Balsam Swamp State Forest

Balsam Swamp is a sprawling state forest that stretches almost 5.5 miles east-west across 4 towns. The area is very rural, and the landscape surrounding the State Forest is predominantly forested. Balsam Swamp State Forest is comprised of a mix of native hardwood forests, hemlock swamps, and conifer plantations. There are no designated recreational trails on the forest, but there is ample opportunity for self-guided day hikes to explore the diversity of habitats represented on this State Forest. Additionally, the western section of Balsam Swamp State Forest is adjacent to Five Streams State Forest to the south.

The main attraction of this forest is Balsam Pond. The impoundment is approximately 152 acres and is a popular destination for fishing and paddle boat sports. Balsam Pond is a warm water fishery that contains a mix of largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, chain pickerel, yellow perch, brown bullhead and sunfish. Tiger muskellunge have been stocked in the past with the last stocking occurring in 1995. However, there have been very few reports of anglers catching any of the adult tiger muskies. A shallow gravel boat launch is suitable for launching small fishing boats.

A small rustic camp ground is also located at Balsam Pond. Camping spaces are available at no cost on a first-come, first-serve basis and there is no running water or electricity. A fire ring, outhouse, and picnic table are provided for each camping space. A sign on Balsam-Tyler Road in Pharsalia designates the entrance to the boat launch and camping facility. This is a carry-in carry-out facility. Please do not litter.

http://www.dec.ny.gov/lands/8261.html

Show Only ...
Maps - Photos - Videos

One more nice day before the snow 🌞

Andy | February 12, 2024

Monday, Monday. Riding to work and enjoying it before the snow comes and takes over the land again during this mid-February Valentine’s Day Week. Then a three-day weekend, though it might be cool and snowy so who knows about Madison County come Friday.

Good morning! Monday’s come back around again. Cloudy and at the freezing point in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a northwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃. Going to warm up as the day progresses, with the skies clearing around noontime. Not a terrible day ahead, though the morning will be cloudier and tomorrow will snow.

Oatmeal pancakes with shredded orange 🥞 🍊 made for a delicious 😋 start to the morning today. Topped with lots of blueberries I will note. 🫐 I know I’m waiting for the inevitable blood sugar crash 📉 though I’m hopeful that the protein in the egg plus the mixture of oatmeal, shredded orange including the peel and whole 🌾 flour will help slow the crash. Didn’t use any maple 🍁 syrup today, the blueberries were plenty of sugar, lol. 😂

I figure today’s the day to ride to work if any day this week. 🚲 👉 🌨 Tomorrow is going to be quite snowy, so it will be back to busing it back and forth to work. 🚵‍♀️ And after the snow tomorrow, the rail trail will be likely impassable for several days, ⛄ and while I could take Corning’s Hill and South Pearl to work, it’s going to be cold plus the shoulder of the South Pearl near the Port is a muddy rough mess. Not to mention, Wednesday looks like it will be quite cold. ❄️ I do need to call the bike shop and ask about a tune up for the bike 👩‍🔧 and getting those gears really tight and working well before spring comes and appointments with the bike mechanic get really hard to get. As I ride my bike nearly every day, I want to keep it running in top condition.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 42 degrees at 2pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 6th. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 55 was set in 1932. 13.5 inches of snow fell back in 1988.❄

On the way in, I got to stop at Hannaford ❤️ 🍬 and get some candy to hand out in the office for Valentines’ Day. As the director now, I have to make sure I have little trinkets to give away for holidays and special occasions to reward staff. 🎁 Nice little gestures. I know that’s what they did for years when I was just staff and deputy management, but being I’m now the big man in town, I got to make sure to plan to do such things going forward. 🎂 Also need to look up my staff’s birthdays and make sure to have cake or cookies for each of their birthdays. Figure I should budget about $20 a month for that. Even if I don’t eat cake and sweets anymore, I know a lot of people like that kind of thing. 🍪 It’s a nice gesture and important for a successful office.

