Two times on the Radio

Today I spent a lot of time not at home. I first had to get a thumb drive to replace the one that died on me the other day. I started with my radio show for my normal time. I went up the studio and knocked that out. I wasn’t feeling super while I was on the air. For a while I was jittery. Then I calmed down. It was not due to nerves. It was because I was feeling sick. Once that show was done I had time to go home and do a couple things before it was time to head back to the studio for my next show.

This one was an interview of the ASWSU presidents and vice presidents. I spent a couple hours preparing questions and going over them last night. I think the show went over very well. I did not really stumble too much and I think I looked pretty good while questioning the candidates.

I got done just in time to run back to the station. I am on call as well as it was a training night. I got there a couple minutes late. We were going to do some quarterly SCBA stuff. Just as we were going to leave we got toned out to a call. But we were not there long and got back to the tower before the training up there started.

Several of us were given a group of people to lead around on various activities. We were on air and we got to see how well we would do with our air consumption. It was not the same as the work rate test we have done in the past. Because we were in groups the weakest link caused the whole team to have to be done.

After the class we went to the station to fill air bottles. That took some time to do. We took some time to teach some of the new guys how to use the cascade system. When we were finally done with that I made my way to Mike’s for poker.

I got dealt a hand and as we were playing it I got called out on a EMS call. I was able to finish it out. I did a raise from four to five bucks. The guy thought I meant five more bucks. So he folded only to find I meant one dollar more. I got a good laugh out of that.

Structure Fire? I think not

I woke up this morning feeling sick. I went back to sleep for a while and then I got up again. I went back to bed a third time. It was then that I heard a call go out for a gas leak with possible patients at Sella’s. Within a minute or so another call for a structure fire goes out at Eastlick.

I got up and went to the station. I was there and then Chapman show up. I went to check the map for the location of hydrants. When I got back to the bay there were about six people in the bay.

I got into the Engine as the officer and we went en route. Upon our arrival we heard a call go out for a fire alarm in Heald hall. We were asked to check the building for smoke. After checking each floor we were not able to find anything that was a concern. We waited outside until the scene was done. There was a fan belt that over heated causing all the problems between these two buildings that are connected with each other.

The rest of my day was spent hanging out at home and trying to not upset my feeling of sickness too much.

Working Most the Day with the PFD

I was woken up by a phone call around seven-thirty in the morning asking if I could help with the first responder class testing. I said I would, and I was told to be there at ten in the morning. I was tire so I was happy about the extra sleep. I showed up to city hall. My task was to help Michael with one of the stations. My role was to do CPR and assist with what the testee was asking me to do.

After the testing Keith and I went to Cougar Country for lunch. We were planning on going out doing Engineer training. When we were getting the Engine ready we were called to an EMS call. We went on that. It turned out we both got dirty on it, so we washed out clothes at the fire station and went home to shower. When we finally got back to the station we were only going to have about one and a half hours to do some drive time. But we made the most of it. We drove a lot of the more narrow roads around the city.

We also made our way by Beasley a couple times to see the score board in the walkways. The Cougs were playing USC. When we went by the couple times the Cougs were losing. It was getting near time for us to start our rig checks. Keith and I got the rig back to the station.

Anthony was already there and the Cougar game was in its final moments. We watched the game get tied up. It went into overtime, and then a second overtime. The Cougs finally pulled it out and won.

Keith, Anthony, and I went out and washed Rescue and Engine. The rest of the evening we were on call. It was a slower night, but we were getting calls most of the night. We would get them about every two hours. In some ways I hate nights like that more than just getting slammed and then nothing.

Another Poker Night at My Place

I started out earlier in the day with going to the fire station and getting some photos of Tyson and the new paramedics for the photoboard and the website. It was after that that I had to go to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.

But after work I was going to have some fun. I am having a poker party at my house. Dave was the first one over. Then Mike and Andy came over. I also had some other guys, Loren and Dan made it over. It was a good night. At one point I hit a run where I couldn’t lose. I kept gaining money and doing very well. Soon I was up a couple of tens. Loren finally busted out as did Dan. Dave left while he still had money. I took what I could from Mike and Andy and had myself a half-a-C-note night.

UCLA and WSU Playing For First

Ryan came down from Spokane to meet up with me to go see the Cougs take on UCLA at Beasley. With a win by WSU and UCLA losing against the Huskies the Cougs could be in a tie for first place in the Pac-Ten. It was nice Ryan was able to come down. We met up at the Valley Road Playfields and walked to the game.

It was not to be, the Cougs got beaten pretty well in the second half. The Cougs could not score on a fast break and they could never get a sustained run. So UCLA kept a few points up on the Cougs the whole second half.

I had Anthony cover for me on Rescue until the game was done. Once it was over I got my uniform on and worked the rest of the night. It wasn’t super busy for us. There was not a lot of partying out of the students after the game. I think a lot of the were tired after waiting outside for seats for up to nearly fifteen to twenty hours.

