Last Shift with Bob

September 30th, 2008

Today is my last shift working with Bob as a medic on my shift. He is going to be going to a different shift. I like working with Bob. We get along well. I have a good time working with him.

The day today was very quiet over all however. We did our normal daily things including doing hydrants. We had a call at the CUB for a fire alarm and we were first on scene.

In the morning we got a call to keep the string of the “six o’clock in the morning calls.” It was really close to quitting time, but we got it. That was the final run we had together, at least for now.

My Town Crier

September 29th, 2008

I put some final touches on my town crier column and got it sent off today to the Daily News. I went to the rec center and got my work out taken care of as well.

My town crier this time around is about electing Finch.

With the election season upon us, political advertisements are everywhere.

I have seen very few that explain to me why I should vote for a certain candidate. Instead I usually see advertisements about why we should vote against the candidate’s opponent. This kind of negative campaigning does turn people off.

My best friend was over Sunday night. He is a staunch Democrat. He told me he is considering voting for the “other person” for governor. I am not holding out hope that he is finally seeing the light. He said the ads on TV seem to all be negative toward Rossi and that has made him want to cross over.

I have never been a fan of negative campaigning. We should really question whether he should be our leader if someone is not a strong enough candidate to win on his own merits. It is in this light that I have chosen to use my column to state why I am going to vote for Jerry Finch for Whitman County commissioner.

In the decade since Initiative 695 was passed we have seen the city of Pullman and Whitman County adjust to different tax incomes. Finch was not in office when this happened, but as a county commissioner he has had to deal with it.

Whitman County, like all governments, gets its money from the people in the form of taxes. In order to get more taxes we must have a larger base to tax from or we need to raise taxes. As a conservative he doesn’t want to raise taxes. In order to make ends meet Finch has used good fiscal management to prioritize the needs of Whitman County to make sure they are funded.

Seeing a need to fix our public safety systems he worked to get a voter-approved sales tax increase to fund our emergency dispatch center, Whitcom, as well as to bring sorely needed funding to the Whitman County Jail.

Finch understands that county employees are not paid as well as their counterparts in other counties. In order to retain good employees they need to make enough money to live. Finch knows by expanding the tax base we can obtain the needed funding to not only help pay the county employees a wage closer to their counterparts, but that same expanded funding also will help to maintain and improve the infrastructure around the county.

Finch has worked hard to make the corridor development a reality. By using the corridor we will help to stop the sales tax leakage from Whitman County. This keeps dollars here and it also expands the tax base. Finch has stuck with the issue of the Hawkins development near Moscow. Even with years of appeals, Hawkins is still a future source of taxes and growth for Whitman County.

Finch is outspoken on issues and there is no question where he stands. He has been a strong supporter of the Pullman Walmart. He knows it will be a benefit to Whitman County to get Walmart here. Finch owned an independent grocery store in Pullman for 35 years. His support of Walmart demonstrates that it will not cause the havoc that we have been told about for the last four years.

Finch cares about Whitman County and wants it to be in better shape than when he found it. His work so far shows that he has been progressing in making that desire to become a reality. Finch has been a go-getter while in office. With our support he can continue this work and make Whitman County a better county.

It is for these reasons that we need to retain Jerry Finch as a Whitman County Commissioner and keep the county moving in the right direction.

Finally, more than nine months into our countdown it is going strong, and we are at T-77.

Outside the Park Homerun

September 28th, 2008

Today was pretty busy for the most part. I got up and went to station one for the reserve testing. I got to drive the PL to the tower and back. I helped to set up everything. I also was an evaluator. I followed about seven of the people through their testing to keep time and make sure they did everything they were supposed to during the test. We were done after about five hours.

I was invited to My Office by two of the other career guys. We had some lunch and a couple pitchers of beer. We talked about a various number of things. One of the subjects that came up was about me. One guy has known since he was a reserve with me years ago. The other guy was a newer fire medic. I didn’t know he knew. But when I made a cryptic reference to the guy who knew, the other one acknowledged that he did know about me.

I asked how he knew. He said he over heard something about six months ago. He said it didn’t surprise him, but he didn’t care either. He has been a very nice guy to work with and I have always gotten along with him. I asked why he wasn’t surprised. He said it is because I am such a nice guy.

