Working a Shift at the Jail

I decided to work the swing shift in the jail. I also figured I could go on Colfax fire calls if any came out. After my first round I was in the front office and Pete was there. We had the coroner clothes come in. We went through those and went across the street to give Ken his stuff. It turns out I got the wrong size for him.

Shortly there after a call went out for a fall. I went with Ken in the fire engine. I got back to the jail and did some rounds and hung out in Control. Close to midnight another call came out. I did a round down. I was going to close the till out when Dale came down to relieve me. He said he heard the call and figured that since I was in Colfax I would probably want to go.

I got to the fire station and ended up driving the ambulance. We picked up our patient and transported to the hospital. We got to the station and restocked the ambulance. I found out Ken had a MySpace page. I added him to my friends list when I got home and made a page for Amber.

Near Car Accident

I started out this morning waking up without an alarm clock. I forgot to set it before going to bed. I was supposed to be in Colfax at eight o’clock AM to have breakfast with Jim and Jerrid. I got up a quarter of eight. So I had to hustle. I got to Well’s in Colfax around eight-fifteen. I had breakfast with the other guys. Carl happened to be at the booth next to us when I got there. Today we are playing softball and golf.

After breakfast it was off to Steptoe for the softball game. It was Colfax fire against Steptoe fire. On the way there I was just outside of Colfax going up Buck Canyon. I saw a truck pulling over to the shoulder, then it kept going off the road into the ditch. All of a sudden the driver corrected and was coming back on the highway aimed straight at my truck. We were on a collision course. I hit my brakes and moved over a little bit. I was getting prepared for the collision. I was not sure where my truck was going to get hit, but I was very scared.

Then the driver re-corrected his path and started to spin out, He did a one-eighty. He was facing the wrong way going across his original lane of travel. Then he hit the soft shoulder and his truck rolled. I pulled over and grabbed my radio. I was shaking pretty bad.

I got out and the man in the car behind me said he thought I was going to get hit. I said “so did I”. I got ahold of Whitcom on the radio to let them know what I was out on. Jim and Jerrid were behind me and did not see the accident happen. They stopped as well.

I walked across the highway to the truck. The man was already out and getting things from his truck. It landed on its wheels and he was okay. He said he had fallen asleep. Once Colfax Police got on scene I cleared and we continued to Steptoe. The game had just started. We were on offense. Our hitters were not able to hit the ball very well, and the other teams’ pitcher could not get the ball across the plate. But we swung anyway. I did not hit the ball well at all. One time I did get patient and ended up walking.

On defense I played right field most of the game and I played at first base for two innings. We ended up losing to Steptoe. After the game Jerrid, Jim, and I stuck around and hit the ball around. We were hitting the ball well at that time. Ralph asked why we couldn’t hit like that during the game.

After we hit around for a while we went to the Steptoe fire station for a community barbecue. Jim and I were sitting inside the office area of the fire station when a mom with a six year old came in and said he got a couple slivers. Jim got an alcohol pad and a needle so we could help the kid. He was whimpering about the slivers. I used the alcohol pad to clean the hand, and then pulled out the needle. the kid wanted to see it before I used it. I handed it to him with the cap still on.

He pulled it out the cap and tried to recap it when he missed the cap and hit his finger with the needle. He screamed bloody-murder and cried like crazy. Then he would not go near me so I could clean the blood. It was pretty much a finger prick like when someone does a blood sugar check. It was nothing major, but he was going to have nothing to do with me after that. His mom took him to the bathroom to clean the blood.

The food was getting served so Jim and I got in line for the food and sat down with Jeff and Ralph. We ate and talked about fire department stuff for a while. This was also the day the big ball was going to get rolled down Steptoe Butte. We were planning on going to watch that. I went to get some gas. When I got back I found they were not going to go do that for a couple more hours. Jim and I decided to just go back to Colfax. I dropped Jim off at home and then I went to the jail.

I went to the Coroners office to drop off my case report from the death yesterday and then went to control and hung out until just after four o’clock. I updated a couple forms we use. The incident and infraction report has a margin on the left side that when it gets holes punched into it, the words are punched out. So I got that fixed by making the margin wider.

I went to Rosauers on the way to the golf course to get some pop and water. I went to the golf course and practiced some golf putting. I put on my new golf shoes and went into the clubhouse to pay for the tournament stop.

