Mocha Friday

April 18, 2025 by Adam in Family

I love the beautiful weather we've had this week.  The sun is out.  I'm wearing shorts and t-shirts.  Tulips are out and the garden is full of cheerful little peas, onion, and assorted greens.

On the downside, I'm feeling under the weather with the cold that's been going around.  Advil and mochas are keeping the worst at bay, but I'm hoping it clears up by the weekend.  Work continues to be a lot, but I think I have the most serious issues fixed and we're ready to go into "real" environments in a couple days.  It'll be nice to have things finally wrapped up.

I went to the dentist yesterday, returning to Dr. Cantrell after over a decade.  The view out the window was nice and my fresh-out-of-LCC dental hygenist was nice.  My teeth seem to generally being doing well, though a little worn down presumably from raising four teenagers.

I took Yvonne to the Yamada Vending Company place yesterday, where vending machines full of Japanese food and goodies lined the walls.  She returned with assorted goodies and seemed to enjoy the whole process of putting cash into machines and getting something popping out.  Very retro.

Otherwise the week has been pretty quiet.  Jo's off to a work event in Southern Oregon tonight.  Emma's getting closer to having her thesis ready to be defended.  Yvonne's going back to school more and feeling good about her classes.  I'm continually impressed with the latest AI image generation and how it can take a short description of a D&D area and make something magical from it.

As for the weekend, it's likely going to involve library trips, hanging out, and hopefully doing a little construction work.  We'll see how it goes.

Birthday Monday

April 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

Our youngest kid turns 18 today.  It's one of those milestones that will take a long time to finally settle in, especially as nothing changes from a practical standpoint for a long while.  Still, I can see the kids slowly figuring out how to be more and more independent and strike out on their own.

As for the weekend, it was surprisingly busy.  Emma and I went to the used book sale at the fairgrounds, returning with a present for Yvonne and a small booklet about historic Eugene homes, including our own.  Apparently it cost $4,000 to build back in 1927.  It's almost time for its 100-year birthday party.  We also ran into Robbie, who had been there for 5 hours and was carrying a big box of old looking books.  It was entirely expected.

We ran a bunch of other errands - supplies to finish the ceiling patch jobs, bank deposits, and the like.  Yayoe stopped by to pass along some birthday presents and we chatted for awhile.  For our Saturday dinner-and-a-show we watched Duncan's latest Minecraft video, which was surprisingly funny and had his usual high quality editing.

Sunday was a single giant D&D fight, with a battlefield of miniatures strewn about.  I think it went relatively well despite being so long.  It's starting to get harder to get together with that group - I think we'll skip next month entirely.  Eventually Emma drove off to go to her big bro's house for a visit.  Yvonne wanted us to all watch a TF2 fan video after dinner.  I didn't quite get around to reviewing our taxes like I'd planned - maybe sometime today.

Work's busy and frustrating, but I'm somehow making progress.

Mocha Friday

April 11, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm very glad it's Friday - work has been getting pretty stressful lately.  I found another issue yesterday and spent the day troubleshooting and trying to come up with a fix.  Hopefully I survive.

Life outside of work is going well.  The prodigal son worked on patching the hole in Duncan's ceiling.  It's been there for years, from back when the upstairs shower was leaking.  Sadly it looks like he's getting snatched up by a real general contractor, so our days of cheap construction projects is slowing down.  Maybe I'll pay Emma to help with some of the more arduous house projects.

I was feeling unprepared for the D&D session this weekend, but threw together some zany hijinx, so it hopefully is at least amusing.  I also need to start seriously organizing a Delta Green session as otherwise I'll keep making weird props to hand out.  Last night was playing with my new laminator, making fake IDs for the players to find.  Now to get them a good murder board to assemble.

All the kids seem to be doing okay.  Duncan's not super happy about going to classes early in the morning, plus lugging a giant bag of camera equipment, but I think he'll survive.  Emma's in "whatever" mode for her last term.  Yvonne turns 18 next week, a milestone for both her and us.

As for me, I'll spend the day investigating bugs and listening to sea shanties, wishing for the freedom of the sea and endless horizons.

Busy Weekend

April 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a packed weekend, with D&D with the family on Saturday and a farm and library trip on Sunday. 

