EVOC Slow Course

This morning I started with the slow EVOC course. Melcher and I were trading off with the one county car. The others had their own car. It was taking a long time between each of my runs. After my second run Melcher went a second time. Then it was decided that he would continue to do it until he was able to pass it. There was a lot of backing and it was pretty involved. As it was getting close to the time that the class was supposed to be over I was able to get into a WSU police car in order to get some practice because the other cars were still being used.

I did the course once in the WSU car and my time was good, but I hit a couple cones. I did it a second time and passed it seventeen seconds over the minimum time needed. I was the second guy to pass and I did it in the least number of runs. It was pretty cool.

We left and went to McDonald’s for lunch. We watched some football and talked war stories while there. When the training was done I went home and got my stuff ready for softball practice. I was meeting a couple of the new and old guys at the city playfields for some practice and BP. The two new infielders are both nice guys and good players. Both hit the ball well and throw it well. We are going to be a lot more solid. We were there for a couple hours total.

I went home and got ready for our first softball games. One of the infielders wasn’t sure if he was going to play with us or a different team who was trying to recruit him. He decided to play with us. That was great news for the team.

I pitched the first game and did just fine. We won the first game by one run, but we were not hitting too well. The second game was a lot more of a slaughtering. We ten-runned the other team. We started off the season two and oh.

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.

Pick Up Softball Player

I have been in contact with Art about playing softball in San Diego later next month. I am a pick up player for their team. We e-mailed back and forth for a while, and then we scheduled a time to meet up. He was in Factoria so meeting with him was going to be very easy.

I stopped in Factoria on my way to Jon’s house. I talked with Art for about an half hour, first talking about my softball experience. Then he told me about his team and how they were formed. He said they are going to do some fund raisers to try to pay for the hotel room while we are down there.

I got to Jon’s and helped him hang a new TV in his bedroom. Then we headed to the Sprint store to look at some phones for the boys. We went next door to Quizno’s for dinner and then it was off to Marymoor park for softball. We were playing a double header with a team Jon played with last year. They needed some players for their final game two games. We had ten total guys with Jon and I. So we were sorely needed tonight.

In the first game we were playing it very close with the other team which was supposed to be a much better team than us. But we took it to extra innings after an incredible seventh inning. They were the home team. They tied up the game and had the winning run on third base with no outs. All they had to do was get a good flyball. The first guy popped up. The second guy had a short fly out. The third got also got an easy out stranding the game winning run. We went to extra innings, but lost when they scored one run because we couldn’t score that inning.

The second game was closer to reality. The other team mopped up against us. The scored a ton of runs and we only scored about three runs for the night. I played catcher the first game and second base the second game. I had a couple plays come my way and I made all the plays that came towards me. That made me feel good. You always want to do well when playing as a pick up player.

Second Place In First Annual Garden Tournament

Today was my second day of softball. We had ten guys on the nose. I started by pitching, but I was having a hard time pitching a strike. As I tried more I kept getting worse. Finally after walking the bases loaded I changed pitchers and went to play first base. I stayed there the rest of the day. My ankle was hurting pretty bad. It never got better like it normally does so I was really a gimp out there.

I was doing okay at the plate. I was hitting the ball well and taking some walks when it mattered. We won the first game beating the team we lost to last night. We destroyed them. Then we played Sports Page. We were close at first, but they took a seven run lead into the seventh inning. We were sucking it up at the plate. Then the hitting just clicked. We scored eight runs and took a one run lead into the bottom of the seventh. We held them scoreless and won the first game. So we had to play them a second time.

The second game we hit poorly again. He did have one big inning scoring around nine runs. But it wasn’t enough to take the lead. Then we gave up a big inning. We were down by eleven. We had one more chance. We scored four runs and lost the game. It was fun to come back, but it just wasn’t enough.

I went home and relaxed and worked on getting some work done around the house. I went to Cougar Country with BKoe for dinner. We sat there and chatted about stuff. Rhonda came over and talked to us for a while. Then I went to the fire station for weekly rig checks. I went to the fuel pumps with Togs after rig checks to fuel up the engine. I am going to see about getting him to be an engineer, but I don’t know if he will be around long enough to make it worth while.

I got my timecards done and went home to go to bed. I am planning on going to Seattle in the morning for my vacation.

First Show in Years

This morning I had to be up early. With the number of calls and when we got them I was running on just over three hours of sleep. I went to Pullman for the first softball game. As it turned out we had four games. The first three were round-robin. When those were done we started the double-elim tournament. The first few games were pretty ugly for us. We were not hitting the ball very well. We lost several of the games by a pretty big margin. We had a two hour break. I went to Cougar Country for some hamburgers and then drove to Moscow for our first double-elim game. We were playing a team that we should have no problem beating.

But it was not to be. We had a battle back and forth. We would score and they would answer. A couple runs at a time. Finally we had a one run lead. The other team hit a three-run shot and went up by two. We ended up losing the game. That put us in the loser bracket and playing at nine in the morning tomorrow.

I hurried back to Pullman and got my fire department uniform on. I was working the event at Beasley. It was a play, the same one I went to last night. I was working with Walker. We spent most of the time chatting about testing for different fire departments. Then I put on Transformers. We got about half way through it when the play got over.

Then it was off to my place again to change for the drag show in Moscow. I am not into drag at all. It is not my thing. But the show is sort of a gay get together. I don’t really know many gay people in the area, but I thought I would go and see what it is like. I got cleaned up and went to pick up Gunnar.

We went to the show and they were in the middle of a set. When it was done we went into the main room and sat down at a table. We spent a lot of time people-watching. There was a group of ten-six-seven’s dancing with their shirts off. It is a time for them to show off their stuff. So the scenery was good, but I had a boy there with me so I didn’t really want to not pay attention to the hotties dancing. I haven’t been to a show in many years. It was when Russel and Scotty were still in the area. It was a little different because of the venue.

