With November tomorrow and the heavy rain, winds and recent cold snap, the colors of autumn and certainly summer are gone. Here are the browns and grays of November – nice on their own accord but always too quickly popping up.
Bill Atkinson says the concept of saving files, was a bad design compromise that was implemented due to slow speed of file writes on floppy disks — that risks the loss of hours of work.
A much better system — not practical in era of floppy disks and non-threaded processes — would require you to set the file name when you opened a new document, then the file would be automatically journaling, and if the program crashed or computer lost power, you would loose very little data.
My new job was a bit of a leap, it’s a bit scary jumping into the unknown, and there are definite tax disadvantages to me. But I’m working hard, and trying to do what’s best for my organization, so I can make new connections and fine ways to better myself. It gets tough to squeeze more out of my budget, but I can still definitely find ways to earn more money, and save more for tomorrow.
Saving alone won’t get me there, but it will help open options for better tomorrow. I need to continue to read and learn, think and expand my knowledge. I need to keep an open mind, always be focused on my future, and think more about what my options are. I have a lot more opportunities then many, and ultimately a lot of my future will be defined by what I choose.
A few weeks back I was in the Genesee Valley at Letchworth State Park, poking around some of the little farm towns. The Genesee Valley has long been the joke of little kids and remarked upon by the authors of books for the smells of the dairy business – the sweet smell of the chopped silage and freshly cut hay, the sour smell of spoiled silage and cow manure, being stored than returned to the fields to bring nutrients back to the land.
The Genesee Valley and even some of the uplands around it are some of the great agricultural regions of our state. Once the bread basket of the nation, wheat blight and the Great Plains replaced it as did the high cost of living, leading to specialization largely in the dairy industry. Cows have to be fed year round and dairies produce milk and year round by carefully planning calving so there are always calves and milk being produced. That means farm families get milk checks year round from their processors.
The valleys and areas with the best soils have the biggest and most modern farms, often with hundreds of not thousands of cows complete with modern free stall barns and slurry holding tanks that allow the farms to apply manure only when it’s most likely to be uptaken by crops and not washed away as pollution.
It’s easy to root for the small marginal dairy up in the hills with a hundred or so milking head. The truly small business with a tie stall barn that has old fashioned gutter tracks and hay storage up above. But the truth is that the large dairy, run by a family and their employees probably is a better stewart of the land with their scientifically driven CAFO plan – even if the kids yell our – what’s that smell.
I really didn’t spend all that much time in the Genesee Valley, heading back to Allegany County hills where most of the farms are small. Where the occasional smell of petroleum from the century old industry, still stripping a little high quality oil from the land remains, often situated on the same farms that produce the crops that feed the cows that produce the milk I like to drink.
Monday will be the first time I’ve worked n Menands since the time change.
I started working up in Menands after Martin Luther King Jr Day last winter, and was able to ride my bike into work come the last week of January because there was just enough daylight at end of day with the lights I felt comfortable riding down to the express bus stop, roughly two miles from work. Then come President’s Day, when it was snow-free enough, there was enough light to ride all the way home.
This autumn, after the time change, I plan to continue to ride to work as much as possible, and then ride down to the express bus stop. I ordered extra back up lights for my bike, so I always have a set charged and ready to go, with maximum brightness for safety. I will continue to wear the blaze orange safety vest, and be up to two flashing taillights which I was at until one failed a few months back. I also want to get more DOT tape — particularly white DOT tape to add to front of my bike to improve reflectivity on the sites and front
I don’t love idea of riding down to express bus at dusk or even at dark, but what is the alternative? Not riding to work? I probably won’t do the Water Street bridge but instead take Erie Boulevard (which unfortunately is unlighted) over to Broadway. But with lights and caution it should be relatively safe. While it’s true that it’s harder for drivers to see you at night, it’s also true it’s easier for you to spot oncoming cars due to the headlights.
It feels good to do it myself. 🔧 It’s not hard and doesn’t take long to do, as long as you can get the oil and filter which was hard to find during the pandemic. I go back and forth about what things I should do myself and what you should pay somebody to do for you. What is the value of your time? ⌚ What can you do as well as a professional? What leaves you feeling satisfied doing it yourself?
During the pandemic years I used to take my truck to the shop 🧑🔧to get it done but it’s so hard to get an appointment these days and the time spent making an appointment, driving it to the shop, paying for it doesn’t make it worth it when the stores actually have oil and a filter in stock. But if you are going to three or four stores to find six quarts of 5w-30 it changes like during the pandemic the calculation. Plus motor oil has come down in price a bit.
I was at 33% oil life, I try to avoid getting below 40% though one time when it was newer I let it go to about 23%. 🔧I always use good quality full synthetic and a quality filter as after all it’s an infamous 5.3, lol. Some day I’m sure the engine will throw a rod but it’s been a good ride and I figure enjoy it while you still can. It’s like my eventual eviction from my apartment, 🏡 just enjoy it while you can, save enjoy things before it’s gone.
I do want to get a new air filter installed but I didn’t get one at Walmart. 🛻Maybe next weekend, or before my next trip. Just need to make sure I can find a star key to install it. Not difficult but I need that. Then I’ll do the tire rotation when the truck is inspected. I should take the burnt up old air filters that I keep saying I’m saving as a grill for camping in my truck but keep getting snagged on things. That used motor oil will be fun up at camp for perking up fires, 🔥 lol. That is if it ever rains. ☂️ Hoping for rain next weekend. Or sooner.
I don’t think I’ll head out of town next weekend, 🏕️ as I want to have some rain first for fire safety, plus the second half of the weekend looks rainy. Veterans Day Weekend looks better, I might tag on a few extra days to either end of the weekend to enjoy vacation. I’m leaning towards the Green Mountains though I’ve thought about Long Pond State Forest in Chenango County or Stoney Pond in Cazenovia. Maybe ride more of the Canalway.