National Tournament Day Two

We are no in do or die waters. We had ten people today, but I haven’t seen two of the guys play for ages. As it turned out they were rusty. But the rest of the team didn’t do very well either at the plate. We didn’t hit the ball at all. We scored a little in the first inning, but the inning was ended when Chad hit a homerun with no outs. Matt and Mike both packed on the pounds since leaving WSU. Mike was rusty out there as well. But it was good to see both of them.

We didn’t score enough runs and lost the game ending our hopes at the Western ASA D-league Nationals. It was fun to be here and I have my t-shirt to show for it.

I went to Ron’s hotel room for a while I shared a couple beers with him as we talked softball and then sports in general. I was there for a couple hours before heading to Jon’s to had a BBQ with them. I played around with some of the boys waiting until it was time to go see Dave.

Dave and I were going to watch Batman tonight. Dave had not seen it. He wanted to go the night before, but the movie was already starting.

We met at Southcenter and he complimented me on how much I have lost. He hadn’t seen me in a while. After the movie we went to Shari’s for some dinner and we spent time talking and getting caught up with each other.

National Tournament Day One

I got up early and working on finding one more person to play softball with us. I was still hurting after finding out that one of the people I was counting on would not be there. I only had eight confirmed. So I made calls and texts to lot of people. Most of the people were planning on going to the Cougar game. I called Jim and he said he would play. He saved my bacon. I texted Jon and wrote “Jim is my Huckleberry”.

I bought a tee-shirt for the tournament and waited for people to show up worried about everything. As people were showing up I had them sign the roster. I was worried about everyone showing up. We had no room for anyone to be missing. As the game started we were going to have to take an out for every time through the line up. It sucked. To top it off Ron got hurt in the second inning. That really caused us some trouble. We didn’t score any runs.

Later Brandon and I went to see Batman. I was told I need to see it in the theatre. We decided to meet at the Southcenter theatre. It is the first time I was there since they remodeled the whole mall. It is pretty incredible the difference in the look.

After the movie we stayed and talked for a while about work and whatnot.

Learning to Forge

While at work this morning I was working hard to get the roster completed. But due to the number of pick ups we would need I had to get one of them on the roster from the city of Moscow. So I needed to work a while doing photo copies several times in figuring out how to get the original photocopy which was signed to include one more name. So a photocopy of the original signature would not work. I needed to use the sheet with the photocopy. But I couldn’t just write in the name because it would be obvious that we had written in the name after the photocopy. So I had to write in the name and information on a blank sheet. And then photocopy that one line onto the form that was already filled out, but to get the right kind of ink so the photocopy would look like the other ones was a challenge, and then working to make sure it lined up was very difficult. When it was all said and done the time was wasted because they never even looked at my roster.

I went to Federal Way for the managers meetings. That is where we were drawing for game times. We also got information about the rules. The Hooter’s girls were there with wings and other food items for us. I sat next to McCoy. He was telling me that they were thinking about asking me to play on their team at the beginning of last season, but didn’t because they found out I had the My Office team. But he made it sound that if I ever want to change teams I would have a place on his.

Following the meeting I went to Seahawks Stadium for the game. It was Oakland that was in town. We went to the events center to start off. Justin was with us and he went through some of the things they had set up for the kids to do.

Once it was closer to game time we made our way to the seats. The Seahawks played pretty well and beat up on Oakland pretty good. We left a little early because I parked in the parking garage. It takes about an hour to get out of it once the game is done and we needed to be at the poker game.

At the poker game I was not playing it very well. I had a decent hand and went up against a girl who only played the nuts pretty much. I didn’t know that to start with. So I was dominated as I was throwing a bunch of money into the pat. That hurt. I never really recovered. I lost about sixty bucks through out the night. I just was not seeing any cards.

Golfing at Mt Si

I was thinking that there could be some golf tonight. Jim actually texted me while I was thinking about it. He said they were looking for another person. I told him that I would play.

I drove into the office to start off. I was there long enough to get my computers hooked up and participate in a short phone call. I also was learning about the latest with the company and what was going to be happening with the possible sale.

I left to get to Issaquah to meet up with Jim. I drove us to the Mt. Si golf course. It was my first time playing there. We were playing dots. I wasn’t doing great to start off with but I did some up with some redeeming shots. I wasn’t in last place in dots when we were done with the day, but I still owed money for dinner.

We went to the Pour House. I got a burger and had some of the deep fried green beans. They were not that bad. I guess it shows when something is deep fried it makes it better.

