Bruce’s Goodbye Party

After getting up I worked on getting my stuff together so I could get back to Renton this evening.  I fueled up and ran a couple other errands before hitting Bruce’s house.  He invited a handful of people over for a steak and baked potato meal and football.  We watched the Seahawks and Cowboy’s game.  The Seahawks took it to Arizona and with St. Louis going down the Seahawks have sole possession of the NFC West.  JoeJoe, Web, and Pentico also were there.  The steak was good and we had a lot of good laughs.

Bruce is leaving with his family to New Mexico.  It is too bad we didn’t get to play softball this last IM season (due to fields being upgraded).  We ripped on each other and talked about the upcoming season of softball.

After being at Bruce’s I went to the fire station for our weekly rig checks.  We tore through the engine and rescue fixing problems and cleaning the bay.  I headed from the fire station to the sheriff’s office.  I needed to go through the October hours and get the spreadsheet updated.  While I was there I helped Sgt. Anderson with his presentation that he has coming up for the reserve academy.

I hit the road around nine in the evening and cruised on to Renton.  The drive over was pretty smooth.  A little fog in Whitman County and some rain as I got towards the pass and Issaquah.  I got in around one in the morning and got to bed.  I didn’t sleep well over the weekend and I am not going to get much sleep going into tomorrow either.

I am a Bad Guy

I couldn’t sleep very well this morning.  I sort of tossed and turned and I was up about five hours after going to bed.  I sent a text to KStew to find out if I would be inside or outside doing the mock scenes for the interns.  He said I would probably be inside most of the time.  I decided to wear shorts.  KStew asked me to wear a long sleeve shirt. 

I was supposed to be there at noon, but I got called in early.  I grabbed some pop and went to the WSU PD.  I was paired up with Brock.  My first role was that of a really drunk guy who was going to need detox.  I was supposed to have very little interaction with the interns.  I was just supposed to lay there and make noises.

One intern was asking me questions.  I didn’t really answer.  Once in a while I would give a one word answer.  In once case he asked when I was born.  I was February.  Then he asked what year.  I said two-thousand-and-ten.  He then said “you’re pretty big for nine months old.”  I started to laugh.  He was the only one who made me break character.

Then I was in the role of a drug dealer.  When I get contacted by the police I am supposed to drop a baggie and walk away.  I am supposed to keep walking until they stop me.  Something I made it a couple steps.  Other times I was able to get outside of the building.

It was fun to somewhat mess around with the interns.  I would try to lay down some clues and see if anyone would pick up on them.  I also had props hidden on my person to see if the interns would do a good pat down to find them.

While I was doing that Ryan was texting me with updates about the Cougs.  The Cougs were beating Oregon State when I left WSU.  It wasn’t until I started to listen to the game that the Cougs stumbled for the first time in the game.  There was a fumble followed by a touchdown for Oregon State.  I got home and watched the rest of the game on TV.  The Cougs won.  It was the first Pac-Ten game since Apple Cup ought–eight.  That was a span of sixteen Pac-Ten games.

I got my uniform on and went to the SO.  I got a car ready and was going to hit the road.  I was with Jordan for a while outside chatting when a Colfax cop was going to a call.  We went to back him up.  A couple others came as well.  We ended up staying with our cars because two Colfax cops covered the call.

I went back to the SO and I ended up helping Sgt. Anderson with a presentation for the Reserves.  I helped him create some PowerPoint slides based off some of my notes from my Reserve Academy.  By the time I left it was almost ten o’clock.  I went to Pullman for dinner with Matt.  Boyd and Harris were also there.  I was later than them so I ordered and ate my food quickly.

We talked about the random stuff that we always seem to chat about in some sort of way.  We joked and ripped on each other.

After dinner I worked the road for several hours.  It was a pretty slow night.  I got one guy for a big speed and he had several other problems.  When it was done I could have tagged him for almost fifteen hundred bucks.  But I only wrote him for speeding.  So he was very thankful to get a two hundred dollar ticket.

I went north and hit some roads up there.  But I didn’t see much of anything.  I called it a night and wrote up my ticket around three in the morning.  When I got home I watched some of my recorded TV shows before I went to bed.

Cougs Lose a Winnable Game

I worked the Cougar Football game.  I was working the Fieldhouse with Jensen then we went to processing.  I would go out to the concourse from time to time to watch the game.  But it seems like when I went out there the Cougs would have a downturn, so I spent most of my time inside of processing.  It was a pretty slow game.  In fact the stadium was about half full.  It was ugly to see.  While in processing every joked around and watched football. 

This was a game the Cougs should have won.  The last two drive the Cougs had plenty of time to do some rushes mixed in with the passes, but we went with three straight passes followed by a punt.  That was our final two possessions.  I was mad that we didn’t try to run on first down and get some yardage so the passes wouldn’t have to be long ones.

Following the game I got my rig and went home and changed into my deputy uniform to go out and patrol the mean streets of the County.  I was working with Knox.  He hadn’t been out much because of harvest.  But we had been working on finding a day we could go out together.  It was so dead out there.  We had no calls for service and we only stopped about ten cars the whole night.  It was the opposite of last Saturday when I didn’t stop running.

Poker Tournament

I played in my second ever Washington State Poker Tour tournament.  I played a couple years ago and this time around I planned on doing better.  The field was smaller than the last time I played, but I knew many of the people there are good.

