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.

Spending the Day with Ken

I went to Colfax fire today because I had the day off of work and because I wanted to help Ken with his report and follow up from yesterday’s case. I advised Ken on things to write in his narrative and checked it when he was done writing it.

I was also hanging out waiting for a call to come in. Before I had to leave we did have a call come in. It was a low level call. We didn’t do a lot, but we did transport.

I had to head back to Pullman to work the WSU Volleyball game. It was the last game of the season. They were playing Oregon State. When we got to D street and Colorado I saw lights flashing inside Bohler Gym. I said it looked like a fire alarm. Reed said “they haven’t dispatched one.” Then it was dispatched. We investigated it. It was burnt popcorn. We helped to get everything reset and watched the matches.

The Cougs went on to win in five games. It was need to see.

Another Day in Jail

Another shift working in jail. I worked with a new person today. I helped him book someone in and did a round with him. I worked there until around six o’clock pm. It was pretty uneventful for the most part.

I went to training in Colfax. It was a pretty short one. We went over the cascade system in the rescue and in the station. We learned how to hook up bottles and how to hook the rescue to the in-house system to refill it.

When that was done Carl, Scott, Chris, and I played poker for a couple hours. I won the first hand of the night and couldn’t do anything after that.

My Interview

I was scheduled for an interview at SEL today. It was for eight in the morning. I got up and dressed. I had to scrap my window. Then I got to SEL. I was taken to the interview room which was in a different building. I had three people asking me questions.

I think I did well with the questions that they asked. It took about two hours in total. They did not ask any specific coding questions, just things in general about my previous work. It sounds like there are two others who would be working in the same area as I would work. I would be working to get data from Access databases and move them to SQL server. Then I would build front ends for them in ASP.NET. I am not sure if they job will be a good fit, because I get the feeling they have the normal eight-to-five work schedule rather than the mentality of a development company that gives more flexibility to developers. They may worry about that too, because the main guy did ask me a question about the flexibility that I have.

When I was done with the Interview I got my jail uniform on and went to work in the jail. I had lunch first at the fire station in Colfax and then worked for the next six hours in the jail. I did a partial round, mainly worked as help on the floor doing fingerprints and some stuff with getting inmates to see the nurse.

When it was close to time to go to Colfax Fire a call came in looking for help to package a patient for sending on the helicopter. I went to help out. It was the patient that Colfax fire had transported earlier in the day. I hope everything turns out well for the patient.

I got some dinner and ate at the fire station in preparation for our board and business meeting. When the meeting was over Tim and I watched House before I came back to Pullman.

Strolling To Bellevue

I needed to head out to Renton today, but I didn’t have to hurry. So I took my sweet time this morning. I got my stuff packed and gathered everything I needed before I left to go to Colfax.

I started by going to the Auditors office to turn in my ballot. But Debbie was working out of the commissioners chambers. I walked down there. I turned in my ballot. Debbie and I talked about little about my radio show from yesterday talking about places to register to vote.

After I was done I went to the fire department. I decided to hang out there for a while and go on a call should one come out. But as I sat there it was quiet. We had nothing for the time that I was there.

I wanted to be back in time to see House, so I left Colfax around four in the afternoon. I got some dinner from Rosauser and drove to my mom’s place. Amber was happy to see me.

Work a small wildland fire

This morning Bien said he could not do the drive time so I decided that I would go to Colfax and hang out. I was hoping that I would get to go on a call. after a couple hours of watching movies with Ralph a call went out for Steptoe for a wildland fire. It was close to the Colfax/Steptoe line so we went out with one rig.

When we got there we got the pump started. I got into the catwalk and started to spray out the fire as Clark drove. I was getting the head of the fire extinguished as we drove up the field. I got a lot of fire put out.

Then we were sent to the barn that was starting to burn. I was able to get some water on it pretty quickly. We were able to stop the barn from burning. I helped to build a fire line around the barn and we put out some hot spots before leaving.

