Birthday Boy

November 27, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Sam turned 19 yesterday.  He kinda knew what he was getting from me - I bought him some black pants, black t-shirts, and Doc Marten boots, along with a few odds and ends.  He's of the age where clothes are cool and exciting, so he appreciated them.

I got to have some hang out time together, which was nice.  His old shoes were falling apart, so I gave him the boots early and we went for a hike through the rain up the Ridgeline trail.  It was beautiful and foggy - we chatted about politics and school and camping in the cold.  I'd been itching to get outside for weeks, so it was a nice treat for me.

Sam helped make his birthday dinner and dessert.  Joanna found some vegan peanut butter "cheesecake" cupcakes.  They turned out pretty tasty, with Sam having seconds.  He even patiently sat through a traditional birthday song, to everyone's amusement.

Bike Accident

October 03, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Sam was riding around campus today and got hit by a car.  He texted me from the ER, letting me know he was okay.  I immediately dropped everything and went to fetch him.  He was mostly fine - just a few non-obvious scrapes and bruises. I'm not entirely sure what happened - I get the impression he was turning at an unfamiliar location and missed seeing a car.  Fortunately it was all at slow speeds.

His bike got a little whacked and required some adjusting of brakes, wheels, and handle bars.  Fortunately that seems mostly okay too.  He was planning on metaphorically getting back on the horse and going to one of his student organization things tonight.

Parenting is an adventure.

Driver

September 12, 2017 by Adam in Sam

I took Sam on his first driving lesson today.  We headed up to the LCC parking lot and he managed to start the car, back up and start going around in circles.  He quickly picked up how to stop without a jerk, mostly turn without hitting curbs, and towards the end managed to pass a car moving in the opposite lane without incident.  Next time I'm thinking I'll take him to a quiet neighborhood and drive around.  So far, so good.

He also helped me move a broken washing machine to Lowe's, didn't complain when they took over an hour to bring us the new one, and helped me install the new one.  I always hoped they'd eventually become useful.

U of O Orientation

July 18, 2017 by Adam in Sam

I just returned from the first day of orientation at the O of U, aptly named IntroDUCKtion.  The duck puns were flying fast and furious all day long.

It was relatively well done, considering we moved 400+ freshmen and their families through various presentations throughout the day.  I briefly returned home as Sam and Isa were taking Japanese placement tests.  They were both worn out after it all.  I'll scoop them up for dinner and a relatively normal evening.  Sam has a math placement test, but otherwise should be ready to get his classes tomorrow.

I've got a checklist of things that need to be done, but I think we can get both those kids settled into college in September.

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.

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.

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.

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.

VR Sam

February 20, 2017 by Adam in Sam

Sam started his senior project today, a work study project at the U of O's psychology department.  Isa and Emma came along, to offer moral support and try out the VR demo.  We met Bill Troyer, who was setting up the psychology experiment - it involved the Oculus Rift and taking measurements.  Sam's going to be working with familiar Unity and writing some code to save data out to a file.

Bill let us all try out the demos, which were pretty cool.  There's a real sense of presence that's hard to describe.  Then we were put through the psych experiment itself, which was fairly disorienting.  Essentially moving our head did nothing to change the view, and then our view was moved around back and forth.  It was hard to stay upright.