Monthly Coroner Meeting

This evening was the monthly Coroner’s meeting. I was going to the fire extinguisher class, but I ended up doing a transfer to Spokane. We went to pizza at Rocky Racoco’s. Ryan and Anna met us there. I got a chance to hold Zoey for a while. They asked me to be the godfather. That was great!

After we ate we went back to Pullman. I cleaned the ambulance and got ready to head to Colfax. We had pizza for dinner and talked about some cases. After everyone left Pete and I talked about my future with the Coroner’s office and the chances of me being the next Coroner.

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.

Paperwork is the Hangover of Police Work

This afternoon I went to the SO to work on my paperwork for the tickets I wrote and my DUI that I got. I was down at the SO for a couple hours getting all the paperwork filled out for the DUI. The tickets didn’t take as long, but I had several that I had to write up.

I left there around ten o’clock to head home. It was a pretty lax day overall.

Going Out with a Structure Fire

As I was waking up this morning I wasn’t sure how my final couple hours would end. I was thinking that I should have ended the night of the Staley fire so I could end on a fire. Before seven o’clock rolled around the tones go off for a structure fire. We could see the smoke from the station.

We got on scene in the ambulance and were made into the backup team. We went to the attic where the seat of the fire was. Eric, who was on his first day back, was on the nozzle and put the fire out. It was still pretty small, but growing. It was lucky that we got there when we did and that the fire was not in the wee hours of the morning when it could have really taken off. I ended up putting in an hour and a half of overtime. So my full-time tally was one year, one month, four days and one and a half hours. It has been a good run.

I got back to the station and got the last remaining items from the station cleared out and headed to Tam’s Place for breakfast with Chia, Keeton, Young, and Pritchett. I left after I was done eating so I could get a couple things done before meeting up with the guys to go to the river. I dropped off my turn outs at the station and went home. I got a couple things taken care of at home and packed my stuff to go to the river.

I went to Pritchett’s place. We were meeting up there. From there Keeton, Pritchett, and I rode together to the river. We got there and made our way to the beach. It is a long haul from the parking lot. I didn’t know how long it was because I had never gone there without being on a boat.

We set up our area. I put on some suntan lotion and we went into the water. We played fetch with Chia’s and Pritchett’s dogs. We were there for hours watching as more and more people showed up. As the college students started to arrive the scenery was great. You couldn’t look somewhere without finding a couple ten-six-sevens. I really enjoyed the scenery while playing with the dogs.

Brown showed up with his boat. We hung out for a while near his boat and then went for some tubing. I hit the water and the rope on the tube was really long, so I was getting whipped around pretty good. I had a couple good wrecks along the way. Including one where I went about twenty feet sliding on the water before rolling.

It was getting close to five so we started to pack up and make our way back home. It was a good afternoon on the water.

I got cleaned up. I waited from BKoe to show up but as seven o’clock was rolling around he was no where to be found. I texted him and he was in Moscow. He forgot he was going to give me a ride to the bar. So I called Pritchett and he gave me a ride down to the bar.

We got there just after seven o’clock. Guys filtered in over the next two hours. It was a going away party for me from the career ranks. It was very nice to see some of these people stop by and wish me well and let me know they enjoyed working with me.

I had a couple guys over the last few months let me know that at first they were not sure what to think about me coming on at first. But they said that I have been a great addition. They really have enjoyed working with me and think that I am a pretty darn good guy.

One guy and I talked for a while about stuff. I remember when we would go on calls together I didn’t know what to think. We talked and all was good. But when we were on shift together at first I think there was the feeling that we didn’t know each other. And as time went on he warmed up to me and got to know me and the same of me towards him. I really think he a good person and I really enjoy talking with him.

As the night rolled on I got some beer purchased for me and we sat around talking, playing pool and darts. When it was nearly eleven o’clock we made our way to TBag. Pritchett was already there. I was given a couple shots of hard-A. I wasn’t really wanting to have them, but I cowboyed up and drank them. We played pool and sat around talking.

