D&D Campaign Albums

December 29, 2024 by Adam in Adam's Games

I've been playing around with AI generated songs and put together an album for my friend D&D group.  It's nautical themed, so lots of sea shanties.  It's wild being able to make these songs with custom lyrics that are specific to the people and places the adventurers have encountered along the way.

I discovered a new danger of AI - the songs are so damn good that they keep playing in my head throughout the day and I can't stop listening to them.

Merry Christmas!

December 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

The kids are all up, slowly getting ready for the day.  Emma, Yvonne and I woke up at a relatively normal time to dig through stockings and chat about the different Sanrio Japanese characters.  Eventually Jo came down to bake some goodies and join us in stockings, trying to keep the cats from eating all the wrapping paper and ribbons.

Dad came over to deliver presents and partake in coffee and cinnamon rolls.  Now he and Emma are going over family trees while I type this.  Duncan woke up with some prompting and I managed to get some breakfast into him.  Theoretically we'll start opening the massive mounds of presents soon.  I think we may have overdone it this year.

It's been a great break from work so far, puttering around and doing assorted tasks.  I managed to finish reupholstering the dining room chairs.  I also finished my new Indiana Jones video game, which was highly entertaining.  D&D with friends happened on Sunday, which was a nice treat.  I left on a cliffhanger - next session might be exciting.  I'm going to see mom this afternoon.  Jenny's get together is tomorrow.  Fortunately I'll have lots of time off to play with all my new presents, whatever they may be.

Sea Shanty Friday

December 20, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've been playing around with AI music generation with Suno, making songs for my D&D campaign.  After some fiddling around I managed to get Copilot to write the lyrics which I moved into Suno and told it to make a sea shanty.  The result is an absolute banger that nicely touches on the campaign's themes and is quickly getting stuck in my head.  It's wild how much things feel like they've started to change in technology.  I never would have predicted that the future is populated with AI generated sea shanties.

The last of the boxes in the kitchen has gone and we now have a dishwasher that doesn't require complex button pushes to bypass the safety checks.  All of our appliances are now the apparently popular black and chrome and all but the refrigerator talk to the Internet.  Now Jo occasionally lets me know when the dishes are done or the oven is done heating up.  The next grand project is replacing our old electrical box, which is more expensive than expected but hopefully prepares us better for future projects.

The rest of the week is going along well.  Emma stopped by for a visit yesterday and a trip to the library.  Jo and I went out for burgers at Plank Town in Springfield then off to a Christmas musical at the nearby Wildish theater.  It's nice having older kids when stepping away for a couple hours is relatively easy.

As for the weekend, tomorrow we've got to decorate the tree and I've got presents to wrap.  Sunday is D&D with friends.  Best of all it's the start of two weeks off work, the first long vacation since August.  I'm really excited.

The Kitchen Tower Shrinks

December 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

The once immense tower of appliances in the kitchen shrunk slightly on Sunday as Jo and I installed the new microwave.  It was the usual somewhat frustrating affair, dealing with weird cabinets and having to drill some of the holes a couple of times.  Still, we got it setup in the end and declared success, somewhat exhausted.

I'm still getting used to the new microwave - for example, it doesn't rotate the tray when you open the door like our weird old one did.  The first time I heated up tea I moved my hand to where I predicted it would be, then had to adjust to the now stationary tea.  It also plays a jaunty tune when finished heating, which may get old.  Maybe the microwave has ringtones like the 1990's cell phones.

Duncan's sweetie returns to Florida today.  Emma comes back from the beach.  Yvonne still has school.  Jo has an event tonight.  We've yet to put up a Christmas tree or wrap our remaining presents.  Jo and I are seeing a play at the Wildish Theater on Thursday after dinner somewhere in Springfield.  It's fun feeling fancy and going out on the town.

Rainy Mocha Friday

December 13, 2024 by Adam in Family

We've entered the dreary season  - not particularly cold but quite soggy and gloomy.  I continue to break out the bright lights, cozy fireplace and warm beverages in response.  The kitties lead by example.

Getting the microwave and dishwasher installed was unsuccessful - they'd only install a microwave on a dedicated circuit and the dishwasher didn't have the required plug. One day our kitchen won't have a tower of boxes, but not this week.

It's been a generally pleasant week - Duncan and Emma are off of school, Duncan's been hanging out with his sweetie who's visiting, Emma's off to the beach with her mom, Jo's busy with end-of-year things at work, and I'm wrapping up my big work project and hopefully moving on to the next one soon.  After next week I have two weeks off, which I'm very much looking forward to.

I've got a long to-do list for this weekend - moving a cabinet door over an inch to better fit the new oven, finishing reapolstering the last of the chairs, wrapping christmas presents, putting up lights, and a bunch of other little things.  I suspect I'll manage some fun in there too - I'm enjoying the new Indiana Jones game, currently looting the secrets of the Vatican and punching nazis.  Good times.

Dungeons and Dragons and Colds

December 09, 2024 by Adam in Family

Saturday was the great witch fight with the family group.  It's hard calling the party's action a success - they saved most of the children and heisted the painting they were sent to steal, but two of the party were knocked unconscious and Emma's character came the closest to death I've seen.  Fortunately a lucky roll turned the tide and they lived to fight again another day.  Hopefully next session goes a little more smoothly.

Duncan's sweetie arrived from the airport and he's been in an understandably cheerful mood.  Yvonne, Emma and I went to the library and returned with a good haul.  Jo arranged for the rest of the appliances to be installed this Wednesday, so I'm off the hook there.

Saturday afternoon I started feeling under the weather and I was pretty wiped out on Sunday.  I mostly hung out on the couch while Emma entertained me.  Advil and coffee helped, as did a brief nap, and fortunately I'm feeling much better today.

I've got some bugs to fix at work and a long list of cleanup tasks, but things are generally coming along nicely.  I started the new Indiana Jones video game, which is nostalgic and entertaining so far.  Christmas is sneaking up on all of us - we'll probably get a tree soon and Emma helped me wrap some of the presents this weekend.  Having some time off work and hanging out with the family seems really nice.

Boxes, Boxes, Boxes

December 06, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was the week where four appliances were replaced - dryer, stove, microwave and dishwasher.  They installed the dryer and stove, if incompletely, but the other two are stacked in the kitchen waiting to be installed.  I suspect that duty will fall to me, perhaps with Emma's assistance for the dishwasher. 

The stove is an induction stove, using magnetic fields to heat up ferrous metal pans.  I used it for the first time last night and think I generally like it.  Things heat up really fast, which is different.  I had water boiling incredibly quickly and had to readjust my cooking schedule.  Since I'd never used one before I started reading the warnings.  It turns out we're not supposed to dry our pets in the oven, nor have children crawl in there.  Scratch that off my list.

The other boxes filling the house are the steady stream of Christmas presents.  I guess I need to actually wrap them one of these days. Hopefully that makes me feel like less of a horder as I've filled my closet and overflowed into my bedroom.

Some of the weeks' stressors are clearing up.  My work projects are getting sorted out nicely.  The internet seems to be behaving better after days of intermittent failures which kicked me out of work meetings.  Best of all it's Friday with my mocha half-full beside me.  Maybe I'll survive until spring.

Chill(y) Weekend

December 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a generally pleasant weekend of trying to stay cozy as the weather cools.  I'm not sure I did anything too important on Saturday - read some graphic novels from the library, play some games, and paint some minis.  It was so nice to have four days off of work and do nothing too important.

Sunday was D&D with the friend group.  The ship they had since the beginning was upgraded to fly through space, so they ended up exploring part of their solar system.  Plus I got to break out some new minis to show off.  It was also one of those downtime sessions where they shopped and defended their little seaside town against the dangers of the world, which I think was a fun change from the usual pace.

Now I'm back at work, shepherding code through stages of approval and release.  A few pipelines are misbehaving still, but I think I'm generally making progress.  It looks like my coworkers are taking a couple weeks off in December, so I'll probably follow suit, making it the longest I've had off in ages.  Should be nice!

Thanksgiving Mocha Friday

November 29, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's been a generally good week.  I've made progress at work as well as being thwarted by failing pipelines as I try to follow all the recommended procedures.  I spent half a day doing my Connect, writing good things about myself and what awesome things I plan on doing in the future.  Hopefully it turned out okay.

Thanksgiving was great, from waking up lazily to play video games, make myself blueberry pancakes and a mocha, paint some minis, help a little with cooking, then wander off to mom's for a low-key get together with family.  Francis and her stories were constantly entertaining.  Robbie's beard was majestic.  The food was delicious, especially the two pieces of pumpkin pie throughout the day.

I've got three more days of kicking it.  Emma's coming over sometime and I'm sure we'll make a library run.  I've got D&D with the friend group this Sunday.  I started a pencil-and-paper solo Call of Cthulu RPG  and might work more on that - I'm currently on a steam ship to Athens with the mystery beginning to be discovered.  More and more it feels like it's the time of year to turn on the fireplace, pour a cup of tea, and do cozy things until springtime.

Witches and Super Spies

November 29, 2024 by Adam in Adam's Games

My new job came with an XBox Game Pass, so I've been digging into some of the free games that come with that, along with some of the Steam games I pick up along the way.  I've recently dabbled in Starcraft, Goat Simulator, Aliens Dark Descent, and more, but it's hard finding time to get all the way through a game.

Yesterday I finished playing Black Ops 6, which ended up being a high-quality spy shooter that felt like I was playing an over-the-top Mission Impossible movie.  Yes there were motorcycle jumps and casino infiltration levels, but it was a short and entertaining experience.

On the other end of the spectrum was The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood, which was a Spanish-made magical realism game about witches, fate, and friendship.  It was almost an interesting Rorchart test of who you are - I ended up sacrificing my immortality for saving the universe and my friends.  Seemed a good trade.

Mushroom Hunting Weekend

November 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

I had wanted a low-key weekend and generally got what I wanted.  I was a little under the weather Saturday but Emma and I managed to make our weekly library pilgrimage and hit up The House of Records afterwards for Christmas presents.  I managed to finish the first volume of a graphic novel collection - Gideon Falls ended up being a sci-fi horror dimension hopping story and right up my alley.  I also worked on some little web application side thing making planets appear in the browser for my D&D game.  It's satisfying turning ideas into code in a short period of time, unlikely my real job which moves at a glacial pace at times.

Sunday started with a hearty breakfast of hash browns, eggs, bacon, veggie sausage and french toast, ending with sipping a mocha with Data on my lap demanding pets.  I had more energy that day and did a bit of basement cleanup and tried to fix the coffee table down there a little.  Eventually Emma and I went on a final mushroom hunt for her mycology class, scouring Hendrick's Park for anything interesting.  We found a couple and upon returning home Victoria across the street found more for us, but alas it looks like none of them expanded Emma's collection in the right way.  I think it's like Pokemon Go.

I'm back at work, really hoping to get my big PR wrapped up soon so I can move on to the next thing.  I've also got the new Alien movie to watch as I run at lunch - scifi horror really helps me get my pace up.

It lives!

November 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've sorted things out with Hunter Communication and my web site should be on the Internet again.  They made a change on their end to save some money (going from NAT to CGNAT), so apparently I needed to make grumpy noises before they switched me back.  Duncan was needed to do some Minecraft server things for a video, so he should be happy too.

Is There Anybody Out There?

November 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

This website is still offline - I submitted a ticket finally but have yet to receive a response.  I'll call today if I don't hear from them.  Work has been all-consuming this week but I think it's finally settling down.  I'm certainly learning a lot about working with giant amounts of code and hundreds of people making constant changes.  I've given up trying to understand the bug I've been assigned, but instead using a fancy "guess and check" method that tries to narrow down which change broke things.  It's super tedious, but I think I'm finally narrowing down the culprit.

We don't have any big plans for the weekend.  I'd love to do some cleaning and sort out some projects, plus start getting a little more organized for Christmas.  Thanksgiving is at mom's this year.  I'm also really looking forward to taking some time off work - I haven't taken off any since I started so I'm itching for some chill days.

Still Offline

November 20, 2024 by Adam in Family

This blog still isn't connected to the Internet, so I guess it's more of a personal journal now?  It's annoying and I think I need to call Hunter Communications about it, or at least carve out some more debugging time.

It was a good weekend, with back-to-back D&D games again.  The family game had a couple sidequests along the way to the main heist - chasing an owlbear and visiting a magical unicorn, followed by a heist to save children that almost immediately went off the rails.  We'll see if they manage to pull it off. 

The friend game was mostly focused on mood and ambience, with a big fight at the end.  The absolute best part for me was handing out secret notes on 3x5 cards that made each player suspect the other.  In the end they turned on each other, casting spells and pushing each other around.  That's when I struck with the true villans which ended in Emma's character using a spell to light a "candle" on a pillar that ended up being dynamite.  Everyone survived, but it was a fun comedy of errors.

As for the rest of the week, I've been fighting a touch of a cold.  Work got slow and frustrating for awhile, but I finally got myself unstuck this morning and can get my work moving ahead.  It's funny how what seemed initially simple has spiraled into months of work.

Emma called last night and her mom has a couple extra kitties looking for a good home.  Jamie's dad fell and broke his hip, so they've trying to rehome the kitties since it's such a long recovery.  If I ever get this blog back online, maybe someone will read this.

Screaming Into the Void

November 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

They say that in space no one can hear you scream.  Well it turns out that no one can read your web site posts if something is blocking access to your website from the outside world.  I've been fiddling with router firewall settings with no luck. Hopefully I can find some time to do some more drastic things, though I'm not sure when.  I guess I could invite everyone over to the house and show them my latest posting, though that kind of defeats the point.

Yesterday was an everything-is-falling-apart kind of day.  Work had various development tools stop working, my personal web site died, and as I was cooking dinner the oven decided it was cleaning itself and locked the door.  That trapped the dinner I was cooking inside and so I made exaspirated screeching noises until Jo rescued me by trying the door until the food could be rescued.  They also replaced the toaster oven, though I'll kind of miss the weird eldritch script the LED display turned into and the fun "turn the dial and get a random temperature" game.

