Under the Heat Dome

July 30, 2021 by Adam in Family

We're doing another one of those heat dome things, though it looks like we won't get over 100 degrees today.  Seraph and I setup one of our old air conditioners in mom's bedroom, which she reports keeps her fairly cool.  My little back shed is staying relatively cool and the air quality is decent as the smoke from the fires are blowing the other direction.  Then there's the Delta variant, so it looks like we'll all be wearing masks again.  I keep hoping our dystopian future gets more robots.

Our family has been doing relatively well.  Joanna had a post-surgery checkup in Portland, necessitating an overnight stay for an early appointment.  All is healing up nicely.  Emma has her U of O advisory meeting today.  Ben continues to enjoy Design Engineering, returning home with mysterious blueprints with strange diagrams and names like "GOOSE" and "WM" - maybe the high school students are building a giant robot.

Work's going well for me.  I'm doing some fun work with very large databases.  I love it when things go better than expected and cool results happen quickly.  I finished my book, The Gone World, which ended in a satisfyingly surreal manner.  This afternoon work is letting us off early to go see the Jungle Cruise movie, which is one of those funny traditions our work has.  Looking forward to a weekend of hanging out with kids - I predict the library, pizza, anime, and video games in our future.  Plus more physical therapy for my rotator cuff, which is less exciting.

Emma called this morning and broke the news that she got a 4 on her Chem AP test, so full credit and going into Biology in the fall.  I'm very proud of all her hard work - it really paid off.

Freedom Day

July 27, 2021 by Adam in Family

Yesterday was Health Catalyst Freedom Day, which just means we get the day off because our company went public.  Mostly I took Emma to her first grownup doctor appointment and then drove Ben to Salem for another doctor's appointment.  He loved getting sushi from the little conveyor belt, otherwise it was uneventful.

Joanna and I had a date tonight, though after sushi it was the start of my physical therapy for my shoulder.  It sure is weird that some parts of my body don't quite work right.  Work was good.  My book, The Gone World, is difficult to put down.  A pack of turkeys showed up in our garden this morning.  

This weekend everyone but Duncan went down to the Fair and enjoyed the animals and various homemade things - a knit octopus hat, cut flowers, and various preserves.  Ben really wanted to go on a ride, but the line was long and everyone settled for a giant block of curly fries we ate on the way back to the car.

Birthday Shindig

July 23, 2021 by Adam in Family

Not a lot happened this week, which is something I'm always excited to write.  Ben seems to be enjoying his Design Engineering class, learning Fusion 360 and coming home with diagrams of machine parts.  Joanna went out to the cabin to take measurements and make plans.  Duncan's enjoying an update to a game he plays regularly.  Emma's hanging out with her mom, playing Scrabble and going for walks.  The lazy days of summer continue.

Tonight we're descending on the farm for a birthday shindig.  Should be fun.

Birthday Week Continues

July 21, 2021 by Adam in Family

A horde of teenagers descended on our house last night to celebrate Duncan's birthday.  They walked down to get bubble tea then played Jackbox games until cake time, followed by even more Jackbox games.  Duncan was clearly having a great time and it was neat seeing all his friends hanging out together.

I had a really nice birthday the day before, hanging out with family and eating an amazingly delicious cake.  I got some good loot as well, some practical and some entirely entertaining.

Ben's really enjoying his Design Engineering class.  He's using the same software as dad, so they'll get to talk about software and 3D printing the next time he comes over.  Ben also won an Engineering hat in class for a drawing he made.

As for me, work's going well.  Joanna and I had a lovely walk in the summer evening, stopping by little free libraries and collecting books and puzzles for our upcoming vacation.  Life's good.

Week of Birthdays

July 19, 2021 by Adam in Family

It's the start of a week of birthdays.  Festivities conclude this Friday with a shindig at the farm.  Maybe we can clean out the hay barn and put on some fiddle music.

The weekend seems to have gone by in a blur.  Saturday involved a library trip, groceries, and then a trip to the farm to slowly watch the shed delivered.  It led to a late night and scrambling to put dinner together, but we all survived and watched our now traditional Sword Art Online with our pizza. 

Sunday involved some hardcore hanging out.  My big accomplishment was putting in a shelf in our kitchen specifically for all the tea we have, right above our mugs.  Such is the price of marrying someone from England.  Joanna, Emma, and I also went on a Little Free Library walk, returning with some questionable things but enjoying the journey.  We immediately played the pirate rock band CD, which was pretty much as expected.

Cabin in the Woods

July 18, 2021 by Adam in Joanna

For months now, Joanna's been trying to get a cabin in the woods at Jennifern farm.  The site was staked out, roads were improved, foundations were dug and framed, and dead trees were cut down.  Months of delays by the builder finally ended when the shed was driven from Bend to be setup.  Seraph fortunately kept Emma, Joanna, and I entertained while we waited for the cabin to be slowly driven up the road and leveled.  I think the end result is quite lovely, though as Joanna points out "now the real work begins."

