One Does Not Simply Walk into Mordor

May 04, 2026 by Adam in Family

It was the first weekend without Yvonne and Emma around and I can tell that I'm still adjusting.  I managed some practical errands in the morning on Saturday.  Saturday afternoon Jo and I went out to the farm to plant our Christmas tree, a couple smaller trees, and start to set up a watering system.  It was rough work for just a handful of trees.  I felt fairly despondent looking at brambles taking over and many of the trees I planted dying or being overgrown.  Still, it was nice to sit there and watch the hawks circling around.  Emma tries to remind me that it's all nature.

I finished playing Dispatch, which was a short but fun experience.  Slay the Spire 2 keeps pulling me back.  I'm also still building out an elaborate Traveller RPG web app where players can control their aspect of running the ship, send messages to and from each other, and so on.  It's fun do make, even if I never end up playing it with someone.

Late Sunday I went over to Jason's house and we played this elaborate co-op Lord of the Rings game.  We were learning the rules and after four hours we finally lost.  There were all these things we missed and if we ever play again I think we could probably win.  It was incredible how often we snatched victory from an inevitable defeat and we replayed a few times due to a rule we missed, but it was fun hanging out and playing.  BJ and Bridget played too, so I got to catch up with old friends while moving little game pieces around.

Mayday

May 01, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's May first - International Worker's Day.  I feel busier than ever.  I'm leading a bug bash in less than an hour.  I was asked to do a presentation in our monthly demos later this morning.  I've got features I need to look at and projects to keep moving forward.  Maybe I'll try and take it easier this afternoon.  It's also a celebration for the old Traveller RPG that I grew up loving, due to the "Mayday" blurb on the back of the original boxed set.  I've been vibe coding an elaborate system for running a Traveller space trucker RPG.  I managed to get ChatGPT to make some beautiful retro-scifi images for portraits and such.  Even if I never play it, I've been having fun putting it together.

Our wayward travellers continue their adventures.  Emma just left Niagra Falls and should make it to Sadie's later today.  The trip has gone well, and Francis has been super, though I think a week of driving has been exhausting.  Yvonne called, asking for her passport to be mailed.  She's trying to get her driver's permit so she can learn to drive and get an EMT job.  In the meantime she's hanging out on her dad's farm doing farm stuff.  It's great that everyone is doing okay and figuring things out.

The farm house project is slowly coming along, though the list of things seems endless.  Took my mom out to see about a septic tank hookup and other things with a local contractor.  I think tomorrow I'll go out to clean up some garbage and plant our Christmas tree.

I'm getting together with Jason to play board games on Sunday.  Really excited to unwind for a little and hang out with a friend.

Kids on Adventures

April 27, 2026 by Adam in Family

Emma and Francis left Idaho this morning, heading ever Eastward.  The trip went well, listening to The Magnus Archives and driving through the Columbia Gorge.

I continue to adjust to outnumbering the kids at home.  Saturday morning started with an impromptu early birthday event - candles stuck in a Metropol scone and a few presents in colorful bags.  I hung out with Emma, chilling out as she loaded up her mp3 player with podcasts and figured out how to connect it to her new bluetooth speaker.  Hopefully she'll be technologically prepared for the journey ahead.

The rest of the weekend was a mix of projects, visits, and computer games.  Jo and I did a bunch of gardening, moving plants and making room for squash.  I disassembled the broken bench that came with the house, removing rusty bolts and spray painting the iron black.  I ordered new contacts, a slightly more powerful version that means I can read books again at the cost of needing things a little closer.

I helped mom with her printer and we chatted about the farm.  I gave the thumbs up the the farm house electrical work.  Still need to sort out a plumber, but hopefully we're on the right track.

One of the coolest things I did this weekend was hike to the top of Pisgah with the oldest son.  He chatted about work as we moved up the mountain at a rapid rate.  I certainly felt my muscles for the rest of the day, though I feel pretty good today.  The view was beautiful and we could see all the way out to the cascade mountains.

One Kid Away

April 24, 2026 by Adam in Family

Jo dropped Yvonne off at the airport this morning, starting her journey to the East coast.  I think all is well, despite a little kerfuffle earlier this week.  Yvonne got the date wrong and didn't discover it until a half hour up the road.  It all worked out and was hopefully one of those adulting educational moments.

I managed to chat with family quite a bit this week - tea with mom on Wednesday, tea with Yayoe on Thursday, and chatting with Jenny last night.  The big news is that Jenny passed her boards and is certified to administer injections - she's been really stressed about it and really pushed herself to get it done.  She kept talking about how much she appreciated everyone's help - dad, Seraph, mom, and her instructor.  It was cool to catch up.

Tomorrow is Emma's last full day in town.  I don't know if we have any plans other than final preparations and some early birthday present exchanges.  I imagine she'll want to get her Data time in.  Last I checked she'd planned her route, booked her rooms, and probably has a bunch of playlists ready to go.

It's another big milestone in life.  I feel like I'm generally handling things okay - talking about my feelings, connecting with people that are important to me, and working through things that come up.  It helps that I'm excited for the kids as they figure out their next steps.  I need to find ways to fill my time, but between getting to my endless backlog of projects and hanging out with other people in my life, I think I'll be okay.

Trip Preparations

April 20, 2026 by Adam in Family

Emma arrived Friday afternoon and I pried myself away from my work computer and AI agents, though I admittedly kept going back to checking on them.  They're like brilliant, easily distracted children, often getting off task to chase down weird unrelated things.  Now I'm back at it again this morning.

Emma and I chatted about possible trips, things to see along the way, and worked on a list of things to accomplish that Saturday.   Jo went off to take a class in writing screenplays.  Emma and I hit up thrift stores and book stores, returning with assorted necessities such as a map.  That afternoon we washed both our cars, made sure her spare tire was full of air, and that she had a tire iron.  She wandered off to take care of a friend's dog - mostly petting him while they both watched tv - and I played around with a new game generation thing.  The night wrapped up with a final anime night with Duncan and Yvonne, watching more wacky Death Note, though it'll be on hiatus for a long while.