Following the time at the bar I went to my house to get into my softball uniform and went to the Valley Road Playfields for the games. I ended up pitching both games and did just fine while pitching. I had one ball hit back right at me in the second game and it hit my right on my cup. Good thing I had one.

Hitting was good for me. I had an over-the-fence homerun in the first game. It was the difference in the game. It was a two run shot. I took a pitch that was inside and up. I swung away and it just flew. I knew there was a good chance that it would go out when I hit it.

We lost the second game because no one could hit and all of our defensive players made an error. It was sucky.

Ryan and I got some dinner from Cougar Country and went back to my house to watch the Simpsons and Family Guy. After Ryan left I worked on my Town Crier column.

Another Cougar Downer

September 27th, 2008

I got up this morning to a phone call and decided to stay up. I got cleaned up and grabbed some breakfast. I got a hold of Bien and he gave me a ride to my car downtown. I also talked to Dearth. He was going to get cleaned up and then we were going to meet up and head to Tyson’s trailer.

I parked just off of campus and waited for Dearth. Him and a friend of his picked me up and we drove out to Tyson’s trailer. We were playing beer pong and having some ribs that Dearth grilled up. A while before the game we walked to the parking lot near the vet building to see Wehrung. The guys were happy to see him. We talked for a bit. He handed me a flask and said “here Probie”.

We went back to Tyson’s trailer and got ready to walk back for the game. We made our way to some seats under the scoreboard in the endzone. Within now time the Cougs were down two touchdowns.

The game went down hill from there. We did score two touchdowns along the way. Bien, Dearth, and the girls left at half time. I stayed until the end of the game. When the game was done I got my car and went home. I grabbed something to eat real quick and drove out to Tyson’s camp. They were playing some beer pong again.

I continued being a designated driver for the night. I took McPherson, Bien and the girls to Mike’s. I went back to the camp. We sat around a little fire talking and chowing a little bit. Dearth started to fall asleep so he had be give him a ride to the place he was staying.

I said goodbye to Tyson and left. I went to Mike’s and worked on finding Bien. When I got there I ran into Faber. It took a while to work my way downstairs. Finally when I was there I looked around the dance floor and found him. It was really crowded down there. I made my way up to him letting him know I was going to have to head home for the night. I was very tired and I wanted to get to sleep.

The Boys are Back

September 26th, 2008

This morning I went to my appointment for the psychological analysis that I need to get have for the reserve deputy position at the Sheriff’s Office. That appointment took nearly two hours doing all sorts of various tests.

When the tests were done I went home and got some stuff taken care of there before Bien was going to get into town. Heston called me and said he was planning on going to My Office an hour earlier than the scheduled time in order to have some dinner and meet up with Bien. I went down even earlier in order to save a table. It took a while for people to show up.

Heston and a girl who he knows from softball were there. We sat around watching some baseball and talking about things. We were waiting for the others to start to show up. Dearth was coming as well as Bien and Tyson. We also had Parrish, Williams, A. Wilcox, Yean, and Togiai all were going to come down. As people arrived we greeted each other and started to share drinks and conversation.

We also started to get photos of the different groups of reserves. After a while when A. Wilcox wasn’t there Parrish called and reminded him about it. He came down and we got a photo with him in it as well.


The Spring class


The Spring and Fall class

It wasn’t long after he got there that we headed up to campus to go to the bars up there. Dearth and Tyson headed to Dearth’s old frat. A. Wilcox, Bien, the girls, and I walked down to Mike’s.

On the way I asked A. Wilcox if we were good. He said we are. He was relieved that I asked that. He felt we were good the whole time but he didn’t talk to me because he thought I wasn’t good with everything. He said he felt bad because the other day I was working at the station and we were sitting next to each other on the computer and he wanted to chat with me but he thought it would make me uncomfortable.

He said that he really respects my moral values and my work knowledge. He said he has learned a lot from me. He said he always would look for me when we were doing some sort of training at the station to say hi to me in the past. He didn’t want that to end. I still cannot look him in the eyes. But we talked for a while and holds no hard feelings at all.

He knew some of the bouncers and got us downstairs without having to stand in line. Bien got something to drink. We talked and hung out. I told Bien that I wanted to tell him how sorry I was over something that had happened. He didn’t even remember it, but I told him that it was probably the worst I felt I have ever done as a crew leader. I felt I had been out of line. I told him I thought that since that happened we were not as close as we had been. I also told him I had great respect for him and that he was always my right-hand man on the shift. It was good to get that off my chest and that I needed to let him know how bad I felt.

