Mocha Friday

February 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp of my mocha.  The heater in my shed is a little wonky, so I bundled up in slippers and a jacket and the coffee is keeping me pleasantly warm.  

My work projects are coming along nicely and hopefully disaster will be averted.  It's been a fun "keep the lights on" project and I'm getting better at breaking complicated changes into smaller bites for others to digest.  It's also been nice to not be on call this week, which puts me a little on edge.

We've got a quiet weekend ahead.  Jo has a big writer's event on Saturday and another Sunday afternoon.  I suspect Emma and I will be fighting over the computer to play Avowed, but I've got some miniatures to finish organizing for the next D&D sessions.

I've been trying to put together a list of house and farm projects for our wayward son's return.  It's increasingly obvious that we've got a ton of things to do - we'll see how far we get.

We also got Apple TV+, so Jo and I have been watching all the new shows.  Such are the exciting things in our lives these days.

Avowed

February 19, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

One of the quirky artifacts I still have from my Neverwinter Nights days is a box signed by a bunch of people from Obsidian who worked on the sequel.  The founders worked on the original Fallout and Baldur's Gate, and have generally made good games since then.  Pillars of Eternity 2 is one of Emma's favorite RPGs and their latest game, Avowed, is set in the same world.

I started playing last night and I'm impressed.  There's a cool, fungal art style to the land and your player has a touch of weird fungal growths, which I suspect ties into the story somehow.  I've been itching for a good RPG and excited to dig into this one more.

Mocha Monday

February 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

I have the day off today, something I didn't realize until Friday's team meeting.  I have no real plans and the most useful thing I've done today beyond the usual is to make myself a mocha for the day.  It's lovely.

The weekend was generally quiet.  Emma and I ran some errands - Joann's Fabric, Oregon Art Supply, and the library.  Emma picked up a pattern and some book binding supplies.  The library had a couple graphic novels and DVDs I'd been wanting.  Eventually we returned home to read and work on projects.  Emma's getting the hang of bookbinding, taking some old paperback books of hers and making them much cooler.  I made myself soup and salad instead of the usual calzone for dinner, along with pizza for the younger kids, and we settled in to anime watching for dinner.

Sunday Emma and I went out to a coffee place on Willamette that's run out of an old school bus.  We played board games and chatted before heading home.  I tore the seams on my rain gear while planting trees, so we broke out the sewing machine and Jo taught me to use it, something I missed out on all these years somehow.  It's a cool piece of kit and amazingly fast and accurate after all my years of sewing by hand.

We'll see how useful I am today.  I started watching Civil War for my run, which hits a little too close to home some days. I've got a list of practical things to do, but I've only gotten as far as making the list.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

Hi to all the people I love out there - Happy Valentine's Day.

It's been a snowy, slushy couple days of hunkering down at home and not going anywhere, though it looks like this winter snow is going to be brief.  Even Emma's U of O classes were cancelled yesterday, along with Lane and South Eugene, though I think it's just a delayed start today.

Nothing particularly exciting has been going on.  Went out to 16 Tons for date night.  Pet cats.  Ran on the treadmill and finished season 2 of House of the Dragon.  Played some occasional video games.  No big plans this weekend either, though I'm starting to get a little stir crazy being at home.  Maybe I'll take Emma to the old school bus turned coffee shop and play some board games.

On Call

February 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

Today's my first day of being on call at work - hopefully I survive the week.  In the meantime I've got various critical work projects I need to shepherd through the automated approval procecesses, which is going a little bumpy.  Hopefully it all gets done before things fall apart.

The weekend was good - Saturday was D&D with the family.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the AI-generated marionette versions of their characters.  Later Emma and I went to the library where she efficiently scooped up books and we headed out again.

Sunday was a big cleanup day, taking things to donate, recycling cans and bottles, cleaning the patio and front porch.  Emma was a great help as I apparently "awoke the beast" until she got tuckered later in the day.  I managed a bit of reading, which was a treat, and generally hung out a bit.  It was lovely.

Mocha Friday

February 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat calmer week once the tree planting ended.  I had my tech spec review which generally went well.  Now I've got to get on with building things, but at least I have my Friday Mocha to keep me company.

Tomorrow is family D&D, which should be fun.  I've got some old letters Seraph wrote me that I've kept for decades I want to show her.  Hopefully I'm prepared enough for the game - I was painting minis this morning and reading ahead on the adventure.  If all else fails I'll just break out some funny voices.

Emma's over a little early, getting in some extra Data squishing time.  Jo had an essay published, which was cool.  Mom and I skipped tea this week as she was off doing important things with her advisory board position.  I hear our wayward son is excited about coming home.  Duncan continues his video making.

