Proving Myself

October 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

I spent six hours over two days at the social security administration office, trying to get a new social security card.  I need a picture of one to get my health spending account setup, and is the last of the new job things I need to deal with.  Unfortunately the first time I went with all the IDs they say I require, after waiting three hours, I was told I needed my birth certificate.  The next day I did the same thing and after a brief excitement saying their office couldn't process foreign documents, they asked with conviction, "Adam is your nickname?" and used another policy to get it changed.  Now I just have to wait two weeks and I can get this last thing done.

On the plus side I finished a giant book I got from Tsunami a few weeks before.  It made the stay pleasant despite the hard metal seats.  Maybe I'll get lucky and federal bureaucracy will foul up and let me read my next giant book.

Emma took Jamie and I to the Dvorak concert last night.  It was a pleasant evening and it's one of Emma's favorite composers.  I've got back-to-back D&D this weekend, so I've been working on dialog, props, and organizing minis.  Hopefully it all goes well.  Emma made a tasty loaf of her sourdough bread for us to enjoy tomorrow.

Players Gotta Play

October 21, 2024 by Adam in Family

Our family D&D game was cancelled Saturday (get well soon Francis!), so Emma and I went on a series of errands Saturday morning, hitting up Rite Aid, the bank, and Market of Choice.  After lunch Emma, Yvonne and I headed to the library and returned with vast quantities of loot.  I seem to be on a time travel DVD bender, returning with yet another low budget sci-fi that hopefully entertains me on my afternoon runs.

Sunday after breakfast Emma and I headed to the Picadilly market to search through all the weird treasures and odds and ends.  Emma found some cheap DVDs and a Scottish record, along with a cozy wool sweater.  I found a couple presents for our Albuquerque boy tucked away amongst the weird and magical trinkets.

In the afternoon we headed to our local gaming store where our Dungeon Master Ezra led us through a Lovecraftian horror D&D game.  The best part was being a player with Emma, which I think was the first time the two of us were players in a game.  It was a fun dynamic and the game slid over to horror/comedy before the day was over.  We escaped with our sanity after accidentally foiling the good guy's plans, which sounds about right for a D&D game.

Jo and Yvonne are up in Portland for some tests for Yvonne.  I managed to feed the kitties successfully this morning, despite Data's excited attempts to trip me with head bonks.  I've got a bunch of little tasks to try and wrap up at work today, hopefully moving my bigger projects forwards at least a little more.

Mocha Friday

October 18, 2024 by Adam in Family

I just finished my mocha and my pesky bug that I volunteered to fix.  I'm starting to feel part of the ebb and flow of software development these days.  It's a fun feeling, though certainly more challenging. I find myself doing more and more code archeology, trying to understand what the people who came before me was doing.

I had tea with mom this week, who seems to be doing much better after her bout with COVID.  Thursday morning was coffee with Yayoe, catching up on all the things.  I even managed to call my dad in there and talk about SpaceX's latest goings ons.

It's feeling more and more like Fall these days, with dark evenings and rainy weather.  I've resigned myself to wearing pants and long sleeve shirts every day now.  Hopefully I'll survive until the warm days of summer.

Last night Jo and I went for sushi downtown and stopped by the night market nearby.  This Saturday is D&D with the family and then Emma and I get to be D&D players at Funagain Games this Sunday for a drop-in one-shot game.  I'm weirdly excited to just be a player for a change.  Next Thursday Emma and I go see Dvorak, one of her favorite composers.  She's picking me up in her big truck so all I have to do is dress up and look pretty.

Pleasant Weekend

October 14, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a lovely weekend, warm and sunny.  It was generally uneventful, hanging about the house and taking it easy.  Duncan's arm continues to improve.  Emma and I went to the library and I bought a couple books at Tsunami, finishing one of them - A Psalm for the Wild-Born.  It was a cozy sci-fi novel about a tea monk and their robot friend.  I ended up with two library DVDs about time loops, which is one of those genres I'll always watch.