We watched and talked about the various people we saw there. Some faster songs came on so he went out to dance a little bit. I watched him do that. When he got done it was very hot inside the place and he wanted to get some cool air.

We went outside and walked towards my rig. It was near the end of the show anyway so we headed home.

I went to his place to drop him off. We sat outside for about ten minutes talking about stuff. We had dated a little back in December. He wants to get back with me. So we talked about getting together again. I went home and got some dinner before I went to bed. I was pretty tired and I had to get to bed for our softball games in the morning.

Fall Co-ed Season is Under Way

After the second straight night of going to bed late I woke up around ten o’clock. The big plan of the day was to go a movie with BKoe. I got the photos for the photo board at the Deuce cropped and ready to go. I took a motorcycle and drove down to the Deuce. I updated the photo board at the station and then went to station one. I met up with Heston and showed him I printouts for the possible reserve recruitment sign.

I was at station one for while talking with Heston and Brown. I let Brown know that I would not be able to be at training tonight because something going on over Moscow. He asked what I was going to be doing, but I didn’t tell him because I did not think he would understand that I want to play softball.

After I left the station I went to the bank to deposit my coroner’s check. I got ten dollars cash back. I went to the Man Shop to get my hair cut. I got my normal short haircut and I was able to get a razor shave on the back of my neck. I wish it was a standard at most barbershops but it’s not.

On the way out of the barbershop I saw Joseph from the Thunder football team. He asked me if I would be the announcer for next year’s team. I told him that I would do it. I told him that I was too busy this year to make any games.

I got ready to go see the movie with BKoe. I took my motorcycle to Safeway to get some pop and pretzels for the movie and then I drove to the theater. BKoe got to the movie theater just as I was getting there we walked in together and went into the theater. Matt and CBass were supposed to go to the movie with us but they were not able to make it.

After the movie was over I got home and got my uniform for the softball game. I headed over to Moscow and met up with the rest of the team. While at the field I could see some smoke in the distance coming from a grain bin. I watched it for a while and it did appear that there could have been a fire in the grain bin. I finally called Whitcom and talked to a dispatcher. Moscow fire was advised but they found it was actually dust from farming operations and not a fire.

The game started and I was an extra hitter but I got to play first base after the second inning. The shortstop for the other team was a ten-six-seven. I spent part of the game watching him play his position. The one thing I noticed is his throws to first always seem to loft over there. In the sixth inning he was coaching first base and grabbed a bag of Redman chew and took a plug of dip.

The final out of the sixth inning was a ball hit up the first baseline. I charged the ball and hit off my mitt but it stayed on the ground right below me. I picked up the ball and tossed it to Joe who was covering first base from pitcher and we make the out. In the seventh inning I wrote the pine. We won the game and a group of us headed to the Sports Page tavern in Pullman. I got something to read and we sat around talking sports. I left the bar around ten o’clock. I got home and started working on the speech recognition on my laptop. It seems right down to take the longer to write anything however as soon as I learn how to use speech recognition better this should really be cool.

End of the Season Finals

Today was the semi-finals and the finals for the post-season men’s softball. We first had to beat Agripro to go on to play for the championship. We were hitting the ball pretty well. Our defense was pretty hot as well. But Agripro is very good at getting basehits. They have some power, but they have a high average and that is why they are dangerous.

We just did our thing and put runs on the board in most of the innings. I had a couple walks and a couple hits.

After the first victory it was time to play Coors Light. They are a very good team. They lost one game all season and it was to us. We also took them into extra innings. So they are a team we can play with as long as we play flawless defense and hit the ball well. Sound we win the first game we would have to play them a second time.

In the first game we kept them scoreless for three straight innings. But we only scored five runs. That was not enough of a lead. They soon caught up. They took a small lead on us but we had a chance and could not get the ball to fall. Then they had a three run inning after an error on what would have been the third out was made by our team. Down four runs going into the final inning we were not able to get anything going and lost the game. We held Coors Light to nine runs. We are the first team to do that all season. They average just under twenty runs a game. So we did very good.

After the game we got our second place trophy and went to My Office to have a small celebration and to thank our sponsor. I had some nachos and a beer with most of the team. We talked about next season as well as the up coming intramural season.

Co-Ed Mush Ball Tournament

Today was a second tournament in Lewiston in as many days. We were playing a mush ball tournament. Today it was co-ed. We were able to scrape a team together. It was several guys from yesterday and a couple women that we play with.

I was able to play first base all day. I liked that. I also figured out how to hit the ball yesterday and I was hitting the ball with some power and I was getting basehits.

After winning the first game we had a game break. As it turned out we had a one game break between every game. After winning the first game we lost the next two. Both games were a one run loss. So we went on to a consolation game against the team we played in the first round. The second time through we crushed them. I hit a homerun. Bill had offered anyone who got a homerun a ring-pop. I was the first one to step up and get it.

When the game was done I hurried back to Pullman to drop of Faber and then down to the county to write up my DUI that I got the other night. Jordan was there to help me. It wasn’t as much paperwork as I thought it would be, but my stop was straight forward. It took more than an hour and a half to do it it all.

Mush Ball Tournament

This morning I was up after only three hours of sleep. I went to get some Five-Hour Energy and breakfast. I followed Joe down to Lewiston for our softball games. We were playing in a mush ball tournament. It is softball with a ball that you can squeeze in about a quarter inch in all directions. When you hit it off center it tends to pop-up and hit the ground and bounce. It also bounces a lot on the ground. On defense you have to catch it just right or it can bounce out of your glove.

We won the first game and then lost a couple other games along the way. I was EH in a couple games. When I looked back, all the games I was on defense we lost and the games I was EH we won. It was not because of my bad defense, but it was funny that it worked out that way.

