Halloween Eve

October 31, 2018 by Adam in Family

It's the night before Halloween.  I delivered Emma her pumpkin, which she began to design as I chatted away about school and life and such.  Sam went over to Jamie's for dinner.  Joanna went to teach her class and Duncan, Benny, and I carved our pumpkins.  I had this weird gray one with incredibly tough walls - I regretted wanting to be different.  Benny also decorated their skeleton model in pirate attire, I think because it was missing a leg.

Work is improving somewhat.  I think my project still has a small chance of success, but my part is vaguely interesting and I still get to play with computers all day long.

I bought a bunch of games with the latest Steam sale.  I played on VR horror game that made me nauseous mostly because of the motion controls.  Then I switched over to this cool VR rhythm game called Thumper that was pretty cool.

All is generally well.

Pre-Halloween Weekend

October 29, 2018 by Adam in Family

Friday night was activity night.  Duncan says he screamed a bunch.  I don't think either really danced, but I think they had a pretty good time.  Joanna was on refreshment duty, dressed in Duncan's cat pajamas.  She reported all the middle schoolers being crazy.  I had a relatively quiet evening with Emma playing video games.

Saturday morning was the usual hearty breakfast of french toast, vegan pancakes, bacon, vegan sausage and potatoes, gluten-free and keto waffles for Joanna, and a cafe mocha for myself.  Feeding our lot requires considerable planning, but it's usually well received.

Joanna taught an online class, Benny had a Spark Academy class, Duncan went to Rio's house, and we all gathered for pizza, Mythbusters, and Jackbox games as the day wound down.  I guided Emma on a drive through our neighborhood, her first time on city streets with lights and cars and everything, if only for a couple blocks.  She was very careful and did great, as always.

Torday we headed out before lunch to Thistledown Farms to ride the horse-drawn carriage out to the pumpkin patch.  Sam stayed behind, but everyone else seemed enthusiastic, muching a cider doughnut on the checkout line after getting drenched in the rain.

Emma rode the bus back to her mom's house, all by herself.  I served up leftover pizza for lunch and played Crusader Kings II with Sam for a little.  Sam showed me how I could murder off my brothers to gain their land, though when I died of old age, things didn't go so well for my son.  It was pretty brutal.

Sam, Benny, Joanna, and I went to the mushroom festival at Pisgah.  It was a little crowded and a little loud.  Mostly we hiked around like we'd normally do and Joanna checked out the mushrooms for a bit.  Now we're home, worn out and getting dinner ready.  Mom's coming for dinner.  I look forward to a little quiet time after the day's adventures.

Mocha Friday

October 26, 2018 by Adam in Family

It's been a tough work week.  This latest project has been stressing me out and making me loose sleep.  Last night I was barely awake trying to help Emma with her homework.  I finally got some rest last night and feel generally functional this morning.  It's probably my morning mocha doing its magic.

On the whole, everyone else is doing okay.  Sam's accumulated various scrapes and cuts from his usual manual labor.  Wednesday he drove up to LCC for his auto class, learning about coolant.  Last night he played music in the basement and gave Emma advice on her fake horror movie poster.

Duncan and Benny are going to activity night tonight.  I'm hoping for a quiet weekend.

Tuesday Already

October 23, 2018 by Adam in Family

Time just keeps zipping along.  Funny how that works.

It was a low-key weekend.  Joanna and I went to Benny's drama showcase where all the kids did improv for the audience.  It was incredibly funny and entertaining to see Benny in their natural habitat.

Saturday had Emma arrive, where we did a little homework and played video games together.  Everyone got together around pizza and Mythbusters to play more Jackbox games.  Emma's "Tushy Tissue" invention was fabulous.  More rap battles were entertaining.

Sunday morning Joanna took the younger kids to church, while I took Emma to the library and walking around Hendrick's Park.  The afternoon had a lot of hanging out and chores, but it was generally pleasant.

I've got a frustrating project at work that's keeping me busy.  The timeline is unrealistic, but we're starting to get more information on exactly why it's unrealistic, so I'm hoping reason will win out.  I didn't sleep until close to midnight, but hopefully that'll pass soon.

Fall Friday

October 19, 2018 by Adam in Family

I'm fixing bugs and going to meetings today.  My mocha sits empty beside me.  I woke up early and got breakfast for the kids.  It was nice sitting around the table talking about silly things before running off for the day.  I did my usual wishing kids a good day and Emma walked me to my office before heading out into the fall morning.

It's been a generally good week.  Joanna's teaching classes and pondering joining a gym for some weight lifting.  We had a nice date night at Cornbread Cafe.  Benny has their drama showcase tonight.  Sam needs to know SQL for the job he's applying for, so he and I walked through creating a database in SQL Server, adding a table, and querying data.  It was fun and reminded me of the times we used to work on game programming together.

Sam and I had an eye appointment on Monday, got a new passport on Tuesday, and had coffee with mom on Wednesday.  Yesterday I visited my old PeaceHealth buddies Dave, Glen, and Mike where we chatted about our families and work and lives.  Apparently PeaceHealth turned off one of my big pieces of software I'd worked on and replaced it with a vendor product.  When it didn't do what they needed it to, they decided to hire a developer to start doing custom development again.  Glad I'm not part of that cycle of death and rebirth anymore.

Last night I bought the latest Jackbox game and got all the kids playing it.  I think the favorite is the rap battling robots one, which ended up being pretty amusing.  There are still a couple mini-games we haven't played yet.

No exciting weekend plans.  Taking it easy sounds very nice after my week of bug fixing.

Three Day Weekend

October 16, 2018 by Adam in Family

It was a pleasant three day weekend, though I did get called in to work a little on Friday despite taking the day off.  Sam went to work and Emma hung out with her mom for some of the day, so I played games and did house work.  

