog from several years ago when I was with the old softball group. We ended at Lester’s house. While there it just felt like we were having a high class party.

I find many times I have the best and most memorable time when I am out of my element. When I leave my comfort zone. But many time I have a lot of fun while in my comfort zone as well. I should sit in a corner and dwell on what makes it so I have a good time and work on trying to fulfill that.

When church was done it was back home. I went with Russell to pick up Nick from the Flag lane. He was coming in on the bus. We drove down to Cougar Country for lunch. Then I took Russell and Nick to Russell’s place. We looked at some photos from a party they were at.

After I got home, I worked on the photo board project for the fire station. I got my list ready of things I needed to buy at the store. I went to play poker at Zeppoz. I came in ninth place. That is a drop of two places from times past.

I stopped at Safeway and did my big shopping. I purchased a lot of fruit and vegetables. Plus many other things I was going to need to start my Body for Life twelve week program. This is something I can continue to do, over and over. To me each start and ending point will be a nice goal period. I get my weekly goals. With each Sunday is a “free” day. One were I can relax and not stay so regimented with the food I eat. Can you say Pizza?!

Also at the end of the twelve week period I will hopefully see a change in my health, weight, stamina, strength, and softball power hitting abilities. My first twelve weeks will be done at the end of March. I will be nearing the end when Softball season is going. I hope that I will see some positive improvement by then.

I started to work on my meal plan for tomorrow. They have the first week plotted out for you. I am going with that, and making minor changes along the one.

Tomorrow is the start of a new path. Since moving into my house I have done things to be cleaner. I have always been bad at leaving things laying where I last used them. I always had a clean kitchen, but my bedroom is always covered in clothes and other things that just never found a home. I have worked hard to keep the house clean. I wash my truck weekly. With the snow and ice I haven’t washed it lately. But keeping a clean truck is important.

I have kept that up longer than anyone in my family thought I could. Longer than I thought I could. I also have kept my budget tracking going the whole time too. I think I am ready for anther change in my life where this is not a fly-by-night one time work out. This is going to be a change in my life. I am trying to ease into it rather and shocking the system too much. So for the last week I have been eating less and more healthy on my own.

I thought about going to bed a little earlier. Then I will take a power nap after my work out to get a little more sleep before starting my day.

Purchased More Tools

January 5th, 2008

I stopped at Pullman Building Supply to pick up some more tools for my project. I have new saw blades, router bits, clamps, and more. I am excited to get to use them.

I went out to the garage to start to use these new tools. How nice is that? I made my cuts on the frames to make them have angled corners after I “measured twice, and cut once”.

I also got the Cougar basketball game on the radio as I was working on the frames. I was getting places. The Cougs were playing the Huskies and were trailing for much of the game. I put a pizza in the oven.

With four minutes to go on the pizza, the tones went off. There was around two minutes to go in the basketball game. I had to turn off the oven. We ended up going code to the scene so we were not able to hear the end of the game while driving there.

But due to the cramped conditions inside the house we were told to stay at our vehicle. That allowed us to listen in as the Cougs won the game. We were cleared shortly thereafter. I figured I would get warm pizza. But instead we were quickly called to another location.

We were first on scene and transported. Following the transport, I got my pizza. It was cold. I heated it up a little bit, but it is never as good the second time around.

We got a couple more calls on the night, but nothing major.

Body for Life

January 4th, 2008

I have been planning for a while to make my way to the swimming pool to start to get ready for the testing that I am going to have to do soon, but I haven’t done it yet. I also had my first Town Crier column. That started the challenge for me to count down the pounds. I have a goal that I archaically stated in my column. No one really knows what it means except for me. I am going to write down what the next value is. It will keep counting down until my last Town Crier, which should be two years from now. I hope by that time I will have make major strides into what I am doing.

I was paying a great deal of attention to eating smaller, lighter meals. So I was trying to figure out how many calories are in a Cougar Super Basket. I really don’t know if I want to know. But I would guess somewhere around a Big Mac meal at McDonald’s.

While I was researching that I hit upon (I should say hit BACK upon) the Body for Life site. I am going to give their twelve week program a try that combines weight training, cardio, and nutrition into a program that lasts twelve week. That is eighty-four days. What is nice about this program is that Sunday’s are rest days. You get to eat what you want. But I am sure that as you work hard for six straight days, people don’t tend to go nuts. But to know there is a day of the week you can have a bowl of ice cream or a candy bar is nice. Rather than not allowing for the occasional candy, you can have it.

I would say that is my biggest downfall. I don’t think I eat more than many other people. It is just the choices I make when I do eat. When I am hungry, rather than filling up on something more healthy, I tend to get less than healthy things to fill up on. For instance in the past, I was hungry and ate Oreo’s. I just kept chowing as I was hungry. What I needed to do was eat something else to satisfy the hunger and than have a couple Oreo’s as a treat. It is about access and taste. I think the biggest thing the could help me is if there was a way for me to all of a sudden like lots of foods I don’t like. Such as vegetables. That would make life a whole bunch easier.

