Years of Being Crafty for Nothing

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Big Call Comes Through

After staying out at the bar and sleeping in today, I did not get working on the garage like I had hoped I would do. Instead I did my shopping trip that I have been putting off for the last couple weeks. I decided that I would get it done today. That was a two hundred dollar trip.

When I was done putting everything away I made myself some dinner. I was planning on getting something from the Emerald, but after spending all that money and getting all the stuff I got I decided that I eat at home.

Around seven o’clock pm I went to get some pop and then to Peter and Brandon’s from some poker. Brandon was out of town. It was Peter and some other guys who work at Dissmores. I maintained and grew mu chip stack only losing one pretty big chunk on a hand I figured I was behind, but I tried to push the other guy around.

I built back from that loss to maintain a reasonable stack compared to everyone else. At one point near the middle of the tournament, Peter and I were in with one other person. The big blind was one buck. I raised two bucks. Peter raised it to eight. I went all-in. Peter called. He quickly flipped bullets. I had the exact same hand. So the flop was academic. There was a chance for a four card flush to his the board and help the guy who was that Ace, but they did not happen. So we ended up splitting other peoples’ blinds.

Soon it was down to three of us. I was sitting in the the second best position. One guy was really starting to get a lead. But Peter went all in and won. So Peter’s stack was starting to compare to mine.

I got a King and Jack of Diamonds. It was a time when I had to think long and hard about playing that hand, knowing with the other have played and knowing my chip stack. I saw in one of the blinds. Peter ended up going all-in. The other guy called Peter’s all-in.

So I had an all-in and a call. How good could my hand be. But I looked at the stack, which was more than twenty four buck. I could call it and not be all-in. But it would cripple me if I lose. If Peter won he would be in the chip lead. If the other guy won, Peter would be out, and the other guy would dominate me.

I realized I was pretty much putting my tournament life in that hand. I was already in the money at five bucks. But the buy-in was ten bucks. So I would end up losing. I could just wait it out and get to second place and I would end up winning fifteen for a net of five bucks.

I thought about it some more. I thought that if I don’t get in on it and Peter wins he will be solid back into this. Finally I made the call. Then on the flop there was a KxXxXx. I now had a pair of kings, but the diamond flush was not going to hit because none of the cards on the table were diamonds. The other guy pushes all-in and I call.

We all show our hands. Peter had bullets. The other guy had pocket Jacks. I had a KJ. So the pocket Jacks had one out. I needed to have a King hit. I had a pair of kings to the bullets.

Just as I said that the turn was a King. Now I had trips knocking Peter nearly out. He had two outs and the guy with Jacks was done. The river was nothing and I won that hand. It put me in first place for chip count and sent Peter packing.

The other guy and I went back and forth with blinds for a while. Finally I got him all-in. I had a decent hand and the cards hit just right giving me a straight on the river.

I left with sixty bucks, up fifty bucks for the night.

Two Hours of Sleep and then…

So after getting to sleep my phone rings. Patti is waking me up. She told me there was an unattended death in Steptoe. That is the last thing I wanted to hear. I was so tired. I did not want to get out of bed.

Finally I did get up and headed out the door. I stopped to get some pop and made my way to the scene. When I got there I went inside where the power was out through out the town. I had to have people holding flashlights to see. By the time I was done with the scene it was light outside.

From there it was off to the funeral home. I spent some time there doing more investigation. I was stuck on the phone with Pete for about half an hour. Then I went to Colfax Fire to show them the photos from the funeral from yesterday.

I headed home. I was in Harlow’s dip when Vinny turned on me. He was on a motorcycle. I heard him radio to Whitcom that he was stopping me. I was pulled over near the North Bypass. He came walking up. When he got close enough to see me in the mirror he started to smile from ear to ear. He walked to the window saying “I thought I had my first of the day!” He then sent me on my way.

I got home and pretty much went straight to bed. I was very tired. I slept for a couple hours until my phone rang. It was Chapman telling me about Rescue getting a door ripped off the officer side that folds up. So I went to the station to take a look. Our old Rescue was put into service until that is fixed.

I got ahold of Blank’s, who did the deed to the door, on IM. We talked about it. Sounded like that was the cherry on top of a very bad day for him. We chatted for a few minutes.

I was invited by Phil to play poker at his place. He owns a condo at Wheatridge condos. He lives in Brian Turner’s old place. It is a nice place with the wood laminate flooring, natural counter tops, and a lifesized stuffed Cougar. Several friends of Phil showed up and we played cards for about two hours. I would say for most of them they are novices at best. It was slow going as the conversation and other action too precedence over the game itself.

We finished up when they all wanted to go to the bar around midnight. I left up a couple bucks. Not as good as I show have done considering who was there.

The Funeral and After

My other post talks about the funeral itself, so I will not go into that here. But I started out the day at six in the morning with a phone call to WSU PD. I found out I would be able to get a ride. I got dressed in my uniform from the coroners office. I went to Tidyman’s and waited for the precession.

