Bought a Vending Machine

After my workout this morning I went to the surplus sale. I needed to buy a computer for running Windows Home Server. I read about vending machines they had. I looked them up online but didn’t find anything about these models. I had no idea how expensive it would be. I talked to someone ahead of time to figure out how the auction worked. What I found out was that I could get one item rather than all six of them. I looked them over several times. I found one I liked.

Finally they got to that part in the auction. The auctioneer started at fifty bucks for all of them. Then he came down in price. Soon he said how about “by choice”. He then started at ten bucks. Then five bucks. He then asked “is anyone even interested?” I raised my hand. He said “how much do you want to pay?” I knew the lowest price allowed is two-fifty. But I said five bucks is fine. Someone said, right afterwards, I should have said that I would take it for two-fifty.

I also bought a new file cabinet. It is a nice Steelcase model. Very solid. I have been waiting to buy one for a long time. Finally I pulled the trigger.

I went home and cleared a spot in the garage for the vending machine. I got a couple people online with me to get the vending machine. I picked up Dearth and Bien. We went to the surplus stores and loaded it and the file cabinet in my garage.

I spent some time messing around with it. I found that it is in working order. I am going to talk to the people at Colfax Fire to see if we have a spot for one. I was thinking about one down at the Deuce, but I don’t know if we have room for one down there.

I finished up my report of my coroner’s case from yesterday. I had to go to Colfax to turn that in and meet with Ken. He was trying to find out what it would take to record his sermons directly to the computer. I checked everything out and it will be pretty easy for him to do. I dropped off my stuff at the coroner’s office and it was back to Pullman for me.

BKoe and I were going to hang out tonight. We decided that we would watch a movie or play a game. He came over to my place and we played a game he recently purchased. It was pretty fun. We played it for several hours. It was great to get a chance to hang out with him.

Lunch at the Pigs

Today was the normal lunch at the Three Pigs with Jon and the crew. Noah and Ricky came along as well. We got there around eleven-thirty to make sure we got a big enough table for everyone to sit at. I was able to make a trade with someone who had a larger table.

We all had our meals and talked about the status of NU and the possible upcoming changes. The all joked about me being the eternal optimist. It was pretty clear that everyone knew that about it.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with being an optimist.

Movie Night at Russells

After working out I spent some time taking photos and cleaning off my driveway of snow. I also cut away some of the tree limbs from the tress that cover my walkway. It is nice and clear for walking through that area now.

From NE Terre View Drive on the way back from my workout

The Bumblebee Before cleaning off its snow

The Bumblebee filled with *some* of the snow in the driveway

Russell, Nick, and I met up tonight to watch Another Gay Movie. It is more or less a spoof of American Pie. With some parts of other movies. It had some very funny parts. I agreed with Nick when the part where one of the gay guys came out to him mom.

He always wore lipstick, fingernail polish. He was very feminine, and just girl-like. But he thought he mom was clueless. So finally he came out to his mom, she looked at him with some surprise, then said “Well, Duh!”

Ken is Senior Pastor

Being as tired as I was I hard a hard time getting out of bed for getting to Colfax for Church. I got cleaned up, dressed up, and drove to Colfax. When I got to the church I shook the hands of the greeters and found my place near the back.

Joy saw me and gave me a hug. I also saw Tim, both chiefs, and Milt. Ken also saw me and came over. The church service was nice. They played a couple modern Christian songs. During that time everyone stood up. Some people sang along. They would raise their hands. Some of the songs were good ones. I guess I should say they were all good. But a couple got me tapping along with it.

Then they did a ceremony for accepting Ken as the pastor of the church. Following that Ken did a sermon on Time. There were some good points that he brought up. What is interesting to me is that this blog is called “Shorter of Breath”. Which is part of a line from the Pink Floyd song “Time”. I have included the whole verse in my blog description. It is big to me.

There was a period of time where I feel like I wasted my life. I spent my early twenties working every evening. I missed out on a bunch of things that my other college friends did. Maybe it was all for the best, but I still had the feeling of lost time. But I look back over my life and I feel like there is more that I could do.

I don’t know if that is really the case. Maybe I can work harder and filling my day with less down time. But I don’t think it is about quantity of things done, but the quality of the time I spent doing it. I have a blog from several years ago when I was with the old softball group. We ended at Lester’s house. While there it just felt like we were having a high class party.

I find many times I have the best and most memorable time when I am out of my element. When I leave my comfort zone. But many time I have a lot of fun while in my comfort zone as well. I should sit in a corner and dwell on what makes it so I have a good time and work on trying to fulfill that.

When church was done it was back home. I went with Russell to pick up Nick from the Flag lane. He was coming in on the bus. We drove down to Cougar Country for lunch. Then I took Russell and Nick to Russell’s place. We looked at some photos from a party they were at.

After I got home, I worked on the photo board project for the fire station. I got my list ready of things I needed to buy at the store. I went to play poker at Zeppoz. I came in ninth place. That is a drop of two places from times past.

I stopped at Safeway and did my big shopping. I purchased a lot of fruit and vegetables. Plus many other things I was going to need to start my Body for Life twelve week program. This is something I can continue to do, over and over. To me each start and ending point will be a nice goal period. I get my weekly goals. With each Sunday is a “free” day. One were I can relax and not stay so regimented with the food I eat. Can you say Pizza?!

Also at the end of the twelve week period I will hopefully see a change in my health, weight, stamina, strength, and softball power hitting abilities. My first twelve weeks will be done at the end of March. I will be nearing the end when Softball season is going. I hope that I will see some positive improvement by then.

I started to work on my meal plan for tomorrow. They have the first week plotted out for you. I am going with that, and making minor changes along the one.

