Rode out to Price Chopper in Slingerlands to get $1 bills just so I had them handy when I went to laundromat in the future, but the SEFCU ATM is no longer in the store. Disappointing as the VTM there was only place in Slingerlands and Delmar that had singles and $5 bills. I was looking at one of the 3/4 ton pickups in the lot – a Chevy – and was thinking soon enough I’ll have a big Ford like that.
Maybe smoked some weed before heading out, and I forgot to get whole-wheat flour when I was there but did get carrots and more apple cider vinegar. I can’t believe how fast the ACV disappears around this place, but then again I find myself splitting a bottle between work and home nearly every week these days. Red lentil soup with shredded carrots, onions, peas and a bit of garlic powder and salt. Delicious and very filling. To be decided – how gassy it leaves me later on.
Rode out to Five Rivers on what turned out to be a beautiful evening. Mostly because I like looking at the cows and rural landscape. Someday I’ll have cows if that’s what I want. Walked around for a bit, snapped some pictures. While cooking down the red lentil soup, I watched more videos on car buying, roll playing and stragety. I also thumbed through the weekly news magazines on Libby, mostly so I could be informed when Mom starts questioning me on the news. I should read more of the books that I have on Hoopla before there due on Wednesday. Tomorrow I’m going out to visit Mom and Dad, and do my wash there. It will be good to get out.
but then this morning turned out not to be real windy in Delmar, 
and while it’s seasonably cold – 17 degrees – it is January. Some ice is left on the left on the bike trail but it wasn’t terrible and I just unlocked the front fork and took is slow not to beat the hell out of the rear wheel and break spokes and shit. The bike trail while not perfect, it is better then it is often in the winter, and at this point it’s a better option picking it up at Elsemere rather then Cherry, as there is more ice in shaded sections. Despite the weather report, the wind was mild and sunny. 
Bike is running good now that I got it greased up, but I’ve been fighting all the road sign and sand on the road, and for a while until grease got up the chain was binding up and cassette skipping a bit. I will need a new cassette and chain eventually, but I figure I’ll ride it until it starts to skip a lot because I find at least with my bike you always have to replace cassette and chain at the same time. Probably should also do the crank but I’ve found that’s not essential. A lot easier since I got a crank puller.
We had freezing rain mid-day while I was worked. I made the bus late as I struggled to get it off, and got balled out for the driver for screwing up his schedule as I struggled to remove the basket. Ending up leaving it on but I guess it didn’t block the drivers vision too much. I was worried it would break, the lock come smashing through the windshield when it hit the bump on both sides of the Norman’s Kill Bridge. I will take the driver’s advice and pull the basket off before the bus approaches next time. 
I used to do that all of the time, but I haven’t had issues with it detacting in recent years, until we got freezing rain and temperature dropped during the day while I was in the office, combined with all the road salt and grime. I apologized to the driver but it was fine, traffic was light and by the time he reached Delmar he was back on schedule. I know shit happens. 
Live and learn. 
and all the other craziness in our country with ICE. I mean I did, as Democrat, cast a protest vote for Trump but not for all that crap he’s done to our country. Maybe I should have taken the advice of my liberal friends to say he would kill off democracy, whatever that means. I know it’s the winter weather, the truck search, my lack of sleep the previous night but I had a lot of paranoia by end of the day, even though my bike made it home safely, riding on the front of the bus, basket attached. I was so wound up I found myself needing to go for the evening walk 
once I got home. I usually don’t like walking in the dark and cold anymore, but I needed it last night. Later on, I fried up onions, black beans, corn and cormael with some salt and Stevia and was feeling better. I was so sleep deprived yesterday from that late night at the Guilderland Town Hall and not being able to sleep in beyond 5 AM. 
Woke up in the middle of the night, listened to more of Greta Thunberg’s The Climate Book.
Mostly thanks to my excessive use of electric blanket though a couple of times I think the refrigerator door open and that kept running, and also using the space heater a bit. It’s not like my gas bill part of it is high, I’ve kept the heat at 46-50 degrees all winter, but I do like the warmth of the electric blanket, often heading under the cover immediately after I get home and keeping it cranked up much of the night, burning through 180 watts an hour at full power, and if I run it full output all night, then that’s 1.8 kWh. Also probably because it’s cold and I’m horney, I’ve been taking longer showers. 
Shit adds up. 
Electricity and gas prices are up. I can’t believe that I averaged 34.2 cents per kilowatt hour when you consider delivery, supply and base charges. But I don’t have a car insurance bill or gasoline bills, so I guess that saves over this winter, but I also need money for the SuperDuty.
I doesn’t help that I keep also watching videos on personal financing and investing, and markets more generally, 
as I want a more holistic approach to investing, and keep this purchase in context of all other life goals – the off-grid cabin and homestead. Truth is I am on track for all those things, as long as I keep going. Yes, the SuperDuty is going to be a cost, but I need to get some kind of vehicle if I want to travel next summer, 
and while it’s certainly possible to get Big Red back on the road, and that’s the most economical decision, he’s old and tired at this point and there is no guarantee that he will keep running smoothly at this point no matter how much money I put into welding his frame. I keep seeing videos about car payments, and people burdened by paying $1,000 dollars plus per month but if I do take a loan I plan to pay it back immediately, or at least within a few days of getting it. I hate the idea of paying month by month to drive the big truck. Depreciation isn’t really thing if you don’t have a note against a vehicle and you plan to drive it until basically it has little more then scrap value. 
I know I am rationalizing spending a lot of money on a big truck, but let’s be honest even if I spend $10k-$20k extra over 10 years getting the truck I really want, whatever the annualized cost is pretty small. I camped over 370 nights in Big Red, so I got a lot of use out of him. 
or put a plow on the front.
Then more meetings downtown. I am not opposed to that, as it will be riding downtown in the daylight, actually mid-day, then working over at the LOB and Capitol, and then I can catch the earlier bus on home. Almost enough light to ride a 5 PM at this point, but it’s going to be cold and probably still safer and easier to bus it home. Probably too cold to walk tonight, but who knows I did enjoy it last night. 
Haven’t done the evening walk since I started regularly riding to work, but I could be persuaded to change my mind.
Not a terribly cold weekend, and I’m sure I would have done Rensselaerville State Forest or maybe Schoharie or even Madison County had I still had Big Red. But actually I’m not missing winter camping that much. 
I might smoke some pot and go for a bike ride, the rail trail isn’t quite so icy at this point or I could ride on he road. Finish up those books on Hoopla. 
And watch more Youtube and learn everything I can soak up about the auto buying experience.