Following the funeral I went home and worked on a problem with the events signup that Heston had found. I figured out the problem and fixed it. I went to the house that I have been looking at buying. I did some measurements of the area. I see it will fit in the room that is downstairs. I looked around the other rooms that are out there as well. I was told today that someone else is putting in an offer, possibly. I hate it when people do that. I am going to take the stance that if the real estate agent says that to me I will have the attitude that I lost all interest in the house. One of the things about the house today is that I could smell some signs of the dogs that lived there.

I also noticed that outside of the big rec room and the great room, there was not a lot of options for how to set up my furniture. Plus being only four bedrooms I would only be able to have at most two roommates as I would have to use one room as an office.

The house on Thomas street has made me realize some of the shortcomings of this house over all. I also don’t like the appliances that are at this house. Thomas street has four bedrooms plus an office. Plus a rec room, game room, and living room. Plus two dining areas. It is a nicer house over all in my view. It is the house I would like to have. The one thing that it doesn’t have is the larger driveway that Brandon street has.

Then it was time to head to the fire department for rig checks. I got to the station and talked to Pete on the phone about the funeral and the house search. I went into the station and I was talking to Morgan about some stuff while Peter and I were texting back and forth about playing some poker at my place tonight.

Morgan said he would play. I went to get some pop and got some dinner then I went home. I was going to call Phil about coming over. Just as I was calling him he sent me a text message about play at his place. When it was all said and done he ended up coming over to my place. I also got JT and his friend. Plus Brandon. So I had a seven handed table going. I was on call with Morgan. We got called out on two calls through out the night of playing cards.

When the night was over with I had won almost thirty bucks. It was a good night for me to play some cards. I went upstairs and did some stuff in my den before going to be at two in the morning.

An Officer Died

I woke up this morning and I found out that the SWAT had, just an hour before, made a raid on the church. They found the shooter had committed suicide and he also killed a guy who lived there.

I went to Moscow for the game. I got to the field and no one was there yet. I hung out for about fifteen minutes and people started to show up. At one point during the game Jon called and asked me about it. I had just finished getting hit in from second base. I told him what I knew in about twenty seconds. He said an officer was dead. I hadn’t heard about that until he told me. That sucked to hear.

I had to get out on defense so I hung up with him and took the field. That team had hit around three times on us in the first inning. We didn’t score much. I hit the ball well, getting some doubles and a homerun. We stood no real chance against these guys. We ended up losing by about twenty-two runs. We scored six runs in the final inning, but it was not nearly enough.

After the game I took Michael B home and went home myself. I got online and watched as much as I could about the shooting and read what I could find. I got cleaned up and planned on responding to fire calls.

I took a small nap, but kept getting woken up by phone calls and the pager. Finally I went to look at a house up on Thomas. I like it over-all better than the house on Brandon, but it was more money. After the house viewing I went to Brandon’s to play poker.

We played for about five hours. I won seventeen bucks with five dollar buy-ins. When I was done at Brandon’s I went home and watched TV as well as started on my laundry. I was so tired I was dozing off while watching TV. I finally went off to bed around two in the morning.

Nice Poker Game

I was really starting to get going on my events sign up website for the fire department. Time was ticking away. I called Ross and talked to him about the prospects of what would happen if I lost my job. Trying to get some worst case scenarios going.

I got my room ready for poker. I got the chip sets changed around so all the black and green chips are in one case with some white and reds. I got the cards counted and then people started to show up.

We had about six or seven people at the high point of the game. I bought in for ten, but other bought in for more. It was pretty clear I was doing okay. I kept winning and growing my stack. One guy who came with Brandon would get into pots against me. I would always split it with him as we would have the same hand. It was pretty funny.

We ended up playing until around midnight. I spent some more time working on the application after I was done cleaning up the living room and done eating dinner.

Second Place in the Tournament

I spoke with Pam about her house last night. We had to figure out how to come up with ten percent of the price of the house plus closing costs. I don’t think I am going to be able to do that, so it may not happen. I may just wait a couple years with my place, once I get the truck paid off, then I will sell the house and roll it into something that is larger. That may be my best bet.

After work I went to Eric’s for the poker tournament. I got to his house and backed into a parking spot. As I got out of my truck some lady was yelling me about my truck needing to be turned around. I told her no. She said “Are you going to make me come out there?” She was probably in her late sixties or early seventies. I just walked away.

I played some cards. It was rebuys for the first four rounds. I did not rebuy. I was doing okay. After the fourth round I was only down five from the original one-thousand. But after changing up I got that five with the rounding, so I was exactly even.

The rest of the night was going well. I went on a run of a couple hands and took a couple people down. I went up pretty good. Pretty soon I was in the money. Then it was me and one guy left. We battled for a while, but then I stopped getting hands and I was bleeding out my chips. It did not take long before I would get a reasonable hand, but the other guy got some nice hands and he would beat me, or the flop would totally miss me.

Finally I had less than a big blind. I went all in with a King-X. The other guy had Queen-Two. He ended up getting a Queen on the flop. A queen on the turn. A two on the river. He won it all. I still got nearly four times my buy in. It was a good night of poker.

Small Fire at NU

Today I was planning on cutting out early and heading to the jail to put in some time when I got a call about a major problem with one of our biggest customers. We had one week to fix it or they would have to shut down the site which would mean we would lose them. Because of that I stayed at work. I also got a call from Pete about someone found at the river.