Tomorrow is the start of a new path. Since moving into my house I have done things to be cleaner. I have always been bad at leaving things laying where I last used them. I always had a clean kitchen, but my bedroom is always covered in clothes and other things that just never found a home. I have worked hard to keep the house clean. I wash my truck weekly. With the snow and ice I haven’t washed it lately. But keeping a clean truck is important.

I have kept that up longer than anyone in my family thought I could. Longer than I thought I could. I also have kept my budget tracking going the whole time too. I think I am ready for anther change in my life where this is not a fly-by-night one time work out. This is going to be a change in my life. I am trying to ease into it rather and shocking the system too much. So for the last week I have been eating less and more healthy on my own.

I thought about going to bed a little earlier. Then I will take a power nap after my work out to get a little more sleep before starting my day.

Beer Pong

I got my new cell phone today. I unpackaged it and started to work on getting it set up with my settings and figuring out how it works.

Nick and I decided we would decide to go on Rescue calls today. But when we got one. It was a fire alarm. We responded on that one. That was all we got for the rest of the night. I went to the station around five to meet up with Nick to wash Rescue. Michael was down there so we started to chat about a couple things.

I got a text message from Peter about beer pong at his place. It was starting at one in the morning. When I got there several people were there. A group of people would play beer pong as the others sat on the coach playing video games or watching TV. I never played beer pong, but I enjoyed watching the others play.

I was there until around three in the morning. I got home and worked on my computer, but the network was running poorly. I finally went to bed at four in the morning.

Looking Back on the Last Year

Jan – Joining the 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.

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

Mar – The Start of What was to Date my Best Softball Year – Then there was another play where I had to go hard to my right, more or less a dive and scoop a ball. When I came up with it I looked down at home where someone was running, but I did not think I would be able to make the play, so I held on it the ball. We were playing A Bunch of Old Guys, which use to be Don’t Care. We lost to them by three runs. It sucked.

Apr – My First Shift Patrolling with the Marine Patrol – Then we went to the boat. We went through some things about the boat and then we were underway. We made a couple stops of people who were breaking the wake zones. I saw him do an inspection. Then on the next stop I did the inspection. We spent some time driving along the shore line of Medina, Hunts Point, and we were working our way to Yarrow Point.

May – A Police Officers’ Funeral – At about 10:00 AM the procession started. It was long enough that as my vehicle was pulling into the parking of the Kibbie Dome the last cars were leaving Tidyman’s. Along the route people were standing on the sides of the streets and police officers on Motorcycles where blocking intersections. There were people who had their hand over their heart, American Flags, signs of support, and cub scout troops along the way.

Jun – An Incredibly Fun Softball Tournament in Waitsburg – But we had an eight run lead going into the seventh inning. They were the home team because they were undefeated. In the bottom of the seventh all we had to do was to get three outs and go to the second game. But they started to hit the ball. I knew our team was hurting when after the inning the jumping back slaps that Kelly and some of the other would do turned into just back slaps. The jumping was over with. In my second to last at bat, there were two outs and I was on first base. My quads were sore and I did not want to run. But I brought up my positive mental attitude by thinking about the fact that I want this. That I had gone this far and I just have to do it.

Jul – Final Men’s Game is a FFT – Tonight the records were supposed to fall, however, when the other team could not come up with enough players to fill the team, we would end up getting a FFT. That sucked because Michael B, Bill, and I were all up for records to be broken. I needed one walk to tie Skyler. That was my goal. I did not want to beat the record because it has been around for so long.

Aug – Ryan Gamble Get Married – Once that was done we were back at the hotel, the time was counting down for the wedding to start. People started to file into the Davenport hotel. The wedding started and it lasted around thirty minutes total. I was the best man and stood next to Ryan. It was neat to see the whole thing.

Sept – Bought a Lightly Used Truck – By this time in the day I realized that I did want to get the truck, but only if I got it for twenty-one-five. A while later the sales manager called back and said I could get it for twenty-one-seven, plus a full tank of fuel. I said I would do it.

Oct – Introducing the Next Coroner of Whitman County? – Pete said he was happy to hear that I would like to do it. He said he plans on not running in twenty-twelve. So that would be when I would need to run. By then some of the other guys would be a lot more trained and may want to run as well. So I figured I would talk to Pete right away and have him start to groom me to be the next coroner.

Nov – A Night of Arson’s in Pullman – On our arrival to the scene I could see a five inch across Spring Street. We parked in such a way to protect the hose. We walked up to the scene. While walking up the road a man asked us if the smoke coming from his garage was a normal amount. Because he was a neighbor of the fire, he figured some of the smoke was from the fire. But it was pouring out, and I could tell it was not from the other fire.

Dec – Ankle Operation Part Two – I walked into a room with a table for me to lay on. I got up there and the anaesthesiologist started to prepare me to go under. Before I knew it I was asleep. Later I woke up not feeling well. I was being wheeled out to the recovery room. I heard one of the nurses talking to someone else, saying “you’ll have to break it to him.” I still don’t know what they meant by that.

It is always hard to put this list together. There was the day at the jail when I found out that Poff and Capt, as well as everyone else, has known about me for years. Or November when the boys made their first trip to Pullman to see Cougar Football and Basketball. There are many other examples. As usual. If I were to do this another day I am sure some of these choices would be different, but some of them would be the same for sure.

Most of today I responded on calls at the station. But most of the time no one was showing up to go with me. So I stood by on most of them. One of the calls Gecas showed up and we went on the call.

