D&D&Trees

January 31, 2024 by Adam in Family

Somehow I'm giving the weekend update in the middle of the week.  Life's been busy lately.

Saturday started with a hearty crepe breakfast, followed by a trip to the library with Emma and then waiting at the Verizon store for a long while to get Emma's new phone setup.  It's a retro flip phone that she's very happy with.  

Sunday was D&D with friends, where I now worry I've made some of the players far too powerful.  Hopefully the rest of the campaign will continue to be interesting and challenging.  At least I got to bring out some fun minis.

Work continues to be full of uncertainty.  I keep making cool things that might actually become useful.  My old friend/manager Glen is being hired back after being laid off and turned into a contractor.

Tuesday Emma and I headed to the farm, preparing for the tree planting on Saturday.  The ground is all pretty rough with tree debris everywhere, but we made it around and practiced with the dibble bar.  I was pretty sore later that day.

This afternoon mom and I plan on setting up a farm bank account and deposit the first logging check.  So begins the lengthy road towards making a forest again.

Escaping the Week

January 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

Jo and I went to Trapdoor Escape Rooms for date night this week, solving puzzles and getting plenty of hints from the voice of God.  In this case God was Ryan who was watching our hijinx and taking pity on us.  We escaped with a minute and a half to spare, which I strangely feel pretty good considering it was just the two of us.  The puzzles were entertaining - voodoo dolls we had to wire up properly, black lights revealing the unknown, and an ouiji board that doubled as a typewriter to enter names.  It was inspiring for future D&D props I'm scheming.

Work has been somewhat tumultuous - I may be working on new products with new people, though hopefully I'll still be working with Jacquie and Corinne.  In the meantime, I keep working on cool things and impressing coworkers and managers, though we'll see where it ends up.  I sometimes get tired of people fiddling around and just want to get things done.

As for me, it's been a pretty quiet week.  I started playing a new game based on The Expanse.  Ben's ear infection continues to make him uncomfortable, though hopefully the antibiotics start working their magic soon.  I'm having fun making D&D minis and prepping for upcoming games.  This Sunday the friend group starts up after a long hiatus.

I'm also getting ready for the great farm replanting.  Hopefully all the people, equipment, and seedlings come together and the loggers are done enough to let it happen.

Birthday Being

January 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm not sure I did anything terribly important all weekend.  I took Emma to get her school books.  Laundry was done.  Meals were made.

It's Jo's birthday today.  Unfortunately nearly all the presents were delayed by the weather, so it's mostly cake and a gift from Yayoe and Duncan.  It'll have to do.

Jo was out at the farm giving updates on the logging, which apparently continued, including in places they weren't supposed to.  Jo talked to Abraham today and got an apology and a tentative okay for replanting most places on the property.  My tentative plan is on February 2nd to buy a bunch of seedlings and head out to the farm to plant until we can't plant anymore.  The following day is a D&D day, so I may take the Monday after to keep planting.  It'll be good to get the recovery going.

As for me, I'm mostly doing okay.  I continue to work on my skunkworks project at work, hopefully ensuring a measure of job security along the way.  It doesn't feel like a sure thing in the tech industry these days.

The World Melts

January 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

I walked to my shed in flip flops as usual today, mocha in hand.  No longer are the ice cleats necessary to safely get to my backyard.  Driving around yesterday was just fine - Emma and I did a little outing to the library together.  I also heard from Seraph that they have power again.  Duncan and Ben have been out of school but Emma started up yesterday.  Hopefully things will settle down soon.

Work is getting slightly more organized, or at least there are some new people involved.  I did some fun work on some future-facing things, barely duct taping things together as a proof-of-concept.  I'll keep working away until I have something that's pretty looking.

The tree and native plant sale is in a couple weeks, which may be the window for replanting at the farm.  With all the chaos of the last week I'm not feeling particularly organized about it.  Last I heard logging continued, so I'm hoping to coordinate so the loggers don't destroy the trees we just planted.

I think our house is relatively unscathed from the storm.  Jenny had a friend without power staying with them.  Bob had a fall on the ice.  Most everyone else seems okay.  Broken trees still litter the streets, but things are on the mend.

Ice Saga Continues

January 16, 2024 by Adam in Family

We continued our ice-filled adventures yesterday, feeling very lucky to continue to have heat, power, and hot water.  Emma was getting a little stir crazy, not being able to do her weekly library run and we didn't manage to get to the U of O bookstore for her first-week-of-school books.  Jo and I started the long defrosting process of the Subaru, with me mostly playing a supporting role and watching the former northern New York resident do their thing.  Eventually we removed all the ice, put on chains, and headed out into the winter wonderland.