Sunday morning I fed everyone crepes, fruit, and way too much whip cream.  We puttered around until after lunch before Emma, Yvonne, and I headed over to visit Yayoe and John for a couple hours.  It was a treat catching up as we haven't seen them in a long while.  Eventually we headed home and Emma and Yvonne had a final "I won't be seeing you in a long while" hug.  It was sad and sweeet and the start of many farewells.

I helped Jo in the garden, putting flowers in the ground while they worked on the balcony irrigation.  Hopefully I can join in on their fun projects as these kids head out on their adventures. 

Mocha Friday

April 17, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's cold in my shed this morning - I unplugged the heater while getting the new air conditioner installed and I'm having to bundle up as I type away.  Jo and I managed to get the AC installed.  My shed is such a tiny space packed with a bed, desk, and chair, that I had to take a couple slats out of the side of the day bed in order to make room for the AC unit.  Still, the new AC unit is much quieter and leaves most of the window unblocked.  It should keep the room brighter and I can leave it running on hot days while I'm doing a work meeting.

Life changes keep coming.  Yvonne got her EMT license in the mail yesterday and is headed to Portland with Jo next Wednesday to catch a flight to DC.  Emma's in full trip planning mode as she plans on hitting the road with Francis on the 26th, a little over a week.  They both plan on coming back - Emma in six months and Yvonne in a few weeks. There's no turning their bedrooms into a new craft room or hot yoga studio just yet.  There seems to be a good chance Yvonne moves to Rochester after lining up work.  Jo and I are talking through what our new life and schedule will look like.

There's little things, like figuring out Delta Green.  And bigger things like how I spend my weekends with Emma and Yvonne away.  I've got people I want to connect with and house projects I want to accomplish.  It does feel like I'm moving into a new phase of my life.

As for this weekend, I'm mostly focused on helping Emma get ready.  I'll be helping her with the bank, getting a portable DVD player, some new overalls, and talking through the journey.  This is her last full weekend before she hits the road.

Changes

April 15, 2026 by Adam in Family

I took yesterday afternoon off, taking Yvonne to see Project Hail Mary for her birthday.  It was really well done and it's a treat to see great scifi movies these days.  I helped mom with some printer issues (or at least explained why I can't get the old printer on the new network).  Then it was home to dinner to wrap the last present and get things ready to go.  The birthday dinner went well - takeout and cake with candles - along with a big pile of shiny presents.  

I keep having these "is this the last time?" feelings every time we do things.  Yvonne's plan is to head to DC in about a week to help her dad teach a class, then staying in Rochester for awhile to look for work and check out the town.  If she can get a job lined up, which seems likely as her dad is in the business, then she'll pack things up and head to Rochester to live.

Emma also let me know that she's taking the farm job in Massachusetts until October.  The plan is for her and Jamie to drive across the country next month, stay with Sadie, work at Upinngil farm, and come home in the Fall.  I'm excited for her - she's been wanting to have an adventure for awhile.  As Emma and I hangout on the weekends, it'll be a big change for me.

One of the constants of my life has been to periodically reinvent myself.  We'll see what I do with my time now that the kids are all starting to wander off and do their own things.  It's sad and exciting and strange all at the same time, which is probably pretty normal.

Monday, Monday

April 13, 2026 by Adam in Family

I worked too hard over the weekend, going back and forth with the people applying my database fixes to the customer.  My Friday afternoon rewrite had a copy/paste bug which the validation script caught.  Then the numbers changed slightly from what was expected.  Then I had a director who wanted to play with one of my vibe coded apps but I kept running into problems.  Basically I kept working off and on all Sunday and felt more worn out at the end of the weekend than when I started.

There were highlights - Saturday was a whirlwind of Oregon Art Supply, the library, breaking for lunch, then back to the book sale at the Fairgrounds that afternoon.  Sunday morning Yvonne, Emma and I went to the picadilly market to look for treasures.  Yvonne got the biggest haul with a military duffel bag, canteen, and a bunch of knives.  Emma and I just browsed and people watched.

I'm feeling a little out of sorts this morning.  Maybe I need to take a little time off to unwind my brain.  Or maybe it's just that I'm passing through a time of changes and will come out the other side okay but somehow transformed.  Hopefully I get an extra hand or something cool.

Mocha Friday

April 10, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm enjoying the springtime weather - sunny days, blooming flowers, and wearing shorts.  It also made me finally pick out an air conditioner for my shed - hopefully the one I picked will fit my tiny window while being quiet enough to run it while I'm in a work meeting.  The old one was way too loud.

Work goes well.  I did a weird little "meteor defense thingie" as a learning experience so I could figure out some new reporting tools.  It apparently made a splash and the video was shown around as an example of things thing can be done.  I was just trying to entertain myself.

The big news of the day is that Yvonne passed her EMT test.  It was very cool and to follow up she's off to get her driver's permit this afternoon.  I think her plan for the weeks ahead is to get driving practice under her belt, go to Rochester to check out job opportunities, then come home to pack up her room and relocate if it all works out.  We're understandably a mix of proud and wistful.  All these kids just keep getting older and having their own adventures.

I still have a bunch of farm house tasks I need to follow up on, but hopefully that can get settled soon. I built the last of the planter beds for the balcony - Jo's been moving plants around in preparation for the year's garden.

I've got a new game I'm building with AI that's turning out to be fairly entertaining - you play as a wizard in 13th century Europe, building your magical power and having adventures.  It's a card game of sorts, but more about combining cards and finding new cards.  I'll have Emma play with it and tell me if there's something worth continuing.

As for the weekend, the library has their big sale at the Fairgrounds.  We'll probably go to Oregon Art Supply and the library.  Hopefully I can finish Piranisi.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose

April 08, 2026 by Adam in Family

I remember having to learn "The more things change, the more they stay the same" in French for some reason long ago.  It's comforting in a way - I'm still going out to my little shed to work away.  The sun rises and sets.  Cats demand pets.

Work is keeping me busy - I spent all afternoon giving feedback on code, how work is going, how my leadership was doing, and so on.  I've got a broken customer I need to fix - I think I'll need to take more dramatic steps.  Hopefully I don't break anything.  