We also got a couple calls during the evening hours. I couldn’t find my pager. I looked around the house for it, I looked around the station, I checked my truck as well. I couldn’t find it. I am a little worried that I lost it on the call I went on with Gecas.

I worked on getting my E-mail inbox cleaned out. It took a while to go through all the messages. I really should go through everything again and reorganize it some more. But I am probably not going to.

Another Year in the Books

Wilson and I were planning on responding on calls today. When one came out, the Rescue was out of service, so we didn’t get to go anyway. The Rescue came back in service around five in the evening. So I didn’t get to play today.

I worked on my table saw. I want to get a new blade for it. So I was going to have to get the old one off of it. I got some stuff to help loose the bolt because when I looked at it, it appeared to be pretty gunked up. I worked on the bolt for about twenty minutes before I was able to get it off. It turned out that Pullman Building Supply was closed. I wasn’t able to get a new blade anyway.

I spent part of the day messing around on the computer. Some of the day was spent watching some TV shows. I feel like there are a lot of things I want to get done. I am at a point where I wanted to work on my big project involving the reserve website but the problem is I didn’t want to waste this day away just doing that.

The new years eve parties only come once a year and I wanted to partake in at least one. Doug said he was working at The Zuu. So I decided to go there. Mark was there and we spent most of the time I was there talking. Peter showed up for a while. He blind sided me with a new years kiss on the cheek. I saw Catlin there. His girl is the one who I always buy my pop from down at the Tesoro.

While at The Zuu I noticed the DJ. He was a ten-six-seven. I watched him for a while. Then I found out that Peter knew him, so I asked Peter what his name was. I also saw this other ten-six-seven. He was an all around hottie. He had the ski-jump style nose, a nice trimmed patch of hair under his chin. He was the boy next door type. I just enjoyed the view as I was standing there talking to people.

I left around one in the morning.

Playing Pool with BKoe

I met up with Russell this afternoon. I wanted him to read my Town Crier III column. He read it and really liked it. So I was pretty happy about that. I wasn’t sure if it was going to make sense or be worth printing. It is sort of a fluffy crappy one, but it is the first one of the new year and I don’t want to do anything too outlandish yet.

Russell and I decided to go see Charlie Wilson’s War. We both liked the movie. Russell always gets more philosophical and tries to relate thing they are doing in the movie to real life. I prefer to leave it as a story. I don’t try to find the hidden messages.

When it was done I gave Russell a ride to someones condo. I texted Brandon and we decided to go to The Zuu. We played some pool with Kevin who was already up there. Peter was up there as well. I also saw Doug.

There was talk about setting up a poker game at my place, but that fell through quiet rapidly. Brandon and I stayed there until the bar was closed and we were kicked out. We were talking about his chances of being a police officer. We were also talking about guns and concealed carry issues. It was a nice conversation with Brandon. It was great to get a chance to just hang out with him.

Hanging with Mike D

Today was the final day of the men’s basketball pre-Pac-Ten games. It was a pretty easy victory for the men. I worked it with Nick. I spent a fair amount of the time talking to the WSU cops. We first talked about a recent death that took place on campus. It was a pretty tragic thing.

Later on I was just chatting with a couple other ones about Colfax PD. One of them was a Colfax cop for a while.

Towards the end of the game the Cougar starters were all on the bench to make way for the young guys to get play time. They got a lot of it today.

I got a text message from Mike D. He was in town for the basketball game. He asked if I was interested in going to Pete’s for Wiley’s. I was on call for the Coroner so I could not drink, but I wanted to see Mike. It has been a while. He now lives in Montana.

I drove down there in the Bumblebee when I saw that Pete’s was closed. Soon I saw three people walking down the road including Mike. He had two girls with him and that all had Wiley glasses. We ended up going to Rico’s. I saw Johnson there. I gave him a howdy.

Then I was introduced to a guy named Nick. He was blue eyed and ten-six-seven. I also got some non-weedeater-owning vibes from him. Mike, the girls, and I went up stairs and played some pool. Soon Nick and the girl he was with joined us. At first I was thinking that he was her boyfriend. Later I found out he is not her boyfriend.

Peter and Kevin showed up. We were messing around texting each other. We were making some sort-of inside jokes about Nick being gay. Or really we were insinuating that he was gay. The thing about him was he was flamboyant and he was cocky at the same time. He was beating me in pool and we were really crap talking each other. I was doing it all in fun.

As the night was winding down and we were getting ready to go he was asking me some honest questions about buying or renting houses. I was trying to give him some good information. But with his intoxication level I was thinking at best he was going getting sound bites. He did let me know where he worked. I might poke my head in there someday. I am going to not write it in here as I don’t want to give away who I am talking about here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I spent a fair amount of time sending out messages to friends on MySpace and via text messages wishing people a Merry Christmas.

When I got up my Mom had breakfast ready to go. We ate then went in to open presents. I made out really well. I got pretty much everything that I asked for on my list. I got a power router (the tool not network device), a chainsaw to go with the Ryobi tool set I have, some three ring binders and dividers, a Jeff Foxworthy Redneck calendar, an ought-seven proof set with the presidential coins, and a WSU t-shirt.

I started to look into the proof sets I have. I didn’t get them for a couple years. So I went online to re-order the missing sets. I also found out one set I have is worth about one-hundred and seventy five buck. I am not sure what makes it so valuable, but it is at a crazy level.

Bill went to pick up his dad to bring him back for Christmas Dinner. While he was gone it started to snow. We had a brief white Christmas. The weather reporter earlier had reported that there have been about five white Christmases in the last one hundred years. So they are rare. It snowed enough to cover the ground, but the roads were left untouched for the most part.

It was a nice Christmas with the family.

