Helping in the Jail

January 29th, 2009

I went to work in the jail today before the class today because they were having an all staff meeting. So I ran control for about two hours while they were meeting. Then I went off to my reserve academy class.

Slower Day at PFD

January 28th, 2009

Today I was on the ambulance. We started off the day with a call in a new residential area of town. We had a couple more EMS calls. At dinner time we were close to eating when we got called to a Frat where they had burning food set off their fire alarm.

We had to go there and ventilate the building for a little while before we were able to reset the system.

Thompson Is Back

January 27th, 2009

I got an E-mail from Parrish asking me “What Now?” He mentioned that there was room on A-Shift. It turned out that Thompson is back at work. I am working for him. But he is not on shiftwork yet. I figured if I was going to get pushed aside I would be told. The fact that I haven’t been told means that I will probably continue to work on shiftwork while Thompson goes through some training to get caught up to us.

The idea of going back to being a reserve is good and bad. I like the money that I am bring in right now. But I would love to work with my crew again. I was really looking forward to all the training I would get to do with everyone. I could always quit the full time thing and go back to being a reserve, but the problem there is I would probably burn the bridge of being a full-timer someday down the road.

I went to the bank to deposit a check. I was going to stop by the station and ask what was going on, but I decided against it. I went home only to find I got another check in the mail today. That always happens. the day I go to deposit, it seems like a new check comes in the mail. Not that I am complaining.

I went to class tonight with Ross and Melcher. We had the final test for the Crisis Intervention class. We also made up the ethics class that was missed last December due to the snow. We are supposed to do the pepper spray on Thursday. I don’t want to get sprayed again. I have had it happen. It doesn’t need to happen again. Everyone is joking about doing it, but I have already been trained by Whitman County. So I shouldn’t need to do it again.

Lunch with Colfax Fire

January 26th, 2009

I heard Colfax get dispatched on a call that would take them to Pullman and it was around lunch time so I called Scott to see if he would be interested in catching lunch. He said he was.

I went to the rec center and did some lifting, but my shoulder was hurting a lot so I wasn’t able to do certain lifts. I was shooting some hoops when I got a call from Craig saying they were going to Cougar Country. Craig, Scott, and Steve were already there when I got there. We had lunch and BSed for a while.

I went home afterwards. BKoe and I were going to see Gran Torino. I drove us to Village Centre theatres. There were only two others in the theatre with us. It was a pretty good movie.

When it was done I fueled up the car and went home. I was pretty tired but I wanted to watch House and Kyle XY. That pretty much summed up my night. While resting on the couch I was counting my pulse. It was down to fifty while at rest. I thought that was pretty good.

Worked with a New Deputy Coroner

January 25th, 2009

This morning I woke up for a minute and was changing positions on the bed when I heard my coroner’s pager go off. I looked and I had a call to attend to. I got a call from one of the other new coroner’s who wanted to go and work with me.

After having had my long day yesterday and the day before I was a little slow to get going out the door. It took about an hour to get to the scene. It was an unattended death. Annie and I did our investigation on the scene and then back to the funeral home. She asked questions and I spent time training her and answering questions with the way I do things. She was very thankful to have a chance to work with me. She said he learned a lot.

Then I went to the coroner’s office and did my report followed by doing some clean up around the office. I organized some of the boxes and items into the proper cabinets. It took a while but it was needed.

I went to Pullman and got myself dinner at Cougar Country. I went home and watched some TV. It was relaxing to just sit and watch TV. A nice end to my weekend.

Better Shot Left Handed

January 24th, 2009

After going to bed last night around eleven o’clock PM. I was woken up at one-thirty in the morning for a call at the police station. That would be the official start of my day. I would not get back to bed due to calls and training and friends.

First I dealt with two calls at the police station tonight. After dealing with the first person, I more or less was the lead on patient care and I got the refusal. As I was leaving the PD, Khurt said that BKoe was in a foot pursuit. I am going to have to hear more about that when I can.

When we got back to the station we were not even backing into the bay when a call went out for a fire alarm at a frat. We got up there first and started command. I ended up running the call and worked as command. When we got back to the station the Captain said he would write the report on the call so I could do my EMS report.

Just like Chia and I talked about while we were getting dinner food yesterday, I had just got into bed. I put my head on the pillow. Then I readjusted the pillow for maximum comfort when the tones went off for another call. It was in our part of town so away we went. We transported on that one. Before we left the hospital we called back to the PD.