The first two games I really struggled at the plate. I was having a hard time figuring out how to hit the ball. I switched bats and everything trying to find something that would work for me.

When the fifth game was done it looked liked we got second place. I ran off to get to Pullman for working the Indian All-Star football game at Martin Stadium. We got to the field and parked the ambulance. I met a guy who turned out to be the brother of a guy I was in the reserve fire academy with back in Ninety-Nine. He had been a cop for several years and then quit and went back to WSU for a new degree.

The game was okay, there were not a lot of big plays, but what sucked is the game was almost played totally on the opposite side of the field due to the quarters and turn overs. So we were never very close to the action.

I found out that we had actually won the tournament in Lewiston due to run-differntial. So we got t-shirts!

Two Bigs Wins

Today is Ryan’s birthday. I called him up on the phone and we talked for a while. I wished him a happy birthday. He told me he got an iPhone for his birthday.

In the evening we had a couple softball games. We are in the losers bracket. We had to win both games to move on. We were playing Sports Page first. They beat us in all but one game this season. We went out and hit the ball very well. We ended up scoring twenty-two runs against the four they scored. It wasn’t really ever close. We just played very well.

Then it was to play the Bomb Squad. They beat us every game this season except for the first playoff game. They beat us by one run. It was a much closer game. We did go on to win, but it was only by three runs. We played good defense in both games.

It was great to win and now we have the semi-finals next Tuesday.

Men’s Playoffs Start Tonight

I decided that I would be on pager today. That pretty much means that anytime there is a call I go to the station to staff it. There are a couple call types we don’t respond to when on pager, mainly low level EMS calls and fire alarms. As it turned out we had a lot of calls happen yesterday. I ended up coming down to the station six times through out the day and night. It kept me busy outside of the work I was doing for MH.

I had completed some work that I turned it, but it didn’t appear to work. I knew it should be working. My boss was really worried that it wasn’t working because my code was dealing with live leads for real estate. I told him that it should be working so we got a conference call. Before long we found the problem was not with my code, but it was because a certain mailbox wasn’t set up correctly. Once it was fixed all was good. That was a load off.

Tonight is the first night of our softball playoffs. We were playing Bomb Squad. We have played them about four times this season and beat them each time. If we won we played again. If we lose we go to the losers bracket and don’t play again on Thursday.

The game started off well and we scored three quick runs. But then we went to heck. We went four straight innings without scoring a run. Our defense was awesome. We were making the outs we had a chance to make. But the longball cost us as they scored seven of their nine runs on the long ball. We lost by one run.

When I got home I worked on my MH stuff a while longer. At around two in the morning we got a call. I went to the station. I was so tired I just went to the recliner and went to sleep.

No Softball and it Sucks

This morning Tony and I went on a transfer to Spokane just went we got off duty. It was a pretty quick trip there and back.

The rest of the day was pretty slow. There was no softball today with the season being over. I just didn’t know what to do with my time. It sucks that the season is over. Before long the men’s season will be over. Then we have fall co-ed and IM’s. Then I will have no softball for about five months. It feels like the seasons go so much faster than they use to.

Second Place

This morning came early because I was going to work at the FD for a couple hours to cover for a test they other guys were taking for the LT position. I picked up Blake and took him to the station so he could get his truck. I worked without incident, but I was pretty tired due to being up so late the last two nights.

I went to get my cell phone switched over to my new one. It finally came back from getting fixed. The screen had started to have problems. So I got the phone switched over and I am using the new phone again. That is pretty cool.

Then it was over to Blockbuster. I am not very happy with them. There was a movie that was rented a few months back. Someone was supposed to return it for me, but it wasn’t returned, as I found out. Well they just charge you for the movie and you keep it should you not return it after a certain period of time. So I had this charge on my account.

Rather than send me an invoice or anything that said I owed them money, I got a letter from a collections agency saying I owed money. I was all sorts of upset over getting this letter.

I paid for my bill and then I told the guy they need to do something other than just send bills to collections. It is hard to pay bills when you don’t even know that you have one. After I paid the guy gave me a receipt to show that I paid my bill, then a second print out comes through the printer. He started to grab it saying I received a coupon for a dollar-ninety-nine rental. I was walking by him and I said “don’t need it” and walked out of the store.

I think I will be going to Video Quest when I want to rent video’s in the future. I am very disappointed in how Blockbuster dealt with this.

After having a good couple games on Saturday our time on the field Sunday was cancelled due to rain. The rescheduled game was made for tonight. We had a solid core of guys going out to play, but it was not to be. In the first game I started at third base, but I was in a lot of pain with my neck. It hurt to turn it. So playing a fielding position would not be that good. Eric got there and I had him take over for me at third. But we could not string the hits together like we did on Saturday.

Sports Page took the first game by a homerun in the sixth inning. They won by three. In the second game they had a couple big innings and beat us pretty good. We ended up in second place in the post-season tournament. I was disappointed by the finish. We had the ability to win it.

After the game Sheila and I spent some time talking before I went to the Sports Page to chat with Jessie.

Rain Out

This morning I was all excited about playing softball this afternoon. I went to the field early because I figured that I would be needed to help keep score. If not, then I would just kick back and watch some softball action.

I was correct. They needed my assistance in keeping score. I was doing the scorekeeping for several games in a row. As it was getting close to my game time the clouds were moving in. Before I knew it, it was lightning out with some rain. We were going to give it thirty minutes to see if the rain and lightning would let up. After thirty minutes it was looking good, but the manager got a call from the supervisor of parks and rec. He was told to cancel the game. Within about thirty more minutes the game would have been playable. That really sucked. But I got a t-shirt for doing the scorekeeping, and we still have the chance to win the whole post-season tournament. I hope we win it so I can wear the t-shirt I got with pride. It was a Championship t-shirt.