Purchasing a Poker Table

Tyson and I were supposed to work an event at Beasley. When we got up there I was starting to think there was a mistake. Sure enough someone saw us and said she thought the event was in Bryan Aud. We loaded our equipment in the mini-van and drove over to Bryan. When we got inside we talked to the performers. They directed us to the person in charge of everything. That is when we found out they we were not even needed at the event. Tyson and I fueled the rig and called it a night.

Mike brought over the poker table and the folding chairs. I decided that I was going to buy it from him. He has a nice table and with the folding chairs I will have enough chair to fit more than ten people for poker games.

Mike invited me to go out to Rico’s with them. It was a good night out on the town. Andy and Mike were there. We played a lot of pool. There was a ten-six-seven who had a perfect square for a soul patch. It was well trimmed and the dark hair make it stand out. I spent some time looking that way. Then another ten-six-seven came in and was a friend of Mike’s. He played some pool with us.

We left around midnight and I went to Russells. A group of people were there and we played Apples to Apples and had some pie. I won the first game of Apples to Apples when we could argue for our decisions. Then one girl who I had not met before was complaining that it was no fun to debate whose card was the best. She just wanted people to lay the cards down and have it chosen without any reasoning.

It was fun to play that way, but I thought it was funny that she seemed mad that we had to debate points.

Bad Night at the Table

The fire training scheduled for today lasted all of thirty minutes so that meant that I was going to get to Mike’s house quick tonight for poker. I was excited to get there early and have more time to play. The problem is that also gave me more time to have a bad night. I had a run of cards that I could not win with. Even when they looked decent I was losing, and after a while I started to play dumb hands because I was not seeing anything at all.

But then after I did things like that other guys would play crap hands. That did not help the situation. Other guys on the other hand were playing bad hands and beating me or others. It sucked, but I had fun. I got the word out a little bit about my upcoming game. I hope to get some of the people there.

Falling down a well

So my plans for the whole day were to sleep in and then work on the material for my radio show. As it turned out I was able to do that, but I also did a few other things.

I heard Colfax get toned out to a boy down a well. I figured I would not be able to get there in enough time to help. Reed called me and asked if I could cover him at Pullman for the night. I told him I would. Right after that call they toned for more manpower. I decided to head to the scene.

I got there about twenty-five minutes after the tones went off for the additional manpower. I was on one of the lines helping to hold and pull the people in the well. Then I was asked to go above and get on a different line.

I helped to hold the line and then pull when it was finally time to start to get the people out of the well. According to the newspapers he had fallen about forty feet down and was only about fifteen feet from hitting water.

As soon as he was out I helped to package and transport him to the hospital.

Firefighters Look Down Well

I was just done with that when I had to get to Pullman for being on call here. I made some dinner and went to the station. We had to do rig checks. I worked with Chris D. on some engineer basics and had him do the pump test. We worked on getting through the system when we got toned out to a fire alarm.

It was nearly an hour and a half long because we could not find the problem to start with, then finally once we found it, it was water hitting the detector head. So we put Chris in the ceiling to find the source of water. Between us trying to mitigate the problem and finding the source it took more than an hour.

We got back to the station and finished out the rig checks. We only got one more call on the night at around three in the morning. When I got back from the rig checks however I used that time to get the prep work for the show taken care of.

A long day at the PFD

I had signed up to work the Family Fun Fair at WSU today. I had to be up and ready for that. I got dressed and down to the station. I got the rig ready. Keith was working today’s event and he wants to be an engineer. He was starting to get in the passenger seat. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was putting his stuff in the rig and then asked who was driving. I said “You are.” His mouth dropped and his eyes went wide open. He was very excited.

When we arrived at Smith Gym we set out some equipment to show the kids that stopped by, but it was so cold very few people actaully stopped. They all just went straight inside. Some WSU police interns were there and I talked to them for a while including Brandon who is coming on my show this Monday.

The Family Fun Day was winding down around one in the afternoon. He got some extra sandwiches and put away our equipment. Then we got a call for a person having a seizure. We went en route from Smith Gym. It was my first time driving engine code on a call.

After the call I had Keith drive. We went around the city. He drove for about three hours. He did very well. We looked at FDC’s are various buildings around town. We got done around five-thirty and went back to the station. Tyson met up with us and helped wash the rigs and do rig checks.

We had to go fill some air bottles. We stopped by Station Thirty-One to do that. When we got back to the Deuce some of the guys wanted to do some one-minute drills. Tyson and Keith also wanted to participate with them. We spent about forty-five minutes doing the one-minute drills, discussing the one-minute drills, as well as practicing with the buddy breathers.

