It was God’s Will

After my workout today I was going to turn to go home from the Rec Center. I was in the turn lane and had my left hand blinker on, but something made me go right. (Not that going right is ever a bad thing).

I turned onto Stadium Way and saw someone near Troy Road was hitchhiking. I thought that was odd to see in general. But it was a younger looking lady. When I saw the size and stature of the person walking along, plus the coat and scarf, I thought I might know her. As I passed her up, I knew who it was.

She is someone who is a fellow DJ on KZUU. She is a very nice person and I felt like I had to go back and pick her up. I was worried about her hitchhiking, even though “it is only Pullman”. So I turned around, but I had to go all the way down to Stephenson to turn around because of the median in the road. Finally, I got back to her and she was happy for the ride.

As it turned out she had to get across town and get her computer for a class presentation. I told her I would give her a ride back to campus as well because she would have to take the bus back otherwise. The part of town she lived it would require a transfer to another bus.

While we were driving along I found out that she also has a radio show on a local Christian station and I started to think it could have been God’s will that brought me to her.

As my reward for giving her the ride, when I drove down Main Street in Pullman, I saw my barber walking across the street to open his barbershop. I had planned on getting my haircut, so that worked out perfectly. Had I got straight there without stopping to help this lady, then he still would have been closed.

I went down to a couple calls at the fire station, but as normal I only stood by. But Rich and I had a chance to play a game for a bit while he was on his break. That is always fun to have something to do while I am standing by.

Rich also had asked if I could help him with a computer problem. He had some nasty malware application on his computer and none of the major applications were finding it and cleaning it. I did some research on it and found out how to clean it out of the computer. That took about an hour total to get it done and help make sure the computer was good to go.

I had just enough time to get down to the fire station in Colfax for training. There were only about ten people there for the Building Construction lecture. It only took about an hour for that.

Brandon and I were going to meet up at The Zzu for Taco Tuesday. I think things were still going good for me at this point. I started to play pool against Brandon. I was playing my normal game. I was able to sink a lot of balls, but I also missed a lot. But what was interesting is we played five games.

In those five games Brandon had not been beaten once yet I had four wins. He had one. He was on the Eight ball on four separate occasions. He was missing very easy shots. When he would make a shot, he would also sink the cue ball for a loss. Or he would sink the Eight ball in the wrong pocket. I think I had an unbeatable force on my side today.

Good Show about Cars

This morning I woke up and I still had a wobble about myself. I didn’t feel bad however. I think the water I drank afterwords helped out a lot. I didn’t get my work out done at all though.

I made my way to the radio show. I wasn’t sure what I would talk about, but it turned out that I had a great show. I spent one hour talking about “The Game” played when you buy a new car. The other hour I spent talking about the stories that are currently posted on the Paloustics.com webpage.

After the show I stopped by Station one to see if I could get a alphanumeric pager. The Captain wasn’t around but he said I would be put on the list of people who want one.

Later in the evening we had Monday night training. Tonight’s topic was Excite Delirium. BKoe was there for the training as well because it was a joint police and fire training. The night was dead though. We didn’t get any calls at all.

EMT Class Final Practicals

I went to Colfax fire in the morning before the practicals started. A couple of the people in the class were there. Steve had brought some donuts. I had one on my way out the door.

It was my first time being an evaluator on the check offs for the EMT practicals. I was nervous because it was my first time. I had a lot of questions for some of the other who had done this before. After the first couple groups I felt more relaxed.

It took the whole morning and into the afternoon for everyone to get through the testing.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out for a while. We watched some movies and talked about the EMT class. Around five I had to head back to Pullman. Just as I was walking out the door they got toned out to a car accident. So I didn’t get to go.

On the way home Pullman got toned out to an alarm. A. Wilcox called and asked if we go. I said I was planning on going to the station. So he said he would come down. I had to make my way from Albion Road and One-Ninety-Five.

It turned out that we just stood by the station for the call.

The evening was sort of slow, but we had three calls. They were spread out so I saw almost every hour until four in the morning. One call I slept through the tones and only woke up when the Ambulance went en route.

Lewiston Transfer

I was planning on working in the jail this evening. I had my uniform on and I was heading out the door. Then they called for reserves to do a transfer to Lewiston. So I changed uniforms and did the transfer with Greg.