A Counting Shift Member

This morning it wasn’t supposed to be this way, but I was one of only four people on shift. A quick discussion was held and I was cleared to be a shift member. That means that I can count towards the staffing minimums and I am eligible to be on the overtime list and more. It was going to happen most likely on Friday. It just got moved up two days.

It was a little different. Now I am the driver on the ambulance today. And when we had calls I was the number two guy there. Helping the paramedic and doing what I needed to do. It is a bit of a different feeling.

We were pretty busy with normal shift duties and calls for service. I wanted to get some good sleep tonight, but we got some calls that interrupted that from happening.

I also worked to get next Wednesday off. The Bellevue company wants me to be here for a meeting with the potential buyers. I spoke with the chief and I said I was willing to go with a day without pay. Now I am set up to be in Seattle for a week and a day.

Rush to do the Paperwork

We are in the tournament for nationals, but that meant that we had to get the stuff turned in last week. Due to some issues we were given an extension, but I had to rush around today and pick up where Erik left off. I had to get some signatures and get a check. Then I scanned those things and e-mailed them to the man in charge of the tournament in Seattle.

That took more of the day than I had planned. I was going to be going to Colfax to spend time there at the fire department, but that got blown away. When I finally got everything done I did make me way to Colfax and worked on some stuff in the Coroner’s office until it was time for our meeting. The meeting covered the new video camera and some recent cases. We had some dinner and set up the call schedule for September.

Then I went to Palouse to help Rudy with his computer. I was there for about four hours backing up data and trying to fix his BSOD errors. After a couple hours of trying I talked him into reinstalling everything. That took some time as well. I wasn’t completely done, but I had to get going because of how late it was and the fact I had to work in the morning.

Working with the Reserves

This evening I was going to be teaching the reserves how to use the new timesheet. I spent some time getting an information sheet ready and setting up all the reserves with their own time log Excel workbook.

I went down after dinner to help with the training. They were split into groups doing different stations. One was my station. I walked them through how the sheet worked and answered any questions they had about it. It went pretty well.

Earlier in the night our dinner was put on delay because just before we were going to remove the burgers from the grill a call came in. We got back about an hour later and the food was cold. I heated up and it was still good, but I really was looking forward to a warm dinner.

Fantasy Draft at My Place

We started by golfing this morning down in Colfax. There was a large group of people down there. The first nine everyone played on their own. Then in the second half we teamed up in to pairs. It was those teams they went on to challenge each other for the best score. The winners would split the pool. Each person put in five bucks to start. I was teamed with Ron because he had the second best score and I had the second worst score after the first nine holes. Team Ron and Scotty went on to tie the best score. Due to that we split with the other team.

After the golfing we went to Pullman. I had Ron and Heather as well as CBass coming over for the FFL draft. I worked on getting Ron’s and my computer set up to use. I worked on making sure the house was looking okay and that I had quarters for the pop machine. When they came over we ordered some pizza and wings. I ended up drinking some beer with them tonight. I also had some hard-A. They were over for a couple hours doing the draft. I got Farve as my quarterback. That was good, because I wasn’t sure if someone else would try to steal him from me.

Lentil Festival Champions

Today I am playing in the Lentil Festival Softball tournament in Pullman. Our team is one of seven in the tournament. We started out with a win, but it was close, we had to do a comeback in order to win the game. With us in the winner bracket we had a couple hours off. I walked over to Reaney Park where the fire department was operating a dunk tank. CBass was in it. I threw some balls, but I missed with all of them. It was horrible. I was in uniform and CBass was ripping on my moustache. Later on Heidi got into the dunk tank. I sank her two of the three first throws. She also set me up for a ride with her tonight.

I went back to playing softball. We kept winning the games we were playing and we went to the championship in the winner bracket. We were playing the team we beat the first game. We knew they would be tough, but we also knew they would be less rested with us because they have been playing straight through. But they still came out and beat us in the first game. But that just made them more tired. We finally went out and took care of business. But we had to go into extra innings.

We were tied at the end of seven. In the eight they took a lead and we tied it up. In the ninth they took a three run lead. We got one run. Then with the batters we had coming up we were going to need a miracle. With two on, the miracle was starting to happen, we were down by two. There were two outs. Warren came to the plate. He hit a walk-off-three-run-homerun. Everyone on the team started to cheer. It was great.

