Weblog | Jameson Nyeholt

I now work at Microsoft

I now work at Microsoft where I am continuing as a Senior Software Engineering Manager, following it’s acquisition of Xandr, Inc from AT&T

The acquistion was earlier announced in December 2021 after I had just started paternity leave.

Very excited at the outcome for my colleagues at Xandr following what seemed like a misadventure for several years at AT&T.

1 Jun, 2022
Portland, OR
Jameson Nyeholt

Fall Mushroom Foraging in the Oregon Coastal Range

Every September for the past several years we have gone camping at Whalen Island on the Oregon Coast to celebrate Rachel’s Birthday. This year we decided to cancel this trip due to inclement weather and the prospect of sleeping on the ground with Rachel heavily pregnant.

With the camping trip cancelled, Rachel decided she wanted to try to fit in one more mushroom foraging trip before the year was over with. We ended up exploring some areas we had tried in some prior years, and found quite a few things, though it was clear we were about a week or so too early.

Some of the mushrooms we found

20 Sep, 2021
Tilamook National Forest, Oregon
Jameson Nyeholt

Arch Cape, Washington Hike

Arch Cape is a hiking trail on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge.

24 Jul, 2021
Columbia River Gorge, WA
Jameson Nyeholt

Whalen Island Camping Summer '21

We visited Whalen Island in June with some close friends. They were excited to give their new van a test drive and take their daughter on her first camping trip, while we wanted to catch some crab. Unfortunately, the tides did not work in our favor. Regardless, we had a great time.

Video

Photos

18 Jun, 2021
Tillamook County, OR
Jameson Nyeholt

The Oregon Garden

As Portland began to emerge from Winter, it was now warm enough to more reliably venture outside for recreation. Rachel and I had been experiencing a bit of cabin fever, and decided to both take Friday off from work to visit The Oregon Garden. The location contains 20 specialty gardens spread across 80 acres of land in Silverton, in the Willamette Valley. The garden is pet friendly, so we were able to take Sophie along with us throughout our entire stay.

While there we were able to visit The Gordon House, which is the only house designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright to have been built in Oregon. I’ve long been a fan of Wright’s architecture, and it was exciting to finally visit the structure and see it first hand.

Below you can find a few pictures from our trip.

23 Apr, 2021
Silverton, OR
Jameson Nyeholt

Introduction

The prior weekend was filled with a number of holidays. On Friday we welcomed the Year of Ox with Lunar New Year, Sunday was Valentines Day, and Monday was President’s Day in America.

Of these holidays, Lunar New Year is the only one of major importance to my partner and I. Valentines Day is a good excuse to make or eat a very nice meal and President’s Day is merely a public holiday that is part of America’s civic religion, which means a free day off to some workers.

Despite there being a number of holidays we planned to celebrate in various ways, it was also a weekend of serendipity, as a result of the winter storm that passed through Portland. What began as a long weekened filled with holidays ended with us taking an impromptu trip to the coast.

Lunar New Year

Lunar New Year is the beginning of the calendar year that is based on based on the cycles of the moon. With its orientation towards cycles of the moon it differs from the Gregorian calendar that is now more commonly used internationally. If anything, counting time by the moon is more accurrate to how we did so historically, and also has a deeper connection to the natural world.

Lunar New Year has significance in our family because my partner is Chinese American. Her family grew up celebrating the holiday every year, and as we became a couple I was included in those traditions as well. For me its become a fun way to mark a new year, and is an important part of our shared traditions as an intercultural couple.

Since moving to Portland we’ve alternated between traveling to Los Angeles to celebrate with her family and celebrating up here with friends and coworkers. This year was quite different because we were unable to celebrate with anyone in-person due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Last year we traveled to Los Angeles to celebrate right before the pandemic became apparent.

There are various activities associated with Lunar New Year, but one the most important parts for my partner is the foods we eat. The morning of Lunar New Year we eat a vegetarian meal to give the animals a break. In the evening we eat a bigger meal that typically includes crab, fish, and pork.

The storm

Beginning on Friday we received a lot of snow in Portland and the northwest Oregon as a result of a winter storm. We typically only get a signficant amount of snow in the city once or twice a year. Having lived the entirety of my life prior to moving to Oregon in southern California, I’ve looked forward to any major innundation of snow. Having four full seasons is still a novelty to me.

