Back from Salt Lake City

April 28, 2017 by Adam in Family

I'm back in town, feeling much more chipper this morning compared to my tired self of last night.  The altitude and difficulty sleeping made it a somewhat more challenging trip than last time it seems.

The trip out went pretty well - I took a direct flight with my boss Dorian who happens to be an old friend from my PeaceHealth days.  We Ubered to our hotel and met up with another old friend Jayson who happened to be in town.  We were joined with Andy and Jonathan and caught up over dinner.

Tuesday was morning meetings and team building exercises out at a park.  I won second place for moving ping-pong balls from one bowl to another using a spoon held in my mouth.  Mostly I learned that Andy is a scoundrel, interpreting the games' rules in creative ways.

Wednesday was more meetings, doing things like looking at Spotify's team structure.  Leadership and other teams came and chatted with us, in a semi-casual sort of Health Catalyst way.  That night we all went out to dinner at a fancy restaraunt - good food, if a little pretentious.

Yesterday I came in a worked, with Wade and Cory working from home that day.  Jonathan showed me how to do some things and I felt pretty productive.  It's cool when a process I've worked on for over a week finally shows up on the web page looking like a real thing.  That afternoon we headed to the airport for the long flight back.  There was a short delay, I got bumped to Premium and a little extra leg room, and I stumbled home around seven.

It was great seeing everyone again, though I was really wiped out.  Duncan showed me the video he was working on in class.  Emma showed me her story ideas for a school project.  Berry gave me a big squeeze.  Sam and Isa chatted away about coding with me.  Joanna looked glad to have another parent around the house again.

I was told to work half a day today, though I think I've got some sprint planning to do.  I might take the girls to school and stop by for a mocha on the way home.  Sam has to give some money to the U of O by the end of the day, and I think he's going to finish his long delayed senior project which is required for graduation.  Tonight Joanna is off for a speaking panel at Unity.  I'll probably get kids to bed and settle in.  Hopefully this weekend I can get settled in and help with house projects.

It's nice to be home.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

April 24, 2017 by Adam in Family

I'm mostly packed and ready to go to Salt Lake City today.  Hopefully things go smoothly - it'll be nice to chat with everyone, though I'm admittedly getting to the point where I want to do the work and part of me sees this as an interruption.  Plus I'll miss the kids.  Glad I'm coming home at a reasonable hour on Thursday.

Friday night Joanna and I went to a fundraiser for Charlemagne.  Joanna was showing off her cider and hand-knitted stocking for bidding.  The music was a bit lound and they packed us in pretty tightly.  It was nice to sit out in the lobby and chat with Joanna, especially during the part where the marching band showed up.

Joanna, Duncan, and Emma were all off on Saturday.  It was relatively quiet.  I managed a mix of house work and fiddling with computer projects.  The lawns were mowed.  Eventually I told Berry to put clothes on and get off Netflix and the three of us fetched Isa.  Later we went on a walk to get Sam's hair cut, stopping by a little art gallery along the way (like a little free library but with art).  Berry painted a cupcake on the provided tiny canvas.

Joanna and Duncan returned for pizza and science.  She had a good time at her writers' conference and her back is slowly improving.  It's glad to see her mostly back to normal.

Sunday had a Berry soccer game and Duncan had a play date, so it was mostly Sam, Emma, Isa and I.  We played DnD, which Sam had been excited to DM all week.  The day wrapped up with a big Sunday dinner with my mom.  It was nice to see her and chat.

Mocha Friday

April 21, 2017 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat challenging week.  Joanna visited the chiropractor on Tuesday and ended up hurting her back.  I've been running kids to school, enlisting Sam to help cook meals, and generally helping out.  Kudos to mom for helping take people places as well.

Otherwise life keeps moving forward.  Work is challenging and interesting.  I'm headed to Salt Lake City next week, though I have my usual angsty feeling that it'll interrupt getting the work done.

Joanna and Duncan theoretically go to Portland tomorrow and Emma is off to Corvallis.  We'll see if Berry, Sam, and Isa want to go hiking or bike riding or something.