Christmas Eve with the Extended Family

The commute in today was fantastic. I was able to fly in. It was to the point I could have gotten a speeding ticket. I made it to work in record time. We were told we could cut out two hour early today. But I planned on being there until after five because that is when the party at Jon’s started.

When I left work I went to Safeway and got a HomeDepot card for Bill. I looked at the GPS units at Staple’s one more time. Then I went to fuel up the truck at Safeway.

I hit the road and went to Jon’s. Dinner was served shortly after I arrived. It was Chinese food this year. I ate at the table with all the young kids. I had fun as there was a Husky fan with the rest of us Cougar fans.

When it came time to open presents, Jon gave me my birthday presents. I got Windows Home Server and a WSU T-shirt. Jon was showing me Windows Home Server and how it works. I am excited to get it set up at my place. Now I just need another P-IV computer.

Christmas Cruise

Tonight was the first time in a very long time I got to do something with the marine patrol. With summer over there is not a lot of stuff going on out there.

I got to work this morning after waking early. I knew I had the doctors appointment, plus marine patrol. With doing Shawn’s project I was going to have to get some stuff done while I was there incase I ran into some problems.

When I was in talking to Barb I told her what I want for Christmas is for Shawn to show up. He had been unreachable for more than two weeks. I went to the doctor. I was cleared to do stuff. I was given a prescription for Physical Therapy should I need it.

When I got back to work I saw Shawns rig there. I was so happy. The rest of the day was easy around the office. Did some meetings on some of the database stuff. Then it was off to Mercer Island.

We took the boat to Kirkland to meet up with the cruise ships. We helped them cruise to Bellevue. There were a lot of yacht’s that were following along. They all had decorations. It was pretty neat. It took about three hours total.

When we were done I went to Sharis in Fairwood to meet up with Dave. I haven’t seen him for quite some time. We talked about my job prospects. He talked about his work as well. It was great to see him.

Following Suit

Today is Eddie’s birthday. For years I have always sent him an E-mail on his birthday. He was born one day after me. Him and I grew up together at times. It started with football. We both played Five-Star football. Then I moved on to the street where he lived. That is when I really got to know him and several other guys. I had known the Peery’s because they use to live in my old neighborhood. Now I had all these new friends and once again Eddie.

Over the years we would ride motorcycles, learn to drive, ride bikes, build camps, go camping, go to the river, the mountains. We went to school, movies, swimming, and sometimes we would have long talks.

Those times were while our younger brothers were playing basketball. We would go on the playground. We were around fifteen at the time. Eddie would sometimes dip. I didn’t dip at the time, but I would have some Skittles and get them chewy, then pack it in like I was dipping.

During these times we would talk about everything under the sun. We always talked about what we were going to be like at parents. How we were going to have kids. How we were going to raise them. We talked about many other things as well. I sometimes wonder if Eddie remembers any of those conversations.

It is funny calling him Eddie, because I am the only one who does that. That is the only way I knew him, but now I guess everyone else calls him Ed. But I am stuck on the old ways.

I have seen Eddie once in the last couple years. He was living in the highlands with his kids and wife. I believe now he lives in Redmond. He has been working for the same company for years. I can’t wait to hear back from him. I was thinking recently that he and I have never had a drink together… legally. I am not sure if he is a golfer either, but I would love to see him again.

A Grand time at the Casino

The plan today was going to be going to some RV places and look at campers for my truck. The problem is that I didn’t make it out and about like I had planned to do.

I got together with Jon and Jim around nine o’clock PM. We ended up going to the Silver Dollar Casino on the West Valley Highway. It turned out to be a good move.

I have a bad head ache and I drank a lot of pop and took some Motrin to try to make it feel better. It wasn’t until nearly four in the morning that the pain was pretty much gone.

We started playing at a poker table with two others. I started out winning the first two hands. After that I did okay. I never really was down all night. Jon and Jim were also doing really well. Between the three of us we ended up almost a grand. I was only around one-hundred and fifty of that. Jon had the most. We were just winning a lot of hands. I really couldn’t lose.

We were there until nearly four in the morning. On the way out we got some of the free cards that they give away.

Pizza with Peter

After work today I met up with Peter at his place. We were going to watch Blade of Glory. It was a good movie. I have some good laughs. After that was over Peter and I watched a couple episodes of House.

Peter and I messed around like we use to where we could try to battle each other over silly stuff. He was trying to leave the room to go to the bathroom. But I wouldn’t let him. We battled until I won.

It was weird. I have been wanting to ask him about the thing that happened a long time ago, but I have yet to do it. But it was weird. I just didn’t feel like I wanted to be around him tonight. This was the first time I can think of that I had those feelings. I am sort of thinking I am going to not contact him again, and if he wants to get with me he will call.

Back at work

After having spent the last couple days doing some recovery from surgery I was on my way back to work. I haven’t slept very well lately so I was very tired at work today. I went to my truck and tried to nap for about ten minutes because I could not keep my eyes open.

I started to get to work on some stuff for the PDF’s. That work was going along fine until it was time to meet up with Peter.

I went to his place. We watched the Futurama movie as well as had some pizza. We made plans to get back together tomorrow as well.

Calls Getting in the Way of Driving

I just couldn’t get out of town today. It started in Pullman. I was up and getting cleaned up. I was thinking about the things I needed to pack to take with me. While doing that a call came in for someone who had fallen at Kamiak Park. I had never been there before so I was actually looking forward to heading there. I got a call from Dearth who also wanted to go, with some of the same feelings that I had about going to the park.