I actually left the station a little after eleven o’clock PM. I had been with the fire department for more than twelve hours through out the day. Much of it standing. My ankle was in a great deal of pain.

Incredibly Tired

After getting to bed and sleeping for about four hours I was up again. I was very tired and I got the last few things done with the HazMat CD’s. Shortly thereafter I had to get to the radio show. I went to the studio and I forgot my cell phone at home.

I was dragging as I started the show and I did not have my “A” game going. So I was just being loopy but I got through the show. I did not think it was all that good. I had a little bit of time at home before I had to get to the fire station to work on the Rescue and where to put the new tools. When I got home there was a message from Pete about a suicide down at the river. He ended up going on it.

I met up with Erik at the fire station and we put the new tools and Rescue and rearranged the tools that existed on it. It is cool that we are running the new tools now. With OTEP training coming up at seven o’clock I just decided to hang out at the station.

Pete called me and told me that if I had some time to go to the funeral home and investigate the wounds to get an idea of what happened on this case. It was interesting because now I have seen shotgun, handgun, and rifle damage to the human head. There is a lot of differences between each one.

The OTEP training was pretty short over all. We covered burns. Once we were done with the training I went to Mike’s house for poker. I was there until midnight. I ended up walking away with an extra thirty-one bucks.

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

Drive By Cellphoning

I was so tired I just couldn’t get myself out of bed. I had planned on getting up around ten o’clock am to call George. I finally got up around noon and called him about getting my truck seat fixed. I left a message and he called me back a while later. By they I had planned on going to play some poker at Mr. Z’s, but I wanted to get my truck seat fixed. He gave me directions to his place and I headed there. He has a really nice house over looking the LC valley. I helped him remove the seat and chatted with him while he was fixing it. It did not take very long compared to what I thought it would take. It was a total of two hours. He glued all the foam back together as well as added reinforcements to it so it will not happen again anytime soon.

After he was done he took me to his house to show me around. he had a very large house that he built himself. His downstairs had twelve foot ceilings so he can display all his hunting kills. He has a ton of those as well. I got back to Pullman with some time to spare before rig checks. I made myself some dinner and kicked back ever so slightly.

Before long though I had to go to the station. I first spent time with the new guys on their map tests. We got several of them knocked out. While working on the map tests a call went out so I asked Tyson to go on it in my place. It was only a fire alarm. By the time they got back I had started to wash out the bay. We got another call. I went on that one and had Tyson go over some of the tools on Engine while we were gone.

Finally we were able to get back and just work on the rig checks. We were nearly done. Tyson and I did the pump test while Keith and Brian showed the new guys how to use the tools.

When we were all done I went home and started on the project for the HazMat team. I have a bunch of DVD’s they want copies of. I wanted to go to bed because I have to be up for the radio show, plus I am leaving town and wanted some sleep before I would have to prepare for the road.

As I was working away on the DVD copying project I was also working on my organizing of the boxes of files and papers I have that I need to get put away in order to complete the move-in process.

I was able to get a fair amount of that complete as I started the next DVD in the machine. But on the last DVD I was having problems with it not finishing the read.

Before I got to that point, however, I got a call. When I got onscene I was helping with the patient and Matt, from WSU PD, made a joke about the patient having the same issues that I was. I had heard why we were there and then when he said that wasn’t sure I heard him correctly. I was taken aback slightly because I was unsure if he said that because he knew about me or if he was just making a joke. It because clear to me it was a joke at the time. As we were walking out of the apartment he said he was sorry. I then told him I heard he gives reach-arounds, something Kelly, yesterday, said I need to joke with him about.

That was that as far as I knew. But when I got back to my place and I was working on the DVD project I decided to check my facebook account and there was a message from Carl.

I was talking to Matt who told me what he said to you at the Medical call. He said that he felt really bad about it and it was not his intention to offend anyone. He always jokes around but wanted me to tell you he was sorry.

So when I saw this I figured he must now know, if he didn’t already know. I tried to get more information from Carl. It seems that somehow Monte told Matt about me. What really surprised me is that Monte knows. I am not sure how he would have found out. I am curious as to how Monte found out, unless he remembers it from that one article that Rob wrote for the Evergreen. So now Matt knows.

I hate it when people find out. It causes me concern. It is the whole idea that when only I know they other person is normal or what they do to me is them acting out who the are. But when they know I am gay and I know they know then I seem to be hypersensitive about it insofar as I am always wondering what they are thinking. Because now everything I do will go through their “gay” filter. They will wonder if I did something because I am gay. That will be on their mind, and because I know they know I am gay, then I know that they are thinking certain things, therefore I get concerned about what they are thinking. So rather than them being themselves around me they will self-censor and I can never really have good friends if they are always afraid of being who they are.

They should not worry about making any kind of jokes. I don’t want them thinking they need to keep their back to the wall around me. I want them to judge me on being a softball player, or a firefighters, or whatever I am doing. Not based on the fact that I am gay.

