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Yeah!
June 29, 2016 by Seraph in Cortez
I get to see you all today!!!!
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Wonky Weekend
June 27, 2016 by Adam in Family
It was a generally good weekend, if perhaps a little wonky. Sam got sick and stayed home, missing the Ashland trip. I think he also misses Isa, which doesn't help. Yesterday he fainted after a night of little sleep and no breakfast. It was a little freaky and we made him sit down and eat. He's been okay since then.
I haven't heard from Emma, other than the place they're staying is very nice. Joanna, the little kids, and I all went to the Black Sheep gathering in the morning, though Duncan and his buddy got bored after a half hour or so. We had our usual pizza and science that night.
Sunday was pretty low-key. Sam played on my computer (his video card died) and I managed some yard work and projects. I attempted and failed to fix a leaky bathtub faucet - Joanna is scheduling actual plumbers to repair it. Duncan, Joanna, and I played in the pool for a bit. I managed to pack a little for our upcoming trip. Hopefully we all have a good time.
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Brexit Friday
June 24, 2016 by Adam in Family
The Brexit thing has thrown us all for a loop. On the plus side, it means that our dollar will be worth more when we visit. On the down side, if Joanna ever inherits anything from her dad, it might be worth less.
Sam's sick today. He wasn't sure he would be up for going to Ashland with Jamie and Emma. I left him playing Pokemon in the basement, full of painkillers and tea.
Joanna and the kids are back home. I think everyone was a little worn out, but had a good time. This weekend hopefully will be pretty low-key. I really need to fix some plumbing issues, but otherwise it's pretty wide-open.
Work's doing okay. I'm just trying not to let the craziness get to me.
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Quiet Wednesday
June 22, 2016 by Adam in Family
 I spent the night by myself in the house last night. Sam was at Isa's, Emma was at her mom's, and Joanna took the little kids camping.
I realize that sounds sad, but as anyone with a large family can tell you, it's absolutely wonderful if done in moderation. The best part was strangely that anything I cleaned or tidied up stayed that way. There were no weird kid projects appearing sprawled across the table. I'm never sure what to do with the artistic masterpieces of cardboard and pipe cleaners. It was nice cleaning the kitchen and realizing it would stay that way for at least 48 hours.
I hopped on Netflix and watched Kung Fury, which is absolutely ridiculous. I spent a long while researching web technologies and trying to put together the next version of this web site (I realized my database software is from the year 2000, and barely compatible with anything modern). I turned in to bed early, woke up leisurely, and made myself french toast and a mocha. It was lovely.
I have started to miss the family again. Hopefully Sam's around tonight to hang out - Isa leaves tomorrow for her Europe trip. I'll see Emma tomorrow for dinner and then both kids are off to Ashland for the weekend. Joanna returns with the critters tomorrow too. They're enjoying their camping adventures, I suspect.
Off to work, which has been strangely cheerful this week. I honestly do enjoy the actual work aspects of my job. I'd still love to be a developer. I just want to be supported by my leadership, fairly compensated, and given the opportunity to do my job. I hear the security position is going to be posted soon. We'll see what happens.
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Finishing Up Dark Souls 3
June 22, 2016 by Adam in Adam's Games
 Well, I finished the last of the Dark Souls games. The end was kinda interesting, if terribly mysterious. Some game endings are an accumulation of all your decisions throughout the game. Others are a "pick the good/evil/neutral ending" sort of thing. This one was more of a "fumble randomly into a choice" kinda thing. I beat the final boss of the game, noticed an option to summon the Fire Keeper, clicked it, and that was the end.
It was a pretty game, and there were some cool aspects, but I think I'm ready to move on to something else.
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Solstice Anniversary
June 21, 2016 by Adam in Family
It's been an exciting last few days as we move into summer.
Saturday was relatively uneventful. Emma and I walked down for a haircut and got caught in the rain. It continued to pour even after we ducked into Metropol for goodies, so Joanna had to come rescue us. I managed to do a few projects like getting the apple tree slightly less tippy through a series of wedges and ropes. Eventually we ate pizza and watched Adam Ruins Everything.
