The Prodigal Son Returns

March 31, 2025 by Adam in Family

Our wayward son has packed up his apartment, said his farewells and is heading home today.  Hopefully his journey goes well and he settles in with Dez and Kenzie late Tuesday.  It'll be nice having him around again.

As for the home front, it was relatively uneventful.  I got into prepping for a Delta Green game I want to play at some point - it's an rpg about secret government agencies and unnatural threats in the style of X-Files.  It's weirdly satisfying putting together handouts and maps - my hope is to get the players to make a murder board with push pins and red yarn.  Emma and I went out to St. Vinnies to look for props and I returned home with an old leather briefcase from Scotland somehow.

Otherwise it was more of our usual routine.  I started playing the new God of War game, which you play as an old god with a sassy teenage son.  It felt like real life but with more fighting.  Jo and I managed some gardening.  We started taxes.  I paid Emma's last college tuition payment.  Emma and Duncan start their new terms today.

Now it's back to work, trying to get my PR finished up.  I missed a few things before I left for vacation, so it's a bit of cleanup this morning.  I think I'm still on track.

Mochaless Friday

March 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

We're back from our coast adventure, which was occasionally a little more adventurous than I'd like it to be.  Driftwood Shores was fine in most ways - the view was nice and close to the ocean - but apparently their fire alarm system was struck by lightning a couple weeks ago and wasn't quite right since then.  It went off several times, usually shutting off right away, but then we were awoken at 2 a.m. and it didn't shut off for several minutes.  The security guard was yelling it was a false alarm, but several frustrated people just left in the middle of the night and it wasn't my favorite thing.

The next day was more chill, if rainy and windy.  I finished reading Orbital, which made me feel accomplished.  We headed into Florence to visit the book store, do some touristy shopping, and hang out in the coffee shop for awhile. The afternoon was spent back in our room playing video games, making dinner, and watching Apple+ shows.  Fortunately the night was blissfully uninterrupted.

This morning was slow, with Jo doing a little remote work while I played assorted video games.  Eventually we checked out and went to a nice trail through the woods along a stream.  The wet, green path was lovely and very relaxing.

Now I've got a couple days to recover from my vacation.  I don't think there are any big plans.  I'm sure Emma has a library trip in mind.  Jo and I have gardening we could do.  We'll see how it goes.

Finished Avowed

March 26, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

I finished Avowed this morning, getting to a generally good ending and saving the day.  There was a surprising amount of running and jumping in the game, to the point where Emma and I would shout "parkour!" periodically when we played.  The main story was interesting and the writing and voice acting for the big blue guy - Kai - was excellent.  He was my ride-or-die by the end of the game and it was satisfying helping him find his own personal peace by the end.

Sunny Monday

March 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

Rumor has it the day will be sunny and over 70 degrees.  I'm hoping to break out shorts and t-shirts soon.

It was a good weekend.  Saturday I headed to Jason's after lunch to play the cooperative board game X-Com and a racing board game called Heat.  X-Com was complicated and we were learning as we went, but we figured it out and three hours later beat the game on the easiest mode.  I was ready to head back, but Jason pleaded that we play a second game he promised would be quick.  Soon enough we were racing imaginary cars around a track, playing cards and shifting gears, occasionally spinning out.  I won by an inch, mostly by luck, but it ended up being really fun.

The evening was spent watching highlights of Duncan's latest Minecraft video, exploiting bugs on someone else's server to give himself huge sums of money for everyone's enjoyment.  Then a short anime about psychotic school girls, just to round out the night.

Sunday late morning I had coffee and soup with Yayoe.  It was nice to see her and catch up.  Next was a visit to Down to Earth to pick up seeds, followed by yard work and planting.  We put down onion starts and peas in the beds, plus assorted greens, radishes, and tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Future Adam will appreciate all our hard work, I'm sure.

Otherwise it was a quiet weekend full of watching shows with Jo, slowly getting to the end of Avowed, and puttering about.  This morning I had some bloodwork to see how well my statins are working and I'll soon start in on code changes to my latest PR.  The fun never stops.

Mocha Friday

March 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

Hopefully we're in the last of the dreary spring days and the sun will decide to show itself again.  In the meantime I have my mocha keeping me perky this morning, with some fun activities to look forward to this weekend.

Emma and Duncan are well into spring break, their finals over by now.  Duncan hasn't gotten out of his PJs in a few days.   Emma and Jamie are at the beach having chill time.  As for Jo and I, we're taking a few days off next week for our own beach trip.  I haven't really taken time off at work this year other than a day to plant trees, so a little time off seems great.

Work has been busy, but I'm making good progress.  I think I'm on track for getting everything ready in time, though there are endless little tasks to complete.

Our wayward son is returning soon, tossing his belongings in the back of his pickup and driving to Eugene the week after next.  It's all very exciting and I hope his return home goes smoothly.

