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A Busy Hump Day 🐪

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Climbing the hump once again. Not that I ever have much free time these days, it’s one data job after another, along with some camping up in the wilderness, riding my mountain bike, burning things and smoking pot. You know good life stuff as the seasons quickly shift in the autumn gear. Friday at this point I should be back up in the wilderness, remote working out of Speculator, or at least at Speculator Library for another long weekend.

Driving into today, 🛻 as tonight is the Save the Pine Bush dinner. 🍽 It’s the first SPB dinner since early 2020, so it’s been four years now. Actually for a while during the pandemic they did take out dinners, but then that stopped when we lost our venue to operate out of. ⛪I also think I want to stop at Northern Lights and get some cannabis 🚬 for the weekend up north, and also some cash from the bank. 💵 You know like a few one dollar bills for dinner and anything miscellaneous needed. I do like how the ATMs now print out as many $1 and $5 you want, although only 40 bills at once.

I went to Lowe’s this morning hoping to get a propane hose for my heater, 🏮 so I can use both my stove to make coffee ☕ and heat my hands on the heater, prferrably before I head north for the long weekend to remote work 🤖 from Speculator. Both the Moose Festival in Inlet and Apple Festival is going on Spectulator. 🍏 I can’t imagine they have many orchards or apples in Spectulator, but the local chamber of commerce wanted something to celebrate during leaf peeping season. 🍁 The thing about it was once I got out to my truck with the new hose, I realized it was the wrong type and promptly brought it back into Lowes to get my mney. So far they haven’t refunded my card, but I have a feeling it will happen soon. 💳 I am gong to look online to see if there is any place locally I can also get a hose. I’d really like to have it for camping, on those cold autumn mornings, like coing up on Friday.

It’s just been busy, busy, busy. 👩‍💼 Moving a lot of data, fixing problems, working into the night. I was working down at the library after getting home last night until 8:45 PM when an error popped up on my screen from an issue with some of my code, 🔢 and I said it’s time for bed. Got home and collapsed in bed. Yesterday, I rode both ways to work, 🚲 the bicycle is working pretty well and got some groceries on the way home. 🛒 I almost missed that stop sign by the office 🛑 as I was distracted by an incoming text 💬 and of course got another strike on the insurance reduction app. Truth is I’m not going to get the best savings, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s not about the money but getting myself into safer driving habits.

I feel guilty heading out of town every weekend, ⛺ but it’s not all that much money for the gas, and I figure use up my truck while I still can. ⛽ I think this winter with the road salt is going to be tough on the truck, I am seriously thinking I’ll probably be replacing it next year. So might as well take advantage of it, especlally when we are getting such nice autumn weekends. 🍁 I’ll probably head north on Friday before work and come home on Monday evening after work. I think this weekend will actually be less busy then last, and I want to spend some good time riding gravel, maybe hiking Watch Hill and enjoying all the color. Plus just some good ol’ fashion hammock time.

I kind of despise Kamela Harris but I might vote for her as I like smoking pot

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In the next few days I expect to receive my 2024 General Election ballot in the mail, under New York State’s Early Voting by Mail program. It’s great – once a year I request my ballots, and they send them in mail with a postage-paid return envelope. Get a pen and fill in the scantron, sign the outer envelope and drop the ballot in the mail. And it’s done, no lines and if the campaigns are competent, they’ll stop contacting me when the deed is done or so at least will be case with the campaigns associated with my data operation. At least that’s hope. Plus I just really like the convenience of voting from home.

I sort of like Kamela and a sort of don’t. I love the idea of the first black women as President, bringing forward new ideas. She is more of the younger generation, when so many of a leaders in country have been excessively elderly over what has nearly been a decade now. I think she will move our country forward, not always adopting policies I like, but she will be a voice of change, although probably somewhat like a voice in the wilderness screaming like a schizophrenic man at the city street corner as the Republicans controlling the US Senate tell her no. But it’s important to have a check on her power, even if it makes the partisans angry.

I think Kamela will be good on climate change and environment, and moving more towards renewable and electrification. Once we get rid of all those smoke-blenching furnaces and tailpipes with their bellowing mufflers, cities will be a lot cleaner. Cars and trucks aren’t as polluting as they once were – but electrification and burning coal and natural gas outside of city limits rather then thousands of individual smokes stacks and tailpipes will mean a whole lot less grime in the cities. Of course, we have to watch where renewables are cited and the trade-offs that come with electrification, such as pollution associated with batteries and electronic waste disposal, along with mining and other activities in the sphere. To say nothing about the industrialization of lands formerly farmed or forested. But that’s why we have the Republicans to put a brake on her most ambitious of plans. The upside, is the promotion of more electrification and renewable energy will only help to further lower the price of solar and off-grid equipment for when I build my own cabin.