However, seven years in I’ve also grown to appreciate how poorly the city and its people collectively are able to deal with the impact of snow. Snowstorms often lead to a number of cars being stuck on or abandoned on the roadside, minor car accidents, and trees falling and hitting powerlines.

By Saturday morning we had enough snow to allow us to go snowshoeing around the neighborhood with our dog Sophie. We visted the nearby city park and found a large group of families from the neighorhood sledding down the hillside and having a great time. This was a fun sight to see in the midst of the pandemic and winter, when it is typically overcast and rainy.

Sophie is a big fan of the snow, and had a fun time exploring and walking around our neightborhood.

The aftermath

Unfortunately, by Sunday night the weather had evolved into freezing rain. Freezing rain is more common occurrence in Oregon during the winter months, and when paired with snow can lead to some disastorous effects. These effects primarily have an impact in weighing down trees to the point where they fall over or split in half due to the added weight of the snow & ice on their limbs.

The culmination of snow and ice over the weekend led to exactly that, toppling numerous trees around the region, which subsequently took down nearby powerlines, which led to a series of power outages in the region that left more than 150,000 people, including ourselves, without power for a number of days. This occurred at the same time as the much more severe weather and power outages effecting Texas.

Power outage

Our power went out on Sunday evening, and did not end up coming back on until midday Tuesday. Our neighbors across the street in Southwest Portland draw power from a different aerial than ours, and were without power for a few days prior to the ice storm that eventually did the city in. Both myself and my partner were aware of coworkers and friends-of-friends who were without power for much longer.

With the power being out, things started to become quite cold, and the food in our refrigerator started to warm up and our freezer started to defrost. Fortunately, we have a fireplace in our home that we were able to use to keep ourselves warm at night, and a good collection of camping gear that we were able to use to put to good use. On Monday morning we woke up still without power, so we decided to take out some of our gear to make coffee and breakfast on our front porch.

Out to the coast

By Monday night both of our mobile phones stopped working, and by Tuesday morning needing to get back to work, and still not having power or reliable internet access, we decided to take a cue from our neighbor and head out of Portland to the Oregon Coast. We decided to head out to Cape Kiwanda, a favourite destination of ours.

The route to Cape Kiwanda

We traveled via Oregon Route 26, Oregon Route 6, and U.S. Route 101 to reach Cape Kiwanda. This route takes you from the Willamette Valley, where Portland is located, across the Northern Oregon Coast Range of mountains to the coast, and through Tillamook State Forest & city of Tillamook. The trip typically takes us between 1 1/2 to 2 hours to complete.

View Larger Map

As we travelled along the highway we were able to clearly see the devastation the storm had also wreaked in the Tillamook State Forest. From the highway you could see that numerous trees had fallen down, large limbs had cracked, and some trees had split in two. This seemed to have mostly impacted the Alder (Alnus rubra) trees that grow alongside the fir trees in the forest.

As we crossed through the coastal range, it was clear that some parts of the highway were starting to slide out, though not bad enough to make drivng dangerous at the time.

Once we were out of the coastal range, the mountains opened up to the Tillamook valley, and we continued southward to Cape Kiwanda & Pacific City.

Cape Kiwanda

We arrived at Cape Kiwanda around midday and checked-in with the inn. We were scheduled for work that day, so we spent most of the next two days working from our room at the inn. We punctuated our days with some walks out to the beach, and ended up returning home on Thursday.

Reflections

As a result of our experience over this weekend, and the impromtu roadtrip that it concluded with, I realized a few things about our present situation of living and working entirely at home for nearly a year. The first is the value of novelty, and the second is our dependence upon electricity.

This travelouge originally contained more content on these two reflections, however I decided to split them out into separate entries. I’m currently expanding upon those sections in some new posts.

20 Feb, 2021
NW Oregon
Jameson Nyeholt

Whalen Island Camping Trip - Sep '20

To celebrate Rachel’s Birthday we again went to Whalen Island, per tradition. We were joined by many friends and had a chance to go crabbing, fishing, and clamming while we were there.

This was a special year for the trip, because it was also the first time we were able to take out the boat that Rachel had found for us on craigslist.