We stopped in for some pizza while in the valley. We were to a pizza place in Clarkston. It was a pizza with a mustard sauce and had sauerkraut on the pizza. It was very interesting. By the time the transfer was done it was pretty late and I didn’t want to go to Colfax because I had to be up pretty early in the morning to help with the EMT class.

Taco Tuesday

Tonight’s HazMat training dealt with using the computer and weather station to create computer models for the spread of the HazMat release. It is something that I have not really touched in a major way since the class I took on these applications about four years ago. It was good to get into this stuff.

I remembered a fair amount of the stuff and the rest of it I was reminded of as the class went on.

I went to The Zzu with BKoe and Kevin. We had some tacos and played pool for a couple hours. The whole night I was doing well with the pool playing. In fact my team or when I was by myself, I never got beaten. Most of the games were won by my team or we lost the game by scratching on the Eight-Ball. I have one shot that I had not done in a long time where I put enough english on the ball to roll around one ball and hit my ball in the pocket. The guys at the table were very impressed with that shot. I followed it up with an easy shot on the Eight-Ball and missed it. Then I started to get crap from everyone.

Highrise Training

I spent time today with Kelly going to some of the businesses where I know people. We were asking for donations for our softball team. I was able to help secure over four hundred bucks, plus we got a couple good leads for more money.

We had high rise training for the fire department. I was the engineer for the training then I worked Rescue the rest of the evening. We got one call around two o’clock in the morning. It has been pretty quiet so far this Spring Break.

Final Day in Wildland Class

Today was the final day in Wildland training. I have been doing it all week in Colfax. We did our final sections, then did our written test and shelter deployment test.

After the class I went to help C-Shift with their weekly rig checks. While at rig checks I got a call about going bowling. I had not been bowling in years. Due to my ankle I have not been able to bowl very well.

Kevin, BKoe, and I went to Zeppoz. I was able to bowl pain free. We ended up bowling four games. My first game was around a one-fifty-two. Pretty good for not having bowled in a long time. Brandon is a good bowler and I was only able to beat him once.

After bowling we went to Brandon’s place and we played poker. We were there until nearly four in the morning. We were playing dealers choice. That was fun. It was all low stakes.

Wildland Class Day Two

Today was Wildland class. I was a little tired due to staying out a little late last night. We had a full day in the wildland class. We covered a lot of the sections in the book. It was a fun class over all. The chairs after a while was being a pain in the rear end.

I was on call for the fire department in the evening, but it turned out to be a quiet night with no calls. I was able to sleep through the night.

SSDD – Same Stuff Different Day

I went to the fire station this morning to give everyone their worksheets for last nights training. I also spoke with Turpin about a couple shift related things. Nothing major.

I went to Colfax for fire training. It was OTEP in Steptoe. I went up there in the ambulance with several other people. The training was pretty uneventful.

When I got home I worked on my schedule for tomorrow before hitting the hay.

Buying a Ford?

It was a great radio show today. We touched out a couple topics, but Tom and I were just flowing off each other. It was great. As the show was completed I was on my way to the Ford dealer. Jake called to let me know to stop by closer to four o’clock PM. That way I could talk to a specific salesman.

I changed course and headed off home. I got a couple things down around the house before four o’clock rolled around.

I headed out to the Ford dealership. I talked with the salesman that Jake set me up with. He got an idea of my goals with the vehicle purchase. He didn’t have anything on the lot that fit what I wanted. So he will call when something comes up.

I made dinner and relaxed instead of rushing to get to fire training. It was moved back a half hour. Today’s training was on forcible entry.

Done Stewing

I woke up this morning and started to think about what I was told last night by Chapman. I can say I was very mad about it last night. I stewed about it as I went to bed and I stewed more about it today.

Around ten in the morning I called the other person who was in the vehicle when the incident happened. He backed up what I believed had happened. So I was happy that I had remembered the situation correctly. That made me relax a little bit and enjoy the rest of the day.

We had a couple car accidents go out at the same time later in the afternoon. So I went to the station to help out but I ended up standing by with one because no one else showed up.

I had to be back at the station to meet with Turpin and Parrish about some training things that are going on. When that meeting was done I spoke with Turpin about some of the issues that were brought up with me about various things. I let Turpin know that I had made a mistake in letting a specific person to drive code. I think I misunderstood something from the training officer. I told him what I should have done in order for this mistake to not have happened.