While en route it sounded like they didn’t know exactly where we needed to go. The call was a relay from Latah County Sheriff. We were one of the last units to get on scene. We helped to get the equipment loaded onto a John Deere Gator that was being taken up a trail. The first units on scene split up on the trail where it forked. One crew found the person and we were sending the Gator in. We were told to get the ambulance ready by turning it around and heating up the back.

We went into the hospital with the person and then Dearth and I went back to the station. I had said that I am not responding on any additional calls. It was around noon when that one came in. It was nearly a two hour call. So I was getting behind the eight-ball in terms of getting home during the daylight hours.

I started to pack my stuff. I got everything prepared for me to be gone for almost three weeks. I loaded my truck. Dearth had asked me if I had chains for my truck. I am glad he said something. That helped me remember there were not in the truck. I put them in the truck and took out my Coroner’s stuff.

I hit the road. There was a bit of snow on the roadway and it was snowing. It was slow going to Colfax. One truck decided to take his sweet time driving down there. But like I say, there is a reason for everything. I drove past Island street and looked down the road to the fire station. I thought that a call would have to pretty much come out right now for me to be able to go. Colfax had actually been out on a couple car accidents already.

Just as I was going to turn into the Rosauers parking lot we got dispatched to a roll-over car accident on Airport Road. The car was fully engulfed in flames. I went through the parking lot and got to the station. I put on my turn outs and hopped on Engine One.

We went to the scene. As we were getting to Airport road I didn’t see a column of smoke. I said that outloud to Carl and Jenny. Shortly thereafter Carl said “Hey Scotty, there is your column.” I could see a big column of brown-black smoke. We got on scene. I was packed up and ready to go. I grabbed a blitz line and went into the field where the car was burning.

It was about one hundred feet into the field. I called for water. Approached the car from a corner and started to spray the water. I got the fire on the ground put out. Then worked my way up. One thing I had to be aware of was that we had no hydrant. Only tank water, so I couldn’t be wasteful. I got the passenger compartment of the car put out. Carl opened the hood of the car so I could put all that fire out as well.

I was able to get the whole thing extinguished on tank water. That was a good thing. Really this was my first real car fire that I started, attacked, and put out without anyone else doing anything.

After we got back to the station I helped to clean up everything. I went to Rosauers. I got some stuff for dinner. I hit the road. The Cougs were playing basketball. I was able to listen to the game on the way back. The roads had snow on them causing some slow going at times. Actually the pass and into Issaquah were the best parts of the drive. I was able to cruise along at a good clip most of the way anyhow. The Cougs won and I got home safely.

The PFD Christmas Party

This was put on for year by Chris and Nancy. But recently Dan and Denise have taken it over. The plan was to get to their place around six-thirty.

But with the time I had during the day I worked on finding some stuff for my project at home. I am working on a photoboard for the Deuce. It will be better than the one at station one for a couple reasons. One will be that it is easier to maintain. The one at station one is a pain in the rear to maintain. I started to get things layed out for it on the poster board. Got it lettered. Worked on resizing the photos and adding the person’s name and rank. I also printed them all out and cut them out. The only problem was the missing plastic sleeves to put them in. I found some online, after my search around town turned up nothing. I went to several stores in both Pullman and Moscow.

It was just after six-thirty. I went to the Keeton’s. I was the second one there. I grabbed my camera and spent much of the night taking photos of everyone.

This years’ party had a lot of people drinking and having a good time, but we didn’t have the token drunk that provided hours of entertainment like in years past. Really I was thinking that it is clear everyone is getting older here because the amount and length of drinking that was going on was greatly reduced. It was a good time. Chuck had come to the party. It was Blanks’ last night out on the town with a couple of the B-shift guys. They also stopped by. I was disappointed no other reserves showed up except for Parrish.

When it was done I went to my house and got the photos downloaded and posted on facebook.

A Night on the Town

I got up late this morning, allowing myself to sleep in. I got on the computer and worked on a couple bugs for work before I went to Colfax. I was there for only about four hours. But I got three bookings and releases done. It was the guys who were busted for the frat fight last month.

I went to Colfax for training. We were doing cardiac emergencies. Before the training started we went on a ambulance call for a cardiac emergency. The class went from seven until almost nine-thirty. I was put in charge a group doing CPR.

Following training it was back to Pullman. I was going to meet up with some of the guys from the FD at Pete’s for Wiley night. I got down there and it was packed. The line to get anything was long and thick. It took about forty minutes to get to the front of the line. Dearth and Wilcox were in front of me. Anton, Bien’s friend, was also with them. We spent the time talking about various things. I finally got my pitcher of beer and went to the table. I saw Grim and Andy from poker playing fame. A. Wilcox was there so was Pritchett. Blake was on his way out the door. A. Wilcox came up to hang out with us. I finished off the beer and we headed up to the Zuu.

I was in the very back of Dearth’s blazer. I left my truck at Pete’s. On the way I farted. I didn’t think it was bad, it people started to make a huge deal about the smell. Bien was pretty drunk, so I was able to get everyone to blame him.

When we were going in the Zuu Bien’s girlfriend, Megan was texting him. I took over his phone and started to respond to her. She wanted to pick him up. We were able to keep him until midnight.

At the Zuu I saw Peter as well as Loren. Doug, Denise, and Neils were there as well. I had another pitcher of beer as we sang a couple songs on karaoke. We closed out the bar. Dearth was really drunk and left. Wilcox also left because he was drunk. So it was just Anton, Bien, and I left. I got a ride home, and I was feeling the alcohol.

I drank a lot of water before finally going to bed.

Chatting with Brandon

I started the morning out getting an oil change for my truck. I was at home making lunch when I got a call from Brandon. He is looking at buying a gun and he was out looking at some.

