DUI Crash Demo

Parrish woke me up this morning with a phone call to let me know the guys are coming over to start work on the installation of my new heater. It is a gas forced air furnace. It is made by Carrier. I went ahead and went with the upgraded model because with rebates it turned out to only be five hundred more than the lowest model. In the long run it could be the best option for me.

I left the house around ten-thirty to head up to the CUB mall for the DUI demonstration. The reserves are going to work on extricating some people out of a car as part of an example of what could happen in a car accident.

When I got up there WSU PD had booth and they had drunk goggles. I tried on a couple pair. I was amazed how those made it hard to walk.

I was talking to Garner who was up there as well. He said he is going to stick around Pullman for a while. He got a job working at Les Schwab. That is great for him.

I was thinking that Les Schwab seems to hire a lot of ten-six-sevens. Including the one I had written about several years ago who worked in Clarkston. They should do a men of Les Schwab calendar.

As it got close to the event the guys from the fire department came up. They were looking over the scene to make plans on how to do the work they needed to do. I got my video camera ready and started to video tape the whole thing. I got them coming to the scene with the sirens. Then the whole job of the extrication.

When they were done we went into the CUB and had lunch together. I went home afterwards and got the video downloaded to my computer and working on putting the video to some music.

I went to Colfax Fire for training tonight. We were doing OTEP. It was spinal injuries. The guy did a good job with the presentation.

Good Start, Bad Ending

Today is Halloween and I am looking forward to having a good time. I am going to one party and then I will probably go to a second one with a guy I work with, finally I am going to hopefully go to a bar.

Last night the fire department was very busy running from call to call. I listened to a lot of it last night, and I was up this morning. It was a nice day. It is a Saturday. I was thinking about going to Moscow Fire for a pancake feed, but it was late enough in the morning and with the Vandal Homecoming parade gearing up I didn’t want to get stuck in tons of traffic.

Chia called me and we talked for a little while. I am happy he called me. I was getting concerned that he was mad at me for some reason. In the early afternoon I went to the store to get some M&Ms; for the party tonight. They were packed so I figured the guys would be busy tonight.

As it was getting close to time to go to Mike’s place for the beer tasting Halloween party, I got a call from BKoe. Some of the guys were at My Office. I came down and had some water with them. CBass and Kuhrt were there as well.

I left as it was getting close to six. I went home and got my costume put on. I go to Mike’s and Heidi was there. Kuhrt showed up later. I got some food and gave them my M&Ms.; I sat at the table and everyone was talking and we were also watching the Cougs play Notre Dame. The Cougs lost.

I was there until around nine o’clock. Then I drove to Dan’s house. I did some trick or treating there. I looked around at Dan’s set up and we talked for about half an hour.

I texted Togs and then went over to meet up with him. We talked by the road for a while and got a couple photos. I went into the backyard of the house party when I overheard a guy calling me a faggot. Sort of caught me off guard. He knows I am gay, but I would not have thought that you felt that way about me.

This is why I hate it when I know that people know. Because I think about what they think about me. When I don’t know, then I don’t have those thoughts and I don’t get preoccupied. It is just so much easier to be in the dark.

So, after that I just wanted to leave. I wanted to confront him a little bit as well, but with him having been drinking and being at the party, I didn’t want to get into it. The wind had been taken out of my sails for the night. I decided not to hit the bar and just drove home.

Movie Night

I got a call today from one of the people I applied with for a computer programming job. I talked to him on the phone for a while. It seems like this would be a pretty good job to have. The pay is good and it is totally work from home. It would be a forty hour a week kind of job. Let’s hope this turns out well.

This evening I had was showing the movie Red Dawn. I invited several people over, but only a couple were able to make it.

I made some chili-phily to serve during the movie. Victor and Richards both came over. Blake wasn’t able to get here until late into the movie. Brandon came down and watched the movie as well.

It had been a while since I last watched the movie. It is a pretty decent movie over all.

Movie Night with C-Shift

Brandon and I met up for lunch today at the Mongolian Fire. He was going to go to Moscow to looking for a hat for his costume. I tagged along. We went to Goodwill and WalMart. Finally we found it at Tri-State. After dinner we went to Loco Grinz for dinner.

I pulled a newspaper out of the Bumblebee when I noticed it had a front page article that showed Turpin, Christensen, and Wedam on it. I wanted to scan it in to the computer so I went to the fire station and got it scanned. Turpin was covering for someone at station one so I showed him. I went to the kitchen and the guys were

The guys there wanted to get a movie and asked if I would go to the store to get one. I picked one up from Safeway. Richards, Young, and Caessens all watched the movie. They wanted me to get a scary movie. After the movie the Young and Richards went on an EMS call. Caessens and I stuck around chatting about fires and the differences between Pullman and Shelton. I left around midnight.

Bowling Alley Bill

I was going to play poker with Eric today. It has been a very long time since I have been over at his place to play cards. But he ended up cancelling the game. That ended any plans I had on the night.

But my mom wanted me to go to watch Bill bowl tonight. We went to the Eagles for dinner. I gave my mom a ride home and then drove up to Skyway to the bowling alley.

I watched Bill’s games. Both last week and this week he has been bowling better than his average by a lot of pins. He did very well.

An Day of Movies

Watching TV all day long during recovery can get old, but I kept looking for movies I had not seen. There was one that had started about ten minutes before I turned it on. The movie is called Backdraft. I know, don’t say it, how can a fireman take seventeen years to watch that movie? But I don’t know. I never got around to it. Finally it was on cable and I was going to see it uncut and unedited.

Of course being Hollywood there were some inaccuracies with how we really do things, but at the same time the message of the movie was pretty strong. I really had no idea what the movie was about. I didn’t know it was about a couple brothers who are firemen and they are dealing with an arsonist. I am happy that I watched it. It actually had some pretty powerful scenes.

Ryan and I chatted online about Ref Seventy-One. He is posting a couple articles online. One was supposed to be unbiased. He asked me to read it to see if I thought it was free of any slants. He said he was going to write one that will show his support of gay civil unions. I told him he was a hater of all gays. I told him that it was not nice to support that. Right now the guys can tell their boyfriend “you know I would love to marry you, but we can’t”. Really he doesn’t want to get married, but he has the law to fall back on to be able to pretend that he wants to get married. With R-Seventy-One, now he will not have that protection. Now gays will all get as miserable as married couples. What a big jerk. He was laughing.

I watched a second movie at the end of the night that was based on a true story. It was called Bully. It is about a high school guy who abuses his best friend making him do homosexual acts. he also was raping some women. One girl wanted to kill the bully. Then others got in on it. Finally they lured him to a rock pit. One guy stabbed him. Then his best friend slashed him and stabbed him multiple times. Other guys helped out beating him, stabbing him, and finally one guy bashed in his head with a bat. They threw his body in a pond. It wasn’t long before they were discovered and all arrested. Several are serving life sentences in jail. The movie took the side of the killers. They did make the guy out to be bad and almost deserving of death. The movie itself was very graphic with its sex scenes. It seemed like half of the movie was spent surrounded with sexual images including the guys in the movie being shirtless all the time.

