Ryan Came to Town

Ryan came down today to see the Cougs play the Bears. We met up at Cougar Country for lunch to start the day. Then it was off to the game. The Cougs went out and pretty much dominated the whole game. They lead the whole way and really played well on defense. It wasn’t until late that the Bears got some points going, but for a while the Bears were averaging seven points every ten minutes.

After the game we went to my truck and off to Safeway. I got some groceries for the poker game for tonight plus I thought I would get some other items that I needed around the house. I ended up spending about one hundred bucks. I got the stuff put away and started to set up for the game. I had Kelly coming over with a bunch of other guys. I also has some of my friends coming over including Ben and Dave from the softball team.

I gave Ben a hard time when he told me he got a job working over in Tacoma starting in March. He may come over and play one week with us or maybe two. I hope. I will miss having him around.

We had enough people that we broke into two different tables. I moved the furniture around in the living room to make room for the second table. We had about six people per table. I was doing well to start with but things started to go down hill after that.

Kelly brought over some guys from his softball team. But after winning some hands early on I started to lose, and pretty much spent the evening losing money. The game finally broke around midnight. Ryan helped me clean up a little bit and get my house back in order. Ryan left a little bit after midnight to go home. What is funny is I asked if he would play cards, at first he said no. Then later on he decided that maybe he would play for a little while. Then he ended up playing all night.

I had a good time having everyone over. I hope to do another game in the near future.

Time at the Jail

I was going to work the jail on Saturday morning, but with the basketball game coming up I decided to work the jail today instead. I did my work at the office and had the meeting like normal on Fridays. Then I got dressed and headed into the jail. It was a pretty quiet night over all. I had a couple commits around seven. I got them knocked out real quick. The rest of the night was spent just doing rounds and running the control room.

After the shift Dale and I hung out in the control room for about an hour watching TV and chatting with the guys coming on. I played a joke on Brett who was working control. I called the jail from the cell phone and hung up when he answered it. After two times he realized it was me.

After the jail I went to Zeppoz to play some poker. I was not having a good night. I was not catching very good hands and I was getting impatient. I was playing some bad hands and losing my money. I was there for about an hour or so and then that was it for the night.

I told Russell about Ryan coming in to town tomorrow and invited him to come out to lunch with us at noon tomorrow.

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.

General EMS Training

Today at Colfax Fire we were doing follow up CPR training for the people who missed it earlier this year. The rest of us worked on learning some of the other equipment on the ambulance. We pulled out the stair chair and went through the ambulance and rescue seeing where some of the tools were located.

After that training I went over to the SO to do a mile and watch House.

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.

EVAP Driving

Last week we did the classroom portion of EVAP training. This week we were doing drive time. I went out in Rescue-Eleven with Ralph and then out in Engine One with Ken. It was my first time driving the engine. It is Colfax’s brand new engine from a couple months ago now.

It drives very nice. I did a good job driving it. I had a lot of confidence even though there was some snow on the ground still.

Mid-day Coroners Case

I tried to get to the show early to get my laptop working for the interview with Jerrid of the Evergreen Football League. I could not get the wireless to work on my laptop then I thought that I could just hook the laptop to the headphone jack and have it record directly. I did that and it worked out well, but I was running up against the clock because I started it so late. I was able to get on the air and the computer recording.

I tried to get Jerrid on the air, but we were having a problem with him hearing me. So we did the three-way call method that Peter and I have used. That was able to work but it gave off a slight echo through out the interview.

I also got a call from Pete about a coroners case in Pullman. He asked if I could go. I told him I could get out early if I could get a replacement. I was not able to find one, but I still ended up going after my show was over with.

I got the scene, it was a natural death. What was interesting is that unlike many of my cases I had to look for evidence all over the place to try to determine what happened and when it happened. I was able to come up with a timeline that Pete agreed with, that the cops agreed with, and that fit all the evidence. It was interested to get to use those kind of skills.

Following the coroners case I went to Mike’s for poker. It was a full house with Loren, the kicker from the football team as well as Robbie and a couple other guys from the basketball game. I was doing well for most of the night, but then I lost a close hand where I got trip aces and someone else got the straight. That cost me some of my winnings. But I ended the night up almost twenty bucks.

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.

Russell over for Dinner

I spent the day working through my “office” supplies. All the stuff that was sorted out in my spare bedroom. I went from about thirteen boxes to about six piles of stuff. Now I have to go through those items. Today was the office stuff. Pens, pencils, paper, etc. I got my writing desk all set up, but there is going to be some more to go yet. I have a stack of file stuff to go into the file cabinets. Plus more stuff to add to the scan pile. Then I have a huge computer pile, an electronics pile, plus my baseball card collection pile.

I decided to make some cookies today. They were very good. Much better than my last batch. I had used a much newer batch of flour and a slightly different recipe.

I invited Russell over for dinner. I made tacos like I have over at my moms. We fry up the flour or corn tortillas. Then put the meat, cheese, beans, and other toppings on it. It turned out well.

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.