I won a couple smaller pots.  I got a full-house with one person in it with me.  I also lost a couple pots along the way.  But after the first break the re-buys ended and people did add-ons.  I hoped that I would start getting some cards to play with but I still wasn’t getting a lot of cards. 

Sitting around the room were lots of guys.  It is a guys only event.  There were a couple ten-six-sevens.  There was one at my table I was trying to figure out.  He wore a light weight coat the whole time we were there.  He had tats going down both arms.  I am not a big fan of lots of tats, but there was something that kept my attention.

I finally got dealt a K-Seven suited.  Two of the three cards that hit were of the same suit.  I also paired my King.  I checked to the guy who has raised pre-flop.  He bet and I went over the top all-in.  But it was only about double his original bet.  He called.  He had pocket Q’s to go with a Queen on the board.  He had a set to my pair.  I needed a heart to hit the board to allow me a victory.  It didn’t come and I was knocked out. 

I went to the cash that was starting up.  We were playing dealers choice.  The game was Crazy Pineapple.  I got a pair of Kings and a three pre-flop.  The three and one of the Kings were suited.  The flop came and we threw away some cards.  I threw away the three.  I was sitting on two pair.  The flop had a pair of eights.  One guy bet and I called.  Then the turn brought another eight.  He bet and I called.  The river came and he put me all in.  I had a good full-house.  But I couldn’t beat his quads.  That knocked me out.

I went to Redmond High School to watch Logan play is football game.  It was a night game.  They lost.  I headed home and went to see a movie.  I chose to see The Other Guys.  It was pretty funny.  The theatre on the West Valley Highway only charges three bucks.  The ticket taker was ten-six-seven.  As I walked up he caught my eye.  He was wheelchair bound and very friendly to talk to.  I wanted to stick around and talk to him some more.  I guess that is a second reason to go to that theatre…  the other being really cheap.

Cougar Football

Today was Cougar Football Saturday.  Today the Cougs were going against Arizona.  My article about the Cougs came out in the paper today.  I pretty much said that when someone tries to rebuild a college football program that was at the very bottom, it takes about four years to build it back.  We are seeing some shining moments out of the Cougs now.

I worked the Rescue during the game.  I watched most of the game, but we got called to one open fire that we had to put out.  Other than that there were no calls.  After the game we did parking lot patrols for illegal fires.  Fires are okay as long as they are in approved containers.

We walked through several parking lots.  We talked with people and watched some other football games on the various TV’s people had set up through out the stadium.

I was on call for the fire department as well.  It was pretty slow we ran two calls and a third one just before four in the morning.  We were cancelled en route to the final call.  It was pretty slow for a football weekend.

Cougar Football Saturday

Today is the first day that I worked as a deputy at a football game.  I was excited for that.  I got to the SO and got a car ready.  Elllsworth and I went to WSUPD for briefing.  I was assigned to work with Hansen on the field.  That would mean I wouldn’t have many contacts with people but I was going to be taken care of.  Before the game we went to the pressbox and hung around up there for a while.  We got stuff ready for the command post for the game.  Then we took our position on the field.  It is my second time being on the field for a football game.

Being September Eleventh they had the honor guard from PFD and PPD work with the ROTC guys to do the flag.  They didn’t have a huge production like I was expecting.

At half time we ran the refs to their locker room and then escorted them back to the field.  In the third quarter we went to command and Hansen took it over.  We were there until near the end of the fourth quarter.  We got some food from there as well as warm cookies.  It was good stuff.  Before the game ended we went back to the field to escort the refs back to the locker room. Then our job was done.

The Cougs looked flat for most of the game.  It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the defense stepped up and made some big plays.  It was because of that we were able to stay in the game and score some points.  We ended up winning by one point.

When the game was done Ellsworth and I went back to Colfax.  I went to Rosauers for some dinner and then out to the fairgrounds.  I was working out there until the morning doing patrols.  I was pretty tired, but for the first couple hours there was a dance and stuff going on.  But shortly after the dance thing quieted down and it got boring.  Matt and I watched some movies and the we did a round.  There was nothing going on.  It was very cold outside and we used little heaters to help keep the command post warm for us.  I stayed there until about seven-thirty in the morning when I left to go home.  I was very tired and ready to go to bed.

Final Thunder Football Game

This morning I did the first thing with the SO in the last couple weeks. We had boat patrol training. We were learning how to do the boat safety inspections and did some driving of the boat. That was from eight to eleven. I headed home and took a nap because I was really tired. We always have those sleep-deprived nights at the fire department when I am not able to sleep in the next day.

I then headed down to Lapwai for the final Thunder game of the season. There were only fourteen people for the Thunder. I said I should have brought my uniform. But there is no way I could have played. My ankle was not feeling well at all. They were out-manned and it was bad. They were tired and lost the game. I got to the top of the Lewiston grade when I realized I left my sunglasses in the PA booth. So I drove back to Lapwai and picked them up.

Then I went home and called Shane about his house warming party. I went over to his place. Kuhrt, BKoe, and some others were there. I had some pop and we sat around talking for several hours. Then a lot of them got into the hot tub. I hung out there for a while longer, then I went home to go to bed and get some sleep. I was pretty tired after the last day and a half.