I hurried home to clean up and then down to the police station for the ride along. I went out with Heidi for several hours. It was a pretty quiet night over all for an opening weekend of school. We had a couple drunks. One guy was arrested for assault. But it was all pretty tame. It was nice to ride with Heidi though.

Got a Yard Stick

I went to the jail to help out because they were only going to have two people there. I worked and did what I could to help out. They were testing for the list. Some of the people were coming in to be printed. I fingerprinted one of the people. Sgt asked me to create a schedule where we would have twelve hour shifts. That really won’t work, but I was able to make one with ten hour shifts for swings and graves.

I went to the fire station to get ready to do the Lentil Festival. I got a sandwich board set up with flyer’s for the reserve program. We were showing off the engine to people as they came by.

I took a walk around the area and I was able to pick up a couple things including a yo-yo and a free light bulb. Got some chili and a couple other freebies. I saw some people with yard sticks. I went to find where they were. When I found the booth with them they were out. They had just given the last one away. I was crushed.

Then someone walked up to us and said “there was a fireman looking for a yard stick”. I said I was. She then gave me one of the two she had. That was very nice.

Cooper Test with the SO

I went to work in the jail today and the plan was to run the Cooper Test with the SWAT team. It is a chance for me to see where I am at. I got to the jail and the captain asked if I would be willing to come in on Friday as they are going to be slammed with only two people on. At first I said I couldn’t then I was able to juggle some stuff around and I said I would do it.

I did my normal jail stuff until around four. Then I went downstairs to meet up with the SWAT guys. I brought stuff to run in, but I didn’t have shoes so I had to run in my boots. That sucked. We did the run. I missed it by about 15 seconds again. That really sucked. I had a good pace for the first half of it, but when we hit the turn for the second half I started to lose my pace.

I did the sit ups and push ups really well and passed those tests. The guys said I did a good job and they know I can pass the test. Other than some of the people at the SO and jail as well as Misty at WSUPD I haven’t told anyone that I am trying to do this.

I haven’t had the police bone in my body for a while, but I think it is back. I want to become a reserve if I am able to swing it with my Pullman Fire schedule. If I didn’t have the temporary job I would be good to go, but this could be troublesome getting the time off that is necessary. I was mad that I wasn’t able to pass the test because now I will have to run it again, and I need to make sure I pass it. I am going to have to figure out a way to have water with me so I can get rid of the cotton mouth that I get as I am nearing the end. That is one of the big things that is killing me at the end.

Playing Palouse Ridge

I was supposed to play golf today with someone, but the one guy I had scheduled ended up double booking himself and he couldn’t come. I called around and no one else was available. So it was just me. I went to the Palouse Ridge Golf Course. The weather wasn’t great. It was the soft opening. I got a golf cart and I was teamed up with another person to play the round. The guy I was with had played there already so he was able to help me out with the holes and how to play them.

I lost several balls along the way. There are no fairways next to other fairways like at Colfax. So if you miss your fairway by a lot you very well may lose your ball. I lost balls on nine holes along the way. But I did find several along the way as I was looking for my ball.

At the end of the round one of the workers asked how it was. I said it was good. I asked if they had a lost and found. He said yes, what did I lose. I said my ball and then I laughed. I joked about making a lost poster with a photo of my golf ball and I was going to see if they would post it.

Teaching First Aid

I was supposed to be on duty today, but I also had a first aid class scheduled for one of the city department. I ended up being told that rather than moving the class, that I could go teach it instead and then come back to work when I am done.

I went to City Hall and got the AV equipment set up and then did my class. It was the same department that I taught last year, it was just a different group of guys. We broke for lunch around the noon hour and we were done around four. The class went off without a problem.

Recording at the Driving Range

After I got off work today I thought I would do some hitting at the driving range. I wanted to record my swing to see if I can find what is kicking my butt. I don’t know if I will be able to pick it up, but I figure this is a good time to see how my swing looks.

After the driving range I went to the rec center. I ran and did some push-ups and sit-ups. I also made my way to Moscow to get some address labels for Rhonda. She wanted her Cougar logo with the address. I created one and then printing one page that I planned on showing her to see if it was to her liking.

Second Day on Shift

It was my first weekend shift so I was trying to figure out how everything works on weekends. We started doing rig checks the we got a call. It was followed by a second call out of town. When it was done I barely had gotten half way through my rig checks, but the guys at the station completed everything we hadn’t completed.

We had a breakfast together that was eaten closer to lunch do to the calls we had. After lunch was got called out to a car fire at Shopko. That turned out to be a pretty small event. We got it put out with a minimum amount of water. We got a couple more calls to finish off the night.