I helped do some of the patient care. The guy didn’t want to work with us, but I talked to him and got him to consent to working with us. During that time I found out BKoe got a small abrasion on his knee from the foot pursuit. I gave him a bandaid and an alcohol wipe to clean it up. We transported from the PD to the hospital.

After getting back to the station I was started to restock the ambulance. But I had to go to the bathroom pretty bad. It was a good thing I did because I got back into the stock room when the tones went off for another fire alarm on campus. I grabbed the stock supplies and got them on the ambulance.

The fire alarm was a bit of a cluster because we did not have the key to get into the room where the problem was. So we waited around for a while until we were finally cleared by fac-ops.

We got back to the station in time for me to wash the ambulance and change into my uniform for the academy. I went to Ace to meet up with Melcher to carpool down to Clarkston. Today we were going to qualify on our handguns. We spent the morning doing more practice.

After lunch we did the qualification. I shot number four in the class. I passed on my first time through. Two people didn’t so we had to give them a second chance. I did a qualification again, but I shot it left handed instead of right handed. After shooting it I found I scored higher left handed. Plus I held up both targets and showed them to people. I asked what target overall was better. I didn’t tell people which one was which until they said what one was better. It turned out everyone thought my left handed target was better. One of the instructors said I should think about getting a left handed holster and practice drawing from it so I can switch over to the left handed holster. I think I should do that. I feel most natural when I hold the gun left handed.

After we qualified we did some other shooting practice with different scenarios. One included holding onto the slide and frame of the gun while shooting it. That didn’t seem like a good idea because I figured we would hurt our hands. But it doesn’t do the pain that I thought it would. It does cause some very minor pain, but for the purpose we do it for, it is worth the pain.

After the shooting was over I got home and I wasn’t all that tired. They did a career callback to the fire station. I went down on it and got some overtime. While I was there I got a message about several people meeting up to celebrate the two D-Twelve guys passing their First Responder test. I said when they head to the Zuu to call me. I was tired by that time because I had been up for nearly thirty-four hours with only one and a half hours of sleep.

But I have a rule that friends are important and when you have a chance to hang out with them you should. I know that if I want to keep getting invited to things I need to show up. If I never show up to anything people will stop sending invitations. I went to the Zuu and spent a couple hours up there. I had some pop and water. I also sang a song with Larry. It was a good time over all. I finally went home around eleven o’clock pm to go to bed.

Slow Day

January 23rd, 2009

The fire department was a slow day over all. There was a lot of down time during the day. We did one training exercise where we were in a dark room wearing our turnouts with SCBA mask. The SCBAs were taken apart and then the straps were tightened and tied together. We had to figure out how to get them apart and then put them together properly in the darkness. Then get them on and go on air. There was real loud music playing and a lot of yelling to make it so we couldn’t concentrate and communicate easily. It took us thirty-three minutes to get it done.

I helped Jay with a project he is working on with starting to use text messages to people on the department to announce things like training updates, transfers, and more. That way people outside of the area of the pager can get notified of things more easily.

We ran one call up to Palouse. When we cleared the hospital we picked up the food for dinner. We had turkey burgers and fries. It was very good. We watched Super Troopers before going to bed around eleven o’clock.

Gun Not So Clean

January 22nd, 2009

At the class this evening all guns were checked for being clean. I had cleaned my gun, but it was still a little dirty and it was discovered. I was made to do twenty-five push ups. That sucked. I was mad that it was dirty. The class got out a little early today. We talked about suicide and para-suicide. Then we went over the test.

Today was Peter’s birthday. It always brings me up to a dilemma. I have a situation that has been going on for years. I am too much of a wuss to actually ask Peter point-blank what happened.

I met Peter when he was a freshman at WSU. We became friends then best friends. We were always together. Going to football games, playing basketball, watching TV, playing on the computer, talking politics, and even doing the radio show together. I actually came out to him towards the end of the school year. That was tough because he was a Southern Baptist and very conservative. But he said he didn’t care and had actually figured out I was gay long before I told him. He said “you don’t become as good of friends as we are without figuring out that kind of stuff.”

The following school year things started out okay, but then one day he stopped calling, responding to e-mails and voice mails. He just stopped communicating with me. Once in a blue moon I would get a hold of him, but he would blow me off. That went on for a long time. I didn’t know what was going on and I was very sad about it.

