Twin boys. Toddler daughter. Hospital Tech Support. Writer. Runner. Gamer. Creating in public again.*

You’re Three

Dear Rose,

You’re turning three today, and I wanted to write you a letter like I did last year, simply to create a snapshot of how you’re processing the world at three. Just like I mentioned last year, time is moving way too fast, and as I try to balance the busyness of life, staying present with you is always at the top of my mind. I don’t want to miss a single moment of you growing up.

You started school recently, and I told you that I’d be sad now that you’re away from home, but you tried to comfort me by saying, “Don’t worry Dad, Mom will protect you.” These are the little sentences you bless me with throughout the week. Like when your brother got in the car recently, and right away, you asked him, “Isaac, how’s your day going?” And after he responded, you replied, “Well, mine is going great.”

I’m constantly fascinated by your mind and how much you’re learning already. You like dancing now, and putting puzzles together. You know all the days of the week, and you’re starting to learn time. Lately you’ve been randomly telling me you’d like a hug. Or as you’re falling asleep, you ask if I can rub your back.

Before each meal, you lead in prayer, even if you’re the only one at the table. It’s the same prayer each meal: “Dear Jesus, thank you for this food. Thank you for mommy and daddy, Isaac and Rose, and all the people. Keep us safe, in your name we pray. Amen.”

This is just a glimpse of my days with you, and there’s not enough words to describe how special all of this feels.

Happy Birthday.

Hospital Visit

The journey starts with a quiet walk to the hospital. Fifteen minutes of solitude to gather my thoughts and prepare for this new chapter. This is much different than my previous work-from-home job, where I was isolated from the world and stationary as I answered calls.

At the hospital, I’m given an office that’s completely empty, along with a key to a big storage room with lots of furniture to choose from. I selected a desk, a television on the wall, two tables, and an office chair. I also brought a few things from home to personalize the office. A white HomePod, a white desk fan, a plant, and a few books.

With this new position, a lot of my day revolves around meetings and being at certain rooms of the hospital at specific times of the day, so one of the first things I did was connect my new Microsoft Exchange account to my phone. Now my calendar events for work show up on my wrist with the Fantastical widget.

While going down the elevator, my Watch buzzes, and it’s a notification from Rose’s new preschool. I get about ten of these updates a day from her school now. “She just had her morning snack. She went potty. She just started her nap. She was happy.” These little notification are helpful because I can keep working with the peace of mind that she’s ok.

When returning home each day, my Watch averages about 15,000 steps. That’s before any exercises. And now that I’m home before five during the week, I can hunt down the basketball gym that everyone’s playing at. I expect to consistently be in great basketball shape now, thanks to this new schedule (and salad bar in the hospital cafeteria).

At night (and some Remote Play throughout the day), I’ve been making progress in Metaphor, a fantasy JRPG that’s like nothing I’ve ever played before. It’s currently my game of the year.

A Home Arcade

What was supposed to be a weekend project…“Hey dad, I have simple project for us.” Instead, turned out taking exactly a month to finish everything up. Now that the finished product is here, that month was worth the wait. The level of quality and attention to detail is something we’re very proud of.

Software

If there was a starting point for this project, it’s when I learned the power of Batocera. I had a Raspberry Pi 400 not being used, but it finally found its purpose with Batocera. The setup was fairly easy, and after adding hundreds of games to the SD Card, the software side of this project was complete. That’s when I presented the idea to my dad. I knew that going forward, once the construction was done, I’d just have to plug everything in and start playing.

Hardware

There was only a handful of items needed for this project. Starting out with the main puzzle piece, 8Bitdo’s Arcade Stick. I quickly realized that I can build an entire arcade cabinet around it. The other two key pieces sitting around at home: an old computer monitor I had in the attic, and a Raspberry Pi 400 that was sitting in a drawer. From there, I purchased a cheap speaker from Amazon, a Nintendo logo from Etsy, and a three outlet extension cord from Target. All the electronic hardware was now ready as well.

Construction

My dad did the construction, and I gave the feedback along the way. We had scrap 3/4 plywood and luan around the house from remodeling, so all that was needed for the construction was the T-molding and paint. I found a good example online of someone who also used the 8BitDo Arcade Stick to build a cabinet, so we used that design as a reference. My dad sketched out a similar build on paper, and then the process started.

For the paint, we took the arcade stick to Lowe’s for them to color match the exact gray we needed. For tools and supplies, we used a Skil saw, miter saw, router table, drill, chisel, punch, utility knife, spackle, spackle knife, hammer, vibrating sander, wood glue, and a nail gun.

Final Thoughts

We started the project on March 26th. That’s when I setup the software and told my dad about the idea. April 28th is when the arcade cabinet was complete and sitting on our countertop. It took a month to complete this project. We chipped away at it every few days, tinkering with the design, cutting pieces here, and fitting pieces there.

As progress was being made, we’d work together, seeing what was left to be done. A very slow and methodical way of building an arcade cabinet, but now that it’s complete, and knowing how well this arcade cabinet was put together, this should be an item we use as a family for many years to come.