I can take a breath now or at least Big Red can. I’m going for a quick jot up Bennett Hill. Kind of a cool autumn day, especially when the breeze picks up but the sun helps too.

Yesterday I kind of took the day off. 📴 You know just kind of stay home, really trying to study up on computer 🖥️ programming, learn the ins and outs of vscode and things like git and cmake. A lot of reading 📖 some coding. And then just data services work for all the campaigns. It wasn’t a lot but it needed to be done. 🚴 Tinkered with the bike for a while, trying to find the creaking and clanking noise I’m hearing from time to time with no luck. Rode out to Five Rivers 🐸 via Meads and then Fisher Boulevard over to the Bender Mellon Farm Preserve. 🌇 Watched the sun set, looked at the mountains and headed home 🏡 and read some more. It was warm inside – I think my new neighbor has his heat really warm but last night as the temperature dropped by morning I needed my heated blanket a little bit.

I do feel a bit guilty about not being involved in any campaigns this year, 🐴 I thought about knocking on some doors 🚪 but nobody asked me to help. That was one version of what I had thought this weekend would have been as a trip out to Cazenovia but the days are so short and the fire risk high. 🔥 Truth is as a director I’m not expected to pound pavement but I kind of like it. Plus I’ve had a fair number of data jobs to do. I’ll just be glad when it’s over, whatever the result is, knowing I did my best for my part of the operation. Trump is probably going to win and the Republicans both houses of congress based on the absentee ballots returned and early voting data which suggests Republicans have all the energy this cycle. 🐘 Things won’t be quite as grim at the State Houses but I could see us loosing a few seats.

The time change brought more sunlight to the morning 🕒 but it’s still a cool and clear November day. It will be getting dark around 5 pm. The extra lights for my bike have yet to arrive 🚲 but I have one and the roads have street lights in the city and I’ll take the express bus 🚌 home. Next weekend I plan to go out to Cazenovia or maybe just Vermont after my dental appointment on Thursday. 🦷 My teeth are bad – they need a cleaning and probably a filling. Sucks. 🍌 Probably not from candy 🍬 I’ve eaten at the campaign committee but instead all the bananas and apples 🍏 I snack on at work.

Truth is that I’m not ready to face another winter. 🌨️ It’s a good time to learn and think about my future 🔮, maybe really master computer programming once and for all. 🤓 Continue to research my housing options 🏡 maybe resume planning my homestead. And I can certainly winter camp at the horse camp or Rennselaerville. But it sucks. Seems like it was only a few days ago I was smoking pot and floating on a tube in the wilderness, enjoying the Grateful Dead 🎸. I shouldn’t complain about the good life, yet I wish I could point to more progress then grams smoked and days fallen off the calendar 📅. At least the oil 🛢️ change got done last weekend, air filter and registration this weekend.