D&D was interesting - Francis found the quest item I was going to have them find on in their inventory.  I forgot they'd picked it up months ago and could just hand it over.  Fortunately they puttered around and did some heisty things so I didn't run out of planned things for them to do.  Everyone stuck around to see our no-longer-wayward boy come over to say hello to everyone.  He and I hung out and took a tour of the updated house while Seraph, Emma, and Francis went to Joanna's to pick up clearance fabric before their store closes.

Sunday had Emma, her brother, and I head out to the farm to tromp around.  We tried to come up with a list of high-priority projects and decided dealing with the giant slash piles was probably first on the list.  All the trees I planted are generally doing okay, which was nice.  The well was in rough shape, disassembled in the rain.  He seemed enthusiastic about spending some time working on the place, though his time is already getting gobbled up.

Now it's back to work - my feature broke horribly over the weekend and I need to get it fixed.  It's all a little more stressful than I'd like it to be - maybe I can take a long vacation after this thing is done.

Busy Week

April 04, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm out in my cozy shed, the morning light creeping into the backyard.  I'm sipping on my mocha, avoiding the news by listening to music, and waiting for the background job I'm developing to fire so I can watch it not work yet again.

It's been a busy week. Wednesday for tea I met up with mom, Emma, and our wayward boy for tea.  It was great catching up and he was looking cheerful with a touch of culture shock being back in town.  He's already getting inundated with work from mom and I, and has a couple other potential jobs lined up.  He's getting settled in with Dez and Kenzie, has some friend hangout time with a couple old friends, and he and Emma are having a good time eating pizza at Roaring Rapids and playing video games.

Wednesday night I went out with a bunch of ex-PeaceHealth and ex-HealthCatalyst people, including my old manager Glen Campbell.  We ate at the newly renovated Sweetwaters which had a nice view of the river.  We're all getting older and talking about illnesses and taking care of parents, but it was nice catching up and hearing about everyone's lives.  

Thursday afternoon had Jo, Yvonne, Duncan and myself go to the new Minecraft movie.  Duncan loved it, which was the important thing.  I wasn't really the target demographic, but there were some funny bits and I mostly stayed awake.

For some reason I've really gotten into making props for Delta Green, which I haven't even played yet.  There's something about making fake documents from fake government conspiracies that's somehow cathartic.  Last night was putting together a video that I'm hoping to transfer to video tape.  I'm such a weirdo.

It's D&D with family tomorrow, so I've got to switch back to high fantasy.  My eldest son is stopping by for a visit and we've got some work and financial things to go through.  Not sure what's going on Sunday - he wants to see the farm and I'm curious how the trees are getting along, so maybe that'll be in the cards. 

The Prodigal Son Returns

March 31, 2025 by Adam in Family

Our wayward son has packed up his apartment, said his farewells and is heading home today.  Hopefully his journey goes well and he settles in with Dez and Kenzie late Tuesday.  It'll be nice having him around again.

As for the home front, it was relatively uneventful.  I got into prepping for a Delta Green game I want to play at some point - it's an rpg about secret government agencies and unnatural threats in the style of X-Files.  It's weirdly satisfying putting together handouts and maps - my hope is to get the players to make a murder board with push pins and red yarn.  Emma and I went out to St. Vinnies to look for props and I returned home with an old leather briefcase from Scotland somehow.

Otherwise it was more of our usual routine.  I started playing the new God of War game, which you play as an old god with a sassy teenage son.  It felt like real life but with more fighting.  Jo and I managed some gardening.  We started taxes.  I paid Emma's last college tuition payment.  Emma and Duncan start their new terms today.

Now it's back to work, trying to get my PR finished up.  I missed a few things before I left for vacation, so it's a bit of cleanup this morning.  I think I'm still on track.

Mochaless Friday

March 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

We're back from our coast adventure, which was occasionally a little more adventurous than I'd like it to be.  Driftwood Shores was fine in most ways - the view was nice and close to the ocean - but apparently their fire alarm system was struck by lightning a couple weeks ago and wasn't quite right since then.  It went off several times, usually shutting off right away, but then we were awoken at 2 a.m. and it didn't shut off for several minutes.  The security guard was yelling it was a false alarm, but several frustrated people just left in the middle of the night and it wasn't my favorite thing.

The next day was more chill, if rainy and windy.  I finished reading Orbital, which made me feel accomplished.  We headed into Florence to visit the book store, do some touristy shopping, and hang out in the coffee shop for awhile. The afternoon was spent back in our room playing video games, making dinner, and watching Apple+ shows.  Fortunately the night was blissfully uninterrupted.

