Tattoos, Web Sites, and All the Things

October 15, 2025 by Adam in Adam

Life seems to be full of lists and schedules, with obstacles thrown in my path just to keep me on my toes.

The web site went down because I didn't pay my domain name provider.  That was easily fixed after I stumbled across why it was behaving badly.  Hopefully that gives me more time to leisurely transfer everything over to my new server, which is annoyingly complicated enough that I don't want to rush it.

I've got a tattoo consult this afternoon, hopefully getting my Apollo 11/earth/moon ink done in the next few weeks.  That'll be an exciting thing, and a long time in the making.  I called both of my parents to try and figure out exactly when I was born to calculate the position of Apollo 11.  I'll still have to take some liberties with scale, but I like being accurate where I can.

We're trying to get a heat pump figured out before the end of the year.  I embarrasingly sent some clarifying questions to Jo and not the heat pump guy, which I fortunately figured out before calling him to complain. 

Work's coming along - I keep getting exciting opportunities to work on things.  Hopefully my willingness to jump in to new and unfamiliar areas ends up being good for my career and doesn't drive me too crazy.  After awhile it's hard to get too worked up about feeling lost and incompetent once again.

My favorite thing to do these days is making weird props for my various roleplaying games.  I've been vibe coding a retro platformer video game to stick on a cartridge.  There are annoying bugs to sort through, but it still feels magical to end up with this actual video game prop with a cool label I can hand to the players and they can play it.

Delta Green Coasters

October 15, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Projects

I have this weird need to make odd little things for my players.  This time it was the Delta Green crowd - I ended up making a bunch of coasters for them to use, take home, or do whatever.  I like the idea of souvenirs to remember our games, but I also like practical things.  This seemed like a good compromise.

90 Years!

October 15, 2025 by Adam in Hanni

Over the weekend we drove down to Creswell to pack ourselves into the old school house Seraph rented to celebrate Hanni's 90th birthday party.  It was a good time, with lots of people there.  I got to sit and chat with Hanni for a long while and visited with family I haven't seen in awhile.  It was a cool venue and pleasant company.  What a nice family I have.

Bubble Gum and Duct Tape

October 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm trying to figure out all the things that seem to have failed with this web site.  The big one is that the domain expired, but instead of saying that I ended up with an annoying SSL error that made no sense.  I'm up and running again, but I've switched back to an older version of the web site since parts of the newer code seem to have failed.

I bought a new web server that I want to switch to, but I need to jump through some hoopes to get it up and running.  In the meantime, this is what you get.

Saturday I took Emma and Yvonne thrifting and Emma picked up her Canadian passport.  Eventually we made it to the library and watched Tombstone after dinner.

Sunday was the big birthday party for Hanni.  It was great seeing everyone and we stayed for quite a long while.

Now it's back to work, cursing a bit of security software that's a pain to use.  I haven't heard from Emma who started on the chocolate making machinery today.  She's probably so tuckered out she went straight to bed.

Mocha Friday

October 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

It feels like Oregon again, the rainy season upon us.  I do like the wet and green, though I miss the carefree days of shorts and t-shirts.

The big news of the week is that Emma got a job.  She's a chocolatier at Euphoria Chocolate Company, doing a lot of packing and shipping, along with helping make assorted chocolate goodies on occasion.  I think she enjoys it - she reports nice coworkers and the 90s alt rock station they listen to hasn't driven her crazy yet.

I signed up for Audible since they had a great deal, and I've been listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl.  It's definately a guilty pleasure, with a ridiculous premise and silly characters, but it makes dishes, laundry, and cooking dinner far more entertaining.  I'm a little sad that the first book is almost over.

I've also been working on 3d printing "cartridges" for my retro computer.  Basically it wraps a big bulky cartridge around a USB key, but they look way cooler and are harder to loose.  I'm a little sad that I have to wait another week for Delta Green.  I've been prepping for the next module, which looks suitably creepy.

Work continues to go well.  People sometimes ask if I worry about AI taking over my job and the reality is that I don't spend much of my time writing code.  I'm constantly dealing with change and learning new things - coordinating with a bunch of people to mostly paddle in the right direction as we move this giant ship that's constantly being remodeled.  Hopefully we sail it where it's supposed to go.

Chill Weekend

October 06, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a generally uneventful weekend.  Emma and I finished Strange Antiquities, stopping the eldritch abomination by carefully identifying various magical curious.  We started in on Cult of the Lamb, a cute game where we cooperatively lead a cult to help free an eldritch abomination by defeating monsters and keeping our followers happy.  I've been slowly playing Kingdom Come Deliverance 2, trying to keep my young lord out of trouble, not very successfully.

We went to the library and a thrift store, with Emma picking up a midcentury lamp that she liked.  I fixed a broken casette tape my mom handed me, made in the 1970s where my grandmother and great grandmother sent tapes back and forth in the mail.  I had to crack it open and transfer the guts to a blank tape I could disassemble, but the end result was me tearing up as I heard my granny's voice for the first time in years.  I'll see if I can digitize it next.