Double Win for the Boys

Today is the first day I really got out and about. I went to Skyline High School to watch one of the boys play in his football game. They ended up winning the game. There is one thing that I found to be pretty gay. They have rules in the football where if a team is up by twenty-five points the kick off doesn’t happen anymore. The team that is losing gets the ball on the fifty-yard-line and the winning team gets the ball on the twenty-yard-line after every turn over. If a team wins by thirty-two points the head coach is suspended for the following game. They also go to a running clock in the fourth quarter. How does that help the kids learn how to win and lose with respect? Another sign of the wussification of America’s men.

I went home and watched some TV. Then I went to Matt’s new house. He lives near my mom’s place. I got a chance to chat with him for about twenty minutes. I am going to have to go over for a longer visit. It was great to see Matt. He is one of my oldest friends. He lives a good life with his family. He is a very good man. He is the only person from my high school class who I have come out to. I came out to him back on the trip to the second Cougar Rose Bowl this decade.

I went to the other football game back at Skyline. He won his game too. We all went out to dinner after the game. Then to Jon’s where the boys, one of their friends, and I played some Madden Ought-Seven. We did a mini-tournament. I was knocked out in the first round.

It was a nice afternoon and evening with family and friends.

Recovering Day Two

The day was filled with laying on my back watching TV and making sure my column for the Daily News was completed. I talked to Ryan for a while about the softball game from Sunday. I have taken less meds and I hope to cut them out all together in the next day or so.

In the IM Championships!!!

Victor and I were going to respond to calls today. There really wasn’t a lot going on. I was getting some things taken care of on the computer and around the house. I had to get my shirts folded and put away. I also had to take the motorhome to the storage place and bring the Bumblebee back. Before that got going we got a call for EMS. Victor and I went to the station but we were cancelled. So I went home and got the motorhome. I drove it to get the Bumblebee. Then I got some lunch and deposited a couple checks. I went to the worksource office but they were closed for the lunch hour.

I saw a sign while I was there. It said that you were not to leave your kids unattended in the car. I thought that it was strange such a sign was needed there, but then again… Anyway, I went to the fire station for training at one.

It was on the air cart. We pulled it out and took a look at it and the air lines that went with it. It was a short training, but it was good to go over it again.

I went home and started to think about playoffs. We had two games tonight. I also had a telephone job interview. That started at four. I got the phone call and spent about thirty minutes answering some questions. If I am good enough I will come in for another interview.

I went to the field and met up with the others from the team. People started to show up and I was getting the line up set. We had fourteen guys there. One was hurt so I didn’t worry about playing him. But we needed to win so I only batted eleven. I hit the ball well, as did the team. Our defense was very good. We went on to win and go to the Semi-finals. We were playing a team that had been using an illegal bat. Once they were called on it, in the previous game, they couldn’t hardly score. It turned out we shut them out. We scored nine runs. We didn’t hit the ball as well as I would have hoped, but we won. Ryan said it best, this is the most worried I have felt in a shut out. We never had a big enough lead that put me at ease. Not until we scored the ninth run and the other team no longer had a chance to win because of the eight-run limit. They were done. We had a couple guys on with no outs. So we were poised to score some more.

Ryan and I went to Rancho Viejo for dinner. We ate and talked softball. We set the line up for the championship game on Sunday. We also talked about finances. Ryan told me he advised his bosses that we was planning on resigning in November.

With us playing in the championship game on Sunday, I will miss it. I am going to be in San Diego playing softball in a tournament down there. We are also playing Kelly’s team. It was a game we have been wanting to have for a long time. Our team, defensively, is as good as his team, but hitting, we need to bring our sticks. We have a lot of pretty-good hitters. We need them to do their really good hitting on Sunday.

I got home and started to pack for my trip to San Diego. I was going to have to be out the door around eight in the morning. I wanted to wash my uniform so it was clean for the start of the tournament. I didn’t get to bed until nearly midnight.

I Hate the Waiting

I was down at station one. Turpin saw me and walked up to me and said “we need to talk.” I always hate that kind of thing, because you don’t know what it is. So the rest of the day I had to stew on what he wanted to talk about.

Chia and I went to Tam’s Place for some breakfast. It was nice to get out and chat with him for a while. We left and I took my motorhome to Moscow to get a new vent for it. They were out. I did get some food at WinCo as I wanted to.

I went to the station a while later and Victor and I went painting a couple hydrants and cleaning up some shrubbery around them. We got the rescue back and washed up before being done with it.

I went in to talk with Turpin. I was nervous about the conversation because it is never a good thing when someone says “we need to talk.”

The gist of the conversation is some of the reserves think that I am not playing well with them and I need to work on that, but I wasn’t told what the exact problem was or examples of things I have done wrong. I am being asked to change but not being told what to change.

There is a perception that I am on an ivory tower. Also that I micro-manage. I don’t like being thought of as someone who does either of those things. I hate the idea of being a micro-manager. Turpin gave me some ideas, in general, of what I can do. More or less he said that I will have to let some guys fail at their attempt to complete a task so they can see that it doesn’t work. I wouldn’t let someone fail in a critical situation, but in the daily routine things. It is the way they learn. I am taking from that point that people think that I am giving out tasks and telling them how to fulfill the task rather then letting them do it their way. Point taken.

That is also what might make people feel that I am believe that I am better than them. I have seen some people have a chip on their shoulder over me. The sounds conceded, but it is true. I am not sure where that is coming from. I never have pretended to be better than the other guys or to hate them, but for some reason, that is the feeling some guys have. It is possible that a couple people have fed it to others. But the issue is one I have to deal with. I have to make sure people don’t feel that one. I really don’t want people to feel that way about me. I would like to get along with my co-workers. I just hope that can be done.

Parts of me though feels like if someone has a problem with me that should deal with me man to man. They shouldn’t go to the chief and tell him. That is not using the chain-of-command. That is not dealing with the issue. That is causing more problems and drama. Well, there is nothing I can do about that. I just need to be who I am and keep doing a good job. Maybe over time people will get to know me and they will be willing to accept me for who I am.

Job Interview

I had a job interview today in Moscow. It was for the same place I have interviewed for in the past as well.

I spent some time reading up on T-SQL and normalization of databases to be ready. I knew they would ask those questions. When they asked about normalization I threw in something that I had just read. Which included the fact that normalization helps to eliminate insert and deletion anomalies. They guys said that was the best answer he has had on that question. He said no one ever bring up that important point. I was happy about that.

The interview took about an hour and a half total. I thought I did okay in some areas and I was weak in other areas. I am not sure if I will be called back for a second interview. I am hopeful though.

