Pre-Canada Day Friday

June 30, 2017 by Adam in Family

Tomorrow's Canada Day.  Sadly we don't have any flags or pictures of the queen to put up.  I should really take care of that.

The week has been pretty quiet.  No word from Sam - presumably he's doing well.  Emma came over last night - we played Overcooked and later I read Russian fairy tales to her in the hammock.  Berry's soccer camp is over.  She started off pretty unhappy about it, but it worked out well in the end and she's enthusiastic for soccer in the fall.  Duncan's been mostly playing video games, though Joanna made him walk on the treadmill for awhile yesterday.

We keep working on cleaning up the house and getting rid of things we don't need.  All the board games are in the basement now - I'm not sure I realized we had so many versions of Fluxx: original, pirate, zombie, and Adventure Time.  We really need to play board games more.

Work is going well - I spent way too much time yesterday doing cleanup and bug fixing.  Hopefully that gets into the master branch today.  It's date night tonight.  The weekend should be pleasant and low-key.

Bood on the Saddle, Blood on the Ground . . .

June 28, 2017 by Adam in Duncan

Duncan likes to go down into the play room and jump around, flinging himself off furniture.

For the first time in eight years we had the carpets cleaned.  The next day Duncan stubbed his toe, said "ow!" and continued to leap around, spraying blood everywhere.  Eventually we found him watching Berry play video games, surrounded by bloody footprints.

That's what led to Joanna and I crawling around the basement floor with our cell phone lights and wads of wet paper towels looking for blood spatters on our freshly cleaned floor.

Duncan seemed somewhat amused by the whole thing.  Fortunately Joanna and I appreciate a good case of irony on occasion.

Tuesday Already

June 27, 2017 by Adam in Family

The weekend was somewhat low-key after an exciting week.  Isa has been sending pretty pictures from Hawaii.  Sam reports that they hiked around a bunch yesterday and wore themselves out.  Joanna and I took the opportunity of their absence to have the downstairs carpets cleaned.  It hasn't quite been a decade since it was done, but the carpet sure looks better now.  On Saturday Emma and I cleaned Sam's room, dusting and washing all the weird places.  I'll reassemble the basement tonight.

Seraph and mom came to dinner Sunday night.  It was great catching up and Seraph and I chatted in my office for a long while.  It'll be nice to see her more this summer, though I hope her life settles down soon.

Work is moving along nicely.  I ended up creating a bug yesterday, but woke up early today with an idea of how to fix it.  I'm rushing to get things more stable and polished before next week when Health Catalyst shuts down for a company week off.

I've also been reading the Martian, which is surprisingly entertaining.  I miss reading books, as long stretches of interrupted time are a rarety these days.  I finally got a new hammock and spent some time reading on it last night.

Berry had a challenging start at soccer camp, calling Joanna in tears.  Some of it sorted itself out, though she ended up with a bad sunburn last night.  Duncan has been hanging out with friends and playing video games - typically pre-teen activities.  Emma and I played The Remains of Edith Finch over the weekend, enjoying its indie charm, plus a little Overcooked which is a wacky and anxiety producing co-op cooking simulation.

Life's okay.

Arma 3

June 24, 2017 by Adam in Adam's Games

Arma 3 is the latest in the realistic military genre.  Sam and I picked up some DLC called Apex Protocol, wandering through the island jungles of the Pacific fighting assorted low and high tech enemies.  We had a pretty good time, along with some comedic moments.  I captured the highlights for perpetuity.

Mocha Friday

June 23, 2017 by Adam in Family

It's going to be a hot weekend.  We put up the hammock last night, with Berry, Emma, and I trying it out.  Emma went through all the books that Sam took out of his room during the purge, scooping up the ones that looked cool or had some nostalgia attached.  I may have plucked a few as well.  The plan is to finish cleaning his room while he's gone so we can have the carpet cleaners steam clean the basement.

Work goes well.  I took a break from custom fields to make a nifty splash screen for our application.  It'll likely be changed somewhat by our design team, but I like my proof-of-concept.

We're officially in summer mode these days.  Sam presumably is in Hawaii by now, sleeping away with the time difference.  Joanna's going to try to work while I hide from everyone in the back shed.  Hopefully the younger kids won't be on their computers all day.  Summer camps start soon, keeping Berry occupied in particular.  I'm taking off quite a bit of time, hopefully not abusing work's unlimited PTO policy too badly.  My coworkers seem supportive.