I went home and did some stuff on the computer and watched some TV. I didn’t get to bed until around midnight because I stayed up to watch Rescue Me.

Undefeated in Softball Day One

The plan for today was to have some fun playing softball. I was hurting for men, which is unusual. I am normally trying to find extra women. But today I had to get the men. We had one pick up that Jessie got and Joe played with us too.

In the games I was hitting the ball very well. I had two inside-the-park-homeruns plus some other strong hits through out the day.

I also helped with the score keeping, but as I was doing that someone went down on the next field over, and I was asked to come over an help. There were already two EMT’s there. That is the second time the fire department had to get called to the field today.

It was a nice afternoon at the park. In the first game we were playing we won it pretty easily. The second game was not so easy. We had brought in Kelly, but we lost an outfielder so we were playing with only nine players. That really hurt. But we were scoring runs and we went on to win the game.

In the end we won both games. After the game Sheila and I went to Cougar Country for some dinner. We sat there talking for a while. I have a hard time around her. I am very nervous. I feel bad because as much as I would like to get be a straight guy and lead a straight life, I kept on checking out the guys that would walk by. I guess at some point I need to tell her, but I guess that would be before we get to the point where it would be clear she is interested in me.

Ended the Co-Ed Regular Season on a Loss

Today was a makeup game against the Zeppoz team. We have not won a game against an A-league team all season. Tonight would be no different. In co-ed I have been hitting the ball very well, but as a team we were not able to hold on against Zeppoz. It was close for a little while, but then they took a big lead and did not give it back to us. We could not find a way to pull it out against them.

Tomorrow I am going to be going back to the fire department. I will have a new captain and I think my countdown to my last full-time day is starting.

Back to Back Wins!

A little bit after I got up the tones went off for a transfer to Spokane. I called in to take it. I worked with Chelsea. In Spokane we went to Red Lobster for lunch. It was very good. We talked about my position as a reserve deputy on the way back, then we talked about the fire department and ways to make it better within the budget that we have with the city.

This evening brought on the final two softball games of the season. It didn’t mean a lot in terms of standings because we are about half way down, but we wanted to beat these teams because we are a competitive team. We were playing the A-League champion who hasn’t lost a game all season. We were also playing the number two team in the league.

In the first game we were playing Coors Light. They were unbeaten. We came close the first time we faced them going into extra innings. This time we put nine runs in the first inning and lead the whole way. We let them get back into the game, but we kept the lead the whole time and the time limit of the game hit in the bottom of the sixth inning with us up to bat. I had three balls pitched to me when the umpire called the time limit.

In the next game we were playing the number two team. We took a big lead but let the other team work their way back into it. But we were home. We had given up the lead in the top of the seventh inning. We were down by three runs. We scored a couple runs. Then with the bases loaded Jered hit a double scoring two more runs for the win.

After the game Brady broke out a couple beers to celebrate our win. Brady, Cole, Faber, and I shared the beer.

Melcher, Jessie, Faber, and I went to My Office. We shared a couple pitcher of beer. Then we went to Sports Page to hang out until a little after one in the morning. It was a good end to the season.

I was thinking that I would be going to McCoy’s team next season, but I am not sure if he is still interested in adding me. I will see in the off-season. If he wants me I think I will go, I am tired of running the team with guys that seem to be undercutting me all the time. I just want to go and play. Plus McCoy is good about getting his team into the tournaments.

Lost a Must-Win Game

This evening we were playing against Sports Page. We needed to win both of the remaining games against them. Plus we needed them to lose one other game for us to take second place. But that was not to be. We had a hitting battle back and forth. But in one inning they broke out and and scored twelve runs. That effectively sank us. We tried to come back, but we were just unable to do it.

I also had Sheila come and watch. I wasn’t able to show her my skills very well. I had one very nice solid hit. Two other hits were pretty lames infield grounders.

After the game was done I went to the fire station. We got a call around one in the morning. It turned into a nothing call. We cleared right after getting there pretty much.

Ankle is Really Hurting

The pain of my ankle has been going on all day today. Normally with some walking around the pain will subside and get to the point where it is not very noticeable, not today however. It was really bad when I went to Moscow to get some mitt conditioner. All the walking I did there did not loosen anything.

When I got to the city playfields for the game I was still a hurting unit. I ended up having to play first base because I had no ability to run. I have two triples that I only got doubles due to not being able to run full out. This is the worst my ankle has been in many years.

The game was pretty ugly. I was thinking we could do something in the first inning when we scored several runs, but that production did not keep up. We ended up losing the game against Sports Page. We were out matched.

When we were done playing I went to Cougar Country for some dinner. I went home and watched some TV for a while as I sat around in pain. It sucked. I actually was using my softball bat as a cane to move around with less pain.

Othello Softball Tournament

This morning I was up and ready to go around six thirty in the morning to have a nice day of softball. I went to Jessie’s house to pick her up on the way to Othello. I was playing softball with the Sports Page team. We pulled into Othello around nine o’clock in the morning. I had an idea where the field was and then in the direction I thought I needed to go. I ran into the field and found Erik and Faber as soon as I got there. I parked next to their rig and walked over to the camp that was set up.

I grabbed a chair and my softball stuff. We sat around just talking about the night before. As it was getting closer to ten o’clock we made our way to the first field of play. This was a five game round-robin tournament with the top two teams going to a championship game.

In the first game I wasn’t hitting nor seeing the ball too well. We are playing in a USSSA tournament. So the count was one and one. I am not a big fan of that count because I can’t watch a ball and get into a rhythm with the pitches. But the rest of the team played well enough for us to win the game.

After the first game we had some time before the next game. We went back to our camping site and grilled up some hamburgers and had some beverages. I was just trying to stay in the shade.