How do you explain that to someone? John G. seems to understand what I am saying and he gives me a hard time. Which is how John acts, so he does not treat me differently. But what about Matt. How can I explain to him the concept of being gay I don’t fully understand it. I can explain that I am not happy that I am gay. That it is not something where I make a conscious choice to be attracted to certain guys. I can try to let him know that I would love to be attracted to women and that I could live out a normal life. But because I cannot the only thing that will help is if people don’t stop being themselves around me.

I want him to understand that I believe that you must choose to be offended. And in no way was I offended on the call. He probably thought that because of my reaction, but my reaction was because I was concerned that he knew.

I now have to try to talk to him and hope that he doesn’t start to act differently around me. I hope that I can also get him and Monte to not say anything to anyone as I want the information to not make it out to everyone. I like having my own little secret.

So to top that off we got two more calls. One was for a rollover car accident. Turns out that no one got hurt, but we were on scene for a bit. We got the rig cleaned up. It was nearly five in the morning I figured that we were done for the night, but nope. We had a drive-by cellphoning. That is where someone sees what appears to be a car accident and rather than stopped to see if people are okay, they keep driving and call it in on their cellphone.

The problem is that many times no one is hurt so we all go out there to find the person is fine, or that no one is even there anymore. I wish people would just stop for a couple minutes and see if the person needs an ambulance before calling it in. That would help everyone involved in the situation.

Another Men’s Basketball Win

Stanford, number twenty-five in the country, came to town to play the Cougs. I was working for the fire department at Beasley. As far as work went it was a pretty quiet day. I was disappointed that we did not even have a packed house. But the Cougs did just fine against Stanford. We didn’t really have patients to deal with.

In the end the Cougs won by thirteen avenging the loss earlier at the hands on Stanford.

Teaching a CPR Class

I offered to teach a CPR class for Michael today. I had not taught CPR for a long time so I was a little nervous. I also realized that I needed to get my truck from my old apartment one of these days. So that day was today. I went to put air in the tire that was flat, but it was not working. So I called Les Schwab. They sent out a truck that put air in my tire and gave me a jump start. I headed to Les Schwab to get some new tires after taking a close look at them.

The new tires helped make turning and driving easier. I thought I was getting weak because it seemed like I had a hard time turning the truck, but I found that the new tires made a big difference.

Tyson came to my place and gave me a ride on my Dodge at the old apartment. I was getting ready for my teaching gig. I went to station thirty-one. I got my equipment and went to the WSU Childcare Center.

The class was pretty good. I got a lot of good reviews. The new videos that we are using are better than the old ones. I didn’t have time to review it so I was didn’t know what was coming up next in each section, so I just had to roll with it, but it turned out really well. I had a good time teaching the class.

Glenn Johnson Interview

Today was my interview with Glenn Johnson, the mayor of Pullman on my radio show, The PES. We caught up on some of the old things we talked about and I was able to see the progress. We then went into some new items. It was a good interview, but I did not get him for the whole hour like I had hoped because he had to get going early for a meeting he had to be at.

After the show was done I made my way home until it was time to head to extrication training. We were using the new tools and getting some hands-on time with them. At the training we discussed the vehicle placement for the tools. All the A-Shift guys wanted to have the best tools on Rescue. That is the way the crew leaders want it as well. I am happy we are going to have more than just the combitool on Rescue.

Superbowl Party

Today was the final day of our class for Firefight I. I was not quiet as tired today and I made my way to Colfax. I have my new presentation. I had print outs that I made at The Deuce. I was ready to nail my presentation.

We started with a review and then the test. It was a pretty big test and unlike many of the tests we take, this is one you actually had to study to do it really well. I was ready for it and I finished the test before anyone else in the class. I was done a bit before the next person.

I waited in the dayroom at the fire station for everyone else to finish. When everyone was done we went back to the presentations. I wanted Ralph to grade mine. I knew he would grade me hard but I would get good feedback. After my presentation I realized I nailed it hard core.

Ralph talked to me about it. He said I am a natural. He said I did something he has never seen anyone else do when doing the particular presentation that I did. We all have seven choices to choose from. I was teaching the tying of the bowline knot. Ralph wants to get me involved in teaching. He said he liked my presentation and how I did not just read off the slides but talked and explained things. I think I nailed the test and the presentation.

It was time to get home and prepare for my Superbowl Party. I have all the people from the Colfax Fire poker players. Each year we play a poker game and watch the Superbowl. I was about to grab a beer with the others when a call went out for Pullman. I wanted to know who was on for my crew so I checked the schedule and found I was on call. So it was a good thing I did not have one.

We started a tournament. I was in the chip lead when a call came out for a structure fire at the hospital. We went code down Grand to get to that. We got on scene to find it was nothing. We were there for a little bit when another call came out on Clay Ct. We went code back down Grand to that one. But we got cancelled.

