Thesis Defended!

May 29, 2025 by Adam in Emma

Emma successfully defended her thesis today.  Jamie, Jo, mom and I all wandered down to Columbia Hall to meet Emma's thesis advisors and watch her presentation.  She did great and everyone involved got to ask questions.  Emma clearly learned so much doing this over the last couple years and it's been a great cornerstone to her college experience.

If she ends up living out at the farm she'll presumably continue this work, though probably with fewer PowerPoint slides.

Memorial Day Weekend

May 27, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was a packed weekend, full of work and fun.  Emma came in late Friday after a Twin Peaks watch session with her older brother, Dez, and Kenzie.  Saturday was the last session of our year-long Wild Beyond the Witchlight D&D session.  I generally felt prepared and the players managed to solve the mystery and free the kingdom in short order.  We transitioned into Emma's birthday festivities immediately afterwards, the fourth annual birthday and Dungeons and Dragons celebration.  Cake was eaten, presents handed out, and then Emma and Francis went out to go thrifting.

Emma went off to visit her grandmother in Corvallis with the rest of the family on Sunday.  I decided to tackle the newly purchased greenhouse, little knowing that it would take most of two days to build the thing.  Day one was site prep and getting the base and some of the walls installed.  I eventually took a break to make dinner and play some Clair Obscur.  Monday I made my usual hearty breakfast with a mocha and went out to work some more, with Jo joining for part of the day.  By the time I'd got the door assembled the sun was low on the horizon and it was sweltering inside the greenhouse.  There's still a window automatic opener to install, but otherwise it's generally functional.

I think all the effort wiped me out as I was sore last night, woke up with a headache, and have switched to my usual cafe mocha and Advil remedy.  So far so good - now I'm ready for a week of being on call, talking to software architects, deploying code to the rest of the world, and hopefully fixing a bug or two.

Mocha Friday

May 23, 2025 by Adam in Family

I feel pretty darn' good this morning - no cold, aches, and my throat feels fine.  Plus I have a mocha next to me, which is a treat.

I'm getting excited for D&D with the family group tomorrow.  It's possibly the last session in the campaign, though knowing how much they like to putter about and explore it seems likely to take another session or two.  I've been working with ChatGPT to make images from room descriptions and they're turning out generally excellent.  I've got a general plan as to how it might go, though the players usually surprise me with hijinx.

I keep doing important, significant things at work, but I can tell my stress levels are going down once again.  I've got a three day weekend coming up, which is a treat.  We'll see how many house projects I accomplish and how long I play video games.  I also have a great book I want to finish sometime, and I want to prep a little for the next Delta Green game.  Life is full of fun options.

There might be some movement with the various farm projects.  I had tea with mom, my oldest son, and a contractor to go over things like well and septic tank repair, along with the site for a new manufactured house.  We'll see what the county allows, but the idea is to put a new house near the old one but higher up a slope to avoid water damage.

Mocha Monday

May 19, 2025 by Adam in Family

I started feeling under the weather yesterday afternoon, so it's Advil and a mocha for me this morning.  I seem to get some upper respiratory thing every month this year - never really horrible, but it leaves me dragging for a few days until I feel better.  At least the mocha is nice.

It was an overall fun weekend despite my current state.  Saturday was the start of what appears to be a Delta Green campaign.  Sunday had Emma and I going out on the town to various thrift stores.  While the plan was for her to get something for her thesis defense, I ended up buying myself some Doc Martin shoes, a t-shirt, and some sunglasses.  Apparently I'm trying to recapture my youth when I was much cooler than I am today.

In between exciting events I started playing Clair Obscura, which has generally been good.  I've also been working on props for the next Delta Green game - pictures, newspaper articles, documents, and interactive computer terminals.  I've also got what's potentially the last family D&D game this Saturday and I'm starting to get organized for that.  I'm hoping to come up with a satisfying ending to this year-long campaign.

Last Things Last

May 18, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

It was finally time.

I gathered up all my props, setup my laptop and the game screen with the built in monitor, then placed an empty corkboard bulletin board on the table with all the pushpins and red yarn they'd need.  Emma encouraged me to dress the part, so I put on a jacket tie, and found some aviator sunglasses I'd squirred away.  Francis had a similar idea, showing up looking like Scully from the X-Files.  Emma, her big brother, Francis, Jordan, and my good friend Jason all arrived to get read in and discover the secrets of Delta Green.

The mission was a simple one - an ex-agent had died of natural causes and their job was to clean up any evidence he'd left.  They avoided shooting the noisy neighbor and investigated his apartment to discover he owned a cabin in the woods.  Right off the bat they found the septic tank half buried in the backyard, opened the lock, and discovered his dead wife, brought back from the grave with dark magic and begging to be let out.

