Sweet, sweet mocha Friday

March 30, 2007 by Adam in Family

Sweet, sweet mocha Friday. Spring is here, there was a beautiful sunrise on the way to work, and that delicious espresso treat is sitting at my desk. Life is good.

I think Jamie and the kids are coming back today, but I'm not quite sure. I think her plan was to stay as long as they were having fun, so it could be any time over the next few days. It's been strangely busy while they're away. Last night I went over to my dad and Yayoe's for dinner, chatting for endless hours about computers, model boats, manufacturing, and financial stuff. Somewhere in there we managed to get a hug in too.

It'll be nice to have my family back. The house is far too big for just little ol' me. Plus I miss playing with the kids and Jamie's deadpan humor.

I just got of the phone with Emma and Jamie, ...

March 28, 2007 by Adam in Family

I just got of the phone with Emma and Jamie, who called to check up on me. Perhaps they were listening for party noises in the background or something. Surprisingly enough, I was at my computer, working on samatopia.com for Sam.

They're doing well. Emma talked about the foam toys they got at the aquarium. She also mentioned that she was a little afraid of the shark and octopus. Sounds like they're having fun.

I'm home alone, knocking about in this big, e...

March 26, 2007 by Adam in Family

Mocha Friday

March 23, 2007 by Adam in Family

Mocha Friday. I just have to hold out another hour until that delicious treat is in my hands.

Last night was a little crazy around the dinner table. The kids were tired and Emma in particular was grumpy. Jamie and I had a little tiff around when exactly I was leaving work so we could go to the coast. Sam was probably the only one who was generally cheerful.

With luck, that'll all change when we head out to the coast this weekend. I'll only be there for a couple days while Jamie and the kids stay most of the week. It'll be weird having time alone in the house. I'll keep the booze and loose women to a minimum.

I'm trying hard to get things together at work. Yesterday was strangely productive, getting several major projects to a semi-completed state. We have one person out sick and another just had a baby, so it's feeling like I'm covering a lot of bases. Still, it's a fun job and I can't imagine anything else I'd rather be doing.

It was pretty cold today

March 21, 2007 by Adam in Family

It was pretty cold today. I scraped the frost off of Jamie's car before I rode to work today. That led to a "You're my hero" phone call from her later on.

Emma's had a cold all week, nothing horrible but she sniffles and whines from time to time. Jamie's kept her out of school, which makes Jamie's life a little harder. I think she's got a touch of a cold herself.

Last night Jamie hung out with Victoria and I had the kids to myself. We ran around the basement for awhile, ate dinner, and went out to the Zenon for dessert. Sam likes the ritual of it all, I think, getting more into his Italian soda than his chocolate cake. Emma was a cake eating machine, totally focused on shoveling each morsel down her gullet.

It was a good day yesterday

March 18, 2007 by Adam in Family

It was a good day yesterday. Jamie made delicious challah French bread, coupled with my tasty mochas. Emma had her last ballet class, so she pranced about with the other pink tutu-wearing girls while Sam and I played Frisbee outside. The kids and I then went to the pool where we all had a great time. The afternoon was quiet and then we headed to Dave's house where he and Kirsten made a tasty dinner for us. I also snuck in a library trip somewhere in there, returning with video, computer game, and literary treasures.

Jamie started semi-working again, helping one of the mom's at Emma's French school with her business. She's mostly doing bookkeeping and office organization, but Jamie's remarkably perky about it. Hopefully she can balance her various responsibilities and still help out. Most likely it'll only be a few hours per week. We'll see how it goes.

I just saw one of the rarest natural phenomen...

March 16, 2007 by Adam in Family

Our family was being silly tonight, as usual

March 14, 2007 by Adam in Family

Our family was being silly tonight, as usual. Jamie went to the gym and visited Angie, while I fed the kids. Afterwards she came in and sat down for dinner while I entertained with the infamous Hamster Dance video. Good times.

I had lunch with my mom this morning, which was a fun treat. She seems well and we chatted about how we both share this seemingly genetic trait to dig bomb shelters and stockpile food. We were trying to resist turning her farm into a fortress against some unknown impending disaster. I'm sure the endless cups of Glenwood coffee didn't help much.

Work has been nutty lately, spending way too much time deciding on whether or not certain words in our code should be capitalized or not. Tomorrow I need to hunker down and finish up some of the work that's piled up lately. Busy, busy.

Update: Jamie has requested that I remove the video. Evidently I'm supposed to talk to her PR rep any time I wish her image to be used. Oopsie.

It's Monday morning, feeling earlier than it ...

March 12, 2007 by Adam in Family

It's Monday morning, feeling earlier than it really is with the "Spring Back" time change. It's pitch black outside and I guess I have to get used to riding to work in the dark for awhile more.

We had a good weekend, all around. Jamie made an amazing breakfast on Saturday, with scones that were to die for. I snuck away to the library, returned to take the kids swimming, and then John and Natalie arrived for a long play date. Having four kids around seems to be about as much work as two, strangely enough.

Sunday was a bit quieter. We mostly stayed outside to enjoy the weather. I did some work on my bike and rearranged the basement. Jamie and Emma walked with Victoria to the store. Later we all went over to Kirsten's house for dinner, chasing the kids around the back yard.

