Crafty Weekend

February 09, 2026 by Adam in Family

Since Delta Green was sadly cancelled, I ended up doing various craft projects, though admittedly most were for various roleplaying games.  Emma and I went to MECCA Saturday after breakfast and the library, returning with way too many treasures.  Emma had a major find of over a dozen hand-painted tiles for $1 each - apparently they're worth $20 each, so she cleaned them up and packed them up for future use.  I returned with cool paper, bookmaking supplies, scraps of leather, yarn for Jo, and other assorted cool things.

When we got home Emma and Jo helped me dye a bunch of white leather, and we created a book cover.  I used the cricut to make a stencil for the symbol on the front and after a couple days we had a book prop for an upcoming game.

I also printed the first half of a giant popcorn bucket for the Iron Lung movie.  Apparently one of her coworkers wanted one.  It ended up being immense and I quickly burned through a spool.  The second part isn't going as well, but I'm hoping it's somewhat optional.

I also prepped for the upcoming D&D game, plus put together my usual website/images/movie prep site for a Call of Cthulhu game.  It's like a 1920s Delta Green, but with flappers, gangsters, and archeologist types fighting Lovecraftian horrors.  If I ever have someone cancel I can run that instead.  Otherwise I feel sad not being able to terrorize my family members frequently enough.

Cold Week

February 06, 2026 by Adam in Family

Yvonne and I have both had colds this week - she ended up skipping her day in the Emergency Department as part of her EMT program.  I think she's mostly better now.  I never got too bad, but I've been feeling a little slow and grumpy and mostly want to fiddle around with personal projects and do nothing particularly important.

Sadly Delta Green was cancelled tomorrow, and with Valentine's Day we get to push it out a couple more weeks.  I'm bummed, and think I'll start making some one-shots of something or another if one person can't make it.  The D&D group had a session on Tuesday after a delay and I think they're so excited to play more that we're going again next week to make up for the delay.

As for me, I've been slogging through work, trying to finish up one project and start up another.  When I'm not working, I've been putting together props and notes for the upcoming Delta Green campaign.  I think I'm going to try to make a book for the game, though the bookbinding part is a little tricky.  Theoretically the cricut does leather debossing and I'd love to see if I can pull that off.

We had a meeting with the property management company that will manage the farm rental yesterday.  It went well, though it's clear there's still a long list of things to be done in the next few months.  I'm trying to gird my loins to assist as my older kid steps away from the project - hopefully it works out okay.

No big plans for the weekend.  I might see if Emma and her big brother might go for another wilderness adventure with me.  He's starting a new job doing landscaping next week, though fortunately his hours seem pretty normal.  I'm just excited about things like health insurance that come with it.

Up Before Five

February 02, 2026 by Adam in Family

I woke up at 4:45 this morning - Yvonne was already up and had started making coffee.  It ended up being really strong, so apparently I'm raising her right.  She had her first EMT ride along this morning, so we drove down to the Whit and got her into the locked facility with the ambulances.  Hopefully her day goes well.

I go off call in a couple more hours.  I've got some lingering things I need to deal with, but hopefully I can start transitioning back into normal work.  Last week I was assigned one of those "Gee, I'm glad someone else is doing this" projects.  I think it'll be okay, but it'll take a good chunk of my time over the next few months.

It was a generally good weekend.  Emma and I met up with the oldest son out at a wetland preserve near Fern Ridge Reservoir.  We walked for over three miles in a long loop, looking at birds, chatting about things, and enjoying the relatively warm winter weather.  Emma and I returned home for lunch, library, and hanging out for the rest of the day.

Sunday morning Emma and I headed to thrift stores - I returned with some old books and nice leather writing folders for my Delta Green players.  Emma picked up some overalls and lost one of her glasses screws, fortunately grabbing her lens before it fell out.  She had a spare at home so we stole a screw from the old pair and all was well.

I've mostly been cranking out props and organizing players for the upcoming Delta Green campaign.  I've read the entire 300+ page campaign, listened to handler prep guides, made a bunch of images and props, picked out some music, and generally feel prepared.  The game has the concept of "bonds" - usually friends and family - and there's a mechanic where dealing with the unnatural stresses those relationships.  I've been making postcards, pictures, and the like to make the players feel like these people (and one dog) are important to them.  It's strangely a blast for me to put these things together.