Been exploring more of the free resources of the Bethlehem Public Library, 📚 namely E-Books borrowing using the Libby app that let’s you read 📖 and listen to audio books for free on your phone or Kindle if you have such technology. Mom was going to give me her old Kindle but I struggled to understand how the technology works 📲 and after cussing it out 🤬 I think it might be too old of a model. At any rate, I think it easier to read E-Books on my phone with the Libby app which saves them on the phone so I can use it offline in the remote Adirondack country. That said, I’ll probably use the audio books even more 📼 as I can listen while riding my bike 🚲 or by the campfire 🔥. I figure with my taxes so damn high, I best use every free government service out there – be it the state forests, free guided hikes, lectures, nature bus, bike trails etc.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 33.6° from the due south horizon (-37.3° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:43 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (245°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (252°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 3 seconds with dusk around 5:51 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (238°) at an altitude of 30° from the horizon, 226,878 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:25 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 39 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 31 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 39 seconds over today.

Groceries were another $120 this week, 🤯 which is more pain on the budget, but I did also buy some more loaf pans and knife sharpener. Eating all those fresh fruit and vegetables really adds up. 🍎 And it’s not like things are going to waste, 🚯 by the end of last week my freezer was mostly empty except for camping ice, but between inflation and everything else it adds up. Sunday night dinner was a really nice tomato 🍅 bean soup with the family 👪, I made some of my onion🧅 and carrot bread 🥕 to share. Took home leftovers, been slowly but surely eating up what’s in the freezer in an effort to cut my grocery costs. 🛒 Inflation sucks and I make good money 💵 these days but it doesn’t go very far anymore. Maybe it’s because I’m so committed to saving and investing in my future, 🔮 but I find it hard to make ends meet during these inflationary times.

I don’t even want to think about my $530 car insurance bill due the end of March or my taxes 🏦 which I haven’t started yet. I’ve been withholding extra out of each paycheck, 📂 which I’m hoping will help ensure I don’t owe a shit ton come April 15th. I got to figure out which service to use — I’ll probably use a Free-file site for my federal taxes, then copy that information onto a state tax form, and mail it in like I did last year. Hopefully not mess it up this time, and get a letter from State Tax Department. I hate filing taxes, especially when the government already knows how much money I make 🔍 as they get copies of my tax documents from my employers, banks, and vendors already. Thanks tax-vendor-software lobbyists and corporations. 🕴Life has gotten so damn expensive these days.

Tonight will have a chance of snow, mainly after 4am. Increasing clouds 🌨, with a low of 30 degrees at 5am. 13 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 27th. North wind 3 to 6 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 24 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1875.

Yeah, I got to turn the heat back on tonight. ♨️ It’s been nice the few days with the heat off and the windows open. No electric blanket use either. I’ve been using the electric blanket a lot more this year, but not he past few nights. My electric bill has come down somewhat, 🔌 as I’ve not made as many soups and beans on the stove top, and have been making sure my oven is fully packed 🍞 when baking bread, to get as many meals as possible out of each time things are cooking in the oven. I like cooking 👨‍🍳 but it can get pricey at times buying those whole-food type ingredients, which really can be a lot more expensive when added up then the packaged processed crap I used to buy a lot more of when I was fat. 🤰

Hopefully now with that cable I bailed out from the post office 🔌 ⌨ I’ll be able to use that USB switch I bought two weeks ago, to switch between my laptop and work PC seemlessly when I get into the office. Otherwise I’m out $17 and a lot of aggravation, but it seems like the switch is working well when I tried it with the one cable it originally came with and the second cable I bailed out due to insufficient postage by the seller seems to be working fine. We’ll see when I get to the office this morning I guess. 🏢 That and tinkering with the gears ⚙ on my bike has been so much aggravation over the past two weeks. At least lately I’ve not been having problems with the smoke alarm 👩‍🚒 repeatably going off. The warm weather over the weekend has allowed me to have the windows open and clear out some of the cooking smoke and moisture from my dumpy apartment.