When that was done I met up with BKoe to have dinner at AppleBees. We were there for a little over an hour talking about law enforcement.

Bushwood Plays Again

This afternoon I was playing golf with Ben and his Dad. Dustin, a friend of Ben’s was also playing. It was in the Turf Club tournament at the Palouse Ridge Golf Course. It was only my second time to play there. I showed up about two o’clock meeting up with Ben, and Lewis, his Dad. Dustin was also there. I hit more than two-hundred and fifty practice balls.

A little while after the practice we hit the course. I was in the cart with Dustin. He is a ten-six-seven. I was surprised to see that he is now married. He hits the ball pretty well. I wasn’t good on the drives. But we had to use three drives from each person. My drives were not always that great, but we picked ones that would not hurt the team to much.

I was hot on my short game. The problem is that we would use after we all hit a drive we would pick one. From that point each person hit his own ball to the hole. I didn’t do too poorly. I was able to keep up in score. In fact my putting made me lead some of the holes. I had some very nice putts including two there were around thirty footers for birdies. It felt great.

The wind was incredible. It was blowing pretty good all day. It kept everybody’s game in check. We had to battle the wind from every direction.

Hanging out with Ben was so much fun. Ben is a super great guy. Always a very nice person, plus he is ten-six-seven. He is in great shape and plays gold very well. I wish he still lived around here because he is great in softball too. I could use him on my team.

Two Losses in IM’s tonight

The day started with working on my report for the coroner’s office. While there I saw Ron updated his station on facebook to say he had some chili on the stove and invited people over to watch football. I went over to his place and had some chili and watched football until just after one. Then I went to the SO to work on my case reports for my arrests this weekend as well as the tickets.

I got the reports done first and started to get the tickets written up. When Cooper got there he reviewed one of my reports and he had some suggestions and things that I left out that needed to be added in. But because it was close to game time I went home and got my softball uniform on.

Ryan came down from Spokane to play softball. We had about thirteen people show up, but we were missing a key outfielder. So I have to put our right-fielder into left field. We played a team that was hitting the ball well and was killing the outfield. At first they played deep and the balls dropped in. Later we were playing in and they started to hit some bombs. We were not hitting the ball well and quickly got way behind.

Bruce let me know they were using a USSSA bat which was illegal in ASA play. We brought it up, but it was very late in the game and the damage was done. They were mad at us and started to chip at us.

When the game was done they had one. We shook hands, but three guys from their team wouldn’t come out and shake our hands. They were still mad at us from last season when we knocked them out of the playoffs.

The second game the team was using an illegal bat. We brought it up, but the IM office was using an old list of illegal bats. They said the bat was okay to use. We let them know they were using an old list, but there wasn’t anything we could do about it.

We lost that game too. When the day was done I was disappointed that we lost both games. I also felt like we were being a bunch of whiners about the bats too. I thought the bat shouldn’t matter because we should have been hitting better than we had been anyway.

After the game Ryan and I went to Cougar Country to get some dinner and ate it at my place. We watched some TV and hung out talking about Ryan’s future job prospects.

At about midnight I went to the SO to complete my reports. After the re-write Cooper looked over it and said it was better. I got both completed and turned in. It was a little after two in the morning when I got home.

Potlatch Softball Tournament

I played in a co-ed softball tournament in Potlatch with Zeppoz. I got up there around eight-thirty in the morning. The first game was at nine. It was a fun little tournament. It was not sanctioned so we were able to use whatever bats we wanted. But the fields was so small we really didn’t want to be hitting the ball out all the time.

I played firstbase and was the EH for the majority of the day. Between games we had some breaks where we hung out chatting and we played some cribbage. It was having a good time hanging out with the team.

We played a total of four games including the championship game that we ended up losing. So we were second place in that tournament. But I had a good time playing ball and it was a nice way to spend the afternoon.

There were no umpires so I got to be the umpire in a couple games as well. I did a good job, but one person was unhappy about my strikezone when she was hitting. Oh well.

After the games I listened to the end of the Cougar Football game. The Cougs ended up losing the game. That pretty much sucked.

I went home had some pizza and watched TV before getting to bed early enough to be up early for EVOC tomorrow morning.

Pick Up Softball Player

I have been in contact with Art about playing softball in San Diego later next month. I am a pick up player for their team. We e-mailed back and forth for a while, and then we scheduled a time to meet up. He was in Factoria so meeting with him was going to be very easy.

I stopped in Factoria on my way to Jon’s house. I talked with Art for about an half hour, first talking about my softball experience. Then he told me about his team and how they were formed. He said they are going to do some fund raisers to try to pay for the hotel room while we are down there.

I got to Jon’s and helped him hang a new TV in his bedroom. Then we headed to the Sprint store to look at some phones for the boys. We went next door to Quizno’s for dinner and then it was off to Marymoor park for softball. We were playing a double header with a team Jon played with last year. They needed some players for their final game two games. We had ten total guys with Jon and I. So we were sorely needed tonight.

In the first game we were playing it very close with the other team which was supposed to be a much better team than us. But we took it to extra innings after an incredible seventh inning. They were the home team. They tied up the game and had the winning run on third base with no outs. All they had to do was get a good flyball. The first guy popped up. The second guy had a short fly out. The third got also got an easy out stranding the game winning run. We went to extra innings, but lost when they scored one run because we couldn’t score that inning.

The second game was closer to reality. The other team mopped up against us. The scored a ton of runs and we only scored about three runs for the night. I played catcher the first game and second base the second game. I had a couple plays come my way and I made all the plays that came towards me. That made me feel good. You always want to do well when playing as a pick up player.

Riding with Dearth

The big plan for the day was to hit the roads with Dearth with the King County SO. We worked together as fire reserves. He got the job last year and this is my first ride with him.

I met up with him just before ten o’clock pm. I helped him move his equipment from his car to a backup car because his car was going into the shop for a while. He also introduced me to some of the other guys working that night with us.

We hit the road and got sent to a civil standby, but when we got to the place where we were going to meet with the RP, no one was there so we cleared and got directed to another civil situation where a renter was locked out of his place by the landlord. It took a little bit of time to deal with that problem. But it was resolved for the night.

We hit the road and did some patrol. He took me around to the places where he likes to patrol. While we were patrolling we made a couple stops on the way. He said if I find anything to let him know.

Then we got called to a person trying to break into an apartment. We got there and the guy was gone, but we had a description. They called for the dog. The dog found the person and he was arrested. We took him to the jail in Seattle. We left the jail and did a quick code run to backup the others on a suicidal person with a gun. I waited in the car. Dearth came back after they got the person out transported by ambulance for help.

We went to get some dinner and back to the station. We were sitting at the station eating when a bunch of calls in Skyway were coming out. There were only two guys working up there at the time so we went to take a call. We headed to one of the calls code. We got there with one other deputy. They dealt with the person and got him on his way.

We had one final call around four in the morning for a disturbance at an apartment complex at four in the morning. It was just some people talking very loud, but nothing more. They were told they need to keep it down.