Trying to get the farm house project over the finish line has been stressful, but mom and I met with an electrician and a contractor who can help with the retaining wall, painting, plubing, and the rest of it.  Bids will come in and then we'll need to go to the bank to ask for more money.  It's all been a lot at times, but it'll be good to get this finalized and done with.

Yvonne has her EMT test tomorrow and driver's permit test on Friday.  Then it's her birthday and flying back east to visit her dad.  The plan is that she lines up some work, comes back to pack things up, and heads out to Rochester.  It feels like we're moving into that phase of our lives where we fly around visiting kids as they move around the country.

Oh - I forgot about last weekend!  We played Delta Green, which was great as usual.  Emma and I did a library run and generally hung out.  I made the mistake of getting Slay the Spire 2, which has been consuming my free time.  Emma helped me mail in my passport renewal - hopefully Canada likes my pictures this time around.

After peaking the first part of the week, I think my stress levels are settling down again.  It helps to cross things off the list, play some games, pet some cats, and be out in the sunshine.

On Call

April 03, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's been an on-call week for me at work, the first one since AI has taken over.  On the whole it's been great to turn things over to my horde of agents to perform investigations, comb through code and telemetry, and suggest fixes.  I've even managed to keep the momentum going on my real work, something I wasn't really able to do the last time I was on call.  AI isn't perfect and often draws incorrect conclusions, but I'm always asking it to clarify and dig deeper and it does so without complaining.

My various AI projects at home continue onward.  For some reason my space game veered into trying to make good looking 3D planets in the game.  I ended up falling into procedural generators and think I have a solution that mixes one with a step that enhances textures with AI.  I've sunk way too much time into this one feature, but I find I enjoy the journey of game development more than any particular destination.

The farm house project continues, with lots of details that need to be sorted out soon.  Mom and I need to pick some painters very soon, along with a bunch of last minute tasks.  I think insulation went up this week and drywall has either started or is starting soon.  A house should appear shortly.  

Tomorrow is Delta Green, the first in a long while.  I worry about starting an epic campaign and everyone's availability, but hopefully we can pull it off.  I've got so many props to hand out and crazy experiences to show these players - it would be a shame if they went through life without being horribly scarred by surreal horrors.

My mocha's gone and I've got agents to manage.  Signing off for now.

Workin' Hard

March 30, 2026 by Adam in Family

Yvonne, Emma, and I all worked hard over the weekend.  Saturday morning we took the loaded trailer to the dump and tossed a bunch of things into a giant pit.  The rest of the day was more leisurely - Emma and I went to the library, watched a couple Mythbuster episodes, and played more of the Curse of the Golden Idol puzzle game.  Sunday was the big day, driving out to the farm to sweep and clean the house and pick up as much debris as would fit.  We had some particle board and roofing material still left over, but we did a pretty good job getting things cleaned up and ready to go.

There are still a bunch of things to be done - electrical hookups, retaining walls, painters, and so on.  Still, it feels like things are on track and this house might be ready to be rented by summer, which would be cool.

Dad came over Sunday and chatted.  He and Yvonne had a good time talking about medical stuff.  I got to show him all my AI generated projects, with the Traveller one being the most impressive.  It's wild how quickly I can spin up a proof of concept and start iterating on things.  I've got my space trucker simulation somewhat functional, but it needs a lot of work to make it fun.  After that, layer some adventures on top of it so you're not just flying a ship between a couple planets to optimize your spreadsheets.

I'm on call this week, though it's quiet so far.  We'll see if I can manage to keep up the pace that I've been doing lately.  I feel like I'm burning through my to do list with the assistance of AI.  Reviewing changes and getting it approved is the slow part it seems.

Mocha Friday

March 27, 2026 by Adam in Family

I just finished my last gulp of my Friday Mocha, settling into work and seeing what my AI agents got up to after I left for the evening.  More and more my workflow involves coming up with a hopefully clear TODO list for my agents, let them do their thing, review their results, and revise and refine until it looks good enough.  I suspect that will end up being everyone's workflow at some point - we'll all become managers of agents and eventually machines they control.  It's a strange future and requires a big adjustment in how we get things done.  There are still things humans are good at, but I find myself doing more and different things when the cost of thinking becomes cheap.

I still have my Lovecraftian games that I'm playing with, but I also started developing a Traveller-style scifi game.  It's rough around the edges, but you can create a character and go on a short adventure with both shootouts and space battles.  The next step is to create a space trucker style game where the crew tries to keep their ship flying.  I think I'm mostly making games that I want to play myself.

On a more practical note, I'm using AI to read through all the paperwork I'm responsible as trustee for my parents' estates, as well as researching all the best practices and hopefully coming up with some checklists to make the inevitable experience less sucky.  Who doesn't love a good checklist in a crisis?

As for my real life, things are moving along.  Painters were called and mom and I met with the rental company to talk through priorities to get the house rentable by summer.  I think we're mostly on track.  Emma and Yvonne are pondering their next steps.  Hopefully the eldest kid is done moving and unpacking.  D&D starts up next week and Delta Green the next Saturday - looking forward to hanging out with everyone and rolling some dice.

How is it Wednesday?

March 25, 2026 by Adam in Family

Time keeps moving ahead in a blur.  I could probably get AI to write these blog posts, but it would probably add too many emojis and correct all my spelling errors.

Saturday morning was Call of Cthulhu with a small crowd as the eldest son couldn't make it due to moving.  Our brave 1920s adventurers fought off creatures from the sea and we wrapped things up relatively early.  It went well but I was exhausted from the site cleanup on Friday and just flopped around for the rest of the day.  I was a little more lively on Sunday.  Emma and I went to the library and thrifting.  Nothing too exciting.

I've got a bunch of projects in motion and it feels like Yvonne and Emma are planning their next steps in life.  I'm working with mom to line up painters and this afternoon we're meeting with the woman from the rental management company out at the farm.

I continue to have a great time getting AI to make games for me.  I spun up a more complete Lovecraftian Choose Your Own Adventure game that's almost ready to go.  I also have an open source Traveller style game I just started on.  I was telling Jo that I felt like a really lousy producer, stepping in to throw out some vibes and vague directions, then expect my AI agents to build out the plot and coding systems.  Periodically I show up and say "throw it all out and do this instead".  I'd make a terrible boss in the gaming industry.