I worked until I got the problem solved. I was unable to get away to even help Pete by going to the river. But I did make plans to meet him at the funeral home. I then had to find someone who could come over and run my poker game until I got back. I called Andy, and he said he would do it.

I went to Kimball Funeral Home and waited for Pete to arrive. There was an odor from the garage when the person was, but Craig had sprayed some pleasant smelling stuff all around.

I put some Vics under my nose. Actually, I put a lot there. Then we opened the body bag. The sight was bad. The person had been dead for about forty days in the water. This is my first “floater”, as they say. It was pretty graphic. Pete and I checked everything over to see if we could find any markings or damage that would make us believe that there was some perimortem trauma involved. But we did not find any.

I left there and went to my house to find a full table of poker players. They had been there for about two hours. I got in on the action. It took a while but I finally started to win a little bit. I ended the night winning a little bit of money. *knock on wood* I have been doing pretty well at poker lately. I am playing a little more aggressive, but I am still playing smart. I am not making bad plays. I am making some good plays, and I am getting to know people and how they play.

Last Poker Night at Mikes

I did my last radio show of the semester. Ted, the guy who has the show after me also came in early because I had to get out of there for the meeting for work. I spent a while talking to Jerid from the Evergreen Football League. Then I spent a while talking to Ted about Springfest and getting his point of view on the music and the Everclear who performed out there. I left around thirty minutes early.

I got home in time for the meeting. I called in and it lasted a while. During the meeting I got a call from Pete. So I called him back after the meeting and he told me of a possible case getting ready to happen in Pullman. A possible overdose. It never ended up happening.

I went to the fire station to return some of the tests that I had corrected for the guys. I found one person did not do a very good job on his correction of the test. The correction was open book and there was no reason to not do well on it, other than not caring. I stayed there for about an hour. Then it was time to head to Mike’s house for the poker tournament.

I got some pizza and then went to his house. I played on the main table then more people showed up. I went to the low limit table for a while but I could not win a hand. I was losing more and more money. I had to rebuy for another ten bucks.

I went to the higher stakes table to hope to see some new cards. As I sat there I started to win more and more. Pretty soon I had won back all my money plus more. Towards the end of the night I lost a couple hands that cost me some of the winnings, but I still left with fifteen bucks.

My own poker party

I had my poker party today. Mike came over around ten in the morning to deliver my table. He helped me get it set up. My back was hurting pretty good. It was not so bad last night, but today it sucked.

I called Pete and let him know about the camera. He wasn’t mad or anything. He also told me that he planned on talking to Pullman PD about some cases like we had the other day where there probably did not need to be the big dog and pony show that we had. Sounds like I am going to get the new camera that he bought recently. I am really excited to get it. It had a big zoom on it.

People started to arrive for the game. I had six people play in the tournament. I did not do so hot. I had to rebuy, and by the time we got to the fourth round I did an add-on to get some more chips in hopes of playing with everyone else. As it turned out it did not help. I was not finding any hands that I could play. It sucked.

I went out of the tournament just as a car accident happened. I went to the station but it turned out to be non-injury. I just did my timecard and went back home. When I got there only two people were in the tournament. They were playing about another thirty minutes and then it was over. I got some help putting the table away and I cleaned up the area.

The rest of the day I worked on my asp.net applications to try to learn a few things. I am having some problems using the new way of keeping the controls lined up. The videos I watched talked about using absolute positioning. That was working but Will at work said that I should use relative positioning. Also that I should make use of the style sheets to line up everything. That is the part I am having some troubles with.

Big Poker Party at Mikes

When I got up this morning, I decided that I would get into my den and start to work on the ASP.NET stuff I have been trying to learn. I also had planned on getting the photoboard down at Station Thirty-One updated. I had the photos sent to Rite Aid. I picked them up and went to the station. I cut them out, got the photoboard, printed off the new names and posted them. It took a while to get done because there were a lot of changes to make.

When I was done I went to my place to work more of the ASP.NET application I started. I am making a For Sale By Owner website where someone could post information about a house they are selling. It would be a way to have a web presence. Mike came over and picked up my poker table.

I went to Mike’s close to seven o’clock. I got my seat on the table. I was doing okay for a little while. In fact I was up a fair amount for a while. I was making all the right plays. Then all of a sudden it started to go down hill. I lost a couple hands in a row. I was starting to bleed my chips out. I got a hand with an open ended straight. I also had myself a middle pair for the flop. Only to find the other guy decided to put me all in.

I made the call and lost. I sat down and played some cards and dice with some other people as we were waiting for the cash game. We played until two in the morning. When I left Mike’s I had won back all the money I had lost and went home with an extra seventeen bucks on the night.

When I got home I watched a TV show about the scarries movies. One as a Clockwork Orange. There was a scene they showed in the movie. It was a part of a movie I remember seeing a young kid. I never knew the name of the movie nor much about the movie. But when I saw the part in the TV show I finally realized what movie it was that I has seen and now I can attempt to see it again.