I was on my way home when we got called out to yet another call at Zeppoz. We went code down Grand once more. I was joking about how the people would think we were lost with us going back and forth a couple times in a matter of thirty minutes.

I got back to my place to find my chip stack was gone and I was out in third place. Tim and Connie were playing for first place. Connie ended up winning it. We all decided to have a poker game each month on the fourth weekend. The next one will be the end of Feb at Connie and Jims. The winner of the tournament will host the next one at the winners’ house.

We were cleaning up when I got another call downtown Pullman. The guys cleaned up my house the rest of the way when I left. I got back and did the final touches. It was a long weekend and I was ready to relax a little bit.

Firefighter I Instructor Class, Day Two

I was tired this morning when I got up for class. I got to Colfax just in time for the start of class. We spent the first part of the day going through the final chapters of the book. We also went over a practice test for the final test.

Then it was time for lunch. We had a group lunch. We made tacos for everyone. Following lunch we did our presentations. I had a chance to go through my presentation. I went almost the full twenty minutes. Our target time was fifteen minutes, but no less than ten and nor more than twenty.

After my presentation I watched the remaining presentations from the other people who did Powerpoint presentations.

When I got home I worked on my presentation. I made some things better and redid other portions. Then I worked on doing my final workbook pages. I also got the test worked on and made sure I memorized certain things.

Firefighter Instructor I Class, Day One

I spent a fair amount of the day getting the final chapters completed before my Firefighter Instructor I class was to get underway. While working on my stuff I heard the dispatchers send an ambulance to a call where a guy was doing CPR on the side of the road. Patti ended up getting called out on that.

The class was starting at six o’clock pm in Colfax. I am actually doing this class for both Pullman and Colfax fire. I got the books and got signed up through Pullman, but I will be doing teaching at both places now. Keith went down to the class with me. We got through several of the chapters in the book. We also got our lesson plan assigned to us for the teaching on Sunday. I was given the Becket bend knot.

While in the class Colfax Fire was dispatched to a car accident. It was not long after that when we found out it was a fatal. We were nearing the end of class and Patti called me. She asked if I wanted to come help. I still had to wait until we were done with one more chapter. It was short one. I was on my way.

We got the scene where a SUV rolled several times and the person was ejected. It does not appear that he was wearing a seatbelt. But I am not sure about that. From what I was able to find however it appears it was not worn. Also the state patrol said it appears that elevated speeds were involved.

I helped get the deceased on the cot and to the funeral homes’ van. They drove it to the funeral home and Patti and I made our final photos. We drove in to the funeral home to complete the investigation. There were a lot of injuries. It was clear what the cause of death was.

I finally got home just after midnight. I then spent the next two hours working on a Powerpoint presentation to go with my classroom teaching of the Becket Bend. We were doing a practice teaching on Saturday to get an idea of what we need to work on for our final on Sunday.

WSU Girls Basketball

Tonight the women were playing basketball at Beasley. I went there to work EMS. The men were on TV. I was watching that game in the first aid room and working on my homework for my Firefighter Instructor I class that I am going to be taking this weekend in Colfax.

The women lost, but the men went on for a victory. It was close near the end, but it was nice to see them get away with a victory. They are climbing up the polls after each victory.

Taser Training

Those of us from Pullman Fire were invited to participate in Taser Training at the Pullman PD. I was the only one who showed up. I was looking forward to it. I wanted to know what it was like to get tased. Plus I wanted to get it done so I could be certified to use the taser at the jail.

The class was pretty long. But it was full of information about how the taser worked and what effects it has on someone when they are hit with it.

Finally at the end of the class we had a chance to get tased. I wanted to do it first to get it out of the way. I was hooked up to the taser and I was hit with it.

Getting ready for the Taser

Getting hit with it

I was able to move around a lot. I was expecting that I would get locked up like a lot of people and be stiff. But I was able to move around. I felt like I could have gone after the guy hitting me with the taser if I had been more prepared to do so. I did dance around like the River Dance from what Carl was saying. Everyone in the room was laughing so hard.

Back on Sunday Rotation

After playing some poker last night I wanted to try the tournament at Zeppoz today. I went up there around four and got into it. I bought in and did my one rebuy at the beginning. I was not the first out, but I found myself a pocket tens. I tried to push and I went all in. Someone called me with pocket aces. I ended up losing and I was done. I went to play some of the table games. I was playing Paigow. I was doing well.

I won back all the money I lost playing the tournament, plus I tipped the dealer five buck and walked away with about twenty-five. Not too bad of a day.

I pretty much went straight to the fire station for rig checks. It is our Sunday. On the way there a call came out. We started to go on it, but they cancelled us just as we went en route. Tyson and I worked on the engine together. He did the pump test and we got it cleaned and put away.