I did not have a lot of time before I had to be in Pullman to be on call. The Cougars are also on TV so I wanted to watch it. Bien, Dearth, and I were going to watch it at the station. We got some pizza and watched the game against Cal.

The Cougs did not look very good through out the first half. Then in the second half we started to do some scoring. The TV showed a stat that the Cougs have the fifth longest non-shut out streak in college football. It dates back to eight-four against Ohio State. After the Cal game it is at two-hundred and seventy games.

We went to the final seconds to of the game. We were within a field goal after a late touchdown, but we needed to get an onsides kick. But it was a poor attempt at the kick.

I went home and started to work on my web application. I was able to figure out how to get the calendar to display correctly. It felt good to get it done. Now I need to work on a portion of the web site where I need to add a couple of new tables. But I need to think through how that will work to make sure that I design things to work nicely. I am working on the training and check off reporting. I am not sure exactly how I want it to work, so I decided not to continue working on it until I think it through a bit more.

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.

Typical Tuesday

I made my way to Colfax around the same time on Tuesday evening for fire training. Today it was OTEP in Steptoe. While up there I found out Zach was going to be leaving and heading to the South. That got me thinking about Kentucky Fried Chicken. So I messaged Peter about going to Taco Bell in Moscow. He said he was up for it.

I had to get done with training. It was geriatrics. Not a fun subject unless you want to hear about how you will slowly die over the next thirty years. The scenario was good and I thought I did okay. I could have done better in my interviewing techniques. I should have dug deeper into his history. But I did recognize the need for the BLS things I was able to do.

I got back to Pullman where I got Peter and Danny. We went to Taco Bell, but they were closed so we had to go through the drive thru. We took the food back to Peters and started to watch Harold and Kumar go to White Castle.

I left before the movie was up to get back home and take care of stuff here.

OTEP

We were going to learn about respirator emergencies tonight. A guy from Waterous also stopped in and started to teach us about engineering. But it was a two and a half hour class. But OTEP was tonight too. So we got about twenty minutes. I was disappointed.

I also drove the Dodge for the first time since parking it across from my house in my neighbors spot.

The training did go well though. The guy who taught it was the first time I had him as an instructor. He was in my EMS evaluator class recently. He did well and talked about a lot of things that I had not really heard before.

I got home and got myself packed for the trip back to Bellevue.

Two Weeks in a row

I called again about the notice on the Bumblebee for parking on the street for too long. I am not very happy about it because my neighbor called me in. The neighbor is from across the street and it is not like they want to use the spot. I have no idea what the reasoning for it was. I need to talk to parking services to see what I can do and make sure they will not be problems in the future.

For my second week in a row I made it to Colfax for fire training. I got down there a little early and ate some dinner. We went to the training trailer to do some evolutions and test some hose. That lasted about two hours. We got back to the department and placed the hose out to dry.

I went back to Pullman and I was off to the Zuu. I was going to meet up with Brandon, Peter, and Kevin. They were up there playing pool and enjoying taco Tuesday. Brandon and I talked for a while. I also saw Eric and Michael B. They are playing in a fall co-ed league in Moscow. I was invited to play with them. I am excited about getting to play softball some more.

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.

Back at Fire Training in the ‘Fax

With summer I am playing softball on most Tuesday nights. Then with work over in Bellevue I was gone for some weeks. So I have not been able to make it to many of the trainings in Colfax. I was able to be there tonight.

It felt good to be there. Tonights training was very good. We were broken into groups and were assigned a vehicle. We went through each compartment. Talked about equipment in the compartments and started up the power tools from those compartments.

I drove Engine Three outside and ran the pump. We did hose tests on several of the hoses. We reloaded all the hose lays that we pulled out of the rig. That was the end of training. I learned a lot about the engine.

Scott and I went to Subway afterwards. We had a sub and talked about some of the calls we have had in the past.

Welcome to the new Deputy Coroners

I got my bugs done for the day sort of early so I headed to Colfax early. I figured I would spend some time at the fire station in case of a call. Turns out we did not get a call, but I got to hang with and speak with Ralph for a little while. When it got closer to time for the coroners meeting I went to get some dinner from Arby’s.