I spent my free time working on the engineer workbook that I have to get through to become an engineer again.

Seeing Wakeman

Today the plan was to spend time in the office before heading back to Pullman so I could get to work on Saturday morning. I was able to get some stuff done at the office but I didn’t get anything resolved with the bugs. I loaded up my computers and some books and headed out.

I texted Wakeman about meeting up on my way through Ellensburg. He called me up and said he didn’t live there anymore, but as it turned out he would be in town doing some moving. He told me to call when I was close to see if he was still around.

When I was about ten miles out I called and he was still in town. I met up with him at The Tav. He and his friend were having some food and beer. I sat down and we talked about what each other was doing. It was nice to see him. He is the one who pulled me aside one day at the fire department and asked if I was gay. Many people at the FD know and some would spread it around, but very few have ever asked me. He said that he had heard, but wanted to ask me. I really respected that about him from the beginning.

I enjoyed my time working with him and I sad to see him go. For one summer before he left we were running daytime calls all the time. He never cared about the response level of the call he would go on everything like I would.

Big Golf Shot

This morning I got into the office to work on my computers to fix the problems that have been sent to me. I was also planning on meeting with Jon and the others for lunch at Three Pigs. While there I was asked to go golfing with Jim and his golfing buddies. After lunch Jon gave me his driver because he was having a hard time hitting with it.

I was excited to get a chance to use it tonight. I didn’t do to hot on the golf course. We were going to be playing for money. I was hitting the ball right, like I seem to do all the time. I lost a number of balls as we were playing nine holes.

But on one hole I put the ball past the green about thirty yards. I had trees between me and the green. I saw about half the green to the left of one tree. I was going to hit it there, then I saw an opening about four feet wide. I could see the pin. I decided to go for it. I used my pitching wedge. I hit it and it went between the trees. It hits a couple leaves along the way. It bounced once on the green. It hit the pin and fell into the cup. Jim screamed loud. He loved he shot. I didn’t know it went in after first. That was a great shot.

We went out to dinner later on. All the money lost to the other people is put on the table and shared in food. It is just the winner doesn’t have to pay for dinner and drinks when it is done.

Quick Trip To Seattle

This morning I found an e-mail from work about a new bug. I started to work on it but found I was having some troubles getting to do any work. I also had a few other plans on the day. I washed my car. I got storage for the motorhome. I also had lunch with the Palousitics crowd.

I washed the car. When I was done I had enough time to start in on the motorhome and get the front washed. Then I took it to the storage place. I walked over to the Hilltop to have lunch with some of the others from Palousitics. It was a nice lunch.

I got a ride home. I talked to a couple people I use to work with and I found that having my computers in Pullman would make it easier to work. So that means a trip to Seattle was in order. I quickly packed and hit the road.

The drive over was uneventful. I spent some of the time talking on the phone and some of it listening to the Mariners game. I got to my mom’s just before ten o’clock. I put the RAM in her computer then spent the rest of the evening watching some TV.

End of the First Shift Night

I got up with the alarm going off for a fire alarm. It was up in Thompson hall. It was the one where we had to climb and crawl in the attic to get to it. We got it reset. Just as we got back to the station we were sent back there. We checked the detector location. With no fire, we reset again and disabled that detector. As we were getting back to the station we got dispatched to another fire alarm elsewhere.

I got out there about thirty minutes late. I went home and changed to hit the rec center. I did my workout. While I was there a ten-six-seven was working out. It seemed like each place I went he was near by. It was nice scenery to work out to. What was funny is that his body didn’t fit his face so much. He was very muscular, but he face looked very young.

I worked on some of the videos from softball. I am putting together a video for each person. I am placing each clip with a person together and playing music in the background for it. It is taking a while but it is fun to do.

This evening I had HazMat training. I went to the fire station for the training. We were touring campus looking at the places that hold on to hazardous materials. We were seeing the locations and how the rooms are set up in terms of safety equipment and what not.

First Twenty-Four Hour Shift

I was at the fire department before eight o’clock in the morning for my first day on shift. I had planned on what to make for dinner. I found that someone else was working an OT shift so he was going to make dinner so I planned on doing lunch for everyone.

We started by getting calls which destroyed the plans for the morning. But we were able to get the supplies for a lunch. We got back and put it together for everyone. I was getting crap from the guys, but it was all in good fun.

