Mocha Friday

September 27, 2019 by Adam in Family

I'm slowly finishing my mocha after an early, if successful morning.  I was up at the crack of dawn to cook breakfast for kids and go to a 7 a.m. meeting to solve a client problem.  Fortunately my hunch was correct and we solved the problems a couple minutes before spotting the difference between the broken and functioning server.  It was nice being able to chat with kids before they headed off to school.

Though I've got a few more meetings today, I'm hoping I can hunker down and write some code, and maybe sneak in a walk with Joanna.  Duncan showed me his video he made with After Effects in school, short but a cool Minecraft/real world mashup.  Ben talked about the Taming of the Shrew play they're doing in drama.  I quizzed Emma on her retoric vocabulary.  It feels good to be home among all my people.

Back Home

September 27, 2019 by Adam in Family

I was off in Salt Lake City, returning after dinner to a welcoming family.  The trip was okay - visiting old friends was nice, my headaches and dry sinuses were annoying but not horrible, though we did have a little work drama that hopefully will blow over.  We headed to the mountains as a team building thing, up at 11,000 feet, which was kinda fun.

It's good to be home.

Second Summer

September 22, 2019 by Adam in Family

As is traditional for Oregon, the rain let up and the mid 70's weather returned.  Joanna and I went down to Saturday market to stock up on veggies and then continued to Down to Earth to get some fava beans and garlic to plant for the winter.  We'd picked up a garden bed cover from the neighbor's yard sale, so hopefully we can keep one of the beds warm over the winter.

The week has been mostly uneventful.  Work has been fine, my report feature finally finished.  I had dinner with dad and tea with mom.  Emma's homework continues.  I called Sam and we chatted about games and his continued search for work.  Joanna and I had a nice date night at Cornbread Cafe and a walk in the park.  I helped Duncan set up a Terraria server to play with his friends and chatted with Ben about their various craft projects.

I've been playing a fair bit of Bloodborne, which teaches humility and patience, as well as when to run full tilt past all the monsters hoping to get to a safe place.  There are many life lessons in that game.

I'm off to Salt Lake City in a couple days, staying a little longer than usual.  I'm going armed with electrolytes and nasal spray, which hopefully help with my usual headaches and sinus pressure.  The high altitude often gets to me.

Quiet Rainy Weekend

September 16, 2019 by Adam in Family

The weekend was pretty low-key.  Duncan and Ben played Minecraft way too much, occasionally pryed away by Joanna.  Ben did some craft projects out of mysterious substances like shaving cream and glue.  I didn't ask too many questions.

Joanna and I worked on puzzles and went for a walk to the store in the middle of the downpour.  She'd gotten some boots from Victoria across the street, which were very cute and sturdy.  I think Joanna enjoyed reliving moments from her past, stomping in puddles with her Wellies.

Emma and I watched more Avatar and played the occasional video game.  I finished the last Uncharted game on the PS4, which was satisfying, and moved on to Bloodborne, which is exceptionally difficult.

The kids head out to school momentarily and I've got reporting to wrap up at work.  Hopefully I can finish it and move on to bugs or something similarly quick and pallet cleansing.

Mocha Friday

September 13, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's the end of the first full week of school.  Though we've had the occasional rocky moment, the kids all seem to be doing okay.  Everyone was up and eating breakfast and chatting about the amusing going ons in the high school cafeteria.  Ben's having a rough time with some friendships, though school itself seems okay.  Duncan generally likes his classes, especially computer fundamentals.  Emma is cheerful all around, feeling much better about school and homework after getting a free period.  Last night we watched more Avatar while she worked on a drawing of a lost Athenian statue for her AP World History class.

It's certainly rained more this week and the sunrise is coming later.  Fall certainly feels like it has arrived.  I dusted off the PS4 and started playing the last Uncharted game again.  Joanna and I finished the impossible puzzle and she got a new one for us to work on.  We had a nice date night at the nearby Mexican restaraunt, though the jalapenos were a little spicy for my delicate tastes.

Rainy Tuesday

September 10, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's been soggy the last couple days, a reminder that we do indeed live in Oregon and our endless sunny summer isn't year-round.  All the kids generally seemed to survive their first week of school.  Emma worked hard on her homework and extra credit, wrapping up late Saturday so she could have a free Sunday homework-free.

We didn't do anything too exciting over the weekend.  Ben had Jaiden over Sunday, which was a nice step after they had a falling out a few months ago.  Duncan played a lot of Minecraft.  Emma and I watched yet more Avatar.  Joanna nearly finished our incredibly hard puzzle.  We did our usual Savage Builds and pizza Saturday night.  Sunday I called Sam and chatted for a bit.

