January 3, 2023 12 PM Update
Latest Sunrise (Standard Time) – Tuesday, January 3 at 7:23 am
7:15 am sunrise – Tuesday, January 24
7:00 am sunrise – Tuesday, February 7
6:45 am sunrise – Saturday, February 18
6:30 am sunrise – Tuesday, February 28
6:15 am sunrise – Thursday, March 9
Daylight Savings Time Begins – Sunrise on Sunday, March 12 is at 7:11 am
7:00 am sunrise – Saturday, March 18
6:45 am sunrise – Sunday, March 26
6:30 am sunrise – Tuesday, April 4
6:15 am sunrise – Thursday, April 13
6:00 am sunrise – Saturday, April 22
5:45 am sunrise – Wednesday, May 3
5:30 am sunrise – Tuesday, May 16
January 3, 2023 Morning
Good morning! Cloudy morning for the latest sunrise of standard time. 🌃 It really was pitch black out when I started my morning walk 🚶 on this New Year of the work year. I know I’m like darn, I got to do it all over again. But alas I think I already got paid soon 🔜 will be deducted the money for retiring and investing. Limits are reset again.
Dark and cloudy at 35 degrees this morning for my walk on Bypass Extension. Maybe enough mist to be called fog 🌫 but it’s mostly up in the ski. Calm wind.Temperatures will drop below freezing at Saturday around 2 am. ☃️
I was hoping to catch the express downtown 🚍 but alas after trimming my hair, ✂ and ironing my muzzles 😷 and packing lunch 🥪 and 🚿 that was not to be. Going to rain ☔ this afternoon so I’ll probably take the local home and tomorrow is a session day and I always use the local those days. Electric bus ⚡ which is always fun. It always amazes me how warm the electric buses are. I thought they used diesel heaters in the winter but according to CDTA it’s just heat pumps and resistance heating. ♨ Not like my friend with the Chevy Volt who keeps it freezing in the winter to save on the battery life.
Today will have showers, mainly after 11am. 🌦 High of 43 degrees at 3pm. 10 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 12th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning, which became light snow by afternoon. The high last year was 23 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1913. 12.0 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄
I am kind of dissatisfied with my New Years Resolution of 2022, which was to stay the course 🛣️ but that proved impossible in a year with inflation, rising interest rates and my work schedule. Probably nights spent in the wilderness or networth in any particular year isn’t a good way to measure things. For this year I’m proposing Mission Fifty where I’m going to try to cement and start to implement goals over the next decade, namely before I turn fifty in January 2033. I’m currently still doing too many things like I was still 25 but I’m turning forty in less than four weeks.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.6° from the due south horizon (-46.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.1 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:49 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:35 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:06 pm, which is 54 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east (86°) at an altitude of 32° from the horizon, 246,844 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:42 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 43 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, an increase of 56 seconds over today.
Not sure about my evening walk 🚶. I will walk around the museum and Concourse at lunch time to see if I can get as many steps in as possible but I’m likely going to need to do my evening walk 👣 to get my full 10k in for the day.
Tonight will have showers, mainly before 1am. 🌧 Low of 42 degrees at 6pm. 22 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 22nd. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. In 2022, we had light snow in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 10 degrees. The record low of -15 occurred back in 1904.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 41. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 37. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.
Looking ahead, there are 6 weeks until Valentines Day ❤️ when the sun will be setting at 5:27 pm with dusk at 5:54 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly cloudy skies, snow showers and temperatures between 28 and 15 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1946.
January 2, 2023 Morning
Good morning! It’s the first Monday of the New Year. As New Years Day occurred on a Sunday, this would be a holiday. It’s good because it’s a cloudy and I’m bad at getting off my ass, and I did not get out walking at 6:45 AM when it was still pitch black out. But later on it will clear out and we will have weather that will be resembling the first day of spring, until it no longer feels like that later in the week. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 11 pm. ☃️ But even after that, it won’t feel like January for a while until eventually it does. I figure it will feel like a deep frozen hell by the time my 40th birthday rolls around, and I’ll once again be trying to stay warm under the heated blanket.
Mostly cloudy and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ Calm wind. One week to Static Electric day, but with warm, damp conditions, I don’t expect much of a need for a static discharge strip around your arm anytime soon. 🤯 I am not prepared to be shocked anytime soon unless I touch a 120 volt line in all the rain we are expected to get mid-week. At least shit won’t dry out, so if I head out for the King’s weekend and have a big ass fire, 🔥 to make up for staying home over New Years Eve like a lame and poor duck, I won’t have to worry about burning down the woods.