The Thunder Win!

I was playing in a softball tournament in Lewiston this weekend. Our first game we played against a team we should have beat. They were not that great, but we couldn’t hit. I was hitless in the game. That really sucked. The team we played against had this guy who played catcher. He had brown eyes, but he was well built. Just a bit shorter than me. He had short hair. I was playing catcher too so I was able to check him out as he came to the plate each time.

I was dragging because of how late I was up. Several of us went to Sharps for lunch while waiting for our next game. We were waiting at the field. But a storm was moving in. It hit hard about twenty minutes before the game was to start. The rain caused a b ig delay in the game. I had to leave to do the Palouse Thunder football game. So I took off and headed to Lapwai.

I got to the field and got my stuff set up in the booth. The music was playing and I worked on getting the roster from the Columbia Basin Riverhawks squared away. The interested thing about football is that there are people of all shapes that play. There is always eye candy at such games. The Thunder went on to win. It was close for the first half, but the second half they pulled away. But the Riverhawks only had fifteen people on the team so they were playing both ways and they were getting tired.

Back in the PA Booth

I spent the morning preparing for my return to the PA booth for the Palouse Thunder. Today’s game was pre-season against Spokane Wolfpack. I got to the field and got my stuff ready and set up. Then I helped get the field ready by putting out the yard markers and end-zone markers.

Then it was time to announce. I was rusty today. It took some time to get into a groove. Even then I still make my normal errors, mispronouncing names. It is any wonder I was asked to come back. But I do like to do it and watch the team. The Thunder won the game today. It was sort of sloppy at times but the Thunder was able to pull out a rare win.

Following the game, I had thought I would go to bed early and work the road tomorrow. But I was done a little earlier than I thought I would be, and I went ahead and hit the road. I was able to get six hours in.

Super Party for the Bowl

After sleeping in until the noon hour I finally started my day, but I was running late. I was suppose to be at the Morgan’s by this time. So I hurried up and got ready. I got my uniform loaded into the Bumblebee. I headed off to the store to get some M&Ms. As I was getting to Dissmores I saw it was packed. The parking lot had people driving around and there was no obvious spaces available. I thought Safeway might not be as bad. But I was wrong. It was packed too. I got my stuff and headed to Ron and Heather’s place.

There were a lot of people already there. I had some food and talked for a small period of time. Because I was running late I decided that I wasn’t going to stay very long.

I got down to the station around two in the afternoon. I sat down for a game of seven-card-no-peak-baseball. I lost, but I bet a lot of quarters along the way. I ended up knocking some other people out of the game.

We stopped after that game for a while and had some food as it was getting close to game time. We watched the game for a little bit as everyone was eating. Then it back to playing. I won a couple pots, but I was draining money. The thing about poker there is pretty much everyone plays to the end of many of the games. There are very few tight people.

As it was getting towards the end of the poker night and the game there was a large amount of money in the pot. We were playing R.F. and there was a fair amount of money in the pot. I would guess around ten bucks. With the two dollar limit, it was five to one odds more or less. So I stayed in with three hearts and no wilds. That is sort of crazy to do. But I got a heart and a wild for a flush. That was enough to win. That win put me up on the night.

Once that was done I went to the SO and completed the last couple paragraphs of my report for last Sunday’s case. Then I hit the road. I went North and made a stop. I saw four cars go by me at between eighty-two and seventy-nine. But with all the traffic around me I wasn’t able to get to them before I lost sight of them. So I continued through Colfax hoping they would continue their speeding ways and I would pace them. But that wasn’t to be. I did get one for expired tabs on the South side of Colfax. Then I went to Albion and worked there for a while. It was very dead so I went to some other county roads outside of Pullman.

While out there I was dispatched to a Nine-One-One hang up near Palouse. Everything was okay there. I went to Palouse-Cove road. But I only saw two cars the whole time on the road. I sat and ran stationary radar and read some RCW’s while I waited.

I went South to Airport road and Two-Seventy. I was out on Two-Seventy when I heard a domestic get put out in Palouse. I started to head that way. I took it easy going through Pullman and then hit Twenty-Seven. I got on scene shortly after the Town Marshall.

The night was drawing to a close, so I worked my way back to the SO because I had paperwork to complete before going home for the night.

Apple Cup at the Moose

I was invited to go to the Moose and watch the Apple Cup with the gang. I got there just before kick off. I was invited to help myself to some food they had there. I ate and had some pop. I am on call tonight so I cannot have anything more than pop.

As the game was going on I thought the Cougs had a chance. They were down by thirteen after half, but I was mad they didn’t try to score when they had the ball and some time on the clock to at least try something.

The second half things went down hill. We ended up losing by a shutout. I cannot believe how horrible things are right now. But I believe we will see things look up in the next two years.

I had to leave before the game was done to get my uniform and do the daily rig checks at the station.

I went home. Brandon, Kevin, and I played some games. We played for a couple hours before Brandon had to go to bed. I went to bed myself around midnight. I need to get up and patrol tomorrow.

Before I got to sleep, I tossed and turned in bed for a while. Finally I was drifting off to sleep when a call came in for a Delta Response for a Structure Fire at the Elmhurst apartments. Pretty much every firefighter in Pullman knows that is a bad news place. It is very old building and it would be a big fire should one happen.

