Daduation Weekend

June 16, 2025 by Adam in Family

It was quite the exciting weekend overall.  Saturday was relatively chill - Emma and I went to the library and a new thrift store.  It was next to where Humble Bagel used to be in the space where Evolution Gaming used to be, and Silver Screen Video before that.  It's funny how I sometimes feel like I live in the ghost of the city-that-once-was.  Metaphysics aside, I picked up a couple nice shirts - one dressy and one casual.

The afternoon was mostly spent puttering.  I helped Emma install Linux Mint on her laptop and ordered a special screwdriver and screws so we could repair the case.  We cleaned the patio and setup chairs and tables for the Sunday festivities.  I started my usual Saturday soup, this time lentels and split peas.

Sunday was Father's Day, which started with presents after breakfast.  I got some practical items like running socks, and some fun items like the Mothership RPG that I've been eyeing of late.  Later on Emma and I went for a wander around town, starting with Smith Family bookstore, Down to Earth, and the coffee shop nearby.

Eventually we returned home for a brief breather before the family horde descended upon the house.  It was great seeing everyone.  I've missed seeing Jenny and it was cool that she brought her boyfriend.  There was a secret meeting of cousins that was cool.  Plus it was great seeing everyone come together to celebrate this milestone of four kids graduating from their respective academic institutions.

Last Test Friday

June 13, 2025 by Adam in Family

Yvonne and Duncan are already done with school, having finished their last tests.  Emma's got a final this morning but will soon be free from the bonds of academia.  As for what happens next, the younger kids are in chill mode while Emma's doing some work with her big brother to help get the farm house built.  I hear things are moving along nicely.

We have the big graduation shindig at our house this Sunday where hordes will descend on our patio to eat pizza, chat, and congratulate the horde of graduates.  I don't think we've had everyone together in a very long time - I'm excited to see them all and spend some time hanging out.

As for me, work got derailed by an all-consuming customer support incident.  While I appreciated learning about the weird and wacky things our product does, I wasn't able to do much else.  Fortunately I transferred it to someone else this morning - hopefully that's the last I see of it.

In my limited free time I've been playing the occasional video game and fiddling with Copilot and Chat GPT to make images for roleplaying games.  I want to get back to my "vibe coding" project where I ask it to make complicated web pages and don't bother trying to understand the code it generates.  The results are mixed, but it's a fun process anyway.

Graduations and Evidence Boards

June 09, 2025 by Adam in Family

Saturday morning we gobbled up breakfast and went out to Yvonne's graduation event for the French immersion program.  All these kids and parents were there, people we've been running into at these sort of things for over ten years.  There were pictures and videos showing various events and each kid went up to talk about their favorite moment and what they were up to next.  It's been wild thinking that this is the last kid in high school - lots of big transitions lately.

Sunday had the cousin group and my buddy Jason come by to play Delta Green to try to stop the spread of a mysterious number that drives everyone mad.  They did a great job fabricating evidence and creating plausible motives.  I was very proud of them.

Now it's back to work for me and finals week for Emma and Duncan.  Next weekend is the graduation bash.  I hear the farm house project is coming along nicely.  I've been having way too much fun playing with AI to make images or vibe code up some interactive web pages for various roleplaying games.  The future is going to be wild and wacky.

Mocha Friday

June 06, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's another beautiful day in the valley, and fortunately my allergies have been fine this year.  Maybe after nearly half a century in the valley my immune system has decided the pollen isn't trying to kill me.

I'm still a little dazed by all the graduations and end of school events.  Yvonne's last day is today and Emma and Duncan are finished after finals next week.  In another week the family will descend upon our house for a big graduation bash.  I'm feeling slightly overwhelmed but have a general plan to clean the patio and get it slightly more organized.

