Definitely won’t get so soaked riding in this morning. It feels almost spring like. I feel refreshed, even if it was a tough night with smoke detector problems again with my windows closed. Things are tough these days, but they’ll get better. I just got to keep pushing forward, I’ve worked hard to get where I am and have a lot of potential ahead.

Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! Sunny and 31 degrees in Delmar. 🌞 Calm wind.

Riding to work on this beautiful morning. 🚲 Oiled my chain well after yesterday’s very wet ride to work. It was starting to bind up and click from the rust. Been a while since I last lubricated it. It was so wet riding in yesterday. The ride home wasn’t bad, and I even stopped and got eggs at the supermarket 🥚 and rode the rest the way home, the long way via the bike trail through Slingerlands with still some light left by the time I got home. And no eggs were broken in the process. 😀

I’ve been complaining a lot lately, especially about my living situation, but there is hope. I love my new position as the Director of Data Services 👨‍💼 as it involves skills I’ve been using for a long time, and there is a lot of creativity and thinking involved in developing the queries and scripts to get the data outputted and delivered to clients. Plus, yesterday I got the official position description, and it somehow strokes my ego 💪 the way it’s written.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 53 degrees at 3pm. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 2nd. Light and variable wind. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 68 was set in 2012. 6.5 inches of snow fell back in 2013.❄

Continuing to read and research buying land to build a house. 🔍 To get a mortgage or pay cash is one of the big questions on my mind, but I’m trying to get hard facts on the costs of doing it both ways. I am determined to do it right, even if it takes time. ⏲ Spend the money that is necessary, pay the right professionals a fair amount. Everybody has a different opinion! But that’s good, I will weight what is right for my situation. I would like to close on land before the winter, and move out to the land and camp there 🏕 until my place is built next year if at all possible.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 42.7° from the due south horizon (-28.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 6.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:17 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (258°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (265°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:54 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 55 seconds with dusk around 6:22 pm, which is one minute and 12 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:55 pm. At sunset, look for mostly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 50 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 11 hours and 38 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 53 seconds over yesterday.

Closed my windows as it was cold last night and the damn smoke detector went off two or maybe three times from accumulated smoke, dust and humidity in my apartment. 👩‍🚒 This really is killing me, I only replaced the alarm a few months ago and I don’t want to go without a smoke detector in case of a real fire. Plus the air quality is so bad it’s hard to sleep with the windows closed, though I don’t have the visible mold problems my apartment once had since the landlord fixed all the leaks and I got serious with the bleach, but it’s still not good. Maybe I got to try to clean more though I’m not convinced that’s the problem.

I tell myself, I got to get out of this place. 🏡 That’s what I tell myself. Now is the time I can make that change but it’s going to take time ⌚ as moving is complicated especially if I want to live in my dream place out in the country off grid. At least soon it will be warm enough most days to have the windows open which will help with the moisture and air quality issues. 🔲  It would be nice if I could point to something that was wrong, but nothing obvious appears to be wrong. Maybe I got to try to clean better. I guess I should probably reach out to my new slumlord before the fire department shows up.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 33 degrees at 5am. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 5th. Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the evening. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 28 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1943.

In 1965, Thirty-five hundred United States Marines are the first American land combat forces committed during the Vietnam War. 🪖 After promises in 1964 of no escalation in the conflict in Vietnam 🇻🇳 one of the most decisive and arguably tragic wars underway.

Tomorrow will rain likely, mainly after 4pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a high of 49 degrees at 1pm. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 25th. Breezy, with a south wind 10 to 15 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 81 was set in 2016. 6.9 inches of snow fell back in 1961.❄

Looking ahead to Sunday, rain likely before 4pm, then a chance of rain and snow showers. Mostly cloudy, 🌧️ with a high near 47. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming west 13 to 18 mph in the morning. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 43 degrees.

Friendly strangers in black sedans want you to know, next Friday is the Ides of March ✝ when the sun will be setting at 7:03 pm with dusk at 7:30 pm (Daylight Savings Time). On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny and temperatures between 37 and 29 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 45 degrees. We hit a record high of 72 back in 2019.