Mocha Friday

March 20, 2026 by Adam in Family

I just finished my last gulp of that delicious elixir, the enthusiasm for the day trickling into my extremities.  My life in the AI apocalypse continues.  At work I built an imaginary laser defense planning system for meteor impacts.  It was mostly to learn some technologies I'll be working on but it was shocking how fast and fun it was.  At home I'm working away on my Nancy Drew Lovecraft mashup game.  It's currently generating Day 3 art content on its own.  I've got to do a human quality pass on the thing one of these days, but it's wild how easy it's been to build a full, complex roleplaying game.

And real life continues onward.  Yvonne finished her finals, waiting for the results.  They had a pretend mass casualty event the next day which she said was fun.  Duncan's done as well, so there's a brief lull before the next set of adventures.  Emma's hours are cutting back as the chocolate season wanes, but I think she's enjoying going home early and enjoying the sunshine.

There's a lot of farm house related excitement happing lately.  We met with Nathan with HiLine this week to give him a check and it looks like the house is going up fast.  We need to get painters sorted out really soon.  I think I'm on the hook for hauling garbage away.  It's a little stressful, but also very exciting to see this all finally come together.

I've loved the warm weather, wearing shorts, and seeing plants pop up this week.  The greenhouse is full of seedlings, flowers are popping up everywhere, and the blue skies seem to have woken up the entire town from their long winter nap.

Tomorrow is Delta Green!  We're doing it a little early so my oldest son can move in with his girlfriend that afternoon.  I'm excited to return to the surreal horror with my friends and family.  I'm sure it says something deep about what kind of person I am.

Hey Kiddo

March 18, 2026 by Adam in Family

I continue to be on an AI kick.  It's gotten really easy to have AI go do research, analyze huge amounts of information and make presentations on it.  I told it to make a "Hey Kiddo - How To Be Okay in the AI Revolution" page using information gathered from the Internet.  I made a dry version first, but I decided I needed a "cool dad" version instead.

Springtime

March 16, 2026 by Adam in Family

I didn't spend my entire weekend playing with AI agents.  Emma and I planted flowers, fixed the flagstones on the path to my shed, broke down some junky furniture to slowly feed into the garbage.  We had a nice walk around the neighborhood - I'm enjoying seeing the sun and going out without a jacket for a change.

I continue to fiddle with my Lovecraftian Nancy Drew game.  It's really impressive how much I can get copilot to do.  It can crank out prompts for images, music, and sound clips - sometimes even doing it all itself and getting the results integrated into the app.  It's not perfect - sometimes the results are a little weird - but it feels like there's a real game coming together.  I've been having copilot do the bug testing, so I've been giving more design advice instead of fixing broken things.  It makes building things way more fun.

Work's fine - slowly moving my current work forward while getting ready for the next things.  It feels like we're entering a phase of our lives where change is going to come quickly..

I Opened My Third Eye

March 13, 2026 by Adam in Family

I've been listening to the Dresden Files, where the main character is a wizard detective.  Jo was running an Open Mic at Wordcrafters, so I was on the couch under the kitties last night listening to the audiobook.  I fell asleep and woke up to the dramatic line "I opened my third eye".  Somehow it stuck with me, a funny reflection on my life with AI these last few weeks.

As I type this on an early Friday morning, I've got an AI agent building out my Lovecraftian Nancy Drew game.  I've given it an overall plot and some of the core systems are already there.  It won't be able to add art, music, and sound, though I've got some ideas for that as well.  It's doing the coding and dialog writing.  So far the results are rough around the edges, so I've told it to test things out and fix bugs it finds.

In another window I've got it working on making monster portraits for my D&D campaign.  I've got a really nice DM web page at this point, so I can display pictures and movies, play sound effects, get background music going, and so on.  I sometimes feel like a one man band with the drums and the kazoo but the end result is nice.

Work is in a similar state - I've got a bunch of work all queued up and ready for humans to review it, but that part is slow.  I still need to review the implementation plans and output, but AI makes quick work of the actual coding parts.  I've started asking it to do things that I usually didn't in the past as it took too much time - performing more in-depth analysis or testing out api calls systematically.  When coding is almost free, lots of things become possible.

As for the week and upcoming weekend, all is generally well.  It's finals week next week - Yvonne just needs to pass her class and then she can take the real test for her EMT certification.  Duncan's working on his final project this weekend.  Emma's been a little sick but hoping to get to work today.  I think this weekend will generally be chill - no roleplaying games or big activities.  We'll probably library and project and thrift through the weekend.  

Reconfiguring My Brain

March 09, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's been a weird couple weeks - I can feel my brain reconfiguring itself as the age of AI is upon us.  I'm juggling multiple AI agents, performing various tasks and helping them out when they get stuck or do something dumb.  It's such a strange way to work now and I'm still getting used to it.  I spent the weekend playing around with more ideas which you can read about in the project section.

I tried hard to do some real human things in between my AI fueled madness.  Emma came over Saturday after watching the Beetlejuice musical at the Hult Center.  Her big brother and cousin Jordan came over and we ran a Call of Cthulhu one-shot.  They had a great time, battling Lovecraftian horrors in the 1920s, using Tommy guns against zombies and running away from giant monsters.

Emma and I went for a little walk and stopped by my mom's house.  She wanted to show us Egert's tiny house he's been building, so we drove out and took a look.  It was pretty cool, and it was good for Emma to walk around in one to get a sense of what it would be like.

Sunday began with a hearty breakfast as usual - there's something magical about a day that starts with french toast with blueberries and a cafe mocha.  Emma went off thrifting with her brother.  Jo and I planted onion starts and cleaned the garden a bit.  I worked away on my various AI projects.  When Emma returned we headed to the library and I picked up a couple AI books.

I love how we're getting warmer weather with blue skies and flowers in bloom.  I wandered around in a short-sleeve shirt this weekend and it was lovely.

Tetris Effect

March 06, 2026 by Adam in Family

I've changed the way I do work.  Instead of typing out code myself, I've switched to working with AI agents to come up with an implementation plan together, then pass the plan on to another AI agent to write and test the code.  It's a huge change and I can feel my brain rewiring itself to adapt to my new world.  Like the early days of Tetris, I find myself having weird AI dreams and thinking in different ways to get things done.