22 Sep, 2020
Tillamook County, Oregon
Jameson Nyeholt

Tyron Creek State Park Hike

Tyron Creek State Natural Area is an Oregon State Park located nearby our home in Southwest Portland. It surrounds Tyron Creek along in a sloping forest that extends from nearby Lewis & Clark College to the Willamette River. It is unique in that it is the only State Park in Oregon that is located in a major metro area.

More learning

22 May, 2020
Tyron Creek State Park
Jameson Nyeholt

Joshua Tree National Park in Winter

To celebrate our marriage anniversary, we decided to visit Joshua Tree National Park for two nights while in Southern California to visit family for the winter holidays.

Rachel and I have visited Joshua Tree several times before during the time when we lived in Southern California, but this was our first time back to the park since both moving to Portland, Oregon.

This trip was both our first time staying in lodgings instead of camping, and also the first time we experienced snow inside of the park.

29 Dec, 2019
Joshua Tree National Park, California
Jameson Nyeholt

Whalen Island Camping Trip - Sep '19

We camped again at Whalen Island with friends to celebrate my partner’s birthday. During the trip we found some mushrooms and had the opportunity to try out the camping smoker from snow peak that I got for her.

22 Sep, 2019
Tillamook County, Oregon
Jameson Nyeholt

Sea fishing in Southern Alaska

In July I had an opportunity to go on a fishing trip with my grandfather in Alaska near Gustavus. To travel there I caught a flight from Portland, to Seattle, to Juneau, followed by a short charter flight to Gustavus. My grandfather enjoys making a trip up to Alaska once every year or so, primarily to catch fish to bring home to eat later. We spent a few days our on a charter boat alongside a family from Wyoming and caught our fair share of Halibut.

29 Jul, 2019
Southern Alaska
Jameson Nyeholt

Trifecta 2019

Ski, skate, surf.

21 Jun, 2019
Mt. Hood, Portland and Pacific City
Jameson Nyeholt

Intertidal Edibles Foraging at Ecola State Park

We took a class through Wildcraft on Coastal foraging at Ecola State Park. During the class we had the opportunity to learn how to forage for seaweed, mussels and other intertidal edibles. After foraging with our teacher, he demonstrated how to cook what we had foraged as a group, and we had a chance to try it. It was yummy!

Once the class was over with we took advantage of the low tide before it came back in and gathered some mussels and seaweed for ourselves to take home.

18 Jun, 2019
Ecola State Park
Jameson Nyeholt

I now work at Xandr, Inc.

I now work at Xandr, Inc, which was previously known as AppNexus, prior to it’s acquisition by AT&T. Xandr operates a digital advertising platform that serves both ad buyers & ad inventory sellers.

20 Mar, 2019
Portland, OR
Jameson Nyeholt

Mushrooming with Friends - Oct '18

We made some trips out to the Tillamook National Forest to search for mushrooms with friends this fall. Below are some photos of what we saw and found along the way.

October 14th

October 20th

20 Oct, 2018
Tillamook National Forest
Jameson Nyeholt

Whalen Island Camping Trip - Sep '18

Rachel’s Birthday Weekend ‘18 - Part IV

Following our day hiking at Ecola State Park and crabbing in on the Nehalem Estuary, we drove south around Tillamook Bay to Whalen Island. we were able to make use of the mushrooms and shelfish we had foraging, caught, or purchased. That evening we shared a wonderful feast amongst good friends.

Rachel’s Birthday Weekend ‘18 - Part II

Following our foraging adventure in Tillamook National Forest and our night in Seaside, we headed south to Ecola State Park to do some hiking. After we wrapped up our hike in Ecola, we drove further south to Jetty Fishery on the Nehalem River to do some crabbing.

21 Sep, 2018
Ecola State Park
Jameson Nyeholt

Crabbing At Jetty Fishery

Rachel’s Birthday Weekend ‘18 - Part III

Following our hike in Ecola State Park, we drove south from Cannon Beach down the Nehalem River to Jetty Fishery, where we rented a boat and some crabpots to go crabbing. Despite our best efforts, we did not catch a single crab that was legal, and had to returrn our catch.

Fortunately, we were able to purchase some crabs, mussels, and oysters to take with us to the final destination in Rachel’s Birthday weekend, the campground at Whalen Island.