Easter Come and Gone

April 17, 2017 by Adam in Family

We had a pleasant three day weekend.  We celebrated Berry's birthday on Friday as I ran around on my day off to various places.  Berry's birthday parties went well - she liked her presents and everyone was worn out by lazer tag.  I got really tired at the end of the day, though fortunately my mom was around to pick up Isa.

Saturday was dad's surgery, which went well.  Jenny reports that he's in good spirits, but tired of jello already.  Sam ran a D&D campaign for Emma, Isa, and I with Lego characters, which was fun.  I think Sam's been accepted at the U of O - they keep sending post cards.  More things to sort out.

Duncan was a social butterfly this weekend, with a sleepover and friends coming to visit.  I think he was the only kid who got a reasonable amount of sleep as he seemed coherent when I picked him up.

Easter Sunday involved a lot of egg hiding after a hearty breakfast of french toast, sausages, bacon, and mocha.  Emma and I played a little Divinity.  I worked on my little Unity game, getting a computer bootup sequence just right.  Joanna whipped up a big Easter dinner.

Mocha Friday & Berry Birthday

April 14, 2017 by Adam in Family

We wished Berry a happy birthday, though the festivities will continue throughout the day.  Health Catalyst is giving me the day off, which makes for a pleasant day.  I helped take Berry and Emma to school, went shopping with Joanna at Target, and picked up eggs from Pam at PeaceHealth.

Dad's in surgery at the moment, which makes us all a little nervous.  Hopefully he'll be done soon and then Jenny and I can go visit.  We might be keeping an eye on him tomorrow when he recovers and Jenny is out at a concert.

Other than Berry's birthday, things are relatively quiet this weekend.  I'm puttering on my computer today, working on a game project.  Joanna is reading on the coach.  Life's good.

Tuesday Already

April 12, 2017 by Adam in Family

The weekend has come and gone.  It was pleasant and fun and generally lazy.  We had some breaks in the weather and went for a walk through the neighborhood to fetch chicken eggs.  Spring is sneaking up on us - I'm really enjoying working from home and being close to the rain and growing things.

Joanna and the kids generally seem to be doing well.  Work continues to be fun, if very technical and specific at times.  Lots of things to learn still.

Mocha Friday

April 08, 2017 by Adam in Family

My mocha is long gone - I fixed it for myself this morning and headed out to the shed to code away.  I continue to enjoy what I do, which seems to be arcane and technical things - logging, Telemetry, and error notification today.  Hopefully next week I get to work on some more application-specific things.

We mostly survived the windstorm from last night, despite it waking people up with banging and roaring.  It's been occasionally nice, in between the torrent of rain.

No exciting weekend plans.  We're all being pretty lazy tonight.  I picked up Emma from school, which I think will be an every-other Friday afternoon thing. It's nice to be in this part of town.

Wednesday Already

April 05, 2017 by Adam in Family

School has started up again, with Sam in his final term before graduation.  I'm crossing my fingers, hoping he makes it to the finish line.  The other kids seem to have settled back into the routine relatively well.  Duncan has a couple new electives - a class where he just reads and another where he makes movies.  He likes them both, so it should be fun for him.

I've been writing tests the last few days at work.  It's vaguely interesting, and sometimes challenging.  I think I'll switch to logging and telemetry today.

Easter

April 03, 2017 by Adam in Family

It was great seeing everyone the last few days.  We continued to wander over to my mom's house to cook, chat, and hang out.  Eventually a horde of people arrived latest Saturday and we ate good food and chatted until it was time to head home.

Yesterday was very much a hang out and relax day.  There was a brief trip to my mom's house with Emma and Berry to see Isa while the older crowd talked about inheritance stuff.  Sam spent most of the day playing video games - his muscles were still sore from helping (his) Isa and her mom move.  We did manage a short trip to Down to Earth.  Joanna and I played in the garden, setting up cloches to keep tomatoes warm and planting peas.

I finished Wolfenstein: Old Blood somewhere in there and got pretty far in the new Torment game.  Emma and I continue to play Divinity, slowly working our way to the end.

I'm back to work momentarily, which I'm strangely looking forward to.  We're starting a new sprint, and I'm curious as to what work has been assigned to me.