To this day I still don’t know what happened. Why he did that to me. Since that time we have hung out more after he moved to Bellevue. It is sort of like it never happened, but I still am very self conscious about it when I am around him. I have a hard time looking him in the eye. I need to know why he did it. During his twenty-one run several years ago he invited me out on it. After the end of the night he was very drunk and he said that he was sorry for being such an “asshole” to me. I wanted to ask him more at that time, but I never did.

I wished him a happy birthday and he said that when I am in town next time we need to hang out. He said it has been too long since we last hung out. I want to get with him, but I have to get the courage to ask him what happened. Why he just stopped being my friend and dropped me like a dirty whore.

First Day on B-Shift

January 21st, 2009

This morning after rig checks there was a meeting with Netupdate I had to participate in. I was given permission to do it. The others left and went to their union meeting. So this worked out well. The meeting lasted a fair amount of time. About twice the amount of time it was supposed to last.

We made the final plans for the release of OP Five-Eight. The rest of the day was pretty laid back at the fire department. We went to the taco truck for lunch. It was my first day on B-Shift. I am trying to learn how they work things. I am trying to learn how these guys like to do things and fit in without causing waves. I want to make a good impression with everyone.

I think the first day went well over all. I didn’t do anything bad.

Paid for my New Gun

January 20th, 2009

After having talked with Wenis about guns for a while online I renewed my interest in buying a new gun. I did get a forty-five recently, but I wanted a rifle. Specifically I wanted an AR. Wenis had his eye on an LE Sixty-Nine-Twenty model by Colt. I looked into it and I decided that I would try to find one. I found one on an online auction website for firearms. I won the auction last night and sent off my payment today. I am very excited about getting the gun. It cost me sixteen hundred and seventy-five bucks. That is about three hundred less than I have seen a lot of the ones on the site going for. I can’t wait to get it.

Poker Party

January 19th, 2009

It was decided at work today that I would go to Zeppoz this evening with Blake and Young. I am looking forward to that. When I got home I was tired. I went to bed and fell asleep for about two hours. It was a nice nap.

I got ahold of Jessie. Her, Ross, and I got together to watch some video’s from the defensive tactics day. We worked on that until around four o’clock. I also got some of my guns cleaned. Brandon came home and suggested a poker night tonight. Ross said he would come over. I was planning on contacting others.

I went to Zeppoz and met up with Young and Blake. We played Spanish Twenty-One. I was winning at that pretty good. Then I played in the tournament they have. I didn’t do to hot there. But I wasn’t planning on going well. I wanted to just screw around in it. I talked with Loren for a while. I invited him to come over and play cards.

I was at Zeppoz until a little after nine o’clock. Then I went back home and got my house ready for the poker game. Before long people started to show up. Weese, Ross, Loren, Blake, BKoe, and Kevin all played. It was a great time. We played a dealers choice game. We ended the night around four in the morning. By then it was Loren, BKoe, and me.

Last Day on C Shift

January 18th, 2009

Today was my final day on C-Shift. I am looking forward to being on a new shift, but I am going to miss working on C-Shift. Like everything having changes allows you to appreciate what you have. It is like the way I look at it with the seasons. If it was hot year round, you wouldn’t always enjoy it and take advantage of what you have when you have it. By having winter you can enjoy the snow, but also have the summer months to look forward to. Same can be said for the summer heat. You enjoy relaxing in the sun, but it also allows you to enjoy the snow when it does finally come.

Today we had a shift brunch. We did french toast and sausage. For dinner we did chicken and rice. I watched some football on TV and we played some poker into the evening hours. Paul, Jay, Young, Blake, and I had a little tournament. I busted out pretty early, but I because the all time dealer.

Young and I were on the ambulance one last time as shift-mates and we ended up getting skunked on calls for the night.

Qualified… For Now

January 17th, 2009

Started this morning at fifteen of five o’clock in the morning due to an EMS call. Due to the fact we transported I didn’t get a chance to go back to sleep. I knew I would be tired during training today because I had only slept for about three hours.

I picked up Ross and Melcher at Ace and we headed down to the shooting range in Clarkston. Today is the first day we are doing any shooting. We started with some shorter distances. My very first shot was at five yards. I hit the small “X” in the middle of the target. I thought I should call it a day because it couldn’t get better than that. But I still had to keep shooting.