I've also been having a lot of fun making my own software thingies.  I hooked up my newer xbox one kinect that I got last weekend thrifting.  It might have been a flop as a gaming peripheral, but I'm having a ton of fun making RPG props or just weird art.  I told it to make a Minority Report style user interface thing that tracked my hands and let me move windows around on a screen.  Soon enough I was flinging dialog boxes around the tv screen with the flick of a wrist.  Well, mostly flailing around and getting tired - it's probably easier if you're Tom Cruise.

We're all trying to figure out what this new world means for our industry - what skills do we need in this new world, how will we build software, how will the world change.  We had a reorg at work and I'll be with an AI-focused group, so not only will I be using AI more, but building tools for others to use.  What a strange, wild world we live in.

The week was generally good.  Jo and I started some seeds.  Last night we saw an odd but interesting play about bigfoot and family dynamics.

As for the weekend, I had a couple players drop out from the normal Delta Green game, so I'll be running a 1920s Call of Cthulhu one-shot instead.  I'd already gotten it mostly ready, though I've added a few more videos and such to add to the fun.  It'll be a small group, so we'll make some characters and have some fun.

Relaxing at Work

March 02, 2026 by Adam in Family

It was a very full weekend - sitting down for a few hours seems like a nice change of pace. 

Saturday Emma and I started our grand adventure at Smith Family Bookstore, then the library, and finally MECCA.  We returned home tired but with books and art supplies.  After lunch we went out again to a thrift store.  I bought another Kinect, this one with improved tracking - I'll probably vibe code some weird thing for the Delta Green game to entrance and horrify my players.

The day wrapped up watching Death Note with Duncan, Yvonne, and Jo, then wandering upstairs to chat with Emma and try to keep her awake until at least 8 pm.  Her chocolate factory work has her getting up so early these days.

Sunday morning Emma was picked up to go fishing.  Jo and I worked on getting the garden beds ready and planted some peas.  I've been itching to get things started growing - optimistically planning for the future and all that.  I'd also been wanting to clean and power wash the porch.  It took hours, pulling down ivy and moving heavy things around, but it finally got done.  Emma returned from her fishing trip empty handed, but enjoyed the company of her big brother.  

As for fun things, I continue to work on my lovecraftian video game using AI tools.  It's getting crazy good at making changes, testing that it worked, and planning out complicated features.  More and more I feel like I'm a designer rather than a programmer.  I think the same think is starting to happen with my real job, though we still require a lot of accuracy and stability that it's not quite ready for.

Mocha Friday

February 27, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's a misty Friday morning and I've got plenty of mocha left.  The rest of the week has been thankfully uneventful.  Mom and I had tea on Wednesday and chatted a bit.  I keep moving things along incrementally at work, trying to see how much I can get AI to do for me, especially the annoying parts of my job.

I spend my evenings petting kitties, watching shows, doing chores, and prepping for Delta Green.  I made another book cover this morning that turned out beautifully.  I keep cranking out videos - they're still a little rough on the audio quality or weird artifacts, but when they work it's insanely impressive.  Oh, and I keep listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl.  There's clearly something wrong with me.

The weekend is right around the corner.  Emma might come over a little early as they're letting her go earlier now that the Valentine's Day crunch is over.  I've promised her a library trip, long overdue.  She's planning a fishing trip on Sunday with her big brother and his girlfriend.  Hopefully they stay dry and have fun.

Tuesday Update

February 24, 2026 by Adam in Family

It was a good weekend, starting with an amazing Delta Green game on Saturday.  We wrapped up the old group of characters and the last mission, only destroying the universe and resetting things once.  No one died, despite all the shootouts, and the new characters showed up to clean up the mess.  We transitioned to the new Impossible Landscapes campaign and soon we were going over backstories, I handed out postcards, business cards, articles, photographs, and other things to get everyone into the mood.  

The action shifted to New York City and the mystery of a missing woman in a strange apartment where she'd apparently attached strange objects to the wall of her apartment and disappeared.  So far they've been cataloging the strange items and I hand interesting things to the player.  At one point one person was reading a demonology book they'd bought at a nearby occult bookstore, another was looking at a police report, and another was checking his notes.  Another time they kept replaying the signal from a mysterious WWII radio.  It was great.

Sunday was more relaxed, with Yvonne, Emma, and I heading out to thrift stores.  I picked up some various treasures that I'll probably turn into game props.  We wandered home to collapse and chill for the rest of the day.  I've been playing quite a bit of Mewgenics, a cat battling game that shouldn't be as good as it is.

Monday started at work, moving forward a couple of my big projects.  After my run and lunch I got a call from mom wanting to be picked up from her woman's group.  I drove over and she was dizzy and sweaty and nauseous.  Jo joined us and helped with all the things I couldn't quite manage.

Mom didn't want an ambulance, so we went to urgent care and they immediately saw her.  The EKG was normal but her blood pressure was high, so we drove out to McKenzie-Willamette.  Once again they saw her quickly, things seemed normal, and we settled in to wait for tests.  Seraph and Robbie joined us and we mostly chatted.  The consensus was that there wasn't an immediate issue and cut us loose, so I drove mom home to lay down and get some sleep.

I'll check in this morning, but hopefully she's feeling better today.  I'm a little tuckered after the excitement and have some work to catch up on, but it should be fine.  It's "Return to Office" day for many of my coworkers, so they'll be wandering around not getting much done, I suspect.

Mocha Friday

February 20, 2026 by Adam in Family

Emma brought home a giant bag of the chocolate Euphoria uses - it was considered expired or stale or something.  I added some to my mocha for the first time today and it's absolutely delicious.  There's barely any sugar, so it's very savory and extremely chocolately.  It's certainly perking up my day.

I hit some work milestones this week, finally checking in the code for a couple big projects.  It's a day of learning, so I'm hoping to play around with some new AI tools I've been wanting to play with.  It's wild how quickly technology has been changing lately.

The week has generally been good.  Had tea with mom.  Went to Laughing Planet for date night.  D&D Tuesday night went well.  I started playing a cat battling and breeding computer game called Mewgenics.  I can't stop listening to Dungeon Crawler Carl.