On Call Week

January 30, 2026 by Adam in Family

I've got a mocha waiting next to me, a pleasant reward after a somewhat challenging week of being on call.  I've felt a little better about being on call this week, mostly because I've given up trying to accomplish anything else.

It's been a relatively quiet week.  I had tea with mom on Wednesday, who seems to be recovered from her procedure.  Jo and I finished our Heavenly Bodies video game and started a little on Baldur's Gate 3.  Yvonne has been really into watching The Pitt, which hasn't dissuaded her from her upcoming career.  She's also doing really well in her classes, only one of two people who have passed one of the big certification tests.

I continue to get ready for the Impossible Landscapes campaign, which is one of the more ambitious Delta Green missions I've prepped for.  I've listened to playthroughs, prep videos, and am doing an in-depth read of the 300+ page campaign guide.  Not to mention the AI generated images, props, and weird vibe coded apps.  The players are all rolling up new characters to try something different - I think we'll be ready to wrap up the last mission and kick things off for the new one in another week.

No big weekend plans.  I'm sure Emma and I will make a library run at some point.  For now, with the last sip of my mocha gone, it's time to get back to dealing with alerts and incidents and get some work done.

Monday, Monday

January 26, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm in the doctor's office with mom, waiting for some results after I put in my hand holding duties for the morning.  I've managed to connect to work and do a few things - I'll probably wait to do complicated things until I get a fast Internet connection again, but I can at least update my blog.

It was a generally good weekend.  Saturday was pancakes and puttering around - it somehow became noon before we were ready to face the day.  Emma and I hit up the library.  Jo spent the day playing with their knew automatic knitting machine, cranking out a variety of hats in no time at all.  

Sunday morning Emma went on a hike with her big brother and then the two of them met up with Seraph and I to hang out at Hideaway Bakery to catch up.  He's looking for work in earnest, hopefully finding something in the arborist or land management field rather than construction.  Emma will likely look for new work in earnest soon too, though she's not really sure what she'll end up doing next.  Eventually we drove Seraph home and chatted with Robbie and Hanni.

Monday, Monday

January 26, 2026 by Adam in Family

I'm in the doctor's office with mom, waiting for some results after I put in my hand holding duties for the morning.  I've managed to connect to work and do a few things - I'll probably wait to do complicated things until I get a fast Internet connection again, but I can at least update my blog.

It was a generally good weekend.  Saturday was pancakes and puttering around - it somehow became noon before we were ready to face the day.  Emma and I hit up the library.  Jo spent the day playing with their knew automatic knitting machine, cranking out a variety of hats in no time at all.  

Sunday morning Emma went on a hike with her big brother and then the two of them met up with Seraph and I to hang out at Hideaway Bakery to catch up.  He's looking for work in earnest, hopefully finding something in the arborist or land management field rather than construction.  Emma will likely look for new work in earnest soon too, though she's not really sure what she'll end up doing next.  Eventually we drove Seraph home and chatted with Robbie and Hanni.

Post-Birthday Mocha Friday

January 23, 2026 by Adam in Family

It's a Day of Learning at work today.  I think they mostly want us to finish our required classes, but it's also to go learn new things.  I think I sadly have to learn why my code is behaving weirdly, but maybe I can sneak in something more fun along the way.

Jo had a hopefully acceptable birthday yesterday - other than forgetting to get a card the cake and presents were well received.  I was most impressed with the tube-knitting device that took yarn in one end and when a crank was turned, a tube of knitted yarn came out the other end.  Jo made a nice hat in about 15 minutes.  Duncan and Yvonne hung out with us after cake and we played some Bubble Talk like old times, matching silly sayings to silly pictures and generally having a silly time.

The week has generally been low-key.  Jo and I had a couple evenings of playing Heavenly Bodies more, bouncing around in zero gravity trying to accomplish various tasks.  Yvonne's still watching The Pitt with us, very excited about joining the medical profession still.  She's been talking about visiting her dad the paramedic for some ride-along time after she graduates.  We'll see where she ends up - lots of changes ahead, I think.

I had tea with my mom and my eldest kid on Wednesday - he's planning on stepping back from work on the farm house and going off to find a full time job.  I'm hoping the transition will be smooth - there are still things to be done and I may need to get involved more.  On paper the builders do their thing, someone gets hired to finish up a few tasks, and then it gets turned over to a rental management company, but life is rarely that simple.