This morning was slow, with Jo doing a little remote work while I played assorted video games.  Eventually we checked out and went to a nice trail through the woods along a stream.  The wet, green path was lovely and very relaxing.

Now I've got a couple days to recover from my vacation.  I don't think there are any big plans.  I'm sure Emma has a library trip in mind.  Jo and I have gardening we could do.  We'll see how it goes.

Finished Avowed

March 26, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

I finished Avowed this morning, getting to a generally good ending and saving the day.  There was a surprising amount of running and jumping in the game, to the point where Emma and I would shout "parkour!" periodically when we played.  The main story was interesting and the writing and voice acting for the big blue guy - Kai - was excellent.  He was my ride-or-die by the end of the game and it was satisfying helping him find his own personal peace by the end.

Sunny Monday

March 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

Rumor has it the day will be sunny and over 70 degrees.  I'm hoping to break out shorts and t-shirts soon.

It was a good weekend.  Saturday I headed to Jason's after lunch to play the cooperative board game X-Com and a racing board game called Heat.  X-Com was complicated and we were learning as we went, but we figured it out and three hours later beat the game on the easiest mode.  I was ready to head back, but Jason pleaded that we play a second game he promised would be quick.  Soon enough we were racing imaginary cars around a track, playing cards and shifting gears, occasionally spinning out.  I won by an inch, mostly by luck, but it ended up being really fun.

The evening was spent watching highlights of Duncan's latest Minecraft video, exploiting bugs on someone else's server to give himself huge sums of money for everyone's enjoyment.  Then a short anime about psychotic school girls, just to round out the night.

Sunday late morning I had coffee and soup with Yayoe.  It was nice to see her and catch up.  Next was a visit to Down to Earth to pick up seeds, followed by yard work and planting.  We put down onion starts and peas in the beds, plus assorted greens, radishes, and tomatoes in the greenhouse.  Future Adam will appreciate all our hard work, I'm sure.

Otherwise it was a quiet weekend full of watching shows with Jo, slowly getting to the end of Avowed, and puttering about.  This morning I had some bloodwork to see how well my statins are working and I'll soon start in on code changes to my latest PR.  The fun never stops.

Mocha Friday

March 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

Hopefully we're in the last of the dreary spring days and the sun will decide to show itself again.  In the meantime I have my mocha keeping me perky this morning, with some fun activities to look forward to this weekend.

Emma and Duncan are well into spring break, their finals over by now.  Duncan hasn't gotten out of his PJs in a few days.   Emma and Jamie are at the beach having chill time.  As for Jo and I, we're taking a few days off next week for our own beach trip.  I haven't really taken time off at work this year other than a day to plant trees, so a little time off seems great.

Work has been busy, but I'm making good progress.  I think I'm on track for getting everything ready in time, though there are endless little tasks to complete.

Our wayward son is returning soon, tossing his belongings in the back of his pickup and driving to Eugene the week after next.  It's all very exciting and I hope his return home goes smoothly.

As for me, I'm hoping to play board games with Jason tomorrow, see Yayoe on Sunday, and get some gardening in if there's a break in the rain.  Plus video games - I picked up a couple in the latest Steam sale but want to finish Avowed first.  Good problems to have, I suppose.

Spring Sunsets

March 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

The rain has stopped for a time and the light from the sunset is streaming through the cracks in the living room blinds.  We've had bad flooding in parts of town, but I think it's finally letting up.

Work's been busy again.  I'm on call and muddling through various problems that pop up.  Not sure I'll hit the deadlines I want to, but I'm making progress.

As for the weekend, Saturday was a pleasant and lazy day, with a trip to the library and hanging out with Emma all afternoon.  Sunday was D&D with friends, this time with the players rooting out the evil in a health spa run by three hags.

Poor Jo seems to have come down with whatever I had, just as I started feeling better.  I'm back to my usual self, which is great, while Jo hangs out on the couch and plays video games in between brief bursts of energy to accomplish something useful.

Spring break is right around the corner.  Duncan and Emma have finals this week.  Emma's heading to the beach with her mom later this week.  Jo and I are doing a short beach getaway the week after.  Hopefully we get some nice weather by then - the incessant rain was starting to get to me.

Mocha Friday

March 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

I was pretty sick this week, a combination of sinus headaches, sore throat, and general fatigue.  The COVID and flu tests were negative, so I think it was just a plain old cold.  I was constantly taking Advil every four hours for part of it, but I think I'm finally starting to feel better. 