I got to the office and I was the first there. Close to the time for the meeting I went to the side door to let the two new deputy coroner’s inside. We have Bill and Ken joining us. Ken is with Colfax fire and Bill was a captain at Pullman fire when I started on the department.

We went through the meeting in the normal way we do it a mix of joking, side tracks, war stories, and learning. I enjoy the meetings.

At the end of the meeting Pete and I were talking about the Easter Massacre. I was telling him about the research that I had done about it in the past. I told him about the shootings and how the official report said that the shooter committed suicide. Pete got interested in it and he is going to look up some information, whatever he can find. We might be going somewhere with this. Stay tuned for that.

Golfing in the ‘Fax

This morning was Joe’s golfing game. It is always an early tee time. I always get there just before the actual tee off time. Today was no different. I spent the normal amount of time hitting trees. In fact I won the award for the most trees hit.

After the golfing I went to Colfax Fire. I hung out for a couple hours. Eric and Rick were there. We watched Rocky. But as the day was going it was very quiet.

I had been needing to do some shopping for a while. I finally got off my duff and made my way to Safeway for a shopping trip.

A lucky day?

With the date being seven/seven/seven people thought it was going to be a lucky day. I wouldn’t say it was a lucky day for me, but it was a good day and I didn’t get struck by lightning, so it couldn’t have been that bad.

Starting out this morning with golf was fun. I was running late getting down to Colfax. I was pulling into the parking lot as the group was heading out to the first tee. But we had two groups and I was able to get part of the second group. I was playing with Carl, Brian, and Diane. My first tee off was very nice. But the day was about normal for my kind of golf. I got a one-thirteen on the eighteen holes. I actually did worse my second time through.

I won a prize for hitting the most trees during my round. I didn’t realize how many times I hit trees, but I counted and I hit about seven per round. That is nearly one per hole on average.

After the golfing it was off to Colfax Fire. I hung out with Ken for a while watching some TV and having lunch. We were watching Mythbusters. Around four I had to leave to get back to Pullman to be on call here. I told Ken that I was done keeping it quiet for him. I was going to be heading out.

When I got home I heard Colfax get dispatched out to a car vs motorcycle accident. That had to have been dispatched shortly after I left. I really was keeping it quiet.

I got cleaned up and went to the station for rig checks. We were talking about Rescue and being a driver. A. Wilcox asked if he could ever go on the ambulance and not be the drive all the time. I told him that because of the fact he doesn’t have all the Rescue training he shouldn’t be the driver at all.

We then went out and did some training at the tower with setting up the rig, putting water on the fire, doing pump and roll attacks and other such scenarios. We did a good two hours of training.

Afterwards Bien bought the ice cream he owed for getting into the newspaper. We went to Dissmores to get that. Back at the station we had some cake and ice cream. I went to Peter’s afterwards for poker. I was not doing too well. I had one big win, then I had a big loss where I tried to push someone off a hand when mine was weaker. But he did not get off his hand and ended up beating me. I re-bought a couple times. I was sort of up and down on my third buy-in.

When the tones went off for a call. I quickly went all-in and Kevin called me. I ended up winning that all in and left. I was only down two bucks on the night after that point. I had the best hand after the flop and took it to the river as the winner.

I went on the call followed by a second call just as the movie Desperado was starting. I was hoping to watch to the scene where the bar is shot up. But I got called out to a second call at the very beginning of the movie. That was it for calls. I went to bed around three in the morning.

First Coroners Meeting this Summer

I had to get several things done today. I needed to cash some checks. Put money from one bank to another to pay for the laptop computer. I also planned on getting the license for my boat today.

But around one in the afternoon a call came out for a tree on fire. I wasn’t going to go, but when they asked for Rescue I went to the station to find it was not even there. Bien came down and we went to the scene. We took the old Rescue. It was a pretty good sized grass fire.