Saturday Joanna went to a writer's conference, so it was mostly Benny, Emma, and I puttering around and working on homework.  That night was the usual pizza and Mythbusters.  Sunday was equally low-key.  I took Emma for a drive.  We played Jackbox games after celebrating Benny's half birthday.  Sam hung out with Marcos.  Mom was feeling tuckered out and skipped dinner.

The only real big news is that Sam has applied for a job and if he gets it, which seems likely, he plans on moving in with a friend of his.  I've been preparing myself for awhile now, though it does seem like the end of an era is neigh.

Finishing Games

October 15, 2018 by Adam in Adam's Games

Emma and I played and finished a bunch of games over the weekend.  Emma got to the end of Lone: Far Sails, reaching the end of post-apocalyptic wasteland in her land sailing machine.  When it broke in half at the end, she sadly commented that she'd never felt bad having a piece of machinery fail in a game.

We also finished Hidden Folks, a slightly maddening Where's Waldo type game.  Emma and I played Battle Chef Brigade against each other and puzzled throughthe first few levels of Tiny Brains as psychic lab animals.  I continued on with Pillars of Eternity 2, with all its piratey goodness.

Jucin'

October 10, 2018 by Adam in Adam's Projects

I don't really post my projects much anymore, even though I do all sorts of quirky things.  Most are exceedingly practical - upgrading the cable modem, putting in new plants, or resealing the shower tiles.

Tonight I took apples from our tree and threw them into the juicer, making some very tasty apple cider.  I had some for dinner, which was exceedingly sweet, and put the rest in a jam jar.  I'll have some tomorrow, warmed up, with a touch of cinnamon.  Can't wait.

Tuesday Update

October 09, 2018 by Adam in Family

The weekend came and went.  Friday after school Benny got a short haircut, which they really like.  Friday night Joanna and I had a pleasant night listening to music at the library, followed by a brief stroll downtown as part of the First Friday Art Walk, and dinner at a new place we'd never gone to.

Saturday we had our usual hearty breakfast and I picked up Emma from her mom's house late in the afternoon.  She's been sick, so we mostly worked on homework together all day.  Rio was over to hang out with Duncan all day.  Saturday night was the usual pizza and Mythbusters. 

Sunday Emma went off to her mom's.  Joanna and I did yardwork.  Sam and I went for a hike and I started asking about his short and long term plans.  He's asking for help putting together a resume to do tech support for an antivirus company.  Towards the end of the year he's thinking about moving out of town - I told him I'd be sad and also support his desire to explore and see the world.

Work assigned me a new project that I'm pretty nervous about.  It's outside of what our team typically does and I don't really understand it very well.  The deadlines are tight and I suspect it's not going to be successful.  We'll see how it goes.

We're all hanging in there, though this week does seem to have ramped up the difficulty a bit.

Mocha Friday

October 05, 2018 by Adam in Family

I spent yesterday fixing bugs and writing tests.  Today will likely be much of the same.  I also did my best to recover from sleep deprivation - I napped for an hour before bedtime, watched a show with Joanna, and then went to bed again.  I feel much more functional this morning.

Emma's under the weather.  I missed her, so I walked down to Les Schwab's to pick up my repaired flat tire (which they didn't charge me for), then headed over to visit with Emma.  She wanted company, as she'd be home all day with a cold.  I helped a little with her essay and generally chatted.

It was nice seeing Sam at dinner, however briefly.  He's been playing Hearts of Iron and taking over Europe as various countries.  Benny is getting their hair cut super short soon.  Duncan is his usual self, funny and pleasant.

All-in-all, I'm slowly getting back into the routine.  Next trip is a couple months out, which is a little sooner than I'd like, but I suppose I can manage.

Back Home

October 04, 2018 by Adam in Family

I'm sleepy, coming home a little before midnight last night.  I ended up with a flat tire before I left, so Joanna drove me to the airport and I took a taxi back.  Getting a taxi around 11 p.m. is tricky, but worked out okay and I shared the ride with a nice woman who was coming from the east coast and missed her dog.

The work trip was fine.  One day we did a hackathon that was entertaining.  The next day was meetings, followed by Top Golf.  It was a bowling alley like experience for golf, with nature and physical exercise at a minimum.  Pretty quirky.  I played a bunch of Pillars of Eternity 2 in the evenings.

Joanna and the little kids survived without me, though there was quite a few laundry to fold upon my return.  Emma texted me that she was sick this morning.  It'll be nice to get back into the routine again.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

October 01, 2018 by Adam in Family

I'm headed to Salt Lake City today.  I've got the routine down at this point, so I'm not as anxious as trips in the past.  I do miss the family and my daily routine.  I'm going to try to sneak a run in before I head to the airport and I'm optimistically bringing my running gear along.

It was a pretty low-key weekend.  I think everyone was watching videos or playing video games for half the time.  Benny went to a Spark Academy thing, but sadly didn't actually get to do anything hands-on due to broken equipment.  I think they get a free admission to the next one because of that. Duncan had friends over and went to a birthday party, his usual social butterfly self.  Sam worked Saturday helping someone move, then spent Sunday conquoring Europe as the Soviet Union in Hearts of Iron 3.

Joanna's been feeling poorly, likely the cold that started with Duncan last week.  Now Benny's a little sniffly.  Joanna spent Sunday in bed watching the last season of the Americans.  Apparently her life is empty and without meaning now.

Emma and I went to the library and art store. Emma's doing Inktober at the prompting of a friend, which apparently involves drawing once per day.  She also watched Buffy the Vampire Slayer because her friend Tevi is really into it.  To top it off, Emma's decided to take part in spirit week.  She's wearing denim-on-denim today and borrowed my Hawaiian shirt for Thursday.