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Science Filled Weekend
February 29, 2016 by Adam in Family
I'm back at working, with Dennis back at work and doing useful things. Hopefully it works out.
We had a generally pleasant weekend. Friday night Joanna and I took all the kids but Sam to Whirled Pies to eat pizza, draw and listen to music. I think everyone had a good time. In the morning Emma and I played Never Alone, a fun game about an Inuit girl and her spirit fox friend. We ran from polar bears and walked across spirit animals until it was time for her to go to the coast with Jamie. She was unfortunately sick the whole time, returning late Sunday and missing school today.
Sam and I hung out quite a bit over the weekend. We played Child of Light, which had great watercolor painted backgrounds. I managed to mow the lawn, as spring is slowly appearing. Sam worked on homework. The day wound down with pizza and Mythbusters,
Sunday was Science Sunday. We burned, microwaved, and dissolved some heart-shaped peeps that my mom brought us. Later we made a robot, built a PirateBox, and Sam made a little lamp out of a small glass bottle, a wick, and some old charcoal lighter fluid. It was all pretty awesome.
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Mocha Friday
February 26, 2016 by Adam in Family
 It's been a quirky work week. Our new consultant didn't show up after a day of training, so it may be that we're going to try some different options. I'm hoping I can get Josh in for an interview, though technically we don't have a junior developer position open yet. I just want someone who's willing to learn and will stick around at this point.
Emma was amusing me again this morning with improvised ukulele songs. There was the Mocha Friday one about being addicted to caffeine, the Green Book one about avoiding racist Southern places in the early 1900's, and the one with random Alaska facts. Emma's art continues to improve - here's the drawing she's most proud of at the moment.
Sam showed me the classes he wanted to take next year - it was a pretty impressive load: Calculus, Physics, Japanese 4, AP English Composition, and a variety of electives. It's cool that he's self-motivated to challenge himself.
My mocha is almost finished and I'll be back to coding shortly. It's strangely relaxing not having to train up someone new and I can focus on making things.
Tonight we're going to Whirled Pies for music, art, and hanging out with the kids. Should be fun.
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Date Night at Home
February 25, 2016 by Adam in Family
I missed my usual update yesterday, though I'm not sure there's much going on.
Joanna's finishing her last week of writing hotel descriptions. Fortunately she does three or four different things, so she'll probably just do more personal writing. Her Register Guard gig continues, though the pay is iffy.
Emma's sorting out friendship issues at school, trying out different social groups and chatting with Sam about it all. It's very sweet how close they are these days.
Berry continues helping me with breakfast in the mornings. She said I was "technically her dad" when talking about ear wiggling and genetics this morning, which was sweet. I do hope I manage to be a good parental people to all the kids who have wandered through our home.
As for me, we have a new guy at work who I keep hoping will be okay. Unfortunately he's been late every time, so I'm somewhat worried.
Joanna and I had a nice date night at home due to babysitter issues. We sent Duncan and Berry to the basement to watch Uncle Grandpa while Joanna and I ate takeout Thai food by candlelight. I put some old music on my phone and poured some of Joanna's home brew cider. It was quite romantic.
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Sickly Weekend
February 22, 2016 by Adam in Family
I was pretty under the weather yesterday, though I think I'm finally feeling better. It was a good, if quiet weekend all-in-all.
Friday night Joanna and I went to Whirled Pies (which used to be Cosmic Pizza) and had fun watching Hawaiian dancers and chatting away. Saturday had Sam going to see The Revenant with my mom and I took Emma, Berry, and Duncan to the Asian Celebration. We had a pretty typical experience - Duncan and Berry bought stuff, we drew with Copic markers, wandered into the video game room briefly, and then went home.
Sunday Emma had lunch with her mom while Sam and I hung out playing video games. I got a pretty bad headache, so I ended up doing very little all day other than popping Advil and chewing chocolate covered espresso beans. The day wound down and I fortunately feel better today.
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Mocha Friday
February 19, 2016 by Adam in Family
It's Friday, which I'm thankful for. My mocha is slowly being worked on as I settle into the day.
Emma was entertaining me this morning with improvised songs on the ukulele. My favorite was the one about pretending to be sick and staying at home, which I think may have been speaking from her personal experience. It was quite hysterical.
Berry has been helpful all week, waking up when I do the dishes in the morning and cooking Duncan's breakfast. She still has her occasional moments, but I keep seeing her post-childhood form emerging.
Duncan reported that there's a fist fight at basketball practice most days, apparently with the same kid. He fortunately hasn't been involved with it, but it is pretty weird.
Sam has been somewhat more cheerful lately. I think his relationship with Isa may be over - at least he isn't writing text messages every few minutes throughout the evening. I've spent most nights this week helping him with math, chatting, and watching him do Isaac runs (it's a computer thing).
Joanna's been her usual sweet self. Her hotel description job is wrapping up, so she's looking for more work. It's tax season, and I think we get some back, which is nice. Tonight is a hot date night - I think we're going to Cosmic pizza and I'm hoping we'll see Yayoe play.
No exciting weekend plans. I'd love to get outside and wander around the wilderness if the weather is nice.
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Three Day Weekend
February 16, 2016 by Adam in Family
It was a generally pleasant three day weekend, though poor Joanna was pretty sick until the end. Sam was also a little down, something going on with Isa that he didn't want to talk about, though I did my best to cheer him up with games and chatting. There was a lot of King of Tokyo with Berry and I, and I watched Sam play a lot of Isaac.
 The big event of the weekend was the murder mystery dinner. It started a little awkwardly as we figured things out, but it quickly became hysterical with funny accents and sordid relationships. I had fun being the German with a shady past and endless womanizing. It turns out Emma was the murderer, which she secretly hoped to be. Joanna went all out with the food, especially considering how poorly she was feeling. It was nice seeing Cecilia again and mom and Bob were pretty funny.