21 Sep, 2018
Nehalem River Estuary
Jameson Nyeholt

Birthday Mushroom Foraging - Sep '18

Rachel’s Birthday Weekend ‘18 - Part I

To celebrate Rachel's birthday this year, we decided to spend a long weekend foraging, crabbing, and camping out on the Oregon Coast with friends. We started the weekend in Tillamook National Forest, foraging for mushrooms in a spot that Rachel had learned from a foraging class she had taken earlier through Wildcraft.

Following our foraging trip, we headed over to Seaside to spend the night at Ashore Hotel before heading to Ecola State park for some hiking.

20 Sep, 2018
Tillamook National Forest
Jameson Nyeholt

Macau SAR, China 2018

After visiting Vietnam, we returned to Hong Kong for a couple of days before taking a ferry ride to Macau SAR on the other side of the Pearl River Delta. Macau is where Rachel’s mother grew up before relocating to Boston, MA in the early 1980s.

27 May, 2018
Macau SAR, PRC
Jameson Nyeholt

South Vietnam 2018

After spending a few days in Hong Kong, we returned to the airport to catch a flight to Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam. From there we traveled to Nha Trang, the city that Rachel’s father grew up in before leaving with his family at the end of the Vietnam War.

26 Mar, 2018
Vietnam
Jameson Nyeholt

Hong Kong SAR, China 2018

I traveled to Asia with Rachel’s family in March 2018. Hong Kong is a very large and diverse city in Asia, with a long history of British colonialism.

History of Hong Kong

Hong Kong was officially handed over to the People’s Reublic of China in 1997 by the United Kingdom as a part of it’s decolonisation process, and exists as Special Administrative Region (SAR) within China. A SAR is a relatively autonomous region within the People’s Republic of China that maintains separate legal, administrative, and judicial systems from the rest of the country under the “One country, Two systems” policy. This policy keeps Hong Kong sepearate from China’s socialist politicial and economic systems until 2047, however this policy is slowly erroding.

Investopedia: What is Hong Kong SAR, China?

Trip Background

Our flight to Hong Kong marked Rachel’s first trip to Asia and mine as well. It was a great opportunity for us to spend time with her family and learn more about where her parents were born and grew up before moving to America.

Rachel’s father was born in southern Vietnam and fled with his family via boat during the later years of the Vietnam War. Rachel’s mother was born in Macau, then a Portguese colonial posession, and moved to Boston, Massachussets, USA. They met each other in Boston and were married before moving to southern California in the early 1980s.

First stop on the trip was Hong Kong SAR, China, where we arrived after a 12 hour flight from Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. I spent most of the time on the flight watching Bollywood action films & Hong Kong crime dramas while Rachel slept.

Exploring Hong Kong

Comix Home Base - Hong Kong comics museum

Comix Home base is a museum that is focused on Hong Kong comics. In America, most people would have little exposure to Hong Kong comics unless they were from a Hong Konger / Cantonese background. This is a big contrast to American comics and Japanese Manga, which became much more prevalent in the 1990s when I grew up.

Learn more

22 Mar, 2018
Hong Kong SAR, PRC
Jameson Nyeholt

Trip to Iceland

Rachel and I visited Iceland on our way to visit our good friend from High School who lives in Oslo, Norway. We were in Iceland for roughly a week during the low-season and road-tripped across the western-half of the volcanic island nation.

1 Oct, 2017
Iceland
Jameson Nyeholt

The Clean Coder - lightning book review

Several months ago I gave a lightning-talk at Jama Software about “The Clean Coder: A Code of Conduct for Professional Programmers”, a book on professionalism for software engineers by Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) that is a follow up to his classic book “Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship”.

4 Feb, 2017
Portland
Jameson Nyeholt

Costs & challenges of pair-programming

In my prior blog post about pair-programming, I introduced the concept and explained why Jama Software adopted it as a practice in our engineering group. While we have seen many benefits from pair-programming, the practice may not be appropriate for every organization or team, and also does not come without costs and challenges.

18 Jan, 2017
Portland
Jameson Nyeholt

Pair-programming at Jama Software

Over the past two years Jama Software has taken steps to make pair-programming a greater part of our engineering culture. Our product-development organization produces software according to the Agile Software Development framework of Scrum, with regular iterations, and self-organizing teams.