Out for the morning walk 🚶 at Elm Ave Park and then I will take a shower 🚿 and then do a quick hike up Bennett Hill and then out to the folks house 🏡 for New Years Fondue 🫕 the wonderful tradition invented by dairymen who raise those Big Brown Swiss 🇨🇭🐄 to sell more cheese 🧀 in the dairy boom of the 1970s while input prices were rising and Americans wanted cheaper food during an era of inflation. But dipping bread and salty cocktail frank’s in melted dairy fat and wine is so good. I haven’t showered since Friday morning before work so I’m do for a good scrub.
Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 48 degrees at 1pm. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 22nd. I believe that is called spring, which appears for now to be coming early, but I don’t think we can stick a fork in winter yet. ⛄ But who knows about skiing on Martin Luther’s birthday weekend. Always so cold, but maybe not this year. Calm wind becoming west around 5 mph. A year ago, we had mist in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1890. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄
Today got to boil my muzzles 😷 and then hang them to dry. I find boiling them with soapy water 💦 helps to get them clean and tightens up the fabric to keep the COVID away. I got the latest and greatest COVID boosters and flu shots but I hate doctors 🏥 and have zero interest in getting sick. Now if they could only bring back work from home 🏡 though I’m not sure I’d want to pay for the extra heat and electricity in these inflationary times.
They’re back in town this week 👨🏻💼 so I also have to iron my shirt and polish my swanky dress shoes and black steel toe boots. I wear the black boots back and forth to work through the snow, rain and muck and to prolong the life of my increasingly worn out dress shoes which I probably will need to replace later in the year. I mostly keep them for wearing in office at my desk for comfort and those odd times I get summoned over the Capitol or go over there to snag some soggy salmon or chicken dipped in that werid sauce rich people like so I save my packed dinner for a later date. But that doesn’t happen much these now that I’m Deputy in Research, it’s mostly behind a computer reading 📖 backgrounds and running stats. 🔢 But the security guards 💂 say I look swanky and less like a hillbilly when I wear my blazer and tie.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:00 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.5° from the due south horizon (-46.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. See I know a little trigonometry, mainly because I did some shadow analysis of that movie theater for Save the Pine Bush. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:48 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 Keep that in mind photographers, especially today with it clearing out. The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:34 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 23 seconds with dusk around 5:05 pm, which is 52 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (97°) at an altitude of 39° from the horizon, 244,259 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:41 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, an increase of 52 seconds over today.
Tonight will have a slight chance of showers after 4am. Increasing clouds 🌧, with a low of 34 degrees at 12am. 16 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 7th. Calm wind. Chance of precipitation is 20%. In 2022, we had partly cloudy skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 13 degrees. The record low of -14 occurred back in 1970.
A picture perfect weekend on tap. 😎 Well, by January standards, as the winter thaw continues. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 39. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 37. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees. But we know what is next, it will come, and it will be ducking cold. Yet, for now I’m enjoying the heat being off, and still comfortable in a t-shirt inside, and a vest outside. You can probably guess what t-shirt that is. That said, I probably should buy one of those Palpation Nation shirts with the guy AI-ing a cow on it, so I can be cool like the interwebs, and actually wear that one to work on a casual summer day. But as I’ve been telling myself for two years now, I don’t buy shit like that even if I probably would wear it a lot.
As previously noted, next Monday is Static Electric Shock Day 🧼 when the sun will be setting at 4:41 pm with dusk at 5:11 pm. On that day in 2022, we had mostly cloudy, freezing rain showers and temperatures between 36 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 62 back in 2008.
January 1, 2023 Night
Good evening! Made it to the New Years Day, 2023. 🎇 I mean I assume it’s 2023, but I was well asleep by the time the ball dropped. I was tired yesterday, went to bed at 8 pm 🛏 and was up before five 5⃣ this morning.
A new year to climb, 🪜to save invest and grow. I don’t know if there will be as much growth in the markets this year as last or if I will be able to invest as much as last year but I’ll do the best I can in the world I live in. Even if I can’t get as close to owning my own land 🚜 as I want this coming year I can grow in other ways like continuing to learn new skills, expand my mind and keep up with my steps. 🧑🏫 Another year, a new mountain ⛰ to climb. 🧗♂️
19,500 steps today 👣 which could have done better if I got an earlier start walking 🚶 but the morning was cold ❄ and gray. Once we get more snow 🌨 and it’s colder I really want to see more of Bender Mellon Preserve with the skis 🎿 on.
Partly cloudy and 38 degrees in Delmar. 🌃 Not bad for 9 pm on New Year’s Day. Heats been off for a few days now, haven’t used the heated blanket either. Somebody is having a campfire in the neighborhood, I could smell the smoke out walking. There is a west breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Thursday around 5 am. ☃️
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 35 degrees at 12am. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. West wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. In 2022, we had light snow in the evening, which became mist by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1970.
