Mocha Friday

December 12, 2025 by Adam in Family

We've had a couple beautiful days this week, warm and sunny before the cold rains of winter start.  I had a touch of a headache and was a little dreary before perking up towards the end of the week.  I figured out a tricky bug, so I'm feeling optimistic about work again.  I still have plenty of half-finished things, but I'm slowly beating back the chaos.

I keep getting ready for the upcoming D&D campaign, overpreparing as usual.  I'm still waiting on one player to make a character, but hopefully we'll be ready to go soon.  I signed up once again to a "build a character to print" service, making custom minis for my different players.  They've added more things since I last subscribed, so I'll probably crank out a few different minis just for fun.

My Tesla is still waiting for parts - they updated the estimate to January 30th - but the replacement is nice, so it's not a big deal.  I haven't put any Christmas decorations out or wrapped any presents, but that's something I should start on soon.  One more week and I'm on vacation - my list of fun and practical things to work on keeps growing longer.

I've got Delta Green with the family tomorrow.  Hopefully it's relatively entertaining and my various props and tricks work okay.  They're a rowdy bunch, so who knows what wacky schemes they'll get up to.

Tuesday Already?

December 09, 2025 by Adam in Family

I got really focused on work yesterday, to the point where I was ignoring everything else and forgot to give an update.

Basically we had a chill weekend.  Nothing too exciting - library run, got a live Christmas tree, and went for some walks.  I bought myself the collection of virtually every classic Traveller rpg book and decided to vibe code up a system to fly your cargo starship from system to system, moving cargo and passengers.  We'll see if I ever use it, but it was super fun to put together.

Theoretically my Tesla is getting repaired today, but I suspect they're still waiting for the parts.  If it does I guess I'll be driving to Salem tomorrow.

As for me, I'm still enjoying listening to the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, fiddling with minis, playing Hades II, and very much looking forward to my two weeks off at the end of the month.

Mocha Friday

December 05, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's a dreary rainy Friday, but at least my mocha is still next to me, slowly disappearing.  We keep crossing off big things from our to-do lists.  Theoretically my Tesla will be repaired tonight and ready to pick up tomorrow.  We got our second heat pump installed, perfectly timed for all the state and federal rebates, and we should have much improved temperature control in Yvonne and Duncan's bedrooms, along with Jo's office.  Duncan's sweetie arrived safely at the airport Wednesday night.

Emma and I might do a road trip to Salem this weekend to pick up my car.  I'm sure we'll end up at the library sometime too.  Emma wants to get some better shoes since she stands all day, so we might also end up shoe shopping.

As for this week, I keep prepping for my D&D game, cranking out endless images of the player characters doing cool and funny things.  I'm also playing Hades 2 occasionally.  I've been enjoying the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook, usually while doing dishes or painting minis.  Jo and I watched Stranger Things with Yvonne this week.  It's a pretty good life.

My Car Makes Quacking Noises

December 01, 2025 by Adam in Family

I drove my car up to the Tesla service center.  Very quicky they identified the issue - water damage caused shorts which they're now replacing for nearly $4,000.  On the plus side, they gave me a loaner while my car is being repaired.  It's a newer model with autopilot, so it drove me back home, changing lanes and passing cars which surprised me the first time it happened.  There are a few other quirky new features, such as making a quacking noise instead of honking when the car locks itself.

They need to wait for a part to come in, but hopefully it'll be ready by the end of the week.

Five Day Vacation

December 01, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm back to work after five days off, every morning starting with a mocha and blueberry pancakes (except the last which was dutch babies).  It was amazing to be able to putter around and do whatever I wanted.  Waking up and telling myself "there's nothing I have to do" is such a luxurious feeling.  Of course I did end up doing a bunch of little tasks - organizing and cleaning and taking care of things I've been putting off. 

The big thing for today is driving my Tesla to Salem to get it checked out.  I'm hoping it's just a simple electrical issue, but it's possible I need to get a hotel and spend the night.  I've already started packing.

The five days off were wonderful.  I saw my eldest kid on Wednesday and had him open presents.  Thanksgiving was great, and we got to meet his new girlfriend.  The crowd was generally entertaining and well behaved, and it was great to hang out with 2/3rds of my sisters.  Sunday Emma came back from the coast and my dad came over to hang out.  His Tesla apparently drove him all the way over from the coast and he didn't touch the steering wheel once.

As for me, I painted and printed minis, worked on my D&D prep.  I cajoled the new players to send me their characters and I started cranking out AI generated images of them doing cool things.  It was a silly good time.

Busy week ahead.  Duncan's sweetie is coming to visit on Wednesday.  Thursday has the heat pump people coming to install our second heat pump.  It's the end of the term for our two college bound kids, so they're wrapping up projects and scheduling next term's classes.  We'll see if Yvonne gets into the EMT program.