As the day went along the targets were moved back more and more. Finally ended up at twenty-five yards. My first ten shots at twenty-five yards were bad. I was all over the place only hitting the target four times. Jimmy worked with me and had me work on my trigger pull. That made a big difference.

We spent some time doing some weak-handed shooting. I was doing very well left handed leaving a decent grouping at seven yards.

The last thing we did was shoot a practice qualification round. It involved fifty round at distances between three and twenty-five yards. I was doing really well. I ended up shooting the third best in the class. I got four hundred and six points out of five hundred. That was good.

When we were done shooting we headed home. I was tired but I stayed up for a while watching some TV to include COPS. I talked to Ryan for a while on the phone. He was in Seattle and had seen Russell. He heard about the boyfriend. But I told him the whole story to include the fact we are not together anymore.

Movie Night at the Station

January 16th, 2009

Today we had Building Construction training at the station. That lasted a good portion of the afternoon between calls that we had to go on. For dinner we had “Breakfast for Dinner”. It was very good stuff.

Later on we watched the movie Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. It is about a sniper who was set up as an executioner, but he had an FBI agent who believed that something was going on and believed that Wahlberg was not guilty.

We ran several calls through out the evening, but they all turned out to be non-transports.

Almost Threw Up

January 15th, 2009

It was a pretty busy day starting out with EMS rounds at the hospital. It was packed there and I had a hard time finding parking. The rounds went pretty fast. Only about an hour. We went over several cases and had a topic of discussion. It was pretty much a standard EMS rounds.

I hit lunch and then went back to the station for the Table Top exercise. We had a building that was on fire and as things went along we needed to work on setting up command. It was a good training.

After that was done I went home and started to get ready for the academy. Tonight the Sheriff came and we went on a run. I was hurting more than normal during the run. I don’t know if it was the air or what, but I felt like I was going to throw up at the end of the run. I don’t normally feel like that. I was sweating a lot after it was done as well.

I am Back with My Office

January 14th, 2009

I decided it was time to wash my Durango. It was pretty cold outside, causing some ice to form on the driveway, but it needed to be done. It was sort of a quick wash job because I was going to going to lunch with KStew.

BKoe came along with me to Quiznos. We met up with Kelly. Weese also showed up. We had some lunch and started to talk softball. It looks like I will be back to the My Office team this year. I don’t want to leave this season. With the uncertainty coming up and the fact that I don’t want to leave my guys high and dry I decided to put it back together. Without me Nick was going to pick it up, but some of my guys would be left out. I didn’t want that to happen.

I am going to chat with Greg about this development. I am going to let him know that I am going to make myself available for tournaments so he can see how I will work out with everyone and if he likes me I will move to his team next summer permanently. But I think that will be for the best in the long run. Plus I will make it known to my guys that I will be leaving so they may want to think about finding another team or see about taking over the My Office team.

First Duty of Class President

January 13th, 2009

I took the Durango to Dodge to get the wind noise looked at. It appears that I will need to get some new weather-striping. While I was waiting I wrote a letter to Grandma Anderson. I went to the post office to send that off. Then it was to the bank, Safeway for fuel, Schucks for windshield wiper fluid, and the fire station to turn in my receipt for the meal from yesterday’s transfer.

I got home only to go back to the fire station to get some OT for call back. They had multiple calls going back-to-back. I got a good number of things done.

I talked to Nick a little about softball to see what his plans where. I was being told he was planning on doing a team on his own. That is not the case, or so it appears to me. So I will either be playing with him or McCoy. This is so much more complicated than in years past. A lot of it is because it seems like JStew seems to be telling people things that were not totally correct. Then assumptions were made from those. We are getting to the point of fixing that stuff though. At least I am trying.

I picked up Melcher and Larson to head to Colfax for class. We are doing Crisis Intervention for the next several classes. Today is the first day outside of firearms training where we are all wearing our belts.

I was asked my McNannay to work on getting everybody’s money. Several people owe money from the duty belts that were purchased. It is now my job to work on getting everyone to pay. I got an E-mail from him detailing what everyone owes.

A New Run Starts Today

January 12th, 2009

I got up this morning to do my workout for the next Body for Life run. For the next twelve weeks I am going to be eating right and working out. My goal is still out there. In the next twelve weeks I would like to lose thirty pounds. That is ten pounds a month. It is very doable. That is what I have averaged over my last many runs.