Tonight will have a Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon with 79% illuminated. At 8 PM, the moon was in the south (176°) at an altitude of 64° from the horizon, some 241,769 miles away from where you are looking up from the earth. 🚀 At the state speed limit of 55 mph, you’ll make it there by July 4th. Buckle up for safety! 💺 The Wolf 🐺 Moon is on Friday, January 6.
Maybe it would have been fine out in Madison County ⛺ and fun to get away but last night was pretty wet even if it was mild. Plus it’s a long drive out there and I’m not sure this would have been banner weather for hiking and camping today. Probably cold damp and gray. ☁️ Plus with inflation I’ve been trying to stay closer to home. Maybe in two weeks I’ll camp up in Rennselearville again. That would be fun.
The darkest hour is at 12:00 am, followed by dawn at 6:54 am, and sun starting to rise at 7:26 am in the east-southeast (121°) and last for 3 minutes and 24 seconds. Sunrise is 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌄 The golden hour ends at 8:12 am with sun in the southeast (129°). Tonight will have 14 hours and 49 minutes of darkness, a decrease of 48 seconds over last night.
Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 46 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 18th. West wind 5 to 10 mph becoming light northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 49 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1890. 7.1 inches of snow fell back in 2014.❄
I’m thinking a Bennett Hill Hike 🚶 in the morning on my way out to the folks house for a New Years Day fondue. 🫕 Ain’t that neat their is a fondue emoji, probably paid for by the Swiss Cheese cartel 🧀 or more likely the Dairy Farmers of America cooperative 🐮 these days.
Today marks four 4⃣ weeks until my big fortieth birthday 🎂. I know wow, I guess. It’s just another milestone and a round number but I’ve noticed a lot changing in my life as the years drag on with other things not changing as fast as I’d like. But I think my forties offer a lot of possibilities especially once the economy recovers.
In four weeks on January 29 the sun will be setting in the west-southwest (246°) at 5:06 pm,🌄 which is 31 minutes and 56 seconds later then tonight. In 2021 on that day, we had cold, partly sunny and temperatures between 14 and 0 degrees. Typically, you have temperatures between 33 and 15 degrees. The record high of 54 degrees was set back in 2002.
Looking ahead, Bubble Bath Day 🧼 is Next Sunday, Coldest Week of the Year 🌬 is Next Sunday, 38th Birthday 🎉 is in 4 weeks, February 🌧 is a month away, March 🌨 is in 2 months, Daylight Savings Time 🌆 is in 10 weeks.
Maybe 2022 wasn’t the worst year ever
Maybe 2022 wasn’t the worst year ever, if you don’t look too hard at your portfolio …
It’s hard not to be a bit discouraged by the news that the stock market closed itself down with the S&P 500 down 19.4% for the year, nearly 1/5th less in value then it was a year ago. It’s the worse year on the stock market since the crash in 2008, and the experts are warning us that we are heading towards a recession and next year might mean another 20% or 30% decline in the market, but maybe then recovering by the end of 2023 where it started. But they were terribly wrong this year, off by 28% by my own estimates. Predicting the stock market, over a few years is a fools game.
Now, I didn’t panic or sell off any stock. I actually took advantage of the lower prices in the market to buy extra, and boost my portfolio whenever I had extra money above and beyond what I would normally do. While the market was down by a 20%, my net worth only dropped about 10% but it still was depressing to look at. I understand the long-term trends — my net worth has gained about 14% a year even after the recent drop, but it just leaves a sour taste in my mouth, even though I know this year was to be expected and part of the growth and decline cycle, that is normal with any investment strategy.
At the same time, this whole year seemed to be one of caution and maybe fear. It was about trying to cut back, in wake of inflation and rising costs all over the map — while trying to dump money into the stock market. I took fewer trips, spent more time closer to home, walking to Five Rivers and other parks within walking distance from home. I stayed away from the gas pumps and grocery stores. If there was something I wanted or hoped to acquire, I pushed it away. I gave up a lot, while to just watch the needle push in the wrong way.
This was the year it was supposed to be different, with the corner office and the mid-level management position and the good salary. I was supposed to have a lot more money coming in that would make everything different, but nothing really changed. I mean in reality, I have more stock and my retirement accounts were maxed out for the year, but my apartment is still as dumpy as it always been, my truck is getting rustier and continuing to decline mechanically. And I was very busy at work at times, which made it hard to get away, especially as remote work isn’t really a thing much anymore, except for the rare cases when it is.