My most fun has been prepping for Saturday's Delta Green game.  I ended up making a bunch of book covers for the in-game books, along with a folded bookmark the players can open (for a cost) that describes the consequences of studying the book.  There's something so satisfying handing a physical thing to a player and let them ooh and aah over the details.

Tuesday Work Week Start

February 17, 2026 by Adam in Family

Having the extra day over the weekend was nice, though I don't feel I did anything particularly useful.

Emma came over Friday afternoon and we hung out as usual.  Since Saturday was Valentine's Day, though we don't really celebrate it I made crepes with strawberries and whip cream along with a "Happy Whatever" day card.  It was well received.  Next up was a library trip and since Emma was feeling really worn out and maybe a little sick, I hung out on the couch while she slept with the kitties on top of her.

I'd woken up in the middle of the night with an idea for a game - mixing public domain detectives from the 1920s with Lovecraftian themes set in Miskatonic University.  I whipped up concept art, a bunch of planning documents, and by Sunday morning I told copilot to build the thing.  There's something magical about a web application being created from thin air.  It wasn't quite right for the first pass, but soon enough it had come together and I was able to get into an area, start a dialog, and see the character portraits.

Emma went to the beach with her mom, so I puttered around with the game for most of the day, occasionally doing useful things.  My oldest kid called and the two of us hiked to the top of Spencer's Butte, chatting about his new job and life in general.  We ran into his old Japanese teacher on the way up, which was cool.  Eventually we got to the top where the mist opened up into a sea of clouds with an amazing view.

I'd like to say I accomplished a long list of useful things on Monday, but mostly I puttered, played games, did laundry, ran on the treadmill, and fiddled about.  Not all days have to be powerhouses of accomplishment, I suppose.

Mocha Friday

February 13, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's been a busy but productive week.  I was asked by my director to create a video for her to send to others on the leadership team, so apparently the AI thing I demoed a couple weeks ago was moderately impressive.  I've made a surprising number of videos for my job - I keep running into the house to get my good microphone.

Jo's been sick this week with a cold, and Duncan's a little blah, though I think Yvonne and I are finally back to normal.  The most interesting thing I've done all week is that I ended up creating a ton of AI generated videos for my upcoming D&D game.  There's something magical about watching a character come to life and hopefully it gives a little spark to the campaign.  I worry a little about overdoing it - it's a game, not friends watching an animated D&D movie.

I have another surprise three day weekend coming up.  As usual, I've made a long list of things I want to accomplish.  Some are fun, some are practical, and we'll see how far I get on all my projects.  I'm still listening to the Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobooks, so I weirdly have a desire to power wash the patio for hours and see how it ends.

Crafty Weekend

February 09, 2026 by Adam in Family

Since Delta Green was sadly cancelled, I ended up doing various craft projects, though admittedly most were for various roleplaying games.  Emma and I went to MECCA Saturday after breakfast and the library, returning with way too many treasures.  Emma had a major find of over a dozen hand-painted tiles for $1 each - apparently they're worth $20 each, so she cleaned them up and packed them up for future use.  I returned with cool paper, bookmaking supplies, scraps of leather, yarn for Jo, and other assorted cool things.

When we got home Emma and Jo helped me dye a bunch of white leather, and we created a book cover.  I used the cricut to make a stencil for the symbol on the front and after a couple days we had a book prop for an upcoming game.

I also printed the first half of a giant popcorn bucket for the Iron Lung movie.  Apparently one of her coworkers wanted one.  It ended up being immense and I quickly burned through a spool.  The second part isn't going as well, but I'm hoping it's somewhat optional.

I also prepped for the upcoming D&D game, plus put together my usual website/images/movie prep site for a Call of Cthulhu game.  It's like a 1920s Delta Green, but with flappers, gangsters, and archeologist types fighting Lovecraftian horrors.  If I ever have someone cancel I can run that instead.  Otherwise I feel sad not being able to terrorize my family members frequently enough.

Cold Week

February 06, 2026 by Adam in Family

Yvonne and I have both had colds this week - she ended up skipping her day in the Emergency Department as part of her EMT program.  I think she's mostly better now.  I never got too bad, but I've been feeling a little slow and grumpy and mostly want to fiddle around with personal projects and do nothing particularly important.

Sadly Delta Green was cancelled tomorrow, and with Valentine's Day we get to push it out a couple more weeks.  I'm bummed, and think I'll start making some one-shots of something or another if one person can't make it.  The D&D group had a session on Tuesday after a delay and I think they're so excited to play more that we're going again next week to make up for the delay.

As for me, I've been slogging through work, trying to finish up one project and start up another.  When I'm not working, I've been putting together props and notes for the upcoming Delta Green campaign.  I think I'm going to try to make a book for the game, though the bookbinding part is a little tricky.  Theoretically the cricut does leather debossing and I'd love to see if I can pull that off.

We had a meeting with the property management company that will manage the farm rental yesterday.  It went well, though it's clear there's still a long list of things to be done in the next few months.  I'm trying to gird my loins to assist as my older kid steps away from the project - hopefully it works out okay.

No big plans for the weekend.  I might see if Emma and her big brother might go for another wilderness adventure with me.  He's starting a new job doing landscaping next week, though fortunately his hours seem pretty normal.  I'm just excited about things like health insurance that come with it.

Up Before Five

February 02, 2026 by Adam in Family

I woke up at 4:45 this morning - Yvonne was already up and had started making coffee.  It ended up being really strong, so apparently I'm raising her right.  She had her first EMT ride along this morning, so we drove down to the Whit and got her into the locked facility with the ambulances.  Hopefully her day goes well.

I go off call in a couple more hours.  I've got some lingering things I need to deal with, but hopefully I can start transitioning back into normal work.  Last week I was assigned one of those "Gee, I'm glad someone else is doing this" projects.  I think it'll be okay, but it'll take a good chunk of my time over the next few months.