Bien started to get out on the dance floor and he was dancing with some of the girls down there. We stayed at the bar until closing time. Then we walked back to my house from Mike’s. He stayed the night and we went to bed around three o’clock in the morning.

Working Fire Hydrants

September 25th, 2008

Today while working Bob and I spent a lot of the afternoon and some of the morning work on fire hydrants. We also got a dinner supplied by someone working over time. We had to go to a fraternity to do a fire safety talk with the members. It was a pretty quiet night over all. We did get one call where there was an unattended fire. The reserves used their fire extinguisher. We helped them get it refilled at the station following their call.

Co-ed Softball Defeat

September 24th, 2008

Tonight was supposed to be our last co-ed softball game, however, with Monday’s cancellation we will have one sometime next week I suppose.

I got over to the field and started to warm up. I was going to play first base today. I am happy to not be a EH only. But I am just happy to be playing softball and enjoy my time out there.

Since the begining of the softball for the ought-eight year I have really come around with my hitting. Early on I couldn’t hit the ball very well. I was missing it and just not getting good contact.

Now I am hitting the ball with some power. I am starting to go to the left side a little bit more. I have to build my confidence to keep pulling the ball. But I am also going to right field most of the time. I am now getting some powerful hits as well as hard liners.

The game tonight was a close one, but we were not able to pull it out in the end. It was too bad. Now we must win the last game to win the whole thing.

Calls Cancell CPR Training

September 23rd, 2008

Today I was going to do my CPR class with the guys again, but due to calls and other things we ended up not having time to do the class.

I spent the evening hours working on my engineer book. I need to study in order to get ready to take a test. I also need more drive time on some of the rigs so I can do my tests on those and become an engineer again.

Long OT Shift

September 22nd, 2008

After I got off work this morning I went to Colfax. I had to touch base with Hamilton about my background. I found out if I can get Mercer Island to release my polygraph results I will not have to drive to Spokane to do it again. I called over there to find out if they could do that. I also spoke to my doctor about the physical. I should be getting that in writing so I will not have to do a second physical in two weeks.

After that was all done I was going to go work out. My plan was to wait until around three. But I was out and about. I figured if I went around noon I could get it done and that way I wouldn’t miss it for some reason. It was good I did.

I got the work out completed. I had been shooting hoops when I got a phone call from the chief. He needed someone to work an overtime shift at the Deuce. I was higher on the list and I picked it up. It turned out to be just over eighteen hours of overtime. That is nice to pick up.

We had a couple calls through out the night. Nothing real major. There was a two-inch gas line that was damaged during some construction. Gas was leaking. We stood by for until Avista got it taken care of.

Later in the evening we watched Three-Hundred and we also got one more call for a fire alarm. It was a pretty uneventful night over all.

No Calls

September 21st, 2008

Today is the first day since I have gone to shift work that we went call-less. It was a nice change of pace. We spent this morning going over the engines and running some pump tests.

The afternoon I finished up my engineer book. Now it is time to study it before I do my test with Brown. Once the test is done I will only have to finish drive and pump time on Engine Thirty-Two and the PL. Then I will work on being an operator of PL. Then I will be totally done with the engineer stuff. That is something I have been working on doing really hard.

First Cougar Win

September 20th, 2008

After the test was done at the SO I went home and cleaned up. I went to the fire station to help make lunch. I was the griller. I cooked up all the hamburgers for everyone. I spent a while working the grill in the process.

The guy who found started the string of events recently was at the station. I told him I wanted to talk to him. After I was done eating I asked to chat with him in the bay. I started by saying “I heard you found something funny on the Internet”.

From there we talked about what had happened. I told him I was disappointed that he didn’t respect me enough to not make fun of me. I told him by giving that there person some grief about what he read also was making fun of me.

He said he was shocked to find out that I am gay. He didn’t know up to that point. He felt like he was left out because it seemed that everyone else knew. Even the guy he was giving a hard time knew. I was surprised to know about that. I didn’t know that he knew. I wonder how he found out. Sounded like it was a non-issue with him. He has known for a while it sounds like. But this other guy didn’t seem to know why I was upset about the whole thing. I am not sure after we were done talking that he knew. I asked him if he would at least not tell anyone else.

