Allergy Weekend

April 29, 2019 by Adam in Family

We mostly stayed inside the weekend.  The weather was beautiful, the flowers in bloom, and every time I went outside my allergies kicked into high gear.  I did manage to mow the yard and do some gardening with Joanna.  Sam, Emma, and I went for a walk on Sunday.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was pretty low-key.  Sam and Emma hung out with Jamie while Joanna and I went to Costco.  The sheer mass of the cart by the end of the shopping trip was a demonstration of the physics of momentum.  I continued to play Sunless Skies off and on, which has a good Victorian era captain vibe with a Lovecraft twist.  I also finally finished the PIPBoy3000 software, which I'm hoping to show dad tonight.

Work has been full of installs, which have assorted issues that I managed to MacGyver my way through.  I didn't get to work on my cool UI component I've been itching to get to.  Maybe tomorrow.

PIPBoy3000

April 29, 2019 by Adam in Adam's Projects

Over the last few months, dad decided to make a PIPBoy3000.  It's a key piece of equipment in the Fallout games, a little computer you wear on your wrist to interact with various systems - your inventory, a map, the radio, healing yourself, and so on.  With his new 3D printer, dad made an amazing piece of kit, with various parts that light up, dials that turn, a holotape you can insert and eject.  It was incredible.

After he handed it over to me a few weeks ago, I felt obligated to do something meaningful with it.  There's an official PIPBoy3000 app, but it's stuck in demo mode if you don't have the game running and it doesn't do much other than look pretty.

I broke out my web development skills and made my first Ionic app, which can easily be published to a phone.  It's running a little constantly-updating app with a news feed, current weather, and clock.  Of course, it also looks cool with a flickering green screen.  Anything else wouldn't do the hardware justice.

The Bat is Back

April 27, 2019 by Adam in Family

The bat returned last night.  Emma and I were watching the Fifth Element and heard some scratching.  There was a quirky sense of fun as Sam, Joanna, and I ran around the house holding blankets, eventually shepherding the bat out the kitchen door.  I suspect it would grow old fast, though I'm hoping that the masonry people coming shortly will take care of the cracks in the chimney.  Theoretically they can put in a one-way exit and we'll put up a bat box next to it.

The week has been pretty typical.  Spring is in the air, with pink blossoms on the dogwood and cherry trees, along with allergies that come with it.  Ben had a rough first part of the week, though they've been better since then.  I had dinner with dad and coffee with mom.  I helped with the first install of our latest release, which after some excitement got installed okay.

Joanna took Duncan and Ben to Showcase Roosevelt last night.  Sam and Emma are going to hang out with Jamie a little today.  Joanna has bravely offered to go to Costco.  I think I'll hold down the fort and maybe mow the lawn.

Easter Weekend

April 22, 2019 by Adam in Family

I had a long, three day weekend, which was very much needed.  I perked right up after returning to the valley, with symptoms of high altitude sickness fading by the day after my return.  I went to have breakfast with Dave and Glen, my old coworkers from the PeaceHealth days.  It was a treat catching up and listening to their lives.  I always think of those two as my view of the future - they kept talking about their kids and grandkids, so presumably that's what I'll be doing for the next couple decades.

The rest of the weekend was generally pleasant.  I picked Emma up after cleaning my car Saturday morning.  Joanna and Benny worked on pruning trees after our winter storm.  Emma was in a cleaning mood, so we cleaned out the refrigerator.  The day wrapped up with Mythbusters Jr. and pizza, followed by a quick Jackbox game.

Sunday had Joanna and the little kids going to church in the morning while Emma swept me up in a spring cleaning frenzy.  We cleaned the fireplace mantle, boiling away wax from the candle sticks and using tarnish remover on the silver bases.  Later we moved to the mold on the bathroom ceiling, the side table in the dining room, and eventually wore ourselves out.

Joanna did a great easter egg hunt for the kids.  My favorite part was the jokes she'd put inside in addition to the usual candy.  We sat around the front yard, eating candy, reading jokes, and generally enjoying our company.  It was a highlight of the weekend.

We ended up having all the kids, Skye, and my mom for Easter dinner.  It's starting to feel like the end of an era is upon us and these moments will become increasingly rare.  We chatted and laughed and I hope those memories last a long while.

Home Again

April 19, 2019 by Adam in Family

I'm back home, which is a lovely place to be.

This trip was physically rough on me - I suffered through headaches and threw up, though mostly recovering through the days.  The work events themselves were fine, a mix of bug fixing for a release, talking about team changes, saying farewell to Chris and Wade, and the occasional team bonding exercise.

We all went to a painting place, making mountains and happy trees on canvas.  Emma excitedly took it off my hands when I arrived home and proudly hung it in her room.  Afterwards we went to a place called Prohibition, which is modeled after a speak easy with the main room behind a secret door in a bookcase and the staff dressed in period costumes.  It was a good time.

I also got to see my old friends Maggie and Cory, chatting about their lives and work and technology.  I think Health Catalyst wants to lure Cory back as he's so darn talented.  It was also a little sad saying farewell to Chris, who was my one gaming buddy at Health Catalyst.  He was my kind of nerd.