It was pretty much out when we got there. But we helped with some of the overhaul. Then we helped get one of the engines back in service.

After that call I got cleaned up and did my bank runs followed by a trip to Colfax. After the licensing of my boat I went to the jail. I was there for a few minutes when a call for the fire department went out. I ran over and got in with Ken in the engine. We did not transport. I was back at the station hanging out until it was time for dinner.

I grabbed some food and went to the coroners office for our first meeting in a couple months. It was Patti’s last regular meeting as she is moving to Spokane. It was not be the same without her around. I am now going to be the senior Deputy Coroner. Pete is planning on hiring two or maybe three people. We talked about the people on the list. We gave the pros and cons of the people on the list that we knew. Pete is going to work on the decision for the final hirings.

I then went back to Pullman. My ankle was killing me and I was thinking about not responding, but I decided that I was not going to be a whimp. I did wrap it and ice it. That really helped. After about a half hour of that the pain was nearly gone.

I went to bed around midnight. The tones went off for a motorcycle accident on SR one-ninety-four. I talked to a deputy on the scene and he said he just happened on the accident. He was doing something else and he just found the motorcycle laying there and it was one fire and someone was sitting there. That was our only call of the night.

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.

OTEP Trainer didn’t show up

I went to Colfax because the softball game was rained out tonight. I went down to Colfax early in hopes of making it out on a call should one go out. But as I sat there nothing was happening at all.

We went to Steptoe for OTEP training, but the trainer never showed up. We sat around for about thirty minutes. When no one showed up still we all left to go back to the station.

I was at the station and we watched NCIS and House. During the last fifteen minutes of House we got a call from a hemorrhage. When we got to the scene, there was a lot of stuff in the way we had to move to get the patient out. We called for some back up to help get the person out.

Once we were at the hospital we were asked to stay around because there was a possibility that we would be doing an emergency transfer to Spokane. We waited around for about an hour and we ended up not doing the transfer. So we went back to the station. Resupplied the ambulance and then I was on my way back home.

EMS Week at Sunnyside

It is the start of EMS week and today we were going to Sunnyside to visit with the first graders. I was going to be taking photos and moving around between the two groups. But then I was told to do the tours around the back of the ambulance. That made it so I could not take photos.

The tours went okay. I did have one group that had no interest in what was in the ambulance. They was sort of annoying. Most of the groups were good though.

We had lunch with the kids and went out to the playground to have recess with them. I played some football with the kids. I also watched a couple on the monkey bars. They all wanted me to watch them do something.

When that was done I went to home to order my toner for my printer and headed to Colfax. We got an omega call that turned into something more. I got to do patient care and do the HEAR report on the way in. When I did the BP I got a super low result. I had someone else do it and he got the same values as I did. That is why we decided to transport.

We were having the second day of our wildland fire class. I missed the first day. Today we deployed the shelters and learned about communication and some watchout situations.

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.

Softball Signups!

Getting up this early, I had to get to the rec center to sign up for the softball team. I was the first one in the Men’s Comp on Sunday nights. It is not like it use to be when there was a line down the hall of the CUB with people waiting to get a team. Now you can show up hours after the sign ups start and still get your team.

My schedule showed a Coroner’s meeting as well as a meeting to get signed up for teaching recruit classes. That meeting started at one o’clock pm. I got to the station just in time for the meeting to start. It lasted about an hour talking about the schedule of the academy as well as getting people signed up for it.

I was at home working on some stuff there before heading to Colfax for the Coroner’s training. I stopped by the fire department in Colfax to let them know I would not be there for training because I was going to the coroners meeting. I also had Ken’s pocket knife and returned it to him. He gave me a lot of crap, in jest, but it was fun.

I went to the coroners meeting and no one show up. After a while I called Pete and there was no meeting tonight. So I went to the Colfax Fire training. I was a little late but I was able to be there for most of the training. We were doing stuff with setting up Command.

Got My Letter Finally

I got the letter that shows my OC training was completed. I am going to send that off to Mercer Island so I don’t have to get sprayed with OC again.