Cool with times of sun for President’s Day. ⛅ Saturday, a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 34. President’s Day, partly cloudy, with a high near 42. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees.

As previously noted, next Monday is Presidents Day 👴 when the sun will be setting at 5:33 pm with dusk at 6:00 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy and temperatures between 47 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 1981.

I’d like to get out of town for President’s Day 🏕 but the weather doesn’t look great. I was thinking about taking a half day off on Friday to head out to Brookfield and Charles Baker Horse Camp 🐴 for the long weekend, but now it’s looking like lake effect snow on Friday, and there is now way in hell I’m going to do the hills around Brookfield in the snow. I’ve dealt with those roads in the past, and they’re not well plowed, as Madison County primarily uses just sand and not salt, and some of those hills can be quite icy. That said, things could change before the weekend, so I’ll keep it in mind.

Federal infrastructure spending is very inflationary

Andy | February 11, 2024

Politicians on the right are quick to point out how inflationary government hand outs are to people in need. While there may be some truth to that, in the sense it could promote immediate spending that would not otherwise spent, a bigger driver of inflation is hand-outs in the form of federal infrastructure spending.

During times of recession, a little bit of inflationary pressure can put people back to work. But when the economy is as strong as it currently is, additional federal infrastructure spending leads to inflation. Federal-funded projects enable cash-strapped states and municipalities to engage in projects they would not otherwise engage in, often with strings attached that cause projects to be built that would not otherwise be built — in ways that would not be built if the local government was in the driver seat.

The most anti-inflationary form of infrastructure spending is unrestricted aid to localities from states and federal government. But once you start tying conditions to projects, you start to encourage unnecessary and unwise projects. While politicians are unwilling to hand over money without strings attached in fear it will be wasted or spent in unintended ways, the most efficient way to allocate public resources to hand it out without restrictions.

However, ultimately the best way to ensure wise use of public dollars is for federal government to cut back on handouts to states and localities. Let local taxing authorities decide what projects are right for them, and make them pay the full cost of projects. This would shrink the amount of infrastructure being built, and lead to more right-sizing of government. When governments pay the full-cost of projects, they are far less likely to act in frivolous ways, even in a time like now when public coffers are flush.

It’s not to say there isn’t a time for stimulus during recession, and in some cases only the federal government has the resources to help relatively poor parts of the country, with the federal government’s broad tax base. But the federal government’s largess should be seen as mostly inflationary and distorting of local choices, by offering money for projects that would otherwise not be funded due to a lack of public demand or true public need.

All good things must come to an end 🌞

Andy | February 11, 2024

I mean you can’t have that many days in early to mid February that are in the 60s. Tomorrow after work, I’ll have to turn the heat back on and probably start using the electric blanket again. I’m not sad, I’m just glad we had a break of spring weather. And it’s not like today or tomorrow is going to be real cold. Tuesday snow, but at this point it’s five weeks until calendar spring, and depending on how mild spring is, we could be as close as two months away from the green-up at least in the city. Maybe earlier if you are talking about the invasive, that is you, multi-flora rose that I’m talking about.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 40 degrees in the Delmar. ☁ There is a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. It was nice walking to the store to get moo juice this morning for the coffee. ☕ 🐮 Spring must be coming, I could smell that tangy smell of them spreading the shit 💩 while I was riding in on Friday as I was heading into the Normans Kill Gorge. Soon enough to become silage and hay, fed and become that juice that makes that coffee so awesome. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 11 pm. ☃️

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 44 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 12th. Northwest wind 9 to 11 mph. A year ago, we had partly cloudy skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 59 was set in 1981. 9.6 inches of snow fell back in 1933.❄