One thing I noticed through out the night was most of the people there were contacted all had an attitude like they were being pick on by the police. They were very accusatory and claiming the police were harassing them. It was quite a difference from our county where people don’t tend to do that. I haven’t had anyone yet tell me I was harassing them or say I was picking on them.

Are We Born That Way?

I made plans to see Russell and Nick today. I got a call before I went down letting me know Russell was going to have to work, so Nick and I were going to get together.

I drove to Seattle to Nick’s condo. We walked up the street to the Honey Hole for some dinner. We ended up ordering the same sandwich. We had dinner and talked about health care and socialized government services. When we got back to Nick’s he showed me a video on YouTube that was made about health care. It compared health care to that of firefighting and other government services. I disagreed with what they said. Health care is something where taxes go to pay for one specific person where as the water system is made to serve the community as a whole.

If you say that the government should supply individuals health care, then you should argue that they should supply housing and food. Those are needed by everyone as well.

Then we spent a lot of time talking about being gay and homosexual relationships. We talked about whether someone is born gay or becomes gay. Whether that is a choice that is made the makes someone gay or the way things happen. What we both know is that we find men attractive and we find a sexual attraction to them. We can see beauty in women, but we do not have any sexual feelings for them. That is the part that doesn’t make it a choice. We don’t choose to have the sexual attraction, it is just there. But why? Was it something that was molded into us as young people or was it there from the time of birth?

Just before midnight we went to go bowling at the place where Russell works. We bowled two games. My second game I was very close to breaking two-hundred. It was great. We also sat in the casino for a while talking to Russell. He was glad we stopped by to say hello. It was great to see Russell. He is looking great.

I Was Too Whimpy

Today is the Cougars’ season opener for football. This is the first year I have not been eager about the football season. That dates back to the loss of the no-shutout streak the Cougs had. It had dated back to eighty-four. I am bitter over that being lost, so I haven’t been able to get overly excited about this season. We did better against Stanford than last season, but I didn’t care.

I watched the Cougar game on TV until I had to leave to go to Bothell for Justin’s football game. I put in Ballard High School in the GPS. I hit the road. I got on to the five-twenty bridge. Just after the last exit I realized that I had put in Ballard instead of Bothell. So I had to go across the bridge and back to get on the correct route. Justin’s team won. Jon is the first year coach. This is the first win for the team. They were winless last season.

On the way back from Bothell I had texted back and forth with Peter. I was thinking I could meet up with him. I went to his place and we sat down and talked. Just like the times before. We talked politics. We agree on things, but we always find a way to argue our points and make fun of the other person.

I wanted to ask him point blank what happened to us back in the day. But I wasn’t able to muster up the courage to bring up the subject. I was mad at myself for being a whimp about it. I want to know the answer, but I am not sure the best way to bring it up. A couple times I wanted to ask, but I never did.

When I left I was on the way home and I was mad at myself thinking about how I could have brought it up. I think the way I can do it is to ask him, “What happened at the beginning of your sophomore year?” That will start off the conversation. I need to know how I went from someone who hung out with him daily to someone he acted like didn’t exist. We went from best friends to people who never saw each other. It was all on him though, because I still tried. He even admitted on his twenty-first birthday that he was being an “ass” to me.

How do you Say Taco in Spanish?

I arranged to hang out with Joe and Doug today. I haven’t seen Joe in a long time. I first had to run to the doctor to have him look at my MRI and give me the results. Pretty much I am going to be going in for a surgery something in November or December.

I went from there straight to Bellingham. I put in Joe’s address to the GPS and it lead me directly to his house. There was some bad traffic near Everett and it was able to get me on some surface streets and got me around all the traffic.

When I got to Joe’s place he gave me the tour of the place. It is a great house. They had it built for them. They also own several acres around it. It had lots of trees and makes you feel like you don’t have any neighbors.

Doug got home from work a little bit after I got there. We went to a Mexican place for dinner. We met up with another family couple. We had dinner and conversation. Joe was going to order another chicken taco. They were talking in Spanish a little bit. One guy said what the order would sound like in Spanish, something like “dos tacos con pollo por favor”. When that is said the word tacos stands out because it is so Americanized. So I jokingly said “What is the Spanish work for taco?” One guy at the table said that is the Spanish word. Taco is a Spanish word. He was tyring to explain that. Then everyone started to laugh and someone explained I was making a joke. They told me later on that guy is pretty much always like that.

After dinner we went to a bowling alley and bowled a couple games. I was bowling mainly in the mid one forties. It wasn’t too bad for having not any bowling practice in the last couple months. Doug beat me on two of the games. It was a fun time at the bowling alley.

When we were walking outside. While out there Joe asked if I had to get running. I said I am not in any hurry. So we walked to a bar. It was a place called Rumors. It had rainbow flags and other such decorations around the place. It was a gay bar. I had some pop and the others were having beer. We sat around a table talking about various subjects. Joe and I talked about stuff from when we were back at college including a mutual friend. I asked Joe how he know about me so long ago. Back when I was heavily closeted. He said he has great gaydar. Then he said one day when we were at the mutual friends’ house something happened that solidified it. The friend came into the kitchen shirtless. He was ten-six-seven in every way. I guess I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Joe noticed that. He said that was the thing that made him realize that he was correct about him thoughts.

After the bar closed I gave them a ride home and drove myself home.

Hanging with Keith

I went to the Three Pigs for lunch with Jon and Terry. We sat there and ate as well as talked about sports. One guy sitting in the booth next to us looked familiar. He was a younger man dressed nicely in formal work clothing. I think I have seen him at WSU in the past.

Today I was going to meet up with Keith and have dinner and watch the season finale of Rescue Me. I went to his place in Woodinville. We then went to the Redhook Brewery. We went on the tour. We got a glass and were able to have some beer as they explained about the history of the brewery and showed us around. The tour guide was energetic and good looking. One guy in the group was ten-six-seven. He looked like someone I have seen at WSU in the past, but he was from Chicago, so I doubt I had seen him before. I couldn’t stop checking him out.

Following the tour we had dinner and then went to Keith’s house. We watched Rescue Me. It was a good episode. It was left as a cliff hanger, or course. When that was done I took off. Keith gave me a hug and we made plans to have him come out to Pullman soon.

Golfing

The evening I went golfing with my brother and one of his college buddies. It has been a little while since I last swung my clubs. I could tell because I was not getting any solid hits through out the night. Some of my normally good areas were pretty poor this evening. I wasn’t able to find anything that I was able to do well.

I ended up getting par on the eighth hole, but that was pretty lucky. It was a par four and my hits were decent. I also sunk a fifteen foot putt to get the par. Other than that I shot a sixty-seven on nine. After golfing we went to dinner with the guys. They way it works is the loser pitches in the most money. The winner doesn’t have to pay anything. It cost me about forty bucks for the meal tonight.