I delivered the laptop computer to Poffenroth today as well. At Colfax Fire we had our Board and Business training.

I did some more research on the camera for the coroners office. I am hoping that we can get them. It is a Kodak camera with a twelve-x zoom.

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.

Monthly Coroners Meeting

When I got to Colfax I wanted to get a couple things taken care of, so I started at the SO and I talked to Jodie about my OC spray training records. I also saw Tom. I was debating about asking him how he knew about me, but I opted not to.

I went to Colfax fire and hung out there for quite a while. I looked at Tim’s CAD drawings of the well incident. They are doing a critique on it today. But because of the Coroners meeting I couldn’t stick around.

I went back to the SO and down to the coroners meeting. It was pretty much same ol’ stuff. We got our schedule done for next month, followed by covering some of the cases we had over the last six weeks or so. We have not been too busy on the weekends lately.

Falling down a well

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

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

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

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

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

Firefighters Look Down Well

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

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

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

General EMS Training

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

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

Superbowl Party

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firefighter I Instructor Class, Day Two

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

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

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

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

Firefighter Instructor I Class, Day One

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

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

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

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

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

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

EVAP Driving

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

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

EVAP Training

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

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

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

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

Quarterlies

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

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

CPR and Airway Training

Today fire training in Colfax was CPR and airway training. I got to the fire station just after six-thirty. So I missed the first set of rigs leaving for Steptoe. I did make it on the last rig to leave Colfax with the other people who were late.

We were covering CPR and airway certifications and recerts. We also covered cardiac emergencies.

When the training was done I went to work on Scott’s printer. It has been having problems off and on at the fire station for the last few months. It is a pain in the butt and I don’t know why it keeps getting knocked off. But I got it working before I left to come back to Pullman.

A Year in Review

Jan – I Have Problems with Vomit – I was dealing with the patient when the patient fell over and started to puke. I was doing well until about the third time puke came flowing. Then I started to dry heave hard core. My second one was so bad. I was facing a cop who jump and got out of the way because he thought I was going to puke. After having my dry heaves keep going, Chris got there and saw me. He asked if I was okay. At first he thought I had gotten hit or something. Shane told him what was going on. Chris said I should just go downstairs. My pride was hurt hardcore. I did not feel really bad, it just sucked going downstairs with people watching.

Feb – Grandma Dalen Died – After about thirty minutes of trying to sleep the pager went off for a call. But it was about seven in the morning so I decided not to go. I was way too tired. About fifteen minutes later I got a phone call from Mom. I had a feeling what it would be. I was correct. My grandma had died over-night. So now I had to figure out how to get to North Dakota.

Mar – Mariners Spring Training – You can get really close seats at Spring Training. We got to see a lot of the Mariners players. It is a pretty neat experience. Everyone is very laid back. We were always sitting close to the field. Close enough to hear the umpires and players speak. Very strange in deed.

Apr – Championship Game – We got to the South Fairway fields into for our game. Don’t Care is our opponent. They are a very good team who have not lost a game yet. We had to be on our A-game. We started off well. And early on had a small two-run lead. But as soon as we got it, they went to work, coupled with several errors, cost us eight-runs. So we were down by six. After that it is like the team gave up a little bit. We could not hit the ball and ended up losing the game. We are the number two team in the competitive league this year! So we are happy about that.

May – I Have Sleep Apnea – Dave and I left around midnight. We had chatted through out the day about the CPAP machine and his situation. He also has a CPAP machine. I got some distilled water for the humidifier. I went home and had it all set up.

Jun – Tory and Brandt Died – I thought about Tory. He fit all the descriptors. He lived on Merman, he had past medical problems and he is about twenty-nine. So I got this sinking feeling in my gut…I met Brandt through Garrett a couple years ago out boating. I have written about him in my blog before. He loved to go balls to the wall on the tube. He was fun to have around boating. I have been trying to find out when he is coming back to the area to get him out boating again.