As for me, I'm hoping to play board games with Jason tomorrow, see Yayoe on Sunday, and get some gardening in if there's a break in the rain.  Plus video games - I picked up a couple in the latest Steam sale but want to finish Avowed first.  Good problems to have, I suppose.

Spring Sunsets

March 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

The rain has stopped for a time and the light from the sunset is streaming through the cracks in the living room blinds.  We've had bad flooding in parts of town, but I think it's finally letting up.

Work's been busy again.  I'm on call and muddling through various problems that pop up.  Not sure I'll hit the deadlines I want to, but I'm making progress.

As for the weekend, Saturday was a pleasant and lazy day, with a trip to the library and hanging out with Emma all afternoon.  Sunday was D&D with friends, this time with the players rooting out the evil in a health spa run by three hags.

Poor Jo seems to have come down with whatever I had, just as I started feeling better.  I'm back to my usual self, which is great, while Jo hangs out on the couch and plays video games in between brief bursts of energy to accomplish something useful.

Spring break is right around the corner.  Duncan and Emma have finals this week.  Emma's heading to the beach with her mom later this week.  Jo and I are doing a short beach getaway the week after.  Hopefully we get some nice weather by then - the incessant rain was starting to get to me.

Mocha Friday

March 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

I was pretty sick this week, a combination of sinus headaches, sore throat, and general fatigue.  The COVID and flu tests were negative, so I think it was just a plain old cold.  I was constantly taking Advil every four hours for part of it, but I think I'm finally starting to feel better. 

I kept working and doing all the things, though I skipped tea with mom this week, mostly to avoid getting her sick.  Dad stopped by for dinner last night as apparently Seraph and Robbie are sick and I was the backup plan.  He's been roped into being a dentist again temporarily, filling in at his old practice.

I printed and painted some minis for the upcoming D&D session.  Jo and I started playing a new game - Split Fiction - which is a cool co-op game.  I bought a day bed for my office to turn it into an impromptu guest bedroom.  It's halfway assembled next to me, though I'm still waiting on a mattress.  Just learned that our new team abbreviation is COVEN, which greatly amuses me.

Fortunately the weekend is right around the corner.  I've got D&D with friends this Sunday.  Tomorrow I'll likely hang out with Emma, do our usual library run, and play some video games.

Nyquil Weekend

March 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

I ended up getting the sniffles Saturday afternoon when I was taking Emma and Yvonne to the library.  Pretty soon I was sniffling away and ended up taking Nyquil.  I always forget just how spacy it makes me and I was zoning out for the rest of the evening and into the next morning.  Fortunately I slept really well, which I suppose was the point.

Emma headed out Sunday afternoon to meet up with mom and Francis to talk over a trip to visit Sadie this summer.  I headed to my office for some spring cleaning and furniture rearranging.  I took out shelves, plants, and a chair to make room for a daybed I ordered that should be arriving soon.  We don't really have a guest bedroom anywhere and hopefully this will do the trick.  Plus everything is squeaky clean now, which is a good way to get rid of the winter doldrums.

Now I'm back to work, trying to get my Nyquil-addled brain into high gear to figure out some tricky problems.  Hopefully I can sort through the last of these weird bugs.

Still Alive

March 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat more stressful week than usual, between the critical feature I'm working on and the organizational changes going on to our team.  Hopefully we find out more this afternoon.  I made way too many mochas for myself all week - I'll return to my usual coffee on Monday.

In the meantime, I'm getting things done and working more than I probably should.  I did sneak away for a tea break with mom and Emma, and Jo and I had a quick date night at Cafe Yumm.  I managed to get some video game time playing Avowed for some fun fantasy adventure.  This weekend doesn't have anything going on, so hopefully I can get a bit of downtime.

Our wayward son is coming to Eugene earlier than expected, leaving Albuquerque at the end of the month.  I think the plan is that he'll stay with Dez and spend some time figuring out next steps.  We've got a long list of projects for him, so at least he won't be bored.

Duncan and Emma are wrapping up the term - one more week of classes and then finals week.  Wild that Emma's graduating in just a few months.  And Yvonne turns 18 next month.  Everything keeps moving ahead.

Rainy Monday

March 03, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's a drizzly Monday, with a little more work excitement than I'd like.  My manager and longtime friend was laid off Friday afternoon.  It's happened to me before, strangely also with Jonathan back in my Health Catalyst days.  It'll probably be several months of uncertainty as we muddle through, though I've got plenty of critical work to keep me busy and likely employed.  I slept poorly over the weekend, worked a little here and there, and am back into things this morning.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was generally a good time.  There was plenty of D&D.  Saturday was a great time with the family group improvising a play that involved murdering a wind-up goblin doll with a giant mousetrap, along with a spray of blood into the audience.  It was well received by the evil hag, as such things are.  Sunday was the friend group, with fantasy space monsters and dead gods.

Emma and I made a productive library run Saturday afternoon, along with helping Jo a little on some tree pruning and straightening.  Spring is right around the corner and it's exciting to see all the crocuses bloom.  Can't wait to start wearing shorts again.