The work week has been fine.  I continue to juggle a million projects at work and have gotten used to asking for help.  I just need to remind myself that there's no immediate deadline and catastrophe won't hit if I don't get around to things.  In my off hours I've been prepping for Delta Green, reading Pushing Ice, and playing Clair Obscur.  I had tea with mom and her ever-present helper, my oldest son.  The farm house project is coming along, with the latest plan being to demolish the existing house and put a new three bedroom house in the same location.  Hopefully it all turns out okay.

As for the weekend, I've got Yvonne's graduation on Saturday morning and Delta Green with the gang on Sunday.  I've got to do some patio cleaning somewhere in there and maybe I can chip away at the endless house projects.  We'll see how far I get.

Last Day of High School

June 06, 2025 by Adam in Yvonne

Yvonne has made it to the last day of high school.  It looks like she's passing all her classes, many of which are a little close with the exception of Gothic Lit.  She turned in some of her personal writing as makeup work and the teacher loved it.  Tomorrow is graduation for the french immersion program where this group of kids that started at 1st grade are now grown up and heading off into the world.  I remember going to the one for Duncan and it was remarkable seeing all these kids and their parents change over the decade and a half.

Yvonne seems pretty excited to be done with high school and feeling a little better about things.  She's applied for LCC in the fall and hopes to study marine biology.

Back to Work

June 02, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's another beautiful, sunny day - I've yet yet to break out the air conditioner for my little shed, but with temperatures approaching 90 in the week ahead, I can see that coming soon.

It was a generally pleasant weekend.  Francis and Emma had their Saturday photo shoot and Jo went off to write with a friend.  I cleaned and tidied and puttered about.  I broke out the sawhorse and made a compost sifter out of lumber and wire mesh.  D&D and Delta Green games were prepped for.  Eventually everyone returned home and we did our usual evening routine.

Sunday was D&D with the friend group, which I think generally went well.  I tried hard to lean into the spookiness of the place they're exploring and eventually they ended up climbing through a giant robot.  I'm really enjoying getting Chat GPT to make illustrations of every room - I think the players enjoy it too.

Now it's back to work where I get to coordinate projects, fix some bugs and write some tests.  School is wrapping up in just a few weeks, so there are a variety of graduation events coming up fast.

Graduation Photos

June 01, 2025 by Adam in Emma

Emma and Francis took graduation photos around campus yesterday.  It's been cool watching the two of them hang out more at this similar time in their lives.  I feel sometimes I think about what's next for her on life's adventure, but I try to remind myself to appreciate and celebrate what's come before.  It's been cool watching Emma grow and learn over these last four years, growing comfortable working with others, confident she can accomplish complicated things.  I'm very proud of her.

Sunny Mocha Friday

May 30, 2025 by Adam in Family

It's beautiful out, warm without being too hot, sunny without being blinding.  Peeking out the window of my shed I see green everywhere - salad greens in the raised beds, peas climbing trellaces, and flowers here and there.  It's lovely.

It feels like we're on the cusp of a transition.  Emma's thesis defense felt like the capstone of a college experience.  Last night Jo and I went to South Eugene High School's award ceremony, sitting for two hours on hard plastic benches in the gym as kids came up to a stage and adults said nice things about them.  Yvonne got a bilingual award along with the other Frenchies.  It was cool and a little sad thinking it might be the last time I go into my old high school.  Strange how time passes.

Work is moving along nicely.  I gave a presentation to a bunch of people on how to address a design flaw, giving various options to choose from.  Fortunately they picked the easy option.  Now I have to actually do the work, but it hasn't been too bad.

I had dinner with dad this week and tea with mom.  Jo and I worked together to get the greenhouse finished up, even though it's a little funky.  Emma's over a day early, though mom's putting her to work for most of today.  I think we'll try to sneak away a little early to go to the library which we missed last week.

As for the weekend, we've got D&D on Sunday.  I've been making using ChatGPT to crank out images for it.  I'm also having a good time making various things for the next Delta Green game.  ChatGPT mostly made a web page that simulated using an old slide carousel, though I had to put in the finishing touches by hand.  Vibe coding works pretty well for these sort of "just for fun" projects.

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.