I've got back-to-back D&D this weekend, so I'm girding my loins and trying to get ready.  As usual, I'm going a little overboard - I made up some custom downtime handouts that turned into a city management mini-game.  Hopefully it's more fun than frustrating.

Dungeons and Dragons and Birthdays

November 11, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a fun weekend, with Saturday being very chill and Sunday full of D&D and Seraph's birthday.

Saturday morning I fed the kids pancakes and tofu scramble while Jo went off to have breakfast for her friend's birthday.  Emma, Yvonne and I went off to the library, stopping at the library book sale to pick up various goodies, including a Buffy book for Seraph's birthday.  They had an entire section including a Spike puppet and the complete DVD session, but I kept it safe and stuck to a tv episode review book.  The kids and I mostly read all afternoon, though I snuck in some DM planning time for Sunday's game.

Sunday was the whimsical Wild Beyond the Witchlight game with the family group.  Since it was Seraph's birthday too, we had presents and cupcakes and sang a little song.  Mom stopped by to offer birthday wishes and watch a bit.  The game itself was fun and silly, ending with a plan to rescue children captured by a hag in a zany heist.  We'll see how it turns out next week.

Emma and I went for a stroll around the neighborhood in the afternoon, looking for mushrooms for her mycology class.  We didn't find much until the last block on the way back, ending up with multiple handfulls of weird and cool mushrooms that Emma went off to identify.

Today is Veteran's Day so the kids don't have school.  Sadly the same isn't true for Microsoft, so I'm working away at my big and complicated feature.  I'm at the getting feedback phase, so I'm doing a lot of rework, but hopefully the end result will be at the appropriate level of quality.

Mocha Friday

November 08, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's been a week.

We've been putting out leftover Halloween candy for the people who deliver packages all the way up our stairs.  It's been vanishing pretty quickly, which I thought meant it was serving its purpose.  Soon enough we discovered torn up wrappers, half-eaten M&Ms, and the squirrel hanging out by the bowl.  I now envision a plump squirrel in a tree somewhere, mouth covered in garish food dye colors, hopped up on too much sugar.  It seems an ill portent for the next four years.

I've been focused on the smaller things around the house - making dinner, going to work, painting minis, and playing the occasional video game.  Jo and I finished A Way Out which was a fun co-op experience, though the end turned pretty dark and emotional.  D&D was rescheduled to this Sunday, so we get to do a combined Seraph birthday and nerd fest.  I've been frantically painting minis in preparation, though we'll see how far they get.

Emma and I went to the eye doctor yesterday and I picked up a backup pair of glasses.  Since it was emergency only I decided to keep it simple and low-cost - it's amazing how expensive glasses can be these days.

Work continues on, half writing code and half coordinating the varied interests of others.  I did a pretty good job troubleshooting an issue way outside our typical area which ended up being entertaining and educational.  Now it's time to get my usual work done.

Hang out Weekend

November 04, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a generally chill weekend.  Saturday after a hearty breakfast of hashbrowns, eggs, muffins, bacon, sausages and mochas I took Emma and Yvonne to the library and later Smith Family Bookstore.  Emma's back in her nautical phase so we scooped up an old book on the wives and mistresses of sailors around the 17th century.  Yvonne found one on marine biology.  I love how they think they ended up with a treat while I feel I've tricked them again into learning something.

I finished Detroit: Become Human, which turned out well for most of my androids.  I did have one bleak ending, so I just wanted a YouTube video of the good ending and pretended that's how it actually happened.  It's like when I was a kid with a Choose Your Own Adventure book and I'd just go back any time things went too badly.

Emma saw that a game on my wishlist was on sale - The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood.  We played a tiny bit together and then she immediately dove in and finished it over two days, making her own Tarot-like cards as a divination witch and changing the fate of the universe.  I only played the first little bit but it seems interesting and different so far.

Sunday Emma and I headed to the orchard near her mom's house to find mushrooms for Emma's class and see if there were any acorns we could find.  Sadly there were very few, though Emma found a few cool mushrooms.  After that we drove to the farm.  Blackberries continue to take over and quite a few of the trees we planted on the north side of the property didn't make it, but down near the stream was cool and fresh.  I completely forgot to plant any of the acorns I found, but Emma found more cool mushrooms.  My favorite part was drinking tea and hot chocolate in the spooky shack as the rain began to fall.

The rest of the day was equally low-key.  I painted a ton of minis and printed a few more.  My dad's printer does some amazingly detailed work with the right settings.  It's a little noisy where it is in the living room, but I find I prefer printing to it over my older one as the end result is such high quality.

Rainy Mocha Friday

November 01, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's November already as the steady patter of rain on the roof reminds me regularly.  Halloween was low-key as is often the case, a horde of kids coming through and keeping us on our toes.  We tried to foist the last of the candy on the polite group of teenagers that came in the last wave but were generally unsuccessful.

Work has been a little challenging this week as I start in on unit tests, trying to figure out how everything is structured.  Hopefully today I can make some progress.  I also finally uploaded all the necessary documentation to get my HSA card unstuck - long delayed due to the social security card kerfuffle.  It'll be nice to feel fully transitioned into my new role.

While I haven't had a lot of downtime this week, I have managed to play more of Detroit: Become Human.  I'm trying to be nice to the humans, but it's hard when they keep murdering my fellow androids.  I'm prepping for the next D&D sessions, warming up the 3d printer and getting more minis ready to go.  One of Emma's characters gets a robot companion and she wanted it to look like Mr. Handy from the Fallout games.  I think it turned out relatively well.

Jo has some school work to get to this weekend.  Duncan's going to get back on his trike to get to an appointment today, his arm feeling mostly better.  Emma and I hope to visit the farm as she wants to find mushrooms for her class and I want to see if we can find and plant some acorns for oak trees.

Tuesday Already

October 29, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's the middle of the day and I'm already feeling a little frazzled.  I might need to go back inside and get myself some more coffee.  For medicinal purposes.

Saturday and Sunday were both D&D days.  I think it all went well - the family group avoided fighting the evil hag, instead running errands for her in hopes of getting back their lost things.  Sunday was the friend group which had been postponed for a long while - their reward was way too many props I'd made, from a scroll case to letters, journals, and a small book.  It was admittedly over the top, but I had fun making them.  Plus there was a fun fight at the beginning, one monster against eight players.  I lasted longer than I thought I would.

Jamie was at the coast so Emma stuck around until lunchtime today, hanging out and giving Data extra pets.  Jo was at a ghost story weekend event, though the kids are all pretty good at managing themselves.  Yvonne had a couple friends over to finish up an art project for school.  Duncan continues to work on editing his latest Minecraft video.

Monday I had my security review for the code I've been working on, which generally went well other than being not entirely prepared.  Fortunately the person leading the meeting was friendly and helpful, though now I've got a bunch of things to follow up with.

I'm a little worried about our wayward Albuquerque boy who hurt his knee this afternoon.  I sent him pictures of his insurance card and hope for the best.  He was at urgent care getting it checked out and hopefully I hear more later today.

Proving Myself

October 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

I spent six hours over two days at the social security administration office, trying to get a new social security card.  I need a picture of one to get my health spending account setup, and is the last of the new job things I need to deal with.  Unfortunately the first time I went with all the IDs they say I require, after waiting three hours, I was told I needed my birth certificate.  The next day I did the same thing and after a brief excitement saying their office couldn't process foreign documents, they asked with conviction, "Adam is your nickname?" and used another policy to get it changed.  Now I just have to wait two weeks and I can get this last thing done.

On the plus side I finished a giant book I got from Tsunami a few weeks before.  It made the stay pleasant despite the hard metal seats.  Maybe I'll get lucky and federal bureaucracy will foul up and let me read my next giant book.

Emma took Jamie and I to the Dvorak concert last night.  It was a pleasant evening and it's one of Emma's favorite composers.  I've got back-to-back D&D this weekend, so I've been working on dialog, props, and organizing minis.  Hopefully it all goes well.  Emma made a tasty loaf of her sourdough bread for us to enjoy tomorrow.

Players Gotta Play

October 21, 2024 by Adam in Family

Our family D&D game was cancelled Saturday (get well soon Francis!), so Emma and I went on a series of errands Saturday morning, hitting up Rite Aid, the bank, and Market of Choice.  After lunch Emma, Yvonne and I headed to the library and returned with vast quantities of loot.  I seem to be on a time travel DVD bender, returning with yet another low budget sci-fi that hopefully entertains me on my afternoon runs.

Sunday after breakfast Emma and I headed to the Picadilly market to search through all the weird treasures and odds and ends.  Emma found some cheap DVDs and a Scottish record, along with a cozy wool sweater.  I found a couple presents for our Albuquerque boy tucked away amongst the weird and magical trinkets.

In the afternoon we headed to our local gaming store where our Dungeon Master Ezra led us through a Lovecraftian horror D&D game.  The best part was being a player with Emma, which I think was the first time the two of us were players in a game.  It was a fun dynamic and the game slid over to horror/comedy before the day was over.  We escaped with our sanity after accidentally foiling the good guy's plans, which sounds about right for a D&D game.

Jo and Yvonne are up in Portland for some tests for Yvonne.  I managed to feed the kitties successfully this morning, despite Data's excited attempts to trip me with head bonks.  I've got a bunch of little tasks to try and wrap up at work today, hopefully moving my bigger projects forwards at least a little more.

Mocha Friday

October 18, 2024 by Adam in Family

I just finished my mocha and my pesky bug that I volunteered to fix.  I'm starting to feel part of the ebb and flow of software development these days.  It's a fun feeling, though certainly more challenging. I find myself doing more and more code archeology, trying to understand what the people who came before me was doing.

I had tea with mom this week, who seems to be doing much better after her bout with COVID.  Thursday morning was coffee with Yayoe, catching up on all the things.  I even managed to call my dad in there and talk about SpaceX's latest goings ons.

It's feeling more and more like Fall these days, with dark evenings and rainy weather.  I've resigned myself to wearing pants and long sleeve shirts every day now.  Hopefully I'll survive until the warm days of summer.

Last night Jo and I went for sushi downtown and stopped by the night market nearby.  This Saturday is D&D with the family and then Emma and I get to be D&D players at Funagain Games this Sunday for a drop-in one-shot game.  I'm weirdly excited to just be a player for a change.  Next Thursday Emma and I go see Dvorak, one of her favorite composers.  She's picking me up in her big truck so all I have to do is dress up and look pretty.

Pleasant Weekend

October 14, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a lovely weekend, warm and sunny.  It was generally uneventful, hanging about the house and taking it easy.  Duncan's arm continues to improve.  Emma and I went to the library and I bought a couple books at Tsunami, finishing one of them - A Psalm for the Wild-Born.  It was a cozy sci-fi novel about a tea monk and their robot friend.  I ended up with two library DVDs about time loops, which is one of those genres I'll always watch.

On Sunday Emma and I decided to wander over to Funagain games where I connected with a D&D DM who's running one shots every Sunday.  I'm going to try and drag Emma to one next weekend as I never get to actually play the game.  We also picked up a fun little game using refrigerator magnets and prompts, getting Jo to play with us over lunch.  It was surprisingly funny and hopefully work will reimburse me for it - one of those quirky Microsoft benefits.

Jo's off to Portland tonight for an appointment.  I've got filament clogging my 3d printer somewhere.  My tech spec review is late this afternoon.  Busy, busy.

Busy Week

October 11, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm thankful for my morning mocha, halfway full beside me.  Monday was my tech spec review at work, which went well but led to a week of follow-up research, meetings, and figuring things out.  I got a "good job" from one of the main architects which was reassuring.  Later that night I had a nice long chat from our wayward Albuquerque son, hopefully getting him back for a December visit.

Tuesday was my annual physical where I was told I was in great health, which is always nice.  I got a flu shot and wandered off to get my labs done. Later that day I got the news that Duncan fell off his trike he'd ridden up to LCC for class.  Jo took him to urgent care for x-rays and it looks like he fractured his arm.  He's been generally okay, mostly not needing his sling, but definately a bummer.

Wednesday I tried to get my work's HSA card sorted out, which apparently requires a picture of my social security card.  This began my social security administration adventure - giving up on waiting for my number to be called, giving up waiting on hold to schedule an appointment, and giving up on the online portal to get a copy of my card.  I came home and ate a bunch of cookies that Yvonne made for us, which helped a little.

That night Jo and I went to an Ethopian restaraunt in the Whitaker which was fun and tasty, chatting with the owner who was apparently married to the cook.

My lab results came back with triglycerides higher than normal, so they wanted me back for a fasting test the next day.  I grumpily wandered off first thing Thursday morning, had my blood drawn for a second time, and then treated myself with pancakes and a mocha.  I checked my labs just now and the number was half as much, so presumably I'm doing fine.

I've got a day of testing things out at work and doing some more communication.  Monday is hopefully the final tech spec review and then I can start building in earnest.

I'm still managing a bit of fun in between all the things.  I've been playing Against the Storm, a fun fantasy city builder and the weird poker game Balatro.  I've got a wait until the next D&D session, so I'm working on props and handouts to entertain myself.

Takin' It Easy

October 07, 2024 by Adam in Family

My COVID test was negative on Friday, but I still felt pretty cruddy and took it easy for most of the weekend.  Saturday morning was spent playing video games after making breakfast.  Emma went off mushroom hunting and had a good time finding giant mushrooms at the coast with her band of enthusiastic mycologists.  They ran into a french woman on the dunes who pointed them to a secret mushroom grove, right out of a fantasy story.  She returned home tired but happy.

In the afternoon Jo wanted to head to the farm to pick up some lumber and leftover boards at the farm.  It all still looks pretty rough from the logging, but we strapped things down, drove down the bumpy road, and re-strapped things that shook loose on the way down.  Fortunately nothing fell off on the way back, so all was well.

I was feeling somewhat better on Sunday, so I managed to setup the Bambu Labs X1C printer dad gave me.  It's super automatic, which ended up causing him trouble, but other than my inability to upgrade the printer's firmware, it worked fine.  I did a test print and was generally satisfied.  Now to find a corner of the house to set it up and try to print something more significant.