Then one guy came up and said the words that I know will lead us to a specific conversation. It was, something along the lines of “It doesn’t matter to me, you’re a good guy, so it really will not make a difference, but…” That is the start of someone wanting to know if I am gay.

With the guy who was asking, I wasn’t sure if he knew or not. But he has been around for a long time so I had to assume that he had heard through the grapevine. He said he had heard some stuff, but he didn’t believe it until he heard for himself. I told him that I hit for the other team. I told him that I don’t really tell people because I don’t want them to act differently around me. I told him I like the fact that when I have been around him for all this time he wasn’t afraid to say things and not worry about offending me. I told him I wanted him to remain feeling that way. He is one of those guys who always says “That is gay” or things like that. He said he sort of knew that something was probably up because I am not interested in the hot girls as everyone else is. He could tell so he figured something was up. I am glad that he asked and now I know that he knows.

I had asked Chia a while back if others on the shift knew. He said he didn’t know. He said that no one would care. I believe that is true, but I wanted to know. I would like to think they all knew and still were the way they were around me. Which would show they are comfortable with me. I just feel like if I walk into a room and people feel like they have to watch what they say, that it would be a strain to be around me and they would just choose not to be around me. I don’t want that. I really don’t care what people say, because I believe you have to choose to be offended. I choose not to be offended by that kind of stuff.

The other Blake came up to me and started to say the same thing. I thought it would all be coming out that night. But before I confirmed anything I had to know exactly what he was asking. As it turned out with him he was talking about something totally different. So I don’t know if he knows. I guess thinking about it now, I am not sure if I just want to come out to those guys and that way I know that they know and I can just get on with things, or continue to play the game I have been playing. I am not sure if I want the reserves to know. I know that some do know, but I always hate it when the new reserves find out about me because it is always something that someone else brings up. Over the years I have had a couple guys ask me straight up. I always will confirm it if they ask. I like it when they ask, because if they are willing to ask they will typically not make a big deal about it at all.

Two Days To Go

This is the start of the second day of my set and the second to last day as a full-time firefighter. We went to College Hill and did some walk abouts of the area apartments to become more familiar with the area. We also did a walk through of the new residence hall on Olympia Ave.

We had a nice meal together for a brunch. It was eggs, sausage, and pancakes. It was pretty good. We had some time in the afternoon. I was going to take a nap, but that never happened.

In the evening we made sloppy joes for dinner. Just as we were completing dinner we had a call for a fire alarm at the place we have been running to for the last couple weeks nearly daily. It is getting old.

Chia’s wife came and we all watched the new Fast and Furious movie. It was fun to watch and with Paul Walker in it, the movie is juts that much better.

After the movie I was starting to think about bed. But then we got a transfer. No one called in, so Tony and I had to take it. We went code-three to Spokane. We had a really fast turn around at both hospitals, so it was a pretty quick trip, but it still sucked to lose all that sleep.

Rosalia Motorcycle Show

This morning I headed up to Rosalia to work the motorcycle show. I was working it with one other reserve. I started by getting a patrol car from the office and getting some equipment loaded into it. I got to Rosalia and met up with the guy I was working with. He had come out of Spokane and just wanted to meet there. We staged at the fire station. We got the Rhino and drove down to the park.

I parked the car there in a visible location. Then we rode around the park in the Rhino. We chatted with some people along the way. We would wave and smile at everyone as we passed. It was very friendly policing.

We spent time going from the rodeo grounds through the camping area. Down to the fire station and then to the park. We would walk around the park and check in the beer garden. Some Goldwings were part of a drill team. The performed first on the main drag through town.

We watched that show from across from the fire station. The next thing was the motorcycle rodeo. When we got there we found our self a spot for parking. There were a lot of big burly motorcycle riders. Men of all sorts of different ages. At a distance I saw a potential ten-six-seven. He was a younger blond and he caught my attention. Unlike everyone else there he stuck out both because of the fact he was ten-six-seven, but also because he didn’t look like the others. He didn’t wear blue jeans and leather chaps. He was free of obvious tattoos. He was like the guy next door. He also did very well at handling his motorcycle. So for the rodeo I had something worth watching, other than the show itself. The rodeo lasted several hours. When it was done we went back to the main park.