Jul – Becoming an Engineer – We went to the tower and pumped water for about an hour and a half. I took a hydrant. I flowed water and simulated the foam. I set up the relief valve and calculated friction loss and the whole works. I passed the test so now I am an engineer.

Aug – Sold My Colfax House – I got a call today from my real estate agent. He said the paperwork is signed and I can start to move my stuff from the house. I have set the plans in motion with renting a new storage place that is larger. I also sent out an E-mail to a lot of people looking for help. I am willing to throw a kegger with a free-roll Texas Hold’em tournament for those who help.

Sept – Crew Leader Anderson – I will forever remember the day I became crew leader. It is “the day.” September Eleventh. Five years after the terrorist attacks on America.

Oct – Mercer Island Boat Patrol – While at work today I got an E-mail from Heston regarding employment on a Mercer Island boat patrol. I jokingly asked Heston if he would miss me this summer. He sent me contact information for the Sgt in charge of the boat patrol. I called him up and he wants me to meet with him when I got to Seattle next week.

Nov – Buying a House – Following the show Peter and I went to Moscow to get my boat. We took it to my place and put it into the garage. It fits in there. I was happy about that. Peter and I went around the house. He thought it was a nice looking place. I think over all I am going to be happy with it.

Dec – Thirteen Deaths on the Roads – I got on scene of a truck that had rolled pinning the victim. I did my photos and investigation. Following that I went to the funeral home to complete the investigation. I also went to the coroners office to do my paperwork and print the photos. Pete showed up there and we went over the case and the photos.

This was pretty hard there were about four different things I wanted to post about in September, but I think the longest lasting is my promotion to Crew Leader at Pullman Fire. Over all one thing that has been big the final three and a half months is the high number of traffic fatalities in Whitman County. We were averaging about one death a week. I also had my chance to be the IC on a major call for Colfax Fire.

It has been an interesting year that has allowed me another job with Mercer Island. I also got a lot of experience with the coroner’s office on two suicide hangings and many car accidents as well as other deaths.

Today, to start off the new year Brian and I were on Rescue running some calls today. We started with three calls for the night. We broke the ought-seven ice for both EMS and fire calls. But they were all pretty minor calls.

Poker Night in Colfax

Russell came over to my place and helped me remove hard drive from some of the computers I was giving away. I found though that there were four computers in the garage I am not getting rid of at this point. So I will have six computer cases sitting around unless I take some time to go through them and get rid of them. I think I will have to do that, but I don’t have the time any time soon. I need to make a list of things I want to get done and put them in order by priority.

After we were done with the computer we went to Moscow. First to Walmart followed by Office Depot, then to Hastings. We looked at the selection of gay magazines. Then we went to the mall. Starting by going to Macy’s and then down to the bed and bath place. That is probably the most gay place to be in the mall. Perfect for us I suppose.

When we walked inside there was a ten-six-seven working. I spent some time trying to figure out if he was family or not. After watching him and his actions I started to think that, plus the fact he chose to work there. At one point when I talked to him it was pretty clear he was family. I was looking at getting some oils that when heated give off a pleasant odor. I chose not to when I saw the prices for everything.

We left there and I took Russell back to my place so he could get to sleep so he could work.

I got ready to hit Colfax for some poker. I got someone to cover for me at the fire department. We played a dealers choice game down there. Jim, Connie, Scott, Carl, Kathy, and I were there for several hours playing poker. I ended up losing some. Connie, the newbie, and Kathy did okay. I think Jim won some money as well.

I was down there until nearly one in the morning when the game finally broke up. I my way back to Pullman I called Whitcom to let them know I was on call for the coroner. I also asked to talk to Jamie.

I had thought of a joke that only certain people could really understand. It went like this:

Did you hear Saddam was executed? (The other person will usually make some sort of comment whether it is sarcastic or just affirming that they had heard.)
I guess he was given three options for method. Hanging, firing squad, or driving on One-Ninety-Five.

Today was a good day. It was enjoyable to go out with Russell and walk around some stores as well as playing some poker with my friends from Colfax Fire.