Later on when I was making dinner he called again. But I was on my way to Colfax for the coroner’s training. We talked about the guns he looked at. He is looking to getting a revolver.

When I was getting to Colfax the ambulance was getting ready to leave and a lot of people were showing up. I turned on my radio and heard it was a car wreck. I went to the station and watched the rescue leave. I was there for a little bit when a second ambulance was requested. I called Pete and told him what was going on. He said I could go.

It turned out that the second ambulance was needed. We were turned around, but we set up flares because we were nearly on the scene.

I got back for training in plenty of time. The training was good, we covered some recent cases. After the training was over with I went to Colfax Fire and hung out watching some TV shows with Ralph.

When CSI was over with I went home.

Thanksgiving with Friends

This afternoon I met up with Russell, Denise, Beren, Sauce, and Mireum for Thanksgiving dinner. We had a great meal fixed by Denise. I was also on call for the coroner.

As it turned out I got a case around nine-thirty. I called up Ken and picked him up on my way to Endicott for the case. It was natural. This is my second case on a Thanksgiving. Last year I got one as well. Last years’ was a natural crash that turned into a car running off the road.

Tonights case took Ken and I into the wee hours of the morning to investigate the whole thing. This was Ken’s first real case where he was taking the lead. I had to help him out with certain parts along the way. But he did good overall.

After the case I went to Russells’ to get a piece of pie. I missed the rest of the night. They thought they would still be there. But as it turned out they all left about forty minutes before I got there. I ate the pie quickly and then went home.

Spokane Transfer with Suggs

I got up with a page for a transfer. In a little bit they asked for reserves. I called down and said I would do the transfer. I was doing it with Suggs. The transfer went off without a problem. It was my first trip to Sacred Heart on a transfer.

We stopped at A&W; on the way out of town. On the way back he was talking about playing hockey. He was talking about hockey skates. He said this one style looked faggy. Then he looked at me and said “no offense”. I am not sure if that is because he also knows or if he just thought I was offended. Which I wasn’t of course.

Later after we got back I was going to be on Rescue tonight. But I also needed to go to Dan and Michele’s anniversary. I went to the Moose at six o’clock pm. I saw Michael B there as well as some of the others. I got some chow and then went home. It was a pretty quiet night for a while.

Then about thirty until midnight an EMS call came out. We transported. We sat at the station chatting about the previous arson’s in Pullman. More specifically about the issues while on the fire ground.

Parrish said he was going to call it a night. He was already scheduled to get off early. But within about ten minutes of Parrish leaving we got a structure fire. I was out the door with Williams on Rescue. We got to the scene and were the second ones there. We pulled a crosslay and started to fight the fire.

It had already gotten through the roof and we put some water on it for a while. But soon we ran out and had to wait until the PL got us hooked up with the hydrant. We then had the blitz line, the masterstream, and our handline fighting the fire. Water was all over the place freezing. My turnouts were getting frozen solid.

We finally started to beat the fire back. It was in a twenty by thirty-five out building at Cougar Crest. Soon we were sent in closer with the blitz line with the other guys from ambulance. We got the remainder of the fire put out. Then we worked on a full bottle worth of overhaul.

We helped to clean up the hose. Rescue stayed to monitor the fire until some reserves got there with the utility. We ended up having to put some water on some fire that got going again. I was able to look around the structure for evidence of what caused the fire. I then spent time asking Rich if he agreed with my assessment of what I had found. He confirmed the things I was finding. I have to say this one was pretty easy. It is not like I am some incredible fire investigator, but it felt good to have an idea of what I was figuring out.

I went home and worked on the fire department application until six in the morning before I went to sleep.

The Boys see Cougar Football in Pullman

Today is the first time that Justin and Logan got to see a Cougar Football game in Martin Stadium. I woke up in the morning, but I was still a little tire. Jon took the boys out to find some ponchos. I stayed at home.

Later on I got up and worked on stuff for NU. I had breakfast with the guys when they got back. We started to get ready for the game. We stopped at McDonald’s for lunch. We planned on parking in the old Sigma Chi parking lot. There was room so we did park there. We walked down to the fieldhouse. John called me and let me know Rob was in town.

I went to the ambulance that they were on. Rob was doing a ride along. I sat in the ambulance for a while talking and listening in on the stories. This is the first time I have seen Rob since he left the reserves to become a trooper. It was neat to see him. In someway it was just like the old days with him and John. Laughing and joking and having fun.

I went back to the fieldhouse to meet up with Jon, Logan, and Justin. We watched some of the UW vs Cal game. Cal was getting beat. It was close to time to head to our seats.

We made our way there. We were at the twenty-yard line, five rows back. While there I noticed a ten-six-seven. Blonde hair, blue eyes, with well defined arms. Number Thirty for OSU. He was on their special teams. He looked very ripped.

The game started with heavy rain. We all wore our ponchos to keep dry. The Beavers went out to a quick lead and never looked back. We turned over the ball so many times, seven interceptions and one fumble. It gave the Beavers short field all day long. The Cougs scored two touchdowns, but each time we scored the Beavers would quickly score. It was a horrible day for the Cougs.

After the game was done we left. The stadium was just over half full when the game started. It had maybe one-tenth the seating capacity filled when the game was done. With the poor showing and the bad weather a lot of people left early. But not us.

We went to Pizza Pipeline and got some dinner. Then back to my place to eat it. I went to my office after dinner to work on the NU Application some more. John, Rob, and I were going to go out, but they ended up bumming out.

I stayed at home doing work into the early morning hours.