After work I went to Safeway to stock up on food that I need for my next run. I was getting low on food in general. I also found many other deals where I stocked up on several longer terms things like peanut butter and more.

I was going to go to training but while I was there a transfer came out. I said that I would do it. Blake and I ended up going to Spokane. I have been building a lot of overtime this month. It will help me get back on track with my finances.

When I completed the transfer I had to wash the ambulance before I went to Colfax for the Coroner’s training. Cy helped me dry the ambulance. A. Wilcox stopped in as well. He said he didn’t mean to forget about be during Clark’s going away party. He explained what happened. He never really said sorry but I think that is what he was getting at.

I made it to Colfax for training. I got the photos for the ID cards. I also got the information for the business cards for the new Deputy Coroners. We went over some cases and I got a half rack of Diet Pepsi from Anna for my birthday. This meeting was supposed to happen on my birthday, but it kept getting cancelled due to the weather.

Final Day With the Whole Shift

January 11th, 2009

Today was the final day with the whole shift together. The plan for dinner tonight was home-made pizza’s, to include the “Manza”. Which is a deep dish full of meat.

We knocked out the rig checks. I got some time on the PL. Then we made breakfast. I brought in some cinnamon rolls and bacon. We had a huge breakfast and I was stuffed after eating.

I spent a fair amount of the afternoon laying on my bed and watching TV. I was a little on the tired side and I just wanted to relax.

Dinner was very good. The pizza’s were very good and everyone ate until we were all stuffed!

Mr. President

January 10th, 2009

This morning the first thing we did in class was vote for the class president. I wanted to be the class president. There were two possible candidates that most likely would have been voted for. Myself and one other guy who works in the jail right now. He also would have been a very fine pic. But it is something I want to do. The vote was held by Ross putting out the ballots. When the counting was done it was nearly unanimous. I am now the Ought-Eight Reserve class President. You can just call me Mr. President.

When I got home I contacted Dan. He was taking me to the WSU Cougar Basketball game. The cougs were playing against Stanford. I spent some time talking with KStew about softball. I also spent some time talking with the guys from the FD. Then I made my way to my seat.

The Cougs kept the game close the whole way. Then as the game was going down the stretch we were in a battle back and forth for the lead. Finally Thompson made a dunk over one of the Stanford players. That caused the whole team and crowd to go nuts. That seemed to be the big turning point. It was at that point the Cougs seemed to really know that it was our game. The Cougs went on to win. It was the first Pac-Ten win.

Transfer Rather than Training

January 9th, 2009

I was going to be going to training this afternoon with the fire department. Just before training I was going to get some lunch at Dairy Queen. It was while I was there that the tones went out for a transfer.

I called in and was assigned the transfer. Keeton ended up going with me. He made me do the patient care. I really didn’t mind it so much, it is just the way he uses his seniority to make me do the things he doesn’t want to do. It makes me made because no everyone is like that.

We had lunch at Rocky’s. I called Ryan and he met up with us there. The pizza was good as always.

When I got back I went home and watched some TV. I just enjoyed my night. I have class in the morning so I didn’t stay up too late.

Armed

January 8th, 2009

At class today we were issued our sidearms. We all got Glock Model Twenty-Two forty calibre pistols. We covered all the things about the guy, the safety of it. We spent time practicing with it. Doing some dry fire as well as practicing the draws of the gun.

Later I updated my facebook status to say “Scotty is armed, but not dangerous, because he is such a nice guy… and anyone who disagrees will get shot.”

Pretty Tired

January 7th, 2009

This morning the only task we were assigned was to do some building inspections. But we had some calls happen. It started out with a call towards Palouse. But that was cancelled. So we came back and started to do some inspections. We got a couple knocked out, but before we started the third we got another call. So we ran off to campus where the call was.

Later in the evening I got a call from KStew about softball for this coming summer. He said he wants to get together and remain on a team together. But there was confusion about my status. That was the last piece of the puzzle. Now that KStew is planning on coming back I know what my team will be all about. So now I have a decision to make.

I went to bed sort of early because I was tired. About thirty minutes after I went to bed there was a loud bang. It was the guys playing some more jokes on everyone. I didn’t get up because I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. I think that depending on the results they get from me the more or less I will get it from them.