I kept working and doing all the things, though I skipped tea with mom this week, mostly to avoid getting her sick.  Dad stopped by for dinner last night as apparently Seraph and Robbie are sick and I was the backup plan.  He's been roped into being a dentist again temporarily, filling in at his old practice.

I printed and painted some minis for the upcoming D&D session.  Jo and I started playing a new game - Split Fiction - which is a cool co-op game.  I bought a day bed for my office to turn it into an impromptu guest bedroom.  It's halfway assembled next to me, though I'm still waiting on a mattress.  Just learned that our new team abbreviation is COVEN, which greatly amuses me.

Fortunately the weekend is right around the corner.  I've got D&D with friends this Sunday.  Tomorrow I'll likely hang out with Emma, do our usual library run, and play some video games.

Nyquil Weekend

March 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

I ended up getting the sniffles Saturday afternoon when I was taking Emma and Yvonne to the library.  Pretty soon I was sniffling away and ended up taking Nyquil.  I always forget just how spacy it makes me and I was zoning out for the rest of the evening and into the next morning.  Fortunately I slept really well, which I suppose was the point.

Emma headed out Sunday afternoon to meet up with mom and Francis to talk over a trip to visit Sadie this summer.  I headed to my office for some spring cleaning and furniture rearranging.  I took out shelves, plants, and a chair to make room for a daybed I ordered that should be arriving soon.  We don't really have a guest bedroom anywhere and hopefully this will do the trick.  Plus everything is squeaky clean now, which is a good way to get rid of the winter doldrums.

Now I'm back to work, trying to get my Nyquil-addled brain into high gear to figure out some tricky problems.  Hopefully I can sort through the last of these weird bugs.

Still Alive

March 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat more stressful week than usual, between the critical feature I'm working on and the organizational changes going on to our team.  Hopefully we find out more this afternoon.  I made way too many mochas for myself all week - I'll return to my usual coffee on Monday.

In the meantime, I'm getting things done and working more than I probably should.  I did sneak away for a tea break with mom and Emma, and Jo and I had a quick date night at Cafe Yumm.  I managed to get some video game time playing Avowed for some fun fantasy adventure.  This weekend doesn't have anything going on, so hopefully I can get a bit of downtime.

Our wayward son is coming to Eugene earlier than expected, leaving Albuquerque at the end of the month.  I think the plan is that he'll stay with Dez and spend some time figuring out next steps.  We've got a long list of projects for him, so at least he won't be bored.

Duncan and Emma are wrapping up the term - one more week of classes and then finals week.  Wild that Emma's graduating in just a few months.  And Yvonne turns 18 next month.  Everything keeps moving ahead.

Rainy Monday

March 03, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's a drizzly Monday, with a little more work excitement than I'd like.  My manager and longtime friend was laid off Friday afternoon.  It's happened to me before, strangely also with Jonathan back in my Health Catalyst days.  It'll probably be several months of uncertainty as we muddle through, though I've got plenty of critical work to keep me busy and likely employed.  I slept poorly over the weekend, worked a little here and there, and am back into things this morning.

As for the rest of the weekend, it was generally a good time.  There was plenty of D&D.  Saturday was a great time with the family group improvising a play that involved murdering a wind-up goblin doll with a giant mousetrap, along with a spray of blood into the audience.  It was well received by the evil hag, as such things are.  Sunday was the friend group, with fantasy space monsters and dead gods.

Emma and I made a productive library run Saturday afternoon, along with helping Jo a little on some tree pruning and straightening.  Spring is right around the corner and it's exciting to see all the crocuses bloom.  Can't wait to start wearing shorts again.

Giant Mini Time

March 02, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

It was back-to-back D&D this weekend and I broke out the biggest mini I've ever printed and painted - the Astra Dreadnaught.  It was accompanied by a couple Star Anglers with LEDs for the lures.  The battle itself went relatively well, with the paladin scoring a couple natural 20s and turning the tide.  A couple of their crew members were eaten, unfortunately, though they rescued some stranded sailors from another ship and want to recruit one along with a dog.  At least I made the players say a few words for their fallen comrades.

Mocha Friday

February 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp of my mocha.  It's been a full week and nice to be sneaking into the weekend.  I switched dentists back to Dr. Cantrell, who I went to long ago and is just down the hill.  I took my car into the shop where it behaved perfectly - the car computer reported a misfiring cylinder, so I'm going to see if I can get the spark plugs replaced. It was unnaturally warm and sunny yesterday so I took a stroll through the neighborhood to warm up.