It is not even that big of a deal that people find out that I am gay. It is not like I can stop people from finding out. Like I told this guy I don’t tell people. I let him know I actually only told one person at the FD that I am gay. They other found out from other means. Over time others find out. Most of the time people have known for a long time before I find out that they knew.

I also let him know that I don’t like how people self-censor when they know. He said that he wished he had known because he had made some comments in the past that he felt bad about now that he knows I am gay. I said that is the point. I don’t want people to not be who they are when I am around.

My position was working at station two today. I took my engineer book down there and worked hard on it. I am trying to get it done. I stayed there working on it until almost ten. That is when I was going to get released from working.

But we got a medical call. Following the medical call we got a fire call. I ended up working an extra hour.

The Cougs today were on TV. They looked good, but they were playing an easier team. We however lost the starting QB. Later on our backup QB was hit and he was taken off the field in an ambulance. Not a good situation.

I Did It!!!

September 20th, 2008

This morning I got up and got some breakfast before I had to get ready to run my test for the SO. I was very worried about passing the run. I haven’t been able to do it.

We started with push ups and sit ups. I knew I could do those. I did those just fine. Then we went to the track to run the laps. I have been working on this for a while. I had to run a mile and a half in under fourteen and a half minutes. That is a lot of time for most people, but I have to push hard for that and I always come up short. The last time I ran it I was more than one minute off.

I lined up and got ready to run. Myers said he would hold a pace that as long as we stayed ahead of him we would do fine. I started out and quickly was leading the pack. I didn’t want to, but I had to set a good pace early on. After the first hundred yards my legs were feeling weak. I was very worried about passing it.

My first lap was under two minutes. My target time is a two minute lap. I was ten seconds ahead of pace on it. I figured after the third lap, the half way point, I would grab the water I set by the track to rinse my mouth. One of the problems I run into is my mouth goes dry and it hurts to breathe.

I actually waited until the fourth lap however. I grabbed my water and away I went. I rinsed my mouth twice along the way. That helped. I was able to get into a pace that I just got into a zone with. I had a breathing pattern and just kept it going. Finally I was at my final lap.

I was rounding the one hundred yard point into the final lap. I only had three-quarters of the lap to go. I saw I had time to do it if I pushed hard. I told myself that if I pushed hard I wouldn’t have to do that run again anytime soon. Myers said if we failed anything today we would have two weeks to get ready to run it again. I didn’t want to have to run it again. I pushed and pushed. Soon I was in the final stretch. I could see the finish line.

I crossed the finish line in thirteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds. That was so huge. I passed the test. It felt great. I finally did it. We had some rest, then we had to run a sprint. That was seventy-one seconds for three-hundred and thirty yards. I knew I could do that without a problem.

I ran into a problem in the first corner. My shoe came untied. Then my other shoe came untied. So I was being careful not to trip myself. I crossed at seventy seconds. I got it by one second. I have passed the physical.

We had a written test and then a quick interview. Both of those went fine. McNannay said he was happy to see me in the academy again. I am going to have to work on getting the time off of work now.

Bad Turn at Two

September 17th, 2008

This morning I was woken up with an EMS call outside of the city. By the time I was done working the call it was time to go home. I went off to the Rec Center to do some cardio. I have a test coming up on Saturday. With the looks of the way I am going right now I am afraid I will not be able to pass the test.

But as I have said before if it is meant to be it will happen. There is a chance it is not meant to be right now do to any number of reasons. It will not be clear right away, but if I don’t get it I have no doubt at some point in the future it will have been for the best.

I went to my softball game this evening. We played in Moscow. I ended up playing at second base. In the second inning there was a play that I tried to turn. But I didn’t square up my body and I threw very wide of first. About ten feet wide and I almost actually beaned the runner with the ball. Hitting-wise I only had a triple to the fence. I didn’t hit well besides that.

After the game Warren, Jesse, and I went to My Office. We had some chips and drinks. While there the “hottest guy in Pullman”, as Russell would say, walked in the bar. He sat a couple tables from us. Russell and I have been seeing him around Pullman for several years, I would have to think he is a Senior this year. This is the first time this year I have seen him.

CPR Class Cancelled

September 16th, 2008

I was going to teach CPR today to my shift. Before that was to start several of us played basketball. The sun is right behind the hoop and I had a hard time seeing. I finally got some sunglasses and that really didn’t help me play, only helped my eyes from getting killed by the sun. My shooting was horrible.

