D&D Weekend

February 27, 2023 by Adam in Family

Emma came over Saturday and we caught up on all our favorite father/daughter activities.  We went to the library, played video games, went for a walk, planted seeds in the greenhouse, and chatted away.  I'm glad to be back out in the world again and it was lots of fun catching up.

I also got together with my D&D friend group and despite minimal planning on my part, we ended up with a memorable and amusing adventure.  It was full of hijinks, difficult decisions and being forced to sneak around instead of the usual "kill everything" approach that they usually take.  I finally got to break out some of the more memorable miniatures, with the two-headed shark god being passed around the table with oohs and aahs.

Work is moving along at a steady pace and generally seems okay.  It probably helps that I'm not on call.

Mocha Friday

February 24, 2023 by Adam in Family

I could get used to these four-day weeks.  Work went by quickly, I felt especially productive, and now it's time for the weekend again.  I'm especially excited to hang out with Emma this weekend - we've missed our usual weekend hangout time for awhile now.  Plus I've got D&D this Sunday with my friend group.  Should be some fun, nerdy times.

Jo and I played video games for our date night last night.  I started watching House of Dragons as I run each day.  We survived the snowy day without incident.  Data demands pets each night when I'm on the couch watching tv, as usual.  Life goes on.

Snow Day!

February 22, 2023 by Adam in Family

It snowed a little this morning, still seeming fresh and wonderful before the likely freeze the next few days.  I also broke isolation last Sunday with a final negative COVID test and celebrated with a board game session at Hideaway Bakery with the older kids.  It was great to hang out, catch up, and grow our cardboard trees as the cardboard sun rotated around the board.

I think we're all generally doing okay.  Emma's excited to come over this weekend to see the cats, play video games and hang out after two weeks away.  I've been playing way too much Midnight Suns and listening to the Alice Isn't Dead podcast.  I also managed a bunch of car, yard and house maintenance over the three day weekend.  It felt good to prune, change oil, replace tires and the like.  

Work has settled down a little, or at least I feel less anxious about it.  I feel like I'm making progress even though I'm unsure about the end state of things.

Mocha Friday

February 17, 2023 by Adam in Family

I think we're approaching the end of our week with COVID.  I feel pretty good.  Ben still tested positive yesterday but he's on the mend as well.  According to the CDC guidelines I can test again Sunday and if it's still negative I can be around other people unmasked.  

It does mean that I cancelled tomorrow's D&D and will probably only see Emma for a little on Sunday.  I'm guessing Duncan and Ben will return to school this Monday.

Work's been driving me a little bonkers, so I'm back to wearing my night guard again.  I picked up the game Midnight Suns and played it a little last night for some silly escapism.  There are also miniatures to paint and the Discworld book Emma got me to read.

I suspect Jo and I will do some pruning and maybe work on the revised version of the little free library.  I'm amazed at how many people stop by and it's weirdly kept well-stocked by various people in the neighborhood.  It's been a fun project.

Quarantine Protocol Weekend

February 13, 2023 by Adam in Family

With Ben testing positive for COVID, it's been a fun-filled weekend of setting up air filters, air humidifiers, moving into Emma's room, wearing masks, and daily COVID tests.  I've had these mild symptoms of goopy sinuses and fatigue, but I keep testing negative and not getting worse.  Maybe all that time spent standing in vaccination lines was worth it.  The harder part is knowing what social events to cancel at what distance from the onset of symptoms.  I'm still hoping to get together for D&D this Saturday but I'm playing everything by ear. 

Ben is out of school until Thursday.  He's doing relatively well - just a cough and sniffle.  We let him out of his room to watch Star Trek Into Darkness with us, all masked and roughly six feet apart.

As for my weekend it was generally quiet.  I ate in my room, listened to podcasts, painted miniatures, worked on solving programming algorithm puzzles, and did a bunch of yardwork.  I've loved the sunny weather and it felt good to prepare the beds for springtime planting.  Plus finishing painting the horde of Velociraptors for Emma's Summon Animal spell was weirdly satisfying.

Positive

February 11, 2023 by Adam in Family

Ben just tested positive for COVID.  His symptoms started yesterday and apparently will be out of school for awhile now. No one else is testing positive, though I'm worried I'm next after spending time around Ben the last few days.

Mocha Friday

February 10, 2023 by Adam in Family

Life is always more cheerful with a full mug of cafe mocha beside me.  Being a single parent the last couple days has gone well - kids got to school and appointments on time, chickens had eggs collected, and the household has been running relatively smoothly.  My biggest challenge has been pilling Leia, which I admittedly skipped this morning.  Soon I'll get Ben to school and ease into a day of writing code and dealing with tickets since I started my on call rotation.

I had a good chat with my director yesterday and hopefully some of the trickier parts of my job will improve.  I do miss being able to focus on writing code, which is what I'm good at and enjoy.

Duncan's Minecraft video is bringing in about a thousand views per day.  It's impressive how much effort he put into it - configuring mods, designing levels, and editing down the multiple videos to tell a story.  Apparently the rest of the Minecraft loving world agrees.

I stopped Jamie's house yesterday to visit everyone for a little before they left for Bend.  Everyone seemed cheerful - the farm people were cutting down trees and Emma was learning about Crater Lake in her geology class.  It'll be a relatively quiet weekend for me - I may end up doing some long-needed yardwork if the weather continues to be so nice.

Striving for calm

February 07, 2023 by Adam in Family

It's hard to find those moments of peace throughout my day.  So much is tightly scheduled, with priority lists and trade-offs and dropping everything to fix the latest crisis.  I've been spending my free time reading professional books or writing code.  Work has felt more disorganized than usual - yesterday I didn't get to write any code, just attend meetings and troubleshoot bugs.  I went to the dentist yesterday and got the advice to start wearing my night guard again.

It doesn't help that Danica is on hospice now.  Yayoe's nephew Sayer fell and has some degree of paralysis.  Sadness for all the things washes over me like waves.

But spring is around the corner, planting seeds in the earth once again.  Jo and I metaphorically dance through the routine of the day, stopping for the occasional kiss.  Kids go off to school, cats lay on laps for pets, chickens excitedly await my arrival to deliver table scraps.  I run at lunch, paint miniatures, chat with Emma on her daily call.  These things sustain me.

Cough syrup Mocha Friday

February 03, 2023 by Adam in Family

I had enough of a cough last night that I woke up every time I tried to get back to sleep.  Eventually I bit the bullet, downed some cough syrup, got some solid sleep, and now I'm paying the price of being extra spacey the next day.  I'll eventually feel normal again and fortunately all the code I write gets reviewed by hopefully competent coworkers.

Last night we celebrated Candlemas and/or Imbalc, depending on where you land on the Catholic/Pagan scale.  Ben learned about it in his French class but couldn't eat the crepes as they weren't gluten-free.  He put in a request to celebrate at home, so I made a big batch of crepes and whip cream for dinner last night.  Needless to say, it was well received.  We're pretty good at covering all the food-related holidays throughout the year.