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.

Three Day Weekend

January 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a full weekend and I was thankful for the extra day to get things off my to do list.  Saturday Emma and I did our usual library run, stopping by the bank and the new coffee place on Willamette that's run out of an old school bus.  Sunday was family D&D with its usual silliness - they met a dandilion knight and his beloved bee, saved a goblin with an evil kite, solved a chess game, taught a cyclops the meaning of love, and performed a play for a troupe of mimes transformed into giant birds.

Monday was a mix of birthday preparations for Jo, getting half-birthday goodies for Duncan, gluing and painting minis, housework, video games, reading a graphic novel, and a handful of practical tasks.  Another day of such things would have been lovely, but I'm back to work on my save the world project.  It's coming along relatively well, though there's a ways to go.

Broken Espresso Maker Friday

January 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

Well, the espresso maker I use to make my Friday mochas has apparently stopped working.  I can steam the milk, but I'm not getting enough pressure to drive the steam through the coffee.  I guess what I'm drinking this morning is hot chocolate coffee or something equally lowbrow.

It's been a generally fine week, and last weekend as well since I neglected to update everyone on my exciting life.  Sunday was another D&D session with a big fight that took up most of the time.  We ran late but made it through our first dragon fight and the heroes got the first piece of the magic artifact that will save the multiverse, as is typical in these tales. 

I've got the family group this Sunday, so I've been frantically painting minis in preparation.  A few of them turned out really well, and the rest are serviceable.  We'll see if I need to delay the group with side quests so I can get my minis painted.

Work has been interesting this week.  I've been switched over to working on a "see if I can fix this problem before everything blows up" project.  It's higher risk than I'd like and the deadlines are looming quickly, but if all goes well it'll likely be a feather in my cap.  Plus I'm used to my manager Jonathan throwing me in the deep end at this point from our previous job, so I'm not too stressed out about it.

We're upgrading our electrical box next week, so I think we'll lose power for a day - hopefully I can work with my phone's hotspot and our battery backup.  Jo's birthday is coming up fast and I've got presents to wrap.  Emma's organized a trip to Smith Family Bookstore next week to dispose of some used books.  I'm sure we'll hit up the library and likely Oregon Art Supply this weekend.  Emma's gotten into repairing hardcover books and wants some supplies.

The rest of the family is generally doing well.  School goes well.  Kitties try to sleep on us whenever possible.

Mocha Friday

January 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's a dreary January day - I've resorted to wearing a rain jacket when I head out to my backyard shed.  It's days like this when I get jealous of the kitties, lounging around near the fireplace and napping the day away.  Still, it's Friday and my mocha was tasty.  Work is moving along nicely and a fun weekend of hanging out and D&D awaits.

Nothing of great importance happened this week.  Emma and Duncan have been going to school again.  Yvonne's has started as well, but she's been feeling poorly.  I finished The Invicible video game, which had a great retro sci-fi feel and my brave astronaut managed to escape the alien planet.  I keep playing around with AI generated portraits and music, starting to put together some "one shot" games after the family D&D game wraps up.  I'm thinking Cyberpunk and a wild west Call of Cthulu game, but we'll see what everyone wants to do.

Sometimes the ordinary can be very satisfying.  We watched the newish Fall Guy movie and enjoyed it.  I started watching Mars Express and love the cyberpunk themes.  My new miniature area seems to be working well and feels much less cluttered.  I did some last minute printing and painting for D&D this weekend.  All is well.

Back to Work

January 06, 2025 by Adam in Family

I've got a few moments before I gather my things and walk through the darkness to my backyard shed.  Soon I'll be logging in and slogging through the endless emails that have built up while I've been gone, my only solace that most of my coworkers were also away.  I generally remember what I was working on and what to do next, though some of the details are fuzzy.  I'm sure I'll figure it out.

It was generally a good weekend - getting quite a bit done in between the relaxing.  Emma and I mostly completed the Christmas takedown, removing lights and decorations and putting the tree out by the yard waste for chainsawing later.  I enlisted my neighbor Todd into moving the hutch upstairs - it was challenging but we got it in place.  I now have endless space for the endless minis and nerdy things of the living room, hidden away behind high quality Amish woodworking.  No one will know.

My other projects putter away.  I started playing The Invincible, based on Stanislaw Lem's story, and love the 60's sci-fi aesthetic.  I'm still making way too many AI generated songs, filling out my cyberpunk and western horror playlists. 

Emma and I had a nice stroll through the neighborhood, making me hopeful for spring.  She starts school today and Duncan starts tomorrow.  Yvonne is out of school a bit longer, but starts again next week.  

Happy New Year

January 03, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's somehow 2025 which feels both futuristic and strangely the same as always.  I've been having way too much fun having AI generate songs for me, which is a mix of garbage and brilliant tunes that haunt my brain for days.  Plus nearly all our appliances talk to the Internet, which seems a little weird and unnecessary.

It's been a mostly chill week.  I finished Silent Hill 2, ready to be done with the psychological horror genre despite the overall excellence of the game.  The basement is a wreck as I attempt to move the old tv hutch upstairs.  It'll be great in the living room but I think I need to ask the neighbor for help moving it.

Emma's been over the last few days and we've been puttering around.  I made her play Mansions of Madness, a fun Lovecraftian board game.  Our first game failed completely but we succeeded the second time around, each of us with a broken limb but not yet succumbing to madness.  Plus the entire place was on fire and the cultist mostly caught on fire as we ran through the flames to escape.

Jo and I are headed to the woods for a little hike this afternoon.  Emma's working for mom for a bit.  Kevin's in town and spending time with Duncan and Yvonne.  As for me, I'm starting to mourn my vacation and thinking about what I need to do Monday morning to turn back into a real person.