I saw one of those crazies of popular finance who shout on the commercial radio or television — it may have been Dave Ramsey or Jim Cramer — it doesn’t really matter as I don’t follow their scammy stuff — say that having more money doesn’t really change anything. People who have more money or less money and are always broke, will still be always broke. Those people who are jerks are jerks whether or not they are poor. They just have bigger boats or bigger saving and investment accounts. But it doesn’t really change their lives more than superficially, if even that. Money doesn’t have any actual value until it’s transferred to services or property. It’s an imaginary number of sorts. Stocks and bonds have a value when you sell them, but until then that, they just move up and down and spit out and imagery value, a future value only realized if sold and used to buy something else.
But somehow I thought it would be different.
Making more money, would make it easier to save and live a better life. Somehow a different number would change everything, and not that everything would remain the same, or actually decline, due to inflation and market declines. A better income, would make things better, and move me forward, not just keep me treading in the water, with a sinking feeling by asset declines. I thought I would be getting closer to my future, rather then back sliding, so much of this year felt like every time I put more money in the markets with an eye towards future growth — it just seems like tomorrow is sliding away.
Yet, maybe the net worth isn’t the only measurement of the year I should be taking. I grew in other ways, even while my portfolio declined and my truck got older and rustier and my apartment more dilapidated and dirty. I am not winning the war on dust and grime, I’m too much of a dirty hick bring mud indoors. But I can’t discount my experiences and the amount of learning that I took in during this past year. While everything kind of declined around me, I think in many ways I am sharper with the skills and experiences I took in this past year.
I started the year with a free GIS class which sharpened my skills with QGIS. I further honed my skills in RStudio and went on to take a free class in responsive web design and Javascript. Along with other front-end developments. I’ve been learning a lot about computers and coding, and it makes it possible for me to be more efficient at my job and developing content for the blog. I learned a variety of shell applications, picked up more of different computer languages like FORTRAN and LISP. I started using Visual Studio for Coding. I also did a lot of reading and thinking.
While my trips out of town were curbed due to my truck getting old and mechanically more questionable, along with high gas prices and inflation, I did get out and often took longer trips, to maximize the amount of travel I could do while staying in one campsite and leaving my truck parked. I wish I could have done more, but the year was short, weather was often bad, and work was busy. I took full advantage of the free bus out to Thacher Park and regularly hiked out to Five Rivers, the Normans Kill Gorge and other local preserves. It was nice to be able to get out and explore, without burning so much gas, but I also feel like I didn’t get as far away from home this year as years past.
Maybe my focus on the future came at too much of a cost for the year that came and went. But I know despite the depressing economic news of inflation and stock market declines, the growth I made personally and in the number of shares in my portfolio mean that come time, when things turn around, things will be better then they are today.
December 31, 2022 Morning
Good morning! Happy New Years Eve. 🎆 Cloudy and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY on this final day of 2022. ☁ There is a south breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Friday around noontime. ☃️
After yesterdays warm weather, I so wanted to get out of town. 🏘 But I looked at the forecast and said no. While the chance of rain has declined somewhat, it is likely to still be a cold and wet New Years Eve once the rain showers come in. And then tomorrow will likely be mostly cloudy, and windy. Yes, mild but hardly nice weather for a night up in the woods: 🌲🌳 it just not worth spending a bunch of money to drive out to Brookfield. If not for the rain tonight, I might have done something different, as it’s going to be quite mild.
Today will have showers likely, mainly after 4pm. Cloudy 🌦, with a high of 51 degrees at 1pm. 17 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 12th. Maximum dew point of 47 at 1pm. South wind around 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning, which became clear by afternoon. The high last year was 39 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 1895. 7.9 inches of snow fell back in 2007.❄
I might try to walk out to Five Rivers 🐸 before the rain comes this afternoon. Probably do the usual 8 mile loop, via Meads Lane 🐮 and then Fisher Boulevard. While I like looking at the cows, not to so much looking at the Mansion, it avoids walking along NY 443, which especially hiking back towards Delmar is much too narrow for comfort. It’s not a real nice day — I’ll want to wear my rain coat 🧥 but it would be good to get in my steps on this final day of the year. If I go out early enough, hopefully I won’t get soaked.
Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:59 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.5° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:46 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 5:03 pm, which is 49 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the southeast (128°) at an altitude of 47° from the horizon, 238,461 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:40 pm.
At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 51 degrees. The dew point will be 47 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 7 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 9 minutes of daytime, an increase of 41 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have showers, mainly before 1am. 🌧 Low of 43 degrees at 5am. 22 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 17th. South wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2021, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 41 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1970.