I got home and spent the rest of the evening watching TV and surfing the web.

Seeing AC/DC in Concert

I took the opportunity to allow myself to sleep in a little bit today. I didn’t actually get out of bed until almost ten o’clock this morning. That was when I was planning on leaving town. So I was behind schedule out the door. I got my stuff packed trying not to forget anything that I was going to need for my time away from Pullman.

Then I had to get some stuff out of my rig. But finally I had unpacked old stuff and packed my traveling stuff and was on my way to Seattle. On the way I found a group of two other cars. We were cruising along very nicely along twenty-six on our way to Vantage. We were making good time because the traffic was light. When I got to the top of Vantage hill I made a pitstop and they kept moving.

I made it to Bellevue just under four hours after I left. I went to my brothers house only to find he was still golfing. So I didn’t need to bother being in that big of a hurry. I went home and to my surprise my step-brother was there. I have not seen him in years. Him and I took different paths. I was college-bound and believe in law and order. He went the other way, high-school drop out and doing drugs. He were are years later and he is not looking great. He has gained a ton of weight and lost lots of teeth as well as has spent a lot of time in jail. Now I have spent time in jail as well, but we were on the opposite side of the bars. I was free to leave.

I put my stuff in my bedroom and waited for Jon to call me. We were going to see AC/DC tonight. I had mixed feelings about going. I wasn’t sure how much pot smoking would be going on, but I really didn’t feel like breathing in other peoples’ smoke. But I thought it would be fun to see the concert.

My two nephews were also going. There were a lot of younger kids there as well as older adults. It had a pretty good mix. There were people who looked like rockers and some who looked very run of the mill. One young man sitting two seats over from mine appeared to be have come with his father. The son looked all of eighteen. As the show went on he sang along to some of the songs, but from his outward appearance you would not have guessed he was a big rocker.

There was also several college-aged guys behind me. They were really getting into the show. One guy in particular was huge into the show. He seemed to know the words to all the songs. He was loving the show.

They band came out and had a good mix of both old and newer stuff. There was good audience participation. We even had an exposure of someone on the big screen. She was waiting for her chance because as soon as she saw they put her on the big screen, down came her top. It showed everything. The crowd went wild.

They ended the night with For Those About To Rock, We Salute You. Was a great ending song. My ears were ringing after the show. I had forgotten my earplugs like I had planned on using.

Monthly Coroner Meeting

This evening was the monthly Coroner’s meeting. I was going to the fire extinguisher class, but I ended up doing a transfer to Spokane. We went to pizza at Rocky Racoco’s. Ryan and Anna met us there. I got a chance to hold Zoey for a while. They asked me to be the godfather. That was great!

After we ate we went back to Pullman. I cleaned the ambulance and got ready to head to Colfax. We had pizza for dinner and talked about some cases. After everyone left Pete and I talked about my future with the Coroner’s office and the chances of me being the next Coroner.

Fall Co-ed Season is Under Way

After the second straight night of going to bed late I woke up around ten o’clock. The big plan of the day was to go a movie with BKoe. I got the photos for the photo board at the Deuce cropped and ready to go. I took a motorcycle and drove down to the Deuce. I updated the photo board at the station and then went to station one. I met up with Heston and showed him I printouts for the possible reserve recruitment sign.

I was at station one for while talking with Heston and Brown. I let Brown know that I would not be able to be at training tonight because something going on over Moscow. He asked what I was going to be doing, but I didn’t tell him because I did not think he would understand that I want to play softball.

After I left the station I went to the bank to deposit my coroner’s check. I got ten dollars cash back. I went to the Man Shop to get my hair cut. I got my normal short haircut and I was able to get a razor shave on the back of my neck. I wish it was a standard at most barbershops but it’s not.

On the way out of the barbershop I saw Joseph from the Thunder football team. He asked me if I would be the announcer for next year’s team. I told him that I would do it. I told him that I was too busy this year to make any games.

I got ready to go see the movie with BKoe. I took my motorcycle to Safeway to get some pop and pretzels for the movie and then I drove to the theater. BKoe got to the movie theater just as I was getting there we walked in together and went into the theater. Matt and CBass were supposed to go to the movie with us but they were not able to make it.

After the movie was over I got home and got my uniform for the softball game. I headed over to Moscow and met up with the rest of the team. While at the field I could see some smoke in the distance coming from a grain bin. I watched it for a while and it did appear that there could have been a fire in the grain bin. I finally called Whitcom and talked to a dispatcher. Moscow fire was advised but they found it was actually dust from farming operations and not a fire.

The game started and I was an extra hitter but I got to play first base after the second inning. The shortstop for the other team was a ten-six-seven. I spent part of the game watching him play his position. The one thing I noticed is his throws to first always seem to loft over there. In the sixth inning he was coaching first base and grabbed a bag of Redman chew and took a plug of dip.

The final out of the sixth inning was a ball hit up the first baseline. I charged the ball and hit off my mitt but it stayed on the ground right below me. I picked up the ball and tossed it to Joe who was covering first base from pitcher and we make the out. In the seventh inning I wrote the pine. We won the game and a group of us headed to the Sports Page tavern in Pullman. I got something to read and we sat around talking sports. I left the bar around ten o’clock. I got home and started working on the speech recognition on my laptop. It seems right down to take the longer to write anything however as soon as I learn how to use speech recognition better this should really be cool.

Going Out with a Structure Fire

As I was waking up this morning I wasn’t sure how my final couple hours would end. I was thinking that I should have ended the night of the Staley fire so I could end on a fire. Before seven o’clock rolled around the tones go off for a structure fire. We could see the smoke from the station.

We got on scene in the ambulance and were made into the backup team. We went to the attic where the seat of the fire was. Eric, who was on his first day back, was on the nozzle and put the fire out. It was still pretty small, but growing. It was lucky that we got there when we did and that the fire was not in the wee hours of the morning when it could have really taken off. I ended up putting in an hour and a half of overtime. So my full-time tally was one year, one month, four days and one and a half hours. It has been a good run.

I got back to the station and got the last remaining items from the station cleared out and headed to Tam’s Place for breakfast with Chia, Keeton, Young, and Pritchett. I left after I was done eating so I could get a couple things done before meeting up with the guys to go to the river. I dropped off my turn outs at the station and went home. I got a couple things taken care of at home and packed my stuff to go to the river.

I went to Pritchett’s place. We were meeting up there. From there Keeton, Pritchett, and I rode together to the river. We got there and made our way to the beach. It is a long haul from the parking lot. I didn’t know how long it was because I had never gone there without being on a boat.

We set up our area. I put on some suntan lotion and we went into the water. We played fetch with Chia’s and Pritchett’s dogs. We were there for hours watching as more and more people showed up. As the college students started to arrive the scenery was great. You couldn’t look somewhere without finding a couple ten-six-sevens. I really enjoyed the scenery while playing with the dogs.