No big weekend plans.  I'd like to do some projects and finally see the Wonder Woman movie.  I bet I could convince kids to play some of the old board games Sam had in his room which are now piled by my desk.

Future Night Raider

June 22, 2017 by Adam in Emma

Emma graduated Spencer Butte last night.  When they told us to welcome our "future ninth graders" Sam misheard and thought they said "night raiders."  While he thought it was kinda cool, he was somewhat confused by everyone's seeming acceptance and clapping of the declaration.

It was a pretty good affair, kids being a mix of silly and formal.  Endless clapping.  Quirky songs and funny quotes from the kids displayed on a projector.  Sam decided he wanted to come along and give Emma a Fallout 3 art book he found in his room.  Emma got into Fallout, so it was a welcome gift.

Today is Emma's last day of school - they're off to Orchard Point park at the reservoir for the day.  I think she's a little nervous about high school in the fall, but hopefully excited in equal measure.

Off to Hawaii

June 22, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Yesterday Sam and Isa cleaned out Sam's room, huge volumes of clothes, books, and weird things arrayed outside his door in large bags.  A combination of the upcoming carpet cleaning and Isa's prodding helped make it happen, but I think he was generally fine with it.

I drove the two of them to the airport, getting up at 4:40 a.m.  They're off to LAX with a 9 hour layover, and then off to Hawaii to see Isa's dad.  I think they'll have a great time.

Five Years of Bliss

June 20, 2017 by Adam in Adam

It's our anniversary today, five years of raising children, fixing leaky plumbing, and occasionally getting a chance for adventures.  I fondly remember asking Joanna to marry me, timing it precisely for the winter solstace in San Francisco so many years ago.  I'm glad she didn't want to go out for ice cream that night, as then I'd have to propose in front of everyone in the store.

Though our lives are rarely boring, having Joanna with me makes the hard parts better and the good parts even more wonderful.

Father's Day Weekend

June 19, 2017 by Adam in Family

I had a pleasant weekend, all-in-all.  Friday night Joanna and I went out to our go-to gluten free restaraunt.  Saturday morning Sam and I played a bunch of Apex Protocol cooperatively, fighting mysterious forces on a jungle island.  Eventually we went to his graduation party, returning with Isa for pizza and science.

Father's Day started with a tasty breakfast and lots of loot - from unicorn astronaut pins from Duncan, to a more practical game controller, coffee mug, and coupons for helpful tasks.  The rest of the day involved video games being played, a haircut, and generally hanging out.  Joanna whipped up a tasty dinner, joined by mom, and a pleasant evening all around.

We got news that Sam and Isa could make it to Sunriver, which is cool.  The plane tickets were a little last minute, but it's all working out fine.  Summer is looking busy so far, but busy with fun things.

Graduation Party

June 19, 2017 by Adam in Sam

We went to Sam's graduation party on Saturday afternoon.  It was a pretty good shindig.  Joanna made sushi and gluten free muffins.  Yayoe brought more sushi.  Other people had quiches and pies and doughnuts.

Mostly I chatted with Sam's high school friends and my immediate family.  Eventually Berry retreated to a quiet room to read, joined shortly by Joanna.  We eventually snuck home after a pleasant afternoon.

Sam's generally cheerful these days.  He's been working for my mom, with Jamie and myself wanting his somewhat intelligent labor for other tasks around our respective houses.  On Thursday he and Isa go to Hawaii, followed by a trip to Sunriver with the rest of the family.  Not sure how much work he'll get in this summer.

Endless Diapers

June 17, 2017 by Adam in Family

Joanna, Berry, and I went to Family First and our first task was to move endless diapers from one storeroom to another.  We were first quite enthusiastic, but the two flights of stairs and unrelenting boxes of diapers wore us out.  Eventually we declared success and went outside to watch elementary kids for a couple hours.  We brought some activities, which they cheerfully went through, and tried to keep the chaos to a minimum.  We returned home tired and famished.

I hung out with Sam where we played the co-op campaign in Arma 3.  It was loads of fun - basically walking through pretty jungle with moments of chaos and frantic excitement.

Today we're getting ready for Sam and Isa's graduation party.  Tomorrow is Father's Day.  Happy Father's Day in advance to all you dads out there.