I had my bug bash at work and only found minor bugs, but it generated more work to sort out.  We might also have an in-person get together at Microsoft mid-July, though it's at the same time Jo is in Washington for school, so we may have to figure it out.  Theoretically we'll only have adult children by then.

It's a back-to-back D&D weekend.  I've been organizing minis and reading up on things, so hopefully I'm vaguely prepared.  

Otherwise we've been doing our usual routine and keeping everyone doing okay.  Emma seems over her cold and done with the first draft of her thesis.  Yvonne likes her gothic horror class.  Duncan made us all watch the Minecraft trailer at dinner last night.  Jo and I walked down to 1960 Cochina for a date night dinner.

Life goes on.

Sniffly Monday

February 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

I think I've started coming down with a cold - not too bad, but still feeling slower than usual.  Yvonne seems to have one too and Emma had a cold over most of the weekend.  Tis the season, I suppose.

Saturday was pretty quiet.  Emma was sick at her mom's and Jo had an event, so I fed the kids and played way too much Avowed for most of the day.  I took breaks for housework and managed some gardening - pruning plants and generally cleaning up for the coming of spring.  Eventually Jo returned from a generally successful event, along with a friend from Grant's Pass who spent the night before heading home early in the morning.  

Sunday I visited my friend Jason to play board games.  He has a ton that he's never played, so he dug out a Lord of the Rings Duel-style game and we played and learned as we went.  I won the two games we played, but that was somewhat besides the point and it turns out we missed a few rules here and there.  Hanging out and playing board games was crazy fun, and Jason was very happy to play some games gathering dust on his massive shelf of games, so it was a great time.

Afterwards I picked up Emma, who was missing me (and likely Data).  We hung out, played games, worked on a couple projects, and I took her home after dinner.

One stressful thing was having the check engine light start flashing on my car on my way to Jason's.  I think one of the cylinders was misfiring, so I turned around and parked it in my driveway.  Now I'm waiting for a car computer reader thingie to arrive before making further decisions.  Fortunately I don't really have to drive anywhere this week, so there's no immediate crisis.  I eventually want to get a new car, but was going to wait until later this year when some Microsoft stock magically appears.

Now I'm back at work, going a little slow with being sick.  My unit tests are mysteriously failing and I'm trying to track down why.

Mocha Friday

February 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

I just finished the last gulp of my mocha.  The heater in my shed is a little wonky, so I bundled up in slippers and a jacket and the coffee is keeping me pleasantly warm.  

My work projects are coming along nicely and hopefully disaster will be averted.  It's been a fun "keep the lights on" project and I'm getting better at breaking complicated changes into smaller bites for others to digest.  It's also been nice to not be on call this week, which puts me a little on edge.

We've got a quiet weekend ahead.  Jo has a big writer's event on Saturday and another Sunday afternoon.  I suspect Emma and I will be fighting over the computer to play Avowed, but I've got some miniatures to finish organizing for the next D&D sessions.

I've been trying to put together a list of house and farm projects for our wayward son's return.  It's increasingly obvious that we've got a ton of things to do - we'll see how far we get.

We also got Apple TV+, so Jo and I have been watching all the new shows.  Such are the exciting things in our lives these days.

Avowed

February 19, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

One of the quirky artifacts I still have from my Neverwinter Nights days is a box signed by a bunch of people from Obsidian who worked on the sequel.  The founders worked on the original Fallout and Baldur's Gate, and have generally made good games since then.  Pillars of Eternity 2 is one of Emma's favorite RPGs and their latest game, Avowed, is set in the same world.

I started playing last night and I'm impressed.  There's a cool, fungal art style to the land and your player has a touch of weird fungal growths, which I suspect ties into the story somehow.  I've been itching for a good RPG and excited to dig into this one more.

Mocha Monday

February 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

I have the day off today, something I didn't realize until Friday's team meeting.  I have no real plans and the most useful thing I've done today beyond the usual is to make myself a mocha for the day.  It's lovely.

The weekend was generally quiet.  Emma and I ran some errands - Joann's Fabric, Oregon Art Supply, and the library.  Emma picked up a pattern and some book binding supplies.  The library had a couple graphic novels and DVDs I'd been wanting.  Eventually we returned home to read and work on projects.  Emma's getting the hang of bookbinding, taking some old paperback books of hers and making them much cooler.  I made myself soup and salad instead of the usual calzone for dinner, along with pizza for the younger kids, and we settled in to anime watching for dinner.

