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.
Kind of just like that 2022: fades away. Not that it ever was much of a year that I wanted to remember. I’m happy it’s almost done.
Cloudy and 36 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 10 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 2 am. ☃️
November is expected to end itself in heavy rain ☔ though not until after the morning walk 🚶 and the express bus 🚍 downtown to work so if I walk at lunch in the Concourse with the muzzle on I’ll hopefully have my steps 👣 in for the day. Not 18k like yesterday but still the minimal 10k which is five miles.
I finally got to the grocery store 🏬 last night and stocked up. I’ve been buying extra groceries and more in bulk so I can go every two weeks. I freeze the bread 🥪 and then just run to Stewart’s for milk 🥛. I buy a lot of frozen things in the club and bulk size packages as y minimizes waste. 🗑 Those wrappers don’t take much room up in the g trash and can be saved for starting fires. 🔥 Pretty much zero waste.
Late last night the heat kicked on ♨️ and it got cold in my apartment, I had to turn on the electric blanket as I was cold. I was surprised. Of course I’m getting much too comfortable with the heated blanket, going to make winter camping 🏕 seem cold. I do want to do more winter camping this year, especially in Rennselearville State Forest and do a lot of cross country skiing 🎿.
Been continuing to work on the Free Code Camp dynamic web programming online class. 🖥 Most of the stuff is quite basic but it’s good to sharpen my skills. I’m more interested in the visualization courses but they recommend that you do them in order and I’m not fully up to date in the latest advances in web design over the past 25 years since I first learned. I like how the classes are hold your hand as the computer evaluates your code. And it’s free zero pressure.
I’m fundamentally a lazy person ⌨️ and being able to write some code and script can save a lot of time. At work I often see people doing things in unnecessarily complicated manual ways in Excel. Things that could be done in like a line of AWK. 📄 At the same time, I see a lot of people doing GIS stuff manually that could be done much quicker and easier in R, even if that means outputting to a shapefile and then finally loading into QGIS for pretty formatting. I’m thinking the dynamic HTML coding class will help me with web scraping for data processing among other things. Really can save time. 🕒
Even if the clouds break midday, going to be windy and cold. I’m watching the weekend I want to take a long weekend up north if not cold and wet after the Pine Bush Hike but I’ll take a wait and see approach. Or maybe the second half of next week into that weekend. But it all depends on whether or not I have jury duty.
Today. Feels like …
December 3rd.
Partly sunny.
Light and variable wind.
and
42 degrees
,
4:25
sunset.
Tonight. Feels like …
November 20th.
Mostly cloudy.
Calm wind becoming south 5 to 9 mph in the evening.
and
30 degrees
,
7:03
sunrise.
Wednesday. Feels like …
November 1st.
Rain before 11am, then showers between 11am and 2pm, then rain after 2pm. High near 55. South wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 40 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
55 degrees
,
4:25
sunset.
Wednesday Night. Feels like …
November 23rd.
Rain and snow showers before 2am, then a slight chance of snow showers between 2am and 4am. Low around 29. West wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 32 mph. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New snow accumulation of less than one inch possible.
and
29 degrees
,
7:04
sunrise.
Thursday. Feels like …
December 9th.
Mostly sunny.
West wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 41 mph.
Cloudy but not real cool this morning out for the morning walk. I decided to go into work today as I have a meeting and would rather save my time off for next week, when hopefully we can get a nice block of weather and I can get out of town. Depends though if I have jury duty next week. Rain and gusty tomorrow into Thursday.
Mostly cloudy and 32 degrees at the Elm Ave Town Park. ☁ Calm wind. The skies will clear around 1 pm.
I thought today was going to be fairly nice, ☁️ but it turned out to be a pretty cloudy start to the day, and while it may clear later, it’s not going to be a real nice day. I had a meeting so I decided to not take today off from work. 🏕 Next week though I want to take off probably about half of the week but first I have to see if I will need to report to jury duty next week or if I will be on call for a future week. 👨⚖️ It will only be one day, or selected for a trial up to week or the length of the trial. Kind of hope it is next week so I can get it done but I know that’s not likely. If it’s the last week of the month, it will be a bit more challenging as the other director is out but it should be a very quiet week I’m hoping. Or other people can sub in.
It was funny, I got a state survey about PFOAs 👩🔬 shortly after watching that video about PFOAs. They are doing a statewide survey to monitor what levels are like in people’s blood, and are looking for volunteers to participate. I will fill out the survey, and I guess get my blood drawn, if chosen. I’ll take $75 plus the knowledge I’m helping with important environmental research.
I should have gone shopping last night, 🏪 but I was tired and it was a decent night so instead I went for my evening walk then retired to bed early. 🛌 I’ve gotten to the point where I hate shopping so much with the depressing nature of inflation on everything I buy, that I try to only go every two weeks. Saves on gas too, plus forces me to be more thoughtful on what I buy.
Other then that I’m starting to work on one of those Free Coding Classes online. 👨🏫 I figure it’s good to sharpen up my skills and learn things in a more formal way. Often I’ve learned things over the years, but don’t necessarily know the theory behind such things. Plus using computers helps automate work, which allows me to do more with less time. At this point, I’m not thinking about a career in computers but it sure would be nice if I were a bit more fluent in their use so I could further automate the work I do, and better explore data.
