Mocha Friday

August 30, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm finally starting to feel useful at work.  I made a good comment on a PR that hopefully prevented a future bug. Later I worked with another developer to track down a different bug.  This morning I'll put together a fix for it and then it'll go out to millions of people.  It's a cool feeling.

I've still got quite a few of onboarding things to deal with, but I've signed up for insurance and set my 401K contributions.  Still waiting on my laptop, but hopefully that'll arrive one day.

As for the rest of the week, it's been relatively uneventful.  I've been enjoying the new games that came with the free XBox Game Pass from joining Microsoft.  I painted a new mini that turned out well.  Went to the dentist and said hi to dad.  Yvonne is getting ready for school starting next Thursday.  I've got to do a little prep for tomorrow's D&D game.

All is well.

Crafty Weekend

August 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

We didn't have any major events this weekend.  Jo went to a writer's retreat and Yvonne went to a local convention and dressed up as her favorite anime character.  It turns out one of Microsoft's perks is a free game pass, so Emma and I checked out the hundreds of free games we now have access to.  I played a Lovecraftian one set on an oil rig while Emma played a more whimsical one involving exploring an alien world and identifying all the cute flying species.

We also ended up being somewhat crafty.  Saturday I turned our plums and blackberries we recently picked into jams.  Sunday I fired up the band saw and made spoon blanks for Emma's carving hobby.

It's back to work today.  Hopefully I can start making baby steps towards being useful and doing real work.  The main person I'll be working with is back from vacation, so I'll need to talk to him.  I'll also be reaching out and talking to everyone on the team this week as Jonathan wants me to meet everyone.  We'll see how successful I am at getting a bunch of software developers to chat.

Mocha Friday

August 23, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm still settling in, feeling somewhat overwhelmed still though I can also see how much progress I've made since I started the week.  Security is taking forever to get setup - I've yet to be able to sign up for health insurance despite having the orientation yesterday.  I've got my development box nearly ready so I'm hoping I'll be able to write code and be useful relatively soon.  It may be a couple weeks before I get my official laptop - for now I'm using my D&D laptop which amuses me.  Everyone seems understanding that these things take awhile.

Jo's off to a writer's retreat through Sunday.  I picked most of the plums from the tree in our front yard.  Hopefully Emma's up for making jam with me, maybe a blend with the blackberries we picked from the farm.  Otherwise it looks to be a relatively quiet weekend, likely with a library trip and our usual anime and pizza.

First Day at Microsoft

August 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm out in my shed, returning to my usual routine of coffee and a snack at 7:30 in the morning.  I can't really do anything yet, so I'm waiting for Jonathan to call and help get my account setup.  I'm currently using the same laptop I use for D&D, though it should get the job done until my real hardware arrives.  Not sure what the plan is today exactly but hopefully I start the ball rolling.

It was a busy back-to-back D&D weekend, so I was moving minis around on maps and talking in funny voices pretty constantly.  Emma and I made a couple library runs and I did a bit of yardwork, but otherwise is was pretty constant nerdage.  Yvonne's old video card finally died, so I swapped it with a more modern NVIDIA card with instructions to play some video games to test it out.  Hopefully all my children now have their technology needs met.

Jo spent a long while doing some furniture restoration, stripping the paint from some free shelving for their office.  They also rearranged the drip irrigation on the patio so hopefully it'll be less rainy on my walk to the backyard shed in the morning.  Emma's starting a dress making project, enlisting Seraph for assistance along the way and using some of Danica's old cloth.  I've put most of my hobbies on hold until I get settled into work, though I've got some D&D planning to fit in sometime.  Should be an exciting week!

Mocha Week

August 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've been drinking a mocha every day this week (other than waking up at the farm).  It's been a nice treat in this accidental vacation week.  I'm about to start making my usual giant breakfast, likely crepes, then start setting up for D&D.