Sunday Emma and I went out to a coffee place on Willamette that's run out of an old school bus.  We played board games and chatted before heading home.  I tore the seams on my rain gear while planting trees, so we broke out the sewing machine and Jo taught me to use it, something I missed out on all these years somehow.  It's a cool piece of kit and amazingly fast and accurate after all my years of sewing by hand.

We'll see how useful I am today.  I started watching Civil War for my run, which hits a little too close to home some days. I've got a list of practical things to do, but I've only gotten as far as making the list.

Happy Valentine's Day!

February 14, 2025 by Adam in Family

Hi to all the people I love out there - Happy Valentine's Day.

It's been a snowy, slushy couple days of hunkering down at home and not going anywhere, though it looks like this winter snow is going to be brief.  Even Emma's U of O classes were cancelled yesterday, along with Lane and South Eugene, though I think it's just a delayed start today.

Nothing particularly exciting has been going on.  Went out to 16 Tons for date night.  Pet cats.  Ran on the treadmill and finished season 2 of House of the Dragon.  Played some occasional video games.  No big plans this weekend either, though I'm starting to get a little stir crazy being at home.  Maybe I'll take Emma to the old school bus turned coffee shop and play some board games.

On Call

February 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

Today's my first day of being on call at work - hopefully I survive the week.  In the meantime I've got various critical work projects I need to shepherd through the automated approval procecesses, which is going a little bumpy.  Hopefully it all gets done before things fall apart.

The weekend was good - Saturday was D&D with the family.  Everyone seemed to enjoy the AI-generated marionette versions of their characters.  Later Emma and I went to the library where she efficiently scooped up books and we headed out again.

Sunday was a big cleanup day, taking things to donate, recycling cans and bottles, cleaning the patio and front porch.  Emma was a great help as I apparently "awoke the beast" until she got tuckered later in the day.  I managed a bit of reading, which was a treat, and generally hung out a bit.  It was lovely.

Mocha Friday

February 07, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been a somewhat calmer week once the tree planting ended.  I had my tech spec review which generally went well.  Now I've got to get on with building things, but at least I have my Friday Mocha to keep me company.

Tomorrow is family D&D, which should be fun.  I've got some old letters Seraph wrote me that I've kept for decades I want to show her.  Hopefully I'm prepared enough for the game - I was painting minis this morning and reading ahead on the adventure.  If all else fails I'll just break out some funny voices.

Emma's over a little early, getting in some extra Data squishing time.  Jo had an essay published, which was cool.  Mom and I skipped tea this week as she was off doing important things with her advisory board position.  I hear our wayward son is excited about coming home.  Duncan continues his video making.

Life goes on.

Trees Planted

February 04, 2025 by Adam in Family

I'm a little tuckered out after three days of tree planting.  Saturday morning Emma and I took her truck out to Alton Baker Park to pick up nearly 300 trees.  We picked up 100 Douglas Fir, 100 Ponderosa Pine, and a mix of other firs based on what did well last year.  We headed home for a hearty breakfast that Jo cooked up, then the two of us headed to the farm, with Jo coming along a little later.  Jamie met us there for some tree planting fun.  We put in close to 100 trees around the flat central part of the farm.

The big news, which was really disheartening, was that apparently a herd of a couple hundred elk had come through and eaten over a hundred trees we planted last year.  We ran into the neighbor who estimated a couple hundred elk in the herd, and between the elk poop, hoofprints, and eaten grass and trees, there was plenty of evidence.  Hopefully I haven't just spent the last three days getting an elk salad bar ready.

We headed home somewhat early and Emma and I went to the library as a treat.

Sunday was just Emma and I going out, planting on the northern side of the property.  It rained a couple times, but was otherwise pleasant.  We put in a little over 50 trees there before heading home and taking it easy.

Monday was the final push, waking up early and heading out with the last of the trees.  I put on a podcast, took breaks for coffee and snacks, and kept going until all the trees were in the ground.  I didn't feel too bad, just tired and a little sore and after a nice bath felt pretty human again.  I took it easy, checked in with work, and started on dinner.  About halfway through that I started feeling really tired and was pretty wiped out for the rest of the night.

