It always makes me nervous but why I don’t know as Big Red is running well and AFAIK all the lights are working good. Oil change and tire rotation too today. Let the shop get all of those things done at once. I’ll just take off the hub caps.

Good morning! What day is it? Big Red, gets state inspected day, of course. Snow flurries, partly clear and 32 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a west-southwest breeze at 8 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 8 am. 🌡️

Up at 5 AM to have breakfast of eggs, onions, rice and corn and other veggies. 👨‍🍳 The burner element failing this morning was a surprise as it arc flashed when it cracked and shorted, but I’ll replace the burner either today or this weekend. Last night I fried up sweet potatoes with onions and veggies with some left-over turkey from Thanksgiving. 🦃 Finishing up that bread I had made up on Monday, I will bake a new loaf tomorrow morning along with cookies for work, and maybe that spaghetti squash. 🍆 Squash is really cheap at Hannaford this week, and I have $5 in points rewards expiring on Friday so I plan to go to Hannaford when I pick up my truck this afternoon.

Dropping the truck off at eight thirty. 🛻 Pulling the hub caps off now. I forgot to ask for synthetic oil but I’ll ask when I drop the truck off. 🛢 Doesn’t matter that much I don’t drive much in the winter. I used to do my own oil changes but by the time I got the oil, struggled to remove the oil filter it wasn’t worth it. Then I’ll walk 🚶 home and get down to work. I’ll start my day working from home, have lunch then spend the remainder of the day working from the library 📚 where I don’t have to worry about using too much bandwidth. 📶 Rush projects continue today, so I’ll be busy. Also want to get to the store after picking my truck up from the shop. I need soap 🖐️ among other things.

Today will have a chance of snow showers, mainly after 11am. Mostly sunny 🌦, with a high of 38 degrees at 12pm. One degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 15th. West wind 8 to 14 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. A year ago, we had sunny skies in the morning with sunny skies in the afternoon. The high last year was 34 degrees. The record high of 58 was set in 1984. 14.0 inches of snow fell back in 1915.❄

While cooking 🍳 this morning the large burner quit working. No heat then it started to arc a bright white color where it broke. I could call the landlord 📞 but I’m not going to bother him over a $10 to $20 electric stove element I can just pick up at Home Depot and plug it in. I can see were it cracked, it’s a plug-in and a very standard cheap part. Should also replace the catch basins on the stove too, they’re pretty burnt through again. 🫖 Figure anytime I call the landlord he’s ultimately going to tack it on my rent so I don’t call unless it’s dire. 💵 My apartment needs a lot of work but it’s inexpensive and I want to keep it that way for as long as possible. 🏡

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:50 am with sun having an altitude of 24.3° from the due south horizon (-46.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:38 pm with the sun in the southwest (231°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (239°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 24 seconds with dusk around 4:54 pm, which is 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 36 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 14 mph with gusts up to 28mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 8 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 34 seconds over today.

As I do from time to time I check my net worth and retirement accounts. 💰 They’re up 33% from three year ago in November. Not the pandemic low but things were still down a bit. I’ve been expanding my bond holdings in recent years but it’s really the stock that have been high flying ✈ these days.📈 That said, I do share people’s concerns that the stock market is overvalued, especially the high-flying seven corporations that dominate the S&P 500 but the way I look at it is while they may go down, and even the market may have a substantial correction, other stocks will be replace them eventually and ultimately the index will grow. I still think broad-spectrum indexing is the way to grow, along with regular steady automated purchases, without regard to any trend. Spread out the risk, stock funds, bond funds, broad-sector funds. I’ve lived through times of up and down on the market 📊 — I am bad and don’t look at much at the market when things go down, but then again I don’t really act on any short term trend. Combined with my better paying job out in the suburbs, I look forward to a brighter tomorrow. I just want to build a secure future for myself, with so much instability in the world today.

Tonight will have a chance of snow showers before 9pm, then a slight chance of rain showers between 9pm and 10pm. Mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 24 degrees at 5am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 12th. Maximum wind chill around 14 at 5am; Northwest wind 10 to 13 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 17 degrees. The record low of -5 occurred back in 1898.

Took the later local bus home last night 🚌 as I was working on that rush project. Gets me home a half hour later then I would otherwise get home. Not a super big difference, dinner was done by seven and I went out for a walk before coming home to a warm glass of milk with cinnamon and ginger and retiring to bed. ☕ If I take the free shuttle back the plaza with my new job, I’ll be taking the bus home more often, but if I decide to take the Purple Express to downtown, I can probably catch 519 home at the regular time, though that will cost an extra $1.30 a day. Works out to an additional $300 a year, though my new job will pay far more extra then that. But I don’t know, I like saving money, and the free shuttle drops me off in the Plaza which I can spend the half hour getting steps in at the Plaza where it’s warm. I got options to mull over.

Back in 1962, NASA launches Relay 1, the first active repeater communications satellite in orbit. 🛰️ Nowadays when you look up at night you occasionally see Starlink and that’s quite an impressive amount of satellites in the sky. I’ve heard it’s great for those who live in remote areas and need high speed internet. It’s expensive but if it provides work and puts food on the table it’s pretty neat.

Warm and fairly sunny 🌞 this weekend. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 45. Still thinking 💭 about biking 🚲 down to French’s Mills on Saturday. Sunday, mostly cloudy especially late, with a high near 45. Nutcracker with the family 👪 them. Rain comes in for Monday. ☔ Busing 🚍 it to work Monday. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.