Mocha Friday

July 16, 2021 by Adam in Family

I'm still about an hour away from my Friday mocha, its sweet anticipation getting me through my morning routine.  It's been a quiet week for the most part.  Ben had a friend come up from California to visit for a few days.  Joanna continues to recover.  The most catastrophic event lately was a problem with the house's network - I think I finally tracked it down to a misbehaving router in the basement after considerable effort.

Work's been going well this week and I feel like a real programmer, using fancy techniques to talk to fancy new databases.  I also saw a doctor about my shoulder, who officially diagnosed me with a rotator cuff sprain.  It's improving with ice and Advil, with the hope that some physical therapy down the road will keep it from happening again.

I'm loving the garden and all the fresh produce that's coming in.  The flowers all seem cheerful and the walk to my garden shed is lovely each day.

Ouchie, Ouchie, Doctor Fauci

July 13, 2021 by Adam in Family

I think I tore my rotator cuff a few weeks back - I'd keep getting sharp pains when exerting myself in unusual ways.  It seemed to be improving until this weekend when I managed to bonk my head on the short door under our porch.  The bonk was fine, but I reached out reflexively and really strained my shoulder.  Since then it's been worse and I had trouble sleeping last night.  Fortunately I'm seeing a doctor tomorrow, which is hopefully the load road to recovery.

Otherwise it was a good weekend, with a touch of house projects and hanging out with kids.  Emma and I went to the library and she helped me paint a shelf that will eventually hold the sea of tea boxes in our kitchen.  Joanna continues to recover from surgery.  Our garden continues to overflow with produce.

I think Joanna and I managed to nail down some vacation plans in late August, spending some time at the northern Oregon coast.  It'll be nice to get away for a little.

Ben has a friend from San Francisco staying in town for a few days, so he's pretty excited.  It's nice that the kids are getting back to more normal hanging out after over a year of social distancing.

Mocha Friday

July 09, 2021 by Adam in Family

We're well into summer, another heat wave coming our way, though this time it's only in the low 90s.  Everything's doing okay these days, which is nice for a change.  Joanna's recovering, Duncan's dropping down to seeing his counselor once a week, and Ben starts up his Design Engineering class in less than two weeks.  Emma continues to get ready for school - I'm refurbishing my old work laptop to give to her.

It's nice to have life be a little boring lately.  Emma and I both got into a new game called Wildermyth, which seems like a basic RPG, but is more of a fantasy story generator.  Then I've got a new deck building game called Griftlands, which is pretty interesting.  We've also been watching shows with Ben in the evening and just finished Rick and Morty.  Joanna and I occasionally watch the Queen's Gambit, which is great so far.

All-in-all, it's nice to have things quiet for a change.

Last Day of Vacation

July 07, 2021 by Adam in Family

It's the last day of the official company vacation.  I made the mistake of trying to go to the DMV today, which was always as painful as it tends to be.  Plus my passport had expired, so I couldn't get the new Real ID thing.  I'll need to renew my passport (probably using my driver's license), then use that to get my new Real ID driver's license.  I brought my birth certificate as backup, but they wouldn't take it as clearly I'm a weird foreigner.

As for the rest of my time off, it's generally been a nice mix of house projects and hanging out with kids.  Joanna's been recovering from surgery and finally seems on the mend after being groggy for a few days.  The fourth of July at Jenny's was nice, just hanging out low-key in the pool with everyone was a treat.

Emma and I went down to campus and I gave her the informal tour that included tales of people LARPing in the old steam tunnels.  It's weird thinking she's a third generation student, like her father and grandfather before her.  She started looking at classes to take, like an honor's college class, a biology class, and something fun like urban farming.  I think it was also strangely reassuring to see that her familiar bus would drop her off right next to her first class.  I think she'll do just fine.

Cooler Days Return

July 01, 2021 by Adam in Family

It's been nice and cool the last couple days, the record breaking high temperatures behind us.  Tuesday I took Joanna up to Portland for a procedure, driving back in the evening while Seraph and family kept an eye on the kids.  All went well and Joanna's been hanging out on the couch with the cats, both sleeping away the day off and on.

I'm appreciating the lazy days of summer as the kid routine is fairly straightforward.  Duncan and Ben are doing well, excited for a slightly belated bro night of sushi and YouTube tonight.  Emma's back from the coast and I went over to say hello yesterday.  Work's coming along nicely, with my big log-related feature finished up.  Not quite sure what I'll be working on tomorrow.

Looking forward to the weekend and seeing everyone for the 4th.