Mocha Friday

February 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp of my mocha.  It's been a full week and nice to be sneaking into the weekend.  I switched dentists back to Dr. Cantrell, who I went to long ago and is just down the hill.  I took my car into the shop where it behaved perfectly - the car computer reported a misfiring cylinder, so I'm going to see if I can get the spark plugs replaced. It was unnaturally warm and sunny yesterday so I took a stroll through the neighborhood to warm up.

I had my bug bash at work and only found minor bugs, but it generated more work to sort out.  We might also have an in-person get together at Microsoft mid-July, though it's at the same time Jo is in Washington for school, so we may have to figure it out.  Theoretically we'll only have adult children by then.

It's a back-to-back D&D weekend.  I've been organizing minis and reading up on things, so hopefully I'm vaguely prepared.  

Otherwise we've been doing our usual routine and keeping everyone doing okay.  Emma seems over her cold and done with the first draft of her thesis.  Yvonne likes her gothic horror class.  Duncan made us all watch the Minecraft trailer at dinner last night.  Jo and I walked down to 1960 Cochina for a date night dinner.

Life goes on.

Sniffly Monday

February 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

I think I've started coming down with a cold - not too bad, but still feeling slower than usual.  Yvonne seems to have one too and Emma had a cold over most of the weekend.  Tis the season, I suppose.

Saturday was pretty quiet.  Emma was sick at her mom's and Jo had an event, so I fed the kids and played way too much Avowed for most of the day.  I took breaks for housework and managed some gardening - pruning plants and generally cleaning up for the coming of spring.  Eventually Jo returned from a generally successful event, along with a friend from Grant's Pass who spent the night before heading home early in the morning.  

Sunday I visited my friend Jason to play board games.  He has a ton that he's never played, so he dug out a Lord of the Rings Duel-style game and we played and learned as we went.  I won the two games we played, but that was somewhat besides the point and it turns out we missed a few rules here and there.  Hanging out and playing board games was crazy fun, and Jason was very happy to play some games gathering dust on his massive shelf of games, so it was a great time.

Afterwards I picked up Emma, who was missing me (and likely Data).  We hung out, played games, worked on a couple projects, and I took her home after dinner.

One stressful thing was having the check engine light start flashing on my car on my way to Jason's.  I think one of the cylinders was misfiring, so I turned around and parked it in my driveway.  Now I'm waiting for a car computer reader thingie to arrive before making further decisions.  Fortunately I don't really have to drive anywhere this week, so there's no immediate crisis.  I eventually want to get a new car, but was going to wait until later this year when some Microsoft stock magically appears.

Now I'm back at work, going a little slow with being sick.  My unit tests are mysteriously failing and I'm trying to track down why.

Mocha Friday

February 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp of my mocha.  The heater in my shed is a little wonky, so I bundled up in slippers and a jacket and the coffee is keeping me pleasantly warm.  

My work projects are coming along nicely and hopefully disaster will be averted.  It's been a fun "keep the lights on" project and I'm getting better at breaking complicated changes into smaller bites for others to digest.  It's also been nice to not be on call this week, which puts me a little on edge.

We've got a quiet weekend ahead.  Jo has a big writer's event on Saturday and another Sunday afternoon.  I suspect Emma and I will be fighting over the computer to play Avowed, but I've got some miniatures to finish organizing for the next D&D sessions.

I've been trying to put together a list of house and farm projects for our wayward son's return.  It's increasingly obvious that we've got a ton of things to do - we'll see how far we get.

We also got Apple TV+, so Jo and I have been watching all the new shows.  Such are the exciting things in our lives these days.

Mocha Monday

February 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

I have the day off today, something I didn't realize until Friday's team meeting.  I have no real plans and the most useful thing I've done today beyond the usual is to make myself a mocha for the day.  It's lovely.

The weekend was generally quiet.  Emma and I ran some errands - Joann's Fabric, Oregon Art Supply, and the library.  Emma picked up a pattern and some book binding supplies.  The library had a couple graphic novels and DVDs I'd been wanting.  Eventually we returned home to read and work on projects.  Emma's getting the hang of bookbinding, taking some old paperback books of hers and making them much cooler.  I made myself soup and salad instead of the usual calzone for dinner, along with pizza for the younger kids, and we settled in to anime watching for dinner.