It was a generally good weekend.  Emma and I met up with the oldest son out at a wetland preserve near Fern Ridge Reservoir.  We walked for over three miles in a long loop, looking at birds, chatting about things, and enjoying the relatively warm winter weather.  Emma and I returned home for lunch, library, and hanging out for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning Emma and I headed to thrift stores - I returned with some old books and nice leather writing folders for my Delta Green players.  Emma picked up some overalls and lost one of her glasses screws, fortunately grabbing her lens before it fell out.  She had a spare at home so we stole a screw from the old pair and all was well.

I've mostly been cranking out props and organizing players for the upcoming Delta Green campaign.  I've read the entire 300+ page campaign, listened to handler prep guides, made a bunch of images and props, picked out some music, and generally feel prepared.  The game has the concept of "bonds" - usually friends and family - and there's a mechanic where dealing with the unnatural stresses those relationships.  I've been making postcards, pictures, and the like to make the players feel like these people (and one dog) are important to them.  It's strangely a blast for me to put these things together.

On Call Week

January 30, 2026 by Adam in Family

I've got a mocha waiting next to me, a pleasant reward after a somewhat challenging week of being on call.  I've felt a little better about being on call this week, mostly because I've given up trying to accomplish anything else.

It's been a relatively quiet week.  I had tea with mom on Wednesday, who seems to be recovered from her procedure.  Jo and I finished our Heavenly Bodies video game and started a little on Baldur's Gate 3.  Yvonne has been really into watching The Pitt, which hasn't dissuaded her from her upcoming career.  She's also doing really well in her classes, only one of two people who have passed one of the big certification tests.

I continue to get ready for the Impossible Landscapes campaign, which is one of the more ambitious Delta Green missions I've prepped for.  I've listened to playthroughs, prep videos, and am doing an in-depth read of the 300+ page campaign guide.  Not to mention the AI generated images, props, and weird vibe coded apps.  The players are all rolling up new characters to try something different - I think we'll be ready to wrap up the last mission and kick things off for the new one in another week.

No big weekend plans.  I'm sure Emma and I will make a library run at some point.  For now, with the last sip of my mocha gone, it's time to get back to dealing with alerts and incidents and get some work done.

Monday, Monday

January 26, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm in the doctor's office with mom, waiting for some results after I put in my hand holding duties for the morning.  I've managed to connect to work and do a few things - I'll probably wait to do complicated things until I get a fast Internet connection again, but I can at least update my blog.

It was a generally good weekend.  Saturday was pancakes and puttering around - it somehow became noon before we were ready to face the day.  Emma and I hit up the library.  Jo spent the day playing with their knew automatic knitting machine, cranking out a variety of hats in no time at all.  

Sunday morning Emma went on a hike with her big brother and then the two of them met up with Seraph and I to hang out at Hideaway Bakery to catch up.  He's looking for work in earnest, hopefully finding something in the arborist or land management field rather than construction.  Emma will likely look for new work in earnest soon too, though she's not really sure what she'll end up doing next.  Eventually we drove Seraph home and chatted with Robbie and Hanni.

Monday, Monday

January 26, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm in the doctor's office with mom, waiting for some results after I put in my hand holding duties for the morning.  I've managed to connect to work and do a few things - I'll probably wait to do complicated things until I get a fast Internet connection again, but I can at least update my blog.

It was a generally good weekend.  Saturday was pancakes and puttering around - it somehow became noon before we were ready to face the day.  Emma and I hit up the library.  Jo spent the day playing with their knew automatic knitting machine, cranking out a variety of hats in no time at all.  

Sunday morning Emma went on a hike with her big brother and then the two of them met up with Seraph and I to hang out at Hideaway Bakery to catch up.  He's looking for work in earnest, hopefully finding something in the arborist or land management field rather than construction.  Emma will likely look for new work in earnest soon too, though she's not really sure what she'll end up doing next.  Eventually we drove Seraph home and chatted with Robbie and Hanni.

Post-Birthday Mocha Friday

January 23, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's a Day of Learning at work today.  I think they mostly want us to finish our required classes, but it's also to go learn new things.  I think I sadly have to learn why my code is behaving weirdly, but maybe I can sneak in something more fun along the way.

Jo had a hopefully acceptable birthday yesterday - other than forgetting to get a card the cake and presents were well received.  I was most impressed with the tube-knitting device that took yarn in one end and when a crank was turned, a tube of knitted yarn came out the other end.  Jo made a nice hat in about 15 minutes.  Duncan and Yvonne hung out with us after cake and we played some Bubble Talk like old times, matching silly sayings to silly pictures and generally having a silly time.

The week has generally been low-key.  Jo and I had a couple evenings of playing Heavenly Bodies more, bouncing around in zero gravity trying to accomplish various tasks.  Yvonne's still watching The Pitt with us, very excited about joining the medical profession still.  She's been talking about visiting her dad the paramedic for some ride-along time after she graduates.  We'll see where she ends up - lots of changes ahead, I think.

I had tea with my mom and my eldest kid on Wednesday - he's planning on stepping back from work on the farm house and going off to find a full time job.  I'm hoping the transition will be smooth - there are still things to be done and I may need to get involved more.  On paper the builders do their thing, someone gets hired to finish up a few tasks, and then it gets turned over to a rental management company, but life is rarely that simple.

I continue to putter around in my free time, mostly fiddling with AI tools to make things for my D&D and Delta Green games.  Getting ready for the next big Delta Green campaign is time consuming, but fun - it's a huge campaign with so many connections and twists.  Hopefully running it won't drive me mad.

Time to return to my mocha - it won't drink itself.

Great Weekend

January 20, 2026 by Adam in Family

It was a long and amazing weekend, a fun mix of puttering around and practical things.  Saturday was the Emma hangout day, going to the library and a thrift store.  I ended up picking up a good, cheap router for my shed, hoping to improve the wifi back there.  Plus a cheap digital recorder for an upcoming Delta Green game.  I took Yvonne to another EMT lab at LCC.  Saturday night was more Death Note, which continues to double-down on its weird premise. 

Sunday morning Emma headed to Corvallis to help move the last of Jamie's mom's things.  I went for a great hike up Pisgah with my eldest son, chatting about life and stopping at the top to admire the amazing view.  I think it was good for both of us.  Duncan had his Minecraft awards show where he exploited server vulnerabilities to amuse and entertain is fellow Youtubers.

