Last night I started to feel the humidity push in. Now I am really feeling it as things warmed up, and for a while was really sunny and hot — early on — before the thunderstorm came rolling through. Dew point is 73 degrees, which you barely have to move to start sweating this morning. It was hot last night too. I should get out a fan. Or better yet hop in my air coniditoned truck and start driving out to Rensselear County to ride and go to Walmart.

I was hoping to head out to Rensselear before the rain and thunderstorms came rolling through 🌩 but I’m not sure that’s going to happen as it looks like it’s already getting pretty stormy out. ⛈ I was thinking I would hop on the Albany-Hudson Electric Trail from US 4 Parking Lot 🅿️ in North Greenbush 🚲 to Nassau and go for a ride before shopping at Wally World on Third Street 🛒 both for groceries, but also I want to get some more sparklers 🎇 and maybe another set of shorts. 🩳 When I ride out to Nassau, there is an ice cream parlor right on the rail trail, 🍨 and I think by mid-morning they will likely be open. Didn’t go to Jim’s Tastefreeze on Friday as I was responsible so you know what’s on my mind. 💭

Yesterday morning I went out to Thacher Park for a while on the Nature Bus. 🚌 Didn’t stay a long time, caught the 1 PM back home because it was starting to rain out and didn’t want to get stuck at the park in the pouring rain, especially as it was kind of cool and breezy out and I only had a t-shirt on under the rain coat. Also didn’t ride home, though I certainly could have as the rain didn’t pick up until later on in the day.

As it was either raining or had a constant threat, 📚 I spent most of the afternoon at home. 🍵 Made a big container of rice with lentils and chickpeas for lunch and dinner. I was doing a deep dive into a book about modern javascript — I am trying to master promises, async and React. I’ve known Javascript for decades now 👨‍💻 but I struggle with the modern concepts. A lot has changed in recent years, mostly for the better, but some of the new concepts are non-obvious for me. 🤷‍♂️

My guide to using R Studio with the State Voter File kind of fell like a dead balloon 🎈 🗳 when I showed it off to the other directors. I am sure they didn’t love the fact I wrote it without asking permission first, or pitching the idea, but I didn’t know how to pitch it without putting it on paper first. 🖨 As one pointed out — what hell is this — it makes my head hurt. 🤯 Truth is programming is complicated, though R doesn’t seem that complicated but then again I use it every day, and what seems simple and logical to me, especially compared to C programming, isn’t really that simple for those unfamiliar. Even if I learned R in a hammock over Labor Day a few years back and it wasn’t hard — I’ve had decades of programming experience. 📃

It’s still good to have it documented, if only for my own use, as I’m sure I’ll be asked to do the common tasks like coalescing columns and householding addresses for work and elsewheres. Some of it I had to learn or refine my skills while writing documentation. And if ultimately it gets no use at work, I’ll uses bits and pieces for blog posts, removing any specific references to work computers. 🍬 I bet people would like to know how to to household address lists using R or more examples of using coalescing with the Board of Elections files. They’re lost your gain. 🤣 At least I got an invite to the War Room in two weeks out of it so I can pitch it again in person. 💻 Maybe I got to sit people down in front of computers and show them why it’s superior to doing everything in Excel.

Been studying cannabis 🚬, trying to determine what I should buy. There is a dispensary up the road from where I work and while I haven’t smoked pot in years, I was thinking it would be fun over the forth of July holiday to get a bit stoned, preferably while floating in the tube ⭕ down the East Canada Creek or wherever I decide to go. I could go to Vermont, but I don’t think your supposed to bring pot across the state lines or even smoke it on federal lands. State lands in New York. Whatever. 🤣 I don’t want to make it habit but if could be a lot of fun for the long weekend, especially if I don’t have to drive anywhere and are just floating down the river looking at the clouds in the sky. 😎

Thinking Wednesday at 2 PM I’ll be heading up to Piseco-Powley. 🏊‍♀️ 🏕 I don’t have a camping permit for all four days, but maybe if I run into or can flag down a passing Forest Ranger I can ask for a permit, 🎫 or I could end my weekend up in Spectulator or maybe down at Stewart Landing – Lily Lake. Hammock kayak camping would be fun. 🛶 Another issue with Piseco-Powley is I’m going to have to leave mid-weekend at any rate, as the ice in that heat 🧊 certainly isn’t going to hold through Sunday if I leave on Wednesday, and pack that morning. I can probably get ice at the Stratford General Store but there is always a possibility I’ll have to go to Stewarts in Dolgeville, but then again that’s a not a bad thing as I can go to Green Acres 🍦 for Ice Cream.

Blog traffic was good this past month, 💵 it brought in $127 in revenue not including today, plus the $79.70 that I have from last month, so I should be getting a roughly $210 check from Google Ad Services about the time my summer vacation starts. I am happy about that. I still need to figure out when I will be taking my vacation 🏝, probably the second or last week of July and also get my truck serviced 👩‍🔧 before then. The exact week depends a bit on when I have staff coverage in my office, what lists I need to run, the weather and which weeks the Watkins Glen track will be open, as I want to avoid Watkins Glen on those weeks.