CISD Team Meeting

We had out CISD meeting this afternoon in Pullman. That made it nice not having to drive to Colfax. We discussed the upcoming training the new members need as well as some organizational things.

I also had my softball playoffs tonight. It sucked because we could not get hits strung together. Defensively we made a lot of errors that we don’t normally make. Kelly’s team beat us and now they are going to play for the championship. Joe, Ryan, and I went to Cougar Country for some dinner.

While there I got a call about playing poker at Jason’s house. Russell was not going to be there. I hope this summer he starts he get-togethers again. I miss those. I went to Jason’s and we played cards for a couple hours. It was a dealers choice day.

I was doing well, but then started to lose at the end on some silly games. I ended up losing about two bucks on the night. I can’t complain for the fun I had. One hand we were playing a game like Indian Poker. I had a Six and Nine. But with that game you don’t know what you have, only what everyone else has. A six-six-nine came on the flop. Beren bet two bucks. I called. Then a nine hit the board. I bet four bucks. Everyone folded really fast. They started to laugh and told me to look at my hand. I bet four bucks because I was trying to get Beren out. He had an Ace. I figured if I could get him out I could split the pot. Instead I crushed everyone. It was funny.

Training All Day Long

Starting with teaching first aid at the WSU Recycling Center. I wasn’t sure I was going to like to teach it. After doing it with John recently it seemed like first air training was all about saying “Stay calm, I am going to call for EMS.” But through out the class I really realized it was a lot more than that. It was actually a good time teaching it. I had some good students in the class who asked some very good questions.

After that class I went to the Deuce to return the van. Rich got me to play some X-Box for a little while. Then I went home and got my stuff for the Recruit Class. I have spent two days working on it. I was not happy with the results. I felt that I did as good as I could, but the material sucked. The Powerpoint went on and on and on. But finally it was over and we went to the tower.

I worked on teaching positive pressure ventilation. We were up there for a couple hours. I got a call from Mike about a poker game at his place while I was there.

I went to Mike’s and played poker until almost three in the morning. I was kicking some butt. I ended up winning nearly eighty bucks on the night. I was happy about that for sure.

Cutting it Close with Poker

My poker game started at one in the afternoon. I was scrambling to get players. I was nearly ready to cancel when I found I was going to have a fifth player. So I kept it on.

We started to play at one. I was doing alright for myself. I was holding my own not having to rebuy. A couple others had rebought before the final rebuy round. A few people also did add-ons at that point. I went from the chip leader, to someone in the middle of the pack. I did not do a rebuy nor an add-on.

As the day went on we were getting closer and closer to softball time. I gave Ryan some money to go get some pizza because we wanted to eat before the game. He had been busted out by this time and was bored watching golf on TV anyway.

He went off and was gone for a while, I was starting to wonder where he went. Then he came back with some pizza from Pizza Pipeline. At it turned out Little Caesars was closed today. So he had to order and wait for the pizza from Pipeline.

I was eating and trying to play cards at the same time. It was working out okay. But the others started to bleed me a little bit. I wasn’t getting anything to work with and soon my stack started to go fast. The clock was getting close to time to go to softball. As it turned out Dave, Ty, and I were the only ones left. But we all had to be at the field by six for the softball games. Ty played for a different team but he also had the same game times as Dave and I. I started to push on some bad hands because I still needed to get my uniform on.

I finally got busted out. Dave and Ty decided to split the pot between them with some extra going to the person in the chip lead.

We actually got to play two softball games today. Normally we only get one at the most. The first game we kept up with the other team just fine and started to get a lead on them. They would have some innings where they would score some runs, but they were not a great team. We went into the final inning. I got a clutch basehit and I was standing on first. Nick came to the plate and hit a walk-off three-run homerun for the win.

The second game was against a team that had a very bad pitcher. But the guys would not be patient and allow for some walks. No one was getting any hits. In fact when the game was done, as a team, we had four hits. There is no way to win a softball game on four hits. I was pretty mad about the whole thing. Some of the guys were saying softball is a hitters game.

I don’t disagree, you have to be liberal with what you choose to swing at, but when guys are swinging at pitches over their head and popping up all the time, we have to do something. We lost that game because really no one cared to win it.

When that game was done I was heading home so I could get my uniform off and head to the station for rig checks. As I was coming down Terre View from the fields I could see people were leaving the station. I figured that rig checks were done. I called Bien and talked to him. He told me what had transpired on the telephone with Jacob so I could get the full story.

Because rig checks were done I went into the house and got my uniform off. I was sitting at my computer when I head Pullman and D-Twelve get dispatched for a car accident. It went out as Bravo-Injury. But I listened in and I could tell it was worse as time went on. There was one person trapped and barely breathing. As I listened in more, Tyson and Reed were both on IM chatting with me. I heard a call for two more ambulances.

It was fourteen minutes into everything when I got a call from Pete. I knew then what was going on. I was given the message to call Whitcom. I then went in service and went to the scene. As it turned out an elderly lady had been involved and killed by the car accident. When I got on scene I also found out the people in the accident were related to some firefighters. That caused many people at the scene to be more stressed than normal.