I set up for the CPR class after shooting hoops. We got through the first hour but it was time to break for lunch. Drew bought pizza because he was working an OT shift.

As lunch was coming to a close we got called out. Soon we were getting called out to other things. Before long we cancelled the rest of the class because no one was around to teach it to.

Close to five we got our class B’s on and went to the Kappa Delta’s house. The women invited us up for dinner. We all sat at different tables. The women ate with us asking questions. Then we had a time to introduce ourselves to the rest of the house and they asked some more questions.

On the way back from dinner I stopped to get some pie. I hit a curb with the tire of the ambulance and I had to buy some pie.

Three for Three

September 15th, 2008

I went into the fire station to participate in the new station committee. Following that I was waiting a while to speak with Chief Brown. As it was getting close to noon I decided to go home and get lunch. Just as lunch was getting done I heard them call for someone to do a transfer to Palouse. I called in for that.

We got to the hospital and found out we were delayed one hour. I worked on some stuff for my CPR class that I am teaching tomorrow to my shift. We did the transfer. I was in the back of the ambulance. When it was all said and done the whole thing took more than four hours. Chuck did the transfer with me and we talked some politics. We talked about being gay and it being out at the fire department. I think most of the guys at PFD know. I don’t tell people, but I think others make it know. For the most part I think the newer reserves are in the dark about it. Or at least most of there were in the dark about it.

I went to a softball game in the evening. I was the EH. I hit the ball well. I went three for three. One of them bounced badly and I was running hard. I got to third, but I had to slide. We won the game and I went to the fire department for training.

I was hoping to talk with the guy that saw the blog. But he wasn’t there tonight. I have been waiting to get a chance to speak to him. I have a couple things I would like to let him know. I also want to find out who it was that he told. The other guy never said anything to me at all through out the night. I was also ignored by one other guy. I am not sure if that was on purpose or not.

I have been keeping a low profile with the reserves right now. I am not sure who knows and who doesn’t. More importantly I don’t know who knows the whole story or part of it. I have been letting them come to me and talk. If they talk to me first then I figure all is good with them. Several of them talked to me so that is good. But I am not sure about two of them who were there plus the one who wasn’t. Only time will tell.

Second Marine Patrol Duty of the Year

September 14th, 2008

I got to the station and got ready for marine patrol. I was working with the same guy as yesterday. I also spent most of the day on the boat with Dearth. It has been great working with him. He has taught me a lot over the weekend. We started by fueling the boats.

We cruised all over the lake working on stopping people and doing boat safety inspections. I also got to drive the boat around a little bit in one of the coves. I was practicing using only the engines to move the boat around. We were telling everyone in the area they couldn’t anchor in. So I drove from boat to boat so we could tell them.

I left from the marine patrol and came straight back here. It would have been a day that I would be working but I was on an Ollie day. We were dispatched to a call and a callback was done. I came in for the call back. Following that callback I was leaving when I got called back again right away. I ended up getting a couple hours of overtime this evening when I got back.

I Got Sprayed

September 13th, 2008

With very little sleep I needed to drive out to Mercer Island to work. I hit the road and cruised on over there. I was doing well on the time. I was worried about being tired, but it wasn’t that bad on the way there.

The first thing I had to do was jump into the water and get myself up on to each boat. There were three of them. The cop I was working with wanted me to do a cannonball. The first one was pretty bad. The second one went a lot better. The last one I made a big splash. He liked it. I was able to get myself on to the boat each time just fine.

I changed into my uniform and started the day. Dearth showed up and he walked through several things on the boats with me. It was nice to see him. He said that I am half the man I use to be. He said I am looking great. It was nice to see Dearth.

We spent most of the day working on different boats. We were going to do a boatside chat with the boat Dearth was on. The cop I was with told me to go to the bow of the boat and ask what side they wanted us on. All of a sudden I saw the master stream fire up. It was coming right at me. I was going to try to get away but it was too late. I got sprayed. They all thought it was funny. Dearth said I have been initiated. Then it was the cop I was with was in on it. It was all good.

Later on Dearth got on my boat and we all worked together. I learned a lot working with Dearth for the couple hours we were out there.

After dusk we started to stop boats left and right for navigation light problems. We left the water around eight. I got home and stayed up for a couple hours, finally going to bed around eleven at night.