The big thing for Sunday is to get to the grocery store 🛒 and get stocked up for the week that is to be. One thing to consider is if I’ll be getting out of town for the upcoming President’s Day Weekend. 🏕 I have crazy thoughts 🤪 about taking a half day on Friday and heading out to Madison County for a three-day weekend. 🌨 It all depends on the weather and if we get a lot of snow, or at least if the fine folk of Mad Co. New Yak have too much snow for me to access the horse camp. 🐴 It’s not like I didn’t spend last year’s Presidents Day at the horse camp. It was fun. I know more money bleeding out of my budget 🔴 after shopping. But having apples and vegetables are so important to living the good life, 🍎 🥦 so I better get to the store before it’s picked over and packed like is the case most Sunday’s after a while.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 33.2° from the due south horizon (-37.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:42 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (245°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (252°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:22 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 4 seconds with dusk around 5:50 pm, which is one minute and 18 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (243°) at an altitude of 17° from the horizon, 226,323 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:24 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 41 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 26 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 35 seconds over yesterday.

I am thinking about doing an afternoon hike up Bennett Hill 🏃 while the weather is still nice, and going out to see the family. 🍞 I baked bread, and we’re going to have soup 🍲. Should be a nice afternoon. Then it’s back to work tomorrow. I plan to ride to work tomorrow 🚲, getting one more day of riding before snow makes the bike trail impassible, 🌨 though I could always take South Pearl Street and Corning’s Hill, though I hate how rough South Pearl is by the Port of Albany with all that traffic. 🚚🚚🚚🚚

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 28 degrees at 3am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 21st. Northwest wind 5 to 8 mph. In 2023, we had clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1979.

Looking ahead, next Sunday is 6 PM Dusk 🌆 when the sun will be setting at 5:31 pm. Yeah! That means after that day, if the rail trail is free of snow I can ride home from work. 🚲 Of course, with the common late February and big March snow storms, that’s hardly a guarantee. But spring will come, or so I tell myself. 🌺 At least the multi-flora rose will pretend it’s spring, to crowd out all of the native species. 🤣 On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 40 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 63 back in 1981.

The Unabomber’s mistake — being political

Andy | February 10, 2024

Political leaders and change makers are held to such high regards in our society. People who don’t observe, but take action are considered to be our nation’s heroes. Yet not every problem needs to be solved by every person, and most people can’t solve most of the problems of the world. Indeed, most political advocates and leaders fail, their changes rejected or trivial — their messages, concerns and warnings lost in the static.

The truth is you don’t have to be out in front of every crisis facing our nation — or even your little town and community. You don’t have to be a hero. It’s safe to make note of a problem, quietly point out a serious concern, note the statistics and likely outcomes, without being out on the streets fighting against evil. You can accept a little evil, look the other way.

As I say much these days, “If you can’t save the world, at least save yourself.”

Too many political people become martyrs with too little to show for it. It’s rare to find people as successful as Nelson Mandela. Most people like him, with just as much conviction, fighting so hard for what is good and right, get rewarded only be a jail cell or the loss of their lives. When you know you have little chance of stopping evil in the world, it’s best to just look away, and do what you can in your little part of the world to avoid participating in evil.

It’s pretty clear that folks like Ted Kaczynski are really smart and have good ideas. But they ruined their life by fighting for those ideas. He would have been much better off if he had stayed in his Montana cabin, keenly observing what was going on in the world around him, while not participating in it to the greatest extent possible. He couldn’t — and would inevitably fail — at stopping so much of the evil of the modern world — but he could have taken care of himself, protected himself from the evil around him and withdrew from as much of the evil as possible.

It’s alarming how when you watch the news, you are constantly bombarded with supposed heroes like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, or a million different government workers like cops and politicians. The message is constantly reinforced that they went above and beyond, how they made the world a better place. Indeed they did, but at a high personal cost to themselves. Those changes needed to be made, but it came at an incredibly high cost to their own lives. I for one, don’t want to end up in a jail cell or with a bullet in my back, just because I believe something is right or wrong. I’m quiet happy to look the other way, and look inward, towards being a better person in my own life, while not saving the world.