Life goes on.

Trees Planted

February 04, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm a little tuckered out after three days of tree planting.  Saturday morning Emma and I took her truck out to Alton Baker Park to pick up nearly 300 trees.  We picked up 100 Douglas Fir, 100 Ponderosa Pine, and a mix of other firs based on what did well last year.  We headed home for a hearty breakfast that Jo cooked up, then the two of us headed to the farm, with Jo coming along a little later.  Jamie met us there for some tree planting fun.  We put in close to 100 trees around the flat central part of the farm.

The big news, which was really disheartening, was that apparently a herd of a couple hundred elk had come through and eaten over a hundred trees we planted last year.  We ran into the neighbor who estimated a couple hundred elk in the herd, and between the elk poop, hoofprints, and eaten grass and trees, there was plenty of evidence.  Hopefully I haven't just spent the last three days getting an elk salad bar ready.

We headed home somewhat early and Emma and I went to the library as a treat.

Sunday was just Emma and I going out, planting on the northern side of the property.  It rained a couple times, but was otherwise pleasant.  We put in a little over 50 trees there before heading home and taking it easy.

Monday was the final push, waking up early and heading out with the last of the trees.  I put on a podcast, took breaks for coffee and snacks, and kept going until all the trees were in the ground.  I didn't feel too bad, just tired and a little sore and after a nice bath felt pretty human again.  I took it easy, checked in with work, and started on dinner.  About halfway through that I started feeling really tired and was pretty wiped out for the rest of the night.

After a good night's sleep I feel mostly normal, back at work and looking forward to a day of working behind a computer.

Tree Planting Mocha Friday

January 31, 2025 by Adam in Family

I've got my mocha next to me, slowly sipping away on it on this dreary day.  I'm enjoying my new espresso maker, which does the job just fine.

Tomorrow is the big tree planting day.  The plan is that Emma and I take her big truck out to the tree sale at the crack of dawn where we'll pick up 300 trees.  I think it'll be a mix of ponderosa pine, douglas fir, and other assorted firs.  The plan is to get enough to fill in gaps and cover parts that we missed last year.  Tomorrow is supposed to be decent weather, though after that it gets wet and cold and snowy.  Hopefully I don't need Monday and Tuesday to finish planting, but we'll see how it goes.

The rest of the week has been generally okay.  Mom and I had tea where I worked on her computer.  Jo and I had a date night at 1960 Cochina.  Kitties continue to demand pets.  I keep listening to my Critical Role podcast while doing housework.  I've gotten back into Against the Storm, a fun little city builder in a haunted forest.

Work's been a little stressful, doing tech specs and running it by the architects.  I think we're finally getting close to a solution.  Can't wait to get on with it and start building things.

Back at it Again

January 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

Another weekend come and gone.  Saturday was a hang out with Emma day, with a trip to the library and going through boxes of china, notebooks, newspapers, and odds and ends that I've saved over my lifetime.  We picked up a couple plastic boxes to put them in that hopefully will be more mouse-proof.  Sunday was D&D with the friend group with a class heist.  Emma snuck away early to help her mom get grandpa Ray's apartment ready for him - he apparently moved in smoothly yesterday, so all is well there.

I continue to do big and complicated things at work, which is both satisfying and a little scary.  Sometimes it feels like I'm just being thrown into the deep end over and over again.

Next weekend is the big tree planting weekend.  I'm tentatively planning on four hundred trees over four days, which I'm guessing is manageable.  It'll be wet and dreary weather - hopefully I'm made of relatively stern stuff.

Electrified Mocha Friday

January 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been an eventful week.

We have power again after getting our electrical box replaced yesterday and being without power all day.  The electricians hit a few snags so we ate takeout by candlelight as lights flickered on and off.  It's mostly back to normal, though I had to find the breaker to an outlet that connected the web server to the rest of the world.  Now it's back, but there's a problem with DNS I need to sort out - I can get to the server but the rest of the world can't at the moment.  I'm not sure what I'm writing is that important anyway.

Jo's birthday was this week, full of presents, cherry pie, and a card Emma made with a bunch of family signatures.  We've switched to a single candle and told Suno to make up a birthday song which was ridiculous.

Emma and I went to Smith family yesterday to turn old books into cash, as well as just hang out browsing books together.  My old espresso maker died recently and the mocha made from my new one seems adequately tasty.   We have a friend D&D group this weekend and I did a bit of prep and painted a couple big miniatures.

I guess family, friends, and espresso is all that matters in the end.