Personal

Helter Skelter in a Summer’s Sweater 🤪

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It’s the dew point that is really obnoxious in this weather, it’s what really gets you sweating hard. But alas it’s just summer, the dog days of summer as they say.

I’ve just been so busy lately. 🏃 And hot, especially riding home last night. It didn’t seem so bad until I ran into the grocery store ❄️ after riding up the hill from the Normans Kill Gorge. 😅 🚲 But by the time I got home and cooked up some dinner I basically collapsed on my bed 🛌 and played with my new phone for a bit before retiring to bed for the night. And I keep oversleeping in the morning.

Set-up several interview for work starting tomorrow. 🤝 Then I have meetings downtown on Thursday and more to do on Friday. Still have projects to do for Don Rittner and I should find time to read. 📖 Need to decide if I want to go out of town for the weekend. 🏕 Looks like it will be hot and sunny, ☀ I’m thinking 💭 about heading out to Schoharie but things could change.

After discussing with the supervisors I am taking off July 26 – August 2nd to go to the Finger Lakes as that’s when we will have office coverage. 🏕 Just the usual – the National Forest camping, lots of time in Watkins Glen, riding a lot of bike trails 🚲 – thinking of a day trip during vacation to ride a bunch of the Pine Creek Gorge. Watch some sunsets from the pier at Seneca Lake. 🍨Eat lots of good ice cream.

Got a late start this morning 🛏

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I still can’t believe I ended up sleeping in to 7:45 am this morning. Used to be not that long ago I could not set an alarm and be up by 5 am each morning.

I did ride in this morning 🚲 but had to call in and let the supervisors know I’d be about a half hour late. ⏰ Maybe tomorrow I’ll set an alarm to be safe. I should head in early tomorrow as I have a lot of work to do and I got to be downtown midday for meetings. It’s totally my fault, I might have taken a puff last night and had a beer, I was kind of worked up about spending all that money 💵 on the phone 📱.

Carrot 🥕 pancakes 🥞 for breakfast. Through some bananas and frozen blueberries and sugar free maple 🍁 syrup on them. I go back and forth about sugar free syrup versus the real stuff. There are definite pros and cons of both ways of enjoying one’s breakfast. 😋 Then it was a nice ride in this morning. Going to be hot one for sure.

So I have my new phone. 📲 I am a little underwhelmed by the camera, but it’s certainly better then the one on my old phone and it’s much faster. Even with the protective case, I ordered a protective screen as I realized that’s important, especially with this more expensive phone. I realized how much damage the old protective screen did for my old phone. The old protective screen was all cracked, but the actual screen below it was in good shaped. You don’t know how many times I drop my phone, and especially on gravel, and even with the protective screen it needs all the protection you can give it. 💥

Riding at the Pine Bush was fun last night, 🌲 🚲 though it was hot. Of course I was too busy playing with my phone. I also got some groceries at Market 32 Elite Guilderland, 🍏 but never made it to the freezer section, after exploring all the fresh produce and being annoyed about the high price of oatmeal they had there. I want to get some frozen veggies so I can have them for lunch.

I feel so guilty about buying a $200 dollar Smartphone 📱

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Truth is that old phone with the misfiring screen was on its last legs for a long time. I could have gotten a cheaper phone but I wanted to take good pictures, my other camera is wearing out and it a pain to have to transfer things over. Hopefully I’ll get a few years out of this quality phone that had much better reviews then the cheaper models.

The thing is I’ve worked hard over the past twenty years since high school, 🧑‍💼putting myself through college with cash and no loans, and I’ve worked hard to get where I am in my career. I was starting to update my LinkedIn and realized how far I’ve come in my career. Pouring through resumes today for that Word Processor position I’m hiring for, I realized how humble the people are who are just starting out of who don’t have the education or experience. I would have been one of those applying for the job I’m seeking to fill twenty years ago. 📄 The person I ultimately decide to hire might someday take my position and be the next leader. So many choices too – racial and gender diversity, different experiences and backgrounds, some with a criminal record of a blight in their background but might be an asset given a second chance. I am consulting with the supervisor and ultimately my boss has to sign off on my decision but it’s ultimately mine to make. I really have many ideas on how to grow and make my agency better at all things it does.

So I feel like I shouldn’t skimp on everything, or at least buy quality when it matters. This phone 📱 had much better reviews and if I get 2 or 3 years out of it like the last one it will be worth it. I use my phone constantly, I use my laptop less and less these days. If it lasts for two years it will work out to be a few bucks a month difference. Life is full of risks but I’m hoping to document my experiences with the better camera 📸 especially now that I’m planning to travel more of I’m not going to buy that homestead. 📞 Now that I have a good working phone I have no excuse not to call the realtor back and decline. She’s been desperately trying to contact me – I guess I’m her best hope for her getting her commission. Tomorrow I tell myself.