John Boyd Thacher State Park, is situated along the Helderberg Escarpment, one of the richest fossil-bearing formations in the world. Even as it safeguards six miles of limestone cliff-face, rock-strewn slopes, woodland and open fields, the park provides a marvelous panorama of the Hudson-Mohawk Valleys and the Adirondack and Green Mountains. The park has volleyball courts, playgrounds, ball fields and numerous picnic areas with nine reservable shelters. Interpretive programs are offered year-round, including guided tours of the famous Indian Ladder Trail. There are over 25 additional miles of trails for summer hiking and mountain biking, and winter cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, and snowmobiling.
1) Debt is evil, don’t make it. If you can’t afford to buy something with cash, you can’t afford it. Your poor. Be a grown up and accept that fact.
2) Live in poverty. It’s always bad to have money in your bank account, because it doesn’t earn much interest and means it will get spent on things that you’ll spend later to get rid of at the landfill. I rarely have more then a $1,000 in the bank, because I’d rather live paycheck-to-paycheck, knowing that every time I look at my bank account I can’t afford to buy junk. Lock the rest of the money up in investments and savings accounts, the later that offers more flexibility during emergencies and for buying bigger purchases after a few years.
3) Remember 90% of things you buyare going to either become poop or smell like burnt plastic in the burn barrel within 2 weeks of buying it. While we all like playing with fire, watching things melt, and colorful flames, buying things to set on fire is a waste of money. So in other words, don’t buy it.
4) Do antagonize over $20 purchases. Little things add up quickly. Do you really need it? Anything that is non-essential should not be purchased — even if you like watching plastic melt and burn.
5) Don’t take a raise — or at least the majority of a raise. Rather then taking a raise, use automatic deposits to savings accounts, 401ks, IRAs, or any other vehicle that defers the money to make raise never appear in your bank account rather then take it and spend it.
6) Always look for lower-cost ways of doing things. Does the government offer the service for free or low-cost? Public libraries, public transportation, and public forest lands are free (or low cost) for your use and enjoyment.
7) Try to save more then you spend each week. If you take home $1,300 then invest $700 of that check a wide variety of ways. It’s okay to withdraw money every few years for a big purchase, but at least you’ll be getting a better deal then most by buying it with money that has earned compounded interest rather then paying finance charges.
8) Sales are horseshit. Buying things on sale usually is a bad way to save money on the purchase, unless you’ve been deferring a necessary purchase for a number of months.
9) Celebrate when the stock market goes down. It means you can buy more stock for less money. Stock paper is just that — it has no value until you it cash it in. You shouldn’t give a rats ass about the stock market going down — except to look forward to the deals you are going to get. You shouldn’t be buying stock paper unless it’s for long-term goals, that can be sold when the market is booming.
10) Cheap, diverse investments are better then expensive ones. Self-investing in boring, uninteresting broad-based funds are better. If you don’t understand an investment, then you shouldn’t be investing it. Have a dozen different ways of investing with different banks, different funds, and different investment types. It’s good to bet against your own investments with mutually opposing investments. If one thing goes bad, you’ll have other things to fall back.
11) Keeping buying a little bit of your investments each week, when you get paid. The fancy financial types call this cost-based-averaging. It’s also not bad idea to wait until the market drops back down and convert some savings to stock, but be patient and wait for a good drop in the market. When people have been panicking on Wall Street for a week, that’s a good time to drop that $5,000 or $10,000 you don’t really need and toss it in the market for the hell of it — knowing that you might never get the money back — but you might also make out well.
12) Pretend money in retirement accounts and stocks, unmature certificate of deposits is totally inaccessible and for all intents and purposes does not exist. I mean I think have a ballpark idea what is in my investment accounts, but I don’t really give that much of dang, because it changes every day. I’m betting that in 20 years it will be a bigger amount. And for all intents and purposes, stock paper is an imaginary money — as stock paper has zero value until you cash it out.