Brown showed up with his boat. We hung out for a while near his boat and then went for some tubing. I hit the water and the rope on the tube was really long, so I was getting whipped around pretty good. I had a couple good wrecks along the way. Including one where I went about twenty feet sliding on the water before rolling.

It was getting close to five so we started to pack up and make our way back home. It was a good afternoon on the water.

I got cleaned up. I waited from BKoe to show up but as seven o’clock was rolling around he was no where to be found. I texted him and he was in Moscow. He forgot he was going to give me a ride to the bar. So I called Pritchett and he gave me a ride down to the bar.

We got there just after seven o’clock. Guys filtered in over the next two hours. It was a going away party for me from the career ranks. It was very nice to see some of these people stop by and wish me well and let me know they enjoyed working with me.

I had a couple guys over the last few months let me know that at first they were not sure what to think about me coming on at first. But they said that I have been a great addition. They really have enjoyed working with me and think that I am a pretty darn good guy.

One guy and I talked for a while about stuff. I remember when we would go on calls together I didn’t know what to think. We talked and all was good. But when we were on shift together at first I think there was the feeling that we didn’t know each other. And as time went on he warmed up to me and got to know me and the same of me towards him. I really think he a good person and I really enjoy talking with him.

As the night rolled on I got some beer purchased for me and we sat around talking, playing pool and darts. When it was nearly eleven o’clock we made our way to TBag. Pritchett was already there. I was given a couple shots of hard-A. I wasn’t really wanting to have them, but I cowboyed up and drank them. We played pool and sat around talking.

Then one guy came up and said the words that I know will lead us to a specific conversation. It was, something along the lines of “It doesn’t matter to me, you’re a good guy, so it really will not make a difference, but…” That is the start of someone wanting to know if I am gay.

With the guy who was asking, I wasn’t sure if he knew or not. But he has been around for a long time so I had to assume that he had heard through the grapevine. He said he had heard some stuff, but he didn’t believe it until he heard for himself. I told him that I hit for the other team. I told him that I don’t really tell people because I don’t want them to act differently around me. I told him I like the fact that when I have been around him for all this time he wasn’t afraid to say things and not worry about offending me. I told him I wanted him to remain feeling that way. He is one of those guys who always says “That is gay” or things like that. He said he sort of knew that something was probably up because I am not interested in the hot girls as everyone else is. He could tell so he figured something was up. I am glad that he asked and now I know that he knows.

I had asked Chia a while back if others on the shift knew. He said he didn’t know. He said that no one would care. I believe that is true, but I wanted to know. I would like to think they all knew and still were the way they were around me. Which would show they are comfortable with me. I just feel like if I walk into a room and people feel like they have to watch what they say, that it would be a strain to be around me and they would just choose not to be around me. I don’t want that. I really don’t care what people say, because I believe you have to choose to be offended. I choose not to be offended by that kind of stuff.

The other Blake came up to me and started to say the same thing. I thought it would all be coming out that night. But before I confirmed anything I had to know exactly what he was asking. As it turned out with him he was talking about something totally different. So I don’t know if he knows. I guess thinking about it now, I am not sure if I just want to come out to those guys and that way I know that they know and I can just get on with things, or continue to play the game I have been playing. I am not sure if I want the reserves to know. I know that some do know, but I always hate it when the new reserves find out about me because it is always something that someone else brings up. Over the years I have had a couple guys ask me straight up. I always will confirm it if they ask. I like it when they ask, because if they are willing to ask they will typically not make a big deal about it at all.

A Real “Vacation”

After getting off work this morning I went home and dealt with what was waiting for me at the computer job. There wasn’t much. I had wanted to go patrolling tonight, but I decided to skip it and just enjoy the day.

I went to Chris’ house to meet up with him. I had hopped to catch a ride down with him to the river. Blake and Blake were also meeting us there. We loaded up our stuff and headed down to the river. It was a nice trip down to Boyer Park. Once there it was pretty warm. We got the boat launched and headed to the Dunes. Once we anchored we got out and enjoyed the warm thigh-level water. I had some pop and the others had their drink of choice. We just hung out in the water talking. It was a nice time. It was relaxing. John and his boys showed up. Jon also came down for a while. The Chia’s and their dog made it down.

We had a football and threw it around for a while. I was taking photos during some of the action. I was able to get some very nice shots of everyone having fun.

We hung out most of the afternoon in the water throwing the ball around, playing with Chia’s dog and then finally we did some tubing when the wind died down a little bit. Blake went on it first. He took several strolls around the river. Then him and I went for a ride. Finally I did a couple rides myself. But before we were done we looked up at the shore and the other Blake had been escorted away. It turns out they frown upon glass bottles being used at the river. So he got scolded for using one.

We went back to shore and made fun of him. Then we started to say our goodbyes. Chia, the Blakes, and I were going to have some dinner together in Pullman. At first we were going to go to Cougar Country. Chris was going to Rancho for his son’s twenty-first birthday. We joked about crashing the party.

On the way home I drove. Chris asked if I would drive so he could have a couple beers. I had no problem with that. Before we got home we saw John and Chia’s rigs pulled over. John’s hood was open. They were having a problem with the hose on the radiator. It came off spraying a lot of fluid around. We worked on it for a while before finally getting it put back into place. They we used some of our water to refill the radiator. We were finally back on our way.

When we got to Pullman it was decided that we would go to Rancho with Chris. We met up with Denise and some of Chris’ family plus the guys who went to the river. It was a good time. We had cake and bought Chris’ son all sorts of drinks.

When the night was done Chris picked up the whole tab. That was certainly unexpected. I hit the road and went to the Sheriff’s Office. I had to complete a report and two tickets that I had issued while patrolling. I got those completed and turned in. Then I came home and watched some TV before making my way to bed.

Today was so fun. It was like back when I went to the river all the time. It was relaxing. It was the first time I really had a real vacation day all summer. It was great!

Two Bigs Wins

Today is Ryan’s birthday. I called him up on the phone and we talked for a while. I wished him a happy birthday. He told me he got an iPhone for his birthday.

In the evening we had a couple softball games. We are in the losers bracket. We had to win both games to move on. We were playing Sports Page first. They beat us in all but one game this season. We went out and hit the ball very well. We ended up scoring twenty-two runs against the four they scored. It wasn’t really ever close. We just played very well.

Then it was to play the Bomb Squad. They beat us every game this season except for the first playoff game. They beat us by one run. It was a much closer game. We did go on to win, but it was only by three runs. We played good defense in both games.

It was great to win and now we have the semi-finals next Tuesday.

Undefeated in Softball Day One

The plan for today was to have some fun playing softball. I was hurting for men, which is unusual. I am normally trying to find extra women. But today I had to get the men. We had one pick up that Jessie got and Joe played with us too.

In the games I was hitting the ball very well. I had two inside-the-park-homeruns plus some other strong hits through out the day.