We continued to make our rounds and talk with people and interface with people. While at the main park there was one more show of people on crotchrockets were doing stunts. They lasted a while. It was done inside of a small basketball court that was fenced. I guess the helped make those watching the show stay safe.

While sitting there I was surprised with another ten-six-seven. He came over in a group of other guys to watch the stunt show. He was a short haired blond with blue eyes. I wasn’t able to enjoy the scenery as long, but it was just as good as the first one.

The rest of the evening was pretty much the same. We did get called to a motorcycle accident, but it turned out to be minor. We cleared it and went back to the park. I was there until just after nine o’clock. It was pretty quiet most of the day. We didn’t have any problems the whole night. We had lots questions about wearing helmets, alcohol laws, and whatnot.

I went to the SO after clearing Rosalia. I got my tickets from two days ago written up and turned in. Then I went home and got ready for bed.

The Begining of the End

Today is the first day of my final set. Once I work these three days I will be back to reserve status. I am excited about it, but at the same time I will miss working with the guys. It has been very great getting to know them and hanging out with them all the time. I am going to miss the lifestyle. But I am going to use this time away to get back into the groove for working out daily and getting my weight loss underway again. It is something I need to do.

The day involved a walk about in the CCS and CCN are as well as North Campus Heights, which is now called Terre View Crossing. The walk about took a while to get done. When we got back to the station we needed to work on getting the engines checked so we could do walk abouts during our Sunday shift.

We ran a couple calls plus we got a free dinner from Erickson because he was working a twenty-four hour OT. We also got a lot of desserts today. With Heston’s birthday on Saturday and Wehrung’s mom bring in some pie, we pretty much had stuff to eat all day long.

Slow Night on the Road

The big thing today was to do a ride with Brown, a fellow reserve, and the reserve meeting. I got my uniform on around three and headed to Colfax. I had to get a new battery for my motorcycle. I stopped in at Napa down in Colfax.

I went to the SO following that. I got the meeting minutes from the last meeting typed up and sent out. I also got the reserve hours printed out and turned in to Cooper.

We had our meeting. It was short. The training was going over the accident report forms. We all had to fill them out for a fake accident that we “investigated”.

Then I hit the road with Brown. The first stop I had was for fifteen over. I was going to write then I saw it was his birthday. So I gave him a huge break. I made one more stop before it was time for lunch. We went to Zips with the other guys.

We then went to help two guys with a case in Oakesdale. We interviewed everyone involved. There was no crime so we cleared. I ran traffic until midnight then we called it a night. It was a pretty slow night. I am pretty much a call killer like I am when I am at Colfax Fire.

I got home and worked on my battery. I had to pour in the acid. Then I hooked it to the battery charger and went to bed.

Bought the Motorcycle

It has been a process looking for the bike, but I finally found one that I could ride around and I decided to purchase it.

First I went to DOL today to take the written test for a motorcycle license. I had to get a photo. But I was not expecting that. I haven’t shaved for several days. So I will look like a total slob.

I went to Colfax and got the bike and started to ride. I spent about an hour cruising around the streets of Colfax. I was liking the bike. It doesn’t have a ton of power, but it will get me around the streets of Pullman just fine. Plus if I need to make a trip to Moscow I could do it.

I loaded it up in the truck and headed to the Courthouse to pay for the license. It was more than two hundred for the sales tax plus the license and a new plate. I went to the SO and hung out there for a while. I remembered that I had purchased some cookie dough from McNannay. I paid for it and picked it up.

I headed back to Pullman and had BKoe help me unload the bike. I took it out for a ride around the streets of Pullman. It was fun. I put about ten miles on it here in Pullman.

In the evening I just hung out at the house getting some stuff caught up on. I also went to buy a frozen pizza for dinner tonight. With my job at the fire department quickly coming to an end I am going to be able to get on top of things I let slide. I have some tasks that I have been needed to complete for more than fifty-five weeks. I will try to do those plus I need to clean my den. It is horrible. I have a stack of mail that is about fourteen inches high. Argh!