It really didn’t bother me so much. I could hear them down the hall giggling and doing the same thing to the others guys as well.

Christmas Break is Over

January 6th, 2009

Today I was pounding through the final testcases for the NU/LP interface. Those are nearly done. While doing that we got a tone for all available reserves and career to help with a snow detail. It turns out we had to clear all the snow from the roof at station thirty-one. There was seriously tons of snow and water on the roof in all. We shoveled for hours. It was back breaking labor.

I left around four to go home and get ready for the academy. I did some studying of my notes from the previous classes. Ross and Melcher carpooled with me to class. It was a short class started an hour late and ending an hour early.

When I got home I did the final testcases and have them ready to get sent off tomorrow. I am excited to have all this completed.

OT Shift

January 5th, 2009

I knew with the snow that fell last night that I would be called for an OT shift because I was very high up the list. As I sat in my office doing some testcases the phone rang. It was the OT shift I was expecting. I took it and worked out at the Deuce.

It was a pretty slow day. We started with a call that due to the snow on the road took us a while to get to because of the fact we had to go around to a different road to get to the scene. Then the engine got stuck due to the snow and we had to get a plow and a gravel truck up there to help with it.

As the day went on I worked on my testcases. We did get one more call later on in the evening, but overall it was a quiet night.

We watched Tropic Thunder at the station. When it was over we took that movie and the others ones back to Safeway because they were due at midnight. I got some pie for everyone to have for dessert.

No Calls at Colfax

January 4th, 2009

This morning I wanted to go to Colfax fire. But I had things to do around the house. So I worked on getting caught up on some of the chores. Finally after spending time getting things taken care of I went to Colfax Fire.

I was there for several hours and we didn’t have any calls I could go on, because there was only one. That call was out to LaCrosse. I was there until around nine o’clock before I finally went home.

I watched a little TV before deciding it was time to get to bed.

Ten OT Hours

January 3rd, 2009

The plans of the day were simple. Go to the Cougar Basketball game. But I did more than just that. I got home from the fire department. I kept my uniform because I was going to have to go to the Deuce to head to the basketball game and I didn’t want to drive all the way down town just for the uniform later on.

When I got home I did some plowing of the driveway and sidewalk. It was pretty cold outside while I was doing that. A neighbor asked if I could do a portion of her driveway where the road plow had deposited some heavy snow chunks.

I went to the Dodge dealer to get my new antenna for my rig. The old one was slightly damaged. I also found out how I could fix it from being unpluged. The coax cable that goes from the radio to the antenna was unplugged and I had to plug it in, but the area where it was unplugged was too tight to get most tools, let alone my hands in. I also found out the traction control that my ought-seven Durango had was also in the ought-five and ought-six, but not the ought-four. So I am thinking about upgrading to an ought-five. But I just don’t know if I want to take on the new debt load. I may wait it out a little bit until the prices get a little better.

I went home and got the antenna on my rig fixed and now I have a radio that gets more than ZFun. I started to get ready for the basketball game. I wanted to get to the station early and get the van started, warmed up, and the snow taken care of.

I met up with Turpin, Robinson, Walker, and Pauly down at the Deuce and we headed to Beasley. The first half of the game between the Cougs and Huskies was good. We lead most of the way, but went into half down two points. That is as close as it would get. Coming out of the first half we couldn’t score and they couldn’t miss. The Cougs really let it get out of hand and we ended up losing by around twenty points.

After the game we were heading back and the tones went out for a backfill of the station. I called in on that. I went to station one and worked there for five hours while the guys did a transfer to Spokane.

John was doing an OT shift so he made dinner for everyone and invited me to have some. It was homemade lasagna, his wife made it. It was good. We also had garlic bread. After dinner I helped to clean up and I did the hand dishes, but there wasn’t much to do.

John, Chia, and I played some poker for about four hours. We had a lot of fun making fun of each other and pushing money around. At the end of the night John was even, I was up six bucks and Chia was down six.

Practical Jokesters

January 2nd, 2009

This morning we spent time dealing with the heavy snowfall with winds. We went to several utility problems around the town. We were done with that around eleven o’clock. Young and I went to the hospital to get stock meds and then to the store for dinner items. Tonight was “dip night”. That consisted of making several different kinds of dips. I made two of mine. Chili-Phily and the bean dip with Catalina. Both were good.