Then I talked to Chapman some more about last night. I got a little bit more and confirmed what I had already understood about what had been said about me. By this time in the evening I was pretty calm and decided that it probably wouldn’t do any positive changes by bring it up with the person or anyone else. I felt that it was best if the whole thing was dropped and it just went away.

The whole drama thing just takes away the fun from the fire department. I just would like it to go away and for the business of being a firefighter and not a whiner would be in the forefront.

I watched the Cougs on TV with John at the station and we saw them crush Cal. I just wish they had done that last time they played.

All is Alive

I was the on call coroner today and all quiet at the office. I also was working for the fire department. We had our final Sunday night rig checks. I worked with Clark on doing some of the checks on Rescue Thirty-Two.

The rig checks we pretty late into the evening. I was on engine tonight and it was quiet all night as well. I haven’t gone on a call for a while now.

Thats a lot of Change

I too my change to Dissmore’s today to use Coinstar and turn it into cash. I had so much change it took about ten minutes to get it all counted. The machine kept stopping me from adding more as it would try to catch up. I ended up putting in more than two-hundred bucks in change.

This morning I did a workout for the first time since hurting my back. It was just swimming. But I got that done and it felt good to get that done. I was starting to feel like a slug not getting out there.

I made it to the fire department and got the photoboard updated with the new reserves that I have photographed as well as updating the shift changes and the rank of some of the reserves in the EMT class. It felt good to get that done. I was about four months out of date in some cases.

Transaction Completed

I met with the crew leaders and the Lt’s about some issues and where we stand in the whole order of things. I went to Colfax a little bit later to complete the transaction for the boat. I met up with Eric at the Auditors office. I signed over the boat to him. He paid me the final portion of the bill.

I went to the fire station and stayed there until they were back from the call they were on. I talked to Ralph about getting into the Red Card class they were going to have coming up. I also got information about the CISD training. There is a class coming up in April. I am thinking about signing up for that. But the class will be in the Seattle area.

I spent some time with Bien on the engine. Once I am satisfied with his knowledge of the engine he is able to get checked off with it. We went down to HazMat training. It was fairly short. I spoke with Chapman about the meeting we had this morning as well as some of the issues we have had with some of the guys.

Transmitter Down

The transmitter was down when I started the show. It was time for Tom and I just to chat about various topics including a time to train him how to use the equipment. He had to leave at about one o’clock pm. The transmitter came back about fifteen minutes later. I completed the show, but I was not as prepared as I would have normally been.

In the evening we were having fire training. I had hurt my back yesterday and I was a little on the slow side. I wasn’t able to work out today. I was happy to hear we were only going to do table top stuff. We were going over the SOP covering Incident Command.

Pizza Dinner

I bought pizza from Pipeline to be picked up for dinner at the station. I invited the reserves down to eat with the duty crew from the Deuce. I got a party pizza plus a chicken pizza. I also ordered two orders of breadsticks. It was running very late. The guy picking it up told me that they didn’t have it done on time. They forgot one of the pizzas. So they have me thirty-five bucks in gift certificates. That was cool.

Heston taught the hydraulics class and I watched it while Bien and Parrish worked on Rescue. After the class I went out with Clark and worked with him on checking off parts of the engine as well as showing him how we do the weekly pump test.

Completed the Photo Board for the Deuce

I completed the photo board for the Deuce. I have been working on it for a while now. I got the final parts for it and put it together. It looks good over all. I met up with Clark to get his photo for the photoboard and for the website as well.

I went to the Deuce and found a spot to put it. I hung it up. I was happy with the final product.

There wasn’t much going on tonight. I was tired from last night, so I didn’t stay up too late. I also had to get up early for the basketball game tomorrow morning.

Seven and a Half Straight Hours

I took some photos last week when WSU closed, but I didn’t post them until today. After tonights snow it is starting to look like this again.

The sidewalk getting to my house, had to duck under the tree.

The view of my house and the car buried under snow.

The snow started to pile up. It just kept snowing and snowing. We were supposed to get around one inch. But it was nearly around fix inches when I went to bed.

I was coving on Rescue until the guys got back from EMT class. I was down at the station and we finished up rig checks. On my way out the door I asked if they had gotten any calls today. Just was we were discussing the fact that one call happened this morning the tones went out.

