Personal

I was going to take the earlier express in 🚌

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I literally walked out to the early express bus and was thinking it’s too nice to be cooped up on a bus this morning or walking laps in the plaza. So I ended up riding in. I was hesitant at first ride in as I don’t love riding back to the train station after dark or putting my bike on the bus rack, but I do like the fresh air and the sunshine before it’s cold and dark in the evening.

Yesterday, it was getting back into the groove, just getting catched up on everything. 🏢 There were so many different things to get done and caught up on. The five days I spent in Madison County was a lot of mountain biking, 🚴‍♀️ sitting around the campfire 🔥 drinking beer 🍺 and smoking pot. 🚬 Fun times, but I also ignored everything else in the world, especially as I’ve been so busy and doing remote work, so it was nice for a change of doing nothing at all. 🤷‍♂️

Yesterday I rode to work, 🚲 and it was fine but it was so dark riding back to the express bus stop at Train Station in Albany from Menanads. Took the express bus home, but it was cold waiting for the bus ❄️ and I spent the ride watching the bike bump up and down, with an unfamiliar driver not slowing down for the bumps. 🚌 I ended up having to help the driver navigate the route 🗺 as he was a Troy driver who didn’t have a good idea how to get to Voorheesville. Based on my experience, I was thining it would be just easier and a lot warmer to just take the bus in both ways, and walk laps on the Plaza but then my mind was changed.

Thinking tonight I will need to turn the heat on ♨️ at least downstairs to keep it from getting too cold, though my plan after dinner is to retire to bed under the electric blanket, much like last night.  It’s dark and cold out at night, so I like to get to bed early and sleep a lot, plus read or watch a video under the covers on my phone. 📱 While turning out the lights at 7 PM might not save a lot, it does mean I get more sleep, and it’s so cozy with the heated blanket.

Fluoride

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I’ve never lived anywhere fluoride was added to water — be in rural living at my parents house or nowadays in the Town of Bethlehem where they don’t fluoridate the water. But it seems like teeth decay is a really bad thing as you can’t grow new ones, dentures are expensive and costly to get, and dental insurance even when you work for government is quite limited.

It doesn’t seem like fluoridation of water is particularly costly or harmful. Most fluoride in wastewater is pulled out by sewage treatment plants through ordinary treatment. It’s only about 5 lb of fluoride added to the water for a million gallons of water produced. Yet, bad teeth can have a real negative impact on people’s lives, especially with the poor coverage of dental care in current American health system. If we aren’t going to fix dentistry, then we should at least ensure the water most people drinks helps keep their teeth healthy.

What’s next? 🏕️

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This long weekend camping is coming to an end. I thought about tacking on a few extra days but I’ve been gone five days and it’s going to be cloudy with wind and showers like much of the week so far away. Plus I told them I’d be back in the office on Tuesday after Veterans Day and I’ve been ignoring work stuff during my vacation as I’m not remote working.

Southern Zone deer season opens Saturday. This usually isn’t a great next few weeks for camping but I’m thinking on Black Friday after Thanksgiving I’ll head up north to the Adirondacks, most likely the East Branch Scandaga for three nights. Take off that Monday after the holiday weekend. Identify some places to hike, maybe somewheres I haven’t done in recent years.

Then in December it depends a lot on the weather, how much wind and snow we get. I don’t mind the cold but wind can be frigid and snow makes the remote country impossible to drive back to. Maybe I’ll be back to Moscow Hill to camp or Rennselaerville State Forest. Other options include a north country trip – maybe Horseshoe Lake or Jones Pond – depending on how much snow we get. I wouldn’t mind riding some of the sections of the Erie Canal Trailway I’ve missed between Albany and Syracuse – namely the sections between Little Falls and Rome. Some also depends on gas prices, how much time I have remaining to take off before I loose it at the end of the year and any needed repairs when I get my truck inspected.