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.