It is going to be hard to stay on this strictly when I am back at my mom’s in Seattle, but I will do what I can during that time. Maybe the local gym would be willing to see a one week pass or something like that.

Other than that, how are things? They are well. I worked the women’s basketball game with Bien. I spent most of my time in the first aid room watching TV and working on new phone. Getting contacts set up. I was trying to get the recordings created so I could use my voice activated dialing. So far that has not worked out too well. Many times I tell it to dial one thing, and it really dials something else.

There is more work to be done on that.

Playing with the New Phone

January 3rd, 2008

I got my HTC Sixty-Eight-hundred yesterday. I started to set it up. Today I got the phone on the Sprint network. That was pretty quick to do. Once on the network I was able to make some phone calls. I tested my headset and the headset that came with the phone. Both worked. I was able to get the mini-sd card filled with music. I am going to sync my new eight gig card I bought today when it comes in. I will probably leave a couple hundred meg free for other purposes.

I went down to the Deuce around six to start rig checks. Bien and Williams were working with me. We got to talking. Pretty soon it has been nearly two hours. The Bumblebee was running the whole time in the parking lot. We got called out to a fire alarm. That didn’t amount to very much. So we cleared pretty quickly.

Beer Pong

January 2nd, 2008

I got my new cell phone today. I unpackaged it and started to work on getting it set up with my settings and figuring out how it works.

Nick and I decided we would decide to go on Rescue calls today. But when we got one. It was a fire alarm. We responded on that one. That was all we got for the rest of the night. I went to the station around five to meet up with Nick to wash Rescue. Michael was down there so we started to chat about a couple things.

I got a text message from Peter about beer pong at his place. It was starting at one in the morning. When I got there several people were there. A group of people would play beer pong as the others sat on the coach playing video games or watching TV. I never played beer pong, but I enjoyed watching the others play.

I was there until around three in the morning. I got home and worked on my computer, but the network was running poorly. I finally went to bed at four in the morning.

Town Crier III – First Column

January 2nd, 2008

My first Town Crier Column has appears in the Daily News:

TOWN CRIER III: Help make 2008 the ‘Year of the People’
By Scotty Anderson
Wednesday, January 2, 2008

I host a local weekly talk radio show called The PES. Looking back to the year 2002 when I hosted my first show, the community has never been as divided as it is now.

I was looking over the summaries of some of my old radio shows and the subjects included the proposal for a national ID card, gun control and gun rights, gay rights, racial profiling, crime, the city of Pullman budget woes, Pullman Transit, zero tolerance rules, President George W. Bush, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Enron, and the United Nations. I prefer to talk about local political issues, but there were no long-lasting hot-button issues.

That is until Wal-Mart, big-box stores, water rights, and the corridor development made the front pages of this very newspaper. Those issues have driven a wedge between families, friends, neighbors and cities. The battle lines have been drawn and for the past couple of years, those topics have dominated a large part of my radio show.

I believe everything that could be said about the Wal-Mart issue already has been argued – nothing new is being brought forth. It is time to stop the constant bickering.

A new year has just been thrust upon us. This is our chance to start a new focus on the people of the Palouse. Let’s make 2008 the “Year of the People of the Palouse.”

Allow me, if you will, to take you back one week into the past. I was driving to Pullman from Renton, Wash., after spending Christmas with my family. I exited I-90 at Tinkham Road. I was driving up a roadway that was narrow and covered with snow.

There was a four-wheel drive pickup truck in front of me. There was a small passenger car in front of the pickup truck. We were making our way up the hill into the woods. The farther we went, the deeper the snow got.

Soon the car was starting to get stuck. The driver of the car got out and walked back to the pickup truck driver and me. I noted he was wearing a grey sweatshirt with the symbol of the Oregon Ducks. He told us he was getting stuck and he would have to reverse his course.

The reality of the situation was that we would have to back all the way out to the main road. There was no place to turn around because of the amount of snow on the sides of the road. We didn’t argue with the man from the car. We didn’t get mad at him. We did what we had to do to help him get out of there.

As we were backing out, my vehicle got stuck in deep snow. Even in four-wheel drive, I was not getting enough traction to get out of the snow. Without asking any questions, without worrying about what university I was from, without being asked, the people from the car and the pickup truck came to my aid.

They got a shovel and started to dig my truck out of the snow. Once we got enough of the snow dug out, several people got into the back of my truck to add weight to the rear axle.

Three other people who were snowshoeing came to my aid, also, without being asked. The people on the snow shoes pushed from the front of the truck. One of them was wearing a purple Husky hat. Again, it didn’t matter to him that I am a Coug.

I got unstuck and continued to back down the narrow snow covered road. That was the true idea of neighbor helping neighbor. Cougar-Husky-Duck at that time we were neighbors, not competitors.