Yvonne, Emma, and I went to the library, returning home with DVDs, manga, and assorted other books.  Emma and I played some Chants of Sennar, which is a fun Tower of Babel and linguistics game.  She worked more on her thesis and classes.  Jo helped Duncan's sweetie arrange a trip to visit in December.  

As for today at work, I have my first tech spec review.  Hopefully it goes well.

COVID Time Again

October 04, 2024 by Adam in Family

Mom cancelled tea time this Wednesday as she was feeling under the weather.  When I called to check up on her on Thursday she was improving but still feeling badly and asked me to bring her a COVID test.  I found one under a box of masks in the pandemic corner of our shelf and brought it over, masked up and saying hello from outside her back door.  Sure enough, she tested positive, though was feeling generally okay last night.

I woke up with a bit of a cough and sniffle last night, so I'll mask up and find a COVID test for myself later this morning.  Mostly I want to wave off Emma's arrival if it turns out I'm really sick.  

It's been the first week of school for Emma and Duncan.  I think they're both generally fine with things.  Emma seems excited about her mycology class and wants to take more pictures at the farm for her thesis.  Duncan's teacher gave him a bottle of ink for his art class which exploded in his backpack.  A slightly destressed Duncan texted me and I spent awhile cleaning things up and throwing the backpack in the laundry.  It ended up cleaner than it's been in years.

I went to the dermatologist on Monday to get checked out and weird things removed.  All is well and the parts they lopped off were all benign.  Apparently they didn't dig deep enough to reach my rotten core - maybe next time.

Dad stopped by to pick up his old 3D printer and trade me for his new one, which ended up being a little too automatic and less functional than his old one.  Hopefully I can figure out how it works this weekend.

Work is coming along nicely, though I'm getting down to the last few tricky things.  I'll need to schedule a tech spec for my giant feature soon.  In the meantime I keep making little changes and fixes, all very carefully.  It's interesting being focused on minimizing risk and disruption after so much time hurrying things out the door with the expectation that it can be fixed later.

My mocha is empty - time to don a mask and go looking for a test.

Adventuring Along

September 30, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was nice seeing Emma again Friday afternoon - we went to the library and scooped up a goodly amount of books.  The weekend itself was filled with friends, family, and D&D, which is always a good time.  I finally got to use my gelatinous cube mini I'd printed long ago, though it never got to dissolve anyone to bones despite my best efforts.  The friend group was on Sunday and involved fighting undead until making their way back home.  It was great seeing everyone after such a long delay.

It's the first day of school for Emma and Duncan.  Hopefully their scholastic adventures go just as well.

I was invited by some ex-PeaceHealth coworkers to go out to dinner tonight, so I'll be chatting away with some people I've known for close to thirty years.

Back-to-Back D&D Weekend

September 27, 2024 by Adam in Family

I continue to feel perkier every day after dragging for a couple weeks.  Whatever viral thing I got sure was annoying.  I might smell smoke occasionally but I certainly don't feel quite so tired all the time.  Hopefully I'll be ship shape and Bristol fashion soon enough.

Work is coming along nicely.  I finished up my tech spec and think I have most of it sorted out.  I had a nice chat with the wayward Albuquerque boy last night, catching up on his goings on.  Emma should be back in town today - it'll be nice to see her after she was away at the beach last weekend.

The week was generally uneventful.  Jo and I planted some garlic.  We keep getting endless tomatoes, green beans, and squash, along with the occasional zucchinni.  Duncan and Emma start school next week.  With the weather cooling down it feels like we've arrived at fall in earnest.

Both my D&D groups are arriving this weekend.  It'll be great to see everyone after a long break - I've been cranking out props and planning a bit in the meantime.  Hopfully I don't run out of silly voices.

Smokey Monday

September 23, 2024 by Adam in Family

I still randomly smell imaginary smoke, which is annoying, and my stomach hurts occasionally, but I'd like to think I'm generally getting better after my whatever illness that started a couple weeks ago. I'm not quite as tired as I have been, which translated into a long list of things being finished over the weekend.  I mowed the lawn, upgraded Duncan's computer processor, put away painting supplies, took donations to St. Vincent du Paul, moved the shed, and peeled and sliced apples to make apple chips in the dehydrator.  Whew!

We also ended up seeing The Play that Goes Wrong at OCT, which while a smaller set than when Jo and I saw it in London for the original run, was still quite good.  The set impressively fell apart and there were inumerable spit takes and prat falls.  They've extended the run in case anyone want to see it.

Work continues along at a steady pace.  Today I'm coming up with a third way of accomplishing a task, which I think will end up as my preferred method.  I'm slowly writing up a tech spec that I'll need to review with some architects and then hopefully turn it into a real thing that millions of people use.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

Yar me hearties!  'Tis Talk Like a Pirate Day, the finest day o' all the seven seas.  It also happens to be Jamie's birthday, so I wished her well with a proper pirate message.

My mild illness continues - stomach cramps, lethargy, and occasional nasal issues.  Mostly it's just annoying except for its length.  Even though I've tested negative twice, it does seem a little COVIDy - I started randomly smelling imaginary smoke from time to time, and once I smelled ammonia.  Hopefully I'll improve soon.

Work is coming along nicely.  My proof-of-concept seems to work so now it's time to write up a tech spec.  It's exactly as much fun as it sounds and I keep putting it off, but I'm sure I can drink some more coffee and get the job done.

Last weekend was generally low-key, with the most notable thing being Jo and I building a tool shed out of flat pack furniture.  They also shocked themselves off an old cuisinart, which put a damper on the rest of the day.  I had a couple library trips too, once with Emma and another time with Yvonne.  

Emma's away at the beach this weekend for a last hurrah.  I've got endless house projects I want to get to.  We've also got tickets to The Play that Goes Wrong on Sunday.  I saw it long ago in London and thought it was the funniest thing - there's also a Show that Goes Wrong that's equally amusing.

Mocha Friday

September 13, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've been a bit under the weather the last week or so, though I've managed life relatively okay.  I keep increasingly becoming competent at work, at least writing code that compiles and does something, though not yet what needs to be done.  I had a nice chat with our Albuquerque boy, who seems to be living a very social life.  I've been playing the occasional new video game in the evenings, though I keep coming back to Balatro - there's something about poker math and probability that entertains me.

I managed to end up with a flat tire after having tea with mom this week, though I couldn't figure out why.  It was an easy enough change and fix at the tire store.  More and more I think I'll spend my Microsoft bonus money next year on a new car as all the little annoying things keep adding up.

As for the weekend, I think it'll be another one of taking it easy.  I'm itching to start up D&D again, though it's a ways out still.  I keep printing and painting models for future campaigns to entertain myself, but nothing beats the real thing.

Diablo 4

September 07, 2024 by Adam in Adam's Games

Long ago in the 90's I remember fondly playing the first of the Diablo games with Jason and our other friends, battling our way through various evil minions together.  With the new and shiny XBox Game Pass that came with the Microsoft job, I decided to play Diablo 4, the latest in the series.

I picked a necromancer to play and pretty soon I had a had a horde of skeletons following me around.  The first boss fight took a bit of effort but wasn't too bad, so I moved up the difficulty a little.  The wacky thing was that occasionally I'd run across these treasure goblins and killing them gave me amazing loot, to the point where the game became way too easy.  My horde of skeletons became unstoppable and with the right equipment everything died, the corpses exploded, and the entire game became a walking simulator as I didn't have to fight anything anymore.

The only times I died, which was a surprise, was when the boss fight killed me instantly for standing on parts of the floor that were scripted to kill me.  Otherwise the most danger I was in was in the final fight when my health blipped down for a brief second.

Sure the graphics were pretty and the voice actors were doing their best, but the game itself was way too easy to be called a game.  Ah well, on to the next free game.

Mocha Friday

September 06, 2024 by Adam in Family

Everyone seems to have a touch of illness these last couple weeks.  Dad had COVID.  Jo had some stomach thing for a couple days and it seems to have passed on to me.  Otherwise we're generally staying out of the heat and doing the usual things.  Yvonne started high school yesterday, starting her Japanese class with Sam's old teacher.  Today is marine biology and a science fiction class.  The plan is to take it somewhat easier this year and look at LCC before going to the U of O.

Work keeps going well and I've been doing a mix of onboarding and coding.  I successfully fixed a bug and will start jumping through the hoops to get it deployed everywhere it needs to be.  I've also been watching the onboarding videos, which are surprisingly good considering the topics.  It's nice working somewhere with good resources and a focus on developers.

Emma's been at the beach with Jamie the last few days, staying through the weekend.  Apparently she traded some mending work for store credit at an antique store, scoring a good bit of odds and ends in the process.  Duncan started up with his side gig again and is knee-deep in Microsoft mods trying to setup intro videos for his Minecraft YouTube star.  Yvonne texted me a question about whether a particular black hole and star system were close if they were in the same constellation - I ended up using a giant space cheese wedge analogy to explain why they were so far away from each other.

D&D was cancelled this weekend, so I'll probably try and get to some of the endless house projects that await.  I'm over halfway through reupolstering chairs.  Duncan's room still has a hole in the ceiling.  The fun never stops.

Mocha Friday

August 30, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm finally starting to feel useful at work.  I made a good comment on a PR that hopefully prevented a future bug. Later I worked with another developer to track down a different bug.  This morning I'll put together a fix for it and then it'll go out to millions of people.  It's a cool feeling.

I've still got quite a few of onboarding things to deal with, but I've signed up for insurance and set my 401K contributions.  Still waiting on my laptop, but hopefully that'll arrive one day.

As for the rest of the week, it's been relatively uneventful.  I've been enjoying the new games that came with the free XBox Game Pass from joining Microsoft.  I painted a new mini that turned out well.  Went to the dentist and said hi to dad.  Yvonne is getting ready for school starting next Thursday.  I've got to do a little prep for tomorrow's D&D game.

All is well.

Crafty Weekend

August 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

We didn't have any major events this weekend.  Jo went to a writer's retreat and Yvonne went to a local convention and dressed up as her favorite anime character.  It turns out one of Microsoft's perks is a free game pass, so Emma and I checked out the hundreds of free games we now have access to.  I played a Lovecraftian one set on an oil rig while Emma played a more whimsical one involving exploring an alien world and identifying all the cute flying species.

We also ended up being somewhat crafty.  Saturday I turned our plums and blackberries we recently picked into jams.  Sunday I fired up the band saw and made spoon blanks for Emma's carving hobby.

It's back to work today.  Hopefully I can start making baby steps towards being useful and doing real work.  The main person I'll be working with is back from vacation, so I'll need to talk to him.  I'll also be reaching out and talking to everyone on the team this week as Jonathan wants me to meet everyone.  We'll see how successful I am at getting a bunch of software developers to chat.

Mocha Friday

August 23, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm still settling in, feeling somewhat overwhelmed still though I can also see how much progress I've made since I started the week.  Security is taking forever to get setup - I've yet to be able to sign up for health insurance despite having the orientation yesterday.  I've got my development box nearly ready so I'm hoping I'll be able to write code and be useful relatively soon.  It may be a couple weeks before I get my official laptop - for now I'm using my D&D laptop which amuses me.  Everyone seems understanding that these things take awhile.

Jo's off to a writer's retreat through Sunday.  I picked most of the plums from the tree in our front yard.  Hopefully Emma's up for making jam with me, maybe a blend with the blackberries we picked from the farm.  Otherwise it looks to be a relatively quiet weekend, likely with a library trip and our usual anime and pizza.

First Couple Days

August 20, 2024 by Adam in Adam

I survived my first couple days at Microsoft.  I think I'm experiencing the software developer version of the Tetris Effect after trying to cram way too much information into my brain at once.  Last night I kept waking up worrying about storage limitations of databases for some silly reason.

First Day at Microsoft

August 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm out in my shed, returning to my usual routine of coffee and a snack at 7:30 in the morning.  I can't really do anything yet, so I'm waiting for Jonathan to call and help get my account setup.  I'm currently using the same laptop I use for D&D, though it should get the job done until my real hardware arrives.  Not sure what the plan is today exactly but hopefully I start the ball rolling.

It was a busy back-to-back D&D weekend, so I was moving minis around on maps and talking in funny voices pretty constantly.  Emma and I made a couple library runs and I did a bit of yardwork, but otherwise is was pretty constant nerdage.  Yvonne's old video card finally died, so I swapped it with a more modern NVIDIA card with instructions to play some video games to test it out.  Hopefully all my children now have their technology needs met.

Jo spent a long while doing some furniture restoration, stripping the paint from some free shelving for their office.  They also rearranged the drip irrigation on the patio so hopefully it'll be less rainy on my walk to the backyard shed in the morning.  Emma's starting a dress making project, enlisting Seraph for assistance along the way and using some of Danica's old cloth.  I've put most of my hobbies on hold until I get settled into work, though I've got some D&D planning to fit in sometime.  Should be an exciting week!

Mocha Week

August 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've been drinking a mocha every day this week (other than waking up at the farm).  It's been a nice treat in this accidental vacation week.  I'm about to start making my usual giant breakfast, likely crepes, then start setting up for D&D.

Thursday morning Jo and I managed to setup the second sun shade, carefully setting up a system of hooks and ropes to prevent falling and then rotating it 90 degrees before reattaching them the right way.  It was way better than our earlier attempt in the hot sun and immensely satisfying to get that finished.

Later that night we had a date night at Cafe Yumm and went home to pick apples that had fallen from our apple tree.  I later started them drying in the dehydrator as apple chips are a seasonal delicacy of Emma's.

I had some back-and-forth with my new job.  I think I've signed and filled out all the things.  My new laptop is still waiting to be shipped, but I'm repurposing my D&D laptop until then.  I spent Friday morning making my office all clean and shiny so it should hopefully be a good start Monday morning.  Getting excited!