On Sunday Emma and I decided to wander over to Funagain games where I connected with a D&D DM who's running one shots every Sunday.  I'm going to try and drag Emma to one next weekend as I never get to actually play the game.  We also picked up a fun little game using refrigerator magnets and prompts, getting Jo to play with us over lunch.  It was surprisingly funny and hopefully work will reimburse me for it - one of those quirky Microsoft benefits.

Jo's off to Portland tonight for an appointment.  I've got filament clogging my 3d printer somewhere.  My tech spec review is late this afternoon.  Busy, busy.

Busy Week

October 11, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm thankful for my morning mocha, halfway full beside me.  Monday was my tech spec review at work, which went well but led to a week of follow-up research, meetings, and figuring things out.  I got a "good job" from one of the main architects which was reassuring.  Later that night I had a nice long chat from our wayward Albuquerque son, hopefully getting him back for a December visit.

Tuesday was my annual physical where I was told I was in great health, which is always nice.  I got a flu shot and wandered off to get my labs done. Later that day I got the news that Duncan fell off his trike he'd ridden up to LCC for class.  Jo took him to urgent care for x-rays and it looks like he fractured his arm.  He's been generally okay, mostly not needing his sling, but definately a bummer.

Wednesday I tried to get my work's HSA card sorted out, which apparently requires a picture of my social security card.  This began my social security administration adventure - giving up on waiting for my number to be called, giving up waiting on hold to schedule an appointment, and giving up on the online portal to get a copy of my card.  I came home and ate a bunch of cookies that Yvonne made for us, which helped a little.

That night Jo and I went to an Ethopian restaraunt in the Whitaker which was fun and tasty, chatting with the owner who was apparently married to the cook.

My lab results came back with triglycerides higher than normal, so they wanted me back for a fasting test the next day.  I grumpily wandered off first thing Thursday morning, had my blood drawn for a second time, and then treated myself with pancakes and a mocha.  I checked my labs just now and the number was half as much, so presumably I'm doing fine.

I've got a day of testing things out at work and doing some more communication.  Monday is hopefully the final tech spec review and then I can start building in earnest.

I'm still managing a bit of fun in between all the things.  I've been playing Against the Storm, a fun fantasy city builder and the weird poker game Balatro.  I've got a wait until the next D&D session, so I'm working on props and handouts to entertain myself.

Takin' It Easy

October 07, 2024 by Adam in Family

My COVID test was negative on Friday, but I still felt pretty cruddy and took it easy for most of the weekend.  Saturday morning was spent playing video games after making breakfast.  Emma went off mushroom hunting and had a good time finding giant mushrooms at the coast with her band of enthusiastic mycologists.  They ran into a french woman on the dunes who pointed them to a secret mushroom grove, right out of a fantasy story.  She returned home tired but happy.

In the afternoon Jo wanted to head to the farm to pick up some lumber and leftover boards at the farm.  It all still looks pretty rough from the logging, but we strapped things down, drove down the bumpy road, and re-strapped things that shook loose on the way down.  Fortunately nothing fell off on the way back, so all was well.

I was feeling somewhat better on Sunday, so I managed to setup the Bambu Labs X1C printer dad gave me.  It's super automatic, which ended up causing him trouble, but other than my inability to upgrade the printer's firmware, it worked fine.  I did a test print and was generally satisfied.  Now to find a corner of the house to set it up and try to print something more significant.

Yvonne, Emma, and I went to the library, returning home with DVDs, manga, and assorted other books.  Emma and I played some Chants of Sennar, which is a fun Tower of Babel and linguistics game.  She worked more on her thesis and classes.  Jo helped Duncan's sweetie arrange a trip to visit in December.  

As for today at work, I have my first tech spec review.  Hopefully it goes well.

COVID Time Again

October 04, 2024 by Adam in Family

Mom cancelled tea time this Wednesday as she was feeling under the weather.  When I called to check up on her on Thursday she was improving but still feeling badly and asked me to bring her a COVID test.  I found one under a box of masks in the pandemic corner of our shelf and brought it over, masked up and saying hello from outside her back door.  Sure enough, she tested positive, though was feeling generally okay last night.