This time it was only an overcooked pizza.

Getting Sick

It sucks but I am getting a little sick. I have a cough and a running nose. I don’t like to be sick. It doesn’t stop me, just makes me a little miserable.

I completed my coroner’s report for the suicide I worked. It was the longest report I have done to date. In total it was five pages. I think it would have been preventable if one person had the whole picture. It was tragic.

I went to My Office this evening and hung out with CBass and BKoe. Richards from the FD came down as well. We watched MNF. Jeff, the owner of My Office, was there and we all talked. Jeff shared some funny stories about somethings that happened with in here in Pullman.

Richards and I played pool. We played about five games. I won three of them. I shot pool very sharp when we started, but I got worse as the night went on. I am not sure why.

Final Cougar Football Saturday of the Year

I had breakfast with the boys and Jon before heading to the fire station. I went to The Deuce and picked up the minivan and some EMS equipment. I went to station one. I hung out there having some lunch and talking with some of the guys as we waited for the briefing. After which we headed to the stadium. I was working as the runner.

I spent the whole day in the South Aid Room, aside from the times when I walked to the top of the seats to see some game action in person. The Cougs looked good for the first half, considering all other factors. We were only eleven points out. But the second half belonged totally to Oregon State. The number of people at the game is horrible. I heard there were about eight thousand total. I am not sure if it was that few for sure, but it surely was empty.

We got some free pizza from Pizza Hut. They gave away all their remaining pizzas to people around the concourse level.

After the game I went home. We ordered some Pizza Pipeline. We also got Tricky Sticks. The boys love it. We ate the pizza and watched some TV. Before it got too late I went to my den and worked more on my suicide report. It is a very long report. It took a while to write it up and I still have some more I need to do.

When I was done I was looking at the Seattle Times website. There was an article about suicide awareness. I read it. There was one person talked about in the article. I soon realized it was a case that happened here in Whitman County.

I stayed up reading some suicide resources before heading off to bed around one in the morning.

Another Cougar Loss

This morning with only four hours of sleep I was up and getting ready for Cougar Football. I got my uniform on and drove to The Deuce to give the van keys to Michael. I had forgotten to put them in the keybox when I left the station last night.

I was going to the station when I got a call from the developer lead of the contract I was interviewing for. It went about thirty minutes total. Kittelson and I went to station one together in my rig. We went down for lunch and the game briefing. I had a couple hamburgers and enjoyed the company of everyone until the briefing started.

I am working North One with Kittelson. Bien is going to be coming to the game to meet up with us and hang out. We stopped at Safeway to get some pop and supplies for the game. I found that Safeway switched from Pepsi to Coke. I was very annoyed by this. I am going to write some letters about this.

We got to the stadium and made our way to our place over the tunnel. It wasn’t too bad on the weather side of things to start. I was wondering how my ankle would deal with the standing around. I was a hurting unit by the end of the game. Without a doubt. I hope things will get better. Kittelson and I talked about being a reserve sheriff. Keith showed up and we watched the game together. Bien made is way around a little bit going to see Reed and a couple others. For the most part he stayed with us the whole time.

The Cougs were not doing too well. They threw three INT’s in the first quarter along. UCLA scored on their first possession because of the first INT the Cougs gave up. UCLA had a short field for a lot of the first quarter. The Cougs were only able to score one touchdown the whole game. The Cougs were having such a hard time they fans cheered for firstdowns. By half time many of the fans had left this extremely cold game. Near the end of the game one could almost count the number of people left. The Cougs went on to lose.

When it was done we went back to the station and turned in our equipment. I went home and took some medicine for my ankle and had some dinner. I was meeting up with Victor for working Jeff Duhman at Beasley. I was looking forward to working that event. We made our way to Beasley. The doors were open and people were pouring in. It looked like a lot of people were going to be coming. I hung out in the first aid room for the opening act. Once it came time for Dunham to come on I went to the place where we stage on the concourse level. He came up on stage to a lot of cheers. There were a couple bits it was doing that was cracking me up. I was laughing really hard. He did a couple things on the local area and poked a little bit of fun at the football game.

It was a good show and people were having a good time. Once it was done I went home. It was nearly eleven-thirty at night. I got a hold of Keith who was over at Reed’s. He had me come over and bring some batteries. I went to Dissmores to get the batteries. They only had two lines open so it took a while to get through the line.

I got to Reed’s and we played some Rock Band. It was my first time playing. I had a good time playing that. I had a couple beers while I was there. Keith was crunk in a big way. He was starting to go down hill while I was there. I think he is going to be hating life. Before I left it wasn’t liking life too much as it was. I went home around two-thirty in the morning. I didn’t stay up too late before going to bed. I was really tired because I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

Double Win for the Boys

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

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

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

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

Two Losses in IM’s tonight

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Come From Behind Victory

This morning I got up early to help with making the meal for the football game today. I got to the fire station and helped with the final aspects of the meal. I was sort of tired from not getting a lot of sleep last night.

We had burritos. It was a good meal. Then we made our way to the stadium. I was working North One. It was a slow and boring game, quite frankly. I was not impressed with the ability of the defense to stop SMU. The offense was lackluster. It just was ugly. By the fourth quarter a lot of the people had left the game. But the Cougs had run two interceptions back for touchdowns.