I continue to putter around in my free time, mostly fiddling with AI tools to make things for my D&D and Delta Green games.  Getting ready for the next big Delta Green campaign is time consuming, but fun - it's a huge campaign with so many connections and twists.  Hopefully running it won't drive me mad.

Time to return to my mocha - it won't drink itself.

Great Weekend

January 20, 2026 by Adam in Family

It was a long and amazing weekend, a fun mix of puttering around and practical things.  Saturday was the Emma hangout day, going to the library and a thrift store.  I ended up picking up a good, cheap router for my shed, hoping to improve the wifi back there.  Plus a cheap digital recorder for an upcoming Delta Green game.  I took Yvonne to another EMT lab at LCC.  Saturday night was more Death Note, which continues to double-down on its weird premise. 

Sunday morning Emma headed to Corvallis to help move the last of Jamie's mom's things.  I went for a great hike up Pisgah with my eldest son, chatting about life and stopping at the top to admire the amazing view.  I think it was good for both of us.  Duncan had his Minecraft awards show where he exploited server vulnerabilities to amuse and entertain is fellow Youtubers.

Monday was a more practical day, putting away the last of the Christmas decorations, doing a little living room rearranging, and crossing things off my list.  Jo and I went for a walk around the neighborhood and played a game called Heavenly Bodies which involved sending two astronauts on various missions.  Mostly it involved flailing around in space dealing with zero gravity, but we seem to be enjoying ourselves.

Now it's back to work in a few minutes.  Hopefully I can figure out my challenging problem that's been plaguing me for weeks - it's finally a priority so I can focus on it.  I also get to try out my vibe coded automation tool that I showed off to my manager on Friday.  Theoretically it should make a sucky, tedious task actually fast and easy.

Surprise Three Day Weekend

January 16, 2026 by Adam in Family

I didn't realize Microsoft had Monday off for MLK day, so it looks like I have a surprise three day weekend.  Maybe I'll finally get around to taking down the Christmas lights, though I've appreciated their cheerful colors during these gloomy winter nights.

The work week was generally uneventful.  I made progress with my various efforts, though I'm most proud of a vibe coded little helper app that automates some tedious and error-prone work.  It's been wacky to see how much functionality I can stuff inside a single html file, though it's weird that I have no idea how it works under the hood.  I just keep telling Copilot to add this or tweak that and it magically appears.

Tuesday was another D&D session with my friend group.  They battled evil goblins and generally avoided traps to barely live to fight another day.  Most of my technical difficulties from last week were sorted out and all my images, combat trackers, and sounds worked as expected, though I occasionally felt like I was a one-man band as I cycled through various buttons to click.

Wednesday I had tea with mom and went to 5th street with Jo on our date night.  Later the two of us did another "find the treasure" puzzle that they got me for Christmas.  They had some clever puzzles involving light in this one.  I watched Sinners while I ran at lunch.  I'm almost done with my Dungeon Crawler Carl audiobook - my latest guilty pleasure.  I'm occasionally still playing Hades 2, but mostly I'm prepping for the Impossible Landscapes Delta Green campaign.  It's a vast and sprawling campaign with so many handouts to make, images to generate, and notes to put together.

As for the weekend, Jo's off to the writing shack tonight.  Emma's coming over and I'm sure we'll go to the library and possibly a thrift store.  We'll see if I have time to get through my backlog of house projects.  Spring will come one day.

D&D Night

January 13, 2026 by Adam in Family

The weekend has come and gone.   Saturday was Delta Green, where once again our brave agents tried to save the world from unnatural threats.  They did a pretty good job and I'm hoping we can wrap it up soonish.  Emma and I tried to go to the library afterwards but someone pulled the fire alarm.  We headed back home to try again another day.  Yvonne had us watch Death Note for our Saturday dinner and anime, making me thankful that teenagers couldn't easily murder anyone they wanted in real life.

Sunday started with the usual hearty breakfast of hash browns, pancakes, french toast, eggs, and a delicious mocha.  Emma and I puttered around playing There Is No Game, which is a fun and funny puzzle game.  Next up was a leisurely trip to the library before she headed home.

I puttered around with the XBox Kinect we picked up at a thrift store.  Soon enough I vibe coded up a little app that showed a little ball-and-stick person that mirrored my movements when I danced around in front of it.  No idea what I'll do with it for real, but I'll probably do something wacky.

Tonight is the second D&D session with my friend group.  I think I'm generally prepared for it and if not, I've gotten pretty good at winging it.