We made our way to the field for the second game about twenty minutes early to warm up. I was playing catcher for the whole tournament. So I didn’t need to throw the ball too much. My arm is pretty loose because I throw a lot during a game.

In the second game I was starting to hit the ball better and watch it better. I was able to draw a walk and got a good solid hit. We won the second game with a come-from-behind victory. It was pretty close, but we were down a couple runs. Then our sticks all came together in one inning. We took a small lead.

The defense was playing nearly perfect. We were making all the plays and making the outs we needed to make. We were not missing the cut-offs and kept the other team from advancing on us a lot.

Directly following that game we were supposed to play a second game, but we flew through our game, playing seven innings in about thirty-five minutes. There were several one-two-three innings on both side. During one of the early inning Chris, who was playing second base for us, got into a rundown as a runner. When he slid back into the base his thumb got dislocated. He was in a lot of pain. It got back into place and he kept playing. He was having a hard time gripping the bat, and as the day went on I think it was getting worse for him because he was able to hit the ball better earlier in the night.

We had to wait a little while for our third game. We hung out at the field that we had just completed our previous game on. In the third game we were playing against a “rec” team so they got a three-run lead at the start of the game. The were a bunch of younger guys, all of them looked like they got out of high school recently and all had playing baseball for their high school.

They were not very good at softball. They were not bad either, just not that good. They scored one run in the first inning, but with the three-run lead given to them they were up four to nothing. We went out and tied up the game in our half of the inning. I am seeing the ball a lot better and I am hitting it better.

We took a bit more of a lead, but our defense was still playing incredible. We held on to the lead thanks to great plays and our infield turning double plays. After that victory we had the fourth game. We were playing against a team that has lost to everyone.

We had to spot them three runs as well. But they were really a bad team. They had a couple good players, but it did not make up for the bad ones. We took a quick lead on them and didn’t give it up. It looked more like a couple larger families put together a team. There were people in the forties and kids as young as fourteen on the team. We beat them soundly.

We had about an hour break. We went back out to our camp site and sat around. By now people were getting a little tired. People were moderating their alcohol intake very well so we were not getting players who were playing poorly. That was an important key.

Before the next game we made our way to the field. The team we were going to play was waiting around and a couple of their players were playing in a co-ed game. The field we were going to use was filled, so our game was moved to an empty field. We were given the option whether we wanted to play the game or not. We were already in the championship game, so this was just for fun.

We decided we wanted to play. The other team took it to us. We had some poor defense. We didn’t hit the ball very well. We actually played really bad. They also hit the ball very well. We ended up losing the game. They were supposedly a “rec” team, but they didn’t seem like it. They played very well.

After that loss we had a break for the homerun derby. We were going to play Venom in the championship. We beat them this morning already. The homerun derby featured about half of the Venom team. That was something I was thinking about. For an “E” team that is allowed only one homerun, they sure have a lot of sluggers.

When the game started the sun had pretty much gone down and the ball which had been pretty squishy was starting to get more firm. The team they put out the second time seemed like a different team from the first one. It seems like they picked up a couple crushers. It was a really close game. We were not scoring nor hitting great, but we were playing defense well enough to keep the game close.

But they had a break out inning scoring around eight or nine runs. That game them a lead we couldn’t overcome. I had a couple strong hits in the game. We lost the game and came in second place for the tournament.

Over all the day was so much fun. An afternoon of six softball games is a lot of fun to me. I love playing and to get a chance to play so much is great fun. I was hitting the ball well and seeing the ball well. I was able to obtain a couple walks along the way.

After the game I went to dinner with Brandon and his girlfriend as well as Jessie. The whole team ended up coming with us to dinner. We went to a little Mexican place near the fields where we played softball.

When dinner was done I got some pop and headed home. Jessie was telling me about her and Ben. She gave me the whole story. We listened to some music along the way as well.

I dropped her off in Albion. Then I went to my place. I was getting the photos from the tournament downloaded from my camera when the second alarm tones came out. It was for a transfer to Spokane. I was going to do it, then I decided not to. I was going to wait about five minutes before calling in. Finally when I did call in I found I was the only caller.

I was told that I would get a call back to let me know if I was going or not. After about ten minutes I had not heard anything. Then the second alarm tones went off again. It said “FF Scotty Anderson landline station One”. I picked up my phone and found it was frozen. So I got that resolved and found I was getting the transfer.

We went to the hospital and picked up the patient. We headed for Spokane. It was pretty uneventful. After dropping off the patient we went to breakfast at Perkins and then headed back to Pullman.

By now I was getting tired. I tried to talk to Blake to keep me going. We talked about several political issues. When we got back to Pullman we went to the hospital to drop off some equipment. I cleaned the back of the ambulance. Then we got back to the station. I was ready to go home. I completed what I needed to get done and headed home. I found my bed to be very nice. I turned off my pager, cell phone, scanner, and radio. I wanted nothing to wake me up.

Win One and Lose One

Today at the fire department we did a walk through of the new bio-sci building on campus. We saw the fire protection devices through out the building. We didn’t have a lot of call activities during the day.

I had a couple softball games this evening. The first game went well. We took a lead and never lost it. We went on to twelve run the other team. But in the second game they beat us. We really needed to win the game to have a chance to take second place.

In the game I hit a ball that went to the second baseman. He let it get by him into shallow center field. I kept going to second base and when I got there I saw he was still getting to the ball and no one was at third I kept trucking to third. I slid in under the tag. That was fun.

Later I made an out at home. I also was part of a double play where the left fielder caught a ball and went home. I got it and made a perfect throw to third for a double play. It was great.

Jersey Night Ought-Nine

Today is the last scheduled Thursday softball game. With the re-alignment of the league we lost the rest of our Thursday night games and pretty much only play on Tuesdays. We played the Whammers. I thought it was going to be close, but it wasn’t. We pretty much controlled the whole game and won it. We have been on a nice win streak.