Monday was pleasant and warm, leading us to putter around outside a bit. I had Emma work off some art supply debt by fixing the little greenhouse. We ended up sewing a new plastic cover around the frame, which was both practical and artistic. Listening to Elvis and the Guardians of the Galaxy soundtrack was just a bonus.
Now it's off to work, where I'm officially the last web developer.
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Back From Vancouver
February 13, 2016 by Adam in Family
 It's Saturday and I'm hanging out with Emma on the couch, theoretically helping her with homework. I spent much of yesterday on the road, saying farewell to Jonathan and meeting with various people.
I met Dennis in person, a consultant that hopefully will work out and become an employee. I had a good lunch and meeting with Digital Strategy, which includes three of the remaining members. It's strange how many people have left - it was a fairly emotional day.
With Monday off, we have a lengthy hang out weekend with the kids. Joanna is under the weather a little, but is still managing to do taxes. Emma cancelled D&D due to a friend illness. We might try a library expedition later.
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Mid Week Update
February 10, 2016 by Adam in Family
It's been a relatively uneventful week. Sam is being inundated with college applications. Duncan has been doing science experiments with magnetism. Berry was up early the last couple days, cheerfully assisting me with breakfast. Our colds are slowly vanishing, which is nice.
We've got Valentine's Day coming up, with a Host a Murder Mystery thing everyone is excited about. I'm taking the 15th off for President's Day. Friday I drive to Vancouver to say farewell to Jonathan.
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Monday Again
February 08, 2016 by Adam in Family
Well, my car is repaired and back to normal. Hopefully the woman who ran into it will pay the bill and the cycle of car repair is completed.
We had a pretty busy weekend. Friday night Joanna and I went to 16 Tons while the babysitter took the kids to Mardi Gras as school. Saturday was endless laundry and hanging out with kids, followed by pizza and Mythbusters. Isa came over, much to the enthusiasm of Emma, Berry, and of course Sam. Sunday I continued the D&D campaign for Emma's friends. Joanna stayed in bed, feeling under the weather. Eventually the day wore down to family dinner and enthusiastic conversation.
Life moves on.
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Mocha Friday
February 05, 2016 by Adam in Family
Sickness has spread to our household. Sam and Joanna appear to have been hit particularly hard and were both dragging themselves around a bit today. Everyone else seems to have milder symptoms - hopefully we'll be better by the end of the weekend.
Isa has been over the last few nights. She and Sam are pretty funny together - studiously working on homework side-by-side. I'd help Sam with complicated trigonometry and then switch to calculus with Isa. My higher math skills are really rusty, but I think I was helpful.
Work continues to be nutty. We're not getting many applicants. I think we'll bring in a consultant, at least for a little while, but even then they'll need to be trained up. I really want a long-term person who's going to stick around for a while. We'll see. I did manage to repair my tail light with office supplies, which was fun.
Emma was her usual funny self last night, singing Adventure Time songs on her ukulele. The little kids Minecraft away until dinner.
I'm looking forward to the weekend and hanging out with everyone. Emma wants me to host another D&D session for her friends. Yayoe is coming for dinner on superbowl Sunday. Tonight is date night.
Fun, fun.
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Rear Ended
February 03, 2016 by Adam in Family
 Well, I was rear ended in the parking lot today by a coworker. She was apologetic and the security person who was with her was very serious. I took a look and think the issue is mostly cosmetic. The light seemed to work, which is a good sign. I think I'll take it to Wayne's Garage and have them take care of it.
The week has been relatively uneventful, if pretty busy at work. We finally got an interview with someone that sounds pretty promising. Hopefully we can get that started. It's weird working with Jonathan on his final days, trying to get everything done. I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick around PeaceHealth - I need the stability at the moment.
We're planning on doing a Host a Murder Mystery game for Valentine's Day. I think I'm playing the bad boy - I've been instructed not to shave for a couple days before the dinner. Should be interesting.
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Canadians!
February 01, 2016 by Adam in Family
We just got news that Sam and Emma are officially Canadian. All the passports and documentation I sent (and resent) have finally returned with their citizenship documentation.
What they'll want to do with it, I have no idea. I suppose they now have a reason to celebrate Canada Day and can head north for free healthcare if they need to.
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Monday
February 01, 2016 by Adam in Family
Emma and Berry both were complaining of stomach issues this morning. Emma went off to school, looking forlorn, while I think Berry is staying. One of the things that's hard about parenting is deciding whether or not children are truly sick or playing up slight discomforts.
 The weekend was generally pretty good. Emma played a lot of ukulele and drew endlessly, mostly while listening to the Grease soundtrack. Sam did his best to hang out with Isa as much as possible - going to see Hamlet with her and my mom and bringing Isa over for pizza and Mythbusters. Duncan is bolder with his basketball playing, making his first basket on Sunday. Berry was her usual self, occasionally grumpy and occasionally sweet. Emma did her up in makeup and was generally a cheerful older sister. Berry also had a great time hanging out with Sam and Isa.
Joanna and I generally kept everyone on track, feeding the horde and entertaining them. I did endless laundry and dishes, as always. I fixed the lights in the basement, replacing the fluorescent tubes. Somewhere in there I managed to play the latest Tomb Raider game, jumping and crafting as I adventure through an old snowy Soviet installation.
 Everyone but Sam and Isa went to Mount Pisgah Sunday afternoon. It was warm and sunny for the middle of winter, and it raised my spirits to see all the flowers about to bloom. I took a bunch of 3D 360 degree pictures with my camera and showed them to mom on my Viewmaster Google Cardboard viewer. She was pretty blown away.
Work continues to be busy, though I'm generally staying on top of things. More interviews today.
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