Change needs to happen. But not every person needs to be a change agent, and unless you have a damn good strategy and a lot of luck, chances are you’re not going to be a successful agent of change. But maybe you shouldn’t be. Maybe you should instead focus on your own life, saving yourself and not your country.

Made it to Saturday – what a week 😩

Andy | February 10, 2024

I tried to sleep well last night, but now I’m fried. I’m trying to get up and moving — but it’s tough. My head is just spinning from the week that was. Nothing serious, but it’s just so much to learn at my new job, more stupid little bull-sheet that’s just left me fried after the week that was.

Good morning! Partly sunny and 45 degrees in Delmar, NY. 😎 There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around noontime. ☃️

Definitely enjoying not having the heat on this morning. ⏹ I opened up the kitchen window and the one in my bedroom that don’t require removing the storm windows. The fresh air was so refreshing. Tonight though will be cool enough, I’ll probably need to close the windows before bed, but I’m enjoying the fresh air as I can.

Breakfast this morning was a big pan of eggs 🍳 with lots of onions, broccoli, corn, and peas. Probably too much tumeric but that’s a given. I’ve been avoiding going to the store to get milk, ☕ and cutting back on my coffee consumption, so only one pot — I mean cup of coffee this morning as that is all that my milk supply would allow. This afternoon I’ll have to get more milk at Stewart’s. 🐮

Today will have a chance of showers and thunderstorms, then showers likely and possibly a thunderstorm after 4pm. Some of the storms could produce small hail. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 63 degrees at 2pm. 28 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 22nd. South wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms. If it gets that warm, it will blow through many previous records. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 51 degrees. Almost record breaking warmth. The record high of 53 was set in 1955. That said, during the second half of February we’ve had a few 70 degree records in the past. 4.0 inches of snow fell back in 1892. 🌨 Not much of a record for winter.

Today is going to be a nice day and I want to maximize it. 🛠 I’ve continued to tweak the derailer on my bike 🚲, a constant source of frustration but I have it working pretty smooth now. ⚙ I’m learning a lot about bike mechanics. I do need to get it to the mechanic for a good tune up before the spring rush. 📞 I should call about an appointment so it get serviced before the spring rush. Knowing how mechanics are these days, probably won’t get an appointment to late March.

I have a list 📃 of things to do today but heading out for a bike ride to Voorheesville 🚲 in the nice weather followed by maybe visiting Five Rivers Environmental Education Center for a walk is high on that list. The best weather is going to be earlier so I should get an early start. 🌥 More clouds and ultimately rain later.

High on my list for today is finishing up the draft of the map 🗺 I’m making for Save the Pine Bush as they’re looking for it but I’ve been busy and just so tired 😴 lately that I’ve not spent much time working on it. But it would be good to have a, draft presented of the map as they’ve been looking for it. Every revision it gets a little better. 🔍

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:11 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.9° from the due south horizon (-37.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:40 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (244°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (251°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:20 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 4 seconds with dusk around 5:49 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the west-southwest (247°) at an altitude of 5° from the horizon, 226,440 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:23 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and thunderstorms 🌩 and temperatures around 53 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 8 mph with gusts up to 20mph. Today will have 10 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 35 seconds over yesterday.

I got to go to the post office 📬 to give them $3.52 to bail out the USB cable ⌨️ I bought that didn’t come with the USB keyboard switch I bought last week. Yes, a different seller scammed me again on EBay 🖱️ this time sending me the cable that I was supposed to come with USB keyboard switch I bought. This time they couldn’t be bothered to put sufficient payment on the package so my choice was to refuse the package 📦 and probably never get the cable or hand over the money to the post office. I’m only $17 in the hole for what should have been a $8.65 refurbished switch had Ebay not screwed me over twice. 😡 I was angry as duck 🦆 last night 🌃 but for $3.52 more I’ll have closure once I get to the post office later. I can be angry but it’s stupid, not that much money. I’m constantly broke these days with inflation but whatever, I’m also making good money.

Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly before 9pm. Mostly cloudy 🌧, with a low of 35 degrees at 6am. 18 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. Southwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming northwest in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2023, we had partly cloudy skies. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1962.

Too bad it’s going to rain this evening 🌃, I’d love to sit out back with the mild weather. It’s fine I promised mom and dad to bake bread 🍞 this evening for Sunday dinner. Then I want to get to bed 🛏 early so I can be up and rising early to go grocery shopping 🛒 tomorrow. I tell myself my pantry is well enough stocked that I won’t have another big grocery bill but with inflation I know thats a lie. 🍏 It’s so hard to get ahead today even with what most people would consider to be a good job.

Looking ahead, next Saturday is 5:30 PM Sunset 🌇 when the sun with dusk at 5:57 pm. I’m excited about that as it means I can ride my bike home after work, once the snow is off the bike path. No bus fare for you, Mr. Bus Serivice. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 55 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1981.

Week four done as Director of Data Services

Andy | February 9, 2024

How fast the time flies.

It’s not going to be long until the 40-year veteran that had been overseeing the department retires and the reins of the agency will be in my hands. Not the biggest department ever, but still it’s one that is much different the what I’m used to. It’s a big step up on career ladder, but in real world experience it will bring, not to mention how the Data Services title sounds impressive on the resume, along with real-world experience using SQL, Unix text utilities like awk, grep, sed, vim — and also a R programming language. In many ways I’m a natural in position, as the tech skills are not my weakness.

It’s been tough moving to a large suburban corporate office building, the massive cubicle farms, the lack of natural light and views, compared to my bright corner office in the Alfred E Smith Building. Once the current director retires at the end of the month, I’ll have her old office overlooking the old city dump on north side of the building with some natural light, which will be a step up from the cubicle.

I already have ambitious plans for decorating a boring drab corporate office space, with some of my plants, some photos and aerial imagery I’m going to have printed and framed. And I’m going to get some kind of a task lighting for the desk — either find in the closet a lamp or buy a used lamp at a tag sale or thrift shop — and hang some Christmas lights in the office. Maybe the colorful dancing string of Christmas lights I had in my old office or maybe some simple warm white lights. I could take some from my camping supplies or buy anew.

Truth is I’ve been so focused on a soul-crushing nature of the suburban corporate office, after a decade and a half working downtown ignoring all the benefits of my new position — somewhat better pay, mostly 9-to-5 work shift, more casual dress, easier bike ride in without having to do that climb up the State Street Hill. Or that with my new position I’m really getting to put my technical skills to the test. I run dozens of SQL queries each day, carefully crafted to get out the data I need from databases. I know the essentials of Unix scripting — bash scripts I can do to automate database updates and extract data I need to deliver to my clients. I installed R Studio on my work computer and use it to process Microsoft Excel documents from database dumps in ways much easier then doing it by hand.

I do like the technical nature of the work, though at times I feel like much of the agency has been trapped in old ways of doing things. Careful and methodological, but in some ways not fully taking advantage of what can be done with even my admittedly basic knowledge of Unix, SQL, and the R Statistical Language. I’m not a programmer — nobody will let me near any of the source code and I don’t trust myself allocating memory in C, but I do what can do be done in code for automation. That said, I am too willing to ship shit, with data being used in a professional environment, I have to embrace the careful, methodological methods of the agency, that keep mistakes from being propagated by shortcuts I’d be more then willing to adopt, as I’m lazy. In the professional world, unlike my blog, “if it fits, it ships” doesn’t really cut it.

Riding my bike to work four days last week, seemed to make the experience so much nicer. As did the freedom to escape the office during the lunch hour, ride around the Corning Preserve, some of the back streets of Menands and North Albany, head up to the Albany Rural Cemetery. On a bike, it doesn’t seem so isolated and suburban up there. Plus I’m getting to know the faces and people, learning their stories, building connections. It doesn’t seem quite as isolating, and strange, the new face on block after 4 weeks.