Thursday morning Jo and I managed to setup the second sun shade, carefully setting up a system of hooks and ropes to prevent falling and then rotating it 90 degrees before reattaching them the right way.  It was way better than our earlier attempt in the hot sun and immensely satisfying to get that finished.

Later that night we had a date night at Cafe Yumm and went home to pick apples that had fallen from our apple tree.  I later started them drying in the dehydrator as apple chips are a seasonal delicacy of Emma's.

I had some back-and-forth with my new job.  I think I've signed and filled out all the things.  My new laptop is still waiting to be shipped, but I'm repurposing my D&D laptop until then.  I spent Friday morning making my office all clean and shiny so it should hopefully be a good start Monday morning.  Getting excited!

I got through quite a few of the things on my task list.  Duncan's computer has more memory, our emergency solar battery is setup properly, the balcony escape latter is setup, the towel hook is fixed, three of the dining room chairs have been reapolstered.  Plus I read a small book cover-to-cover and started a second.  I saw my mom, dad, Jenny, hung out at the farm with Emma, and get two days of back-to-back D&D with family and friends.  Now it's time to go back to work and relax.

Pre-orientation

August 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

I just finished my pre-orientation signup with Microsoft, quickly taking a badge photo and uploading it.  Next Monday is the actual orientation, though I'm not entirely sure what to expect.  Theoretically I'll get a new laptop one of these days.

It's been an eventful week - accomplishing quite a few household tasks and seeing a bunch of people.  I've been making mochas and blueberry pancakes every morning.  I don't think Duncan wants me to start work as I keep making him extra pancakes each morning.

The big adventure was going out to the farm with Emma Tuesday through Wednesday morning.  We drove out late morning and settled in, assembling a chair that pulls out into a bed so that Emma would have a place to sleep that night.  Afterwards we made lunch and headed out to check on the trees by the shed that we'd planted.  The Douglas Fir did quite well, with around 80% of the trees surviving.  The other firs and cedar did a little less well and the hemlock worst of all.  Later in the afternoon we went over to the north end of the property and found similar numbers, with the ponderosa pine we planted doing best of all of them.  Nothing seemed to be eating the saplings, but the heat and dry weather was pretty rough on them all.

It was remarkable how much things had changed - meadow instead of dense forest, much dryer and hotter without the dense canopy.  Still, there were butterflys and grasshoppers wandering about the thistle, queen anne's lace, and other weeds that were popping up wherever they could.  We also tried to get into the house at the bottom of the hill but couldn't get the key to work.  I tried power and water in the shed and neither seemed to work.

That night we stayed up and watched the bats and birds fly around catching insects.  The forest was loud with all the crickets and frogs singing away.  I slept up in the loft relative well, though it was a tight fit and I often bumped the ceiling when I rolled over.

Jo and I have the sun shade to fix today.  I'm hoping to get at least one of the chairs reapolstered.  I've got some other odds and ends to accomplish, along with date night tonight.  This weekend is back-to-back D&D and then Monday morning I start in at my new job.  My life certainly isn't boring.

Week Between

August 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's the start of a funny, unplanned week between jobs.  It's already filling up with tasks and visits.  Jo and I are going for a walk in the woods this morning.  Emma wants to camp out at the spooky shack tomorrow night.  I've got a visit with dad on Wednesday.  Hopefully I can touch base with Jenny this week too.  I've also got a long list of house projects - we'll see how far we get.

It was a generally fun and productive weekend.  Emma, Yvonne and I did a library and Smith Family bookstore run again.  One of the Smiths was there - another Yvonne - and I introduced myself and briefly reminisced about the fire of '82 and how I slept on their family's couch after we all escaped the flames.  Funny how much history I have in this town.  I picked up a couple books I'm hoping to finish in my free time this week - fortunately one of them is barely over 100 pages.

Emma and I setup the band saw and I briefly tried it out.  After so much time struggling with hand tools, it feels pretty magical in comparison.  She mended a tea pot and cutting board her neighbor gave her too, which was a plus.