We got golf carts which was nice to have because I did not want to have to walk the whole course. We played a shotgun start, best ball tournament. We started on hole number six. We played nine holes and then went to the clubhouse for dinner. Once all the teams were back we ate and held the raffle for a lot of items that were donated. The golf tournament is put on by the Colfax police department for raising money for the Special Olympics.

After dinner and the raffle we went back out for the second round. We played with glow balls and had glow sticks on the flags and markers around the course. It was my first time playing in a glow ball tournament. It was fun to do. We had to watch the ball go because it was harder to see the ball when it went into the grass. I ended up losing one ball on the ninth hole, hitting it onto the road way. I had to use a second ball for the next five holes. I was doing very well today on my drives because I was not trying to crush the ball. In fact if I tried to over swing my ankle would hurt, so I had to ease back and that made a big difference in my game.

When I was done on the golf course it was almost eleven-thirty. I went to Pullman and waited until just after midnight for a poker game at Peter’s. We started playing near one in the morning. We played until four in the morning. I did very bad. I was calling on a lot of things and ended up losing about twenty bucks. That sucked, but it was a good day over all.

I got home and went to bed shortly after I got home. I was very tired.

Years of Being Crafty for Nothing

My day on Mercer Island Boat Patrol was cancelled for today so that meant I had a day off and I could do what I wanted. I decided I would work the jail. But I had some things to take care of in Pullman before I left to go to Colfax.

When I got to Colfax I went into Control. I ran control for about an hour before going to the Auditors office to get the tabs for my boat and trailer, but because I did not license them last year, if I were to do it today, I would have to pay for all of last year, plus this coming year. If I wait until the end of the month, then I will only have to pay for the next year. That made it a no-brainer.

I sold a phone card to a guy in Orange. Sgt Poffenroth came with me to make sure I could log into Swanson. She didn’t think I would be able to, but I was able to login just fine. So I got the phone card sold. We were heading up stairs to the staff office when she asked if I was the one who always put the backgrounds of the military aircraft. I laughed. I said I don’t even know what that one was. She said, you would probably put pictures of naked men. It because pretty clear she knew that I am gay. She could see me blushing, I could feel my face go flush.

Later I went to her office and asked how she knew. She said he has known for years. She figured it out on her own. She said pretty much every officer knows. I was shocked for sure. I knew that Tom knew, so that would increase the chances of others knowing. Captain came in and he confirmed they had known for years. Poff also was shocked that I didn’t know that they knew. Which is a sign that no one really cares at all. I told her how careful I always was with that information because I didn’t want people there to know.

Poff said a while back when Donna was trying to set me up with a girl over in the Treasurers office, that she had to tell Captain to let Donna know it would be a moot point trying to get me hooked up. Then Captain said that they knew I was dating the guy who worked at JTI. I knew they were talking about Thomas. That surprised me because he didn’t know who Thomas was, just that I was dating someone from JTI. But Thomas and I were only friends, we never dated. Then he said that we are in a small town. Just like Monte said to me a long time ago.

I let Captain know that Thomas and I were just friends. But we use to joke about living in SGC “South Gay Colfax”. He laughed. Poffenroth was cracking up over the fact that I was in the dark about them knowing about me for this whole time. One of my biggest fears was that they would treat me differently or that the inmates would find out. None of that has been the case.

Now I wonder who all actually knows and who doesn’t know. If they all know in the jail, do the people over at Colfax Fire know. No one at Colfax Fire has ever said anything to me. But it would be interesting if they have known for a long time too.

While working at the jail I got a text message about playing some poker tonight around eleven-thirty pm. I went to Peter’s to play. He had people who work with him at SEL over to play. Kevin, a ten-six-seven, from Dissmore’s was also there. Blue eyes and blonde hair and tall. Plus very nice. He was a good sight for the night. While there another ten-six-seven showed up. He was someone who was stopping by with some over people.

We played for hours and hours. In fact it was getting light out. Pretty soon the light coming in the window was actually casting shadows on the poker table. The game broke up around seven o’clock in the morning. When it was done I had lost a total of six bucks, and that was good considering I was all-in a couple times.

One of them I knew I was being beat. There were two Queens on the board. I had a King. There was one King on the board, so I had two pair and I knew Kevin had trips. We went to the river and I knew I needed a King, and a King hit giving Kevin and I a full-house, but mine was better. As it turned out one other guy who was in also had a King, so it turned out we had a one-outer. It came through.