The Boys are in Town

I volunteered to work a security shift at the burnt out building on True street. I was working it with Blanks. I brought my laptop and a couple movies to watch as the night went on. I was tired and was Blanks. We watched my movies which took us through the night. Blanks also went to Dissmore’s and got me some pop and himself some drink. We started our shift at three in the morning and worked until eight. I went to bed when I got home.

In less than three hours I was up talking on the phone call meeting. It was short. I then started to work on some bugs I had to complete. I didn’t have much time to do that because I was covering someone elses shift on KZUU. It was a noon to two o’clock shift. I talked a little bit about the fires, only things that were in the newspapers. I also played music. I had a couple callers who challenged some of the things I was saying about WalMart and building in Pullman.

I was working on stuff for work when Jon got here with the boys. I showed him around the house. The boys and I played some video games before going to Cougar Country to get some dinner. This is the boys’ first time to Pullman.

After dinner we went to watch Cougar Basketball. They were playing UI. The Cougs went on to an easy victory.

We went back to Cougar Country to get the boys some ice cream. Then it was back to my place. They watched Shrek III. I went to my office to get some work done that I needed to do during the day, but I had to put off because of the radio show and Jon getting to town.

Hanging with Peterman Day Two

Today Peter called to see if I wanted to hang out again tonight. I told him that I would. We decided we would go see Saw IV. I went to his place to pick him up. We drove to the theatre and I paid for him to get in because he bought dinner last night and has a pizza for tonight.

It was my second time seeing Saw IV. I finally realized that it was not taking place in the future (after the end of Saw III), but instead at the exactly same time as Saw III is taking place. That helped explain a couple things I didn’t understand the first time through.

When it was done I went to Peter’s. He put in the pizza. We spent time talking, watching TV, and eating pizza. I still find I have a hard time looking him in the eye a lot of times. I am not sure why, but I am still uncomfortable around him.

Hanging with Peterman

The plan was to meet up with Peter when I got off work today. Jon and I went to lunch this afternoon. We talked about interviewing for jobs. I have one coming up next Wednesday. I am not sure how that will turn out. But I am not sure if I will like what I see in the company over all. I like working for NU and I like what I do, so I have no reason to leave. The only thing that this job would get me would be not needing to drive to Seattle every month.

After work I met up with Peter. We went to see American Gangster. It was a good movie over all. Not a ton of action, but it was entertaining. When that was done we went to Peter’s. He got a new gun he wanted to take some photos of so he could send them to his dad.

We stopped by Jack in the Box afterwards for some dinner before I went home for the night.

Saw IV

Russell and I got together this afternoon to watch Saw IV and have dinner. Saw IV was pretty good, but I was confused with one of the characters. I am not sure if it was the same character at the beginning and the end, or if it was a different person. It is clear Saw V will have to be made.

We went to Basillo’s for dinner. It was a nice change. I don’t go there often so it was a nice change of pace.

After dinner I took him home. Then I went home and started in on my web application. I was able to get the calendar part to get reworked. But I was unable to get it totally figured out. I asked Jon for some help, but it was getting late and he had to go to bed. I also needed to get up early, so I went to bed and I would continue work on the site once I hear back from Jon.

I got an “A”

This morning started with teaching two fire extinguisher classes up on campus. Each class takes about thirty minutes. Tim, one of the new reserves, and I took rescue up to the motorpool. The classes went off without a problem. It was the first time I had taught the class.

When we were done I had to hustle home in order to get changed and down to the dentist for my bi-yearly cleaning. Dr. Fairbanks gave me an A for having done a good job on my teeth since my last visit. I got a new toothbrush and floss following my visit.

I went to work and got one of my bugs completed and Will helped me with a problem with the javascript I had on another bug. So tomorrow will be time to start a new bug in the works.

At four I went to the station to get the minivan and Chris and I went to the Halloween event at Pioneer Center. We gave out a bunch of balloons to the kids who came. I saw Bruce and Taj from the softball team up there.

Following that I went home and changed into street clothes and went to Jason’s place for a movie. We watched “1408”. It is a horror movie about a writer who reviews places that are supposedly haunted. It was quite a trippy movie.

When it was done Russell and I went to Mike’s bar. I got my costume on and away we went. There were so many ten-six-sevens up there it wasn’t funny. A couple guys were dressed up as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. That consisted of long johns and green paint on their shirtless chest. They had a shell that was made out of some wood and paint on their back. Russell and I both enjoyed the view as they were both very well ripped. A couple others were dressed as Spartans. Those guys also were very good looking.

We were up there for several hours. I had some girls who were very afraid of my costume. I also messed with Jonno from the FD. He was dressed up as one of the American Gladiators. He had no idea it was me. Russell told Andrew from the FD that I was the one in the costume. I was upset about that because I had used the costume for a couple years and I wouldn’t tell anyone it was me, even after the time. It was my little secret.

When I was on the dance floor a couple girls started to grind on me. It was pretty strange to have that happen. I wasn’t sure how to grind totally and I didn’t want to do it wrong, so I sort of went along with what the girl was doing.

We left a little before two in the morning. I went out a door and sort of busted through it. When I got outside a couple cops were there. I put my hands up and tried to make it out that I was not a bad guy. I let them know my “knife” was only a prop. Which was obvious. I was just sort of having fun.

Buying the Car Washing Stuff

With the new truck and my determination to keep it clean, unlike the old truck, I went to Schucks and bought some stuff for washing the truck, like a chamie, California Water Blade, and car washing soap.

I went home and got it washed. While I was washing it Jason called about getting together. He called Russell. I got my truck washed and dried. I picked up Russell and then we went to Jason’s. He got some pizza. We had pizza and watched Transformers.