I woke up with a bit of a cough and sniffle last night, so I'll mask up and find a COVID test for myself later this morning.  Mostly I want to wave off Emma's arrival if it turns out I'm really sick.  

It's been the first week of school for Emma and Duncan.  I think they're both generally fine with things.  Emma seems excited about her mycology class and wants to take more pictures at the farm for her thesis.  Duncan's teacher gave him a bottle of ink for his art class which exploded in his backpack.  A slightly destressed Duncan texted me and I spent awhile cleaning things up and throwing the backpack in the laundry.  It ended up cleaner than it's been in years.

I went to the dermatologist on Monday to get checked out and weird things removed.  All is well and the parts they lopped off were all benign.  Apparently they didn't dig deep enough to reach my rotten core - maybe next time.

Dad stopped by to pick up his old 3D printer and trade me for his new one, which ended up being a little too automatic and less functional than his old one.  Hopefully I can figure out how it works this weekend.

Work is coming along nicely, though I'm getting down to the last few tricky things.  I'll need to schedule a tech spec for my giant feature soon.  In the meantime I keep making little changes and fixes, all very carefully.  It's interesting being focused on minimizing risk and disruption after so much time hurrying things out the door with the expectation that it can be fixed later.

My mocha is empty - time to don a mask and go looking for a test.

Adventuring Along

September 30, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was nice seeing Emma again Friday afternoon - we went to the library and scooped up a goodly amount of books.  The weekend itself was filled with friends, family, and D&D, which is always a good time.  I finally got to use my gelatinous cube mini I'd printed long ago, though it never got to dissolve anyone to bones despite my best efforts.  The friend group was on Sunday and involved fighting undead until making their way back home.  It was great seeing everyone after such a long delay.

It's the first day of school for Emma and Duncan.  Hopefully their scholastic adventures go just as well.

I was invited by some ex-PeaceHealth coworkers to go out to dinner tonight, so I'll be chatting away with some people I've known for close to thirty years.

Back-to-Back D&D Weekend

September 27, 2024 by Adam in Family

I continue to feel perkier every day after dragging for a couple weeks.  Whatever viral thing I got sure was annoying.  I might smell smoke occasionally but I certainly don't feel quite so tired all the time.  Hopefully I'll be ship shape and Bristol fashion soon enough.

Work is coming along nicely.  I finished up my tech spec and think I have most of it sorted out.  I had a nice chat with the wayward Albuquerque boy last night, catching up on his goings on.  Emma should be back in town today - it'll be nice to see her after she was away at the beach last weekend.

The week was generally uneventful.  Jo and I planted some garlic.  We keep getting endless tomatoes, green beans, and squash, along with the occasional zucchinni.  Duncan and Emma start school next week.  With the weather cooling down it feels like we've arrived at fall in earnest.

Both my D&D groups are arriving this weekend.  It'll be great to see everyone after a long break - I've been cranking out props and planning a bit in the meantime.  Hopfully I don't run out of silly voices.

Smokey Monday

September 23, 2024 by Adam in Family

I still randomly smell imaginary smoke, which is annoying, and my stomach hurts occasionally, but I'd like to think I'm generally getting better after my whatever illness that started a couple weeks ago. I'm not quite as tired as I have been, which translated into a long list of things being finished over the weekend.  I mowed the lawn, upgraded Duncan's computer processor, put away painting supplies, took donations to St. Vincent du Paul, moved the shed, and peeled and sliced apples to make apple chips in the dehydrator.  Whew!

We also ended up seeing The Play that Goes Wrong at OCT, which while a smaller set than when Jo and I saw it in London for the original run, was still quite good.  The set impressively fell apart and there were inumerable spit takes and prat falls.  They've extended the run in case anyone want to see it.

Work continues along at a steady pace.  Today I'm coming up with a third way of accomplishing a task, which I think will end up as my preferred method.  I'm slowly writing up a tech spec that I'll need to review with some architects and then hopefully turn it into a real thing that millions of people use.