Another time I was playing and had pocket-eights. All night long eights have been hitting. So I played them aggressively. I ended up going all in. Kevin again was playing against me. He had over-cards and got two of them on the flop. He was leading. The turn had nothing to help either of us. I was all-in and I needed to have an eight. I was dealing. I burned a card. Then I held the card over the spot where I needed to turn it over. I held on to it for a while because I did not want to see it. Then rapidly I flipped it over. It was an eight. I had won. Everyone was laughing. Someone said the way I did it reminded them of the movie Maverick.

A former co-worker died today

I was at home doing some work on my computer. I bought a new webhosting account. I wanted to get some more storage space and it was cheaper to get a whole new account than to buy extra space. So I did that. They were having special where I could get more space and free setup. I took advantage of those specials.

While that was going on I heard a call go out in Colfax for a CPR in progress call. From what it sounded like the person was already cool to the touch so I figured the ambulance would show up and then leave. But then I heard them ask for Steptoe to come and help. Then I heard them go en route to the hospital.

A while later I was getting ready to head to Colfax and I got a call from Pete. A guy I use to work with at the Sheriff’s Office, Kirk Banks, was the deceased. I was sort of shocked. He was still pretty young.

I went to the Coroner’s office to get some stuff turned in as well as download some photos that Pete asked me to download. I also picked up the new camera. I got the one with the big zoom and everything else. I was stoked. I started to read about how to use the features.

I went to Taco Time for some tacos then to the fire station. I ate my food and waited for the meeting to start. We were doing stuff with the new tower we are trying to get put in. We were mainly at the meeting for support. It was a hearing to determine whether we could get a conditional use permit to install the tower that is needed to get what we need done. There were some nearby homeowners who were not happy about it and they were there to try to stop it. But in the end we got the tower approved.

Then I went to the SO and did some time on the treadmill and watched House before coming back to Pullman.

When I got home I worked some on my asp.net applications as well as trying to get the stuff from Will to work. I am not having any luck on it.

I am feeling pretty mad

The day started off well. I got a couple things around the house done, including the dishes. I went to Colfax to help Ingalls with his computer. I made a ton of stops in Pullman to get my checks deposited, got a new garbage can, and got my turn outs from station thirty-one. They were on Rescue when it was taken down to the station for work.

I got to Colfax and talked to Parks about my letter about OC training. He said he is going to write something up. I should have it tomorrow. I am stoked about that. I really don’t want to get sprayed with pepper spray again. I talked to Poffenroth about her computer and got the check as repayment for the parts I bought for her. I also got my license tabs renewed. I was on a roll.

I went to Ingalls’ house and worked on getting his new computer set up and all the data from his old computer to his new one. That took a couple hours in all. He only has a dial up connection so it took us a while to download anything.

We were finished as dinner was being served. I had some babyback ribs, potatoes, and corn. That was good stuff. I had to run because of the EMS training in Steptoe. I got up there just in time for training to start. The training was part of the training van. It was OTEP trauma training.

When that was done I was thinking about whether I should stop to see if House is on or not. It turns out it was, but I didn’t stop. Ryan hit me up online and let me know that House was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor. That should be interesting to see where they go with that.

I also saw an e-mail from Heston. He wrote:

I am getting some negative feedback again that the reserves (specifically you) are not happy with the progress of the rescue equipment placement. I have heard it from three different career people this week. Before we started this project I asked for your input and help and got some but did not hear any further. I assumed that you were good with the direction we were going with it. I am confused as to why I am hearing this from other people and not through your liaison person Michael. The equipment on the unit will be in limbo for a little bit while brackets are made and attachments are ordered. I would appreciate you to squelch any negative issues in open discussions with other members of the department. Just like the officers and as a crew leader I expect and demand you to control these issues and discuss them in the appropriate arenas. I cannot allow these types of negative discussions to continue from any department member especially from a crew leader. It is not productive or healthy to the department and if it continues any further, I will be forced to make a change in your status with this department. I hope you are hearing me on this.

You can imagine my surprise on this. I was mad when I read it. The first time through I missed the part about him threatening to fire me. Then I saw it and was even more mad. I was going to write an e-mail to explain things, but I wanted a face to face so I asked for a meeting.

He said that three career guys came to him with the same message that I was mad about the changes. First off that is not true. When three people come to you, what makes you think they did not hear it from the same source or at the same time. I have not talked to the career guys about Rescue. I don’t talk to them about that kind of stuff. So I know that is not coming from me. Therefore someone is taking what I did say out of context.