I got on scene before the first person was even transported to the hospital. I started to look at the scene and make my impressions of what happened. I photographed the scene and then spoke with Vinny about removal. I was given the greenlight by him. He needed to do his investigation and I did not want to mess up anything he was doing.

I got Kimballs to come out and got the removal done. I spoke with IC and a few of the cops there. Pete had also called me a couple times while I was out there wanting to know what was going on. He decided to come out. He met me at the funeral home. After I had a chance to make my determination of the cause of death, Pete went over it on his own and did the same thing. When it was done he concurred with what I had found and what I said was the cause of death.

By the time that scene was done and the funeral home part was done it was pretty late. I still had to get back and write my report about the rest of the incident and what I had found.

Back in the Clubhouse

Tonight there was the poker game in Newport Shores, and it was in the clubhouse after getting renovated. When I got there a new table was started. Through out the night I was winning. These people are pretty easy to beat. I kept getting decent cards and working on making money.

We played in a tournament later on. I didn’t do great in that. I came in fifth place and they only paid the top four. I sat back at the first table and played some more. I was doing well again. I won back my entry fee from the tournament and continued to expand my money. One guy at the table was really drunk and he is like that every time we play. He gets very annoying when he is like that. But I walked away up around sixty bucks. Pretty good for the night.

Softball Season has Started!

We first had a poker tournament. There were nine people who showed up for it. It lasted a couple hours. I was doing pretty well through out the tournament. Dan had to rebuy one time, and he kept getting sucked out on. When we were getting to the end of the tournament Andy had to leave so he was playing very loose. He was going all in on several hands. There were only three of us left. Andy called all-in and I called him. The flop was his cards. I had him dominated up until the flop. Once he took me out he had to go, so he got second place. Richie got first place.

I ran over to Moscow to get some softball pants. I left mine in Renton. But when I got to Moscow I went to four places and did not find them anywhere. Tri-state and WalMart did not have any at all. Big-Five had some, but they were all small. Sport Shack in the mall did not have anything but basketball shorts. It was terrible. I ended up using the old Cougar Men’s Baseball pants I bought to play on Kelly’s team with.

I got to the field with Ryan. We ended up having the first team not show up. So we sat around for an hour. We did some BP which was good. I was playing first base and Ryan was at second. With Bryce gone there was a shake up of the infield. In the second game I had to make some plays. One was a dive as the ball was getting ready to go out of play. I had to dive right on the first baseline’s out of bounds marker. I saved it from going out.

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

After the game was done I went home to work on the radio show as well as getting the Website updated for the Nadirs. It was a pretty good day over all.

Poker with Langely

Everything was going well until I got a message asking me if I had heard about what was going on with the ASP.NET applications. For some reason something was discovered and it was causing the GFE and all ASP.NET applications to stop working. That was bad. I spent a lot of time with Brian today trying to figure out what was happening and how to fix it. In fact I spent most of my day doing that. But I had to get to the fire station to do rig checks and get ready for being on shift.

I was at the station for a while. We were hanging out down there chatting about random things, like normal, until around eight o’clock pm. I was at home with Loren got a hold of me to invite me to come over and play some poker. Several other guys from the football team came over. They were not great players, it looks like they just played for the fun of it, but they threw around money. I ended up winning about twenty-five bucks on the night.

It was midnight when I got to Russell’s for our Wednesday night get together. I got dished up some chicken and rice. The tones went off for a call. I was able to eat the food and I was heading to the station. By the time we were done with that call I went back to Russells. This time I was there some time longer, but before I was able to really get relaxed we got toned out for something else. I was off to the races again, but it was getting near two in the morning, and by the time the call would be done it was going to be late. Top that with the problems with the stuff at work I told them I would not be able to make it back.

Bummer of a day

I went to Moscow for the Palouse Thunder practice. I was getting photos for all the players and the team photo for the website. That took about an hour overall, plus I hung out for a while watching the practice. Mike D. and I were going to go to the Sports Page to watch the Cougs play Vanderbuilt in the second round of the NCAA tournament. We got a pitcher of green beer for St. Patrick’s Day. The Page also had a couple large pizzas for everyone to chow on.

It was looking good for the Cougs for the most part, but as the game was getting towards the end, I could see things were getting bad. We were not scoring points. We were missing a lot of baskets. After a bit we were down to nail-biting time. We kept the game close and ended up with the last shot of regulation for the win, but missed sending the game into OT. That is why I knew things would not be good. We could not obatin a lead and could not get on a run. We kept it close however. Then we went to a second OT. That is when I got worried. We did end up losing in the second OT. The bar was quiet afterwords. The fight song played, but no one felt like singing a long to it. Losing this game was an upset, but it is funny to think that at the begining of the season if you said that Cougs would be a number three seed in the tournament, no one would have beleived it.

I went home and started to get my house ready for the poker game. It was a cash game. No one was showing up. I could not get a hold of some of the people who said they would be there. In fact, other than Mike, no one who said they would be there showed up. But several people came after phone calls were made by Mike and Morgan.