As for today, I'm having breakfast with Glen and Dave - it's apparently keep-in-touch-with-ex-coworkers week.  Joanna and I are doing some sort of date night tonight.  Since I have the day off work, I'm hoping the two of us can go for a walk together sometime.   I also started playing Sunless Skies, realizing it's essentially the game that I was wanting to make myself.

We'll see if the weather holds this weekend.  My only real plans are to unpack after the trip and hang out with family.  Maybe we can have some outdoor expeditions too.

Twelve!

April 16, 2019 by Adam in Ben

Ben turned twelve. They had a bunch of friends over for a Star Trek themed sleepover. It was a mix of watching the show, playing pretend, and playing board games. I brought croissants down in the morning and they seemed well behaved.

They had a good selection of crafty and dressy presents. I'm glad they liked the uv resin I got them - they were making jewelry all Sunday.

Salt Lake City

April 16, 2019 by Adam in Family

Just landed. Up at 3:45, driving to work now. Other than spilling my tea, all went well.

It was a good weekend. Ben's birthday was a success. Emma and I went with Mom to the ballet. I must be getting older as I genuinely enjoyed it. Sam and Skye came for sushi dinner, which was a good time.

Weekend Already

April 13, 2019 by Adam in Family

Benny's birthday is tomorrow and Joanna is working hard to get the Star Trek themed event ready to go.  The weekend already feels pretty busy, with lots of little projects on my to do list.  The worst I finished yesterday, cleaning out the sewage ejector pump.  It was exactly as horrible as you might imagine, and I've set a recurring calendar item to do it every quarter.  I think the clay comes in through the back drain and gums everything up, causing various small floods.  It's super annoying.

Work moved along at a fratic pace towards the end of the week.  We were getting everything ready for a possible release next week.  I'm also heading back to Salt Lake City, hopefully seeing my ex-coworkers Cory and Maggie for dinner one night.  Wade also gave his notice, so we're getting down to a small crew until we get some new hires.

I also discovered a newfound talent on Thursday.  Emma and I were cooking and Emma kept challenging me to make jokes on a particular topic.  So Emma would say "Peanut" for a topic.  I'd respond "What do you call a urology enthusiast?"  It was a good time.

Rainy Monday

April 08, 2019 by Adam in Family

The dreary weather continues. The flowers all seem to like it, but it makes going outside a little challenging.

Emma and I played through most of the Humble Monthly games, though nothing jumped out at us as things we'll play long-term.  I finished the Uncharted PS4 games, the last of which was excellent. 

Saturday was pretty low-key, with pizza and Our Planet rounding out the day.  Sunday started with a hearty breakfast.  Duncan and Ben had haircuts.  I walked down to 16 Tons through the rain with the older kids and we had a good time playing games. 

Eventually everyone arrived for family dinner, which I somehow managed to mostly cook while Joanna went food shopping.  Later I stuck Jenny in VR and made her play Beat Saber.  It was great fun.

Mocha Friday

April 05, 2019 by Adam in Family

I had a dream last night where I told a joke and it was so funny that I woke up.  The punchline was something like "the kids are so hungry they're drawing pictures of fruits and vegetables!"  I think you had to be there, as the kids didn't find it so funny at the breakfast table this morning.

It's been a generally okay week, if a little wet and stormy.  Joanna's had headaches quite a bit, which is a little worrisome.  At the same time, the kids have been generally doing well.  Emma's grades came in with all A's and two A+'s.  Sam's been having fun helping mom digitize old media.  I had a nice cup of tea with mom on Wednesday. 

Last night I hung out with Sam and Emma a fair amount.  Emma and I cooked a tasty tostada dinner.  Sam advised me as I played Victoria II and took parts of Africa while battling the Ottomans.  It was all very exciting.

As for this weekend, I'm not sure there's anything too exciting going on.  My enthusiasm to clean the basement is waning with this dreary weather.

Fake Night

April 03, 2019 by Adam in Family

Ben's been having a hard time with us going off for our usual date night, so Joanna's been calling our outings "Fake Night" instead.  I'll get take out and we'll go hide out in the shed and chat, after putting on the mood lighting Christmas lights of course.  

In general, though, life is doing okay.  The kids seem okay in their new classes.  Ben likes drama and was practicing their Puck lines.  Duncan ran into a wall in PE, but otherwise is intact.  Emma's new classes seem okay so far - I'll grill her in more detail tomorrow.

It was nice seeing dad Monday.  He seems a little better, mostly due to getting better medication for his leg.  We chatted about all our usual topics until he had to return home.

It's been a little wet this week, but the spring weather still makes me cheerful.  Work's going well, trying to get ready for a release.  Mostly I'm finding bugs in other people's code today after fixing a bunch of bugs yesterday.  I'm just excited that I get to wake up each morning and write a bunch of code.

End of Spring Break

April 01, 2019 by Adam in Family

It's the end of spring break.  Kids go to school tomorrow.  The coast was fun - hanging out with dad, boating around the bay, and wandering around the beach.  This weekend we had pizza and Mythbusters with Sam and Skye, Joanna and I gardened, and Emma and I walked to 16 Tons for coffee and card games.

Hopefully all the kids do okay at school tomorrow.