Good evening. Currently mostly clear and 22 degrees in Albany. Big Gibbous Moon but the stars are decent but somewhat washed-out from the moonlight. Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low around 21. Light and variable wind. Nice evening but cold. But it’s the end of January. A February warm up may be on its way.

The Waning Gibbous Moon is roughly 74% illuminated. I always find the look of the Waning Gibbous Moon to be a little creepy the way the earth’s shadow is on it and how it rises relatively late in the evening. Tomorrow’s sunrise will be at 7:12 am with first light at 6:42 am, which is one minute and 56 seconds earlier then today. We are now picking up earlier sunrises at an accelerating rate as spring approaches.

The Albany County Young Democrats meeting was fun, catching up with lots of people I haven’t seen in a long time and some others I know from around town. I’m now a dues paying member, the first time in a number of years. Glad to see they have a very active chapter once again.

Went out for my evening walk. A bit chilly but with a jacket it’s reasonable as there is no wind. The bright moonlight is great.

Continue to work on automating stuff in QGIS. I tell myself I’m done but then I keep thinking up handy code I can write. Darnest time I have is figuring out which objects and methods I have to use to edit various parameters – there is basic class documentation but not every coding idea I have is self evident. I really like the python language, it’s very elegant and straightforward. Perl back in the day was great but I can understand how python has somewhat replaced it. PHP is great for web stuff but despite its many uses, it has a lot of weakness for most non-web applications.

I hope you had a good Chocolate Cake Day. I hope you got to enjoy a nice big slice. It’s getting late. Good night. Sleep well!