After the game I hung around the fields to watch Sports Page play. They have several guys who I know on the team and it was Jersey Night. Joe is the leader of it and I was going to be participating in it again. I have gone to almost every Jersey Night since its inception a couple years back when Joe was with My Office still.

We started by going to Sports Page. Things were pretty tame there. Then it was off to My Office. I got myself some dinner. I wasn’t drinking tonight because I was the on-call coroner. We went to Thai Ginger following My Office.

Then we loaded up in Jessie’s truck and my rig and headed up to Val Halla. While there I was talking to a guy named Chris. He plays with Sports Page now, but use to play on Palouse Tavern. He said that Kelly wanted to put him on our team, but I wouldn’t allow it. So now he does what he can to get me out every time he can. He also said that I never wave at him when I see him and he only lives a couple houses away from me.

I finally understood why he never seemed to like me. I don’t remember the situation where Kelly wanted him on the team. I think that Kelly made up the story so he had a “reason” why Chris couldn’t play with us. I am not sure what happened. But Chris had a chip on his shoulder. I tried to let him know I don’t remember it happening that way. But now that I know what the problem is, it is in the open.

We moved on to Mike’s bar at the end of the night. By the time we got there several people were really drunk. We started to break up there. Some people went along on their own. I had Hanna and Ryan with me. I took them to their car downtown. I also took Chris home. He thanked me for the ride. I think that we might be good now.

Firefighter Stand Down

Today was the firefighter stand down on B-Shift. But as we were doing our morning workout we got called out an EMS call. So that didn’t last too long. When we got back to the station we did some classroom lecture on safety and health.

Then we had a long lunch. Bob and I went to Safeway to get stuff for dinner. We were having lunch when a call came in for the North ambulance. It wasn’t long before that where we were called out. Then shortly after that a third call came in.

The afternoon was also some more safety and health lecture. At five o’clock I went to the city playfields for my softball game and batting practice. I hit the ball around in hopes of working out of my nasty hitting slump. I haven’t been hitting the ball very well in the men’s league.

We played Bomb Squad. I was one for two with a walk. My hit was a double and it was hit well. We won the game and I headed back to the station.

We didn’t have any more calls for the rest of the evening. We watched Rescue Me as a crew. The episode was really funny.

Interesting Turn of Events

This morning i got up and I left pretty well rested. I made some bacon for breakfast and hung out outside of my camper. They were playing a game that the players toss two golf balls that are attached to a string. They wrap around one of three bars. They get points based on what bar it is wrapped around. Each team has three of the ball sets. Someone accidentally got one stuck in a tree. We spent some time trying to hit it was a basketball to get it out of the tree. We came close, but the one hit of the basketball got it higher in the tree. We worked on it longer and finally got it out of the tree when someone climbed up the tree. We took some group photos and then I got my campsite cleaned up and left.

On the way home I stopped at two properties that are for sale. One seemed to have someone at it, so I didn’t stop. The other one I stopped and walked around the house and looked inside. They also had a big shop that I looked around. The shop needs a lot of work to clean up due to the birds that have been in it. The house is nice, but it is pretty far out there. I am not sure I would want to be so far from Pullman.

Brandon, Kevin, and I were playing some games this afternoon and we decided we would put together a poker game in the evening. Peter was going to play as well. I called the Peter from my softball team and he was going to come over and play.

I had a softball game. In my first at bat I had an inside-the-park-homerun. Heston was on first base. I was trying to catch up to him so I was running very hard. I ended up hurting my back in the process. That pretty much sucked. I also had a triple on the night.

During the game I noticed the third baseman for the other team. Then I heard someone say her name. I thought I recognized her and her name. I had been in an e-mail conversation with her for a length of time. I started to worry that the idea of me getting a girlfriend might cause a lot of pain if I wasn’t able to keep my eyes of the guys. So it was interesting to see her in real life. As we were congratulating each other she high-fived me but also grabbed my hand. I am not sure if she did that to everyone, or if she recognized me. I think she recognized me.

We won the game and I was on my way home to play some poker. We stayed up until nearly two in the morning playing cards. I played on my one five dollar buy-in for the night. I was up a fair amount of money for the night. I was one of the three winners of the night. It was a good day over all.

Still on the Winning Track

After a start that caused us frustration. We were not playing to our full ability. We won several games in the pre-season only to lose the first couple in regular season. We have now won the last two games and we are still within striking distance from the top of the stack. I don’t expect to be first place as the team that is there would have to lose four games. They rarely lose one game in a season. I hope that we will beat them in our next game. We have the ability to do it.

The game was in Moscow. I picked up the jersey’s and spent part of the day looking for people to come and play softball as four of our guys were not going to be there. This is turning into such a pain. Always having to find people. I really am done doing the managing.

We had a sea-saw battle with the other team. We were going back and forth with them passing the lead back and forth. It turned out that we took the lead in the fifth inning and never game it back.

After the game I watched Jake do some umping on the next field. I thought about wanting to ump. But as I sat there watching I started to think about why I didn’t want to do umping. But as I sit here writing this I think that I would want to ump. I cannot make up my mind.

When I got to Pullman I picked up my motorhome and got it leveled in front of the house. It needs to get ready to go on the trip to Central Ferry this weekend.

One Star Day

I started the morning off by going on a call shortly after the work day started. We had to have a police officer accompany us to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. He joked with me about my driving. When we got to the hospital I stopped. Put the ambulance in neutral and then looked down to grab a pair of gloves. Chia said “We’re moving”. I hit the brakes, but we hit the curb with the front tire and went up on it. I felt so embarrassed and like total crap.