It was pretty quiet, though the roads were generally fine with chains and all wheel drive.  There was an Albertson's trailer abandoned on the sidewalk, and a few trees down, but otherwise not too much destruction.  We went down to 18th, up Willamette, stopped for gas, then headed down 40th to send Emma off.  Jo had cleats for their boots, so Emma stopped her crawling across the driveway ice to be escorted to her front door where Jamie waited.  It was a nice dash of comedy along the way.

We stopped by Capella Market to stock up on supplies for the next few days, so we're in good shape overall.  No school yesterday or today at any of the high schools or colleges.  We'll see what the next few days bring.  Theoretically the graduate teaching assistants go on strike tomorrow, so Emma's classes may be disrupted even more.

As for me, I'll brave the treacherous journey to the shed and try to remember how to work.  I took some Advil for my sore ice-removal muscles.  I might do a fourth day in a row of mochas.  We'll see how enthusiastic I'm feeling.

Snow Days

January 14, 2024 by Adam in Family

I woke up to no hot water - I'm guessing the insulation we usually wrap around the exposed hot water pipe wasn't enough.  I'll be out with heating pads later this morning, but for now I'll settle for hot tea and toast next to our fireplace.

Yesterday was fun - we headed outside to shovel driveways and walk around the neighborhood.  Everything was pretty and covered in ice.

D&D was sadly postponed yesterday as the roads were so bad.  This morning Seraph texted that their power was out and the roads were worse, so maybe not for another week or two.  We're right at the end of the campaign so I'm itching to get into the endgame.

I had my cup of hot tea and toast.  Soon I'll gird my loins and head out to try warming up the pipes of our exterior hot water heater.

Mocha Friday

January 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

I somehow missed my usual Monday update.  Last weekend and this whole week has been surprisingly busy.  Last Saturday Emma came over, along with library trips and video games.  Sunday was D&D with friends, nearly done with an old-school module with classic RPG traps, puzzles, and hijinx.  As for this week, Meg and Dick were visiting my mom, so I took out some time to visit and take everyone out for goodies at Hideaway Bakery.  Work continues to go through a variety of changes - we're finally getting a new project manager today, which is a good sign.

Finally, I had an impromptu dinner with a bunch of current and ex-coworkers, many of which came to Health Catalyst from PeaceHealth and were let go after the latest round of layoffs.  It was fun catching up, especially with my old manager Glen Campbell, and everyone seemed in good spirits to get together.

I've heard that logging continues out at the farm.  I wish we knew what the plan and timeline is - we're hoping to start replanting in February, but if they're planning on burning slash that's not going to happen.  The contract said they'd be done by the end of the year, but here we are.

The weekend promises more D&D, this time with family.  I'm excited to be so close to wrapping up a two year campaign.  Emma has some school things to sort out - she dropped a class and ended up signing up for an architecture class out of the dregs of remaining classes.  I'm also hoping to start finishing Deep Space Nine after so many years - I think we have one more episode to see how it all turns out.

First Mocha Friday of 2024

January 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm sipping my mocha and listening through sexual harrassment videos at work for the 6th year running.  Always a good time.  They keep trying to refresh all our required annual training, but the two hour lecture from the lawyer hasn't ever changed.

Otherwise work is fine, still up in the air as to what our team is working on next.  I'm still staying busy and moving things forward despite the uncertainty.

Ben's started up school again - he gave me a long update on his economics discussion in class yesterday.  Duncan continues to just wear PJs, though it's his last day off school.  Emma's at the beach with Jamie one more day, then back to school next week.

As for me, it's a D&D with friends this Sunday - with the holidays it was delayed for a long while.  I think Saturday we'll do a Christmas cleanup and take down decorations.  Good start for a new year.

Happy New Year!

January 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's technically the 2nd day of 2024, but the thought's the same.  I have three days off work this week, so it's been pretty low-key.  We did our usual watching Japanese commercials, boy bands, followed by pina coladas and watching the ball drop in Time's Square.

Yesterday Emma and I went out to the farm where we surveyed the continuing logging project.  Mostly we hung out near the shack and looked at what needed to be done to renovate it.  Then we had a burst of energy clearing the road of logging debris, which completely wore me out and we headed home to take it easy.

Today we've been doing more indoor things - video games, finally finishing the pewter brooch we started, and Emma nearly finished weaving a basket.  One more day of rest and relaxation before returning to work.