Busy Weekend

October 30, 2023 by Adam in Family

For a theoretical hang out weekend, it was a little on the busy side.  There was harvesting cherry tomatoes and drying them.  There was peeling and coring and drying apples.  Emma restored an old lamp and put it in her room.  We went to the library.  Ben and Emma carved pumpkins.  I helped mom send an email and fill out a form to get her heat pump installation going.  Somewhere in there I was cleaning clogged pipes, making meals, and doing single parent things while Jo was out at a writer's retreat.

Still, it was fun to watch the kids carve pumpkins, which both had Latin on them.  Sadly the pewter cloak pin got melted in my attempts to fuse the pieces together, so we switched to pilgrim's badges.  While I'm not sure Emma's planning on traveling by foot to a holy site, they 3D printed well and I'm hoping they'll cast just fine as a single piece.

Work's frantic before our go-live on Wednesday.  Lots of little bugs to fix.

Mocha Friday

October 27, 2023 by Adam in Family

Work's been a little rough lately - more change, trying to get a release out the door, and so on.  Fortunately home is generally good and steady, so that's comforting.  I feel like I've figured out the right mix of miniature painting, podcasts, exercise, and hanging out with friends and family to keep my mental health steady.

Jo's off at a writer's retreat this weekend, so I've been mostly holding down the fort.  Fortunately Ben's here to pill the cat, so the rest of it is relatively easy.  Getting Ben ready for school just involves delivering pills and coffee, the breakfast of rockstars, and watching him head off to school.  It's magical.

The kids' weeks have gone well.  Emma was let into the library's special collections room and got to hold a 14th century book of hours.  Her plan is to work it into a project for her book class.

It's a quiet weekend of house projects and hanging out.  I think we'll finish the pewter cloak pin and maybe start looking at belt buckles next.  We'll see if I manage to get around to fixing the leaky faucet - it's far less exciting.

Activity-Filled Weekend

October 24, 2023 by Adam in Family

There was a lot that happened last weekend.  Saturday morning started early with the family D&D session.  I was presented Dungeon Master gifts, which were well-recieved.  I have a new favorite coffee mug while playing.  The session went well and more of the mysteries were revealed.

After everyone cleared out we switched to pewter casting with Ben, Emma and I.  My coin failed horribly and Ben wasn't entirely happy with his, but the 10th century Celtic cloak pin turned out really well.  Getting the weld right was tricky and we've got some sanding to do, but I think we can get it working nicely next weekend.  The day wrapped up with watching quite a bit of the Goes Wrong Show, which is hysterical even when watched again.

Sunday morning was the friend D&D group, the culmination of a nearly two-year campaign - The Ghosts of Saltmarsh.  There was an epic battle and some near-death experiences, but the party defeated the final foe and returned to their life as smugglers.  I had fun breaking out the Sphere of Annihilation, which had a little UV light inside that made the florescent ink painted surface glow with a strange light.  I've got some planning for next session, but most of the miniatures are printed and painted already, so hopefully it'll be a fun romp through an old school dungeon.

It's back to school and the routine of work.  I've been feeling a little under the weather, so I treated myself to a mocha and am going a little slow today.

Mocha Friday

October 20, 2023 by Adam in Family

It's a back-to-back D&D weekend and I'm getting a little excited.  The friend group is wrapping up a campaign after nearly two years.  It's the longest I've ever been a Dungeon Master and it's given me quite a bit of entertainment both running the game and in preparing for it.  The best part is getting together with everyone and watching the hijinx unfold in all the unexpected ways.

As for the rest of this week, it's been relatively uneventful.  I keep getting things done at work, which is satisfying.  Emma's back in school after being sick, catching up and settling back into the routine.  I've been watching The Fall of the House of Usher during my runs, which is a wonderful, creepy Poe anthology, modernized and squished together.  I keep listening to my Pathfinder podcast, though I worry I'll run out of miniatures to paint while I do so.  I'll eventually get through Baldur's Gate 3, though it's hard to find long stretches of time along the way.

Along with D&D I think we've got some assorted projects going on with the kids.  Ben was working on making concrete flagstones for a footpath.  Emma and Ben both have pewter projects.  Jo's been harvesting leaves and mushrooms for dying projects, assorted jars of extracted substances around the basement.  We seem to be a creative folk.

Cloudy Eclipse

October 16, 2023 by Adam in Family

The eclipse was sadly covered in clouds except for 30 seconds when the clouds briefly parted to show a crescent sun.  Mostly it was fun to hang out with everyone who came out and we met our next door neighbors who are a young couple with a new baby.

I also spent some time hanging out with Makayla and their partner Callie, catching up over Saturday brunch.  As someone who doesn't know his cousins very well, it was a treat to spend some time with a relative outside of the immediate family.

The rest of the weekend was generally low-key, spending lots of time with Emma hanging out.  I read Legends and Lattes, a cozy fantasy book that I got for Emma awhile back.  Emma and I chatted with our wayward Chicago son.  Ben, Emma and I went to Down to Earth to return with soap and plants.

We tried to do a pewtersmithing project involving taking a 3d model a museum scanned of a 10th century celtic brooch, 3d printing it, and making a mold to pour molten pewter into.  Unfortunately the mold material was super thick and hard to use.  I ordered more - hopefully it'll work better next weekend.  Still cool that it was all possible.