The rig checks went pretty quick for the most part. Tyson and I ended with him doing a one-minute drill. He was able to nail it the second time through.

Cougs Lose a Close one to Oregon

I wanted to work the Cougar basketball game and it turned out I was able to. Because of the number of people going to the games they want more EMS working. We had a total of six people working it.

Clint and I were one team. We started off in the student section watching the crowd and the game. The Cougs started off good and kept the lead nearly the whole game. But in the final minute of the game Oregon got the game very close and with less than a second on a the close the Cougs were called for a foul that put Oregon to the line for two free throws. That put the game into overtime. Oregon had a ten to zero run and held on to win by three. It was very disappointing.

After the game I went to Zeppoz to play some poker. I was able to get a seat at a table that opened up. I played for several hours. As normal there is one guy who thinks he is a pro. He does everything correct and someone else is always dumb for a move they make. I hate people who are like that.

I played until nearly four in the morning. I was up about sixty bucks when I went against another guy. We were heads up and I had trip queens. I thought I was strong and that he was trying to push my off my hand. But he had a full house due to the river giving him an eight. So I lost that hand. That cost me most of my winning. I played a while longer after that. But I walked away with the same amount of money I came to the poker table with.

A lack of calls

I was thinking that with it being a Friday night, the Cougs playing good basketball, and the number seven Ducks coming to town that we could be busy. But it was not to be.

I went to the station early for dinner. I had some left overs from the meal on Wednesday night. Brian and Keith came down. We did rig checks and hung out for a little while chatting. The others left and I stayed longer waiting for that first call. There was nothing going on. Just before I was about to leave we finally got a call.

Then through out the night until five in the morning we would get a call, then there would be about a two hour break followed by another call. None of them were big calls.

Cougs Beat up Oregon State

Today we had a department meeting with the chief’s. There wasn’t a lot of new information for the reserves. The response codes have hardly changed for us, however, the full-timers will start to see a change on Feb one.

After the meeting it was time to get up to Beasley for the basketball game. I spent a lot of the game on the main walkway inside the building. I had a good view of the game. The Cougs were not dominating the game against Oregon State, but it was one where they were beating the Beavers the whole way through.

Next up number seven, Oregon Ducks.

Dinner and Training

Tonight we had dinner and training at the fire station with the reserves. I set it up for a scene size-up training. I sent out a document a few days ago with information that we covered tonight, and I also touched on some subjects just to get everyone on the right page. The guys have been doing things correctly, but I wanted to reinforce their behavior.

We had chili cheese dogs and tater tots. After the dinner we had photos that James got online and we did size-ups. The guys did well. After the training I spent some time talking to the new guys about the behavior of the guys in the class. I have been hearing some information about some bad behavior.

I then spent the next couple hours working on some of my packet for the firefighter instructor class I am going to take. Russell and the crew came down with some food for me because I could not make it to Russell’s place. I though that was so nice of them.

EVAP Training

We had a small training at the Abelson Hall on campus. We were going over the alarm system as well as the sprinkler system. Just before that call however, we got called out for a car accident. Tyson was going to go to the training with me. So he came down for the call with Blake. It turned out to be something minor.

Colfax had EVAP training. I also talked to Ralph about the books needed for the firefighter instructor class. It is the same book I got a couple years ago. So I am going to start working on my workbook to get it complete.

Carl, Jim, and I talked about the Superbowl Poker game. We are planning on doing it at my place this year. With the training class, however, I will be in Colfax for some of it. So they will just have to come and let themselves in.

When I got home I started to work on my worksheets. I got a couple chapters completed.

OTEP Training

Today’s OTEP training was dealing with patient care and contact. There was a miscommunication on time. So we all showed up at six but the instructor was not there until seven. So we sat around for a while until Kris started to go over the c-spine removal matrix.

Lots of Calls for a tiny bit

My day started with a phone call from Michael asking if I wanted to go on the call the just went out. I asked him what it was. After he told me I told him I would go. I got dressed and made my way to the fire station. Off we went on that call.

We transported and then left the hospital. Michael was working on doing some drive time with one of his new guys. When I got inside the bay door Michael said “do you want to go on the one that is going out right now?” I said sure. So I got back in rescue and we went code to the Old European. As we were fighting through the thick crowd and working in a tiny area a third call came out. This one was for an overdose. We were cleared and went to that scene.

We got first on scene and started to deal with the person. Turns out I had dealt with the person in the past for something sort of similar.

It was a pretty busy period, but things got quiet after that.

Move in Poker Party Part Two

I was woken up by a call from Michael this morning. But once I was up I decided to stay up. I tooled around the house working on getting it ready for the poker game tonight. There was also the Cougar Basketball game on today against the Huskies. I knew it was going to be a wild game because they were calling in cops early due to all the people and problems they were having around Beasley.

