January 6, 2023 Morning
Good morning! Yeah, it’s Friday! A January 6th, holiday party day at work. I skipped my morning walk 👣 due to the rain and my ankle being sore from the new boots 🥾 and because I need to go to the store and get milk, bananas and fruit for the holiday party.
Rainy start to the day, and 39 degrees at the Delmar, NY. ☔ Calm wind. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 8 pm. ☃️
Shopping 🛒 first this morning and then I’ll catch the electric bus 🚍 ⚡ downtown. I swear the electric buses are always the hottest buses to ride, which isn’t great for bringing milk on 🥛 but I think it will be okay. I thought they used diesel heaters on the electric buses but it turns out to be all just heat pumps moving waste heat and resistance heating. They keep adding more and more electric buses.
Today will rain, mainly before noon. 🌧 High of 40 degrees at 4pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 28th. Light and variable wind. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 2007. 12.7 inches of snow fell back in 2002.❄
I keep penciling ✏ in my ideas for Mission Fifty, my plans for my life at age 50 and how to get there. I have been doing a lot of research into financial literacy and how to make a better budget and minimizing expenses on things that really don’t bring you joy. 💵 Mission Fifty isn’t primarily about money but having adequate resources and spending them in ways that is meaningful to you is key to living a good life. 🚜 I’m in a position where I can turn my life around if I only do the right thing for myself and don’t get distracted by silliness like consumerism and politics, the two things that destroy so many lives – things we should remember on this January 6th, a day when thousands of lives were tragically sacrificed for politics. 😔
Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:02 pm with sun having an altitude of 24.9° from the due south horizon (-46° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.9 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:52 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:37 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 22 seconds with dusk around 5:08 pm, which is 59 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Full 🌝 Moon in the east-northeast (61°) at an altitude of 9° from the horizon, 251,819 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:44 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a calm wind. Today will have 9 hours and 15 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 5 seconds over yesterday.
I am hopeful that it will clear out for the evening 🌃 walk. Assuming that I can do it with my ankle being such a sore mess. I also need to go shopping 🛒 this evening – I’ll do it after work as I’m parked 🅿 at the Park and Ride. Then my pantry will be set for a while.
Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 32 degrees at 5am. 15 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 2nd. Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light snow by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 16 degrees. The record low of -12 occurred back in 1878.
Tomorrow will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 40 degrees at 12pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around February 28th. Light west wind becoming northwest 5 to 9 mph in the morning. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 31 degrees. The record high of 56 was set in 1915. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1994.❄
Tomorrow is Mom’s 75th birthday 🎂 party up in Saratoga so I’ll be joining them for that. I want to get my steps 👣 in and also I’m doing some demographic research on voting patterns that I’m interested and will likely go down to the library 📚 for that and to return books.
Looking ahead to Sunday, sunny, with a high near 36. ☀ Northwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the morning. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.
Sunday I’m going to try Macy’s and Boscov’s and try to get two more dress shirts 👨🏻💼 for work and then visit John Wolcott mid day and the Pine Bush 🌲 in the afternoon. Some point I also need to go to the laundromat maybe Sunday evening or Monday after work.
As previously noted, next Friday is Make Your Dream Come True Day 🏡 when the sun will be setting at 4:46 pm with dusk at 5:15 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 39 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 71 back in 1932.
Remembering the Removal [Kinzua Dam & Forced Seneca Relocation]
Completed in 1965, along the Allegheny River near Warren, Pennsylvania, the Kinzua Dam created a reservoir that inundated vast tracts of treaty-protected Seneca territory - forcing hundreds of Senecas to relocate in its wake. Remembering the Removal explores the relocation and its legacy through a series of interviews and features powerful archival footage from Allan Forbes’ 1994 film, Lands of Our Ancestors.
Computers are good for crunching numbers automating things 🖥
Computers are good for crunching numbers automating things 🖥
Often these days when you hear about computers all the talk is about big data, complicated software applications created by professional developers. You hear about geeks and nerds, crackers and theives. But rarely do you hear about the many things you can do with just a few lines of code.
While I doubt I’ll ever be a software developer or computer programmer, I’ve learned enough code to do a lot of simple things quickly piping together commands. Useful things that save time, extract meaning out of data, turn it into pretty good maps and charts.
A while back I got this book out from the library called, Python Programming: Automate the Boring Things. This actually seems like a good reason to use programming and scripting to get things done.
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.