In the hospital I got some ribbing over it. But was killed me was the was going to be written up. Not necessarily a punishment thing, but to document it. I really started to feel down. I don’t want something like that in my file. I don’t know if that is where it will go, but I just don’t see anything good coming out of them.

The rest of the day I really didn’t want to be around anyone. I did the work I needed to do and then hid away in my bedroom. I had some softball games tonight but I didn’t really feel like going to start with.

I ended up going and it was a good thing because we were playing short handed as it was. I was going to have to pitch. It was not a good start. I was pitching as bad as I did when I tried to pitch a couple weeks ago. But I fought through it and started to get my ability and confidence back. By the second game I felt like I had command of my pitching.

The first game I started to come out of my bad feeling. By the second game I was feeling better. I was hitting the ball well. We won the first game by a run after being down by a lot. The second game we lost by a run, but we had a good come back. It wasn’t a bad day on the field overall.

Then I went back to the station. I was starting to get my bad feeling back. After I got changed I was in my bedroom when a knock on the door came. It was the captain. It was time to write up what had happened. I sat in his office as he talked to me. Then he gave me a form I had to fill out. That really sucked.

After I got it done I went back to the bedroom. I needed the day over with.

Eleven of Me on Facebook

I posted my photos from the other photoshoot on facebook. I have received a ton of comments from people about it. It has been a lot of positive feedback. Keeton asked how my mom tells us apart. That is because I posted a photo of me where I Photoshopped eleven different photos of myself into one.

Introducing Scotty

I got my softball line up completed at home and went to the field. We were playing Bomb Squad. I have been having a problem with hitting lately. I have been afraid of just hitting the ball and letting it go where it goes. I feel like I have to try to push it to right field where I am making a lot of fly outs. My goal was to hit the ball hard.

I did that and got two basehits. I hit once to right field and it was a fly out. We went on to win by one run. It was a lot closer than it seemed. They scored a lot in the last inning, but we lead them the whole game.

Big Photo Shoot

I have been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally I got my fire department uniform to my house so I could set it up. I wanted to take a photo of myself in each of my uniforms. Then I would put it all into one photo to make it look like I posed for the photos all at one time.

I spent some time trying to get the lighting and other set up things just right. Then I put on one uniform after another. It took a long time to go through all the uniforms. One by one I had to put it on and use the ten second delay to take three photos. Then sometimes I had to change out the badges and other brass to other uniform parts for another photos. It was a long process. But the photos all turned out well.

I then started to go through the photos and chose what post to use for what side of the photo the pic would be on. It took a lot of time to cut out the background even though I was using a solid colored background. The whole process to make the photo took about six hours.

I then had to run off to the softball game. We were playing against Spellman’s team. It was crappy because we couldn’t hit the ball. Some of our best hitters didn’t have a hit on the night. We ended up losing after only scoring five runs. Spellman’s team scored twelve in the first inning alone.

I ended the night by watching Rescue Me. It is the first episode I was able to catch in the last three weeks.

A Night With Gunnar

Today was day two of the softball tournament. We played on game and were sent packing. We didn’t really hit the ball well and several of the players we had didn’t came back the second day for various reasons. It was this tournament that made me decide not to spearhead any more tournaments. It was took much work to call people over and over to find people to play. I am then questioned why we had so many people in one game. I am getting annoyed that every step along the way I am being questioned. First the question is about me not winning the toss and getting Home team. So I win the toss and get home team only to be told we should take Away from now on. Argh!

Later we had co-ed. There were five women and seven guys. So I just did the managing and let the others play. After the game I stopped by Starbucks and picked up Gunnar. We got some pizza and then went to my place. We watched the Italian Job and then watched some TV. We were together until nearly two in the morning hanging out and watching TV. We saw a lot of shows on Adult Swim on the Cartoon Network that were very strange.

It was fun to hang out with Gunnar again. But I am starting to wonder already if we are right together. I am going to give it some time. I think communication is important. We talked in some E-mails about that. I think it is important that if something is bothering me that I say what it is rather than letting it boil over at some point in the future.

I keep thinking I want a boyfriend, but then when I have someone I wonder if he is right for me. I don’t know if I have dysfunctional issues of having the boyfriend or if the situation is that I just haven’t found the right guy yet. I just don’t know. At times I like the ability to have someone to call “mine”, but then other parts of me feel like it is all wrong. I don’t know if that is the part of me that doesn’t like being gay and that I want to not be gay so it ruins any chances of a relationship. I sometimes look around thinking that “if that guy was my boyfriend I would be happy”.

I Have Qualified!

Working the fire department and dealing with the call that we did in the wee hours of the morning was tiring. I first had to give a statement to the police about what had happened. That took a little bit of time. Plus we had all the normal morning details to take care of around the station.

I went to the range for AR training. I got there as we were going over the parts of the rifle. Then we started to do some shooting from about twenty-five yards out to one-hundred yards. My ankle was hurting pretty bad so it was hard to walk around, but I did what I had to do. I first tried to qualify with the rifle. I was the first to go so I didn’t know exactly how fast we had to be moving. I did well, but I went over the time limit by about fifteen seconds. So I had to do it a second time. But this time I went faster and did fine.

We also did the same course with the pistol. The only difference is some of the targets were moved a little closer. I passed that one the first time through. I hurried off from there to the City Playfields for softball.

We were playing in a softball tournament. We lost the first game when the other team took a huge lead over us. But we scored fourteen runs in the final inning and came up two runs short of tying up the game.

We had a long break before the next game. I went home and watched some TV and rested my eyes. Matt was having a BBQ at his place and I was invited. I gave Brandon a ride so he could partake in some adult beverages.

I was able to get a hamburger before going to the softball game. We played two more. I was going to go back to Matt’s when it was done. But with as late as the last game went I never made it back to Matt’s. Brandon walked down to meet up with me at the field.