It spiraled from there, with half the party wanting to kill her but decided to search the cabin first.  Soon enough they found the dead agent's tape recorder, which of course I had a prop for, and heard his dying wish to pour 20 gallons of gasoline into the septic tank and set it ablaze.  All hell broke loose, with the thing that used to be his dead wife jumping out of the tank with unnatural speed and a gunfight and tossing of flaming gas tanks ensued.  With some lucky rolls and keen thinking, everyone avoided death, they set the cabin on fire, and headed off into the night before the local police could respond.

I'd planned for a one-shot and see if everyone liked it, but they demanded we keep playing, so it looks like I'll get everyone together for another mission.  Already I'm making fake documents, photographs, and more.

Kudos Mocha Friday

May 16, 2025 by Adam in Family

My months-long work project is finally coming to fruition.  Disaster has been averted, praise has been passed my way, and hopefully I just need to monitor the rollout to the rest of the world.

I hung out with mom and my oldest son for tea on Wednesday, catching up on the latest projects he's working on at mom's house.  Fences and railings are getting repaired, the exterior is getting ready for painting, and quite a bit is getting accomplished.  He and Emma had a Twin Peaks watch night last night - it's cool seeing the two of them hanging out more.

Jo was awarded a $7.5K scholarship from the Pride Foundation, which was cool.  Between the scholarships from the school and this one, quite a bit of their school is getting paid off.  I think school is generally doing well, with all the assignments complete until the residency in mid-July.

Tomorrow is my big Delta Green game.  I'm looking forward to something that's not D&D, and curious how the players will enjoy the vibe and my overall approach.  I'm not doing maps or minis, but instead have a big murder board and lots of pictures, maps, and other props to attach to it.  I'm prepping for a second game if everyone seems to like it, though I'd also like to do some other roleplaying games too.

I do have a little health thing I'm sorting through.  My throat was feeling really dry, so I went into the doctor who didn't have a clear answer.  I'm stopping my statins for a couple weeks to see if that's it, but she suggested gastric reflux, which seems more likely.  I wonder if recent work stress has played a roll - clearly I should play hooky this afternoon for medical reasons.

Wonderful Weekend

May 12, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was beautiful last weekend.  Saturday morning I drove Emma over to the pickup point where she went on a field trip for her geomorphology class, going to Mary's Peak, Alsea Falls, and Pidgeon Hill.  She returned for dinner tired but happy to have seen the sights.  While she was doing that, my oldest son and I headed up Ridgeline Trail through the forest to hike and chat.  Afterwards I returned home to do some yardwork and fix the door of our little free library somewhat, though it'll need to be replaced.

Sunday was Mother's Day, so after Emma and I headed to the library I prepared some gifts that were mostly made from Jo, and went on a tour around town.  Ana's a little too far to just pop in, but I sent a text, visited my mom, and dropped some things off for Yayoe who was feeling under the weather.

As for me, I'm doing fine.  Work is moving along.  My God of War game is wrapping up.  I'm excited to play Delta Green this weekend and keep prepping for more potential modules.  All is well.

I sent this video to the players of my upcom...

May 09, 2025 by Adam in Adam's Games

I sent this video to the players of my upcoming Delta Green roleplaying game.  It's a mix of X-Files and Call of Cthulu and I'm really excited for them to make a murderboard, go insane, and hopefully have a good time.

Sunny Mocha Friday

May 09, 2025 by Adam in Family

The weather has been amazing lately - sunny days with a pleasant temperature and flowers blooming all around.  I wish I had more days to putter around outside, though I suppose I do have a nice window looking out on to the garden.

I sometimes feel like work is pranking me with one of my assignments - it's not completely impossible, but I don't think it's possible within reasonable parameters.  Hopefully my coworkers aren't asking for status updates and then secretly giggling with the camera off when I express my latest frustrations.

No big weekend plans.  Emma's got an all day field trip and Jo's got work.  I'm hoping to go for a hike with my oldest kid and maybe see if Jason's up for some board game time.  We'll see how it goes.

Babushcat

May 05, 2025 by Adam in Family

Emma arrived late Friday after spending a day with her big brother out at the farm setting the piles of logs on fire.  There's a ton to do and it sounds like exhausting work, but I appreciate everyone's efforts to manage the farm more than it has been.  She returned smelling of smoke and scraped up, but generally cheerful.

Jo had back-to-back work events that were a little exhausting.  Saturday was the family D&D, which was a good time.  It's wild to think that it's finally wrapping up.  I'm still prepping for a Delta Green game, and hopefully we can do more one-shots on occasion.

Sunday was generally chill - video games, library trips, and putting funny hats on the cat.  I'm loving this weather.