I got through quite a few of the things on my task list.  Duncan's computer has more memory, our emergency solar battery is setup properly, the balcony escape latter is setup, the towel hook is fixed, three of the dining room chairs have been reapolstered.  Plus I read a small book cover-to-cover and started a second.  I saw my mom, dad, Jenny, hung out at the farm with Emma, and get two days of back-to-back D&D with family and friends.  Now it's time to go back to work and relax.

Pre-orientation

August 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

I just finished my pre-orientation signup with Microsoft, quickly taking a badge photo and uploading it.  Next Monday is the actual orientation, though I'm not entirely sure what to expect.  Theoretically I'll get a new laptop one of these days.

It's been an eventful week - accomplishing quite a few household tasks and seeing a bunch of people.  I've been making mochas and blueberry pancakes every morning.  I don't think Duncan wants me to start work as I keep making him extra pancakes each morning.

The big adventure was going out to the farm with Emma Tuesday through Wednesday morning.  We drove out late morning and settled in, assembling a chair that pulls out into a bed so that Emma would have a place to sleep that night.  Afterwards we made lunch and headed out to check on the trees by the shed that we'd planted.  The Douglas Fir did quite well, with around 80% of the trees surviving.  The other firs and cedar did a little less well and the hemlock worst of all.  Later in the afternoon we went over to the north end of the property and found similar numbers, with the ponderosa pine we planted doing best of all of them.  Nothing seemed to be eating the saplings, but the heat and dry weather was pretty rough on them all.

It was remarkable how much things had changed - meadow instead of dense forest, much dryer and hotter without the dense canopy.  Still, there were butterflys and grasshoppers wandering about the thistle, queen anne's lace, and other weeds that were popping up wherever they could.  We also tried to get into the house at the bottom of the hill but couldn't get the key to work.  I tried power and water in the shed and neither seemed to work.

That night we stayed up and watched the bats and birds fly around catching insects.  The forest was loud with all the crickets and frogs singing away.  I slept up in the loft relative well, though it was a tight fit and I often bumped the ceiling when I rolled over.

Jo and I have the sun shade to fix today.  I'm hoping to get at least one of the chairs reapolstered.  I've got some other odds and ends to accomplish, along with date night tonight.  This weekend is back-to-back D&D and then Monday morning I start in at my new job.  My life certainly isn't boring.

Week Between

August 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's the start of a funny, unplanned week between jobs.  It's already filling up with tasks and visits.  Jo and I are going for a walk in the woods this morning.  Emma wants to camp out at the spooky shack tomorrow night.  I've got a visit with dad on Wednesday.  Hopefully I can touch base with Jenny this week too.  I've also got a long list of house projects - we'll see how far we get.

It was a generally fun and productive weekend.  Emma, Yvonne and I did a library and Smith Family bookstore run again.  One of the Smiths was there - another Yvonne - and I introduced myself and briefly reminisced about the fire of '82 and how I slept on their family's couch after we all escaped the flames.  Funny how much history I have in this town.  I picked up a couple books I'm hoping to finish in my free time this week - fortunately one of them is barely over 100 pages.

Emma and I setup the band saw and I briefly tried it out.  After so much time struggling with hand tools, it feels pretty magical in comparison.  She mended a tea pot and cutting board her neighbor gave her too, which was a plus.

Jo and I spent the afternoon on Sunday putting up a shade for the second window.  Unfortunately it's high up over the driveway and required lots of ladder work.  The process involved attaching hooks and rope and the end result is that it was installed sideways, but I guess we all learned something about ourselves along the way.

I have a couple hours of downtime before the scheduled activities begin.  I bought myself Baltro, a wacky poker-like game, and have some books to read.  We'll see what I get up to.

Last Day

August 09, 2024 by Adam in Family

I've got my mocha resting next to me as I settle into my last day at Health Catalyst.  I've got a handful of things I need to accomplish today - a farewell email, wiping my laptop, and handing out the last of my Motivosity money.  I stopped writing code by Tuesday, finished my last knowledge transfer on Wednesday, had my exit interview with HR yesterday.  The most fun was the last team-building Jackbox games yesterday.

Even thought I probably should have waited to announce my departure, I think the onboarding at Microsoft has worked out okay.  I finally passed the background check and fished out the HR email from my spam folder to answer a couple of their questions.  I'll hopefully get my confirmation of my first day of work soon - the plan is to start next Wednesday.

It's funny being in this inbetween time and I'm trying to take advantage of this rare opportunity to get some projects done around the house.  I upgraded Duncan's memory and have a new video card for Yvonne's computer.  The garage is slowly getting uncluttered.  I setup some medical appointments for myself.  I treated myself to some new RPGs that might make for some fun one-shots down the road.

As for the weekend, I don't have too much going on.  I imagine we'll do a library run and I'm hoping to enlist Emma's help in reapolstering the dining room chairs.  It's nice just enjoying a quiet moment before my life gets exciting again.

Bookshops and Checklists

August 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a generally productive weekend.  Emma, Yvonne and I went on a road trip after breakfast.  We picked up Yvonne's pottery from the pottery painting place, headed to the craft center where Emma unsuccessfully tried to get into her pottery to move things over, then headed to the library where Yvonne cheerfully discovered some obscure manga, and finally to the Smith Family Bookstore. 

The last stop blew away both kids and they kept wandering the stacks in awe of the size.  I hadn't been there in years - long ago they had a coffee shop and I'd hang out with my college buddies to play hearts and listen to Marc Allen.  These days the entire building is books.  Yvonne picked up a couple on Japanese culture and Emma got her favorite creative storytelling book she'd check out of the library countless times.  They thought I was doing them a favor by paying for the books, but I let them know I was secretly tricking them into learning.

Sunday I bid an early farewell to Emma who was off to Eagle Crest for a few days.  I started in on building flatpack furniture - a bathroom dresser for Yvonne in the basement.  Then it was finishing a bike rack partially assembled in the basement.  I kept checking things off my list, trying to get things better organized.  I painted some fun new minis with built-in lights, trying out my new soldering iron.  I sold my Health Catalyst stocks for a seventh of what it was worth at its peak.  Things were put away and cleaned.

This promises to be a weird work week where I'm not supposed to work much.  I probably can't help myself and will likely do something anyway.  Still waiting for my background check to complete, but if all goes well I'll start my new job in a little over a week.

Quick Kid Update

August 05, 2024 by Adam in Yvonne

Our youngest kid is now using she/her and Yvonne for a first name.  Apologies if I mess up sometimes - still getting used to it.  She gave the okay to update everyone, so this seemed the most efficient way to make it happen.

Scrambling Mocha Friday

August 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

So it turns out I wasn't quite given the green light at Microsoft and have some background checks and the like to get sorted out.  I think it'll all be fine but it led to some excitement this morning as I was scanning documents and roping Duncan in to being my adult verifier of passport information.

Jeaux is off to Portland for the night for work.  Duncan's sweetie Jace returns to Florida tomorrow, with me waking up at 3:30 am to help make it happen.  No D&D this weekend, but I've got lots of home projects that I'm hoping to catch up on.  Hopefully between wrapping up work and theoretically starting my new job on the 14th, I'll have a chunk of time to clean the basement, assemble endless flatpack furniture, and get my jigsaw setup, among the endless other things on my todo list.

Going to Microsoft

July 29, 2024 by Adam in Adam

When I was a teenager visiting my grandparents in Pennsylvania they asked me what I wanted for my birthday.  We were at a mall, so I went inside the computer store and picked out "Windows 1.0."  I spent the rest of the trip reading it from cover to cover and installed it on the family PC when I got home.  Such began my long association with Microsoft products, teaching the Office suite after graduate school, then starting work as a SQL Server developer then administrator in my PeaceHealth days.

Fourty years after that fateful birthday gift, I'm excited to announce that I've accepted a position at Microsoft and will be starting there in a couple weeks.  I'll be reporting to Jonathan King, whom I've known for decades at both PeaceHealth and Health Catalyst.  I'll be working on the Power BI product, which involves crunching data and making graphs and such, very much like the product I've worked on over the last seven years.  With over 18 million customers, I'm excited to be able to make a difference with so many people.

Role Playing Weekend

July 29, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was back-to-back role playing games this weekend.  Saturday was family D&D, with even more silly voices than usual and a pipe organ puzzle to add to the fun. 

Sunday had Francis hosting an RPG themed around an 80's summer camp with slasher/monster themes.  We all broke out our classic 80's stereotypes and I had a great time playing Nuggs the stoner.  Somehow we kept the Jenga tower that determined our fate intact, slowly pulling out blocks whenever we had to make a skill check or face a monster.  There were also plenty of camp themed snacks, from Fanta soda to ice cream cups and hot dogs.  It was a great time and Francis did a fantasic job with the story, maps, handouts, and keeping us mostly all in line.

Figgy Friday

July 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

The fig tree has started producing tasty figs and I've been plucking them off the tree at a steady pace all week.  We're getting into peak harvest season and I usually eat something from our garden every day.  More is just around the corner, with tomatoes, apples, plums, and other delicious treats ripening in the weeks ahead.

It feels good to get toward the end of a rather intense month.  The most stressful things are nearly wrapped up.  Ben's friend heads home to Canada on Sunday, though Liria has been an easy guest and Ben's enjoyed having an in-person friend around.  The most stressful thing at the moment is that I managed to mess up Duncan's computer when doing an easy memory swap last night.  After thinking about it for awhile, I think I just disconnected one of the hard drives on accident while rooting around in the case.  Hopefully it's a quick fix.

It's a back-to-back nerdy weekend.  Saturday has the family D&D group, with more whimsical fae realm adventures.  Sunday I get to be a player in an 80's themed summer camp slasher RPG, with Francis running the game for us.  Super fun!

Last Year as a Teen

July 22, 2024 by Adam in Duncan

Jeaux is the usual birthday organizer, but I managed to order a cake and Duncan invited a couple friends over for an impromptu birthday shindig.  It was cool hearing Duncan talk about how college was so much better than high school and how well he was doing.  Plus it was fun seeing these kids I remember in first grade now as adults, reflecting on all their time together and enjoying each others' company.

I got Duncan some extra memory for his computer, hopefully making video editing a little easier.  I think Kevin wants to help with another computer upgrade, so I've got some disassembly in my future.

Anyway, it's cool seeing Duncan move another year into the future and become even cooler.

Full House Weekend

July 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a full house, with Ben's friend Liria being picked up from the airport, flying in from far away Canada.  That brings the house up to four teenagers, with a brief burst for Duncan's birthday when he invited a couple friends over.  It was great seeing a couple of his good old friends who are now strapping young men going to college.  The three of them talked excitedly about video games, Minecraft, and old friends they went to school with.

Emma hung out with me and we finished up our ongoing Trine game with our awesome gamer skills.  I'm still getting used to her driving her giant truck over lately.  We cut some new utensil blanks for her whittling projects, did a usual library run, and had our early morning Data visits.

I had a good chat with our wayward Albuquerque son - he's sweating away in the heat, but generally doing well.  It was great to just touch base and hear about his exciting social life.

Jeaux is back from the graduate program today, driving back from Washington.  I'm settling into work.  The next few weeks will likely be exciting and full of change, but I'm working through it.

Birthday Mocha Friday

July 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's my birthday today - Jeaux sent me a card from their graduate program, writing in fake birthday wishes from the children that completely fooled me.  They'll be back Monday and have promised a real birthday cake and presents at some point down the road.  Since Duncan's is tomorrow, I ordered him a Sweet Life cake for whatever friends show up for his self-organized party.

It's been a week of excitement, both good and bad.  There's currently a worldwide computer outage, which is always a fun time.  The drive to Portland and back was draining, but Ben's been settling into home just fine.  I've been feeding cats, watering gardens, and cooking dinner for everyone as usual.  Otherwise the other humans in the house have been taking care of themselves.

I'm picking up Ben's friend at the airport tomorrow and getting some birthday cake.  Other than food shopping I don't think there's anything unusual I need to accomplish.  Looking forward to some downtime after all the weeks' excitement, as much as I can manage anyway.

Thunder and Lightning

July 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's been a busy week so far - work is feeling like Star Trek's Kobayashi Maru's impossible-to-win scenario at times, at least in the time frame people keep talking about.  I'll do the best I can, I suppose.

Yesterday I worked a little, had a run, then hit the road to head to Portland to pick up Ben.  Traffic was lousy so the end result is that I spent nearly six hours driving.  Once getting home I threw together dinner, folding clothes, and the usual housework.  

I started watering the garden just as the sun set and noticed both a beautiful sunset and thunderstorm brewing.  Soon enough the sky was flashing and rumbling overhead and I stood by my car in awe.  A bat flew by to add to the ambience.  Eventually I returned inside to wind down for the night and collapse. It was a nice reminder that nature carries on regardless of my minor trials and tribulations.

Summertime Weekend

July 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

I was solo parenting, though it was a house full of adults so I suppose all was well.  Emma drove her big truck over Friday afternoon, which caused both the neighbor and my friend Jason to spout exclaimations of awe and envy over its immense power.  Later she drove me to Market of Choice to go shopping and it felt like I had to stand on my tippy toes to load up the truck.  I think she likes the freedom it represents and she's looking forward to driving to her pottery class this week.

I picked up Duncan's sweetie Jace from the airport on Saturday - everything went well and since they only see each other in person a couple times a year, they've been floating around and smiling.  Duncan's got a birthday next weekend so I've got to get a cake sorted out - he's inviting a few old friends over to hang out.

Sunday was D&D day with the friend group and I finally got to crack open the campaign book and break out some of the minis I worked on long ago.  It generally seemed to go well, a pretty standard dungeon crawl at the moment.  They're all tenth level and immensely powerful, so I'm hoping to add some challenging moments here and there.

Tomorrow I drive to Portland to get Ben.  Next weekend I'm picking up Ben's friend from the airport.  I've got lots of things I need to get done, kids to take places, food shopping, household maintenance and so on, but it's all generally going just fine.

Busy Mocha Friday

July 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

Lots of scurrying around this morning - watering plants and making sure cats are fed.  Jeaux's college experience so far doesn't involve much in the way of keggers and zany pranks and mostly involves orientation, name badges, and old institutional dorm rooms in a building built in the 1800s. 