I went to Safeway and got some regular groceries and some stuff for the poker game. I got home and I realized my trip to the hardware store was forgotten. I was going to get a screw to fix my pantry door that has had the wrong screw since I moved in. I was down at Turner when a call came in for a cardiac problem at the coliseum. I went to The Deuce. Michael showed up as well. We went on the call, but it did not turn out to be too much. We fueled up on the way back.

I went to the hardware store to only see they had closed. So I went home and started to get ready for the poker game. I was setting up the Tournament Director software I had. I got the cards counted and made sure the decks were good. I then got the table set up and the food ready to go. I made some last minute phone calls.

Russell was the first to show up. He got a pop and we started to talk about who all was coming. Soon others started to show up. Andrew and James showed up. Then a couple more people showed up. We all started to get ready to play the game.

I paid for the buy ins for most of the people because they had helped me move and missed my last game. Dan and Denise were there along with Andrew, Russell, James, Brad, and Tyson did not make it.

I was doing pretty well through out the tournament. Andrew bought in a couple times. When he was near the end the final time I talked him through the “chip and a chair” thought process. He started to earn his way back into the tournament.

But soon Andrew, Brad, Denise, and James were out. It was Russell, Dan, and I. But I was not getting any cards to speak of. I was finally eliminated in third place. Dan and Russell went head-to-head. But Russell was going to have to get going. Dan was going to be playing by himself and that would mean that Russell would lose his chipstack to blinds and Dan would win.

But Dan was nice and decided to play with Russell on the next couple hands. Russell ended up finding a hand. Dan went all-in. Russell covered and won. So Dan pretty much let his first place finish go to second place.

After the game I cleaned up a little bit and went to Zeppoz with Dan and Denise. We play a couple different table games. I ended at Texas Shootout. I started to win some money there and walked out near even for the evening at Zeppoz.

Crazy busy… for an hour

I was kicking butt on bugs today. I was able to get two of them completed and turned in after talking to Brian about one of them I had needed more information about. We had a call-in meeting today as well. I got a call from Pete about a coroners case in Palouse. Patti had already gone on one today. She ended up going on the second one as well. But then she called me about coming up with my camera to help her take photos because her camera was not working.

I had to hurry because I was going to be on call for the fire department before too long. I made my way to Palouse. I called Whitcom to let them know I was en route. I said “Whitcom, Paul Sixty-six.” Jamie answered and said “Paul Sixty-six on Pullman Fire.” I had a long pause and then said “Disregard.” She responded by saying “Received. Talk to you on Steptoe.”

I got to the scene and made good time. We got the photos and I assisted with the removal. Then it was back to Pullman. I heated the oven for dinner. Just as I pulled my dinner out a call came out. I tried to call Tyson with no luck. So then I decided that if I hear someone stand by I would go down otherwise I would eat.

Then as I finished up eating a second call came out. I went to the station and stood by. Within a few minutes of that call a third ambulance call came in. Brian had shown up. The PL said it was going to go back and get an ambulance. I had Brian let the PL know we had a crew of two and were getting ready to leave the station. We could switch to the Ambulance if he wanted. After a pause he said to do it. So we switched to the Ambulance and ripped off the chains before hitting the road. We went code to the scene. On the way a fourth call came out for a fire alarm. It was probably a good thing we were able to keep the PL in service.

Following the transport and getting everything back in order it remained a pretty quiet night for a while. I was trying to make some new CD’s for Rescue, but they were not burning correctly. I went through three CD’s.

We finally got a call. But before we knew it we were running back-to-back-to-back calls. We had three in a row. We were running for two hours. We did not get back home until nearly three in the morning. But that was all the night had in store for us.

Big Car Wreck

The day was moving along swimmingly. I was getting progress made towards some of my DU bugs. I actually made a lot of headway. I am close to figuring out some fixes. While working away I hear Pullman getting dispatched for a three-car head-on accident. Just north of the North Pullman Bypass on SR One-Ninety-Five.

I got to the station and called in standing by with one. After a couple minutes no one showed up. I called Erik on the phone. He asked what was up. I told him a three-car head-on accident. He said “I’m on my way.”

We got to the scene and there were cars everywhere. At first I was thinking that there were going to be some very severe injuries, but as it turned out it looked worse than it was. I started by talking to someone who was in one vehicle. After finding the person did not want to go to the hospital I went onto the next task. I was mainly helping to get equipment when the one person I talked to wanted to go the hospital. So I worked with Brian to get that person packaged and ready to go to the hospital.

Erik had already been committed to a patient and was going into the hospital. That is when it was decided that Rescue would be used for extrication. Tim got in to drive it and I jumped in the passenger side. We got it to where it needed to be for cutting. we got the tools set up. We had the cutters and spreaders. I needed to cut the bottom of the B-post on the driver’s side of the car. If we had had the combitool on Rescue it would have been nearly impossible. But we had the big tools. I made a big cut.