The first game we didn’t even come close. We had a fifteen run deficit after the first inning. We lost that game and went to the final game. That was one heck of a game. We lost it, but we had a lot of fun for the whole thing. Both teams were scoring and hitting the ball well. A total of sixty-two runs were scored with twelve total homeruns. I had a triple, double, then single. I wanted to go for the homerun, but I was more worried about getting a basehit because we needed to scored runs. It was more than likely the case that I would fly out and we didn’t need that to happen.

A Butt Kicking

This evening we had softball against a team from SEL. We were supposed to have ten people there. But then one was running late, and one of the other guys on my team told the other one that we didn’t need him tonight and he could go home. By the time we were near game time there were only eight guys. I frantically called around and found someone who could play. We played with nine guys and it really sucked. My pitching was the worst I have ever seen.

Here is what I said on the My Office website about this game:

When we were putting together this season’s team we wanted to have the fewest number of players possible in order to maximize the play time for everyone. We expected a couple events would happen in the season in order to make us need a couple subs. But so far this season we rarely have played with more than 10 players.

Today’s game was no different, but today we didn’t even have 10 players. That was a big detriment to us. Playing Schweitzerweizen should not have been a close game. We have a large number of sluggers and we can put a lot of runs on the board fast. Even with our talent we tend to cycle as a team. Either everyone is clicking or we’re not.

Down a pitcher, Scotty Anderson pitched for the first time this season. But it was a terrible debut. Many pitches went for balls which racked up walks. Finally Nick Darling was brought in to pitch in the first inning, but the damage had already occurred. Down 9 runs My Office came back and put up six runs of their own. But that would be as close as My Office would get it.

Schweitzerweizen seemed to be hitting from the top to the bottom of the order. They were finding our gaps through out the outfield. With only three guys trying to cover the whole outfield, the ball was finding a lot of room to sneak in for a basehit.

We have a good defensive time, but over the last four games, twenty-five innings in all, we have allowed at least one run in twenty-two innings. All three innings without allowing a run was all in one game.

The season is not over yet, but My Office needs to start to post “W”‘s if there is to be a chance for a league championship.

Batting Around

This evening we won our first regular season softball game facing My Office Number Two. The first game against them in the pre-season was a close game. It was our first of teh season so there was some rust. This game was way different. We were hitting up and down the line. We were playing tight defense as well. We held them scoreless for the first three innings.

It felt good to just go out there and hit the ball well and play good defense.

Softball Double-Header

This is the beginning of regular season for softball. We were going to play Coors light and Kimmel. I was hitting a little under average. I had a couple strong hits and got two doubles on the night. I guess at that rate I could break the doubles record this season. That is something I have been trying to do for a while. We played very well in the first game but didn’t hit so well in the second. We dropped both games after having gone undefeated in the pre-season.

I did the write ups of the game for the My Office team website:

In the first game of the regular season My Office faced off with Coors Light. They have been the team to beat in the A-League for many years. This year will be no different. This years My Office team has great talent and hitting and has the tools needed to beat them.

In tonight’s game we would go into extra innings to decide who would be the winner. With Coors Light having the final at bat, they had two runners on when a walk-off homerun was hit to ruin My Office’s bit to beat Coors Light.

My Office at one time trailed by nine runs but was able to chip away at the lead scoring 4 runs in the 5th and 7 runs in the 6th inning to make it a 17 to 18 ball game at the end of the 6th inning. My Office scored 4 runs in the 7th inning but were not able to score any runs in the 8th inning stranding 2 runners on base.

This game had a lot of great offense and defense. Leading the way was Eric Barge who was 5 for 5 with 3 homeruns and 8 RBI. Ryan added in 4 hits with 1 homerun and 4 RBI. But it was not enough in the end.

And then game two:
After hitting the cover off the ball in the first game of this double-header, My Office was only able to muster 21 hits on our way to scoring 16 runs. Playing against Kimmel we were looking to pick up our first win of the regular season.

With an 0-2 start My Office is in goods company with teams of years past. We have done this before on our way to a great season. The team has the talent to score runs in a hurry. In the 3rd inning we posted 9 runs after hitting around. But that was the big inning for My Office. We had 5 other innings where we scored 1 run or less.

Kimmel hit the ball very well today. They were earning the runs they were scoring. In 4 of their 6 innings they scored at least 4 runs. Two of those innings they put across a total of 15 runs.

Ryan was one of the offensive bright spots going 4 for 4. Kelly had 3 hits 2 of which were homeruns. He pushed across 5 of the teams’ runs.

Big Beating in Softball

As the day was coming towards softball playing time I was almost completely done with the big project I have been working on. I have been going through my entire music collection and updated all the ID-Three information. It has been a huge under taking. In the process I downloaded a couple applications that helped me make this project manageable. I also renamed every song that was part of the old naming method. My new naming method is a logical system.

Tonight we were playing against Bomb Squad. They have reloaded and I would say the team is not as strong as it has been in the past. It could partly be due to the fast that they are new to playing together. But they seem to have a lot of guys who all seemed to try to crush the ball. They were not hitting a lot of base hits. We the first couple innings and played close to them. Then we broke it open over the next two innings scoring a lot of runs and went on to beat them twenty to eight.

We hit the ball well. I was hitting the ball well too. Our team is very strong this year and I think we actually are good enough to beat the Coors Light team which is well known for being the strongest team in the league.

Co-Ed Double Header

This evening was our first co-ed games. It was going to be a double-header with one game against Parrish’s team. We are supposed to play in the A-league this year, but the team is not as strong as last year from what I can see by who we have coming back. But really we ended up winning both games. We were not crushing the other teams. We were eeking out the wins. The teams we played were both B-League teams. If we continue to play as poorly as we did in the first two games we will end the season in third place out of three teams. I think that we have the talent. We just need to get people out there to hit well and play some good defense.