We ended up having five people at the biggest point of the game. I was doing very well. Wolf was knocked out. John showed up after he had some time with his family for his Birthday. After John got there Morgan stay around for a little while. But he busted out. Mike busted out. Michael busted out. Pretty soon with just John and I. I could not win a hand to save my life. Everytime we had a game were some real betting was going on John would pull it out. The last hand of the night summed up the night. I had two pair. John had an inside-straight draw. I went all-in. John called. He put his hand down saying he needed an eight. He had four outs on the river. He found an eight. He beat me. So that was that.

I went to my den and worked on getting the photos cropped for the Thunder Website. It was getting late and I had to get up early. I called it a night after a lot of losses.

Poker at Zeppoz

I went to Staples to get the stuff the was missing from when I was there yesterday. I got home and worked on cutting those items from the foam board. I also got the photos glued to the foam board.

I decided to go to Zeppoz for a while. That was a mistake however. I could not find a hand to win. I got a couple, but even on hands that I had that were good people were sucking out on me. It is hard to chase someone away when you can only bet a certain limit. I was there for several hours, but I ended up losing pretty bad. Finally I gave up. I still had some money, but I was not about to drop any more money at the table.

A Day of Poker

The day was started with a structure fire. I got to the fire station but no one else showed up. After standing by, and seeing it was nothing major, I made my way to Dissmore’s to get some food for breakfast.

I got home to set up for the poker tournament. I had several people coming from Colfax Fire to come and play. Anthony, Jim, and Carl came down from Colfax. Dave also came to play. I ended up getting first place. It was a fun time.

I was in the office working on some random stuff when John called about playing some poker. I told him I was already done. But we got a second cash game going. Dan and Richard came to play. We played for several hours. Dan and Richard has left. John and I stayed playing for an hour or two.

After John and I were done we sat around talking about various things that we use to do including playing video games on Nintendo. John asked to stay the night at my place.

Two times on the Radio

Today I spent a lot of time not at home. I first had to get a thumb drive to replace the one that died on me the other day. I started with my radio show for my normal time. I went up the studio and knocked that out. I wasn’t feeling super while I was on the air. For a while I was jittery. Then I calmed down. It was not due to nerves. It was because I was feeling sick. Once that show was done I had time to go home and do a couple things before it was time to head back to the studio for my next show.

This one was an interview of the ASWSU presidents and vice presidents. I spent a couple hours preparing questions and going over them last night. I think the show went over very well. I did not really stumble too much and I think I looked pretty good while questioning the candidates.

I got done just in time to run back to the station. I am on call as well as it was a training night. I got there a couple minutes late. We were going to do some quarterly SCBA stuff. Just as we were going to leave we got toned out to a call. But we were not there long and got back to the tower before the training up there started.

Several of us were given a group of people to lead around on various activities. We were on air and we got to see how well we would do with our air consumption. It was not the same as the work rate test we have done in the past. Because we were in groups the weakest link caused the whole team to have to be done.

After the class we went to the station to fill air bottles. That took some time to do. We took some time to teach some of the new guys how to use the cascade system. When we were finally done with that I made my way to Mike’s for poker.

I got dealt a hand and as we were playing it I got called out on a EMS call. I was able to finish it out. I did a raise from four to five bucks. The guy thought I meant five more bucks. So he folded only to find I meant one dollar more. I got a good laugh out of that.

Another Poker Night at My Place

I started out earlier in the day with going to the fire station and getting some photos of Tyson and the new paramedics for the photoboard and the website. It was after that that I had to go to the dentist for a teeth cleaning.

But after work I was going to have some fun. I am having a poker party at my house. Dave was the first one over. Then Mike and Andy came over. I also had some other guys, Loren and Dan made it over. It was a good night. At one point I hit a run where I couldn’t lose. I kept gaining money and doing very well. Soon I was up a couple of tens. Loren finally busted out as did Dan. Dave left while he still had money. I took what I could from Mike and Andy and had myself a half-a-C-note night.

Purchasing a Poker Table

Tyson and I were supposed to work an event at Beasley. When we got up there I was starting to think there was a mistake. Sure enough someone saw us and said she thought the event was in Bryan Aud. We loaded our equipment in the mini-van and drove over to Bryan. When we got inside we talked to the performers. They directed us to the person in charge of everything. That is when we found out they we were not even needed at the event. Tyson and I fueled the rig and called it a night.

Mike brought over the poker table and the folding chairs. I decided that I was going to buy it from him. He has a nice table and with the folding chairs I will have enough chair to fit more than ten people for poker games.

Mike invited me to go out to Rico’s with them. It was a good night out on the town. Andy and Mike were there. We played a lot of pool. There was a ten-six-seven who had a perfect square for a soul patch. It was well trimmed and the dark hair make it stand out. I spent some time looking that way. Then another ten-six-seven came in and was a friend of Mike’s. He played some pool with us.

We left around midnight and I went to Russells. A group of people were there and we played Apples to Apples and had some pie. I won the first game of Apples to Apples when we could argue for our decisions. Then one girl who I had not met before was complaining that it was no fun to debate whose card was the best. She just wanted people to lay the cards down and have it chosen without any reasoning.

It was fun to play that way, but I thought it was funny that she seemed mad that we had to debate points.