I was riding the 182 back from a public meeting in Colonie last night after dark. No less than 3 people boarding the bus through Arbor Hill’s rougher neighborhood didn’t pay their fare. They had their excuses – app didn’t work, didn’t have exact or enough change, they were broke. The driver just waved them on, probably not wanting to get knifed, assaulted or cause unnecessary disruption. It’s the ghetto.
To be fair, we’ve all had similar issues – the app is far from perfect, the card doesn’t auto renew properly, you dropped your dime somewhere, you forgot to ask for a transfer when boarding the bus back when those were a thing. But you know probably with the high number of non payment of fares through Arbor Hill it’s likely that not all of them were accidental or equipment failures. Seems kind of unfair after you’ve paid your fare.
That said, I don’t agree with necessarily a crack down on fare evasion. How do determine legitimate vs non legitimate non payment of fares? I don’t think drivers should argue with passengers and risk getting assaulted over non payment or stop the bus and await for the police to arrive and sort out the ordeal, especially when some non payment may be legitimate. Keeping the bus schedule is more important as people have connecting buses and jobs to get to. And it’s not like even fares are a big revenue source for the authority – it’s only about a 1/5th or less of revenue – the rest is taxes and government grants that keep the authority afloat.
I think the do think that the solution is to continue to adopt more universal access programs where employers – often of lower income employees – pay a fee to CDTA in exchange for allowing employees to ride the bus for free by tapping their card. Which is great for those employees who work for such employers, assuming they haven’t misplaced their cards or there isn’t a bug in the system.
But like private health insurance, too many people are left out. The unemployed and seniors don’t get Universal Access. Many don’t get this benefit from college or work — I do wish my employer participated. It’s why I support making all buses fare free, avoiding the hassles and delays of fare payments – and increasing the focus on moving the buses down the road and getting people to their destination over tiny, obnoxious little nuisance fares.
Writing reveals something about yourself, and putting it on the internet exposes yourself for all the world to see.
While not maybe not all of the world reads your blog, you know the great damage you can do to yourself by expressing your thoughts to the world. You’ve certainly seen when celebrities and even half-bit middle managers have fallen from grace, lost their jobs due to stupid social media posts gone viral.
I generally stay away from politics and controversial matters on my blog, and a definitely don’t post controversial things to social media. But like many people, I have my views on the issues of the day, and I try to write thoughtful commentary about them on my little corner of the internet. Yet every time I write a bit, I know there is somewhat a risk, especially if my views don’t reflect the popular sentiment of the day. But sometimes it’s worth it to express oneself, especially when it’s a bit off the harsh light that social media often casts one’s words.
I have my own views. I am a conservative, and people respect me for my views. I am pro-environment, but I like my guns and the rural life with it’s cows, trees, bonfires and big jacked up trucks. I’m also a Democrat, I work for the Democratic Majority and I work hard to defend the interest of my paying clients, even if I don’t agree with them on every issues. Truth is I can’t think of a client I ever worked with which I fully agreed with on every issue, but I worked hard to get their message out and defend them politically. I don’t talk about my clients or even too much what I do professionally on the internet bar the broad strokes which are public record. You can figure out what I do for a living and how much I earn by visiting NYS Board of Elections and See Through NY, or the Assembly’s Public Information Office.
As I’ve gotten older, I enjoy less and less the public sphere, that is attending public meetings and fighting development in the Albany Pine Bush or attending protests and rallies. I generally shun newspaper columns, I don’t write letters to editor regularly, nor do I post anything political on social media. My blog while not private, is a controlled environment, where I can share my views, while controlling the format they are displayed and who can comment on each post. No name calling or inappropriate threads get started on my blog, as I have to approve comments and can delete or moderate as I so choose. Things only trend on my blog, as much as I left them trend on the feed.
This is part of the reason I thought about shutting down my blog, besides the sheer cost of running it — now hopefully defrayed significantly by advertising. I kind of don’t like how well I’ve gotten known from the maps I’ve made up over the years, it gets harder and harder to travel anonymously when people recognize Big Red parked places, along with my camping set up. At the same time, it does tickle me how many people know about my blog. Yet, sometimes I do wish I could go places, especially in the back country, without being a minor-half-bit internet celebrity.