In the absence of playing any RPGs with friends and family, I keep puttering around making AI generated pictures of scenes and looking into fun props I can make.  I've been looking at newer versions of Traveller, which would be fun to play again.  I guess I need to get some steady groups to play with first.

In other news, Jo's bites appeared again, though not mine.  At this point we think it's not bedbugs but probably something from the garden.  I suppose the upside of cold winter months is killing off those sort of pests.

Spooky Season Mocha Friday

October 03, 2025 by Adam in Family

It somehow become October, along with longer nights, dreary days, pants, long sleeve shirts, and hiking boots.  I'm always a little sad to see the sunshine go away, so I'm trying to transition into being cozy.  The mocha is helping.

It's been a fairly uneventful week.  Delta Green was postponed for a couple weeks due to player schedule changes.  I'm loving the current mission, so I'm a little bummed.  I managed to hook up a Raspberry Pi to the black and white security monitor Emma found in a thrift store.  It was remarkably difficult to get the video working, and the Raspberry Pi 2 is a little slow, but I think I got my Delta Green prop setup the way I wanted.  I mailed off the paper props from my first two Delta Green games to a coworker for their upcoming game, so I'm happy my old props going to a good home.

Otherwise I've been doing the normal things - tea with mom, chatting with Emma on the phone, playing Balatro and Kingdom Come Deliverance, and various tv shows each night.  Jo and I played video games for date night - we'll probably take a year to get through Split Fiction, but it's been a good time.  I took advantage of an Audible deal and am currently listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl, which hopefully ends up being a fun romp, if not too serious.

I'm glad it's Friday.  After my taste of vacation it's been a little bit of a slog these last few days.  I'm excited for the weekend and going on little adventures.  I'll probably drag Emma to the comic book festival at 5th Street tomorrow.  We've also got Strange Antiquities to finish.

First Day of School

September 29, 2025 by Adam in Family

Duncan's heading back to school and Yvonne starts today at LCC.  She's got a biology class and is hopping on the bus at noon.  Hopefully all goes well.

Emma had an interview at Euphoria as a chocolateir of some sort - she should hear more today.  Unfortunately the car we gave her had the power steering fluid leak out and she's having to fork over $700 to get it fixed.  Hopefully that's the last for awhile.

Jo and I had a great time at McKenzie river and took our kayaks up to Clear Lake to paddle around for the day.  As advertised, the water was strikingly clear and the day was beautiful.  I'm glad we got to get away for a little while.

The rest of the weekend was a mix of projects and play.  Emma and I went to the library and started to play a fun little puzzle game called Strange Antiquities.  I made crepes for everyone Sunday morning.  Later Emma and I worked on finishing the compost shelter, just in time for the rains this morning.

Now I'm back at work, having just finished wading through my email messages.  I'll try and gird my loins and figure out what I should be working on next.

McKenzie Bridge Vacation

September 26, 2025 by Adam in Family

We've abandoned our children and headed for McKenzie Bridge for a couple nights, hopefully making it up to Clear Lake to paddle around later today.  It's the end of a very pleasant vacation.  I accomplished vast amounts of things the last few days, some practical and others less so.  I cleaned the patio, basement, and garage.  I've got a tattoo consult scheduled.  I'm donating my old car to KLCC on Tuesday.  I've got another heat pump estimate setup for Monday.  All my vaccinations made my arms sore for a few days, but I'm feeling normal again. Emma found an old Radio Shack black and white security monitor that I'm getting prepped to sneak into my Delta Green game, hooking it up to a Raspberry Pi I had laying around.  Plus I managed to play a no-Flush game in Balatro and unlock a new Joker.

Emma had some bad car news - the power steering fluid was punctured and leaked out - with a $700 bill.  That's real money to her, so she's a little bummed out but forking over the cash.

School starts for Duncan and Yvone next week.  Work starts for me.  In the meantime I'll enjoy being out in the woods by the river and puttering around as long as I can.

Tuesday Update

September 23, 2025 by Adam in Family

What is time on vacation, exactly.  The days blur away as every morning has a mocha and blueberry pancakes, one of my favorite ways to start the day.  I've been getting a ton of things done, which is satisfying.  I got my passport application mailed, the air in my tires filled up, emailed about a new tattoo, cleared out the yard debris from the backyard and loaded up the trailer.  The list goes on and on.

I've managed a bit of time to play - rediscovering Balatro, listening to audio books, and reading The Ophiuchi Hotline found at St. Vinnies.  Saturday Delta Green was awesome fun - fighting monsters with fire and UV light, along with running into it with an FBI vehicle.  Now we've started on a new mission with a UFO-crazed southern town.  Sunday D&D was cancelled, but Jason invited me and I played The Dead of Winter with his family. 

Jo and I's bedbug bites or whatever they were seem to be clearing up.  I got pumped full of vaccinations today and went out to the farm with my mom to get the latest update.  It's cool seeing it all come together.