I am concerned about Kamela’s gun control initiatives, though at least it seems like the Republicans are unified against her, and are willing to challenge any legislation she might propose and go to court to defend the second amendment. The Supreme Court, mostly thanks to the majority appointed by Trump thanks to the games that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell played with the appointments, is much more likely to defend the second compared to years past, though it seems like it’s not as activist as one would hope at vigorously defending our gun rights. But between the Supreme Court and conservative states, it seems like the right to keep and bear arms will remain mostly protected even under the extreme gun-control measures insisted on an elected Kamela.

I also worry she will lock up more of our public lands from public use – – her people will close and abandon more roads and trails to the back country, close ATV and snowmobile trails, and raise fees for public use of the lands. She will say it’s to protect the Walruses or some bull like that. But I think she’s just locking the people out of the land who are lawful, paid owners of land as American taxpayers. And she might raise my taxes, especially on money I’ve worked so hard to earn and save towards a better future. That sad, Kamela would appoint halfway competent people to run the economy and not engage in insane policies like tarrifs that would trash the stock market and the economy.

This year, however the issue I care about most is a national legalization of cannabis. As much as I love my guns and wish I owned more if not for ducking New York State, I do like smoking pot around the campfire and up in the woods, enjoying all the beautiful colors, the clouds and ripples on the water. It’s just horseshit that your committing a federal crime to smoke pot on federal land, and you’re considered a drug trafficker and a felon if you buy pot in one state at a lawful dispensary and bring it across state line. You’re also committing a federal offense to lie on your 4473 form if you’ve smoked pot in the past year when buying a new gun. You know the stupid ass law that Joe Biden’s son got in trouble for. It’s cannabis, really the coffee of the drug world.

It would be nice to travel with pot, have a relaxing smoke in the evening wherever you are, have more variety of strains and lower prices when states competete and it’s easier for more retailers to sell. Wouldn’t be wonderful if you could buy a safe, prepackaged joint at a gas station as your passing through town like a case of beer, for when you retire back to camp in National Forest? And I would like to see a bigger discussion of legalization of mushrooms and LSD for those interested in trying them out. Recreational drugs, used for recreational purposes should be people’s choices.

I think Kamela would be better then Trump on that even if she’s still a bit of right-wing reactionary who loves the pigs too much. I am actually not sure why we spend so much on law enforcement, maybe it would be better to assist police in finding new jobs in the private sector. I am sure law enforcement with all their experience could be trained in new fields of employment, from everything from manufacturing to driving city busses to outdoor guides. Maybe because I don’t own a color television, I don’t have much of a concern about crime. I mean what are going to steal of mine? A shitty old 20-guage Remington or 12 year-old dust covered computer monitor?

I was pretty sure I was going to vote third party, but I see New York legislators have worked hard to ensure that’s not an option with the way they wrote the Election Law to make it virtually impossible for anybody but Harris and Trump to get on the state’s ballot. I kind of like Chase Oliver, the libertarian businessman from somewhere in the south. I think he has some good ideas, and it would be a good protest vote. I could write him in. Or I could write in something silly as the protest like the Dire Wolf, mainly because I like that Grateful Dead song when I’m higher then high around the campfire. It’s not like my vote in the Presidential race counts for shit, as I’m in a blue state where the 70 percent of state in the NYC Metropolitan area will largely reflexively vote for whatever the Democrats find in the sewer including a large rat.

I am a bit hesitant though to fill in the blank next to Harris’ name though, as I don’t want to take credit for everything she does to screw the nation in the next four years. In my younger  years, I volunteered for a Spitzer-Patterson phone bank, and we know how that all turned out. That’s why I usually vote for Jill Stein or whoever that libertarian was in 2020 and 2022, whose names don’t seem to matter enough for me to remember. But whatever. Voting is like buying a lottery ticket, you might as well just throw in burn barrel as soon you as buy it.

At least voting is free and easy with the Early Voting by Mail with the postage-paid return envelope… 🗳 📫

Tuesday, back to the office in Menands 👨‍💼

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Ah the smell of the North Albany Sewage Treatment Plant and riding past the garbage recycling plant off of Southern Pearl Street. But it’s still a nice autumn mroning for the ride in, with my hopes of being in the office by 8 AM so I can done some in-person work before my next trip ut to the wilderness, probably this weekend.