Day of Service

June 16, 2017 by Adam in Family

Health Catalyst has these periodic "no work" days.  Today we're supposed to spend our mornings in a Day of Service and take the family to Cars 3 this afternoon.  No one seems interested in the movie, but Joanna, Berry, and I are going to help entertain kids and clean out shoe closets at the Family First center.

The week's moving along at a steady pace.  We did a second client install that went well, after frantically updating the software to fix an untested bug.  The installer continues to get high praise: "this was the easiest Health Catalyst install ever."  Funny how the little things count.  

I picked up Sam's Outstanding Japanese Student certificate yesterday and chatted with his teacher.  Last night I helped Emma with her student film, doing some editing and adding music and sound effects.  It ended up pretty well, especially with Sam's digital effects.

Moving Into Summer

June 14, 2017 by Adam in Family

High school graduation was yesterday.  Sam spent the day working for my mom, returning tired, hungry, and with blisters on his hands.  I think he enjoyed himself.  Later we watched the latest John Wick movie and fetched Isa after her graduation was over.  Tonight we're inviting Isa's dad and stepmom over for dinner.  The plan is that Sam and Isa visit them in Hawaii later this month.

We had a minor kerfuffle at work where our beautiful program had a bug.  Cory and I frantically worked on the problem, with Wade making some further changes.  It's not quite ready, but hopefully we can get it done soon.  We've got another client install today.

Emma had her science test yesterday.  If she does well, she skips 9th grade physical science and moves into biology.  Hope it goes well.  She's also making a movie with her group and Sam made some naval ship battle scenes for her over the weekend.  Hopefully it was well received.

Joanna's been working at a million things, as usual.  She's got a second book halfway finished and is reworking covers for her various books.  Busy, busy.

Installer

June 13, 2017 by Adam in Adam

One of the things I've done in my new job is to make an installer for our software.  It started off simple enough, but quickly took up a week or two of my time as I tweaked and added features.  I have the greatest respect for people who make installers these days, as it's pretty challenging work.

Today we did our first install at a client of our product we've been working on.  It worked beautifully.  My favorite quotes were that it was "spooky how easy this was" and "so far this has seemed too fast to believe it's really going to work". 

Glad I spent the time making an installer.

Wet Weekend

June 12, 2017 by Adam in Family

It was a pleasant, rainy weekend.  Joanna took the little kids up to Portland for a writer's conference and visit with friends.  Sam, Emma, and I went downtown for pizza at Sizzle Pie and then hit up the Red Barn Creamery for ice cream and a game of Adventure Time Fluxx.

Saturday morning we mostly puttered around.  My mom came for breakfast.  The kids and I played Bro Force for some silly co-op action.  Sam had us play the Duck Game where he cleaned our clocks.  Sam and I also played Streets of Rogue, which is a free-form city rogue like that's hard to describe but kinda fun.  I did make everyone go out to Hendrik's Park for some exercise and nature.  We got hailed on which was strangely pleasant after so many warm days this spring.  Eventually Joanna and the kids returned for a typical pizza and science evening.

Sunday was equally low-key.  Joanna went to church and took the little kids to the Captain Underpants movie.  I mowed the lawn and played some Stellaris, my galactic empire slowly expanding.  Yayoe came over to deliver graduation presents to Sam.  Isa came over.  My mom came for dinner.  It's always a whirlwind of activity here.

Mocha Friday

June 09, 2017 by Adam in Family

Summer is on the horizon, with Sam out of school and the other kids having less than two weeks to go.  Emma has a science test next week to determine if she can get into biology next year.  Soon we'll be on the summer schedule, with kids lounging about the house punctuated by the occasional trip.

Joanna is taking Duncan and Berry to Portland tonight for a writer's conference, with the little kids seeing some friends who moved away.  I'll have the rest of the crew - maybe I can make Sam cook us up something interesting.

Work continues to go well.  I'm leaping into a somewhat familiar problem of custom fields, my years working on PeaceHealth's form tool hopefully guiding me.  I'm going to get eggs from Pam today, saying hello to the old crowd.  My old boss Tom called - he's apparently left PeaceHealth and is going into business for himself.  I hope it's a good move for him.

Looking forward to the weekend and spending time with everyone.  Maybe we can make it to Wonder Woman this time around.