Then with minutes to go in the game the Cougs got the ball back and had a chance to tie it up. By this time more people started to come back to the stadium. Soon the Cougs scored and got the PAT. Now we are tied and it went to overtime. On the first play SMU threw an interception in the endzone.

We went out there and ran the ball a couple times. A fieldgoal was attempted and made. We won the game and a lot of fans ran on the field. They were excited about the come-from-behind victory. It was funny to think we would storm the field after beating SMU, but I think the way we won caused great excitement.

When the game was done we went back to the station and got everything taken care of.

I went home and decided to lay down on my bed for a while. Without a doubt I knew I would fall asleep. I did and didn’t wake up until five in the morning. I was tired.

Potlatch Softball Tournament

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Was Too Whimpy

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

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

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

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

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

Met a New Man

The plan for the day was pretty simple, go to the Colfax football game and meet Gunnar. The first part went well as did the second part.

I heard the ambulance leave Colfax on their way to the game. So I talked to one of the guys on the Ambulance and then headed to Martin Stadium to watch the game. It was a semi-final game between Colfax and Asotin. Early in the game a player of Colfax got hurt. I ended up transporting him to the hospital. In the end Asotin was too big and over powered Colfax. They lost.

When the game was done I met up with Gunnar. We have been e-mailing back and forth the last two days and decided that we wanted to watch the movie Scream. So he called me up. We met at Starbucks. We sat there talking for a while. He is working on a project and he told me a little about what he is doing.

Then we went to Blockbuster. I bought a couple movies but we didn’t find Scream. We went to Video Quest and found it. We rented it and went to my place to watch it. Following the movie we sat around and talked as the TV was on in the background. In all we talked until nearly two o’clock in the morning.

We talked about a lot of different subject. It was very easy to talk to him. He is twenty-one years old and going to WSU and is planning on going into law. We have that in common. Well more so that I wanted to go into law. We talked about our homosexuality, but that was not a huge part of the night, it was just a small part.

When it was time for me hit the hay, I gave him a ride home. He was impressed that I was real and was true to my word about who I was and the way I acted.

The End of an Era

I started out this morning with doing the cooking for breakfast for the football game. I really was hoping that I would be the one working the game on the field. The Cougs are playing USC. As it turned out I was working the field. I was so excited about that fact.

After breakfast we had the briefing and then made our way to the field. It was neat to be down on the field. As the game went on it was clear the Cougs were in big trouble. It has been two-hundred-and-eighty games since the Cougs have been shut out. That goes back to the Eight-Four season. But the Cougs couldn’t get it across mid-field let alone coming close to scoring any points.

As the game went into the second half I was getting nervous abut the streak. By the time we were in the fourth quarter I was starting to think it wouldn’t happen. I was thinking the streak would be over. And sure enough, the Cougs were shutout. I was so mad. It was stupid to play a QB that was hurt to the point that you didn’t do anything that could possibly hurt him. If he is so hurt why put him in? We have a bad season. The only thing we had going was the shutout streak and that was let go. I am so mad about it. It is incredible.

I didn’t want to do much of anything for the rest of the night. We got one call that we took. It was a combative drunk. I had some fun with that. There was yet another fall from a high place tonight. But that was not a call that we took. It was the other station. The night over all was pretty quiet.

Long Busy Day and Night

Working at the fire department today I expected that we would do our weekly rig checks on the ambulances, have a community breakfast, and then I would work on my engineer workbook. What really happened was much different. Due to calls everything got thrown around.

We started by having the guys from the Deuce come down. They brought some food. We did our morning chores and started to make breakfast. I helped with the apple pealing. We were really getting the cooking underway. It was looking good and I was hungry. But before we could sit down and eat I was called away on the ambulance for someone who was hurt.

By the time we were done breakfast was done and they were working on the ambulance checks. I restocked the ambulance and the medic and I went in to eat before we helped with the rig checks.

We were not done eating when we got called for something else. I had to get up and walk away from my breakfast/lunch by the time I was eating it. We dealt with the call and were at the hospital. As we were close to leaving we got called to an unknown injury accident. On the way we were upgraded to a delta injury accident on a residential street in Pullman. We got on scene and transported two of the people.

By the time we were done with those two calls I got back to restock the ambulance again and finish my breakfast. But now it was time to start to worry about getting dinner ready. My breakfast took about six hours to have from start to finish.

I took the medic to the Deuce to pick up a couple things he had there. We got some stuff for dinner to go with the meatloaf and went to the station. I started on the weekly rig checks on my ambulance. The others had been completed so it was the only one that needed to be done. As I got going others came out to help when they had dinner cooking. I was able to get it almost completed before dinner, but not quite.

I sat down for dinner with the other guys. It was very good. Mashed potatoes and gravy with meatloaf. Following dinner I cleaned up the plates and dishes. I turned on the Cougar game. They were in the game against UCLA. I was watching the game for a while. Then I went to the training room and turned on the game there. I also grabbed the photoboard to update it. We had a big change up with where everyone was working so I had to update the board to show those changes.

I went to the bay to turn off the lights and I saw the Ambulance Thirty-Five book. I was going to put it away when I realized I didn’t have a weekly check sheet completed for it. So I pulled one out and started to work through the engine fluid checks and filling out the form.