All-in-all, nothing terribly important happened, other than simply enjoying ourselves.

Mocha Friday

March 09, 2007 by Adam in Family

Mocha Friday. Work is a bustle of insane requests, pouring in faster than I can respond. I have no idea when I'm going to be able to work on my critical projects that had to be done at the beginning of the week. I'll have to summon the mighty power of the Mocha and accomplish everything in a blur of activity. Either that, or I'll just feign death until they reassign my work to someone else.

Emma's French continues to impress me. These days she's teaching me words. Last night I was giving her a bath and she started talking about a "grenouille" while playing with a toy frog. I had to ask, and so she explained how grenouille was a frog. It happens all the time now.

Thursdays are often the day when Sam brings back his homework. I love reading it, as he's so funny and quirky. His stories tend to be fairly outlandish, as if an adult comedian was doing 2nd grade homework.

The weekend looks pretty busy. We've got playdates for the kids, the Home and Garden show, swimming, a library trip, and more. Hopefully we can relax in there sometime.

The week moves on

March 08, 2007 by Adam in Family

The week moves on. Not much exciting has been happening in the Miller-Mellor household. We took the kids to my mom's house and walked over to Metropol for bread. Afterwards we ate it with some fresh beer-cheese soup that Jamie made and watched a bit of Coupling. I picked up the kids a little later, where my mom proceeded to burden me with invisible ink, a large bottle of lager, and a Chinese finger torture device. Ah, family.

Work occasionally gets nutty, but I'm starting to feel like I have a handle on the deluge of projects. I'm about to roll out some new security reports that will either make lots of people gleeful that problems are getting cleaned up, or upset at me for making them do extra work.

It was beautiful yesterday

March 06, 2007 by Adam in Family

It was beautiful yesterday. I came home to the kids playing outside in the sun, thinking how strange it was that I rode home in a blizzard last week. After cleaning up my bike, adjusting the brakes, and greasing the chain, the kids and I went over to the park to play around. I could get used to shorts, t-shirts, and running around outside.

Sunday has come and gone

March 05, 2007 by Adam in Family

Sunday has come and gone. It was a pretty good day, the first in awhile where I woke up feeling okay and ready for a hearty breakfast. Jamie kindly made my whole wheat and blueberry pancakes, while I worked on the espresso. We make for a winning team.

I got a second controller for the Wii, so Sam and I put in some quality one-on-one time in Wii Sports. It was surprisingly fun and Sam managed to beat me soundly in most of the games. I think I finally snuck in a win for bowling and baseball, but he beat me soundly in boxing and tennis.

Afterwards, in preparation for our pioneer dinner, the kids and I "worked in the fields". Mostly that meant weeding and spreading plant food about on our yard. Emma rediscovered the wonders of bugs and had fun capturing a ladybug. Eventually Jamie called in Sam to help with dinner while Emma and I went to the park and enjoyed the sun for many long hours. We wore tank tops and still ended up a little on the hot side.

Pioneer dinner was a success, with Sam's biscuits high on my list of favorite foods. Sam had a good time showing off the Wii to Arik, Bob's son. Everyone got into the spirit and wore something pioneer-like. I ended up recycling the pirate bandanna and wrapping it around my neck for the appropriate farmer flair.

I decided to join the YouTube world and uploa...

March 04, 2007 by Adam in Family

I had a rough night last night

March 02, 2007 by Adam in Family

I had a rough night last night. My annoying cold turned into a pretty bad headache. On top of that, when riding home I managed to pull a muscle in my back. It was hard getting to sleep and the pain got me up again around midnight. A few Advil later and I was able to blissfully enter dreamland.

I'm still thinking about heading in to work this morning, though I'm not quite as perky about it as usual. Hopefully the magical Mocha will ease away all my pain and worries. Well, as long as I toss in a few more Advil for good measure.

The kids were pretty funny last night. Sam spent too much time watching television or playing on the computer, so he was a little loopy at dinner. I pulled him downstairs for "training", which in this case involved dodging pillows as I swung them at him. Let's just say it was cathartic for me too.

Eventually Emma came down as well and the two of them got into some sort of flying donkey game, riding stuffed animals around the room and being exceptionally silly. It was fun to watch, especially as all I had to do is sit there and pretend my back didn't hurt.

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today

March 02, 2007 by Adam in Family

I'm feeling a bit under the weather today. It didn't help that I felt like I was drinking from the fire hose all day at work. Requests kept coming in faster than I could complete them, all of them unexpected and many of them in the "do it now" category.

Now I'm home. Sam's playing Animal Crossing and Emma's eating a bit of cereal. Evident jumping repeatedly on my belly tired her out or something. Still, she's so cute that I can't resist her.

Emma's has an exciting date at the hair salon tomorrow. She says she wants it short, though I suspect only an inch at most will be taken off. She's a fickle little girl, and typically tells us she wants her hair down to the floor.

I think we're planning on having our Pioneer dinner this weekend, which involves a lot of rustic food, as far as I can gather. I think Jamie opted for the ham instead of the "Buffalo for 1,000" recipe. Fortunately there's going to be assorted bread, potatoes, and the all-important chocolate-chip cookies.