Truth is, I hated the new position at first. It was something the company asked me to do, something I was told I would be good at, but it was so foreign and such a change. I resist change. I knew it was in both my own best interest, and that of my company to take the position with my technical skills and knowledge, but it was not an easy adjustment to the more corporate lifestyle. But I do like being away from the craziness of downtown and all the politics. Politics may be in my blood, but it’s unhealthy, and it’s kind of nice to be away from all the issues and debates, some that if you take quite personally can make you angry. In the new job, it’s all about SQL and the bash shell, mail encoding software and updating records in the database. Not politics! And that’s a refreshing change.

Well above normal of 35 degrees 🌡️

Andy | February 9, 2024

Mild but overcast start to the day with weather that feels more like late March then the end of the second week of February. It’s been a long week but at least the second half of the week has been fairly mild. Been able to ride to work four out of five days this week which hasn’t been bad.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 39 degrees in Delmar. ☁ There is a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at Monday around noontime. ☃️

Finished up the last of the frozen fruit in the freezer. 🍒 I spend all this money on groceries for it to be gone by the second half of the week. 😝 Seems to be eaten so quickly. Pancakes 🥞 with shredded oranges topped with banana 🍌 and real maple 🍁 syrup this morning. Also I’m almost through that big container of oatmeal. I find it hard to believe. Last night was Johnnycakes again – I enjoyed them so much for breakfast I decided to have them again tonight with left over chilly. 🌶

Today will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 50 degrees at 3pm. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 27th. South wind 8 to 10 mph. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 48 degrees. The record high of 57 was set in 1925. 13.7 inches of snow fell back in 1906.❄

Riding to work again. 🚲 Laid back in bed for a bit too long this morning after breakfast 🛌 but I’m now going and will shower. Riding to work frees up a lot of time in the morning I would otherwise be doing the morning walk or doing the exercise loop out Meads Lane. 🐮 Plus it saves that $1.30 bus fare and having to catch the shuttle to work. Almost enough light to safely ride home from work, maybe next week if it’s not too cloudy or cold. 🌆

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.6° from the due south horizon (-38.2° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:39 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (244°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (251°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:19 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 5 seconds with dusk around 5:47 pm, which is one minute and 19 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:22 pm. At sunset, look for partly clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 48 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 8 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 35 seconds over today.

Yesterday was a great evening for the evening walk. 🏃‍♀️ Totally had more Johnnycakes last night for dinner, similar to breakfast with loads of onions, garlic and spinach. No greek yogurt this time, but I did use some up some chilly on them. 🥞 No complaints there, they were good. Then some shredded apple with cinnamon and ginger for desert. 🍏

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 37 degrees at 6am. 21 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 15th. South wind 5 to 7 mph. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 34 degrees. The record low of -21 occurred back in 1948.

Tomorrow will have a chance of showers, mainly after 11am. Partly sunny 🌦, with a high of 55 degrees at 2pm. 20 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around April 6th. South wind 5 to 7 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light rain in the morning, which became light rain by afternoon. The high last year was 51 degrees. The record high of 53 was set in 1955. 4.0 inches of snow fell back in 1892.❄ Probably do some riding on Saturday, 🚲 maybe go down to the library. 📚

Looking ahead to Sunday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 43. 🌥 Northwest wind 11 to 14 mph. Not as warm. Typical average high for the weekend is 35 degrees. Sunday doesn’t look to be quite as nice of a day, especially with the wind. The plan for Sunday is to go grocery shopping early 🛒 then out to the folks later and bake some bread to bring out there. 🍞

Looking ahead, there are 3 weeks until March 🌨 when the sun will be setting at 5:46 pm with dusk at 6:13 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, snow showers and temperatures between 39 and 20 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 40 degrees. We hit a record high of 66 back in 2017.