Later on we did PL training and that ended with going to the tower to do some driving, but I was sent to Lewiston for a transfer. I worked with one of the newer medics. He is a ten-six-seven and a very nice guy. We talked about his new house in Uniontown and about the fire department on the way home.

When I got back we found the others were out dealing with some problems with the rigs that were under some mechanical problems. We were told to start eating because the others would take a while to get back.

We had some dinner and waited for the others to get back. Once they ate we did the dishes. I planned on going to bed around midnight. That is about when I did get to bed. The reserved got back from doing their training. I hung out with them as they were working on refilling air bottles. One of the newest reserves was there. He is a poster boy for ten-six-seven’s. He is screaming hot, if you will.

Lost Early

I was over in Moscow for the first softball game this morning. We were playing for a spot in the Nationals for ASA. But we were flat and couldn’t get a basehit. We ended up losing the game and were sent home early.

Ron, Joe, and a couple others hung out at the fields watching some of the games after ours. We were having a great time watching the games and ranking on each other. While there I told to the organizer of the tournament. He said he doesn’t know of other qualifiers, but he said that if I call the person in charge of the tournament in Seattle that he may just let us in. I am going to see if I can get us in that route.

I went to Tri-State and got a folding chair and some new Levis. I needed some new jeans as my only pair are in bad shape. I got home and washed them with all the other clothes I needed to wash.

I went to the rec center and did the Cooper test again. I didn’t pass it because of the run, but I did do good enough to pass all the other sections of the test.

I spent some time getting things ready for my first day of work tomorrow.

Tournament to Earn a National ASA Spot

The softball team is playing in a tournament to earn a spot to play in the Nationals in Seattle this year. We need to be one of the top three teams to earn a spot. But in the first game we came out flat after the first inning. We couldn’t score runs and lost the first game. That is not where we wanted to be in the whole thing.

After the game we went to get some breakfast. I had already eaten so I just went for the ride. We got back to the field and hung out for a while. Our second game I pitched. I struggled for a couple batters then I was did really well from there on out. It was a close game, but we beat the team and went on to play another team later on. It was a weak team and we easily beat them.

While at the field one of the guys from another team that I met recently was at the fields. He is ten-six-seven. While in Bovile for the softball tournament there I saw him there shirtless. He is well built and had a nice chest. It was nice to see him again.

After the game we went to dinner in Moscow and then over to Pullman to hang out at the Sports Page. I played a couple games of pool and talked with the others who were there. We hung out there until around ten o’clock in the evening. I gave Warren a ride home before going home myself.

Final Day on Days

This morning was my final day working dayshift at the fire department. Starting on Monday I am working twenty-four hour shifts. We went to the main station for training that lasted a couple hours before going back to the Deuce. I bought some lunch for the guys before going back to finish training. It was a pretty quiet day at the department. When we got back we dealt with a “hot” odor in the station. We figured out it was the blower from the HVAC system. We let the city know about it.

I was about thirty minutes from going home. Those thirty minutes seemed to take for ever. It was like a little kid waiting for the last day of school to end. When it was finally done I went home to change and head to Pete’s.

We watch the Seahawks and hung out for several hours. Nearly seven hours in all watching TV and signing karaoke. I sang several songs and had a couple beers. It was all the guys from the softball team that will be playing in the ASA tournament coming up tomorrow morning.

Ladders and Ventilation

This morning came sort of early, but I had a busy day ahead of me. I was going to be doing some training in the heat of the day today. I was looking forward to getting it done with, but I wasn’t sure I was going to be a fan of the heat. When I got to work I found out that we were going to go up earlier in the day to get it done to keep cooler. I was also getting engine drive time. I still need more time on the engine, but I am getting closer.

We had a call to start off with. Then it was off to station one until the ambulance was back in service. Once in service we went to the tower. I had to throw some ladders and do some ventilation. It was a good training. I had a chance to learn some techniques for vertical ventilation I hadn’t done before. I also learned a way to help get someone down from an upper floor if I were by myself. I did some tandem horizontal ventilation before we were done. It was a good training day in all.

I worked on the engineer book in the afternoon. It was pretty quiet at far as calls went. I was planning on going down to Colfax after the day working. I stopped at the station first to get my backpack with my computer. I talked to the guys I use to work with for a little over an hour before heading to Colfax.

I got to Colfax and went into the SO to drop off my paperwork from the coroner’s case from the other day. I went to the fire station after that. I hung out there for a couple hours but nothing came in. We had a city cop ask us to help with the removal of a dead deer. That was about all we did, that and watch a movie.