Jo and I spent the afternoon on Sunday putting up a shade for the second window.  Unfortunately it's high up over the driveway and required lots of ladder work.  The process involved attaching hooks and rope and the end result is that it was installed sideways, but I guess we all learned something about ourselves along the way.

I have a couple hours of downtime before the scheduled activities begin.  I bought myself Baltro, a wacky poker-like game, and have some books to read.  We'll see what I get up to.

Last Day

August 09, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've got my mocha resting next to me as I settle into my last day at Health Catalyst.  I've got a handful of things I need to accomplish today - a farewell email, wiping my laptop, and handing out the last of my Motivosity money.  I stopped writing code by Tuesday, finished my last knowledge transfer on Wednesday, had my exit interview with HR yesterday.  The most fun was the last team-building Jackbox games yesterday.

Even thought I probably should have waited to announce my departure, I think the onboarding at Microsoft has worked out okay.  I finally passed the background check and fished out the HR email from my spam folder to answer a couple of their questions.  I'll hopefully get my confirmation of my first day of work soon - the plan is to start next Wednesday.

It's funny being in this inbetween time and I'm trying to take advantage of this rare opportunity to get some projects done around the house.  I upgraded Duncan's memory and have a new video card for Yvonne's computer.  The garage is slowly getting uncluttered.  I setup some medical appointments for myself.  I treated myself to some new RPGs that might make for some fun one-shots down the road.

As for the weekend, I don't have too much going on.  I imagine we'll do a library run and I'm hoping to enlist Emma's help in reapolstering the dining room chairs.  It's nice just enjoying a quiet moment before my life gets exciting again.

Bookshops and Checklists

August 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a generally productive weekend.  Emma, Yvonne and I went on a road trip after breakfast.  We picked up Yvonne's pottery from the pottery painting place, headed to the craft center where Emma unsuccessfully tried to get into her pottery to move things over, then headed to the library where Yvonne cheerfully discovered some obscure manga, and finally to the Smith Family Bookstore. 

The last stop blew away both kids and they kept wandering the stacks in awe of the size.  I hadn't been there in years - long ago they had a coffee shop and I'd hang out with my college buddies to play hearts and listen to Marc Allen.  These days the entire building is books.  Yvonne picked up a couple on Japanese culture and Emma got her favorite creative storytelling book she'd check out of the library countless times.  They thought I was doing them a favor by paying for the books, but I let them know I was secretly tricking them into learning.

Sunday I bid an early farewell to Emma who was off to Eagle Crest for a few days.  I started in on building flatpack furniture - a bathroom dresser for Yvonne in the basement.  Then it was finishing a bike rack partially assembled in the basement.  I kept checking things off my list, trying to get things better organized.  I painted some fun new minis with built-in lights, trying out my new soldering iron.  I sold my Health Catalyst stocks for a seventh of what it was worth at its peak.  Things were put away and cleaned.

This promises to be a weird work week where I'm not supposed to work much.  I probably can't help myself and will likely do something anyway.  Still waiting for my background check to complete, but if all goes well I'll start my new job in a little over a week.

Scrambling Mocha Friday

August 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

So it turns out I wasn't quite given the green light at Microsoft and have some background checks and the like to get sorted out.  I think it'll all be fine but it led to some excitement this morning as I was scanning documents and roping Duncan in to being my adult verifier of passport information.

Jeaux is off to Portland for the night for work.  Duncan's sweetie Jace returns to Florida tomorrow, with me waking up at 3:30 am to help make it happen.  No D&D this weekend, but I've got lots of home projects that I'm hoping to catch up on.  Hopefully between wrapping up work and theoretically starting my new job on the 14th, I'll have a chunk of time to clean the basement, assemble endless flatpack furniture, and get my jigsaw setup, among the endless other things on my todo list.