Back at Colfax Fire Training

With the reserve academy and working at the fire department as well as Men’s softball, I haven’t been able to make it to a training in Colfax for ages.

I went to Colfax early so I could go look at the Suzuki. I had the money and I was ready to buy it. First I bought a helmet at the Honda dealership. But while in Colfax there were some issues with the bike. It took a while but we worked through them and got the bike going. The guy who was selling me the bike had his son helping us out. He is probably in his early twenties. A rugged ten-six-seven. I didn’t mind that the motorcycle was having problems because it allowed me to spend more time trying to fix it with the ten-six-seven’s help.

When the bike finally started to work I rode it around Colfax for a little bit, but I had to hurry because of fire training. I went back and told the guy that I was interested but I wanted to have more drive time with it when I am dressed for riding the bike. I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt on Airport road doing fifty. I was thinking about what my arms and legs would look like after a crash.

Tonight at Colfax Fire it was the monthly board and business meeting. Those don’t typically last too long. When it was over I went back to Pullman. I was tired when I watched Rescue Me and missed the second half. So I went up stairs to my computer. And I watched it on TV next to my computer while I was doing some web surfing.

A Real “Vacation”

After getting off work this morning I went home and dealt with what was waiting for me at the computer job. There wasn’t much. I had wanted to go patrolling tonight, but I decided to skip it and just enjoy the day.

I went to Chris’ house to meet up with him. I had hopped to catch a ride down with him to the river. Blake and Blake were also meeting us there. We loaded up our stuff and headed down to the river. It was a nice trip down to Boyer Park. Once there it was pretty warm. We got the boat launched and headed to the Dunes. Once we anchored we got out and enjoyed the warm thigh-level water. I had some pop and the others had their drink of choice. We just hung out in the water talking. It was a nice time. It was relaxing. John and his boys showed up. Jon also came down for a while. The Chia’s and their dog made it down.

We had a football and threw it around for a while. I was taking photos during some of the action. I was able to get some very nice shots of everyone having fun.

We hung out most of the afternoon in the water throwing the ball around, playing with Chia’s dog and then finally we did some tubing when the wind died down a little bit. Blake went on it first. He took several strolls around the river. Then him and I went for a ride. Finally I did a couple rides myself. But before we were done we looked up at the shore and the other Blake had been escorted away. It turns out they frown upon glass bottles being used at the river. So he got scolded for using one.

We went back to shore and made fun of him. Then we started to say our goodbyes. Chia, the Blakes, and I were going to have some dinner together in Pullman. At first we were going to go to Cougar Country. Chris was going to Rancho for his son’s twenty-first birthday. We joked about crashing the party.

On the way home I drove. Chris asked if I would drive so he could have a couple beers. I had no problem with that. Before we got home we saw John and Chia’s rigs pulled over. John’s hood was open. They were having a problem with the hose on the radiator. It came off spraying a lot of fluid around. We worked on it for a while before finally getting it put back into place. They we used some of our water to refill the radiator. We were finally back on our way.

When we got to Pullman it was decided that we would go to Rancho with Chris. We met up with Denise and some of Chris’ family plus the guys who went to the river. It was a good time. We had cake and bought Chris’ son all sorts of drinks.

When the night was done Chris picked up the whole tab. That was certainly unexpected. I hit the road and went to the Sheriff’s Office. I had to complete a report and two tickets that I had issued while patrolling. I got those completed and turned in. Then I came home and watched some TV before making my way to bed.

Today was so fun. It was like back when I went to the river all the time. It was relaxing. It was the first time I really had a real vacation day all summer. It was great!

Back to Back Nighst with Three Hours of Sleep

It was way too early to be waking up. I was tired from only three plus hours of sleep for the second straight night.

We started by doing some walk abouts on campus looking at alarm systems in the gyms. When we got back I made breakfast for everyone with the help of the other guys.

I was going to try to get some sleep in the afternoon, but when I did finally get to lay down the tones went off three times. I had to go on the third thing that was toned out.

By the time we got back it was too close to having to start to make dinner, so I stayed up and started dinner for everyone.