After dinner we went back to the store to get a couple movies and I bought some ice cream. As we were leaving one of the calls I didn’t turn off the emergency lights. I actually hit the button, but they didn’t go off. I didn’t notice that fact. I was reminded by the guys in the engine as we were driving down the road going code, on accident. So I bought ice cream for the error.

After we watch one of the movies we started on a second one, but I was tired form the last couple days with little sleep. So I went to bed. Shortly after going to bed I fell asleep. I was woken up by waterdrops hitting me in the fact. I remember says “very funny guys” as I was getting up. But no one was in the room. I started to think there was a leak in the roof. But that wasn’t the case. As I inspected the ceiling tiles closely I found the end of a catheter in one of the tiles. The guys had set me up.

I went out to the kitchen where they were all watching the movie. I started to tell them what happened as I was woken up. They were laughing pretty hard.

Yearly Jail Duties

January 1st, 2009

I went to the jail to work today. I did my normal end of the year things like making the new calendar that records what unit received their late-night request for the week. I also updated the photoboard with the Ought-Nine year.

I helped on some rounds and ran the doors as well. I had my Colfax fire pager with me but I wasn’t able to make the call they had. IT was a pretty tame day in the jail overall.

A Review of Ought-Eight

January 1st, 2009

JanBody for Life – While I was researching that [number of calories in a Big Mac] 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.

FebNU Sold to MH – Today was the day I was going to get fired from NU. But it was one where I was told I would be fired. It was more of a formality than anything. They had to “terminate” everyone to close out the books. Then start the new company. I was hired back on.

MarTruck Traded for a Durango – I test drove two of the Durangos. One was a Ought-Seven and one was an Ought-Three. I like the color and seats of the Ought-Three. Plus the cab reminded my of the look and feel of the old Dakota. But the Ought-Seven was nicer over all, had many less miles and some other things I just couldn’t pass up. Plus it wasn’t a ton more than the older Durango.

AprLast Radio Show… Ever – This last semester or two the show has suffered from my lack of time preparing for the topics, getting guests, and whatnot. I don’t have the fire in my gut like I did. I just don’t have things to talk about like I did at one time. … I decided it was time to pull the plug on the show.

MayMultiple Softball Tournaments – Brandon came to the camp site and I got to see him for the first time a while. He got his uniform from Kelly and went to put it on. The team went to do some warm up hitting. I didn’t do so hot there. Brandon was crushing the ball as normal for him.

JunSnow and Fire in June – I opened the door and saw snow. I thought to myself “Am I more shocked over the fire or the snow?”. Then I looked up and saw heavy brown smoke coming from the south-east area behind my house. On the way to the station the guys leaving Station Two quickly called or a second alarm. I drove by the scene and saw the whole front of the building involved in fire.

JulPullman Fire Temp Full-Time – I went to Heston’s office and said I that I am going to take it. He shook my hand and we scheduled my first day to be Monday of next week. I am going to only have three more shifts as a reserve. I am sad about that. I am going to miss working with those guys. I am now in a little bit of a haze as this is a big event in my life and I have a lot to think about now.

AugPlaying in Nationals for Softball – 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.

SepPassed my Physical Test for Sheriff’s Reserves – 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.

OctI am a Sheriff’s Reserve – The first day of class I got a chance to meet up with some of the other students. We had the Sheriff tell us about ethics and what he expects from us. It was mainly a day of introductions and laying some of the groundwork of the academy. I am excited for the academy to get over with so I don’t have to worry about getting days off from work and then I can go out on the road and work on becoming First-Class solo patrol.

NovMet a Man – When the game was done I met up with Gunnar. We have been e-mailing back and forth the last two days and decided that we wanted to watch the movie Scream. So he called me up. We met at Starbucks. We sat there talking for a while. He is working on a project and he told me a little about what he is doing.

DecTreating Myself Well – I don’t usually splurge in the way I did over the last week. I have spent thousands of dollars on a new Tempurpeadic Rhapsody bed, a fifty-eight inch plasma TV, a new TV stand, and a new Sprint Touch Pro cell phone.

Looking back over the year some months I had a hard time picking out one thing because several things could have been listed as big events for me. But if I had to pick out three major things from the year I would say being a Pullman Fire Temp, a Sheriff’s Reserve, and making it to Nationals in Softball were the real big events.