Mocha Friday

October 15, 2021 by Adam in Family

We all made it to the end of the week and I'm listening to coffee house music via Spotify after finishing up my Friday mocha.  I survived my struggles with fiscal quarters at work today.  It was an unusual enough problem that I couldn't just copy code from somewhere, so I was forced to do the math and logic myself.  I survived, but it was certainly a slog.

Ben and Duncan have the day off of school, today for grading and Monday as the vaccine mandate deadline for school staff.  Hopefully the good teachers all return.  It was also Ben's half birthday yesterday and I got him the sequel to Lone Echo, a VR game where you play as a robot around the orbit of Saturn.  The first game was beautiful - there's something stunning about staring out at the rings and feeling like you're really there.

Emma continues on at school, doing well generally, though I think she'd hoped college classes would somehow be more inspiring.  The sad reality is that most classes are a continuation of high school, just more in-depth.  Hopefully Anthropology of Pirates in spring makes up for all the biochemistry this term.  At least she got to dissolve zinc nails in her chem lab yesterday.

Joanna worked more on the shed wiring, putting in a battery monitor and shutoff switch.  Next up are outlets for 12 volt accessories.

Off to a New Week

October 12, 2021 by Adam in Family

The weekend seemed to vanish in a mix of projects, hangouts, and housework.  I finished turning both my tablets into picture frames.  Ben continues working on his Trauma Team helmet.  Duncan played Minecraft with friends.  Joanna, Emma, and I all went out to the farm to hang out with the family and enjoy the amazing potluck meal.  I helped Emma with homework over the weekend, but was otherwise fairly worn out and took it easy on Sunday.

Work was full of obstacles yesterday, but I hope I can make some progress today.  I weirdly enjoy waking up and mulling over a technical problem until the solution comes to me.

Mocha Friday

October 08, 2021 by Adam in Family

We've got half-finished projects scattered around the house.  I've got a couple old tablets I'm turning into picture frames, along with the old wood computer that needs some final touches.  I'm hoping to make a static version of the web site to put on a new tablet.  Various painting supplies are still piled around various corners in hopes of getting things finished up.  Maybe I'll retire one day so I can finally get some work done.

We're all muddling through the week, slowly getting the hang of school.  I helped Ben with some health class and biology homework.  Emma had her big lab day yesterday, which generally went well.  A couple of her lab mates ended up with negative densities for a copper cube.  I guess it was the tesseract and disobeyed the laws of physics or something.  She ended up excluding the impossible data points and I suggested she add to the list of possible error sources simply "Trevor."

As for work, I'm getting really sick of stacked bar charts.  I chased down a weird bug involving adding average that made no logical sense.  Sometimes software lets you do some really dumb things.  I also ended up politely expressing to a large group of people that we're not getting the support we need for our complicated new thing.  Fortunately everyone was nice and I think I was heard.  Lots of work to do down the road.

Despite life's ups and downs, we have a couple cute and mischevious kitties that keep us entertained.  I might have enjoyed chasing Data through the house after he jumped on the counter a little too much.  Not sure he learned any lesson in particular other than maybe chase is a fun game.

Busy Wednesday

October 06, 2021 by Adam in Family

Lots of running around today, but I had a few moments to give an update.  Joanna's cabin project continues, with the wiring progressing to the point where light turns on when you flip a switch.  It was a cool milestone.

Everyone continues school.  I think Emma's to the point where she's okay with her chem lab.  Other than transportation to and from school, she's generally figured out her classes and getting homework done.  It's been fun having her around this week.

Joanna and I continue our painting and rearranging.  It's a journey and a somewhat messy one at that.  We'll eventually get things settled and organized a little more.

Endless Painting

October 04, 2021 by Adam in Family

The Friday trip with Ben went well.  I listened to four hours of zombie podcast, so it went relatively quickly.  Emma survived her first full week of school and is starting to get the hang of things.

The weekend was filled with a mix of typical housework, helping Emma with homework, and continuing the great painting projects.  Joanna and I got more walls, two coats on the entire ceiling, as well as the little secret door into the crawlspace.  We've got more rearranging to think through, but the bulk of the bedroom painting is done.  Next up is the hall on the main floor.

Work is going along well, slowly working through some complicated issues.  Hopefully I'll be done tomorrow and then on to something hopefully simpler.