Monday was a more practical day, putting away the last of the Christmas decorations, doing a little living room rearranging, and crossing things off my list.  Jo and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and played a game called Heavenly Bodies which involved sending two astronauts on various missions.  Mostly it involved flailing around in space dealing with zero gravity, but we seem to be enjoying ourselves.

Now it's back to work in a few minutes.  Hopefully I can figure out my challenging problem that's been plaguing me for weeks - it's finally a priority so I can focus on it.  I also get to try out my vibe coded automation tool that I showed off to my manager on Friday.  Theoretically it should make a sucky, tedious task actually fast and easy.

Surprise Three Day Weekend

January 16, 2026 by Adam in Family

I didn't realize Microsoft had Monday off for MLK day, so it looks like I have a surprise three day weekend.  Maybe I'll finally get around to taking down the Christmas lights, though I've appreciated their cheerful colors during these gloomy winter nights.

The work week was generally uneventful.  I made progress with my various efforts, though I'm most proud of a vibe coded little helper app that automates some tedious and error-prone work.  It's been wacky to see how much functionality I can stuff inside a single html file, though it's weird that I have no idea how it works under the hood.  I just keep telling Copilot to add this or tweak that and it magically appears.

Tuesday was another D&D session with my friend group.  They battled evil goblins and generally avoided traps to barely live to fight another day.  Most of my technical difficulties from last week were sorted out and all my images, combat trackers, and sounds worked as expected, though I occasionally felt like I was a one-man band as I cycled through various buttons to click.

Wednesday I had tea with mom and went to 5th street with Jo on our date night.  Later the two of us did another "find the treasure" puzzle that they got me for Christmas.  They had some clever puzzles involving light in this one.  I watched Sinners while I ran at lunch.  I'm almost done with my Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook - my latest guilty pleasure.  I'm occasionally still playing Hades 2, but mostly I'm prepping for the Impossible Landscapes Delta Green campaign.  It's a vast and sprawling campaign with so many handouts to make, images to generate, and notes to put together.

As for the weekend, Jo's off to the writing shack tonight.  Emma's coming over and I'm sure we'll go to the library and possibly a thrift store.  We'll see if I have time to get through my backlog of house projects.  Spring will come one day.

D&D Night

January 13, 2026 by Adam in Family

The weekend has come and gone.   Saturday was Delta Green, where once again our brave agents tried to save the world from unnatural threats.  They did a pretty good job and I'm hoping we can wrap it up soonish.  Emma and I tried to go to the library afterwards but someone pulled the fire alarm.  We headed back home to try again another day.  Yvonne had us watch Death Note for our Saturday dinner and anime, making me thankful that teenagers couldn't easily murder anyone they wanted in real life.

Sunday started with the usual hearty breakfast of hash browns, pancakes, french toast, eggs, and a delicious mocha.  Emma and I puttered around playing There Is No Game, which is a fun and funny puzzle game.  Next up was a leisurely trip to the library before she headed home.

I puttered around with the XBox Kinect we picked up at a thrift store.  Soon enough I vibe coded up a little app that showed a little ball-and-stick person that mirrored my movements when I danced around in front of it.  No idea what I'll do with it for real, but I'll probably do something wacky.

Tonight is the second D&D session with my friend group.  I think I'm generally prepared for it and if not, I've gotten pretty good at winging it.

First Mocha Friday of the Year

January 09, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's the first mocha Friday of the year, well deserved after a week of adjusting back to the daily grind.  Did I do anything useful this week?  I think so, though I spent a lot of time diagnosing problems and getting junior developers up to speed to fix them.  I met with my mentee, who has an exciting new project - sometimes I think I'm mostly a mix of a cheerleader and asking pointed questions, but I think that's what I'm supposed to do.  And lots of meetings, which are occasionally a little too soul draining.

I haven't been up to much this week.  Jo and I went out to dinner on Wednesday.  I played an occasional video game.  Mostly I've been prepping for Delta Green, a more in-depth campaign with lots of handouts and props.  Saturday is the last of the quick missions, which I'm generally ready for, and then we leap into the abyss of Impossible Landscapes.

Duncan is back to school.  I met with mom and my eldest son, talking about the farm and next steps.  I think we'll need a little more money to clear the slash and finish some things once the house is built, but it should be doable.  Yvonne's EMT program seems to be going well, practicing dealing with hemmorages yesterday.  Emma's working away at the chocolate factory.  Jo read excerpts of their story at Open Mic at Wordcrafters last night.

My mocha's gone and I've got bugs to investigate and tech specs to review, so it's back to the grind for me.

Back to Work

January 05, 2026 by Adam in Family

I finally got through my hundreds of emails and now need to organize what I'm doing today.  I imagine half the team is in the same boat, bleary-eyed from waking up at a normal time and trying to remember how this work thing is supposed to happen.

I left myself a list of things to work on before I left and I've got a minor crisis I need to investigate, but otherwise it's back to the usual grind.

The weekend was generally productive.  We had a couple trips to thrift stores to donate things.  Emma and I cleaned out the garage.  Our Christmas tree has been un-decorated and moved outside to enjoy the rain and cool weather for a bit before we plant it at the farm.  Emma and I finished up another puzzle game - The Curse of the Golden Idol - and felt exceptionally smart afterwards. 

I worked on more Delta Green prep, putting together a web site for me to run the game.  I have a long list of images, music, and sound clips that should enhance the experience.  I've still got another mission to run first, which I'm getting excited for, but the one I'm getting ready for now should be a doozy.

Saturday Errands

January 03, 2026 by Adam in Family

After I made a hearty dutch baby breakfast for everyone, Emma and I headed out for the day.  We went to the smoke shop to get a lighter wick, then the bank to get new checks, then Duluth Trading Company to look for clothes, then Michael's to get a replacement picture frame, and finally to the library before heading home for lunch.

We collapsed for a little and then started in to clean out the garage.  We threw out, stored, and rearranged until it was feeling much more organized.  Then we treated ourselves by playing the puzzle game The Case of the Golden Idol.  It's not quite as magical as the Seance at Blake Manor, but there are murders and mysteries, and filling out the blanks with words to solve the puzzle.

One more day of vacation awaits tomorrow, then it's back to work.  Hopefully I remember how to do it.