After dinner I had some stuff I wanted to do. So I still didn’t get to bed right away. I did go to bed around ten o’clock. but we got woken up about every three hours for a bogus fire alarm. It was a bad night of sleep.

First Night Out with Another Second Class Reserve

I was very excited about going out to work this evening with the County. It is the first time that I will be on the road with one other second class reserve. After I got off work I went to Reaney park with the fire department for a wellness fair. Various groups had booths. As people went to each booth they had to do something to earn a sticker. Once they got their “passport” filled with stars they would get a prize. I was helping to run the PFD booth. We had a two and a half inch hose for the young kids to roll. We also had a high rise bundle for people who were a little older. Our booth went over really well. It was the first wellness fair and it wasn’t too well advertised, but I hope that as time goes on it will be more popular.

After that I went home with the hope of getting some sleep before I had to get ready to hit the road. But I was not able to get a great amount of sleep. I only had a couple hours last night due to the EMS calls that we had. So I had hoped to get a good nap in. During the time I was laying down, it felt like I had a thousand things running through my mind all at one time. I was so excited about going out tonight and I had random thoughts running through my mind.

Before I knew it I had no sleep to speak of and I was getting ready for my time on the road. I cranked up some tunes and got my uniform on. I headed down to Colfax for my shift with Rich.

We started by getting a car ready. I had planned on going to Lamont as well as work down towards the river. I was told to stay up top because there were very few people on duty.

We were heading towards Wawawai road when we got a report of a dog that was running around. It looked like a stray dog with its fur all matted down and it looked like it had not been eating. We started to head towards Pullman where the dog was seen. At first we were going to take Staley road into Johnson road where the RP said the dog was, but those roads don’t even cross. As we were getting to Staley road a second RP said the dog was at Sand road and Johnson Road. We turned around and went to Pullman and drove out Johnson road to Sand Road. The second RP was waiting there. He showed us where the dog was located and and worked to get it to come out from his hiding spot in a huge bunch of bushes. We were not able to. I spoke with the OIC who said there was nothing we could do about the dog anyway. There is no ordinance in the county about dogs running loose.

We also had a call for a car that was erratically driving. I found the car as soon as it was put out and stopped it. We spoke to the driver and cleared it.

We had dinner with the OIC and one other Reserve at Quizno’s and talked about the two calls for service we had. We learned a lot from each of them about how to handle them. Those kinds of calls we really don’t talk about in the academy. We get on the job training for those. That is exactly what I received tonight.

After that we were running some traffic on Airport road. We stopped some fast cars and wrote a couple tickets. Then we went out Twenty-Seven towards Palouse. We went through Palouse and Garfield then we took Dry Creek to One-Ninety-Five. There was no traffic on Twenty-Seven to speak of. We went all the way to Rosalia and back. I was going to call it a night sort of early because I had to be at the FD in the morning. But a good song was on the radio and I thought I would drive until it was done. We were nearly in Pullman. So we continued in. I went through town and I was going to head to Airport road again via Valley Road. The OIC was at McDonald’s. He asked or us to come back and road side him.

Just as we were pulling in to McDonald’s he left going code. So did the other reserve. We were going to follow. As I was pulling out a Pullman Cop came down going code. We got in behind him. It was a burglar alarm at Rite Aid. We stood by for a while watching one side then we got cleared. I drove around Pullman until after two in the morning and then we headed back to Colfax via Albion. I didn’t get home until four in the morning.

More Blog Readers

This morning I was called into a coroners case in Pullman. I was listening to the beginnings of it on the scanner because the fire department had been dispatched to it. Anna and I went to do the investigation. She took the photos and I took the lead. It was an interesting case and we spent some extra time on scene trying to sort out everything we were finding in the apartment. I also spend nearly an hour making phone calls with various people trying to get information.

When I was done with the case I went to the fire department to do the Night Out in the Park up in Palouse. It is a year event. It brings in the Red Cross, the SO, the Posse, the PFD, Palouse fire, and some local high school kids’ bands.

