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

January 6, 2015 evening

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Good morning. Currently 22 degrees and clear. Thursday and Friday will be about 40 degrees with more bright sunshine, but rain comes in for the weekend. Mild and warm for the weekend though.

It was a rough morning. Spilled sour cream all over my carpet, tripping on and breaking my headphones. Ripped off an ear-bud. At least I was still in jeans and t-shirt from last night, so it mostly was scrubbing the sour cream off the carpet. Which meant I was running late. Drove down to Hannaford hoping to pick up some headphones, but they didn’t have any. Didn’t have the time to stop at Radio Shack. I picked up some once I got back. But I missed having headphones at work and on the bus.

The day at work was good but busy. It went by quickly. I had dinner and with the cold weather decided not to go for my evening walk. So be it.

January 5, 2016 evening

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Good evening. Clear and quite pleasant out with bright stars if you don’t mind the fact it’s only 10 degrees. Regardless a warming trend heads into the weekend with ample sun and 33 degrees tomorrow. Sunrise at 7:25 AM.

Sleep well. Have a great evening.

December 29, 2015 evening

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Good evening! It looks like the worst of today’s weather is over, and it’s mostly turned to rain and is about 32. Roads that have been salted should be good but sidewalks and other locations may still be icy. Going to warm up to above freezing and around 35 by 9 PM then cool down to 33 degrees by daybreak. Tomorrow will mostly cloud with temperatures gradually increasing to about 41 degrees by 3 PM.

I still feel pretty sick but hopefully this is the last day of feeling ill. Mostly I just feel really tired, despite getting plenty of sleep last night and over sleeping this morning. I really want to feel better by New Year’s Eve. It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Adirondacks and will be nice to get back up there.

December 23, 2015 afternoon

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Good afternoon. Happy Eve of Christmas Eve. Cloudy and 54 degrees this afternoon. Sunset will occur at 4:26 PM.

A few rain showers have popped up but so far we are mostly rain free. More rain expected later this evening. Tomorrow will be cloudy but if the clouds break they could exceed 70 degrees.

Left work early for the holiday weekend.   Going to relax this evening and pack for camping tomorrow, and leave early on Friday. Should be a nice weekend.

December 23, 2015 morning

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Good morning on this day before Christmas Eve. Foggy, damp and 43 degrees now, clearing by mid-morning with temperatures around 58 for a high. Rain comes in for the evening.

Took Big Red to Walmart last night mostly to test the starting battery and the override switch on the second battery I installed on my truck. A short trip for testing purposes. So far it works well, with solid starts, but we will see going forward. I plan to leave the truck parked until tomorrow. I think it starts a lot easier with the starting battery disconnected until I re-engauge it once moving along.

Tomorrow it’s off to the parents house for Christmas Dinner and packing for the weekend’s camping trip. I’m super excited to be camping on Christmas in relatively mild weather.

Baked cookies for work today. Hoping that the bosses let out early for the holiday weekend. Should be a good day regardless.

December 22, 2015 evening

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Good evening. It looks like the rain has moved off to the east, and we are down to about 50 degrees from the earlier high of 52 degrees. Not bad for two days before Christmas.

Tonight, we are a looking a slight chance of showers before 7pm. Later it will be partly cloudy, with a low around 44. South wind around 5 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible.

Sounds like an exceptionally nice evening for late December but it might feel damp. We’ll see. But I’ll take the warm, snow-free weather for now. We’ll get our white, just sometime after Christmas.

Early predictions show a major cool down for the first week of January. With El Nino underway, this could mean significant snow if blocking means tropical moisture hits an arctic blast. I don’t care, the bus will get me to work.

Tomorrow is the last day of work for the week, having Christmas Eve and Christmas off. Really looking forward to getting out camping. I have really high hopes for a nice weekend.