 Sunday was Father's Day and Joanna orchestrated her usual series of presents and goodies. The little kids made slightly terrifying cards. Emma rickrolled me in her card, but then presented me with a pretty cool Jesus, Dad hand-drawn cartoon, complete with various scenarios like Jesus and his daughter at the pool (he just walked on the water while the kid says "Jesus, dad."). The kids and I played board games and later walked down to the park to play Frisbee.
Monday was somewhat more cheerful at work, though I spent more time than I would have liked managing people and projects. I took Emma to the orthodontist, where we learned her teeth are just slowly coming in. Dad called me dentally retarded for the same reasons, so it apparently runs in the family. Sam hung out with Isa for most of the day - apparently they went to clean one of their teacher's houses for some spending money. Isa's off to Europe this Thursday.
Joanna and I spent our anniversary going out to Belly's for dinner. We chatted about kids and our upcoming trip to England. I do like her.
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Father's Day
June 19, 2016 by Seraph in Cortez
Happy Daddio Day to all the clan!
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Question:
June 18, 2016 by Yayoe in Yayoe
Do we need passports for our adventure?
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Summertime!
June 17, 2016 by Adam in Family
 All the kids were super excited yesterday. They all slipped easily into summer mode. Duncan and Berry were reading or on their computers. Emma was working on her drawing and listening to music. Sam played video games quite a bit yesterday and Isa came over to hang out today. Joanna is the one feeling a little trapped at home, but at least Mattie is coming over to watch the little kids and give her some time to work. I think she also enjoyed sleeping in this morning. As for me, I only made breakfast for myself and Joanna. I chatted with Emma with my free time.
My week of training Chris ended and he returned to Vancouver last night. He's generally enthusiastic and generally competent. I do feel that I'm supporting a huge amount of things on my own, with not much leadership support. Still pondering options. We did spend some time looking at new technical frameworks - something that's fun and fascinating.
I did get called twice in the middle of the night, which wasn't fun. Apparently I'm listed as the emergency contact for dad's alarm service. The first time I hung up from an unknown caller from Utah at 1 a.m. The second time I got called at 2 a.m., I talked to the guy and told him to take me off the list. When he said he couldn't, I blocked the call. Time to send dad a stern email. Thank god it's Mocha Friday.
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Wednesday Already
June 15, 2016 by Adam in Family
The last few days have been a whirlwind. Saturday I threw a successful D&D game some nerd buddies. Sam played too, and I think the combination of TableTop Simulator, some custom cards for props, and a decent story ended up being amusing for all.
Sunday I ended up getting really sick first thing in the morning, and spent the day throwing up or in bed. Joanna's theory is lack of sleep and work stress. It certainly could be.
I worked from home on Monday, mostly recovered by the end of the day. The new guy Chris arrived in town yesterday, so I organized talks on certain topics and pulled people together. Somewhere in there I attempted to troubleshoot some weird computer problems and generally keep things from falling apart.
For lunch I went out and met my old PeaceHealth buddies, most of whom work at Health Catalyst these days. They made a soft recruiting speech, but it was their general happiness that was enticing. We'll see how this security job goes and look harder at Health Catalyst.
Date night tonight. Life feel busy.
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5th Grade Graduation
June 15, 2016 by Adam in Duncan
 Duncan graduated from elementary school last night. It was quite the crowd, with my mom showing up too. There was the reflective speeches by teachers and the principal. I think the best part was hearing the little poems that each kid wrote for the kid ahead of him. My main takeaway from the poem someone wrote for Duncan is that he's a potato.
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Mocha Friday
June 10, 2016 by Adam in Family
 Well, my mocha isn't ready quite yet. Within the hour I shall be partaking of that delicious beverage. It's high on my list of things to look forward to.
The little kids don't have school today, so they and Joanna are sleeping in. Emma is going to watch the rodeo in Bend with her mom over the weekend, so I gave her extra hugs to last until Sunday. Sam's off to a party tonight.
I finished my final preparations for hosting a D&D campaign with some friends tomorrow. The props are printed, maps in Tabletop Simulator created, and the campaign is written up and on my tablet. Hopefully it's fun.
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Crazy Week
June 09, 2016 by Adam in Family
It's been a nutty week.