Sunday Emma and I went out to a coffee place on Willamette that's run out of an old school bus.  We played board games and chatted before heading home.  I tore the seams on my rain gear while planting trees, so we broke out the sewing machine and Jo taught me to use it, something I missed out on all these years somehow.  It's a cool piece of kit and amazingly fast and accurate after all my years of sewing by hand.

We'll see how useful I am today.  I started watching Civil War for my run, which hits a little too close to home some days. I've got a list of practical things to do, but I've only gotten as far as making the list.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

Hi to all the people I love out there - Happy Valentine's Day.

It's been a snowy, slushy couple days of hunkering down at home and not going anywhere, though it looks like this winter snow is going to be brief.  Even Emma's U of O classes were cancelled yesterday, along with Lane and South Eugene, though I think it's just a delayed start today.

Nothing particularly exciting has been going on.  Went out to 16 Tons for date night.  Pet cats.  Ran on the treadmill and finished season 2 of House of the Dragon.  Played some occasional video games.  No big plans this weekend either, though I'm starting to get a little stir crazy being at home.  Maybe I'll take Emma to the old school bus turned coffee shop and play some board games.

On Call

February 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

Today's my first day of being on call at work - hopefully I survive the week.  In the meantime I've got various critical work projects I need to shepherd through the automated approval procecesses, which is going a little bumpy.  Hopefully it all gets done before things fall apart.

The weekend was good - Saturday was D&D with the family.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the AI-generated marionette versions of their characters.  Later Emma and I went to the library where she efficiently scooped up books and we headed out again.

Sunday was a big cleanup day, taking things to donate, recycling cans and bottles, cleaning the patio and front porch.  Emma was a great help as I apparently "awoke the beast" until she got tuckered later in the day.  I managed a bit of reading, which was a treat, and generally hung out a bit.  It was lovely.

Mocha Friday

February 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat calmer week once the tree planting ended.  I had my tech spec review which generally went well.  Now I've got to get on with building things, but at least I have my Friday Mocha to keep me company.

Tomorrow is family D&D, which should be fun.  I've got some old letters Seraph wrote me that I've kept for decades I want to show her.  Hopefully I'm prepared enough for the game - I was painting minis this morning and reading ahead on the adventure.  If all else fails I'll just break out some funny voices.

Emma's over a little early, getting in some extra Data squishing time.  Jo had an essay published, which was cool.  Mom and I skipped tea this week as she was off doing important things with her advisory board position.  I hear our wayward son is excited about coming home.  Duncan continues his video making.

Life goes on.

Trees Planted

February 04, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm a little tuckered out after three days of tree planting.  Saturday morning Emma and I took her truck out to Alton Baker Park to pick up nearly 300 trees.  We picked up 100 Douglas Fir, 100 Ponderosa Pine, and a mix of other firs based on what did well last year.  We headed home for a hearty breakfast that Jo cooked up, then the two of us headed to the farm, with Jo coming along a little later.  Jamie met us there for some tree planting fun.  We put in close to 100 trees around the flat central part of the farm.

The big news, which was really disheartening, was that apparently a herd of a couple hundred elk had come through and eaten over a hundred trees we planted last year.  We ran into the neighbor who estimated a couple hundred elk in the herd, and between the elk poop, hoofprints, and eaten grass and trees, there was plenty of evidence.  Hopefully I haven't just spent the last three days getting an elk salad bar ready.

We headed home somewhat early and Emma and I went to the library as a treat.

Sunday was just Emma and I going out, planting on the northern side of the property.  It rained a couple times, but was otherwise pleasant.  We put in a little over 50 trees there before heading home and taking it easy.

Monday was the final push, waking up early and heading out with the last of the trees.  I put on a podcast, took breaks for coffee and snacks, and kept going until all the trees were in the ground.  I didn't feel too bad, just tired and a little sore and after a nice bath felt pretty human again.  I took it easy, checked in with work, and started on dinner.  About halfway through that I started feeling really tired and was pretty wiped out for the rest of the night.

After a good night's sleep I feel mostly normal, back at work and looking forward to a day of working behind a computer.