Spring!

April 28, 2023 by Adam in Family

It certainly feels like spring has arrived after all the rainy weeks.  The sun is out, flowers blooming, and I've worn nothing but shorts and t-shirts all week.  Yesterday I cleaned my office shed which perked me right up.

I'm hoping my work struggles with memory and performance are over for now and we're in the final stretch of getting things ready for release.  The last few months have felt somewhat of a burden, but hopefully most of the heavy lifting will be over soon.  Still have to do some serious testing so we'll see what we discover.

After a number of little delays we have D&D this weekend, this time with the friend group.  I'm going off book and doing a combat-light heist session, led by a telepathic lobster.  It weirdly all makes sense within the narrative and should produce a nice bridge to the next module.  I can tell I'm a little nervous about pulling it off as I keep making random props in hopes everyone will forgive any storytelling gaps on my part.

The sunshine has been great for my mood this week - there's nothing like seeing the world burst to life to lift one's spirits.

Comings and Goings

April 24, 2023 by Adam in Family

I cancelled our Netflix DVD subscription, another technological era ending.  The chickens have also been returned to Seraph, so we're back to store-bought eggs like philistines.  Emma and I hung out quite a bit over the weekend, though I'm not sure we did anything terribly important.  I helped with flash cards for plant scientific names.  Emma also painted her ukelele and I helped cut some old cherry tree branches into a wall holder.  I do love making things, especially that mix of practical and artistic.

Duncan worked on videos, apparently using a Chat GPT prompt to coordinate players.  Now begins the long editing process.  Ben mostly did art - it's nice to see him using the drawing tablet we got him for Christmas so much.  We also said hello to the Chicago people, messing around with D20 so we can play games over the Internet.  Should be fun.

Now it's back to work for me, slogging through memory issues.  Hopefully I don't go mad with this final push towards a release.

Slogging into Springtime

April 21, 2023 by Adam in Family

The rain continues to pour down, somewhat reflective of a somewhat dreary week.  We're in the final slog at work, getting down to the hard and vague problems that I'm not quite sure how to fix.  There were some bright points this week - Jo and I going out on our date night to Wildcraft Cider, followed by some co-op video game playing when we got home.  The SpaceX launch was exciting, if a little overly destructive.  I'm looking forward to this weekend and hanging out with Emma.

Well, time to finish my mocha and get back to troubleshooting computer problems.

Glimpses of Springtime

April 17, 2023 by Adam in Family

It was a whirlwind weekend.  Emma and I hiked around Pisgah where she showed off all the wildflowers she'd seen with her class the week before.  Fairy slipper orchid was our favorite flower, though just walking through the cedar and listening to the rushing streams was a close second for me.

Next up was checking on mom's various chairs, deciding to think about it more in the end.  We may end up trying for the big comfy one, though it will involve girding our loins before moving. 

On Sunday Emma, Jo and I drove down to see Seraph's new house.  I loved the quirky architecture of something over a hundred years old and the walkability to the quaint Creswell downtown.  The garden was generally unkept, so Seraph was excited to start whipping it into shape.  Emma was enlisted as both an expert and enthusiastic participant.  A spot was designated for the chickens, so they may be leaving us before too long.  I left with a dinosaur-themed fantasy book from Robbie and some of Danica's photos from my childhood, both of which were much appreciated.

Now it's back to work, memory leak hopefully fixed and time to get deployment pipelines sorted out.  Almost done.

Mocha Friday

April 14, 2023 by Adam in Family

My mocha is long gone and I'm knee-deep in memory dump files trying to find an annoying memory leak.  I really hope I can get this giant migration behind us soon.

It's Ben's birthday today - I've heard rumors we're having sushi and cake.  I've got a few presents I need to wrap before day's end.  It's wild thinking that my youngest kid is sixteen.  Funny how time passes.

I chatted with Sadie for a bit, which was a treat.  Hopefully her work gets less busy soon.  Emma's been tromping around town identifying plants for her class, which is one of her favorite things to do.  She also had a day at the Urban Farm, which is smaller due to the Phil Knight building going up and construction equipment parking space.  We might head out to Pisgah tomorrow and enjoy the sunshine.

Jo did our taxes and we're thankfully getting a little back.  We continue to juggle date nights, raising children, maintaining the house, and taking care of cats and chickens.  Life goes on.

Spring is Here

April 09, 2023 by Adam in Family

Flowers are blooming and the seeds in the greenhouse are popping up. Next weekend is supposed to get into the 70s. I can't wait to wear shorts again.

My work week was relatively unexciting, slowly finishing up our great conversation project. I also gave a presentation on web security that went reasonably well. Sadly I'm on call next week so hopefully it's not too annoying.

Friday was a no work day. I got a bunch of house projects done, played more Pathfinder, and went with mom to the Lane County Land Use Planning office. It looks like demolishing the existing house and building a new one is relatively straightforward.

Today is Easter and our nearly adult children still want an Easter egg hunt. Jo and I assembled eggs with chocolate and funny sayings. Soon the hunt will begin.

Safe and Sound

April 04, 2023 by Adam in Family

I heard through the grapevine that our Chicago travellers made it to their new apartment and are busy unpacking.

Full Weekend

April 03, 2023 by Adam in Family

It was a surprisingly full weekend, busy though packed with generally fun things.  Saturday Emma and I tromped up to my mom's house to say farewell to the Chicago-goers.  They were packing up the farm and heading through the gorge to avoid the snowstorm.  It's been great to visit with them and sad we won't be able to just hang out every weekend.

Emma and I worked on getting her room generally ready to go, putting away the painting supplies and cleaning things up.  There are still a few things we need to finish, but the list is pretty short.  I'm amazed at how well it all turned out.

Sunday was D&D with friends, so I picked up Jason and the party battled their way through the Final Encounter module.  I think every big bad guy was defeated - so many giant miniatures I'd painted along the way.  It was very combat heavy, so I tried to mix it up a little with a one-on-one duel and a nautical chase that was hopefully cinematic.

Jo made it home safe and sound.  Emma headed to Jamie's house to start the new term today.  I whipped up pizza, calzone, and other goodies for our weekly anime that Duncan selected.  Now I'm off to work to sort out url redirection.