We had a big town hall meeting at work, with our senior vice president talking to everyone in a big room, and everyone on the call. For some weird reason I got singled out in a joking way. "And I like all of you . . . except for you, Adam." Later he was asked a question about whether PeaceHealth should buy or build software and the response was that PeaceHealth shouldn't do development. Apparently my fidgeting was obvious, as he called on me and I responded as to how I'm the last developer supporting 200 applications and there's no plan to replace them all.
It was surprising how many people stopped by afterward to see if I was okay. Both my manager and director chatted with me, I think to get a sense as to whether or not I was going to quit. At this point, I think I'll apply for the security engineering job when it appears and chat with my ex-coworkers when I have lunch with all the Health Catalyst people next week.
On the plus side, the kids are all wrapping up school. Joanna's moving her books forward. She and I might be going to England late July to visit her brother and dad. We also had a great date night last night, drinking cider and eating hipster food, then visiting the rose gardens.
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Birthday Wishes!
June 09, 2016 by Seraph in Cortez
 Happy birthday Sadie! Soon we can all have s'mores together?
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Crazy Hot Weekend
June 05, 2016 by Adam in Family
 It's been insanely hot the last couple days, though we've managed to stay cool. I set up the air conditioners Friday night and the family pitched in to set up the pool. Between the two things we've kept ourselves alive, but it hit 96 degrees today.
I managed a hardware store run and I took the girls to Oregon Art Supply. We had pizza and science. I generally hung out with kids, played on the computer some, and did a few house projects. It was really nice to recharge after work has been somewhat grueling the last week.
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The Souls . . . So Dark
June 05, 2016 by Adam in Adam's Games
 I've been playing Dark Souls 3, the last of the series. The plot tends to be somewhat vague, more of a dream-like exploration with very tough enemies and lore hidden in the descriptions of items. It's known for being exceptionally difficult.
I've been playing a sorcerer, which is quite different than the typical knight. Initially it was tough, but once I got the spell to make myself invisible, most fights became incredibly easy as enemies flailed about unsure of where I was. Boss fights are still the exception, as they can apparently see through my invisibility. Still, I'm towards the end of the game and feeling exceptionally formidable. I think I have a couple more boss fights and then I'm done with the game.
The scenery is exceptionally pretty at times, if a little on the bleak Gothic side. Once I finish this up, I have some short narrative games I'd like to play that I picked up at the latest Humble Bundle: Her Story, Cibele, and Read Only Memories. It's a good time to be a gamer.
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Self portrait of the artist
June 05, 2016 by Adam in Emma
  Emma picked up some new supplies at the art supply store today. She's been trying owl drawing from a photograph, in this case a self portrait.
The left is mid-way and right is the finished product.
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Mocha Friday
June 03, 2016 by Adam in Family
I'm heading to work soon where that delicious elixir awaits me. I had a bit of a rough night, tossing and turning and thinking about work. I ended up sleeping in the shed on the pull-out couch. I started a deer when I stumbled back inside.
Kate Weaver gave her notice at PeaceHealth yesterday. She's one of my ex-teammates from the Web Services days. I also knew her from my childhood, as she was Kai's sister and they were friends with Seraph. Kate is going to Health Catalyst like most of the old team. She's very excited.
I heard back from the manager of the security team, and it sounds like that job will be posted soon. I think I'll apply and see what happens.
Berry's a little under the weather with a cough. Emma is excited there are only ten more days of school. I think Sam wishes school would just continue forever as he's really into learning interesting things lately. We were debating whether or not 1984 was a good book, or just the first in its dystopian genre.
The weather is supposed to get into the upper 90's this weekend, so I setup all the air conditioners last night. I also need to fix a leaky tub and prep for my D&D game next weekend. Such is the life of a domestic nerd.
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Back from Vancouver
June 02, 2016 by Adam in Family
I had a long drive yesterday, going up to Vancouver to start on-boarding the new developer. I hope it works out. He seems generally competent. It's taking a while to get him all the security and software he needs to do his job.
Emma hit the data plan limit, likely while traveling to Ashland yesterday. I need to sit down with her and give her the "responsible cell phone user" talk. I can also make some configuration changes to prevent it in the future.
I think the kids are generally doing well. Joanna's busy with her assorted different jobs. Everyone survived yesterday without me. All is generally okay.
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