Starbucks Mocha Friday

September 12, 2025 by Adam in Family

We typically get our groceries delivered, which is great except occasionally they don't quite get our order right.  I went to grab another bag of preground coffee, only to find that they gave us whole beans.  While this is very much in the category of first world problems, I remembered that Yayoe got me a Starbucks gift certificate so I zipped over, got a couple bags of coffee beans ground to my specifications along with a latte for my troubles. 

Now I'm in my office, trying to get a test working that my coworker Andrew left me as a present before he left on vacation.  Hopefully the combined latte and mocha give me the mental fortitude to get it done.

Other than these small crises it's been a decent week.  I'm almost done with the scifi book I started weeks ago, switching between audio and physical book depending on what I'm doing.  I continue to enjoy Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, running around 15th century Europe and getting up to mischief.  The weekend after this has back-to-back Delta Green and D&D.  My D&D game hasn't happened in months so I'm going to suggest we wrap up the campaign, though I've got to put together an epic ending to our years-long adventures.

Emma leaves this Sunday to go on a vacation with her mom and big brother, so she wants to stock up at the library.  Sunday might be a house project and yard work day for me, depending on the weather and my enthusiasm.

Thrifting, Apples, and Video Games

September 08, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a pleasant, low-key weekend.  Emma wandered over and we started our usual hanging out activities.  Saturday morning started with tasty dutch babies, followed by taking Yvonne and Emma to Oregon Art Supply and St. Vinnies.  I picked up some great vintage scifi - Varley and Zelazny.  Emma and I finished the main puzzle in Blue Prince, though may mysteries remain.  Looking for a new game, Emma started playing Minecraft, amazed at all the changes since she'd played as a kid.  Duncan came by to hang out and watch her discover all the new things he knows so well.

Sunday we processed more apples with the magical peeler/slicer/corer device, laying out the pieces in the dehydrator for our future selves to enjoy.  Emma and I went to the library in the afternoon, picked up assorted goodies for the week, and hung out at home until it was time for her to go.

Jo's been working away at school.  I picked up Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, taking my knight through various adventures in the 15th century and really enjoying it.  I continue to prep for Delta Green and work around scheduling issues.

Thunder is rumbling outside my shed window.  Feels like fall is already here.

Mocha Friday

September 05, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a busy work week, working through the last of my on-call responsibilities.  I'm hoping I can finally escape some of these things and get back to writing code again.  We also have Hackathon coming up and I'm scheming on interesting things to work on.

Jo's been sick this week, though slowly improving.  Emma didn't get the wine lab tech job, so she's gotten back on the horse and applied to four more jobs.  I passed Duncan's old flaky computer to my oldest son - he got it working after replacing the cpu with a used cpu.  I also finally scheduled some time off work, taking a week off in a couple weeks and hopefully getting away for a couple nights, though I also see a long list of house projects in my future.

As for fun this last week, I hung out with various people, prepped more for Delta Green, and played more Abiotic Factor.  The weekend will likely have some playing Blue Prince with Emma, maybe some thrifting, and lots of hanging out.

Productive Three Day Weekend

September 02, 2025 by Adam in Family

I very much enjoyed the extra day off this weekend.  Jo was off at a writer's conference, so Emma and I spent Saturday with a mix of paperwork and physical labor.  We started by washing Emma's new Subaru and the Tesla.  I performed my extensive Tesla maintenance by filling the window wiper fluid and showed Emma how to check the oil on her car.  Afterwards she worked on sanding and painting her dresser while I unloaded the mulch in the trailer and spread it around the raised beds.  Eventually we wound down for video games and our pizza and show night.  Duncan found this epic Minecraft video with 1,000 players that grabbed everyone's attention and felt like an epic Game of Thrones movie.

Sunday was Delta Green, and we had an enthusiastic bunch of supernatural detectives, with a couple dramatic action scenes emerging from the chaos.  We left with a cliffhanger, the monster lurking outside the country house with two players upstairs while the rest drive frantically across town to assist.  We'll see who survives.

Emma and I got our pictures taken for Canadian passports.  We helped Yvonne with math review, getting ready for a placement test.  I got a cheap under-$100 PC the size of my fist to hook up to the monitor by the treadmill for running time.  Duncan's old computer went off with Sam, where it's still crashing, so I'm buying replacement parts in hopes of getting lucky.  My foot started to hurt, maybe from overdoing it the day before.

Monday started out with a tasty breakfast and video games, more Blue Prince with Emma.  Sadly I started getting a bad headache around noon and eventually crashed and slept for a couple hours.  Jo returned.  I felt somewhat better and threw together a grilled cheese sandwich dinner in short order.

As for today, I'm mostly back to normal - no headache or limp, so that's a good sign.  Now I just need to remember how to get work done.

Mocha Friday

August 29, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp from my mocha, which was delicious and much appreciated.  It's been a busy week - I'm on call and was already dealing with issues from the week before, so I've been feeling a little frantic trying to take care of all the things.  Hopefully I get through the weekend unscathed - theoretically I'll have Monday off and won't be on call.

Jo's off to a three day event.  Yvonne rode her bike around the neighborhood as she explores transportation options - I think we'll get an electric bike conversion kit for it as the hills around our house are pretty steep.  I also want to help her prep for her math placement test and get her signed up for fall classes.  Duncan's been working for his Minecraft YouTube person doing his usual editing and Minecraft magic.  Emma had a job interview at a nearby winery for a paid internship - she said it went well but won't have news for awhile.