That was a good movie. I really enjoyed it. I also found the main star of the movie was a ten-six-seven. I spent a lot of time watching him in the movie.

Saw Three

I took the boat over to Moscow to get it winterized. I now need to get the garage completed and put in order so I have usable space.

Russell and I got together to have dinner and a movie. We decided to watch Saw III. I bought some pizza from Pizza Pipeline.

Russell and I watch South Park as well. We spent some time talking about the presidential race and how Hillary will be bad for the Democrat party.

Russell got drunk

I started off trying to get some things done on the fire application that I started to develop last night. Before long I needed to head to the Moose to watch some football with Ron, Heather, Dan, Michele, and CBass. I watched about a quarter before Russell called to get a ride from the airport. We were going to go to Jason’s and play some poker when he got back.

I picked him up from the airport and he had a couple glasses of wine while on the plane. Then we were off to Jason’s. When I got there Peter was there playing. It was six handed poker for a while. Then one guy finally lost his money and left. Russell was drinking more while we were there.

The game broke up because everyone wanted to go to Zeppoz for the free roll. I had to be on call and do weekly rig checks so I couldn’t go.

I went home and got ready for the rig checks. Then it was off to the station. The rig checks went pretty quick over all. The Rescue kept getting called out. We were done around nine o’clock. I went home and watched Shark and had some dinner.

I worked on my application for a little while before going to bed. But before morning would hit we got dispatched for a structure fire. I ended up standing by the engine for the whole incident. It turned out to be more of a situation where we spent most of the time getting people in and out of the retirement community as well as clearing the smoke from the hallways.

We got done around six-thirty in the morning. I went back home and went to sleep for a while.

Ride Along with Heidi

I got an e-mail this afternoon from SEL. I thought it was going to be an actual test. I called Jon up to make sure if there was a question I was unsure of that he would be available to help me. As it turned out it was merely just making sure I agreed with the drug and smoking policy. Plus that I am a legal citizen. Then it asked if I had experience with SQL server and what not. I got it done and that was it.

It has been a long time in coming, but I finally got my ride along with Heidi. I got into my coroner’s office stuff. I met up with her around eight o’clock. We hit the road. It was a pretty slow night over all. We had a chance to talk about the fire services and work. We stopped one person from a possible DUI, but the driver did well enough on the tests that she was let go.

Around one in the morning Heidi was leaving and I was handed off to Heroff for the rest of the evening. We did a couple things, but it was a quiet night over all. The fire department did not get dispatched anywhere either.

When the ride was done BKoe was on a ride too. We were in the briefing room and we chatted for a while before I went home for the night.

The Next Whitman County Coroner?

Russell needed a ride to the airport today so I had planned on giving him around there around eleven in the morning. We stopped by Sam Dial to get his watch then I dropped him off. He was thankful for the ride.

In the evening I headed to Colfax for the Coroners meeting. The softball game was cancelled tonight due to the rain, so I was able to get there on time. I was early so I was reading a book on forensics.

Everyone else showed up soon thereafter. The meeting got going. We reviewed a case that Pete is going to be going to court over. We also got our coverage set up for the next two months. I also went over the case I had on Monday.

After the meeting was over I was told Pete that I wanted to be the next coroner. I told him that I thought Patti would be the next one, but with her moving to Spokane soon and her leaving the office I figured I would like to get in to it.

Pete said he was happy to hear that I would like to do it. He said he plans on not running in twenty-twelve. So that would be when I would need to run. By then some of the other guys would be a lot more trained and may want to run as well. So I figured I would talk to Pete right away and have him start to groom me to be the next coroner.

SCBA Quarterlies in Colfax

Today was the first of my string of Tuesday’s off. I am burning my vacation days one at a time rather than taking a week off. Around ten-thirty I got a phone call for the daily scrum. When I told them it was my day off they were going to have me get off the line, but I told them I wanted to hear what Lance had to say.

When Lance was done with his stuff it was nearly eleven o’clock. I had a meeting with George. I went to that, but the other guys did not show up. So I did the stuff George wanted all of us to do. I went home and worked on going through all the SOP’s and I gave him a list that I thought all the reserves should know.

It was around four that I went to Colfax for training and to hang out. While there we got a call. I went on it. I was the ambulance driver. It was a minor call. When I got back to the station I watched some TV until it was time for training. Due to the rain we decided to do something inside. That was our SCBA quarterlies. I got my first attempt in one minute exactly. That is the target time. So I passed the first time through.

After that I went to the SO to get my photo taken for the new Colfax Fire ID cards. I dropped off some photos from a previous case. As I was leaving Russell called and we decided to get together, have some pizza, and watch a movie. But he was a little tired, so we got a DVD of House TV show episodes. We watched a couple of them. He enjoyed that.

The Ankle Doesn’t Hurt

Ever since I got my shot in my ankle the pain has been gone. My ankle appears to have full range of motion again. After standing up for a couple hours last night at the football game, this morning I woke up pain free.

I spoke to Heston and I am going to help out with the Physical Agility test for the paramedic list. Turns out it was a good thing I helped out because several other guys ended up not coming because they ended up going to the PHTLS class. The test went well even though we were down on the number of helpers. We only had four people to test.

I washed my truck and listened into the Cougar football game. Jon asked that I send him updates, but Oregon was scoring left and right. I was a little worried that the Cougs were going to get shut out, but we got one touchdown.

Russell and I met up. I took him and his bike to the bike store downtown Pullman. We went to Safeway where I picked up some groceries. I also got a pizza for us to have later on.

I took Russell home for him to get a nap before we watched the movie and had dinner. I put in the pizza. We ate pizza and watched Thank You for Smoking. After dinner I gave Russell a ride to work.