Roadtrip Friday

October 01, 2021 by Adam in Family

I'm taking Ben up to Portland today, so I'll be on the road for most of the day.  Fortunately I've started a zombie-themed podcast, so I'll be adequately entertained.

It's been Emma's first week of school, which I think has felt like quite a bit between chemistry, biochemistry and calculus.  Fortunately her honor's college art class ended up being easy and fun.  We managed to get all the textbooks she needed over the Internet and they all arrived in excellent condition.  She's keeping up with homework, though it's a big change from the last couple years.

Works going along nicely, working on tricky little problems instead of finding bugs again.  I suggested we number our latest release the "2.0" version, which somehow feels like a milestone, however imaginary.

We moved our bed across our bedroom, so I slept in a new place for the first time in ages.  There's more to paint and everything is pushed around in funny places, but at least the bed's where it's supposed to be.

Fall Starts in Earnest

September 27, 2021 by Adam in Family

Fall technically started almost a week ago, but today feels like the true start of fall.  We've got a day of serious rain, continuing on tomorrow.  The temperature is cooling down and I decided I should probably switch from shorts to pants.  Emma starts her first day of school at the U of O and has found a way to cover herself, her backpack, and everything else in waterproof attire.  

As for the weekend, it was generally good.  It was nice having Emma around after missing her last weekend.  She and Ben got some good hangout time together, in between Hotshot Racing and more Deep Space 9.  Joanna continues to move their office downstairs and clean up the old office area in preparation to move the bed.  We took out shelves, the desk I made, and various odds and ends so we could spackle in preparation for painting.  I think the painting happens today.

Duncan recorded videos with friends.  Ben played Jackbox with friends.  Emma and I picked up school supplies and searched around the Internet for decent prices on used textbooks.  It's wild how $100+ textbooks can be found for a tenth of that used.  Hopefully the previous owners were good at highlighting the right things.

I'll be taking Emma to school shortly.  She's nervous/excited, but I think after all her preparation she'll do just fine.

Mocha Friday

September 24, 2021 by Adam in Family

I'm slowly finishing my Friday mocha, trying to get the most of what's left.  We're mostly doing okay today, though we keep working through transitions.  Joanna's in the hospital for one of those fun procedures I had last year - mostly annoying more than anything else.  I dropped them off an hour ago and will pick them up around noon.  Duncan had a hard night last night and is resting in bed this morning.  School has felt a little overwhelming, so we're taking it easy.  Ben's doing really well academically so far, proudly showing off 100% in all his classes.  Today is Emma's last day of summer before classes start on Monday.

As for me, I spent my work week in online conferences.  It was okay, with the occasional industry speaker that was really good.  Learning about teaching robots how to detect emotions in facial expressions was interesting.  I welcome our future empathetic robot overlords.

Joanna's been moving their office into the basement.  Leia has been meowing way too much lately.  I continue the road to recovery with nightly physical therapy and was excited to discover I can put both my hands on my hips now.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 19, 2021 by Adam in Family

Ahoy, me hearties!  It be one of the best days o' the year, where landlubbers and salty sea dogs alike are allowed to talk like a pirate.  I hoisted the pirate flag on our house, earning the praise and admiration of our neighbors.  Some pirate games were played.  It was all good fun.

The rains came last night, overflowing our back stairwell and making me wish for a bilge pump.  I soaked my boots and got out as much water as I could, then used a toilet plunger on the drain until it flowed freely.  The rain is most welcome, and the air smells wonderful, though I need to remember how to deal with it properly.

Today has been surprisingly productive.  I reassembled the old brass and wood computer with the guts from Ben's computer.  I've got a bit of hardware tweaking to make it look pretty, then I've got to figure out what to do with the thing.  I loaded Windows, which was shockingly simple, and I'm thinking of turning it into a backup server of some kind or another.

Joanna's also been thinking of moving their office to the basement, so we did some cleanup and getting rid of books and games that are collecting dust.  The little free libraries in the neighborhood will be well stocked for the months ahead.

Griftlands

September 18, 2021 by Adam in Adam's Games

I continue to be enamored of deck builder games.  I beat the final difficulty level of Monster Train a couple weeks ago.  I picked up Griftlands, which is a mix of deck building and story, with three different characters to play.  I beat them all on the easiest difficulty just today, though the game is crying out for replays.

I must have a knack for these kind of games.  My first run ended with an untimely death, but I finished the next three to completion.