One of the reserves who was working the volleyball game came through to put away the equipment that he used. I stopped and talked to him for a few minutes. We talked about the other night that we went out as well as the Cougar volleyball game we worked. We are hoping we will get a chance to go out with the old reserves again on Apple Cup in a couple weeks.

I went back to my bedroom after that was done and continued to watch the Cougar game. But the Cougs were losing and they were not able to get more than a single fieldgoal. They ended up losing by twenty-five points. I watch some TV for a little bit then I decided to go to sleep.

It had been quiet more of the evening. But by a little after eleven we started to get called out and we ran eight calls over the next four five hours. We made it back to the station once. I was able to get restocked and started to make entries into the log book when we got called out for a second set of runs. It was a busy night. I finally got to bed for real around four in the morning.

Working Hard at Jail

After getting off work at the fire station I decided I would go to Colfax and work at the jail. I had my fire pager with me but Colfax didn’t have any calls while I was there. It was a busy day in the jail as normal. I helped do some rounds, a booking, and run the control room. I worked there from around eleven to six in the evening. I was getting ready to go get some dinner.

I was at Main street and saw Carl drive by. Went I went by the fire station I saw Ken’s truck. I decided to swing by and see Ken. They were going to work the Colfax High football game. I was asked if I wanted to come. I said I did. I grabbed my turnout coat and went to the game.

Colfax dominated the game. It didn’t even look like a game until Colfax put many of their freshmen into the game. I saw several people from Colfax Police and McNanny from the SO there. We talked briefly about the upcoming academy.

When the game was done I went to Ken’s to get his computer for me to work on. I am going to scrub it and reinstall everything for him. I got home and pretty much went to bed. I had to get up early tomorrow to stop by the Deuce to work on their photoboard.

Another Cougar Downer

I got up this morning to a phone call and decided to stay up. I got cleaned up and grabbed some breakfast. I got a hold of Bien and he gave me a ride to my car downtown. I also talked to Dearth. He was going to get cleaned up and then we were going to meet up and head to Tyson’s trailer.

I parked just off of campus and waited for Dearth. Him and a friend of his picked me up and we drove out to Tyson’s trailer. We were playing beer pong and having some ribs that Dearth grilled up. A while before the game we walked to the parking lot near the vet building to see Wehrung. The guys were happy to see him. We talked for a bit. He handed me a flask and said “here Probie”.

We went back to Tyson’s trailer and got ready to walk back for the game. We made our way to some seats under the scoreboard in the endzone. Within now time the Cougs were down two touchdowns.

The game went down hill from there. We did score two touchdowns along the way. Bien, Dearth, and the girls left at half time. I stayed until the end of the game. When the game was done I got my car and went home. I grabbed something to eat real quick and drove out to Tyson’s camp. They were playing some beer pong again.

I continued being a designated driver for the night. I took McPherson, Bien and the girls to Mike’s. I went back to the camp. We sat around a little fire talking and chowing a little bit. Dearth started to fall asleep so he had be give him a ride to the place he was staying.

I said goodbye to Tyson and left. I went to Mike’s and worked on finding Bien. When I got there I ran into Faber. It took a while to work my way downstairs. Finally when I was there I looked around the dance floor and found him. It was really crowded down there. I made my way up to him letting him know I was going to have to head home for the night. I was very tired and I wanted to get to sleep.

First Cougar Win

After the test was done at the SO I went home and cleaned up. I went to the fire station to help make lunch. I was the griller. I cooked up all the hamburgers for everyone. I spent a while working the grill in the process.

The guy who found started the string of events recently was at the station. I told him I wanted to talk to him. After I was done eating I asked to chat with him in the bay. I started by saying “I heard you found something funny on the Internet”.

From there we talked about what had happened. I told him I was disappointed that he didn’t respect me enough to not make fun of me. I told him by giving that there person some grief about what he read also was making fun of me.

He said he was shocked to find out that I am gay. He didn’t know up to that point. He felt like he was left out because it seemed that everyone else knew. Even the guy he was giving a hard time knew. I was surprised to know about that. I didn’t know that he knew. I wonder how he found out. Sounded like it was a non-issue with him. He has known for a while it sounds like. But this other guy didn’t seem to know why I was upset about the whole thing. I am not sure after we were done talking that he knew. I asked him if he would at least not tell anyone else.

It is not even that big of a deal that people find out that I am gay. It is not like I can stop people from finding out. Like I told this guy I don’t tell people. I let him know I actually only told one person at the FD that I am gay. They other found out from other means. Over time others find out. Most of the time people have known for a long time before I find out that they knew.

I also let him know that I don’t like how people self-censor when they know. He said that he wished he had known because he had made some comments in the past that he felt bad about now that he knows I am gay. I said that is the point. I don’t want people to not be who they are when I am around.

My position was working at station two today. I took my engineer book down there and worked hard on it. I am trying to get it done. I stayed there working on it until almost ten. That is when I was going to get released from working.

But we got a medical call. Following the medical call we got a fire call. I ended up working an extra hour.

The Cougs today were on TV. They looked good, but they were playing an easier team. We however lost the starting QB. Later on our backup QB was hit and he was taken off the field in an ambulance. Not a good situation.