After a good night's sleep I feel mostly normal, back at work and looking forward to a day of working behind a computer.

Tree Planting Mocha Friday

January 31, 2025 by Adam in Family

I've got my mocha next to me, slowly sipping away on it on this dreary day.  I'm enjoying my new espresso maker, which does the job just fine.

Tomorrow is the big tree planting day.  The plan is that Emma and I take her big truck out to the tree sale at the crack of dawn where we'll pick up 300 trees.  I think it'll be a mix of ponderosa pine, douglas fir, and other assorted firs.  The plan is to get enough to fill in gaps and cover parts that we missed last year.  Tomorrow is supposed to be decent weather, though after that it gets wet and cold and snowy.  Hopefully I don't need Monday and Tuesday to finish planting, but we'll see how it goes.

The rest of the week has been generally okay.  Mom and I had tea where I worked on her computer.  Jo and I had a date night at 1960 Cochina.  Kitties continue to demand pets.  I keep listening to my Critical Role podcast while doing housework.  I've gotten back into Against the Storm, a fun little city builder in a haunted forest.

Work's been a little stressful, doing tech specs and running it by the architects.  I think we're finally getting close to a solution.  Can't wait to get on with it and start building things.

Back at it Again

January 28, 2025 by Adam in Family

Another weekend come and gone.  Saturday was a hang out with Emma day, with a trip to the library and going through boxes of china, notebooks, newspapers, and odds and ends that I've saved over my lifetime.  We picked up a couple plastic boxes to put them in that hopefully will be more mouse-proof.  Sunday was D&D with the friend group with a class heist.  Emma snuck away early to help her mom get grandpa Ray's apartment ready for him - he apparently moved in smoothly yesterday, so all is well there.

I continue to do big and complicated things at work, which is both satisfying and a little scary.  Sometimes it feels like I'm just being thrown into the deep end over and over again.

Next weekend is the big tree planting weekend.  I'm tentatively planning on four hundred trees over four days, which I'm guessing is manageable.  It'll be wet and dreary weather - hopefully I'm made of relatively stern stuff.

Electrified Mocha Friday

January 24, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's been an eventful week.

We have power again after getting our electrical box replaced yesterday and being without power all day.  The electricians hit a few snags so we ate takeout by candlelight as lights flickered on and off.  It's mostly back to normal, though I had to find the breaker to an outlet that connected the web server to the rest of the world.  Now it's back, but there's a problem with DNS I need to sort out - I can get to the server but the rest of the world can't at the moment.  I'm not sure what I'm writing is that important anyway.

Jo's birthday was this week, full of presents, cherry pie, and a card Emma made with a bunch of family signatures.  We've switched to a single candle and told Suno to make up a birthday song which was ridiculous.

Emma and I went to Smith family yesterday to turn old books into cash, as well as just hang out browsing books together.  My old espresso maker died recently and the mocha made from my new one seems adequately tasty.   We have a friend D&D group this weekend and I did a bit of prep and painted a couple big miniatures.

I guess family, friends, and espresso is all that matters in the end.

Three Day Weekend

January 21, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a full weekend and I was thankful for the extra day to get things off my to do list.  Saturday Emma and I did our usual library run, stopping by the bank and the new coffee place on Willamette that's run out of an old school bus.  Sunday was family D&D with its usual silliness - they met a dandilion knight and his beloved bee, saved a goblin with an evil kite, solved a chess game, taught a cyclops the meaning of love, and performed a play for a troupe of mimes transformed into giant birds.

Monday was a mix of birthday preparations for Jo, getting half-birthday goodies for Duncan, gluing and painting minis, housework, video games, reading a graphic novel, and a handful of practical tasks.  Another day of such things would have been lovely, but I'm back to work on my save the world project.  It's coming along relatively well, though there's a ways to go.

Broken Espresso Maker Friday

January 17, 2025 by Adam in Family

Well, the espresso maker I use to make my Friday mochas has apparently stopped working.  I can steam the milk, but I'm not getting enough pressure to drive the steam through the coffee.  I guess what I'm drinking this morning is hot chocolate coffee or something equally lowbrow.

It's been a generally fine week, and last weekend as well since I neglected to update everyone on my exciting life.  Sunday was another D&D session with a big fight that took up most of the time.  We ran late but made it through our first dragon fight and the heroes got the first piece of the magic artifact that will save the multiverse, as is typical in these tales. 