He uses that as a basis to say that my negative comments are not welcome especially from a crew leader. Then when I read the part about the change in my status, I was not sure if that was to demote me or fire me. I would think it would be to fire me.

As you can imagine I am not happy. I also had Chapman come up to me and say I was mad at him over it. I said nothing was further from the truth. So it is clear someone is putting words in my mouth and they are making their way around the department and it is getting people mad at me and making me look bad.

The only thing I did say was “I wish someone would have let us know.” I don’t think that is anywhere near being mad at Chapman and complaining about the movement of things around Rescue. That comment was made in relation to the fact that the new tools were getting new brackets build. But when they were unable to finish it all the old shelves were gone. Therefore all the equipment had to be put on the bottom of the cabinet and it was just stacked on each other. Letting us know ahead of time would have just been keeping us in the loop. I think that is a reasonable comment. I am not sure how it is getting so stretched from what I said.

When I meet with Heston I want to let him know that, plus I want to track down the source of the comments. Because everyone is hearing it from one source. Once we get to the source we can re-educate him as to what I said and that is not not right for him to spread information that is false. You can see I am mad.

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.

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.

First Coroners Case of the year

I started out the morning out with a meeting in the jail in Colfax. It was time for the Sheriff to just open the floor to discussion and to talk about some plans and goals on the year. I was at the meeting until around nine-thirty in the morning.

I got back to Pullman and had some lunch. Just then my neighbor came over with some food for me. It was a soup-type item. I had eaten so I took it and put it into my fridge for later.

The Culligan guy showed up to look at my system and determine what kind of water softener I need. I am going to get away with the cheaper one because I have the smaller pipes. That is scheduled to be installed next week.

I was working on spotting my gas meter. I am having an odor of natural gas around the stove from time to time. Parrish told me how to spot the meter. So I went around the house and shut down all the gas stops and checked where the meter was at.

I went to my office and got some work done for about fifteen minutes. I did not see any movement so that meant that the leak was not between my meter and the stops. So I had to turn on one appliance at a time and see which one would make the meter move. I turned on the stove and waited for about fifteen minutes. I went out and there was no movement.

I was going to turn on the other stops when Pete gave me a call about a case in Albion. I told him I wanted to go along with him. I left only the oven on and kept everything else shut down. The case took several hours. We had to call for Albion Fire to come help us move the deceased out of the bedroom. It has also started to snow like crazy around the time of the call.

The snow was piling up really fast. We had about six or seven inches in a matter of hours. The highways were getting closed due to the slide-offs and problems. We cleared the scene and made our way back to Pullman. We waited at the funeral home only to find the lady driving the body went the long way back to Pullman. She got stuck in the traffic and ended up turning around and going to Colfax instead.

I left Pete around five o’clock to go back home. I was working the Men’s Basketball game tonight. I got to my place and checked my E-mail. Then I got ready and went to The Deuce for the game. I got some Little Caesars on the way.

The game was good, I was able to go in and out of the first aid room to watch parts of the game. We had a patient near the end of the first half and ended up dealing with her for the rest of the game. So I missed the rest of the game, but the Cougs won it.

Last minute Coroners call

When my alarm clock was sounding I started to get up. I was tired, but I had to get to Pullman to go golfing with Ben. Ryan and Jen also were with us. On the first hole I teed off and hit the ball really high and about twenty feet down the green. Not a good start, but I always seem to do poorly on the first hole. My next shot flew into a tree. We did not see it bounce out. It was stuck in the tree somewhere. I could not find it and ended up dropping a ball. I got an eleven on the first hole. It did not get better after that. I was having a hard time keeping the ball doing what I wanted. A few holes I had a good drive. A couple times I was on the green in three and needed fifteen or twenty foot putts for par. I would usually three putt.

On one hole I spent three shots on the fairway of another hole. Finally losing my ball around the teebox. I had to do a drop, and with the bad hits, it still took me three shots to get the ball to the green which was only forty feet away.

After we were done golfing I went to Zeppoz and no one was there to play poker. It was before the opened. So I stopped by the fire station. I talked to Michael and Brian. Chuck was there and said John was going to stop by. Chuck got called to do a transfer. John came down and we played Halo Two. I was getting my butt kicked. I had never played before. After we played for about an hour or so we played cribbage. I lost at that. John had to get going, so we dealt a couple hands of Texas Hold’em. Then we both left.