Crushed in the First Home Game

After I got home from working this morning I went to bed. But within a few minutes I was getting a call from Pete. When I heard him on the phone I realized that I was going to need to get ready for the autopsy that I was going to observe. I knew that was going to help make me tired tonight. I went to the funeral home and watched the autopsy. I was able to see some findings that I had seen and understood what they meant. I had a chance to ask questions and have a better understanding about what happened.

When I got home I cleaned up and headed down to station one. I was meeting up with a reserve who bought tickets for the football game for Brandon and I. Brandon was working on getting the transportation figured out.

When I got to the station I met up with one of the guys there. I wrote something that was used to tease him. After I found out that happened, the situation has made me incredibly embarrassed because certain pieces of information about me are out to some of the newer reserves. I have tried to keep my private life and work life separate. It has worked for a long time.

I talked to him about it. We had e-mailed about it, but I wanted to speak to him about a couple things specifically. I cannot look him in the eye. It is tough to look at him at all. He said he doesn’t have a problem with me. He said that he hasn’t lost any respect for me but I am having a hard time with it. We never used the word gay during our conversation, but I don’t have a doubt he knows about me now. I don’t feel better, I think I will have a hard time being around him and the guy who was doing the teasing. Right now I am not sure who was all told and who knows about the situation, but with the way things get spread and the way rumors get built, it will probably be devastating to me. I will have a hard time around the reserves. I am not sure who knows now and as I interfaced with them today I felt very strange not knowing if they knew or not.

I went back home and met up with Brandon. We made our way to the bus stop to ride it to the game. We first went to the CUB. Then to the PD. I met up with the reserve to get my ticket. We went into the game and met up with Weese. We sat down on the twenty yard-line in the lower section. I stood the whole game. It has been a while since I have done that from the stands. Within eleven second of the game starting Cal scored a touchdown. They did not stop. People were leaving the game in the first quarter. That is a record as far as I have seen.

The Cougs got crushed. From what I heard their worst loss in history. Brandon and I went to the bus to head home. At the house we got some pizza. Watched Cops and then the movie Thank You for Smoking.

Learning to Forge

While at work this morning I was working hard to get the roster completed. But due to the number of pick ups we would need I had to get one of them on the roster from the city of Moscow. So I needed to work a while doing photo copies several times in figuring out how to get the original photocopy which was signed to include one more name. So a photocopy of the original signature would not work. I needed to use the sheet with the photocopy. But I couldn’t just write in the name because it would be obvious that we had written in the name after the photocopy. So I had to write in the name and information on a blank sheet. And then photocopy that one line onto the form that was already filled out, but to get the right kind of ink so the photocopy would look like the other ones was a challenge, and then working to make sure it lined up was very difficult. When it was all said and done the time was wasted because they never even looked at my roster.

I went to Federal Way for the managers meetings. That is where we were drawing for game times. We also got information about the rules. The Hooter’s girls were there with wings and other food items for us. I sat next to McCoy. He was telling me that they were thinking about asking me to play on their team at the beginning of last season, but didn’t because they found out I had the My Office team. But he made it sound that if I ever want to change teams I would have a place on his.

Following the meeting I went to Seahawks Stadium for the game. It was Oakland that was in town. We went to the events center to start off. Justin was with us and he went through some of the things they had set up for the kids to do.

Once it was closer to game time we made our way to the seats. The Seahawks played pretty well and beat up on Oakland pretty good. We left a little early because I parked in the parking garage. It takes about an hour to get out of it once the game is done and we needed to be at the poker game.

At the poker game I was not playing it very well. I had a decent hand and went up against a girl who only played the nuts pretty much. I didn’t know that to start with. So I was dominated as I was throwing a bunch of money into the pat. That hurt. I never really recovered. I lost about sixty bucks through out the night. I just was not seeing any cards.

Fantasy Draft at My Place

We started by golfing this morning down in Colfax. There was a large group of people down there. The first nine everyone played on their own. Then in the second half we teamed up in to pairs. It was those teams they went on to challenge each other for the best score. The winners would split the pool. Each person put in five bucks to start. I was teamed with Ron because he had the second best score and I had the second worst score after the first nine holes. Team Ron and Scotty went on to tie the best score. Due to that we split with the other team.

After the golfing we went to Pullman. I had Ron and Heather as well as CBass coming over for the FFL draft. I worked on getting Ron’s and my computer set up to use. I worked on making sure the house was looking okay and that I had quarters for the pop machine. When they came over we ordered some pizza and wings. I ended up drinking some beer with them tonight. I also had some hard-A. They were over for a couple hours doing the draft. I got Farve as my quarterback. That was good, because I wasn’t sure if someone else would try to steal him from me.

Last Thunder Game of Season

This morning I helped Mike D’s little sister move her bed to her storage place. That didn’t take too long. I went to the fire station to meet up with Yean. We took the engine to Koppel Farms for an open house. We showed off the engine for a while, but I had to leave early because I had to get to Lapwai.

I hit the road getting there later than normal. But I was not too late. I got my computer set up and did my normal pregame activities such as getting photos of the players and confirming the names of the players on the other team.

We were going to not have the game clock again and it started out that way. But then the PA Announcer from the other team came across to run it. The Thunder held their own for a while, but after the second half started it went down hill. The Thunder allowed the game to slip away.

I ran off to Pullman. I started to work on my application for the fire department. I don’t know if I have a chance at being hired, but I figured it would be better to be on the list than it is to miss out on the list. So I figured I would test. I don’t know how I will do on the written portion, but there is only one way to find out.