I also helped with the score keeping, but as I was doing that someone went down on the next field over, and I was asked to come over an help. There were already two EMT’s there. That is the second time the fire department had to get called to the field today.

It was a nice afternoon at the park. In the first game we were playing we won it pretty easily. The second game was not so easy. We had brought in Kelly, but we lost an outfielder so we were playing with only nine players. That really hurt. But we were scoring runs and we went on to win the game.

In the end we won both games. After the game Sheila and I went to Cougar Country for some dinner. We sat there talking for a while. I have a hard time around her. I am very nervous. I feel bad because as much as I would like to get be a straight guy and lead a straight life, I kept on checking out the guys that would walk by. I guess at some point I need to tell her, but I guess that would be before we get to the point where it would be clear she is interested in me.

Back to Back Wins!

A little bit after I got up the tones went off for a transfer to Spokane. I called in to take it. I worked with Chelsea. In Spokane we went to Red Lobster for lunch. It was very good. We talked about my position as a reserve deputy on the way back, then we talked about the fire department and ways to make it better within the budget that we have with the city.

This evening brought on the final two softball games of the season. It didn’t mean a lot in terms of standings because we are about half way down, but we wanted to beat these teams because we are a competitive team. We were playing the A-League champion who hasn’t lost a game all season. We were also playing the number two team in the league.

In the first game we were playing Coors Light. They were unbeaten. We came close the first time we faced them going into extra innings. This time we put nine runs in the first inning and lead the whole way. We let them get back into the game, but we kept the lead the whole time and the time limit of the game hit in the bottom of the sixth inning with us up to bat. I had three balls pitched to me when the umpire called the time limit.

In the next game we were playing the number two team. We took a big lead but let the other team work their way back into it. But we were home. We had given up the lead in the top of the seventh inning. We were down by three runs. We scored a couple runs. Then with the bases loaded Jered hit a double scoring two more runs for the win.

After the game Brady broke out a couple beers to celebrate our win. Brady, Cole, Faber, and I shared the beer.

Melcher, Jessie, Faber, and I went to My Office. We shared a couple pitcher of beer. Then we went to Sports Page to hang out until a little after one in the morning. It was a good end to the season.

I was thinking that I would be going to McCoy’s team next season, but I am not sure if he is still interested in adding me. I will see in the off-season. If he wants me I think I will go, I am tired of running the team with guys that seem to be undercutting me all the time. I just want to go and play. Plus McCoy is good about getting his team into the tournaments.

Fairwell Peterman Two

BKoe, Timmy, and I went to see Transformers at the theatre this afternoon. BKoe had already seen it. It was a good movie.

Later on I saw a message on Facebook from Peter about going to see the Hangover. I had just seen it, but it was a good movie. Peter is leaving Pullman tomorrow so this was his last day in town. I wanted to hang out with him.

Peter was laughing so hard. I was laughing hard watching his reaction plus to the movie itself.

When it was done we went outside and said our goodbye. He gave me a hug and we parted ways.

I met Peter through Brandon a couple years ago playing poker. Since then we played more poker together and we also played softball together. We hung out and played games. Peter is a good guy and I will miss him.

The Hangover

I met up with BKoe for lunch. We grabbed something at Subway and then went to the PD to eat it. We were in the briefing room. Jake came in and gave me some grief over the ambulance mishap a couple weeks ago at the hospital.

I went to see the Hangover with Jessie and Melcher this evening. First Melcher and I went to the city playfields to watch Jessie play some softball. Their team was winning the game, but it was close to the start of the movie so we left to go to the movie.

Jessie joined Melcher and I a few minutes into the movie. It was incredibly funny. I was laughing through a lot of the movie. It was worth watching.

Othello Softball Tournament

This morning I was up and ready to go around six thirty in the morning to have a nice day of softball. I went to Jessie’s house to pick her up on the way to Othello. I was playing softball with the Sports Page team. We pulled into Othello around nine o’clock in the morning. I had an idea where the field was and then in the direction I thought I needed to go. I ran into the field and found Erik and Faber as soon as I got there. I parked next to their rig and walked over to the camp that was set up.

I grabbed a chair and my softball stuff. We sat around just talking about the night before. As it was getting closer to ten o’clock we made our way to the first field of play. This was a five game round-robin tournament with the top two teams going to a championship game.

In the first game I wasn’t hitting nor seeing the ball too well. We are playing in a USSSA tournament. So the count was one and one. I am not a big fan of that count because I can’t watch a ball and get into a rhythm with the pitches. But the rest of the team played well enough for us to win the game.

After the first game we had some time before the next game. We went back to our camping site and grilled up some hamburgers and had some beverages. I was just trying to stay in the shade.

We made our way to the field for the second game about twenty minutes early to warm up. I was playing catcher for the whole tournament. So I didn’t need to throw the ball too much. My arm is pretty loose because I throw a lot during a game.

In the second game I was starting to hit the ball better and watch it better. I was able to draw a walk and got a good solid hit. We won the second game with a come-from-behind victory. It was pretty close, but we were down a couple runs. Then our sticks all came together in one inning. We took a small lead.

The defense was playing nearly perfect. We were making all the plays and making the outs we needed to make. We were not missing the cut-offs and kept the other team from advancing on us a lot.

Directly following that game we were supposed to play a second game, but we flew through our game, playing seven innings in about thirty-five minutes. There were several one-two-three innings on both side. During one of the early inning Chris, who was playing second base for us, got into a rundown as a runner. When he slid back into the base his thumb got dislocated. He was in a lot of pain. It got back into place and he kept playing. He was having a hard time gripping the bat, and as the day went on I think it was getting worse for him because he was able to hit the ball better earlier in the night.

We had to wait a little while for our third game. We hung out at the field that we had just completed our previous game on. In the third game we were playing against a “rec” team so they got a three-run lead at the start of the game. The were a bunch of younger guys, all of them looked like they got out of high school recently and all had playing baseball for their high school.

They were not very good at softball. They were not bad either, just not that good. They scored one run in the first inning, but with the three-run lead given to them they were up four to nothing. We went out and tied up the game in our half of the inning. I am seeing the ball a lot better and I am hitting it better.

We took a bit more of a lead, but our defense was still playing incredible. We held on to the lead thanks to great plays and our infield turning double plays. After that victory we had the fourth game. We were playing against a team that has lost to everyone.

We had to spot them three runs as well. But they were really a bad team. They had a couple good players, but it did not make up for the bad ones. We took a quick lead on them and didn’t give it up. It looked more like a couple larger families put together a team. There were people in the forties and kids as young as fourteen on the team. We beat them soundly.

We had about an hour break. We went back out to our camp site and sat around. By now people were getting a little tired. People were moderating their alcohol intake very well so we were not getting players who were playing poorly. That was an important key.

Before the next game we made our way to the field. The team we were going to play was waiting around and a couple of their players were playing in a co-ed game. The field we were going to use was filled, so our game was moved to an empty field. We were given the option whether we wanted to play the game or not. We were already in the championship game, so this was just for fun.