I went back to Colfax and watched some TV. Around dinner time I went to Subway and brought it back to the jail. I hung out in control and operated the doors while Dale and Curtis did rounds and a booking. Then I got a phone call from Pullman Regional Hospital. A person had died. After getting some information, I confirmed with Pete we wanted to take jurisdiction. The call came in about seven o’clock pm. I was planning on going to bed at eight because I needed to be up at four am. So I figured that plan was shot.

I drove to Pullman and went to the hospital. Kimballs funeral home was there as well. I had called for them to meet me. I spoke with the family and with one of the people in on the operation. Kimball’s took the body back to the funeral home while I gathered everything I needed to from the hospital.

I went to the funeral home and did my body exam there and well as photographing the body. There was a question that we wanted to do an autopsy. So we put the body in refrigeration. Then I headed back to Colfax to get the report completed. I spoke with Pete a few times about everything I had. He asked me to call the hospital and put a hold on the blood draws. I called the hospital and had them do that.

I went to the SO and printed the pictures out as well as wrote up my report. Because I was going to be gone I wanted to get everything done. Dale came downstairs and we talked a little bit about car accidents and people who died in them.

By the time the report was done and turned in, I would not get much sleep, so I headed back to Renton. I filled my truck and hit the road. I was doing fine for a while, but I planned on stopping at a rest area along the way to nap. I got to the one on top of Vantage hill and I was able to press on. But when I got to the one outside of Cle Elum I decided to stop. I went to the bathroom and then took a hour long nap. I woke up and hit the road again. I got home and went upstairs and went to bed at six-thirty am. I set the alarm clock for eight am. I was in for a long sleep. NOT!

Working extra hard

Today was the code complete day for the VI’s I have been working on. The responses are coming through to my box, but there is still a problem. But with the responses coming back I was able to do some coding and then I also made some assumptions about some of the other code following through with the code that I read. I got some stored procedures completed. One had to be made from the ground up, because the one that existed did not work. I also got the UI to work the way I wanted, but due to the fact I had to get this stuff done, I was not able to leave until almost four o’clock pm. As it turned out we were given one more day for code complete. But it was nice to get it all done and working.

I drove to Pullman and when I got to town I was on call for the coroners office. I went into the jail and hung out there and helped out a little bit with some stuff. But I was not going to stay up too late because I was going golfing in the morning.

Working from Pullman.

Today was my first day working from Pullman. I got into the office and got the VPN set up and signed into my computer. At first I was using terminal services. Then after Ryan and I met for lunch at Pizza Pipeline, I went to the MSFT site and found they have a Remote Desktop application for Windows Two-Thousand. I got it installed and it is much better than terminal services.

After I was done working for the day I went to Colfax for fire training. It was my first one in about six months. It was good to see people. We did some hose evolutions. There was a new guy there. I showed him a few things about the hoses and flaking them, and putting the together.

I sprayed a little bit of water and helped reload the hose. Then I went into the day room and watched House with Ken. After House was over I went to the jail. I had to take my ACCESS re-cert test. I got one-hundred percent on it. I hung out at the jail until just after midnight when I finally went home to go to sleep.

Cleaning up the jail

I did not go to Pullman last night because I wanted to stay up late, so I decided to go into the office today. Before I could do that I had to go clean the doggie doo-doo from the yard. Once I was done I loaded my truck and headed off to work. I worked with Miki a little bit with the information I found on Friday. She is going to work with Dexma on that. While that is happening I am stuck on the issue.

A couple of us went to Red Robin for lunch. I got a chicken sandwich. We chatted about personal stuff. I mainly listened in on what they were talking about and checking out one of the ten-six-seven waiters.

After we got back I sat around the office getting stuff ready to be in Pullman. I got the next issue I need to work on all printed out. I filled my water bottles and then headed to get some gas. Then I was on my way to Colfax.

I got into town a little after six o’clock pm. I decided that I would go work at the jail. I got my uniform on and grabbed some lunch at Arby’s. I went to Control and ate it real quick. We had three people to get booked into the jail. I started to help Dale out with those. Then we started on the third person. But there was only computer work to do. So I got a crew of inmates and we did some cleaning around the jail. I had the halls swept and mopped on the top and bottom floor. I also had the windows washed and walls cleaned where they were dirty.