Being with Ben

I still cannot get a hold of Peter. He can be so frustrating some times. One week he is there and easy to get a hold of, then the next week he falls off the face of the Earth and does not return calls nor answer his phone. We needed to contact each other all week about our show time. He has not returned my calls nor E-mail, so finally I just filled out the application and sent it in for myself. I am going to try to get back the Monday eleven o’clock AM to one o’clock PM show.

Ben called me today and asked if I wanted to hang out with him. I sure did. I had dinner in the oven, so I waited until that was done and had some pizza before heading to Ben’s. We were going to watch Nacho Libre and Cannonball Run. Nacho Libre was one of those movies that was okay to watch once, but I probably would not own it.

Following that we watched Cannonball Run. It has been a while since I last watched it. There were a lot of big names in that movie. I think some of the things they do in that movie is lost of younger people.

After those movies we hung out and started to talk about guns, police, and some stops we were in. Then Jordan came over after the drag show from Moscow. He was going to contact a guy he had met there. We were giving him advice on what he should say when he sends the texts back and forth. He did not know that I was the same guy he had spoken with online in the past.

After he left Ben, Ashton, and I were talking a little bit about homosexuality. Sounds like Ben was sort of freaked out by it at first but has warmed up to it. It is funny, because Ben is very hands on and has given me friendly hugs from time to time. He still doesn’t know that I am gay, but after last night and the things I said, I wonder if it made him wonder.

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.

CISD Team

I started the evening off going to Colfax for a CISD team meeting. They were looking for new members, so I thought I would see what it is about. Now it seems that I am on the team and they are looking at having a training class come in soon to get the new people trained.

Afterwards I went to Safeway and did some shopping for some food items I was running low on. When I got there Richard texted me about going to Val Halla. So I decided I would go there after I was done shopping. When I got there it was not too packed. I met up with Richard and Tyson was there. He came over and said hello.

Richard and I stood around chatting about various things, then at one point he asked me about tops and bottoms. He said he recently learned about that concept and was wondering how gays knew who was a top and bottom when trying to meet someone. I told him one was in mannerisms.

I was there until after one in the morning. We started to play pool and we kept on winning. We won three games in a row, and the last two were ugly wins, but we won. Finally a new group of guys came and won. That was my cue to leave because I was going to meet up with Russell for the Wednesday night dinner.

I got there and the food was still warm. I got some potatoes and gravy with meat. It was grub. We watched Snakes on a Plane. It wasn’t a horrible movie, but now that I have seen it I will not have to watch it again.

HazMat Training

I had to choose whether I was going to go to HazMat training or Colfax Fire training. I decided on HazMat training because I had not been there for several trainings and this time we were doing training and not just a work-party.

We went over some ICS stuff followed by looking at the suits and looking up what chemical the suit is good for. We also played with some kits that would tell us if the pH and whether an unknown substance contains protein, two things that need to be known if a substance can support a biological agent.

After the training I drove to Colfax to watch House. While watching House I did a work out. I walked one and a half miles plus did some lifting.

Jackass Two

With Walker needing to go to the CPR class tonight that meant I would have to be down at station one for that time. Tyson and I went to the station and worked on the daily rig checks. Walker called and asked if he had to go to the training. I told him that he did. He was mad that he was going to have to miss the national championship game.

We got to the station. Tyson and I were in the kitchen area when a call came out. We ended up getting back-to-back calls. When we got back to the station we started to watch Jackass Two with Wehrung. It was very funny. We were laughing so hard at parts of the movie. It was a good movie to watch.

After the training we went back to The Deuce. I went home leaving my stuff on the rig. As it turned out we got another call. When that call was done we washed and fueled the rig. But we were not done we got called out on one more call. This time when we got back to the station we quickly scrubbed down the rescue. That was it for our night.

Peter is Back

After getting to sleep for a couple hours we got a couple calls at the fire station. Starting out with a car accident. Then we had a fire alarm. I stood by for both. Then I went home and went back to sleep for a couple hours.

I got up and thought about calling Peter to see what he was doing tonight. I did not call him, but within a couple minutes he called me. We made plans to hang out when he got to town.

I worked on getting the last of my boxes gone through. That is now done and I am going to start the process of going through those items and putting them away.

Peter came and he brought some pop. I got a pizza put into the oven and we had dinner while chatting about Christmas break. Then we decided to watch a movie. We watch Hostel. That was the first time he had watched it.

Following the movie he was going to have to get going, but we started to talk about Peter’s future plans. We also talked about RHA and ASWSU government. We were talking about things that happened in ASWSU while he was here for his first degree. I knew bits and pieces but I did not know the whole story.

Then we talked about his future goals of being a lawyer. It sounds like he is moving away from that and is planning on something else, but he does not know what as of yet. He is thinking real estate. It was pretty interesting because as long as I have known him, his goal was to be a lawyer.

We started to talk about trading stocks and planning for the future. He told me about his trading in the Foreign Exchange market. That is a really complicated thing that can be pretty risky, but you can also make money if you know what you’re doing. He had planned on leaving around ten, but he ended up leaving after one in the morning.