I was manning the ambulance and talked to the kids who wanted to come by and look at it. It was a pretty easy gig compared to some of the events that we do.

Whitcom also had a booth there. One of the dispatchers said they her and one other dispatcher read my blog from time to time. She said one thing they didn’t know was what I meant when I write ten-six-seven. I got that question a couple weeks ago by a friend who saw it on my blog too.

At first I wouldn’t tell her what it meant. Later I let her in on it. She was hoping it was going to be more exciting than it was, but now she knows. When I have a friend or someone I work with tell me they found my blog I always ask how they found it. I don’t have links to it from anything I have. You have to be told where it is, or find it via a random search. I also wonder how much of it they have read. I don’t write about being gay a lot, but enough that if they read enough of it they will find out that I am gay. It is one of those things I don’t advertise. I never ask if they know, just in case they didn’t see the posts that include that information, but I am guessing they know. I got that impression when she asked how the ten-six-seven related to hot guys. So, yeah.

I have been writing this blog since ought-three. It is pretty interesting to go back through some of my old posts. There has been a lot of stuff that has happened to me over those years. Job changes, boyfriends, new vehicles, and becoming more comfortable with being gay and letting more of my friends in on it.

Monthly Coroner Meeting

This morning before I left the fire department we got a transfer for eight-thirty. I took it with Young. We went to get the patient. We were deciding where we were going to have lunch. He said “Where ever you want.” I said “Rocky Rococo’s.” He said not pizza. Then I pointed out how he said anywhere and then when I suggested a place he said no. So then he said we could go there.

After we completed the transfer to Spokane we went to the pizza place. I tried to get Ryan but I was unable to reach him so he was not able to eat with me.

We went back and I worked at the house trying to get a couple things completed before it was time to go to the coroner’s meeting. While I was at home I got a call to work on a computer for the TF. They had several computer issues they need worked on. I went to their office and picked up a couple computers to work on. There is one I will need to go into the office and work on.

From there I went to Colfax for the coroner’s meeting. I stopped my Steve’s Glass and went to look at a motorcycle. It is a Suzuki that is an enduro style motorcycle, more or less a street legal dirt bike. He wants just under two grand for it. It isn’t a bad looking bike. I am thinking about it. I am not sure if I am going to do it but I very well might. I talked to Steve about the house he bought from me and the boat his son bought from me.

I went to the meeting. We covered several items and a case that was pretty interesting. It was pretty involved and we discussed it for a while. We got our schedule set up for the next month and a half as well.

When I got home I worked on one of the computers. It was a simple problem where the admin password had been forgotten. I was able to reset it and we were good to go on that one. The next one will probably be a bit harder. I am going to work on that on Sunday or Monday.

Bi-Weekly Columnist

I was added as a bi-weekly columnist for the Daily News. I got an e-mail asking me to call the Daily News. I was told the guy who is doing it now with the right-leaning tilt is leaving. They are looking for a replacement and I was offered the job. I was told the editorial board met and my name was brought up and kicked around. So I accepted the job. I will not do my final Town Crier columns and I will start with my first column in a week and a half. Then every other Saturday from there on out. I will get paid twenty-five bucks a column. They are going to introduce me in the paper this Saturday. They also put information about me taking over the duties in the newspaper’s blog.

We’re welcoming Scotty Anderson to our Opinion pages as he takes over the every other weekend slot opposite Pezeshki. Actually, Scotty’s arrival to the page isn’t entirely new — he’s been contributing as a Town Crier for the last couple of years. His tenure as a Crier was coming to a close so we brought him on board with a regular gig after longtime columnist Michael O’Neal announced he was done.

Scotty’s been a resident of the Palouse since 1992. He works as a software engineer and is a community volunteer who had a radio show until last year. He describes himself as “a workaholic who plays softball to unwind.”

On the political spectrum, Scotty says he’s torn between conservative and libertarian views, which should make for some lively contributions to the Op/Ed page.

Scotty’s first column will run Aug. 8, and I look forward to his contribution to the community discussion.

It was a pretty quiet day at the fire department for the most part. We did some more walking tours of the buildings on campus. We ran a couple calls, but nothing after we went to bed.