I am sharing this story about my experience on the snowy road to hopefully give incentive for you to find as many chances as possible to help out your fellow Palouse residents. With your dedication to this principle, we can make 2008 the Year of the People of the Palouse!

With the last couple words I have been granted to write in this column, I would like to ask the readers to keep track with me: T minus 148.

Scotty Anderson is a computer programmer who enjoys serving the community through various community-oriented service jobs. You can reach Scotty at crier@cityofpullman.com.

Looking Back on the Last Year

January 1st, 2008

Jan Joining the CISD Team – I started the evening off going to Colfax for a CISD team meeting. They were looking for new members, so I thought I would see what it is about. Now it seems that I am on the team and they are looking at having a training class come in soon to get the new people trained.

Feb How Many Really Know? – When I got home I wrote back and forth with Matt and Monte about the call from yesterday. I told Matt that I was not offended and that he could not offend me. I asked both to keep the information secret. I also asked Monte how Tom knew about it. It was Tom who told Monte. Monte said he heard about it several years about and it was a non-issue to him. I was surprised to hear that Tom has known about it for three or four years. Monte said “remember it is a small world”.

Mar The Start of What was to Date my Best Softball Year – Then there was another play where I had to go hard to my right, more or less a dive and scoop a ball. When I came up with it I looked down at home where someone was running, but I did not think I would be able to make the play, so I held on it the ball. We were playing A Bunch of Old Guys, which use to be Don’t Care. We lost to them by three runs. It sucked.

Apr My First Shift Patrolling with the Marine Patrol – Then we went to the boat. We went through some things about the boat and then we were underway. We made a couple stops of people who were breaking the wake zones. I saw him do an inspection. Then on the next stop I did the inspection. We spent some time driving along the shore line of Medina, Hunts Point, and we were working our way to Yarrow Point.

May A Police Officers’ Funeral – At about 10:00 AM the procession started. It was long enough that as my vehicle was pulling into the parking of the Kibbie Dome the last cars were leaving Tidyman’s. Along the route people were standing on the sides of the streets and police officers on Motorcycles where blocking intersections. There were people who had their hand over their heart, American Flags, signs of support, and cub scout troops along the way.

Jun An Incredibly Fun Softball Tournament in Waitsburg – But we had an eight run lead going into the seventh inning. They were the home team because they were undefeated. In the bottom of the seventh all we had to do was to get three outs and go to the second game. But they started to hit the ball. I knew our team was hurting when after the inning the jumping back slaps that Kelly and some of the other would do turned into just back slaps. The jumping was over with. In my second to last at bat, there were two outs and I was on first base. My quads were sore and I did not want to run. But I brought up my positive mental attitude by thinking about the fact that I want this. That I had gone this far and I just have to do it.

Jul Final Men’s Game is a FFT – 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.

Aug Ryan Gamble Get Married – Once that was done we were back at the hotel, the time was counting down for the wedding to start. People started to file into the Davenport hotel. The wedding started and it lasted around thirty minutes total. I was the best man and stood next to Ryan. It was neat to see the whole thing.

Sept Bought a Lightly Used Truck – By this time in the day I realized that I did want to get the truck, but only if I got it for twenty-one-five. A while later the sales manager called back and said I could get it for twenty-one-seven, plus a full tank of fuel. I said I would do it.

Oct Introducing the Next Coroner of Whitman County? – Pete said he was happy to hear that I would like to do it. He said he plans on not running in twenty-twelve. So that would be when I would need to run. By then some of the other guys would be a lot more trained and may want to run as well. So I figured I would talk to Pete right away and have him start to groom me to be the next coroner.

Nov A Night of Arson’s in Pullman – On our arrival to the scene I could see a five inch across Spring Street. We parked in such a way to protect the hose. We walked up to the scene. While walking up the road a man asked us if the smoke coming from his garage was a normal amount. Because he was a neighbor of the fire, he figured some of the smoke was from the fire. But it was pouring out, and I could tell it was not from the other fire.

Dec Ankle Operation Part Two – 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.

It is always hard to put this list together. There was the day at the jail when I found out that Poff and Capt, as well as everyone else, has known about me for years. Or November when the boys made their first trip to Pullman to see Cougar Football and Basketball. There are many other examples. As usual. If I were to do this another day I am sure some of these choices would be different, but some of them would be the same for sure.

Most of today I responded on calls at the station. But most of the time no one was showing up to go with me. So I stood by on most of them. One of the calls Gecas showed up and we went on the call.

We also got a couple calls during the evening hours. I couldn’t find my pager. I looked around the house for it, I looked around the station, I checked my truck as well. I couldn’t find it. I am a little worried that I lost it on the call I went on with Gecas.

I worked on getting my E-mail inbox cleaned out. It took a while to go through all the messages. I really should go through everything again and reorganize it some more. But I am probably not going to.