Beard Removal

November 30, 2020 by Adam in Adam

The cat woke me up Sunday morning, followed by my week-old facial hair keeping me from getting back to sleep.   That was the last straw and I promised Emma she could shave off my beard in ever-amusing shapes.  First was goatee and chops, then a simple goatee, then a series of moustaches.  Joanna thought the goatee was acceptable, but promised she'd shave off any moustache in my sleep.  Based on my inability to sleep, I'm not sure I'll have facial hair returning any time soon.

Thanksgiving Weekend

November 28, 2020 by Adam in Family

Thanksgiving has come and gone, with various distant get togethers with family.  I picked up Emma Thursday in exchange for sweet potato casserole.  Joanna and I dropped more off to John and Yayoe that afternoon.  I dropped off the same to my mom and Seraph yesterday, along with pumpkin tarts Ben made and chocolate candies Emma and Jamie made.

Thanksgiving itself was pretty quiet - Joanna and I made a tofu based thing filled with stuffing.  Ben made pumpkin pie, which was delicious.  Emma and I chatted with the birthday boy, which was deeply satisfying.

Since then has been a mix of hanging out and doing chores.  Garden beds were put in place.  We've all been enjoing being annoying geese with the Untitled Goose Game.  I finished another book - This Is How You Lose the Time War - and have another waiting for me at the library.

Today was an informal family reunion of the Miller side of the family - my dad, his cousins, and their kids.  It was nice to catch up with people I see every few decades, along with people like dad, Ana, and Danica that I hadn't said hello to yet for Thanksgiving.

Hopefully the weekend has more of the same.  I'm weirdly growing out a beard - we'll see how long it lasts.

No Work Monday

November 23, 2020 by Adam in Family

While it's technically the first day of vacation, part of a mandated no work week, I managed to wear myself out to the point where I want to take painkillers and have a nice nap.  Joanna picked up some new garden beds to replace our rotting old ones, so she and I have been working on that.  The hard part for me was moving wheelbarrows full of concrete blocks.  They're to raise the beds up above the tangle of roots that took over our beds from nearby trees.  Unfortunately moving them has been one of those epic workouts I don't get very often.

Seraph is coming over in an hour to help move the beds, though I think I'll get as far as getting them into place and hold off on the rest until tomorrow.  I've got weed blocker to put inside, along with lots of dirt to move.  Hopefully the veggies we get next year are worth all this effort.

Otherwise we've been hanging out, watching shows, playing games, and generally taking it easy.  That's the mantra for this dark pandemic winter, which otherwise has been pretty isolated and rough on all the kids.  The cute kitties do help.

Hunkering Down Again

November 20, 2020 by Adam in Family

It feels like it's time to hunker down again, as the virus rates increase and the presidential term draws to an end.  None of the kids are doing well at the moment - I keep holding up spring as the time when things will start returning to normal.  With the vaccine news lately, I think there's a good chance it's true.  Still, we're all looking for stopgap ways to keep our spirits up until then.  Joanna confessed that she bought herself two advent calendars - one with tea and another with jam.

As for me, I keep up my routines of work, running, and shows in the evening, with weekends filled with hanging out with kids.  In between I have chores and occasional video games.  For date night, Joanna and I did a fun video game puzzle game for two, feeling very satisfied that we figured it out by the end of the date.  These small things keep me going.

Still Alive

November 15, 2020 by Adam in Family

The weekend is over. I'm watching the Great British Baking Show with the family. I'm a little frazzled, ready to return to the routine of work.

Saturday was full of errands. Emma and I went to the library. I returned some phenomenally late books and picked up some on hold. One was so good I read it in one sitting, very proud of myself afterwards. It was nice being back in the library. Even the little brass statues had masks.

I made pizza dough in the afternoon, a little extra going into a couple calzone. The evening ended with pizza and science.

Today began with waffles, bacon, veggie sausages, fruit, and mocha. Next up was replacing smoke alarms. Joanna got some fancy ones that speak the room name. They were neat but took awhile to set up. The afternoon was helping with homework, helping Emma cook dinner, and finally having a quiet moment.

Mocha Friday

November 13, 2020 by Adam in Family

It's starting to feel like this pandemic has an end date, though it's months away and we have a hard winter to get through first.  Hardships with a clear ending are easier to endure.

