Alfred E. Smith Building

The Alfred E. Smith Building, known officially as the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building and sometimes called simply the Smith Building, is a structure located in downtown Albany, New York across the street from the New York State Capitol and One Commerce Plaza.

The building’s namesake, Alfred Emmanuel Smith, was a four-term governor of New York and the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 1928 presidential election. The Art Deco skyscraper has 34 stories and at 388 feet (118 m) is Albany’s second tallest structure (after the Erastus Corning Tower).

Completed in 1928, it houses offices of the New York State government. Built originally with an observation deck on the 31st floor, the 350-foot-high (110 m) open-air deck was closed in 1976 when the 589-foot-tall (180 m) 42nd floor enclosed Corning Tower Observation Deck was opened. An extensive renovation of the building began in 2002. This modernization, which cost at least $103 million, is now finished.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_E._Smith_Building

October 29, 2015 evening

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Good evening. Currently 57 degrees and clear but with a brisk breeze that makes it cooler than the mercury would suggest. Evening shadows make it seem particularly cool. Sunset is at 5:52 PM. 49 degrees and clear at 9 PM but with the breeze will feel fairly cool.

The good news is that tomorrow is Friday and the weekend can’t be that far away. Daylight Savings Time starts Sunday, so starting next week we will get to sleep in an extra hour.

Nicer weather this evening than last, and by 8 o’clock we will have plenty of moonlight to enjoy. I know I will have a sweater on and will be enjoying my evening walk.

Traffic is as usual sluggish downtown by for some reason is particularly bad on Broadway. There must be some kind of event downtown as there seems to be a lot of people parking downtown. Maybe at the Palace but it seems like we are a ways from there. Despite the sun in drivers eyes, traffic is moving relatively well on 787. Still some stop and go.

October 28, 2015 evening

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Good evening. Currently 51 degrees and cloudy with drizzle. More rain is coming later, but right now we are in a bit of a shadow from the heaviest rain. Times of heavy rain and whipping winds coming this evening. A thunderstorm is possible. Regardless the roads are wet and maybe slick, so take your time going home.

Today was a mostly uneventful day, although at lunch time, I caught the bus uptown and voted by absentee ballot at the Board of Elections. Basically Democratic straight ticket but taking full advantage of the fusion ticket to vote for Democrats on the Conservative  and Working Families line. Also bought bread at the supermarket, so to avoid driving anywhere before the weekend.

Chicken thighs that I got on sale on Sunday and rice and peas for dinner tonight. It will take a while to cook but I am not planning on going anywhere this evening. I will probably sit back with a book and just relax while the wind and rain rumbles around.

October 27, 2015 evening

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Good evening. Currently 52 degrees under mostly clear skies. Some high clouds but not too dreary as the shadows hang low on the few evenings we still have sunlight – at least for a few minutes until 5:54 PM.

Tonight is going to have another beautiful moon lit evening with the October Hunting Moon remaining shining bright throughout the night. The temperature will be around 42 at 9 PM. Tomorrow will be rainy with strong winds but mild around 60 degrees.

After much time chewing over it, I bought the propane catalytic heater that I was looking at. I think especially on cold mornings it will make mornings much more pleasant. I can heat up a tent, lean-to, or even blow heat into my truck cap. I need to get a propane tank but I will stop at the local hardware store.

Traffic heading out of the city is moving slowly but I don’t see any reason why. I can’t imagine road construction will be going on much longer but still things are pretty much a mess. I’m starting to wonder if the I-787    construction will ever conclude. Freezing temperatures and southern zone hunting will bring it to an end sooner than later.

Doing some Google Maps of demographics in Rensselaer County and they will be posted tomorrow and on an ongoing basis. I am a big fan of Google Maps.

October 26, 2015 evening

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Good evening. Currently 51 degrees with scattered clouds and long shadows of the evening hanging low over downtown. Tonight’s sunset is at 5:58 PM, next Monday after the time change the sunset will be at 4:48 PM making for a dark evening commute. Forty degrees and clear at 9 PM tonight.

Nice evening, you have to enjoy the evening commute while you still have light. But I will also appreciate having an earlier sunrise as getting up in pitch black to go to work is no fun at all.

I am quite excited about the release of QGIS 2.12. The new labeling feature should greatly improve the visual appearance of maps, one of the current weakness of QGIS is overlapping labels. I haven’t tried it out yet but blogs documenting it looks very encouraging. I will install the update later this evening at the Bethlehem Public Library.

Probably going to get a refurbished Mr. Heater Big Boy propane camp heater next week. I’ve been studying my options and will probably use it with the 20 lb propane tank adapter and a larger propane tank. The reviews are good and the hunters I ran into in the woods really liked these units. It’s not real economical to operate a full blast but apparently throws a lot of heat on this setting to warm up a tent or lean-to quickly. Beats having to build a campfire right away on a below zero morning. Plus if I lose power midwinter I can put the heater inside and tank outside and keep my apartment warm. I really want to do more winter camping.