See I slept in a bit before filling the top of the stove up with various pots and pans cooking breakfast, lunch and dinner. It involved some ginger but also much turmeric and veggies plus eggs, rice and beans. Plus chickpeas for hummus, some baking for wraps and coffee so I could keep pissing my life away. And now I’m out walking.
Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Partly cloudy ⛅ and 49 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a north-northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 11 am.
Second gear ⚙ of the week. Things went pretty smoothly on the first day of the week. But as some who owns a truck with a 4L60E tranny, it’s the 2-3 gear shift you got to watch. It’s the one with the big clunk at times. But so far I’m feeling great. I’m doing my best to stay away from the days of six NNNNNNs like all Silverados get eventually with the . Those days will come eventually but got to enjoy life in the meantime. Do what you can when you still can. Big Red is humming along well, as am I but I know that day will come someday as occasionally I get rough 2-3rd shift. But my truck has 105k on it and it’s hitting 12 years old in less then a month with 35 inch tires and getting beat on rough roads on hills. That said, I’ve been thinking a bit more about Taco’ trucks and 3/4rd ton. 🛻 Not sure if I’ll go bigger or smaller, but probably less fancy with a regular cab unless I go with a Taco’ truck then I’ll want the space. 🛞 I think though it will be good for at least one more winter, and should be good for vacation in a few weeks. 😀
Today will be partly cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny 🌥 👉 ☀ , with a high of 67 degrees at 3pm. Three degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 3rd. Maximum dew point of 51 at 10am. North wind 5 to 7 mph becoming east in the afternoon. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 90 was set in 2017.
So I have that hummus to make up 🥣 with the chickpeas boiling up on the stove and getting silky soft and then pack lunch 🎒 take a shower 🚿 and then ride to work. 🚲 Gears have been greased and adjusted and ready for the week. I am going to add to the hummus jalapeño and tomato topping, 🍅 after saying my parents wouldn’t have any tomatoes they did. But they did, and I lucked out and it was good. That made me so happy, as I thought the fresh tomato season was almost done. I figure maybe a few more weeks at farm markets or Shauls for tomatoes, but soon it will be grocery store tomatoes or even canned tomatoes. 🥫
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:48 pm with sun having an altitude of 46.2° from the due south horizon (-24.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:11 pm with the sun in the west (263°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (269°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:48 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 53 seconds with dusk around 7:14 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the southeast (126°) at an altitude of 14° from the horizon, 226,292 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:49 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 64 degrees. The dew point will be 49 degrees. There will be a east breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 11 hours and 59 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.
Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌃 , with a low of 43 degrees at 6am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 9th. Light and variable wind. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 50 degrees. The record low of 24 occurred back in 1947.
I am continuing to play with advertising positioning on the blog 📺 which I know is annoying, and I hate it but I want to work it into the blog where I can make some revenue, cover my costs, without being too obnoxious. Most of the products are pretty scammy, but do check out their websites if they have products that interest you so I can get the half of penny or so. My goal is to make about $2 a day on advertising, which isn’t a lot of money, but will mean that I get a $100 check after taxes every two months or so to cover the cost of the blog, and maybe even inspire me to create some new maps and interesting content.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 74. Maximum dew point of 57 at 11am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 75. Maximum dew point of 58 at 12pm. Typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees. I really should plan on going somewhere fun this weekend!
Looking ahead, there are 5 weeks until Halloween 🎃 when the sun will be setting at 5:51 pm with dusk at 6:19 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 64 and 37 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 56 degrees. We hit a record high of 75 back in 2019.
A simple morning this morning – cream of wheat, topped with ground up apples, cinnamon, ginger, chia seeds 0that quinoa I had in the fridge. The ginger really gives a nice kick to breakfast and it’s supposed to help with inflammation but I mostly just love the taste.