I did manage to get Emma and Joanna to walk around with me at Hendrick's Park.  Playing on the swings was more fun than I would freely admit.

Gris, X-Com, and Many More

September 08, 2019 by Adam in Adam's Games

It's been a summer of assorted video games, mostly played with family or in the stolen hours in the morning hours or after dinner when Joanna is getting the kids to bed.  Emma and I will go through the assorted Humble Monthly games, picking out the best ones to play through and uninstalling the others.  It's become a bit of a monthly tradition after the first Friday.

Emma and I played a ton of Regency Solitare, Yoku's Island Express, and strangely Emma got into 911 Operator.  I played Darkest Dungeon a fair amount, then sunk into XCom2: War of the Chosen. 

XCom finally wrapped up, the motley group of soldiers fighting the alien invaders.  I'd named them after my family members - Sadie and Seraph ended up dying horribly in an early mission, though I managed to keep everyone else alive.  For the final battle I took in Joanna, Adam, Sam, Skye, Emma, and Isa.

I picked up Gris a week or so ago, which ended up being a very pretty platformer about dealing with grief.  It was short, bittersweet, and the art style was great.

I've got assorted VR games I want to dig into more.  I played a little Bridge Crew, pretending to fly a starship around in the Star Trek universe.  I managed to save a few crew in the Kobayashi Maru simulator, which is better than most.  I had fun with the VR sailing game, ducking every time I came about so the boom didn't hit me.

Schoolin' Mocha Friday

September 06, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's the first week of school - I think I broke out my dentist voice with basically everyone.  Transitions are hard and everyone apparently needed a little assurance that things would be okay.  Duncan seems enthusiastic and was talking about actually liking his French geometry teacher.  He met with his tutor Denise yesterday and she seemed to help him get organized.  Ben didn't quite leap out of bed yesterday, but they got all the classes they wanted and had a good time after school at the Eugene library making shrinky dink art.  Emma has been overwhelmed with homework, finishing it up around nine last night.  Jamie and I both told her it was okay to drop her History of Rock and Roll class to get a free period for homework.  The teacher didn't quite get hired yet - something about contracts with the Navy I didn't quite follow.

As for me, I'm doing okay.  Work is going well.  I've started meditating as part of a work thing, but it's actually been quite pleasant.  I finally finished my XCom 2 campaign, with my core team of Joanna, Adam, Sam, Skye, Emma, and Isa taking on the aliens in their undersea fortress.  I'm quite ready to move on to other games now.

Hopefully this weekend can have a little downtime.  I'm excited about Joanna and I going out for date night.  Emma and I will likely watch more Avatar and play some of the new Humble Monthly games.  Maybe I can work in a house project or two if I get the time.

First Day of School

September 05, 2019 by Adam in Ben

Ben started their first day of school today.  There was some last minute switching around as they wanted to take a science class first period.  They were also going to walk with a friend to school, but she had to go do announcements early and Ben wasn't quite motivated enough to leap out of bed today.  It's a slightly reduced schedule, which hopefully works out okay.  I think Ben is both nervous and excited - last night was a little rough, but they seemed better this morning.

First Day of School

September 05, 2019 by Adam in Emma

Emma had her first day of school yesterday.  She reported that she had quite a bit of homework between physics and her AP comp class.  Her History of Rock and Roll class doesn't have a firm teacher - she's apparently off in the national guard or something.  Emma's considering dropping it so she can have more homework time.  Finally, she has Computer Fundamentals in the class before Duncan - she's thinking about doing web design, which makes me not-so-secretly happy.

First Day of School

September 05, 2019 by Adam in Duncan

Duncan started his first day of school yesterday, heading to South with his friend Josh.  I grilled him when he came home and he generally seemed to like his classes.  He said his French classes aren't going to have much homework and he liked his Geography teacher.  He was also missing a fifth period elective, and there were so many kids in the same boat that they created a Computer Fundamentals class for them all.  I think he wants to do video editing.

End of Summer

September 03, 2019 by Adam in Family

The kids were debating whether or not summer was officially over today.  Duncan marched down to South Eugene for Freshman Orientation.  Emma goes tomorrow and Ben starts Thursday.

This Labor Day weekend seemed a fitting end to the summer.  Emma and I watched a lot of Avatar: The Last Airbender.  We got all the kids out on the water kayaking down the mill race.  Joanna and I managed to beat back the butterfly bush and blackberries around the shed.  There was a somewhat successful attempt to walk the cat around the house a couple times.  Board games were played.  I had a nice phone chat with Sam.  Mom, Jenny, and Jordan came over and hung out to chat for a long while.  It was all very pleasant.