Bad Night at the Table

The fire training scheduled for today lasted all of thirty minutes so that meant that I was going to get to Mike’s house quick tonight for poker. I was excited to get there early and have more time to play. The problem is that also gave me more time to have a bad night. I had a run of cards that I could not win with. Even when they looked decent I was losing, and after a while I started to play dumb hands because I was not seeing anything at all.

But then after I did things like that other guys would play crap hands. That did not help the situation. Other guys on the other hand were playing bad hands and beating me or others. It sucked, but I had fun. I got the word out a little bit about my upcoming game. I hope to get some of the people there.

Poker at Diamond Lil’s

Today would have been my Dad’s Sixty-Eighth birthday.

I have been wanting to get back to Diamond Lil’s for a while. I finally decided tonight I would head down there. When I arrived it was pretty busy. I had to wait for a while to get a seat. Finally when I did I was playing my game. Very tight. I was doing well, infact I had more than doubled my buy-in.

Then my name was called to move up to the higher limit tables. That table was not as nice to me. I called a couple hands and I was not doing very well. I was down to my last forty bucks. I got pocket nines. The flop was an Ace-Four-Four. The turn was a Four. Someone got me all in. I went ahead and called. I realized my only hope was a nine hitting, because the others were playing with an Ace. A nine hit on the river giving me a better full-house than everyone else at the table. That put me back into the game, but I was down from my starting point of coming to that table.

While I was sitting there a ten-six-seven was seated at the table. When I first saw him I was thinking he was younger and dressed a little like he was a G. Then when he sat at our table I was able to get a better look. I loved his haircut. It is very short. I don’t know what it is about guys and long hair. It looks horrible. I have seen some guys who I thought were butt-ugly get a good haircut and all of a sudden they were actually very good looking.

So after seeing his widows peak and his hands and arms I could see he was a little older than I thought. Now I put him around his mid-to upper-twenties. His fingernails were very nicely trimmed, almost look manicured. He didn’t have the blonde hair that makes everything so much better, but it was a nice light brown. Gave me something to stare at when I was not playing a hand.

Finally a little after midnight I decided to cut my losses and leave. I walked out of there only down fourteen bucks on the night. Not too back for going all-in at one point.

Poker at a New Place

With today being President’s Day I did not have to work. I started by making me way to Fife to get sized for my shirts for the Boat Patrol. Then it was off to Seattle for the shorts and pants. But when I got they were closed. I guess I will be going there tomorrow.

I got home and just hung out until dinner time. I was just waiting until it was time to head out for the poker game. I was playing with a bunch of people I have never played with before. After reading the house rules I realized that it was going to be a lower level of players. When I got there that is what I found.

I was about even for the whole night. Then on the final hand I was in a couple bucks and then I ended up going all in for another eight bucks. I won with a flush. I took down about thirty bucks from that pot and walked away up a little over ten bucks. Not a bad night for playing with new people.

Good night at Diamons Lil’s

I worked on my bugs and got a lot of them retired. Ricky, Noah, and I went to QDoba for lunch. After we were done I had some time to get my database updated. Then we had our meeting. I was telling them about my problem with the GFE and Shawn told me that he made some changes and that I needed to update some stuff and I would be good to go. I did those updates and got the remaining bugs fixed. Then I worked on finishing off Shawn’s bugs. I got those done as well.

I went home after spending some time talking to Ricky about the future of the company as well as the upcoming product we are going to start to build soon.

After dinner I spent time watching TV with the family. I had planned on staying up late because I am getting ready for the ride along with Joe. Joe was online and we chatted for a while. He said that he wants me to start to work for his company again. He wants to pay me five bucks a month now. I went to Diamond Lil’s a little bit after midnight.

I got some cash and found a seat at a four-eight table. My name was on the list for a eight-sixteen table. I had lost some money at four-eight early on. But I won a couple good pots and I was back near even.

Then when I went to the eight-sixteen table I bought in for more money because I wanted to be able to compete. I was playing tight after the flop but loose before the flop. One guy at the table was kicking butt. He was playing really loose and always betting. He won pot after pot after pot. He was up around eight-hundred bucks at one point.

A couple ten-six-sevens came in. I recognized one of them from playing there before. He was ripped and very fit. He started by playing at a different table. Then he moved to my table. When he was coming to my table I could not take my eyes off him. Then I looked down and realized that everyone was watching for me to do my action. Oops! Oh well I spent the rest of the time playing cards and watching his arms flex and show off his muscle as he moved.

I won a couple nice pots after being on the ropes at one point. I was getting some good start cards but the flop was bad. But sometimes it would be a good flop for me. At one point I had pocket fives. I was going to fold. I ended up staying. The flop was all cards under nine. With how loose people were I played. And on the river I caught a five and busted a guy who had jacks.

I finally left after three-thirty. I was up two-hundred-twenty-two bucks. It was a good night for me.

Incredibly Tired

After getting to bed and sleeping for about four hours I was up again. I was very tired and I got the last few things done with the HazMat CD’s. Shortly thereafter I had to get to the radio show. I went to the studio and I forgot my cell phone at home.