It’s still too far out to know for sure, but if I don’t have jury service next weekend, I am thinking after the Pine Bush hike of taking a few days to head out of town to hike and camp, probably in the northern zone where rifle season is winding down. Then later on December I might go out to Brookfield or even Cazenovia depending on the weather and snow depth, or do some camping. Or if we get snow early, Rensselaerville State Forest with skis might be a lot of fun for an overnight or two as that road is plowed year round. Maybe New Years Eve?
Thinking about taking Tuesday off as a personal day, to go for a walk and do personal things, like get groceries. Plus I have a fair amount of time to use up before the end of the year.
Heat does need to go back on tonight as it’s going to be cold. But if it’s in the upper 40s out, I see no reason to heat an empty building when I’m at work. If it’s cold when I get home, I’ll turn the little electric space heater next to my bed on and lay on the heating pad. Tomorrow though, I can consider turning it off again. Probably doesn’t save a lot but every little bit helps, especially with inflation and energy prices being as high as they are. I’ve also tried to make sure my door is sealed for air leaks the best that can.
Today. Feels like … November 21st.
Partly sunny.
Northwest wind 10 to 15 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph.
and
47 degrees
,
4:25 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … December 7th.
Partly cloudy.
Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm after midnight.
and
25 degrees
,
7:02 sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like … December 3rd.
Mostly sunny.
Calm wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon.
and
42 degrees
,
4:25 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like … November 10th.
Mostly cloudy.
South wind 5 to 9 mph.
and
33 degrees
,
7:03 sunrise.
Wednesday. Feels like … October 29th.
Showers. High near 56. South wind 10 to 17 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
56 degrees
,
4:25 sunset.
Wednesday Night. Feels like … November 17th.
A chance of showers before 1am. Mostly cloudy.
Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
and
31 degrees
,
7:04 sunrise.
Thursday. Feels like … December 12th.
Partly sunny.
Breezy.
and
39 degrees
,
4:24 sunset.
Thursday Night. Feels like … December 7th.
Partly cloudy.
and
25 degrees
,
7:05 sunrise.
Friday. Feels like … December 6th.
Mostly sunny.
and
41 degrees
,
4:24 sunset.
Friday Night. Feels like … November 13th.
A chance of snow showers after 1am. Mostly cloudy.
It’s not expected to last but I think it’s warm enough that I can leave the heat off until I get home after work.
Mostly cloudy and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌥 There is a west-northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃 with gusts up to 31 mph 💨💨💨. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 11 pm. ☃️
Yesterdaywasn’t a half bad day though it rained hard in the afternoon. ☔ In the morning though wasn’t too bad, hiked around the town park 🏞 and then up Bennett Hill. 🍲Went out and saw the folks, came home 🏡 and read for a a bit and explored some code. Lately I’ve been doing more analysis of the National Land Data Cover dataset with R. Some neat things you can do in code.
In addition, I’ve been doing a lot of listening 👂 to the marathon length Free Code Camp videos. 🖥 While despite all the ads I now see on the internet for paid college 🎓 classes, I’m mostly interested in learning just some theoretical and formal stuff I don’t already know from learning by doing. There are some free online classes on their website, where you can get a free certificate, I might do some of them. And also look around for online lectures. Not formal classes, but things I can listen to and learn. 👨🏫
I did that Free GIS course last spring 🗺 and it was fine but a lot of work doing shit I already knew. The idea 💡 of going back to school for a formal education program that I pay for and then doing unpaid homework assignments just seems kind of revolting to me. 🤮 I like learning but formal education really doesn’t interest me at this point. Maybe a trade class like welding, 🥽 wiring 🚧 or truck driving 🚚 but not computers. But not sitting in a classroom then going home and doing homework. Plus I just find online learning to be so weird.
Rain, mainly after 1pm. High near 50. South wind 6 to 13 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New precipitation amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible.
and
50 degrees
,
4:26 sunset.
Tonight. Feels like … October 18th.
Rain before 2am, then a slight chance of showers between 2am and 4am. Low around 40. South wind 10 to 16 mph becoming west after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 90%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible.
and
40 degrees
,
7:00 sunrise.
Monday. Feels like … November 23rd.
A slight chance of showers between 9am and 1pm. Mostly cloudy.
Northwest wind 13 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.
and
46 degrees
,
4:25 sunset.
Monday Night. Feels like … December 7th.
Partly cloudy.
Northwest wind 3 to 8 mph.
and
25 degrees
,
7:02 sunrise.
Tuesday. Feels like … December 3rd.
Partly sunny.
Calm wind becoming south around 5 mph in the afternoon.
and
42 degrees
,
4:25 sunset.
Tuesday Night. Feels like … November 17th.
Mostly cloudy.
and
31 degrees
,
7:03 sunrise.
Wednesday. Feels like … November 1st.
Showers, mainly after 1pm. High near 55. Chance of precipitation is 100%.