We decided we wanted to play. The other team took it to us. We had some poor defense. We didn’t hit the ball very well. We actually played really bad. They also hit the ball very well. We ended up losing the game. They were supposedly a “rec” team, but they didn’t seem like it. They played very well.

After that loss we had a break for the homerun derby. We were going to play Venom in the championship. We beat them this morning already. The homerun derby featured about half of the Venom team. That was something I was thinking about. For an “E” team that is allowed only one homerun, they sure have a lot of sluggers.

When the game started the sun had pretty much gone down and the ball which had been pretty squishy was starting to get more firm. The team they put out the second time seemed like a different team from the first one. It seems like they picked up a couple crushers. It was a really close game. We were not scoring nor hitting great, but we were playing defense well enough to keep the game close.

But they had a break out inning scoring around eight or nine runs. That game them a lead we couldn’t overcome. I had a couple strong hits in the game. We lost the game and came in second place for the tournament.

Over all the day was so much fun. An afternoon of six softball games is a lot of fun to me. I love playing and to get a chance to play so much is great fun. I was hitting the ball well and seeing the ball well. I was able to obtain a couple walks along the way.

After the game I went to dinner with Brandon and his girlfriend as well as Jessie. The whole team ended up coming with us to dinner. We went to a little Mexican place near the fields where we played softball.

When dinner was done I got some pop and headed home. Jessie was telling me about her and Ben. She gave me the whole story. We listened to some music along the way as well.

I dropped her off in Albion. Then I went to my place. I was getting the photos from the tournament downloaded from my camera when the second alarm tones came out. It was for a transfer to Spokane. I was going to do it, then I decided not to. I was going to wait about five minutes before calling in. Finally when I did call in I found I was the only caller.

I was told that I would get a call back to let me know if I was going or not. After about ten minutes I had not heard anything. Then the second alarm tones went off again. It said “FF Scotty Anderson landline station One”. I picked up my phone and found it was frozen. So I got that resolved and found I was getting the transfer.

We went to the hospital and picked up the patient. We headed for Spokane. It was pretty uneventful. After dropping off the patient we went to breakfast at Perkins and then headed back to Pullman.

By now I was getting tired. I tried to talk to Blake to keep me going. We talked about several political issues. When we got back to Pullman we went to the hospital to drop off some equipment. I cleaned the back of the ambulance. Then we got back to the station. I was ready to go home. I completed what I needed to get done and headed home. I found my bed to be very nice. I turned off my pager, cell phone, scanner, and radio. I wanted nothing to wake me up.

No Longer a Software Engineer

Since April of Ought-Four I have been working as a software engineer for NetUpdate and then I was moved to MostHome when they bought out NU. I worked with them until I got notice today that my contract was going be terminated. The application that I worked on since I started with NU was a mortgage application. That was then sold to a competitor a couple months ago. I told MH that I wanted to remain on with them. But as it turned out the project I was put on just got sold off. So they are cutting their ties with me. Things could be a lot worse. I have saved up a lot of money over the last six months or so and I have a bit of a saving that can help hold me over. Now I have to get the fire department job to sustain myself. As of right now I have the fire department for about one more month. Then I am done with them full-time.

I will have to work odds and ends until something comes up where I can make a good amount of money. In the mean time I will have the fire department and my savings to hold me over.

I figured this day was going to come. I just didn’t know when. When I got a call from my company’s CTO and he started to tell me that my product was sold off, I figured that I was going to be out of a job. I had been saving for this day and it is a good thing I did.

I guess I will have to figure out how to apply for unemployment so I can collect some benefits from that as well as working some to make ends meet, without chipping into my savings, if at all possible.

So that is how my mid-morning started. I also had a CPR class that I taught this afternoon. I am going to have to work every overtime shift I can get my hands on for the next month.

When I got home Brandon, Peter, and Kevin came over and we played some games and hung out for a while.

D-Twelve Golf Tournament

I met up with Chuck, Chia, and Carter for an afternoon of golfing. The problem with our team is that I actually carried our team. I am not a great golfer, so for me to carry the team, you know we were in trouble from the get-go.

We played eighteen holes. It took nearly six hours for the whole things. The first round we were waiting around a lot of people got bottled up. But on the turn we had a quick lunch and went back out to the course. The bottleneck wasn’t there and we were able to move along a lot more rapidly. Chuck and Carter were drinking, and all the beer was part of the fees so they drank a lot. Chia and I were not drinking. I had to work tonight so I had an excuse to not drink.

When it was done I rushed to the SO. I got my uniform on and got a car ready to go out on patrol. Anderson and I were working together. He asked me what I needed to do to get to second class. I told him that I needed my FTO book signed off. He said I am ready for second class so he wanted to help me get there. We started by spending several hours going through my FTO book. I got almost the whole thing signed off. I only have a couple pages to go. That is great.

We hit the road for several hours. We didn’t not get into too much. We made a couple traffic stops, but there was not a lot going on where we were. A fight in progress went out in Tekoa. We had three reserves working in town up there. Anderson and I started to head that way, but when the reserves got on scene there was no fight so we turned around and started to make our way back to the SO.

Jersey Night Ought-Nine

Today is the last scheduled Thursday softball game. With the re-alignment of the league we lost the rest of our Thursday night games and pretty much only play on Tuesdays. We played the Whammers. I thought it was going to be close, but it wasn’t. We pretty much controlled the whole game and won it. We have been on a nice win streak.

After the game I hung around the fields to watch Sports Page play. They have several guys who I know on the team and it was Jersey Night. Joe is the leader of it and I was going to be participating in it again. I have gone to almost every Jersey Night since its inception a couple years back when Joe was with My Office still.

We started by going to Sports Page. Things were pretty tame there. Then it was off to My Office. I got myself some dinner. I wasn’t drinking tonight because I was the on-call coroner. We went to Thai Ginger following My Office.

Then we loaded up in Jessie’s truck and my rig and headed up to Val Halla. While there I was talking to a guy named Chris. He plays with Sports Page now, but use to play on Palouse Tavern. He said that Kelly wanted to put him on our team, but I wouldn’t allow it. So now he does what he can to get me out every time he can. He also said that I never wave at him when I see him and he only lives a couple houses away from me.

I finally understood why he never seemed to like me. I don’t remember the situation where Kelly wanted him on the team. I think that Kelly made up the story so he had a “reason” why Chris couldn’t play with us. I am not sure what happened. But Chris had a chip on his shoulder. I tried to let him know I don’t remember it happening that way. But now that I know what the problem is, it is in the open.

We moved on to Mike’s bar at the end of the night. By the time we got there several people were really drunk. We started to break up there. Some people went along on their own. I had Hanna and Ryan with me. I took them to their car downtown. I also took Chris home. He thanked me for the ride. I think that we might be good now.