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.

Walking Tour

We had a small walking tour of buildings around the engineer part of campus. We were checking out the locations of the FDCs and fire alarm control panels. We spent several hours walking through the building and getting a better idea of the lay outs.

I shot some hoops today with the guys. I didn’t win either game. But in one game Blake had to shoot the ball from the foul line, hit the rim without making it. He threw it hard for the front of the rim. But he was about three feet below the rim. I was laughing so hard I started to tear up.

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!

First Two DUIs

I worked some overtime this morning at the fire department because some of the guys were getting their yearly physicals done. I helped to unload and re-load all the five inch hose on Engine Thirty-Three and Engine Thirty-Two. That was a lot of work. That is big and heavy hose. It takes several people to do it all. So I earned my money today.

I wanted to go patrolling tonight. I called Keller and Cox. Both had a rider, but Cox told me that Jordan was coming out tonight. I called him and got set up to ride with him.

I went to the SO and got a car all ready to go out in. I waited for Jordan and then we hit the road. We started towards Lamont. Before we got all the way out there we were told everyone was meeting up for dinner in Colfax. So we headed back to meet with everyone. After dinner we went to the SO for a couple minutes. Shortly after we left we made a traffic stop. As we were clearing a call went out in Garfield. We were going code to the call, but got cancelled en route. We lowered code and drove into town. We drove around the town for a little while then headed south on Twenty-Seven.

We came across a car driving poorly. Stopped the person and talked to the driver. We found it was DUI after some tests. We we went to the PPD and did the rest of the work there.

When we left we drove around Pullman for a bit. I was getting ready to leave town. We were on the edge of town when I got a speeder. I talked to the guy and I could smell alcohol. We did the tests with him. It was my first time doing them. I did it like I was trained. We had a second DUI. We took him to the PPD and did the rest of the stuff there.

When that was done it was so late we just went back to the SO and called it a night. It was after four in the morning when I finally got off duty.

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.

No Sleep

Today at the fire department there was not going to be any sleep. With a call in the wee hours of the morning as well a two chlorine alarms I was able to put about three total hours of sleep under my belt. I really would have preferred more sleep than that.

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.

Battling the Beast

Just before noon we were toned out to a structure fire at a trailer park in Pullman. We got on scene with the PL. I was on the attack team. I had to “donkey” kick the door in to make entry. The fire was incredible small, but it was putting off tons of smoke. We put out the fire and then ventilated the building.

I was acting as the attendant today. We had a couple calls where I was the attendant. Nothing was that big. But because there was no way I was going to get a full night of sleep we got paged out around two-thirty in the morning and the call lasted about an hour. So that made it so I was not going to get myself a lot of sleep tonight.

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.

No Time to Eat

At the fire department today I bought everyone breakfast. We first went to look at a couple parking structures. Then we came back and started breakfast. Before we got far into it, we got toned out to a call.

When we got back breakfast had been made and was starting to cool down. But it was still good. After breakfast I sat in a recliner with the other guys and watched the end of a show that we started to watch while eating. This is the first time I have sat in a recliner. I was waiting until I put in a year. My one year anniversary was on the fourteenth.

We went out and worked on the ambulances for the weekly checks. Once done some guys took a nap. I stayed up.

For dinner we were having burgers and tater tots. I got three bites into it and we were sent on a call. I got back to a cooled down burger. But that happens.

After dinner we cleaned up and watched some TV. The plan was to watch COPS and have some ice cream. I just finished my ice cream when we got toned to another call. It seemed like every time I had something I wanted to do I got called away.

I also spent time talking with James a mo from Moscow. He and I spent time talking online for quite a while. Then he called me and we chatted on the phone for a little bit. He is a nice guy, but he was hard to understand on the phone.

I was getting tired after watching the Red Green Show and went to bed.

Lots of OT

The tones went out for people to respond to the station for stand by because they were working a gas leak that was going to take a while. I came in and ended up running nearly the whole time I was here. We had to run three straight EMS calls. We did have a bit of a break, but it was very busy.