A beautiful morning, and I wish I was still out in the wilderness, 🌳 but I have meetings downtown today and Thursday. Lunch meeting today, but I was told it was pizza 🍕because Thursday’s lunch from Cardona’s was big bucks. I guess you can’t eat like a king always, and I’ll burn calories riding up the State Street Hill. 🍆 It actually makes me quite sad to think that the days of summer squash including zucchuni are but done, though now I’ll have to start baking bread, 🍞 making more soup 🍲 and rice dishes. 🍚 I am hoping on my bike ride home to stop at Hannaford 🛒, get more onions 🧅 and frozen veggies. 🥦 Trying to make sure I maximize my healthy eating as sometimes I get so much junk food at the campaign committee. 🍬

It’s good to be riding back downtown, 🚴 after all that downtime on the bike for maintence, which I probably should have held off, but replacing the chain and cassette ultimately will be protective of the crankset, which is where the money is to replace. That said, I do want to give it some serious thought about measuring the chain slack and replacing the chain before I also need to replace the cassette too due to wear. ⚙ But I concede when the chain is worn, you almost have to replace the cassette. Fortunately, it’s not that expensive to do both, but it seems kind of wasteful. I just wish the chains would last longer, it’s something I need to research further, but I concede I do put a lot of miles on that mountain bike commuting — roughly 500 miles a month. ⛽ Still it’s cheaper and healthier then motoring or taking the bus. 🚌 You forget how expensive gas, even if you don’t drive a massive jacked up truck like I do.

Of course with the nice weekend ahead, 🌞I am definitely thinking about heading up north to the Adirondacks for the Moose Festival and to enjoy the color which likely will be close to peak by this weekend. No gurantees, but with the past few days having been fairly cool, I expect decent colors up north. 🍁 And the thing is you wait another week, if we get even some of the hurricane rains up north, the leaves could be mostly stripped of the trees by then and things looking quite bare and November like. And that doesn’t seem particularly nice. I definately want to get a hose so I can use both the propane heater and camp stove at the same time. I am thinking Thursday after work I’ll run to Lowes and get it, but it depends I guess on the timing of such things.

I was totalling up my investments and savings for the year, 💰 and things are looking good with the economy having been roaring ahead. Literally I compared this September to last September, and my savings increased at twice the rate of my salary. I am sure though a recession is coming, 📉 so not all of those gains are real and I will probably have to replace Big Red in the coming year, but whatever I get will be a lot smaller and more fuel efficient. ⛽ But even small trucks are big bucks these days. I really could buy a house if I wanted, but with things locally, I don’t like the options and I’m not sure if I’m convinced I want to build in New York. That said, I will be sending the payroll department an updated W-4 to withhold even more of each paycheck, as I’m sure the taxman is noticing how much I’m accumulating in an untaxed wealth. 🔍 As much as inflation sucks, I do like the inflated values on my investments and savings. Of course, if I didn’t spend the past six months dreaming of buying a house and not investing more money, I would actually have even more of a gain.

Good morning from the Bennington Library 📚️

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Seems like the internet here is good enough for working. I’ll probably work here until around lunch time, then head back home, get unpacked and then head out to the folks house, working into the evening. Things have slowed a bit but I’m sure like usual it will be a busy day, but what doesn’t get done today, will get done early tomorrow.

It’s been fun up in Vermont, though I wish a bit more colorful. 🍁It’s only the first week of autumn though, and even in the mountains, the elevation isn’t that high. I think the past few weeks have been fairly mild, and I shouldn’t be rushing the color change too quickly, as you know how it happens — you get a few days of beauty, then a heavy rain, and then things are so gray and brown, especially as November is one of the grayest months of the year.

It was nice spending four days in Vermont, 🏕 even if it was a very much a working vacation. The Bennignton Library has good wifi, even if the wifi is down at the Visitor’s Center, much to my disappointment when I went there last night to do some work, and ended using my hotspot mode on my phone. Was hoping to save some bandwidth, though truth be told with the data work I do, it’s actually less data then you would think, as the files are fairly compressed, especially the outputs. 💻 I was kind of annoyed as no wi-fi at the vistor’s center came after I discovered there isn’t a ramp to the visitor’s center when you are coming from the

i was glad to have hiked Bald Mountain yesterday, ⛰ it had been on my list for some time. That said, the views from uptop I found to be only so-so and clouds pushed in mid-day, fading some what and clearing out. Cool morning but then it warmed out, but by the time I was back to camping it had cooled down. I went for a bike ride on some of the ski trails 🚵 and sat down by Beaver Pond until it was dark out. I was sitting up on this rock ledge, and saw a giant coyote 🐺 out in the field looking up at me. It’s that time of year. 🔥 Got dark early, and a headed back to camp.

I sure like the architecture of rural Vermont, especially some of the newer off-grid homesteads. 🏘 There ain’t nothing wrong with old the buildings, but I do like more the cabin look, simplier and totally off-grid with a lot of wood. Maybe I should look more into old houses, I was reading a book on it, and there is a lot of charm in old buildings, but most are very much grid-tied, with super comfortable heating sets ups and I don’t like that one bit. Woodheat is really is the way to go, and I would want as simple of an electrical and plumbing system as possible.