I was dragging as I started the show and I did not have my “A” game going. So I was just being loopy but I got through the show. I did not think it was all that good. I had a little bit of time at home before I had to get to the fire station to work on the Rescue and where to put the new tools. When I got home there was a message from Pete about a suicide down at the river. He ended up going on it.

I met up with Erik at the fire station and we put the new tools and Rescue and rearranged the tools that existed on it. It is cool that we are running the new tools now. With OTEP training coming up at seven o’clock I just decided to hang out at the station.

Pete called me and told me that if I had some time to go to the funeral home and investigate the wounds to get an idea of what happened on this case. It was interesting because now I have seen shotgun, handgun, and rifle damage to the human head. There is a lot of differences between each one.

The OTEP training was pretty short over all. We covered burns. Once we were done with the training I went to Mike’s house for poker. I was there until midnight. I ended up walking away with an extra thirty-one bucks.

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

Ryan Came to Town

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

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

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

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

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

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

Time at the Jail

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

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

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

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

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.

Mid-day Coroners Case

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

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

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

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

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

Back on Sunday Rotation

After playing some poker last night I wanted to try the tournament at Zeppoz today. I went up there around four and got into it. I bought in and did my one rebuy at the beginning. I was not the first out, but I found myself a pocket tens. I tried to push and I went all in. Someone called me with pocket aces. I ended up losing and I was done. I went to play some of the table games. I was playing Paigow. I was doing well.

I won back all the money I lost playing the tournament, plus I tipped the dealer five buck and walked away with about twenty-five. Not too bad of a day.

I pretty much went straight to the fire station for rig checks. It is our Sunday. On the way there a call came out. We started to go on it, but they cancelled us just as we went en route. Tyson and I worked on the engine together. He did the pump test and we got it cleaned and put away.

The rig checks went pretty quick for the most part. Tyson and I ended with him doing a one-minute drill. He was able to nail it the second time through.

Cougs Lose a Close one to Oregon

I wanted to work the Cougar basketball game and it turned out I was able to. Because of the number of people going to the games they want more EMS working. We had a total of six people working it.

Clint and I were one team. We started off in the student section watching the crowd and the game. The Cougs started off good and kept the lead nearly the whole game. But in the final minute of the game Oregon got the game very close and with less than a second on a the close the Cougs were called for a foul that put Oregon to the line for two free throws. That put the game into overtime. Oregon had a ten to zero run and held on to win by three. It was very disappointing.

After the game I went to Zeppoz to play some poker. I was able to get a seat at a table that opened up. I played for several hours. As normal there is one guy who thinks he is a pro. He does everything correct and someone else is always dumb for a move they make. I hate people who are like that.

I played until nearly four in the morning. I was up about sixty bucks when I went against another guy. We were heads up and I had trip queens. I thought I was strong and that he was trying to push my off my hand. But he had a full house due to the river giving him an eight. So I lost that hand. That cost me most of my winning. I played a while longer after that. But I walked away with the same amount of money I came to the poker table with.

Move in Poker Party Part Two

I was woken up by a call from Michael this morning. But once I was up I decided to stay up. I tooled around the house working on getting it ready for the poker game tonight. There was also the Cougar Basketball game on today against the Huskies. I knew it was going to be a wild game because they were calling in cops early due to all the people and problems they were having around Beasley.

I went to Safeway and got some regular groceries and some stuff for the poker game. I got home and I realized my trip to the hardware store was forgotten. I was going to get a screw to fix my pantry door that has had the wrong screw since I moved in. I was down at Turner when a call came in for a cardiac problem at the coliseum. I went to The Deuce. Michael showed up as well. We went on the call, but it did not turn out to be too much. We fueled up on the way back.

I went to the hardware store to only see they had closed. So I went home and started to get ready for the poker game. I was setting up the Tournament Director software I had. I got the cards counted and made sure the decks were good. I then got the table set up and the food ready to go. I made some last minute phone calls.

Russell was the first to show up. He got a pop and we started to talk about who all was coming. Soon others started to show up. Andrew and James showed up. Then a couple more people showed up. We all started to get ready to play the game.

I paid for the buy ins for most of the people because they had helped me move and missed my last game. Dan and Denise were there along with Andrew, Russell, James, Brad, and Tyson did not make it.

I was doing pretty well through out the tournament. Andrew bought in a couple times. When he was near the end the final time I talked him through the “chip and a chair” thought process. He started to earn his way back into the tournament.

But soon Andrew, Brad, Denise, and James were out. It was Russell, Dan, and I. But I was not getting any cards to speak of. I was finally eliminated in third place. Dan and Russell went head-to-head. But Russell was going to have to get going. Dan was going to be playing by himself and that would mean that Russell would lose his chipstack to blinds and Dan would win.

But Dan was nice and decided to play with Russell on the next couple hands. Russell ended up finding a hand. Dan went all-in. Russell covered and won. So Dan pretty much let his first place finish go to second place.

After the game I cleaned up a little bit and went to Zeppoz with Dan and Denise. We play a couple different table games. I ended at Texas Shootout. I started to win some money there and walked out near even for the evening at Zeppoz.