This weekend is Delta Green, which I'm super excited for.  Emma and I have some car things to sort out before she can drive the Subaru away, and we need to take photos for our Canadian passports.  There's also a fun puzzle game we've been itching to get back to.

I hear the farm property is coming along, with the demolition of the old house starting soon.  My oldest kid continues to wrangle all the various contractors and keep things moving along.  I still want to go out there and get a sense of the progress.

Exciting Weekend

August 25, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a full weekend.  Friday had Emma and I playing Blue Prince again, unraveling yet more secrets.  I made crepes in the morning for everyone, then Emma went to pick up Francis and spend the night in eastern Oregon with the aunts, uncles, cousins, horses, and doggies out at the ranch.  Both of them got to ride around for awhile, which I think was a treat for them both.  The fires were bad around there and everyone was helping with evacuations and moving horses, since Emma's aunt Wendy is a vet, but the air was clear where they stayed.

As for the Eugene crowd, I puttered around until Jo was free, then we headed to Wordcrafters to fix the plumbing before heading to the Subaru car dealership where we bought a low-mileage used Outback.  We'll pass along the old Subaru to Emma and then maybe donate the Sentra since no one seems to want it.

I got some quality puttering around time on Sunday, playing Abiotic Factor and generating some more images for an upcoming Delta Green game.  Emma came home that afternoon and she unloaded her truck, worked on her Canadian passport, and wandered off to her mom's house.  We had a big Sunday dinner and Yvonne's friend Liria made us creme brule which was delicious.

Now it's back to work - I'm on call this week so hopefully it's not too exciting.  Lots of bugs for me to fix and things on my plate to deal with, so we'll see how far I get.

Mocha Friday

August 22, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a full week.  I've had to wear my big boy pants at work, jumping onto customer calls, pouring through logs to find clues to problems, and digging through unfamiliar code to find potential bugs.  Microsoft seems to have decided I'm useful and my manager said nice things about me at my annual review, so that was cool.

I've got a bunch of house/financial things going on that I need to follow up on - some days I wish I didn't have to adult quite so much.  We're reviewing insurance, looking to install another heat pump, and looking to get a newer used Outback for Jo.

The kids are generally doing well, with Yvonne's Canadian friend hanging out this week for a visit.  Emma's going off with Francis to Bend for the weekend.  The farm project continues, with demo of the old house planned for next week.

As for me, I'm trying to sneak in the occasional video game playing time and do a little side prep for my roleplaying games.  Everyone's been busy this month, but Delta Green starts in another week and D&D the week after.  I'm itching to get together with everyone to hang out and do silly things.

Beach Trip Weekend

August 18, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a nice three day weekend, visiting dad and Ana at the coast.  Friday morning I puttered around, slowly packing and sneaking in the occasional video game.  Emma was dropped off and we headed out of town - me trying to figure out Tesla's autopilot and Emma DJing our Spotify list.  We made it there before dinner and began our official beach hangout.

Saturday Emma and I headed into Lincoln City, where we hit up a couple thrift stores along with Robert's Bookstore.  The latter was amazing, miles of shelves with fascinating artifacts tucked away everywhere - author signatures, archeological artifacts, and more.  We spent the most time there, though only returned with a couple books.  We hung out again in the evening, mostly chatting, though dad foisted an antique typewriter and slide projector on us.  We'll see if it turns into a project of some sort or another.

Sunday we returned home, stopping by Newport's Irish Pub for lunch, and I returned to ordinary life once again.  Jo had been busy making jam and juicing apples in my absence.  Now I'm back to work, trying to remember how to write code and get things accomplished.

Road Trip Mocha Friday

August 15, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat exciting week, but I'm glad to have taken the day off to have a leisurely morning that started with blueberry pancakes and a mocha, followed by a mix of video games, house projects, and preparing for a coast trip with Emma.  I've got an appointment with Alpine Heating next week to install a second heat pump, got the American flag stuck up again, and am looking into getting cheaper insurance.  I also started playing Abiotic Factor, which feels like a throwback to playing the original Half Life, just with some base building and crafting thrown in for fun.

As for the trip, the plan is to hang out in Lincoln City, see dad an Ana, and poke around thrift shops and bookstores.  It'll be a nice change from the relative frantic valley life.  I welcome rainy, cool beach weather for a change.

Back to Work Tuesday

August 12, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a generally exciting weekend with an extra day to get some things done.  Saturday I went on a hike with my eldest kid, braving the heat to wander Ridgeline Trail and talk about life.  Sunday Jo and I went to the Shelton-McMurphy-Johnson house for high tea, which was very fancy and tasty.  I managed to finish up Horizon Forbidden West by the end of the weekend, which grew on me and I was a little sad to finish it up.  I also spent some time prepping the next Delta Green game, polishing up a few surprises for the new retro computer I finally assembled.

Emma returned from the east coast late Sunday - everyone had a successful trip and loved hanging out with Sadie, Greg, and Simon.

On Monday Jo and I headed to Corvallis to a mattress store, enjoying fiddling with the Tesla on the way.  We picked out a mattress that should be delivered today, crossing yet another thing off the endless house project list.  I spent the afternoon hanging out with a tired Emma, reading her travel journal, looking at souvenirs, playing a new exploration/puzzle game called Blue Prince, and heading to the library to stock up for the week.

I'm settling back into work today, deploying things left and right.  I've got loan stuff to sign late morning.  Duncan's sweetie leaves tomorrow.  Next Friday Emma and I go visit my dad at the coast.  Busy, busy.