One hour of sleep
jumping in the water
sprayed with master stream

Another Busy Night

September 12th, 2008

This is not something I would normally put into words but it really made me laugh hard. I was doing rig checks in the morning. I was in our first out ambulance and I let loose with a little gassiness. I heard someone coming so I stepped out and closed the door so the odor wouldn’t get out there.

About ten minutes later my partner opened the door and said “I smells really bad in there.” I didn’t say anything. Soon he had the back door open trying to air it out. Before long he grabbed a mop and mopped out the back of the ambulance thinking it was something in there. It made it smell better, but I started to laugh my head off.

In the afternoon a rider from Colfax Fire came. She was assigned to my ambulance. It was a quiet afternoon and evening. We went to the store and got food for dinner. It was a very good dinner. We were there until eleven o’clock. Finally the rider was sent home. Within eighteen minutes we were sent on our first call.

It didn’t take long and we were running from call to call. I was able to get a quick hour of sleep. Then we had more calls. I got back to bed at five in the morning. I was only going to get one hour of sleep before I had to go on a road trip to Seattle.

Playing Games

September 11th, 2008

I had to go to the softball managers meeting. I had the time wrong so I got there early. I went to the Bookie while I was at he CUB and looked at some books while I was wasting time. I found some Body for Life books. I want to buy them.

When I got home I played some games with Brandon. While playing I was texting back and forth with a guy who read my blog recently. I said I wanted to talk to him. He asked about what. He assumed it was due to the fact at the football game on Saturday he ignored me. He said he thought I wasn’t in a good mood and waned to leave me alone. I told him that wasn’t it. I want to get this conversation over.

One of the other things I have been working on is speaking up when something bothers me. As a cop I need to be able to speak up when something is happening and not worrying about what someone thinks. I need to be able to speak my mind. That is something that I am working on a lot. Some of that includes being able to confront someone.

Today would have been my two year anniversary as crew leader if I wasn’t working for the fire department as a full-timer. I still miss some aspects of being a reserve.

Lunch with a Commissioner

September 10th, 2008

This morning I was fasting for a blood draw that was taking place this morning for my annual physical. I went to the Palouse Medical office for the blood draw. Following the blood draw I went home and had breakfast.

I went to the rec center to lift weights. But due to my hurt back I was being cautious of doing anything that would further hurt the back. I was able to get most of my work out done but there was some pain involved so I backed off when that happened.

When I got home I cleaned out the truck floor and vacuumed it. I was going to be picking up Tom to go to lunch at the Hilltop Restaurant. We were meeting with Jerry Finch a County Commissioner. We had a nice lunch with him talking about some of the political issues that are currently coming along as well as his pending re-election. I got a yard sign from him to put up next to my Rossi sign.

I had to go back to the doctors office after lunch for the rest of my physical. My eyes were good. My blood work came back good as well. I was a little worried about being overweight for years if that would have caused some problems. But it hasn’t… yet. With any hope my Body for Life work will make it so nothing does happen. The physical went well.

I had softball this evening in Moscow. I had been taking some pain pills through out the day in order to deal with the pain a little better. I went to the softball field and did what I could to hide the pain. I wasn’t able to make normal throws, but I was still able to throw the ball well. I did fine fielding the ball. My hard part was batting and then running with any great speed. But I did what I could.

We went out and took a fourteen run lead. But as the game went on we stopped hitting and the other team hit the ball well. They took over the lead. It was a battle, but they finally beat us twenty-six to twenty-five.

Ouch! There Goes the Back

September 9th, 2008

I did my cardio today at the rec center. I failed the mile and a half yet again. But I was pretty close all the same. I need to have water with me for it so when my mouth gets some cotton mouth going on I can swig some water.

Afterwards I shot hoops waiting until I could sign up my team for softball. I have found out that I am hurting as far as players go. I am hitting the free agent market looking for some players to pick up. I have found three so far. With one more I am on the fence about. The problem is that he is an first baseman and I am not sure we need one of those.

I was taking some laundry down stairs and I felt my back go out. I felt the pain start to get worse and worse. Sure enough I sent it into a spasm. So now I am hosed for the next couple days. The problem is that I have things I need to do over the next couple days. This really sucks.

I had HazMat training tonight. I was about ready to go when I saw an e-mail about a problem with the events calendar. The e-mails are not getting sent to Heston. So I looked into it and found it was a problem I created when I was testing the system after adding in new functionality. I was able to get that fixed.