I found out that one of the guys in my crew was going to be going to AA. So, while I was in the male work release unit I was going to get another person to help out. One young kid was playing ping pong. Then he stopped me to let me know that the visiting booths were really dirty and the windows had hand marks and other marks all over them. Sounds like a volunteer to me. So I had him come along. I think that he will think twice about telling me or any other officer where we need to have cleaning done.

When we were done with the jail. I had them sweep and mop the stairs going to the basement. They were in really bad shape. When the was done I went back to Control and rested for a little bit. My ankle is still tender.

Around eleven o’clock pm a deputy was coming in with a warrant arrest from Pullman. It was an eighteen year-old man. He stole some checks and was trying to pass them off. Have I said how much I hate a thief? When I was done I took him to the green unit and then I remember I did not give him a chance to make some calls. I took him back into booking for that. By then it was after midnight. So I had Dale watch him. I was ready to head home.

Thunder Home Opener

This morning I was woken up by my pager, but I never heard the call out. I missed the call. I went to the station anyway and hung out for a few hours. Ken and I talked about religion and watched a movie call the Doctor. Then I called Reggie because I had not heard from him. He flaked out on me and now I don’t have a spotter. So I started to call everyone in my phone book to see if I could find someone. I could not. As a last resort I called Ryan hoping he would help me out in my time of need. He did not.

I stopped at Big-Five and got some binoculars to use at the game. I drove to the stadium. I met up with Brian. I got the team roster and I got the other teams’ roster. I started to get their names written down if they were hard to pronounce. Several players said hello and shook my hand. It was good to see people. I went into my booth and set up my stuff.

I had a real hard time at first trying to say the offense and defense players when they made the play plus all the announcements. Finally I decided that I would only do defense if it was quick and easy. Other than that I only announced the offense. I think I started to better after that. I still made a few errors with saying things. I got tongue tied at times. But over all I think I did an okay job.

After the game Jerry said he wanted me to be a lot more one-sided in my announcements. He pretty much wants me to be a cheerleader and get people to make noise on third down and other things. I am not sure that it is right, but he is the team owner so I will do so.

After the game I went home. Then I stopped at the jail. I hung out there most of the evening. Ryan tried to call about eight times. I did not answer the phone. I just let it go to voice mail. The last time he tried was about one am. I was not much in the mood to talk with him.

Happy Birthday Nick!

I had big plans for the day. I was going to get a new battery in my truck. I was going to drive the Bumblebee around. I was going to get my trucks’ license renewed. I was going to work at the jail. Then I was going to go to Nick’s surprise birthday party. Well that was all dashed when I woke up a few hours later than I had planned. I set the alarm clock, but did not turn it on.

So I got up and went straight to the jail. I got lunch at Bulldog Pizza on the way. I mainly stayed in control the whole time and then I helped the captain with a computer problem at his house. I had him buy some new equipment for his computer. So I will be installing that stuff for him one of my next trips into town. I went to the auditors office and got new tabs for my truck. While at the jail Sgt Poffenroth asked if she was the only who did not know that John (name changed) was gay. She said that she was really surprised. She said that she had no clue but it was clear that everyone else seemed to know. I played dumb with her and tried to get more information about how she had heard about it. She said everyone knew. One day the topic came up and when she found out, everyone else in the room was shocked that she did not know. I told her that it was just rumors. I said that he had said in the past it was not true. I asked what evidence others had, if John had told them. She said it was the other officers figured it out because of the guy John was always with and whatnot. Then I went home and got ready for Nick’s surprise party. I got Ryan and we drove to Russell’s place.

We were the first there. So we went inside and waited for Russell to show up. When he got there I helped him get a few things set up. Then he went to get Nick and took him out to Dairy Queen for dinner. Everyone else was gathering for the party. When they finally showed up, everyone yelled Happy Birthday. Nick was really surprised. He was happy and had a good time. He did not know we were doing that.

The people at the party were on the left side of the isle politically. So I was the only conservative there. A few of the people were on cougster.com. We talked about the WalMart thing and joked around a little bit. Ryan and I left to get some dinner at Taco Bell in Moscow. The others were planning on going to the Show in Moscow.

Ryan and I went to his apartment. We ate and then played Madden Football. I threw for almost eight-hundred yards of passing. My team is currently undefeated. It is going well. I also spent time when I was not playing trying to get Ryan’s computer cleaned of spyware and viruses.