Turpin had a can of food in his hand. It turned out to be a call to Palouse so he didn’t need to go. He said “you’re lucky Anderson!”. I was laughing as I checked the map. The snow was bad and it was slow going getting up there mainly due to the traffic. We transported to Gritman because Pullman went on divert.

Normally Rescue will not go to Gritman, but the Medic wanted one in the back with him, so they said they would bring him back. Bien and I went back to the city and I told him I had been to a lot of hospitals in the area, but I haven’t been to Gritman before. I have always wanted to go.

While we were cleaning Rescue, the tones came out for another call. We were pretty much on scene the same time as the ambulance. We transported and I was in the back. We ended up getting diverted to Gritman. So I was able to make my first trip over there.

When we got back we stayed at Station Thirty-One standing by for additional calls. A third call was also going on at the same time as the others. For a while we had all the reserves on duty out with the ambulances because we were spread pretty thin.

I didn’t get home until after one in the morning, and we ended the night with a fire alarm after five in the morning. I was dragging when I went back to bed.

Another Cancelled Colfax Training

The snow hit hard this afternoon. I was watching it pile up when I heard D-Twelve get toned out to a car accident. Soon I heard it had three cars involved. They asked for Pullman Ambulance and Rescue to get toned out. I knocked on Tyson’s door and went off on the call. McPherson came down as well.

We got to the scene with three cars. We did pop a door on one car, but that was about it as far a rescue went. It was a long scene as we called for an ambulance from Lewiston because we didn’t have career guys to run the other two ambulances in Pullman.

As we were clearing the hospital I heard Colfax get an information tone about the fact that training was cancelled today. That made my life easier. I wouldn’t have to drive down there.

When we were back at the station we cleaned Rescue and I stuck around to chat with the other guys for a little bit before going home. I had some dinner. Plowed the driveway and watched House before going to bed.

Welcome Tom Two

Had the radio show today with the new co-host, Tom W. He was a two time guest last semester. I asked him to join me this semester. He accepted. We talked about Super Tuesday. He tried to get me to answer certain questions, but I refused to answer. I ran him in some circles. I was having fun with that.

Tom F. called in and we talked about the Whitman County vote to allow the bond to go through for Hawkins. That was great news as it would start a major development on the corridor.

Tonights Monday Night training we covered the engineer sheet. It has some new information about how you do the calculations when looking at water pressures under three-hundred-fifty gallons per minute.

The training went well. Afterwards Michael, Reed, and I met with Mike about some reserves issues and what we need to start to do about them.

I was getting some crap from people about being Mr. “Standing By With One”.

Another Cougar Loss

I worked the men’s basketball game today. I had to be at the station around ten in the morning. I had worked last night for the fire department, but it was pretty dead.

The Cougs didn’t do very well on the court. The first half they were rebounding well. They were making it look like Stanford would be going down. Then in the second half we couldn’t do anything to work towards a victory. We ended up losing by two. Taylor had a chance for a lay-up at the very end of the game, but missed it.

The evening I was going to be on call for C-Shift. I was looking forward to being on Rescue. We got calls steadily through out the night. I helped to find the cause of a fire alarm in a frat. Plus every time I went to bed, I would get woken up by the tones. We had calls to the point where I was up for every hour through out the night even though I had gone to bed twice.

Got Fired.

WSU got cancelled again. It was announced last night. It was weird because I was someone who had to work even though everyone else didn’t.

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.

When I had my conversation with the guys it seemed the idea of me working from home was very good with these guys. On top of that, the need to have me back there monthly was also a thing of the past. So I think this summer you will see me in Pullman a lot more than years past. So today is my first day under the management of the new company.

Tonight on call at the fire department was dead. I spent a lot of time over at Brandon’s in the evening playing cards. I went to Russell’s to see the snow cave that Russell and Nick built. I also spent time talking to Parrish and Bien about fire department related things, as well as heating ideas for my garage.

WSU Closed for First Time in More Than a Decade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Lunch with Forbes

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

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

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

I got to be on Rescue

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

No CPR Teaching

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

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

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

Playing on Rescue

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

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

Cougs Roll On

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

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

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

The Whole Day on the Clock

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

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

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

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

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

First Case of Ought-Eight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Job Offer

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

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

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

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

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

A Difference of Opinion

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A day of lots of snow

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

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

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

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

First day on Body for Life

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

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

Purchased More Tools

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

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

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

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

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

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

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