Then I used the spreaders to make more room for a second cut. I made the second cut and that is what was needed to get the side of the car removed to get the patient out of the car. It went pretty quick once it was decided to cut the car.

After that patient was loaded I got the Rescue turned around and went to the hospital. I worked on getting it all back in service and down to The Deuce for the drive time with one of the new guys. I was pretty discouraged to see that he had passed a couple of the map tests but could not get me to any road I was throwing out at him. He never has really been to that part of the city so I can understand some problems, but it is clear the map test alone is not enough to show someone knows the streets of Pullman.

When the drive time was done Tyson, the new guy, and I got the Rescue fueled up and back in service for Michael’s shift.

All is Quiet

All was quiet on the fire department front. Tyson was covering for Keith. We did not get a single call. I pretty much spent the day on the computer cruising around. I need to get something figured out with the DU stuff at work. I have been working on one other bug, but this is getting bad. I am stuck on the DU stuff right now.

Quarterlies

I came down for several daytime calls but really did not get a chance to respond on any because no one else was coming down for it. I wish that more people would be around to come down.

The plan tonight was to do the SCBA quarterlies at the fire station. We had to don our turnouts in one minute. Then the SCBA in one minute. Finally we did some stuff with ladders. It was a pretty tame training over all. Following the training I spoke with Ralph for a while.

It Sank!

Jr. Dearth called me about a car accident that had been toned out and asked me to come along. I went to the station for that. It turned out to be nothing big. We cleared with no transport.

After that call it was off to the house. I was planning on meeting up with Kris to help him with some computer stuff. Wil was there too. We were getting stuff from Wil’s computer to Kris’ computer.

I was there up until I had to get back to my place to get ready for rig checks. I arrived a couple minutes late. But the rig checks were done. We were going to have to get some bottles filled. I talked to James about the up coming training night. We are going to do hotdogs with chili and cheese. I am going to have to give everyone their assignment of what to bring. We got one call around three in the morning and that lasted for nearly two hours. We did not get back home and to bed until after five in the morning. I was sort of mad we just sat out in the rig for as long as we did.

More Being with Ben

After getting to bed so late last night I thought I would get some sleep before starting my day off, but instead after a short amount of sleep I ended up getting a phone call from E. Dearth about an echo call in Palouse. We got en route, but it sounded like things were getting better for the guy. When it was all said it done, it wasn’t that bad on the EMS side of things.

After we cleared the hospital we got the rig washed and I went to my house to get ready for the day. I was planning on working with Johnson with the HazMat billing form. He wanted to work with Excel and I told him I could help. I made lunch, took a shower, and got changed before getting to the station. When I got there a football game was getting ready to start. We watched the first half and then Johnson and I decided to get to work on the project.

We got about four pages completed and that was a good start. It got him going in the correct direction. Ben had also called about going to see a movie.

We went to see Blood Diamond. It was about conflict diamonds from Africa. It was a pretty good movie, some good action, some unbelievable escapes made by the main characters. If they portrayed it correctly, it would really suck. The rebels kill and maim people. The government kills and maims people. The ones who are not part of either of those groups are always on the edge of getting killed or maimed in the fighting.

When the was done we were in the parking lot of the Eastside Theatres where three vehicles were messing around. Doing donuts and just being wild. We watched them for about five minutes and finally the cops showed up and stopped the show. I went home and just watched some TV before falling asleep on the couch.

Filling Air Bottles

I got an E-mail from George about SCBA fit testing. I went down to get it done, and then I was asked to help out with the air bottles and getting them filled down at the station. I would have to take Rescue down to station one. I got a hold of Tyson about getting his fit test done. Once his was done he was about to get an SCBA mask.

He stuck around with Reed and one of the new guys to help us get the bottles emptied, new o-rings installed, and then refilled and put back in service. We had a system going where everyone was staying busy and we were getting the job done, but it still took nearly five hours to complete the whole thing.

I got out of there around six o’clock to take the Rescue back to The Deuce. I talked with Chapman about some of the upcoming changes. He agreed that we need to have the big tools on Rescue, whether it is the old tools or the new ones, but it should not be a combitool. We also talked about the Ambulance now taking calls for the North side of town. So the career guys will be running two rigs, and we will not see the ambulance always come from the main station.

I got a call from Mike about playing poker at his place. It is our first time since coming back from Christmas Break. I was in a hurry because of the way time was getting away from me that I got a pizza from Little Caesars. We were there until after one in the morning. I lost my first ten pretty quick, then I bought in again and hovered around the twenty bucks I bought in for. I was up and down for the rest of the evening and ended up losing about a eleven bucks total for the night, so that wasn’t so bad. It was good to get back with everyone and play some poker.