HazMat training was pretty brief tonight. People noticed my walking and knew I was hurting, but I denied it. They knew though.

The hurting back is probably going to cause me a bit of a slow down on this current Body for Life run.

Twelve More Weeks

September 8th, 2008

Today is the start of a new Body For Life workout period. For the next twelve weeks I will be working hard on eating six good meals, working out six times a week, and losing weight. If the past is any indication I am expecting to lose about ten pounds per month. So I hope to be down another thirty pounds in the next couple
weeks.

My workout today was upper body. I am supposed to do one on Friday as well, but I may have to postpone it due to the activities I am going to have to do on the marine patrol on Saturday. I don’t want my arms to be tired. I think I am going to need to use them on Saturday.

I got home and washed my car. It was in need of it, especially the front wheels. They were really dirty with brake dust. I got it all cleaned and I also charged the battery in the Bumblebee. I plan on driving around the Bumblebee for a while and letting the Durango sit in the garage.

I found out there was a co-ed game tonight in Moscow. I went to play in it. I was batting lead off and playing first base. I got on and scored in each at bat. I also lead off every inning in the game. We only played four and a half innings because we crushed the other team. On defense I had a nice scoop along the way. It was a fun game.

Weekend Work

September 7th, 2008

Today is the first day where I worked a weekend where our rig checks were not interrupted by a call. We were able to work through the PL. I got to fly the stick. We also replaced a chain on the chainsaw and cleaned up the chainsaw really well.

I spent time working on my engineer book, but I didn’t get a lot done because I just didn’t have the energy that I normally do when working. I was able to get chapter five’s scenarios completed. That took some time to do.

We got two calls in the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t get a lot of sleep straight through because of that. But I did get some sleep.

I made my lean mean chili for everyone. They all liked it. That was good. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but it turned out really well.

Crushed in the First Home Game

September 6th, 2008

After I got home from working this morning I went to bed. But within a few minutes I was getting a call from Pete. When I heard him on the phone I realized that I was going to need to get ready for the autopsy that I was going to observe. I knew that was going to help make me tired tonight. I went to the funeral home and watched the autopsy. I was able to see some findings that I had seen and understood what they meant. I had a chance to ask questions and have a better understanding about what happened.

When I got home I cleaned up and headed down to station one. I was meeting up with a reserve who bought tickets for the football game for Brandon and I. Brandon was working on getting the transportation figured out.

When I got to the station I met up with one of the guys there. I wrote something that was used to tease him. After I found out that happened, the situation has made me incredibly embarrassed because certain pieces of information about me are out to some of the newer reserves. I have tried to keep my private life and work life separate. It has worked for a long time.

I talked to him about it. We had e-mailed about it, but I wanted to speak to him about a couple things specifically. I cannot look him in the eye. It is tough to look at him at all. He said he doesn’t have a problem with me. He said that he hasn’t lost any respect for me but I am having a hard time with it. We never used the word gay during our conversation, but I don’t have a doubt he knows about me now. I don’t feel better, I think I will have a hard time being around him and the guy who was doing the teasing. Right now I am not sure who was all told and who knows about the situation, but with the way things get spread and the way rumors get built, it will probably be devastating to me. I will have a hard time around the reserves. I am not sure who knows now and as I interfaced with them today I felt very strange not knowing if they knew or not.

I went back home and met up with Brandon. We made our way to the bus stop to ride it to the game. We first went to the CUB. Then to the PD. I met up with the reserve to get my ticket. We went into the game and met up with Weese. We sat down on the twenty yard-line in the lower section. I stood the whole game. It has been a while since I have done that from the stands. Within eleven second of the game starting Cal scored a touchdown. They did not stop. People were leaving the game in the first quarter. That is a record as far as I have seen.

The Cougs got crushed. From what I heard their worst loss in history. Brandon and I went to the bus to head home. At the house we got some pizza. Watched Cops and then the movie Thank You for Smoking.

Oh Crap

September 5th, 2008

While at work I was called into the Chief’s office. I was not sure what was going on until he asked me to have a seat and close the door. I was worried about what I did. It is never good when an unscheduled meeting starts off like that. I was told that he was told that a reserve was uncomfortable with something on my facebook or MySpace page. He said he doesn’t pry into my personal life. He wants to keep our friendship, but he has to deal with this issue because it affects the fire department. I wasn’t sure what he was speaking of because I am careful about what I post on those mediums. I was asked to deal with it and possibly talk to the reserve in question.