Emma passed her driver's test yesterday, which she reported was pretty easy.  I expect to see her pull up in her big truck later today to hang out for the weekend.  She also had her first summer pottery class with three more sessions to go.  Even better she can now go in to use the craft center whenever she wants.

Tomorrow I pick up Jace from the airport, go to the library with Emma, and take care of various house chores and food shopping.  Sunday is D&D and hopefully I'm adequately ready to pull that off.

School Time

July 11, 2024 by Adam in Family

Jo packed up the Subaru and headed off to Washington this morning, hopefully bringing along enough dorm room supplies to survive the next ten days.  They seemed excited and left me with long enough lists that the cats and plants and children should all be alive upon their return.

It's been a fairly exciting week so far, with more to come before the month is over.  I handled the 100+ degree weather by retreating into the house and setting up my computer in Jo's office.  It was fine other than the cats being a little noisy and demanding.  We had more plumbing issues and eventually called a plumber to deal with the clog after quite a bit of cursing and wet/dry vac work.  Emma's taking her driver's test today and I'm hoping for the best.

This Saturday I'm picking up Duncan's sweetie at the airport and the friend D&D group runs this Sunday.  I've got a mini I want to paint and maybe some handouts if I'm feeling enthusiastic.  I do try and spoil my players.

Beach Time

July 06, 2024 by Adam in Family

We're in Yachats at the moment, enjoying a couple days away before the madness of July hits in earnest.  Jo and I have had a lovely couple days of hanging out in our little rental place.  We just finished watching the Barbie movie and now there's a beautiful sunset over the ocean.  Earlier I saw a whale migrate past the house, blowhole spraying as they moved north.

I'm also finally feeling much better after a somewhat cruddy week.  I kept the advil and mochas flowing constantly, which generally made it possible to head to the farm with Emma, Sadie, Greg and Simon.  We tromped around and admired the beautiful desolation - things continued to become overgrown though the trees we planted are generally doing well.  I headed to Creswell for the 4th of July parade, hanging out on Seraph's porch as every manner of old car, fire truck, beauty pageant winner on horseback and candy-tossing people of every persuasion headed down the street.  It was an interesting experience.

Later we headed to Jenny's where I continued the sibling hangout time.  It was great visiting with everyone.

As for the month ahead, Jo starts their program in less than a week, Francis is hosting an 80's slasher themed RPG one-shot, Duncan's sweetie comes to visit, and who knows what other strange turns my life will take.  At least it's never boring.

Blah Monday

July 01, 2024 by Adam in Family

My Friday sickness continued on through the weekend and into today.  I did manage a D&D session with the family on Saturday, wearing a mask and popping chocolate covered espresso beans like they were candy.  Otherwise it was very low-key.  Emma and I blahed on the couch, playing video games and occasionally taking a stroll around the neighborhood.  Sunday I helped Jo setting up the inflatable hottub on the patio. 

I picked up a new video game - Cobalt Core - which hits my Slay the Spire itch.  It has deck building, space ships, and a fun little crew.

Work continues to be wacky.  My manager quit today, though I'm working with another team so I'm not sure how much it matters.

Really looking forward to a few days off starting tomorrow afternoon and hanging out with Sadie and her family tomorrow.

Mocha Friday

June 28, 2024 by Adam in Family

Oh how I appreciate today's cafe mocha.

I woke up with a little sinus pain - hopefully I'm not coming down with something.  Yesterday I was assigned to another project at work, so it's another weird transition for me.  I'll likely just spend the day trying to figure out what I'm working on next.  The week has mostly been uneventful, trying to plan ahead for the chaotic July that awaits.  Ben heads to Rochester next week and the comings and goings progress from there.

Tomorrow is family D&D.  I've been frantically organizing and getting minis ready to go.  My urge to overprepare continues, though painting some of the miniatures has been fun.

I got Jo an inflatable hot tub for our anniversary last week and started clearing the space on the patio where we plan on putting it.  Hopefully we can finish it up soonish.

Kayaking and Dryer Repair

June 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

I spent last weekend trying to decompress after a somewhat busy week.  Jamie and Emma are in Albuquerque for some wayward son hangout time.  Emma unfortunately got sick and ended up in bed for much of yesterday, but otherwise has been enjoying hanging out with her brother.  They're headed back to Eugene today.

As for me, Jo and I went kayaking on Saturday.  It was a little warm but pleasant as always to get out on the water.  Sunday they had a work thing, so I took Ben to church and spent way to long disassembling the dryer and replacing the wheels that support the drum.  Several minor injuries later it was back together and no longer made the horrible thumping sound.

As for the rest of it, I managed to play some video games, paint some minis, and clean the house a bit.  I'm back to listening to fun podcasts instead of cramming information into my brain, which is nice for a change.

It's wild that we're on the brink of July, which is looking to be a very busy month.  Lots of trips, visitors, the start of school, and who knows what else.  At least the weather is amazing.

Welcome Mocha Friday

June 21, 2024 by Adam in Family

Yesterday was a lot, but I survived the day, wandered over to Jamie's to say farewell to Emma before the two of them headed to Albuquerque, then Jo and I went out to dinner for our anniversary.  I was gifted a band saw, which hopefully I can play with this weekend.  My favorite moment was ice cream from Prince Pückler's then walking around as the Olympic track and field tryouts were wrapping up.  I got my favorite Almond Mocha Fudge, which reminded me of my childhood goal in life which was to eat a pint of the previously mentioned ice cream while watching Simon and Simon, that great 80's show about brother detectives.

I need to finish my mocha and survive the workday, then the weekend calls.  I've got a long list of home projects, along with Jo and I kayaking tomorrow, but hopefully I sneak in some downtime to play games, paint minis, or otherwise do something frivilous for a change.

Father's Day

June 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's the first day of summer vacation, though with more and more adult children it's hard to tell the difference.  Emma came over on Friday and we wandered over to the library before the end of the day.  Saturday was the friend D&D day - hopefully I transitioned everyone from the old campaign to the new campaign relatively successfully.  The new DM screen seemed to work relatively well, though I can tell already I've got some improvements I need to make.  The day wrapped up with pizza and anime, as is the way of our people.

Sunday was Father's Day, though we had to wait a bit for the younger teenager to wake up.  I got a call from my oldest son first thing in the morning and managed to call my dad later in the day.  Emma drove me down to 5th street to check out a new comic book store.  Though we didn't get anything there, it sounds like they run an occasional one-shot RPG in the evenings and hopefully I can lure someone down to play with me.  Emma and I dropped by Euphoria for some chocolate covered espresso beans, so the trip felt successful.

Once everyone was awake I got to open all my presents - a nice soldering iron, a dice-making set with epoxy and molds, some DM notebooks, Emma's hand-carved utensils, and a fun card with sweet things written inside.  After dinner we got together for Jackbox games, which was a fun throwback to years gone by.

This week promises to be a busy one for me, professionally speaking.  Emma and Jamie head to Albuquerque this Friday.  Jo and I have our anniversary on Thursday.  At least life is never boring.

Last Day of School

June 14, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's the last day of school and change is in the air.  Ben's the only kid actually needing to go in at this point.  Emma finished her finals and met with her thesis advisor, while Duncan plopped all his photography class photos at the dinner table for us to show off.  It's already starting to feel like the summer is packed with activities.

Jo's starting up their schoolwork, reading through all the stories submitted by their cohort and scribbling down feedback.  Emma spent the week carving wooden spoons and listening to classical music on the old AM/FM radio she bought at the flea market last week.  I helped Jo garden last night, putting in pretty flowers into some of the newly made garden beds.

Tomorrow the friend D&D group starts up and I've been painting miniatures and sprucing up battlemaps.  It'll be great to see everyone again.  Friday is Father's Day and I'm hoping I can convince the kids to play a little Jackbox or something similar.

Kayaks and Flea Markets

June 10, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's perfect weather time - sunny and warm without being too hot.  Friday night Ben had a sleepover, though I managed to completely forget when I set the table for breakfast.  Saturday Emma and I went kayaking down at the mill race, having fun visiting with the little ducklings.  Jo spent a good deal of time working on the irrigation system and has mostly automated the watering of the backyard garden beds.  Sunday I took Emma to the flea market, which was a first for me.  Half the fun was watching the people who go to flea markets in all their awesomeness.  Emma picked up a cool picnic basket and small radio while I got a couple boxes perfect for minis.

It's finals week for the kids and summer is already feeling well-scheduled with trips and jobs and such.  I've been putting the farm on hold, though I suspect we'll have to figure things out before the end of summer.  I've got a D&D session to plan for this weekend - hopefully I remember how to play.

Summer is Coming

June 07, 2024 by Adam in Family

We're getting a wave of warm temperatures this week and I finally got around to installing the air conditioner in my shed.  Our garden beds are full of lettuce, which makes our neighbors across the street happy as Jo keeps bringing over endless bags.  Fire season is just around the corner and I've completely failed at organizing taking care of some burn piles at the farm.  Hopefully this summer we can at least run a brush hog around or maybe a tractor.

I made Ben watch the replay of the Starship landing last night, which was really impressive considering it partially melted on the way down but still managed to land softly.  With finals next week, the kids' schedules are getting a little funky.  Last night I had to rescue Duncan from LCC after he stayed past the last bus printing photographs.

No D&D this weekend - it's still quite a ways out for various reasons.  I'll need to reschedule the family D&D session as Emma is going to visit Sam later this month.  I've been filling the time painting and printing miniatures and finding cool maps along the way.  I bought a D&D themed tarot deck as a prop.  The preparation is half the fun.

Hopefully I can get some downtime in this weekend.  My brain is getting a little melty from stuffing information into it.  I should take some time off this summer one of these days too.

Farm Visits and Flatpack Furniture

June 03, 2024 by Adam in Family

Saturday Jo, Emma and I headed out to the farm, along with mom.  The loggers finally finished up their remediation work along the stream and surprisingly did a decent job cleaning things up.  The blackberries are already starting to pop up and I can see how they'll take over unless we do things soon.  Still, we saw a deer wandering around and many of the trees we planted seemed to be doing okay.  Only the cedar seemed to be having a hard time of it, with the hemlock surprisingly happy.

We've got a bunch of slash management to deal with and blackberries too.  The neighbor sold their tractor, which is a bummer, and fire season starts soon.  Not sure we'll get organized in time - it likely will require running a brush hog around to be able to get to the piles that need to be burned.  Anyway, I'm trying hard not to get too stressed out about it all.

Sunday we celebrated nonbinary parent day for Jo, with the requisite presents at breakfast.  After asking what they wanted to do most of all, the answer was assembly flatpack furniture, so Emma and I got to work.  Even though it took way too long and required some disassembly to fix a few things, the end result looked good and hopefully keeps things a little more organized.  Jo also got another scholarship from Eugene PRIDE - they've been working hard at applying for scholarships for their master's program, so it's nice to see the work pay off.

Goodbye Reservoir

May 31, 2024 by Adam in Family

We tromped up to the top of College Hill last night to say farewell to the reservoir.  It's nearly a hundred years old and not up to earthquake code, so EWEB is going to demolish it and put in new tanks.  It was fun seeing so many people up there, with food trucks, roller bladers and music.  I took Sam and Emma up there to practice bike riding many years ago and watched fireworks from there at least once.

School is wrapping up at a rapid pace, with one more week of "real" school, then finals and summertime.  Already it's starting to feel busy.

We also got news of the loggers finally finishing their cleanup.  With fire season approaching soon, we have a small window to get people in to burn a couple piles - we'll see if we can get it arranged in time.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend we can go survey things and come up with a firm plan.

As for this weekend, Emma wants to do some post-birthday present stuff, printing out a solo RPG and hopefully get her registered for a pottery class.   The garden is coming along nicely, though there's always more to do.

Memorial Day Weekend

May 28, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a good weekend - I could get used to having three days off.  Jeaux and I put in a bunch of time doing yardwork.  The beds are looking really nice - Jeaux put down weed blocker and I spread mulch between the beds.

Emma's birthday was fun, with tasty food and good presents.  She was a great Dungeon Master and put on a good show.  The next day she went off with her mom to have her first legal drink at the neighborhood bar and play pool with Jamie's bar friends.

I finally finished my DM screen - hopefully it'll work well for my next session.  I continue to print and paint more minis and get ready for the next sessions.

I've also been practicing my algorithm skills, jumping on leetcode to work through some of those problems.  It's weirdly fun, though occasionally my brain melts and I have to stop.

We'll see what happens this week.  Work is weird and wacky, as always.  The summer schedule is starting to get packed with trips, visitors, and other activities.  Busy, busy.

Birthday Girl

May 28, 2024 by Adam in Emma

Emma had her birthday celebrations over the weekend, which started with crepes and ended with Sweet Life cake and Tasty Thai dinner.  She got quite the fun haul of gifts, a good mix of practical and whimsical.  Hopefully she feels well appreciated.

She also decided she wanted to try out being a Dungeon Master and invited a few of the regular players for a one-shot birthday themed game.  Emma went all-out with the ambiance, from serving tea to hand-drawn portraits.  I loved being a player too, keeping a silly voice consistent throughout the game and breaking out the ukulele for some fun bardic improvisation.

DM Screen with Monitor

May 28, 2024 by Adam in Adam's Projects

I keep tweaking my D&D setup.  I started with a laptop for myself, attached to a tv laid flat for maps, and another monitor to display monster pictures or whatever.  I got rid of the second monitor recently, just displaying pictures over the maps themselves, but I didn't like how it was upside down for half the players and how it covered up the maps.  I saw someone turn a cheap monitor into a DM screen and knew I had to have one.

I'm not completely finished with it, but it's at least workable.  The design had lots of flat pieces to cut out and glue together, which ended up being somewhat annoying.  Still, I'm mostly happy with the end result and am already scheming various updates to make it even better.

Memorial Day Mocha Friday

May 24, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm excited to have a three day weekend coming up.  Not only is it Emma's birthday, but she's running a D&D one-shot where I get to be a player for a change.  I made my fun gnome bard and whipped up a mini, mostly because I wanted the full player experience.