I've got the family group this Sunday, so I've been frantically painting minis in preparation.  A few of them turned out really well, and the rest are serviceable.  We'll see if I need to delay the group with side quests so I can get my minis painted.

Work has been interesting this week.  I've been switched over to working on a "see if I can fix this problem before everything blows up" project.  It's higher risk than I'd like and the deadlines are looming quickly, but if all goes well it'll likely be a feather in my cap.  Plus I'm used to my manager Jonathan throwing me in the deep end at this point from our previous job, so I'm not too stressed out about it.

We're upgrading our electrical box next week, so I think we'll lose power for a day - hopefully I can work with my phone's hotspot and our battery backup.  Jo's birthday is coming up fast and I've got presents to wrap.  Emma's organized a trip to Smith Family Bookstore next week to dispose of some used books.  I'm sure we'll hit up the library and likely Oregon Art Supply this weekend.  Emma's gotten into repairing hardcover books and wants some supplies.

The rest of the family is generally doing well.  School goes well.  Kitties try to sleep on us whenever possible.

Mocha Friday

January 10, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's a dreary January day - I've resorted to wearing a rain jacket when I head out to my backyard shed.  It's days like this when I get jealous of the kitties, lounging around near the fireplace and napping the day away.  Still, it's Friday and my mocha was tasty.  Work is moving along nicely and a fun weekend of hanging out and D&D awaits.

Nothing of great importance happened this week.  Emma and Duncan have been going to school again.  Yvonne's has started as well, but she's been feeling poorly.  I finished The Invicible video game, which had a great retro sci-fi feel and my brave astronaut managed to escape the alien planet.  I keep playing around with AI generated portraits and music, starting to put together some "one shot" games after the family D&D game wraps up.  I'm thinking Cyberpunk and a wild west Call of Cthulu game, but we'll see what everyone wants to do.

Sometimes the ordinary can be very satisfying.  We watched the newish Fall Guy movie and enjoyed it.  I started watching Mars Express and love the cyberpunk themes.  My new miniature area seems to be working well and feels much less cluttered.  I did some last minute printing and painting for D&D this weekend.  All is well.

Back to Work

January 06, 2025 by Adam in Family

I've got a few moments before I gather my things and walk through the darkness to my backyard shed.  Soon I'll be logging in and slogging through the endless emails that have built up while I've been gone, my only solace that most of my coworkers were also away.  I generally remember what I was working on and what to do next, though some of the details are fuzzy.  I'm sure I'll figure it out.

It was generally a good weekend - getting quite a bit done in between the relaxing.  Emma and I mostly completed the Christmas takedown, removing lights and decorations and putting the tree out by the yard waste for chainsawing later.  I enlisted my neighbor Todd into moving the hutch upstairs - it was challenging but we got it in place.  I now have endless space for the endless minis and nerdy things of the living room, hidden away behind high quality Amish woodworking.  No one will know.

My other projects putter away.  I started playing The Invincible, based on Stanislaw Lem's story, and love the 60's sci-fi aesthetic.  I'm still making way too many AI generated songs, filling out my cyberpunk and western horror playlists. 

Emma and I had a nice stroll through the neighborhood, making me hopeful for spring.  She starts school today and Duncan starts tomorrow.  Yvonne is out of school a bit longer, but starts again next week.  

Happy New Year

January 03, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's somehow 2025 which feels both futuristic and strangely the same as always.  I've been having way too much fun having AI generate songs for me, which is a mix of garbage and brilliant tunes that haunt my brain for days.  Plus nearly all our appliances talk to the Internet, which seems a little weird and unnecessary.

It's been a mostly chill week.  I finished Silent Hill 2, ready to be done with the psychological horror genre despite the overall excellence of the game.  The basement is a wreck as I attempt to move the old tv hutch upstairs.  It'll be great in the living room but I think I need to ask the neighbor for help moving it.

Emma's been over the last few days and we've been puttering around.  I made her play Mansions of Madness, a fun Lovecraftian board game.  Our first game failed completely but we succeeded the second time around, each of us with a broken limb but not yet succumbing to madness.  Plus the entire place was on fire and the cultist mostly caught on fire as we ran through the flames to escape.

Jo and I are headed to the woods for a little hike this afternoon.  Emma's working for mom for a bit.  Kevin's in town and spending time with Duncan and Yvonne.  As for me, I'm starting to mourn my vacation and thinking about what I need to do Monday morning to turn back into a real person.