Good morning! Rise and grind. Monday’s come back around again. Rain showers and 55 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a north-northwest breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The dew point is 53 degrees. The skies will clear around 5 pm.
Like usual I was up early at five 5⃣ so I decided to catch the early express bus downtown. 🚍 Maybe the rain would have ended early and I could have ridden home but it hard to say and the rain would have taken off at that nice lubrication I had put on the bike chain yesterday. ⚙ Most of the rest of the week will be good for bicycling to work 🚲 plus I need to get to the store and get some garlic cloves 🧄 which somehow fell off my grocery list when shopping yesterday. 🛒
Today will have a chance of showers, mainly before 10am. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 67 degrees at 3pm. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around October 3rd. Maximum dew point of 56 at 2pm. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming southeast in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 66 degrees. The record high of 91 was set in 2017.
Not the nicest day ever, 🌧 actually a pretty darn dreary day, but I’m going to try to get in 5,000 steps in before work by waking laps and the stairs at the Empire Plaza. I am up early and if I can’t walk outside, I will definitely try to get my steps inside. 👣 Tomorrow I figure I’ll ride to work, and the same on Wednesday. Thursday before tripping up to the Adirondacks with my parents, I’ll probably do my usual morning walk or maybe if it’s really nice and I’m up early do a quick ride out to Five Rivers 🐦 around dawn.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:48 pm with sun having an altitude of 46.6° from the due south horizon (-24.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 5.7 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 6:12 pm with the sun in the west (263°). 📸 The sunset is in the west (270°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 6:50 pm after setting for 2 minutes and 54 seconds with dusk around 7:16 pm, which is one minute and 47 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the southeast (141°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, 226,549 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 7:51 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 65 degrees. The dew point will be 55 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 12 hours and 2 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 52 seconds over today.
The new data structure is implemented on the blog 🗺 which cuts page loading time, saves a ton of space, eliminates several thousand lines of custom code, and just makes things a lot more pleasant for me on the maintance side, including making it easier to upload new maps. 🤷 Why did I not implement this sooner? Well I didn’t think it would save so much space, and I was afraid of transitioning over the old content, with all the files that it would involve. Turned out not to be as bad of a conversion as I thought, and the user experience doesn’t change a bit.
Also turned on Google AdSense, with fairly conservative settings. I don’t love having ads on my blog, but it should help with the ever growing hosting bills. 💵 It wasn’t that difficult to implement in the code, and I’m not running that many ads, so if you don’t scroll through a lot of pages or scroll down far, you might never see them. I don’t like advertising, but you don’t run ads, there isn’t a chance of getting any money at all. The way I look at it — an investment in the future of the blog, and it doesn’t require a lot of work on my part.
Tonight will have patchy fog after 5am. Otherwise, partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 49 degrees at 5am. Typical for tonight. Southeast wind around 6 mph becoming light and variable. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 53 degrees. The record low of 29 occurred back in 1947.
Thursday going up to the Adirondacks with the folks 🍂 to do some leaf peeping and enjoying the fall foliage. Probably go up to Speculator and then down back around through Piseco-Powley Road or NY 10. Have a picnic lunch. 🥪 It will be a nice day with the family, should be a good sunny day 😎 as I can’t do Thursday and Friday looks to be a bit more cloudy. ⛅ That said the weekend currently looks great.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, mostly sunny, with a high near 71. Maximum dew point of 54 at 11am. Sunday, sunny, with a high near 73. Maximum dew point of 55 at 11am. Typical average high for the weekend is 68 degrees. I kind of would rather go camping during the Columbus Day Weekend, but this one looks so good too. Maybe I’ll do Rensselearville State Forest again. 🌲 That way I can get out to the folks house relatively early, as they’re doing lasagana this weekend. Really looking forward to that.
Looking ahead, there are 7 weeks until Average Night Below Freezing 🌌 when the sun will be setting at 4:36 pm with dusk at 5:05 pm (Standard Time). On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 49 and 36 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 50 degrees. We hit a record high of 69 back in 1964.