Ben survived nearly six hours taking his AP French test yesterday.  I suspect he did very well and when combined with his IB Economics test, he should end up with a bit of college credit.  He's still trying to figure out next year, but currently he's thinking about AP Chemistry in part because the teacher is so great.

Not sure anything particularly exciting happened this week.  My work continues to slog along.  Meals are cooked, laundry folded, and dishes washed.  I continue listening to podcasts and painting minis for the new campaign.  It's nice to both have D&D to play and all the fun prep along the way.

Monday will likely be my house project day.  Our dryer is noisy and I've got new rollers that hopefully fixes it.  There's soil to move and gardening to do.  One of these days I need to patch the hole in Duncan's ceiling.  I need a vacation just to get all my work done.

House of Records

May 20, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a fun weekend, full of D&D, projects, and feeling cool at House of Records.

Friday had Emma and I heading to the library to scoop up some holds and pick up new books.  I'd reserved the comic Something Is Killing the Children, which was a fun and fast read - reminded me of a mix of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stranger Things.

Saturday was the family group.  Emma made bread and doughnuts, which were well recieved.  They had their first fight, breaking out the mine cart minis and Seraph saving the day by cooking a spider.  I worked more on the DM screen with the monitor afterwards, finishing up the side pieces.  I think I just have some hinges to add and it should be good to go.

Sunday was the friend group with the great heist wrapping up.  My friend Jason had an incident a few days earlier, so he's off driving for a month and I picked him up.  I think all is well, though he has a better appreciation of the issues with not taking his meds.  The heist itself ended amazingly, with a lion and baboons running rampant throughout the casino and our heros walking out in their disguises.  I also got to break out new props, including the ring with the magnet that triggers the magnetic switches in the lamp, which produces a UV light that shows the secret writing on the tarot cards.  Whew!

Work continues to be strange - mostly just waiting for people to get back to me.  Emma's birthday is coming up next weekend, so I've got to get ready for that.  Jo's also done a great job getting our garden ready to go and was giving out tomato seedlings to passers by.  I'm hoping I can help move things along - exciting to see everything growing and tasty looking.

Double-D&D Weekend

May 17, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's back-to-back D&D days this weekend after a fairly long delay.  Hopefully I'm prepared enough and if not I'll just keep breaking out funny voices and show off some more minis.  Continuing the nerdy news, my new DM screen with a monitor built-in continues to be constructed.  The gluing steps are slow-going and trying to get everything nicely lined up and perfect is a little tricky.  Hopefully the end result is cool.

Work continues to be weird and wacky, pulled away to a secret project again.  It's fun, as I get to do a lot of different things, but the whiplash is occasionally exhausting.

The rest of the fam seems to be doing well.  Ben had two days of IB economy tests, which he weirdly enjoyed even though it was a bit of a slog.  Duncan is winding down his first year of school, earning a bit of cash with his side gigs at school and making intro videos for other YouTubers.  Emma's also winding things down - she signed up for her driver's test, though the first available slot was in July.  Jo's getting ready for their MFA program, feeling too busy at work, and getting our seedlings moved from the greenhouse to the new garden beds.

I'm loving the warm weather, well into the shorts-and-t-shirt phase of the year.  I took down the air conditioner from my shed storage area, but have yet to set it up.  Looking forward to getting in some hiking or kayaking in the weeks ahead.

Mother's Day and Aurora Borealis

May 13, 2024 by Adam in Family

Having never seen the northern lights, I was bummed out I missed them on Friday.  I think I caught a glimmer Saturday night, mostly just a greenish purple tint to the north, but my camera seemed to pick it up on a long exposure.

It was a generally quiet weekend.  Emma and I did a library run on Saturday and worked on various projects throughout the day.  I'm working on a new DM screen with a monitor built in and cut out most of the pieces.  Now it's on to the tedious gluing and making sure things fit phase.  Hopefully I didn't mess up the measurements too badly.

Jo put in a bunch of work on the garden.  We had a post-breakfast team assembled to lift the garden bed into place on top of the blocks.  I shoved a bunch of soil.  Ben helped plant flowers and clean up the new part of the garden.  It was nice having such great weather after the dreary months.

Sunday was the mother's day tour, visiting with my mom and Yayoe and delivering little presents.  It was nice to catch up.

Sunny Days Are Here Again

May 10, 2024 by Adam in Family

It looks like we have a week of sunny, warm weather.  The garden is growing enthusiastically, one of the beds being taken over by greens.  Already my lunchtime salads are getting tasty radishes and greens that we grew.

Work is moving along.  Though the thing I'm building feels overly complicated, it's been educational and I'm slowly figuring it out.

I decided on a whim to treat myself to a new DM screen for my D&D games.  Someone made one with a built-in monitor, so that may be my weekend project.  Emma said she'd give me a hand.

Mothers' Day is around the corner.  Hopefully I can find a way to say hello to all the various moms in my life.

Easter Weekend

May 08, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's a belated posting of the weekend festivities.  Perhaps it was that annual shot of vodka that caused the delay.

Easter was fun - the company was good and the food was delicious.  Kudos to Seraph for making it happen, along with all her helpers.  I went over early in the day but mostly stood around looking pretty.  My reward was my own potato chocolate cake that I've been slowly eating as snacks all week.  I'm reminded once again why it's my favorite cake ever.

Sunday was very low-key, rainy with Emma in a very worn-out state.  We had a nice call with the wayward boy in Albuquerque.  He's gainfully employed doing residential construction, checking out local music shows, climbing with his gym buddies and looking to buy some plants for his apartment.

As for the week so far, it's been slogging away.  Some of the work weirdness has faded a bit.  The rain has eased up and it's bright and sunny at the moment.  The new D&D campaign book is out and I'm frantically printing miniatures in hopes to get things ready.  Emma found a cozy fantasy book at the school - I picked up the audiobook awhile back, so we're doing an accidental book club.

Wacky Work Time

May 03, 2024 by Adam in Family

I seem to be riling people up at work lately.  Hopefully I can find some sort of Buddist-like detachment from outcomes.  At least it's been educational.  And today is a mocha day, which is always nice.

Tomorrow is Russian Orthodox Easter.  When I stopped by to get mom for tea this week, I ran into Seraph and Emma working away.  Seraph forced me to eat some delicious potato chocolate cake, promising me more to take home after Easter.  I'm excited to see everyone, especially Jenny who I haven't seen in far too long.

Emma got herself a thesis advisor yesterday.  She'd been nervous about imposing on anyone and has put it off for awhile.  Fortunately she has a good forest biology professor and after chatting with him about the farm for a long while, popped the question and he said yes.

Otherwise the week has been pretty low-key, a little dreary with occasional bursts of sunshine.  Hopefully the loggers will finally be done at the farm sometime this month.  D&D starts up in a couple weeks - I've been printing minis in preparation for future games.  Jo and I had fun playing Cat Quest 2 after returning from our date night.  I'm sure Emma and I will hit up the library later today.

Lazy Rainy Weekend

April 29, 2024 by Adam in Family

Other than feeding kids and kitties and keeping the house generally intact, I'm not sure I did much beyond some gardening on Saturday.  Jo was out at a writer's conference with their friend Jennifer, so it was a kid hangout weekend.  I did manage to add some edging pavers to the garden and it did involve a little bit of chainsawing to remove roots, but that's about it for being terribly productive.  Emma was feeling under the weather, with her most exciting thing being some adventure preparation for a game she wants to run.

We did "fix" the light to the basement, which involved changing the light then realizing the second switch was just stick in between the on and off states.  I also "fixed" my dad's old 3D printer by realizing it kept trying to calibrate the z-index because the magnetic bed got stuck on the pegs and wasn't flat.  It was that sort of weekend.  At least I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies at the end of it.

I'm taking Duncan to the bank this afternoon so that he can setup direct deposit for his new LCC job.  He was asked to help tutor other students, presumably because he's really good with the various tools they use.  It's really cool and I'm proud of him.  It's deeply satisfying watching kids grow up and slowly become self sufficient.

Mocha Friday

April 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

A warm mocha on a rainy day is one of my absolute favorite things.

It's been a generally okay week.  I hung out with my friend Jason last night and helped him setup some software for his upcoming D&D session.  It was fun to geek out about props for his upcoming game and talk about the challenges of being a dungeon master.  Plus we chatted about his job, which involves a bunch of travel and waiting around to be called to the witness stand.  I also helped my other old friend Colin test one of his new puzzle word games.  Who would have thought that the two guys I played Car Wars and Cyberpunk with would grow up to become real professional people.

Work's been a little topsy-turvy, though maybe in a good direction for a change.  My doomed project was dismissed and I was thanked for my service.  A previous proof-of-concept I put together has been declared the preferred direction and the team has dropped this lengthly refactor to turn it into something production ready.

Jo and I managed to get one of the newly raised garden beds ready and a heavier duty trellis setup.  The beds had been invaded by tree roots, despite the gap, and the previous trellis collapsed under the weight of peas and squash.  Hopefully this newer setup works better.

Gardening and D&D

April 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a fun weekend.  On Friday Emma drove us to the library to return with our weekly treasures.  Saturday was pretty low-key, with neighborhood walks, cleaning the patio, and playing video games.

Sunday was one of the most fun I've had playing D&D, with a classic heist that went off the rails and had considerable hijinks.  They didn't quite finish their theft, but they got some of the key tools to pull it off.  Next session they'll have to work in a jail break too as one of the group caused a massive distraction and was caught by the guards.  I also had a great time breaking out all the props I've been working on - it's like a mini Christmas in the middle of a game.

My wayward son called on his drive back from Pheonix where he was visiting friends.  He's got an interview with a wind farm that he's hoping works out.  It involves welding and climbing huge structures, which apparently is what he wants to do.  He's still excited about Alburquerque, making good friends and enjoying the scene.

Work continues onward, with weird obstacles popping up unexpectedly.  I may need to switch to working on something else for awhile as the vendor just threw a "it's not possible" block my way.

Mocha Friday

April 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm loving the warm sunny weather, along with wearing shorts and t-shirts.  It's been a quiet week - tea with mom, chats with Emma, making dinner and asking Ben and Duncan about their day, petting Data while watching t.v. at the end of the day.  Having everything be okay is pretty darn good.

My noon runs have been fun while watching the new Fallout show.  Work's still weird as I work away with little instructions on this special project.  It's been educational, i suppose, though everyone I talk with agrees that it's not the approach we'll ultimately go with.  I get paid the same no matter what I do, I suppose.

D&D with friends starts up this weekend and I've got way too many props to hand out.  I'm also transitioning to a new high-level campaign that's coming out in a month, so getting the story to smoothly transition is a little tricky.  It's fun thinking about and I keep puttering around with getting maps and music and handouts ready to go.

Birthday Weekend

April 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a relatively quiet weekend.  Emma and I did our usual library trip on Friday. Ben had his friend Charlie over, and the two of them suckered Emma into playing Hotshot Racing for awhile.

Saturday I took Ben and Emma to the Dark Arts Market at Old Nick's.  It was pouring rain, but they both picked up a few witchy knick-nacks.  Next up was Oregon Art Supply since we clearly didn't have enough art supplies in the house.

Sunday was Ben's birthday, starting with the usual hearty breakfast.  Emma wanted to make a candleholder for her new Dark Arts Market candles, so we headed down to the shop for some impromptu woodworking.  I gave our wayward son a call - the farm job wasn't for him, so he was going to visit friends in Pheonix before settling down at a construction job.  He bought a bass guitar and is settling into his apartment.  He seems cheerful.

Duncan spent the weekend working on a photography homework assignment.  The end result was dozens of pictures of our cat Leiah, which I think he enjoyed immensely.

As the day wore down, Emma drove us to Sweet Life and Sushi Seoul to get Ben's lemon meringue pie and sushi for the birthday festivities.  I think he enjoyed it, along with his horde of presents. 

Mocha Friday

April 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's been a relatively quiet week, with the sun peeking out more and more.  Jo's off at a writing workshop for the next couple days.  I've been wearing shorts and a t-shirt, even when the weather suggests otherwise.  At work I've been playing around with Github Copilot, trying to see how useful it is as a coding assistant.  I think it's good on the whole, though it's occasionally misleading or completely incorrect.  The kitties are fine, with Data's kidney issues seemingly back to normal.

Our wayward son seems to have settled in Albuquerque, getting an apartment is a part of town he likes.  Today is his first day working on a farm.  He's made some friends and gone to various concerts.  It's cool seeing him settle in so quickly.

Jo and I had our date night at Old Nick's, with its fantasy-themed menu.  The open mic was a little loud and the food was just okay, but we went for a walk around the rose gardens and it was surprisingly beautiful.

Weekend Festivities

April 08, 2024 by Adam in Family

Saturday was the big D&D day with a new campaign kicking off.  It generally went well, though the snail racing competition had some inter-party fighting.  The open nature of things is a little stressful to run, but hopefully the carnival activities were generally fun.  Hopefully they all had a good time - breaking out minis I painted long ago was entertaining to me at least.  Seraph also got me a cool new D&D t-shirt, as clearly I need more of those.

Sunday was filled with gardening, walks to various little free libraries, and some video game playing.  I planted some sunflowers along with the more practical veggies.  The greenhouse is filling up with fun plants too - hopefully we'll have enough room in the beds for everything.

Sneaking into Spring

April 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

I spent a couple days wearing shorts and t-shirts, feeling like a better version of myself as I frolicked in the sunshine.  I snuck away from work to mow the lawn and clean the porch and patio.  It was all very lovely, though we quickly returned to cool, rainy weather.

I was handed a new wacky project at work, so I'm feeling thrown to the deep end once again.  I'm not really working with other developers, reporting directly to a director, so I'm feeling somewhat disconnected from everyone else.  We'll see how long it lasts.

I've got a new D&D campaign starting tomorrow - The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.  Our brave adventurers are returning to the magical carnival where they each lost something as a child.  I think I'm mostly prepared except for a few minor things.  Plus I've got some popcorn to make to set the carnival mood.