I got a lot of the application filled out. The previous job portion took forever to do. They wanted a ten year history. I also got my three references set up.

Moment of Silence for Wally

I worked on getting my things ready for the football game. I made a flier to post around the field for Wally. It had a pic of him playing football. I put his name and number on it as well. I went to the field and put them up. Then I spent some time taking photos of the pregame warm ups. I talked to the other team about the pronunciations of some of the players.

Once the game was close to starting I read the statement written up by Jerid about Wally. We held a moment of silence. Once the game was underway the Thunder went down early, but soon they caught up and took a lead. The Thunder would go on to win the game. That was pretty neat to see a win. Those are really rare for the Thunder. I wish they were more of a dominate team.

Sir Elton Plays Pullman

I started by washing my Durango and putting on the new license plates. It felt good to get that washed. Then I was on my way to Lapwai for the Palouse Thunder football game. I was nervous as always before the game. I had to get a lot of information gathered and make sure everything was set up.

That went pretty well. I was able to spend some time relaxing and getting photos of the team doing practice and warm ups. Once the game started I was having problems with the mic. It was not wanting to work at first. After some troubleshooting I was able to announce.

I had to leave the game early due to the work I had to do in Pullman at the Elton John concert.

I went to the Elton John concert. It was a great night of music and fun for everyone involved. I was impressed that Elton played for about 2 1/2 hours without a break.

I was hoping that he would play Funeral for a Friend. One of my favorite songs. As it turned out that was the very first song of his set. That made my day.

The crowd was great and full of energy. The atmosphere was great. During Crocodile Rock everyone sang the chorus. I am glad we had a chance to pull in this performance.

Super Bowl Party

Today’s Super Bowl party was held at Bryce’s house in Colfax. I purchased some peanut butter cups, chips, and dip. I brought that down with my pop. I got there around the same time Carl did. He brought his beans stuff. Jim and Connie brought their taquito’s. Everyone had their thing there.

We started by playing some poker. But I was not doing very well. I sort of just bled out money most of the night. We were rooting for the Giants to beat Patriots to ruin their attempt at a perfect season. We stopped playing cards at the start of the game. We were not very impressed with the commercials this year. They were not very funny nor ground breaking.

At half time we played cards until there was about five minutes left in the game. After that we went back to watch the final part of the game. That was probably the best part of the game as well.

We played a tiny bit more cards before calling it a night. I went home and watched the end of House.

First Case of Ought-Eight

After my final workout of the week today I planned on doing several things. Such as working on the frame, going to the women’s basketball game, watching the men’s basketball game, watching the Seahawks game, doing some work on the computer. I really only ended up being double booked.

I found I was on call for the coroner. But it is rare for a call. I had to go to Beasley just before noon for the women’s basketball game. But before eleven I got a call from Pete. Someone died in St. John. Normally he would take the case, but he wasn’t there. So I had to go up there. That meant I was going to miss part of the game and be late getting there.

I hit the road and started to head to St John. I went as quickly as possible with the road conditions as they were. I also got to listen to the Cougs. But they were not able to do anything against the Bruins. It was ugly.

I did my investigation the scene and went back to the funeral home to finish up the investigation. By this time the Cougs had made a run at winning, but were not able to pull it out of the fire. They were down by double-digits most of the game. But they came back to within three.

The Seahawks came on. I was expecting a lot when they went up by two quick touchdowns within the first few minutes. But that is as far as it would go. The Packers just kept scoring and scoring.

I was able to watch the last part of the game on TV at Beasley. I had made it home and back to Beasley at half time. I was able to put in my time there and watch the Seahawks. But it was ugly as well.

A. Wilcox is a Packers fan so I told him if they win he is sitting in the back of the engine for the rest of the year.

We were having a meeting when the tones went out for a structure fire. Turned out to be nothing. Later in the night we got toned out for another structure fire. That one also turned out to be nothing. In both cases they appeared to have been smoke detectors set off by cooking.

The One-Hundredth Apple Cup

Today was the one-hundredth Apple Cup. Ron invited me down to watch it at the Moose Lodge. I was excited about going down there. I put on my Cougar hat and shirt and made my way there just before kick off.

The Huskies ran it back for a quick score. Ron made a big deal about it. All the Cougs were thinking this was going to be a long day. The Huskies got a fieldgoal. Finally the Cougs were able to get on the board with a touchdown.

After a while everyone in the Moose was yellow “Woooooo” every time the Cougs did something well like Ron had been doing earlier.

We went into half time up by one point – twenty-one to twenty. Michele had a big spread of food there for a fundraiser. I had my fill of food.

The second half added to the excitement. The game was a sea-saw battle back and forth. The Cougs finally scored the tying touchdown. With only thirty seconds to go they scored the winning touchdown! The Cougs went on to win the game.

I went home fulfilled with the victory.

I went to gay.com and looked around on there to chat. While I was there I did a search of local people. I found someone that I recognized and I had no idea was gay. I finally purchased a premium account. I was able to look further at his profile. I was shocked to see he was gay. I want to talk with him because I also found out he use to be in the college Republicans.

I also found a former cop that I knew. I contacted him via a message. I finally went to bed in the wee-hours of the morning.

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.