Last Day of High School

June 09, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Sam had his last day of high school today.  He seems remarkably cheerful.  In a month or so he has a couple days of orientation at the U of O, and hopefully on to his college phase.  I think he's generally okay with that.

I also took him to a non-pediatrician doctor yesterday, the same one I'm using.  It turns out she's a vegetarian as well, and recommended he continue eating lots of peanut butter.

Sam's decided to help Emma with her school project.  A class-mate apparently wrote a screenplay involving naval ships and everyone dressing like naval officers.  Sam's doing the special effects, making a digital movie of the battle scenes.  He seemed somewhat excited to have a project to do.

Solo Parenting Weekend

June 05, 2017 by Adam in Family

It was a pretty good solo parenting weekend, all-in-all.  Berry had a small crisis where she had a sleepover in 30 minutes and all her underwear was dirty.  Nothing a quick wash in the sink and 5 minutes of microwaving underpants couldn't fix.  Joanna was staying at a retreat with poor reception, so she got my messages out of order.  The text that came through had no explaination, just that I was microwaving underpants.

Friday night was just Sam, the little kids, and I.  Sam did most of the stir fry cooking, as I took a call from my old boss Tom from my security days.  He's leaving PeaceHealth and going off to work for the local doctors in Bellingham, which hopefully makes his life better.  Sam and I played a little Salt and Sanctuary until it was time to put kids to bed.  I read Surely You're Joking Mister Feynman about his atomic bomb days until pretty late, watched some Foyle's War on Netflix, and went to bed.

Saturday morning I attempted to make dutch babies, forgot to actually cook it, and transformed the batter to pancakes at the last minute.  It all turned out fine, and then I went to get Emma from her mom's.  We spent the day mostly puttering around.  I took the kids down to cheese park where the water park had been activated.  I let them take off shoes and roll up pants.  Duncan went all in, cutting a deal where he'd make a normal face if he was allowed to pretend to be peeing while positioned carefully over the spray.  It seemed like a good trade.

Berry went to Zoe's for a sleepover.  Pizza was made.  Science shows were watched.  

Sunday was a successful dutch baby breakfast.  Berry returned, then Joanna before lunch.  Emma and Berry burned an old squished gnome candle gleefully in the back yard.  I managed some gardening and endless laundry.  Later that afternoon I tried to take the girls to see Wonder Woman, but they were sadly worn out.  I played Stellaris to assuage my loss.

It's Sam's last week of high school.  Still not sure he's going to graduation, though he will actually graduate.  He's been pretty cheerful lately.  I think we're doing our first client install at work, so I've got some last minute polish and bug fixing to do.

Life's okay.

Dishonored 2

June 03, 2017 by Adam in Adam's Games

I finished Dishonored 2 today, going for a semi-stealthy generally peaceful run.  I ended up with a lot of unconscious bodies piled about, sometimes in comedic ways.  I'm ready to try different games for a while, such as the space sim Stellaris that arrived in my Humble Monthly Bundle recently.  I hear the time-stopping Super Hot is good too.

Solo Parenting Mocha Friday

June 02, 2017 by Adam in Family

Joanna's off to a retreat this afternoon, leaving me in charge of the kids.  I'm hoping we can arrange a Wonder Woman movie watching, a trip to the outdoors, and plenty of video games.  Should be fun.

Work continues to be interesting as we approach our first client release.  I continue to work away at making an installer, which is more tricky than it seems.  Yesterday I spent the afternoon setting up a simple network on virtual machines to mimic our first client's environment.  Hopefully I'll get the kinks worked out today.

The kids all seem to be doing okay.  Sam, Emma, and I played the Duck Game a bunch last night, which was ridiculous but fun.  Sam has a week of school left.  Berry continues to encourage Joanna to ride her to school each day on their bikes.  Emma has had a week of state testing and finished playing Fallout 3.  Duncan's hair is rainbow, which pretty much describes him completely.

Awards

June 01, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Sam's going to be given an award for Outstanding Japanese Student this year.  He looked vaguely confused and let me know he wasn't interested in going to the dinner where everyone claps for him (and everyone else getting awards).  I still think it's cool he got the award.

Toothless

June 01, 2017 by Adam in Ben

Berry lost two more teeth, one last night and one this morning.  She was able to eat breakfast this morning, so I think the rest are still fine.  It's funny watching little Berry growing up, not so little any more.