Now it's back to work, getting through features faster than my coworkers are reviewing them.  Busy, busy.

It's Always Darkest Before It Goes Totally Black

October 13, 2023 by Adam in Family

At least, that's the hope with the eclipse tomorrow.  It seems more likely that it'll be cloudy, but I may trudge up to the reservoir and try to see something happen anyway.

It's been a generally uneventful week.  I've been working faster than my coworkers can approve my changes.  I'm running out of miniatures to paint.  Jo and I finished this coop game we've been playing together the last couple years off and on.  Baldur's Gate 3 continues to be great fun.  Ben had PSATs yesterday, a little worried the math seemed so easy.  I texted dad who was touring the rocket museum a the time.

Emma's finally starting to feel better.  I stopped by for a walk and board games yesterday just to spend some time with her.  My cousin Mikayla is coming to town with their partner - I should be able to see them today.

Well, that's the news for the week - time to finish my mocha and find some code to write.

Rainy Days Come Again

October 09, 2023 by Adam in Family

It promises to be wet and cool and soggy the next few days - I was hoping for clear skies for the eclipse next Saturday but it seems sadly unlikely.

Emma's been reporting her time at the coast, filled with sniffles and coughs and Nyquil, but at least the weather is good and she's on the mend.  We'll see if she makes it back for classes today - I think she'd like to go, but she still sounds cruddy.

Saturday started with a typical hearty breakfast, after which I tried to turn my mocha buzz into something productive.  Soon enough I was taking all these herbs that Jo was drying in dehumidifiers and turning them into italian seasoning.  Next up was peeling, coring, and slicing dozens of apples using my favorite tool, then putting those in the newly emptied dehumidifiers.  Hopefully our future selves appreciate it.  There was miniature painting, Baldur's Gate 3 playing too, just so you don't think I was a teeny bit of a slacker.

Unfortunately Sunday began with trying to clear a clogged basement drain and it never quite stopped until mid afternoon.  There were gallons of boiling soapy water involved, snaking three different cut-offs, enzymatic cleaner, and a wet-dry vac involved.  The latter proved to be the most useful tool, with the key moment being plugging the washing machine drain hole and using the "blow" setting on the vaccuum cleaner to blow the goopy plug away.  It was deeply satisfying, with Jo and I working together to go through various wacky ideas, one of them finally doing the trick.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur, cleaning the sewage ejector pump and the wreck of the basement.  Fortunately it's back to work today where I get to take it easy and sit behind a desk, hopefully remaining clean and stench-free.

Mocha Friday

October 06, 2023 by Adam in Family

It's a foggy fall morning, my mocha fortifying me for the day ahead.  Work's been a little stressful lately - you'd think I'd be used to turmoil at this point but ah well.  I'll just paint a few more miniatures to keep me sane.

Emma's off to the coast this weekend, a somewhat last minute decision.  I'll push off D&D until the following weekend and likely look for some house projects to work on.

As for the rest of the crew, our poor kitty Leiah has been more vomity than usual.  Duncan's classes seem to be going well, covering familiar territory with the Adobe suite of tools.  Ben's getting into physics and economics, which was last night's dinner conversation.  Jo was out at the shed yesterday, getting scratched up by blackberries.

Life moves on.

Working the Tomato Fields

October 04, 2023 by Adam in Joanna

Our weird experiment of letting the tomato seeds that ended up where the chicken coop used to be has finally come to fruition.  The plants are tangled and ungainly and we have far too many tomatoes appearing all at once.  Jo was out picking them this morning to take them to a neighborhood food pantry as we already have tomato sauce and dried tomatoes that will keep us well stocked for the months ahead.  While it was fun, I'll probably stick to more normal gardening techniques in the future.

Driving the Tesla to Alabama

October 03, 2023 by Adam in Lohring

Dad decided to take his Tesla to the boat races in Alabama.  I just talked to him, four days since he set out, and he made it mostly intact.  Four days of audiobooks is a lot of audiobooks and fortunately the Tesla mostly drove itself.  Unfortunately some construction likely threw up some debris and caused some damage to the underpart of the car, though he fortunately found a place that would quickly replace screws and fix a panel that was falling off.  Hopefully his boats race well and the drive back is less eventful.

Fun and Productive Weekend

October 02, 2023 by Adam in Family

I like those weekends that have a nice mix of practical and whimsical.  Saturday morning started with dutch babies, bacon, and mochas, followed by the family D&D game.  The players spent the entire session fighting a beholder, which I'd painted months ago.  It's such a classic D&D monster that I was secretly glad they fought it, amazingly avoiding being disintegrated along the way.  In the afternoon Emma and I headed to the hardware store to get supplies for making furniture, followed by a trip to a frame store to frame the art Emma got at Chicago's intitute of art, frame Danica's artwork, and fix a broken frame.

At the start of the year Emma picked up a few pieces of timber cast-offs from the farm that Sam cut to size and spent the summer in Bend to dry in the desert sun.  Saturday morning we started turning them into shelves, which went fairly quickly and was stained and drying by the afternoon.  Emma was happy with the outcome and excited to get it into her room next weekend.

It's back at work for me this morning.  I should keep testing and looking for show-stopping bugs, but while I keep finding minor things I haven't found anything too serious.  Ah, the joys of professional software development.