Three Day Weekend

April 01, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a nice weekend all around, with Emma coming over early and filling Friday up with various fun things.  I caught up on some correspondence, setup my dad's old 3D printer, Emma and I went to the library, and then we had tea with my mom.  Dad's old printer is bigger than my current one, so I tested it out with a couple prints of an ink stamp holder I'd been wanting to try.  Tea with mom was nice, and it turns out some more logging money finally came in.  Hopefully the loggers will finish up doing what they're doing and we can get on with the business of managing things ourselves.

I read a few graphic novels, played some games, and prepped some D&D.  Emma and I took a few more cherry branches and turned them into spoons and spatulas.  Jeaux and I emptied one of the garden beds that the fig tree had grown roots into.  I think we have a plan to keep them out in the future.

Ben still wanted to do our traditional egg hunt, so we hid eggs and watched our teens scurry about finding them.  Emma abstained, though she did nibble on a chocolate bunny left on her breakfast plate.

It's the first week of the new term for Duncan and Emma.  Emma's classes are starting at 8:30 in the morning.  Duncan's taking a lighter term unless his wait list class works out.  As for me, I love that it's finally starting to feel like spring and the world is born anew.

Maximum Nerdage

March 25, 2024 by Adam in Family

I had a very nerdy weekend with back-to-back D&D games.  It was great meeting Jordan's friend Sam and starting the new whimsical-yet-dark fairytale campaign The Wild Beyond the Witchlight.  They played as kids, sneaking into a carnival and all losing something important.  Next session they return eight years later as adults, looking for that missing something.

Sunday was the friend group, with a train heist and jail break combination.  I think it turned out well, moving quickly as they roamed between the rail cars as the train passed through various planes of existence.  After that was a "Lower Decks" style session with everyone playing crewmembers going on their own low-level adventure, starting with a game of poker and 3D printed gold, silver, and copper coins.  I think I ran out of funny voices by the end of the day and collapsed next to Emma on the couch after everyone left.

As for the rest of life, it's the start of spring break, which Jo pointed out was to give parents hope that summer vacation will one day arrive.  Jo painted their office.  Pizza was eaten.  Anime was watched.

In sad news, Jo's uncle Jay died over the weekend.  I met him and his French wife when we visited Cornwall many years ago.  Mostly I remember he was cheerful, with funny stories about the area and the Beatles recording in a little studio up the river we kayaked up.  Jo would like to attend the memorial service, though we're still sorting out the details.

Learning to Spell Albuquerque

March 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

It looks like our wayward son is settling into Albuquerque, at least for the time being.  Seraph's friends connected him with an artist hostel and he's staying in an actual camper with a very nice woman and her husband who uses welding to make art.  The thought is that our beamish boy could get a feel for the town, find some work and a more permanent place to live, then see if any of his friends want to join him on his new adventure.  He's really liking the people and the feel of the town, which warms my heart.

As for the rest of us, we enjoyed our few days of sunshine before the rains came again.  Emma's at the beach with Jamie after her final.  Duncan is done too, handing me a poster he made for a fictional movie for his final project.  I imagine it'll have to go on the fridge.  Ben's been having a harder time of it, much more tired than normal the last couple weeks.  Hopefully some doctor visits will help sort things out.  Our kitty Data got his belly shaved and an ultrasound to check out his kidneys - they look good, so hopefully this last vet visit was just a one-time thing.

Work is moving along relatively well, working with new technologies and mostly figuring it out.  I've got some nice new miniatures printed for my D&D groups this weekend, painted for the friend group.  They've got a clear coat drying at the moment - I'm excited to see the final version.

My foot is much better.  I ran four miles yesterday without any tendon pain while watching a comedy horror movie.  Maybe I just needed to switch genres.

Construction Complete!

March 18, 2024 by Adam in Family

Emma and I finished up the Little Free Library over the weekend and brought it over to Jamie's house for installation.  Emma's not quite sure where it will go, but I talked through the steps of getting a post in the ground and attaching the post to the library.  I imagine that will happen at some point.  Emma was very proud of her efforts.

It was also a warm, sunny weekend with sowing seeds in the garden and doing a bit of cleanup.  I somehow hurt one of the tendons in my foot on Friday, so I was limping around until recently.  Fortunately icing it down and taking it easy seemed to do the trick Sunday afternoon.  We also picked up a few games during the Steam sale, including dusting off the VR goggles to play the latest I Expect You To Die.  It's a great spy game where you solve puzzles and thwart villians while trying to avoid dying in entertaining ways.  Emma mostly played that while I played the cyberpunk survival-horror game Signalis.

Our wayward son continues to travel across the country, really enjoying Albuquerque and pondering hard about moving there.  He's currently in Dixon, Seraph and Robbie's stomping grounds.  Plans continue to be in flux, but he's having a great time exploring and trying to find a good place to settle down.

Next weekend is the start of some new D&D campaigns, so I'm printing out characters and getting things ready to go.  Should be exciting.

Mocha Friday

March 15, 2024 by Adam in Family

Yesterday was somewhat exciting, starting with a SpaceX rocket launch and ending with a pumpkin pie for Pi Day.  I had a long chat with my wayward son, who has left Austin and his friends there and was calling from the woods near Albuquerque.  He took a long hike through the White Sands dunes, a beetle the only animal he saw along the way.  Today he's spending the day at a hiking gym and generally checking out the town.  Next up is a couple days with friends of Seraph and then spending a week in Pheonix.  

The school term is winding down, with Emma and Duncan working on final projects.  Emma has been missing Russian Orthodox Easter, so she's convinced Seraph to team up and make it happen.  Jo and I might get away for a day or so over spring break, though we're not organized yet.  With the weather finally turning sunny and warm, I think we'll try to get some gardening done.  There's also a little free library to finish.  I'm also down to a week until the next round of D&D sessions and have some minis to print and sessions to prep for.

Little Free Libraries

March 13, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a dreary weekend after a sunny Friday, so we mostly stayed inside.  Friday was a library trip.  Saturday and Sunday Emma and I worked on a little Free Library for her mom's house.  We rooted around the storage area under the porch and found an old window that ended up working well for the front and back.  By the end of the weekend we finished most of it, though I think this weekend we'll finish the roof and keep applying layers of paint and varnish to preserve the wood.

The rest of the week is puttering along.  Work is wacky and I feel thwarted more than I'd like.  I'm preparing for the next D&D campaign and getting excited as I go.  Evenings are relatively quiet - cooking dinner, puttering a little on the computer, and watching tv with a kitty on my lap.  It's a pretty good life.

Trophies!

March 08, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's mocha Friday, something I'm thankful for on these last cold and wet days of winter.  The week has generally been uneventful.  I keep forging ahead at work, though I feel I'm pretty far into the unknown.  Jo had a sleep study Wednesday night.  Ben's slowly feeling better and back at school full time.

I made some trophies for the Tomb of Annihilation players, double sized miniatures that I'm spray painting a single color.  I'm happy with how they turned out and it seems a good way to say farewell to a two-year adventure.  Lately I've been turning my eyes to the next Wild Beyond the Witchlight campaign.  It's far more whimsical and focused more on roleplaying than combat.  Jordan's friend Sam will be joining us, so it'll be a big group.  Plus I'm using some new software, which I think will end up working out well.

As for the weekend, I've promised Emma a library trip.  I'd love to get outside, but the dreary weather may make it another cozy one.  Maybe we'll try our hand at some more woodworking.

Endings and New Beginnings

March 04, 2024 by Adam in Family

The nearly two-year D&D campaign with the family ended on Saturday.  They tromped through the dinosaur-filled jungle, plundered ancient temples, and made their way through a trap-filled dungeon to face an evil wizard.  Seraph's character was turned into a goat-person.  The friends they made along the way were freed from evil hags.  The world was saved.

It was a little sad saying goodbye to that world, packing up the campaign book and miniatures.  Fortunately we've got the next campaign ready to go.  I've been reading it since last summer, printing and painting miniatures along the way.  The players are excited about their new characters.  I'm trying out some new software to help with maps and such.  Over the weekend I put together a sound board with fun noises like monster yells and sword clangs.  It's all about putting on a good performance, I suppose.

As for Sunday, it involved much puttering around.  Jo finished putting together an electric trike for Duncan so that he can get to his appointments without us.  Emma finished drawing a cathedral for her architecture class.  We spent a fair amount of time in the shop, cleaning up, sharpening my grandfather's old woodworking tools, and trying on the new dremel-like tool to finish sanding Emma's bowl.

Now it's back to work, getting ready for a release and trying to figure out the brave new world of application development with Databricks.  I keep making experimental thingies that kinda work, not yet brave enough to put it into the product.  This may be the month that all changes - we'll see how it goes.

Functioning Bathtub

March 01, 2024 by Adam in Family

Our bathtub was installed by the previous owner in such a way that it dripped down into Duncan's bedroom below.  After several years of a hole in the ceiling and tray to catch the drips, we finally got organized to get our shower replaced.  And by "we", I mean Jo, though I helped pick out tiles and open the door for the construction builders.  There was a week of tearing out tiles and the old tub, then putting in new tiles and the new tub.  Finally this week I tested out the new shower.  I was surprisingly excited as I'd been hauling clothes and toiletries up and down the stairs to the main floor shower.

Jo and I went to the Oregon Contemporary Theater to see Cyclone, a musical comedy about a bunch of teens killed on a roller coaster and having to compete to see who gets to return to life.  They were still working out some kinks of the production, but I had a good time going and felt very cultured seeing local plays two months in a row.

I feel I'm making progress at work, despite the overall disorganization.  Hopefully it still stays fun and we get a little more clarity in the weeks ahead.

Tomorrow is D&D with the family, perhaps the last session in a nearly two-year campaign.  Things don't look good for our heroes, but they've already saved the world, so just making it out of the dungeon alive is just icing on the cake.  There's probably a life lesson in there somewhere.

So Many Dungeons. So Many Dragons

February 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

Okay, there weren't any dragons, but I had back-to-back D&D games all weekend.  There were so many funny voices, epic battles, and wrapping up year-long campaigns.  The friend group escaped their dungeon with their loot, returning to their home base to find it all in flames.  Soon they'll move on to a train heist, though the train is flying and they're moving between planes of existence.  The family group finally ended the Death Curse and will soon face the great wizard who has caused all this trouble.  It seems unlikely they'll all survive the experience, but at least they saved the day.

The rest of the weekend was pretty low-key.  Emma and I visited the library on Friday.  Saturday afternoon we did some woodworking, carving out more of her bowl and starting to make some molds for making tiles.  Jo pruned the fig tree.  Duncan had a school event.  Pizza was eaten and anime watched.

Now it's back to work, fixing bugs and preparing for the future.  Still trying to figure out what that means.

Mocha Friday

February 23, 2024 by Adam in Family

My toothbrush has been perched on the main floor bathroom windowsill as the upstairs bathtub is replaced and the walls retiled.  They guys working on it have been great and accomodating, dealing with the weird surprises of the DIY previous installation.  The unsafe electrical outlet under the tub has been removed and the tub should no longer drip down into Duncan's room, so those things are a plus.

Otherwise I've kept forging ahead with work challenges, hopefully moving in the right direction despite the chaos.  It's a back-to-back D&D weekend, sneaking up on the end of one campaign and the beginning of another.

In terms of the farm, mom called the pump people to get the well fixed.  Jo and Abraham have been talking about remaining cleanup tasks.  They want to wait until March before doing some of the cleanup.  Hopefully we'll have some of the heavy slash removed and roads repaired soon.  I think we'll need to jump into blackberry control before they spring back to life.

Tromping around the Farm

February 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a generally good weekend, if occasionally exhausting.  Saturday Emma and I went to the library and turned some scrap cherry wood into utensils - a butter knife, a spatula, and a spoon.  They all turned out a little rustic, but it was fun and Emma liked the end result.   We found some cherry trees down at the farm, so it's likely we'll have an endless supply for our projects.

Sunday we headed out to the farm in the afternoon.  It was the first time Ben had seen it, so he took a lot of pictures.  I helped Jo load supplies into their shed to finish up the loft, then followed Emma down to the spook y shack.  The goal was to cut some willow and plant it near the upper stream.  I think we ended up with a couple dozen stalks.  Theoretically they'll sprout and turn into new willow trees.  There's quite a bit of erosion in the upper stream, so hopefully it helps.

We also took a look at the pump house.  It had power, which is good.  The box covering the well head had been knocked over, so we put that back.  Water didn't really come out, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

This week we have people working on our bathroom, replacing tiles and hopefully installing the new tub properly.  The hope is that it stops leaking into Duncan's room below and I can finally close up the ceiling.

New Phone, Who Dis?

February 16, 2024 by Adam in Family

After a rough week of doing battle with Verizon, I have a new Pixel 8 Pro that generally seems to work.  Previously the SIM card would periodically die and after three trips to the Verizon store, they seemed unable to help me.  Fortunately I connected with a very nice tech support person and got that sorted out.

Work has been up and down quite a bit lately, but I'm hoping things are settling down.  I keep trying to drive things forward, come hell or high water, and mostly feel successful.  I also have a new manager - Tim - who I hope can help with some of the tricky things we need to work through.

Valentine's Day was low-key and nice - takeout and video games with Jo.  My toe is still healing from the tree planting.  I keep slathering on antibiotics and will likely need to cut back on running which seems to irritate it.  I also just finished a 300+ episode rpg podcast which has made my dish washing, cooking, and other mundane chores far more entertaining.  I have a couple audiobooks to listen to and then I'll start looking for another one.

As for the weekend, I'm excited to have some Emma hangout time.  We might do woodworking.  I'm sure we'll visit the library.  It would also be nice to visit the farm if my toe is up for it.

Gardening, Cherry Trees, and Spatulas

February 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

It was a good, low-key weekend.  Emma was off at the beach, so I might have played a little too much of my new deck-building game.  I did manage to stop and do some gardening, joined by Jo after a little while.  We cleaned the beds and pruned the cherry tree, stacking wood beside the house.  I also puttered some more with D&D props, trying to create a bit of magic in the real world.