We continue to hunker down as the winter rains come.  Yesterday Ben and Duncan tromped down to Safeway to buy a goodie for themselves.  Joanna made the mistake of giving them a twenty, so they came bag with a box of brownies, doughnut holes, and a bag of apples.  I suspect everyone learned a lesson in there.

Everyone in the world seems frayed around the edges these days.  I try hard to be kind to the people around me and I hope I express how much I appreciate everyone in my life.

My mocha is finished and I've got a fun work project to wrap up.  Apparently in a recent earnings call our product was named as something that saved people twenty million dollars, so that's always nice to hear.  

This weekend looks like a repeat of hanging out with kids and doing a few small projects.  I'd like to get ready for the upcoming holidays.  Emma and I have a bunch of soap to cut into pieces.  Making soap was strangely satisfying and I'm excited to finish it up.

Veteran's Day

November 11, 2020 by Adam in Family

Emma and I were chatting last night and she requested a picture of Data to tide her over.  Ben had wrapped him up like a burrito, so I took the shot and sent it along.  The kitties sure have kept us company during this pandemic, mischevious but full of cuteness.

Work was fun yesterday, my health check project coming together relatively well.  It's a little light on details, so I'm making up the specifications as I go.

Seraph came over to help Duncan with homework, which was great.  It also happened to be her birthday, so I snuck in some soap we made into the gift bag Joanna had already organized.  It was great chatting with her over the weekend - having family around sure is a treat.

As for today, Emma's coming over to hang out for the day.  My prediction is plenty of video games and maybe a little work on my space game.  I suppose I should ponder breakfast soon.  We're all hanging in there.

A Happy Family

November 11, 2020 by Adam in Adam's Games

I've been playing Hades more than I'd like to admit lately.  I was doing a usual run, getting ready to fight the final boss, my father, for the countless time.  Weirdly he says his heart isn't into it and steps aside.  Soon afterward, I'm reuniting the family and the ending credits roll.

I think there are plenty of things to do after this, and I'll likely play a little more, but it was satisfying and I suspect I may start winding down my play time.  Maybe tomorrow.

Chilly Days

November 09, 2020 by Adam in Family

There was some good vacciene news today, which gave me a little hope that things would start returning to normal next year.  Joanna invited Seraph over for tea, which was a rare social event in an otherwise insular life of zoom calls and masked interactions with grocery store workers.

We had a generally pleasant weekend of shows, video games, and hanging out.  Emma and I did a fair bit of gardening, trimming back roses and other plans in preparation for the cold, wet days of winter.  I pointed Emma in the direction of a high-fantasy nautical game, which she's enjoying greatly.  Ben had a friend over, which I think was good for both of them.  I heard Duncan playing games with friends and laughing, which is always nice to hear.  Hopefully we all survive until spring.

Mocha Friday

November 06, 2020 by Adam in Family

Well, it looks like we have a likely president, which helps reduce my overall stress levels.  The week has been relatively uneventful other than checking the news every ten minutes.  Joanna took Ben to Portland after a funny test result - it turns out all was fine.  Work has been fine - lots of security related work at the moment.  Joanna and I had a nice takeout and puzzle date.  I keep playing Hades in my spare time, which I've gotten surprisingly good at and enjoy the Greek mythology setting.

All the holidays are up in the air, with lots of uncertainty as to what everyone's plans are as the COVID-19 rates keep going up.  I have a funny feeling that we'll just hang out at home and video chat with people.

As always, I'm looking forward to the weekend, hanging out with kids, playing video games, watching shows, and generally taking it easy.

Election Day

November 03, 2020 by Adam in Family

The governor put the national guard on standby, and it sounds like the Red Cross is preparing of civil unrest.  We voted weeks ago, so there's nothing much for us to do anymore except watch and try to remain calm.  At least the outside world is beautiful these days, warm with a range of colors in the trees.

The rest of the weekend had its ups and downs.  Duncan had a rough time getting homework accomplished.  Hopefully my boring parent powers helped get things back on course.  Ben, Emma, and I had a great walk around Hendrick's park, which was lovely.  I could use more nature in my life.

Halloween in the time of Pandemic

November 01, 2020 by Adam in Family

With the kids' help, we threw together a last minute Halloween of sorts.  The kids all requested their favorite candies and we got some for the neighborhood.  Pumpkins were carved and a bowl of candy was set out for trick or treaters.  We ended up getting just a couple, along with a cat that came by.  Joanna set up one of our cameras so she could look at the costumes.