When I was done working I went home and made sure my update for my MH stuff was put onto the server. It was put on, but I don’t know if it is working or not yet.

I watched some TV and got some pizza for dinner. It was a pretty relaxing night over all. I watched Rescue Me in the evening before I went to bed for the night.

Working on a Software Update

I am working on some stuff for MH. There are some new e-mails that come into the automated system. So I need to set up the parser to parse the e-mails and put the data into our lead system.

It took some time to do that, but once I got going, things just came along nicely. It was fun to do that kind of work today.

I also put in some time at the fire department. They called for people to man the station. I came in and we never ended up going on any calls while I was down there.

When I got back from the station I continued the project and got it done around midnight. I packaged it up and sent it off.

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.

Lack of Sleep Before the Party

I was hoping that I would get some sleep this evening because I stayed up late watching Rescue Me. It was a pretty laid back day. We ran a couple calls, but nothing big.

I went to bed at nine thinking I would get some good sleep. I was the driver for Chia’s bachelor party and I thought that if I got good nights sleep I would be good to go for tomorrow. I was wrong.

It was eleven and I got called upon to do a transfer to Spokane. I also had to be in the back. It sucked because I was going to lose out on a lot of sleep.

When I finally got home and to sleep I was only going to get another four hours. That would mean I would probably have to get a nap sometime during the day tomorrow.

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.

When I Know That They Know

After leaving the fire department this morning I decided that I would be on pager. But so far there has only been one call and it is one that the guys on pager don’t respond to.

I washed my rig this afternoon. I got the weedeating completed. I also got my garage swept out and the driveway washed off. It was a productive day and it felt good to get those things completed.

This evening I was doing some ego-surfing. I think that is the term for it. It is where you search yourself out on the web. I was looking for references to me out there. Then I wanted to see if there were any references to me and being gay. I didn’t find any of myself, but I did find one where a guy named Scotty was killed, and it is thought his sexuality was partly to blame for it. I started to go down that path.

Then I decided to look up gay athletes. On outsports.com they had a listing of gay athletes. I was reading about some of them. They had two stories that took place about ten years ago. In one case a co-captain of a high school football team was outed and his life was made a living hell. He dropped out of school. The other story was about a high school football player who was accepted and life was good.

I started to read about a college-level football captain who also was outed. Things went well for him. There were many other stories I was reading about athletes who have had their share of success and failure after being outed to their team.

The gay college football player said one of his biggest concerns was that he felt the others guys might be uncomfortable in the locker room around him because they know he is gay.

It is funny, I am the same way. When no one knows you’re gay you can blend in and no one is uncomfortable around you. But for me when I know that someone else knows that I am gay, that makes me uncomfortable around them. I think about what they might be thinking about me.

Every time something happens, I wonder if they think I did it because I was gay. I have found most guys don’t think about it most of the time. Many times they don’t remember that I am gay at every moment of the day. But living the life of a gay man it is always something that is on your mind. It is sort of like living in a fishbowl. I always think that my actions are being judged by the others due to my homosexuality.

The funny thing is that even those who are “okay” with me don’t fully understand homosexuality. They think it is a choice. They think that it is cool as long as I don’t hit on them.

Second Class Reserve

Today is the first day Captain Thompson was back on the job in the last sixteen months or so. I had been working for him. Now I am working for a different firefighter. So I am continuing working as a temp full-timer. It was pretty quiet, but all of a sudden all heck broke loose and we ran several calls back-to-back. But that was it for the day.

I left to go to the reserve meeting. It was pretty short. Following the meeting I had my review board for moving to second class. I was nervous about it at first. But for this step it is a little less formal than moving to first class. I was asked why I thought I should get moved up. The situation where I made some errors was brought up. I explained what I learned during that call.

I was given advise from the deputies. The biggest thing they brought up was when I have questions and am not sure what to do, to call someone. That was a big point they emphasised.

I was told I was moved up to second class. They shook my hand and said they had great expectations for me. They all believe that I will do a fine job. That was great. Now, I just need to start to set up times to ride so I can work my way to first class.