Sunday we were joined by Emma who (after petting Data enough times) went with Ben, Jo, and I to Down to Earth to pick up missing seeds.  She was great and organized them all by month so all we need to do is crack the envelopes open and start planting.

Emma had also picked up a book on whittling, and we had some cherry wood from the previous day, so soon enough we were making bowls and cutlery.  I stuck to power tools, realizing I needed bigger router bits, but we started in on the bowl.  The spoon didn't quite get finished either, but I grabbed some scraps and we made a nice wooden spatula.  I also got to try out the belt sander I bought the other day and it worked great, other than putting out way too much dust.

Now it's back to work where I get to try and figure out what we're doing next.  Another bumpy ride, I suspect.

Mocha Friday

February 09, 2024 by Adam in Family

My scrapes and blisters from planting a small forest are fading.  I'm generally pretty happy with how my body held up, especially my ankles which I was a little worried about.  Jo's been talking to our logging contact Abraham (who just had a baby) and the hope is that we can sort out the last of the cleanup and repair tasks relatively soon.  Emma wants to start in on stream restoration, getting the willow propagated around.  There are endless projects that remain, but we'll eventually get there.

Yesterday was a busy work day.  I gave a presentation on the cool thing I built.  We interviewed a possible engineering lead for our team.  I fixed a couple bugs that came in as tickets.  It was all a little exhausting.

I keep fiddling with my D&D props, trying to emulate magic with science.  It turns out that the magnet I was using didn't have a strong enough field, so I had to break out the really powerful ones I pulled out of an old hard drive.  Hopefully my players appreciate the weird things I do for them.

Emma's off to the beach with Jamie this evening.  Jo and I plan on doing some garden planning.  Duncan and Ben have their various projects they're working on.  Kitties keep demanding pets.  Life moves on.

Done Planting

February 06, 2024 by Adam in Family

Over the weekend we managed to get a bit over 200 trees planted, admittedly in one of the roughest parts of the property.  Just getting to it was exhausting and dangerous.  Unfortunately that left us around 250 trees to go, so Jo, Emma, and I went out at various times to get trees in the ground.

Yesterday I started after checking in with work and planted Ponderosa Pine along the south road.  Hopefully it'll be dry enough and the trees will get enough sunshine.  Emma also says they drop a fair number of needles to keep the blackberries down.  It was wet and muddy, but I turned on my Pathfinder RPG podcast and tuned out the aches and pains of my body.  The terrain was much better than the day before, but it still took some work to find patches of soil under all the slash.

Jo joined early afternoon and we kept planting and flagging down the hill from their shed.  I think we got 200 trees in that day, stopping right before dinner.  Today I picked up Emma and the three of us went at it again, getting trees a fair ways down the hill.  It's amazing how much land 500 trees will cover.

We're debating next projects - blackberry control and improving roads are high on the list.  It might be fun to put in some trails to make the property more walkable.  After the last few days of hard labor, doing some fun, low-key projects sounds lovely.

Trees and D&D

February 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

Saturday was the big tree planting day.  Emma and Jo were rockstars, heading out at the crack of dawn to go to the annual seedling sale.  We ended up with about 500 trees and shrubs, which was a pretty massive order.  Eventually we found ourselves at the farm, tromping up and down a muddy hill strewn with debris.  We planted one of the roughest corners of the property, which went way slower than planned.  We had Jamie, Emma, Jo, Seraph, Robbie, Dez, and myself and still only managed to plant about 250 trees.  Yesterday Jo went out to plant more.  I'm going to work for a couple hours and then head out to plant the rest.

Sunday was D&D day, where the players battled three hags nearly at the end of the campaign.  Emma pointed out that high level combats devolve into t-rex battles, and this one certainly did the same.  It was loads of fun and a nice break between tree planting.

Culture!

February 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

Jo and I went to see Every Brilliant Thing at the Oregon Contemporary Theater.  It was a surprisingly funny performance about depression, with a lot of audience participation and an enthusiastic single actor.  It was fun to get out and about and do something different.

Tomorrow is the big tree planting day.  We've got checks and dibble bars and a trailer to haul things around.  The plan is to meet up at the farm Saturday at noon and see how many trees we can put in the ground.  I'm trying hard to keep my enthusiasm in check, leaning towards 500-600 trees rather than the thousand or so I was planning before.  The terrain is rough and muddy and we're not as young and spry as we used to be.

Work continues to be wacky, to the point where I'm not sure what products I'll be working on or what I'll be doing from day to day.  At least it's not boring.

I chatted with the wayward Chicago son yesterday.  He was suddenly laid off, but the timing is actually pretty good with his upcoming move to Wyoming.  Yayoe hooked him up with some people she knew, so hopefully he's not driving into town completely blind.  It was nice to hear his voice.

I also tinkered around with a new piece of "virtual tabletop" software for D&D games.  Basically it lets me setup a map for players and organize the campaign.  I think I'll do my next family campaign using it and I'm enjoying playing around with all the bells and whistles. 

I finished my mocha and will leap into the unknowns of work shortly.  At least there's some well-understood bugs I can start working on for today.

D&D&Trees

January 31, 2024 by Adam in Family

Somehow I'm giving the weekend update in the middle of the week.  Life's been busy lately.

Saturday started with a hearty crepe breakfast, followed by a trip to the library with Emma and then waiting at the Verizon store for a long while to get Emma's new phone setup.  It's a retro flip phone that she's very happy with.  

Sunday was D&D with friends, where I now worry I've made some of the players far too powerful.  Hopefully the rest of the campaign will continue to be interesting and challenging.  At least I got to bring out some fun minis.

Work continues to be full of uncertainty.  I keep making cool things that might actually become useful.  My old friend/manager Glen is being hired back after being laid off and turned into a contractor.

Tuesday Emma and I headed to the farm, preparing for the tree planting on Saturday.  The ground is all pretty rough with tree debris everywhere, but we made it around and practiced with the dibble bar.  I was pretty sore later that day.

This afternoon mom and I plan on setting up a farm bank account and deposit the first logging check.  So begins the lengthy road towards making a forest again.

Escaping the Week

January 26, 2024 by Adam in Family

Jo and I went to Trapdoor Escape Rooms for date night this week, solving puzzles and getting plenty of hints from the voice of God.  In this case God was Ryan who was watching our hijinx and taking pity on us.  We escaped with a minute and a half to spare, which I strangely feel pretty good considering it was just the two of us.  The puzzles were entertaining - voodoo dolls we had to wire up properly, black lights revealing the unknown, and an ouiji board that doubled as a typewriter to enter names.  It was inspiring for future D&D props I'm scheming.

Work has been somewhat tumultuous - I may be working on new products with new people, though hopefully I'll still be working with Jacquie and Corinne.  In the meantime, I keep working on cool things and impressing coworkers and managers, though we'll see where it ends up.  I sometimes get tired of people fiddling around and just want to get things done.

As for me, it's been a pretty quiet week.  I started playing a new game based on The Expanse.  Ben's ear infection continues to make him uncomfortable, though hopefully the antibiotics start working their magic soon.  I'm having fun making D&D minis and prepping for upcoming games.  This Sunday the friend group starts up after a long hiatus.

I'm also getting ready for the great farm replanting.  Hopefully all the people, equipment, and seedlings come together and the loggers are done enough to let it happen.

Birthday Being

January 22, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm not sure I did anything terribly important all weekend.  I took Emma to get her school books.  Laundry was done.  Meals were made.

It's Jo's birthday today.  Unfortunately nearly all the presents were delayed by the weather, so it's mostly cake and a gift from Yayoe and Duncan.  It'll have to do.

Jo was out at the farm giving updates on the logging, which apparently continued, including in places they weren't supposed to.  Jo talked to Abraham today and got an apology and a tentative okay for replanting most places on the property.  My tentative plan is on February 2nd to buy a bunch of seedlings and head out to the farm to plant until we can't plant anymore.  The following day is a D&D day, so I may take the Monday after to keep planting.  It'll be good to get the recovery going.

As for me, I'm mostly doing okay.  I continue to work on my skunkworks project at work, hopefully ensuring a measure of job security along the way.  It doesn't feel like a sure thing in the tech industry these days.

The World Melts

January 19, 2024 by Adam in Family

I walked to my shed in flip flops as usual today, mocha in hand.  No longer are the ice cleats necessary to safely get to my backyard.  Driving around yesterday was just fine - Emma and I did a little outing to the library together.  I also heard from Seraph that they have power again.  Duncan and Ben have been out of school but Emma started up yesterday.  Hopefully things will settle down soon.

Work is getting slightly more organized, or at least there are some new people involved.  I did some fun work on some future-facing things, barely duct taping things together as a proof-of-concept.  I'll keep working away until I have something that's pretty looking.

The tree and native plant sale is in a couple weeks, which may be the window for replanting at the farm.  With all the chaos of the last week I'm not feeling particularly organized about it.  Last I heard logging continued, so I'm hoping to coordinate so the loggers don't destroy the trees we just planted.

I think our house is relatively unscathed from the storm.  Jenny had a friend without power staying with them.  Bob had a fall on the ice.  Most everyone else seems okay.  Broken trees still litter the streets, but things are on the mend.

Ice Saga Continues

January 16, 2024 by Adam in Family

We continued our ice-filled adventures yesterday, feeling very lucky to continue to have heat, power, and hot water.  Emma was getting a little stir crazy, not being able to do her weekly library run and we didn't manage to get to the U of O bookstore for her first-week-of-school books.  Jo and I started the long defrosting process of the Subaru, with me mostly playing a supporting role and watching the former northern New York resident do their thing.  Eventually we removed all the ice, put on chains, and headed out into the winter wonderland.

It was pretty quiet, though the roads were generally fine with chains and all wheel drive.  There was an Albertson's trailer abandoned on the sidewalk, and a few trees down, but otherwise not too much destruction.  We went down to 18th, up Willamette, stopped for gas, then headed down 40th to send Emma off.  Jo had cleats for their boots, so Emma stopped her crawling across the driveway ice to be escorted to her front door where Jamie waited.  It was a nice dash of comedy along the way.

We stopped by Capella Market to stock up on supplies for the next few days, so we're in good shape overall.  No school yesterday or today at any of the high schools or colleges.  We'll see what the next few days bring.  Theoretically the graduate teaching assistants go on strike tomorrow, so Emma's classes may be disrupted even more.

As for me, I'll brave the treacherous journey to the shed and try to remember how to work.  I took some Advil for my sore ice-removal muscles.  I might do a fourth day in a row of mochas.  We'll see how enthusiastic I'm feeling.

Snow Days

January 14, 2024 by Adam in Family

I woke up to no hot water - I'm guessing the insulation we usually wrap around the exposed hot water pipe wasn't enough.  I'll be out with heating pads later this morning, but for now I'll settle for hot tea and toast next to our fireplace.

Yesterday was fun - we headed outside to shovel driveways and walk around the neighborhood.  Everything was pretty and covered in ice.

D&D was sadly postponed yesterday as the roads were so bad.  This morning Seraph texted that their power was out and the roads were worse, so maybe not for another week or two.  We're right at the end of the campaign so I'm itching to get into the endgame.

I had my cup of hot tea and toast.  Soon I'll gird my loins and head out to try warming up the pipes of our exterior hot water heater.

Mocha Friday

January 12, 2024 by Adam in Family

I somehow missed my usual Monday update.  Last weekend and this whole week has been surprisingly busy.  Last Saturday Emma came over, along with library trips and video games.  Sunday was D&D with friends, nearly done with an old-school module with classic RPG traps, puzzles, and hijinx.  As for this week, Meg and Dick were visiting my mom, so I took out some time to visit and take everyone out for goodies at Hideaway Bakery.  Work continues to go through a variety of changes - we're finally getting a new project manager today, which is a good sign.

Finally, I had an impromptu dinner with a bunch of current and ex-coworkers, many of which came to Health Catalyst from PeaceHealth and were let go after the latest round of layoffs.  It was fun catching up, especially with my old manager Glen Campbell, and everyone seemed in good spirits to get together.

I've heard that logging continues out at the farm.  I wish we knew what the plan and timeline is - we're hoping to start replanting in February, but if they're planning on burning slash that's not going to happen.  The contract said they'd be done by the end of the year, but here we are.

The weekend promises more D&D, this time with family.  I'm excited to be so close to wrapping up a two year campaign.  Emma has some school things to sort out - she dropped a class and ended up signing up for an architecture class out of the dregs of remaining classes.  I'm also hoping to start finishing Deep Space Nine after so many years - I think we have one more episode to see how it all turns out.

First Mocha Friday of 2024

January 05, 2024 by Adam in Family

I'm sipping my mocha and listening through sexual harrassment videos at work for the 6th year running.  Always a good time.  They keep trying to refresh all our required annual training, but the two hour lecture from the lawyer hasn't ever changed.

Otherwise work is fine, still up in the air as to what our team is working on next.  I'm still staying busy and moving things forward despite the uncertainty.

Ben's started up school again - he gave me a long update on his economics discussion in class yesterday.  Duncan continues to just wear PJs, though it's his last day off school.  Emma's at the beach with Jamie one more day, then back to school next week.

As for me, it's a D&D with friends this Sunday - with the holidays it was delayed for a long while.  I think Saturday we'll do a Christmas cleanup and take down decorations.  Good start for a new year.

Happy New Year!

January 02, 2024 by Adam in Family

It's technically the 2nd day of 2024, but the thought's the same.  I have three days off work this week, so it's been pretty low-key.  We did our usual watching Japanese commercials, boy bands, followed by pina coladas and watching the ball drop in Time's Square.

Yesterday Emma and I went out to the farm where we surveyed the continuing logging project.  Mostly we hung out near the shack and looked at what needed to be done to renovate it.  Then we had a burst of energy clearing the road of logging debris, which completely wore me out and we headed home to take it easy.

Today we've been doing more indoor things - video games, finally finishing the pewter brooch we started, and Emma nearly finished weaving a basket.  One more day of rest and relaxation before returning to work.