February 12, 2016 Night

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Good evening. Currently mostly cloudy and 19 degrees in Delmar. Tonight will have a chance of snow showers, mainly between 11pm and 2am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. Wind chill values as low as zero. South wind 7 to 9 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Total nighttime snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Waxing crescent moon set about an hour ago, but when it was nice, it was quite pretty. Tomorrow’s sunrise will be at 6:54 am with first light at 6:25 am, which is 2 minutes and 21 seconds earlier then today. Tomorrow will have a slight chance of snow showers between 11am and noon. Mostly sunny and cold, with a temperature falling to around 3 by 5pm. Wind chill values as low as -18. Blustery, with a northwest wind 16 to 22 mph, with gusts as high as 34 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. Hopefully Big Red will start right up tomorrow.

This evening however was still fairly mild with a slack wind, so I could do my evening walk. It was nice to be able to walk as with the cold through Monday, evening walks and most all walks are off the table. The mostly cloudy skies of earlier have turned to stars and a nice moon which has now set. Walking can take away a lot of stress.

I was doing quite well this evening until the bathroom sink plugged. I’m delighted about the tax refund I’m getting and that tax season this year was relatively easy. The sink however has been draining slowly for a while, and now it’s draining real slowly. I tried plunging it but with plunger with limited results. The overflow valve makes using the plunger challenging. It’s just a lot of hair from shaving and soap. I got a lot out. Hopefully it will be fixable with some lye or draino. I am hopeful I can fix it myself, as I don’t want to deal with my landlord much less get billed a bunch for a plumber. Lately, I’ve been just so stressed with my budget. Everything expensive lately has been happening with me to break my bank. But I’ll survive at some point not running from crisis to crisis. Life could be a lot worse.

I hope you had a good week and are ready to rest up during the frigid long weekend weekend. Sleep well!

February 12, 2016 Evening

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Good evening. Currently overcast and 24 degrees in Albany.

Tonight we have a Waxing Cresent Moon with 32% illuminated. It will set at 9:43 pm. Tonight we will have a chance of snow showers before 7pm, then a slight chance of snow showers after 10pm. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 10. South wind 6 to 8 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Cold night but with the lighter

In four weeks on March 11 the sun will be setting at 5:57 pm, which is 34 minutes later then today. There are 3 months, 18 days until Memorial Day. when the sun will be setting at 8:25 pm. I look forward to those summer nights.

Crazy fast bus driver is getting me home quickly. I didn’t get my GPS app open fast enough on my phone to clock the bus speed but the driver was moving. I want to get a screenshot clocking the bus speeding. I should be home on time or early, which is nice on a Friday. Hey, if the driver doesn’t crash I’m not complaining.

Filed my taxes today. The feds are sending me a check for $600 and I owe the state $200. Not too bad, although my market investments only saw a capital gain of $50, although they did pay reinvested dividends of around $3k. Not a great year in the markets last year but things will turn around. Oh, well. I feel less broke now.

I finally got stuff straightened out with National Grid and are back in their auto-pay plan. Kind of a pain in the ass but it finally worked itself out. Probably dinged my credit but I’m not planning on buying anything on credit for a while.

It’s going to be a cold weekend. Oh well. No big plans. I probably will mostly stay in town, work on some code, get my flu shot, and maybe go to the Adirondacks Outdoors Expo. We will see.

February 12, 2016 Update

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Good morning! As we head into the 9 o’clock hour, it’s now up to nine degrees. Bright and sunny this morning, which makes the cold not seem too bad. I was up and going, so I could catch an earlier bus downtown to get a jump start on the work.

While it’s bright and sunny this morning, look for increasing clouds, with a high near 22. Wind chill values as low as -2. South wind 5 to 9 mph. Sunset will be at 5:23 pm with twilight at 5:52 pm which is one minute and 18 seconds later then yesterday.

It only looks colder from here for the long weekend. Ironically, it will get nicer for Tuesday with a modest warmup expected. Tonight will have some scattered snow showers, mainly between 10pm and 3am. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 9. South wind 6 to 9 mph becoming west after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. Little or no snow accumulation expected.

There are 1 month, 8 days until Palm Sunday. Easter sure is early this year but it sometimes happens that way. At least eventually winter will come to an end. Already, the sun is coming up earlier and setting later, making days a little less short.

Happy Birthday to Phil Zimmerman who invented Pretty Good Privacy, the app that helps keep Internet communications secure. He turns 61 years old today.

Today in 1963, the National Park Service starts construction of the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri. It’s strange to think there was a time not that long ago that St. Louis was not identified by the massive arch. Had Nelson Rockefeller’s original plan stood, Albany would have gotten it’s own arch of freedom as part of the Empire State Plaza. It would have been pretty cool, although the final plaza when built was also quite magnificent.