After the meeting I went to facebook and MySpace to see if something was on there that I didn’t know about. With nothing found, I figured it must have been something in the blog. This has been written in for the last five years. There is a lot of stuff in it. So I started to try to find anything. I found one comment that was not written about anyone specific at all. No identifying information was given that would point to anyone either. But due to what I was told I figured that paragraph was causing the problem.

The last thing I wanted to do was cause some sort of problem. So I figured I would delete what was written just so it wouldn’t be out there anymore. I felt horrible sitting in the chief’s office when he was talking to me. I hate it when being gay is brought up with people I work with. I like to keep my personal life and work life in separate worlds.

I don’t know how mad the person is at me. I don’t know what it will be like to be around him. I don’t know what it will be like to be around the others that now know.

After taking care of the problem I wrote an E-mail to the person explaining that I am sorry that there was an uneasiness felt. I let him know that I am horribly embarrassed. I figured that I will lose his respect, but that is what I deserve.

It is frustrating that something that I wrote that was not attributed to anyone specific was used to make someone feel uneasy. But I cannot let that go. I had to delete it anyway. It will not take away what happened, but it will not be used in the future in the same way.

Meeting the New Company

September 4th, 2008

This morning we were meeting with the company that is interested with buying the NU portion of the MH business. I spent some time showing their lead developer a high-level view of the code and the database. We talked about the problems we have had in the past with some things. He said they have had the exact same problems as well.

I get the feeling that a sale may happen. If a sale does happen I am not sure what the new company is thinking about doing. I am not sure if they will want to move operations to the mid-West where they are based. I am not sure if they will have a place for me. I am not sure about anything.

If we don’t sale I think I will be better off for a while at least. The MH company would like to keep the American presence, I believe. If that is the case they will keep our office open.

But in either case I am the last one left who have any knowledge of the code base and how things work. I think that is valuable until they kill off the application.

BKoe’s Graduation

September 3rd, 2008

I went to Burien today to watch Brandon graduate from the police academy. It started with the final inspection. That gave us photo ops with the guys. Then we had a presentation mainly for family of cops. It talks about how to deal with the stresses of the job and how there will be some changes, but how to keep things as normal as possible.

Later was the actual graduation. Each officer was called up for a chance to be recognized by their chief or sheriff and then they had their badge pinned by a person of their choice.

When the was done we went to the lunch room and spent time talking with Brandon and congratulating him.

When that was done I stopped by the Renton Dodge dealer. I was in negotiations for a Chrysler Aspen for several hours. But when it was done I was not able to get the deal made. But that is good. I am not sure now is the time to buy a new car. I am getting closer to having mine paid off, and with the short term uncertain future of my jobs I figured it would be good to not spent much money right now.

Par Three Golfing

September 2nd, 2008

I was going to do some golfing today, but it got cancelled, but Jon was taking the boys to a par three course in Kent. He invited me to come. Around noon I went shopping for a new golf bag. I wanted one that I could wear like a back back. I was able to find one that fit the bill. I picked that up. I also got some pointers on my swing while I was there. I cannot wait to try it out with my driver. I hope it cleans up my slice I have had.

At the par three course I did okay, but I had some bad hits along the way, but all the holes were pretty short, all under two-hundred yards. After golfing we went to Costco for pizza for dinner before heading home.

Buying a New Car

September 1st, 2008

I went into the office today, but I decided that I wasn’t able to get anything done so I went to the Dodge dealer near my office. I looked around at the vehicles and took a Chrysler Aspen for a test drive. It is the exact same thing as a Durango just a little higher class.

We then went into play the game. I was in the office for a couple hours playing with numbers and turning down the deals. While there a ten-six-seven was there. He was shorter, but just very hot over all. Nothing really stuck out and in a crowd he would probably be lost, but something about him there made it so I couldn’t take my eyes off of him.

Finally I walked out when we couldn’t come up with a deal, but we were not going to get close to where I wanted to be. I looked at it as adding about twenty-five thousand worth of debt. I am not sure I wanted to do that for what I would be getting.

I called a dealer in Renton and they offered me a better deal on the initial price of the vehicle. But I don’t know what the trade-in would do to change the overall deal. But I am thinking hard over all about it. I am not sure I should do it, but there are several things about it that I like about the new rig.