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Sunny and cold this President’s Day 🌞

After a rough night last including many trips too the bathroom after eating too much red lentil soup and beans, and then the smoke alarm going off at 3 AM, I’m up and going this morning. Started out my day stocking up my pantry with fruits, vegetables and other healthy eats for the week to come. A barely sub-$100 grocery bill, though not by much, but I’ve finally gotten to the point where my pantry had a few things left over from last week, and most of the unhealthy stuff from a year ago is now gone.

Good morning! Sunny and 26 degrees in Delmar, New York. 🌞 I wonder how many more times I’ll be saying that. It’s weird to think it might be coming to an end. Cool and blustery with a northwest breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. There is a dusting of snow on the ground. ☃ Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around noontime. 🌡️

It’s beautiful out today, but with the wind is fairly cold. 🌬 I’m actually not rushing to get out too soon, as I’m really hoping to speak to my new landlord again, about the questions and concerns I politely raised in an email on Saturday, ✉️ that he has not replied back to. I would feel much better if I had contact information, and if I could pay him via a mailed paper check, where the paper trail is clear in case of dispute of payment. 💵 Maybe I’m too fearful of him, but he reminds me of kid who beat the shit out of me in high school. 👊 You know, the kid who barely made it out of high school, and floats from job to job in the construction industry and on and off the unemployment rolls as his parents a dying from alcoholism and decades of chain of smoking. I feel rather sorry for him, as I think he’s become a really decent person even if he smashed my nose into the locker multiple times back in the day. I also am waiting for calls back from various mortgage loan officers, 📞 and want to talk to some friends out in the country 🐮 who have bought homes in recent years, and want to get their advice and tips.

Washington’s Birthday will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 31 degrees at 4pm. Six degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical Northwest wind around 14 mph. A year ago, we had cloudy skies. The high last year was 47 degrees. The record high of 66 was set in 1981. 11.4 inches of snow fell back in 1972.❄

I do want to get out and do some hiking this afternoon, 🚶‍♀️hiking up Bennett Hill or maybe Wolf Hill. It’s sunny out but cold. But I need some of serenity of the wilderness, even if for only a few hours. 🌲Things are so crazy these days. 🤪 Then head out to the folks for Sunday dinner. 👪 It’s important to talk to as many people and listen to as much advice as possible. 👂 Time isn’t as tight and things aren’t as awful as I imagine them to be in my darker moments, but change is happening, and it’s happening much too fast. ⌛ With the stock market, my portfolio is good, and high interest rates may work in my favor, as I can offset more capital gains taxes from selling stocks in good market by using the mortgage tax exemption. 📜 God, that makes me feel old.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:10 pm with sun having an altitude of 36° from the due south horizon (-34.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 8.3 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:53 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (249°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (255°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:32 pm after setting for 3 minutes with dusk around 6:00 pm, which is one minute and 16 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (100°) at an altitude of 54° from the horizon, 243,483 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:34 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 29 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 10 mph. Today will have 10 hours and 47 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 43 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 15 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 4th. Maximum wind chill around 17 at 6pm; Northwest wind 6 to 10 mph. In 2023, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 35 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1966.

Tuesday it’s back to work. 👨‍💼 I may drive in so I can retreat to my truck should bankers call to discuss mortgages, as I don’t have my private office yet, as the retiring director has a few more weeks left, though not much. It will be quite the operation to take over, and while I’ve learned a lot in these past 6 weeks and I have the skills to be an excellent leader, it’s scary, not least to say, as I’m replacing 40 plus years of experience. 🙀 But I have an excellent team I’m working with who will support me, and the reason why they trust me in such a place of high authority, is because I’ve delivered 16 1/2 years of results for my business. Still, it’s a big jump from being Deputy Director to Director, in an agency that doesn’t have deputy to fall back on. My bosses will just be several miles of up the road, and always there to support me, email and phone aren’t the same as sitting down in a room together. 👔 I might wear a suit and tie, but still a redneck inside. But I believe in myself and my future. Things could go terribly wrong, but I have a track record of success, and preponderance of the evidence is that I will do exceptionally well in the new position, especially with my knowledge of the R programming language, Unix shell scripting, C programming and technical aspects of Data Services.

Looking ahead to next weekend, it could be real nice. 😎 Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 31. Sunday, partly sunny, with a high near 39. It’s early in the week, so I’ll take a wait and see approach. Go camping? 🏕 Who knows how busy I will be with the next steps in my life. 👣 Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees. Now we’re in the second half of February, things warm up quickly.

One month 📅 from now will be Last Day of Winter 🏂 when the sun will be setting at 7:08 pm with dusk at 7:35 pm (Daylight Savings Time). The average high temperature is 47 degrees, with a record high of 78 in 2021.

They call it the coldest time of year for good reason 🌬

That said, it’s only expected to last for a few more days. But expect high heating bills and bone-chilling cold outside for a few more days before things warm up a bit and turn to rain for the second half of the week.

Good morning! Clear and 9 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌞 Breezy, ️20 mph breeze from the northwest 🌬 with gusts up to 36 mph 💨💨💨. The current wind chill is -10. There are 3 inches of snow on the ground. ☃ ️Things will start to thaw out at tomorrow around 2 pm. 🌡️

I can remember colder days, in years past, 🌡 but it’s been such a warm winter with El Nino and warming climate, I’m not used to feeling the cold or having the hit running so much. The electric blanket is nice and actually with the cold and heat running more, it seems warmer inside.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 21 degrees at 2pm. 11 degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around -10 at 6am. Blustery, with a northwest wind 15 to 21 mph, with gusts as high as 38 mph. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2006. 7.2 inches of snow fell back in 1990.❄

Yesterday was much less of an ambitious then maybe I had first hoped 😴 though a lot of it was the cold and wind kept me indoors. I just get chilled through much quicker these days then I used to when I was younger. I also have only a 1/4 tank of gas left in my truck and 100 miles of fuel left ⛽ and want to make it through another week before fueling up again. But I had plans, but they were never implemented yesterday. Truth is after I got shopping, I got studying the GNU coreutils and especially the text-editing functions to help advance my new career at work, then it was cold and I decided to hide under the covers and take a nap after having a big pot of pea soup with stewing beef and carrots. 🥘

I did get Walmart and stocked up on $140 on groceries. 🛒 The $80 in groceries I bought last week really didn’t go that far and I didn’t want to risk running out this week before the end of the week. When I run out of fresh fruit and vegetables, 🥦 🍏 I too often find myself reaching for other sweets 🍬 and sugars — or for that matter carbs. The best thing to do is make sure my pantry is well stocked and remains stocked. Unlike many people, I’ve not had problems with things going bad — I eat plenty 😋 and a large portion of fruits and vegetables I buy are frozen.

I don’t necessarily buy that fresh fruits and vegetables are healthier or better then flash-frozen, the later are significantly more affordable. 🍓 The thing is I am running low on freezer space. Some due to how much ice blocks I have in freezer for camping 🧊 — which truth be told I don’t need right now but I keep there for thermal mass or in case of power loss. But I figure if I use them up some older, maybe less healthy stuff, then it will save money and provide good eats. With inflation, every little bit helps. 💸 Sounds silly but it’s true.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:07 pm with sun having an altitude of 27.4° from the due south horizon (-43.4° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 11.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:11 pm with the sun in the southwest (236°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (243°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:54 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 15 seconds with dusk around 5:24 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Gibbous 🌔 Moon in the east (92°) at an altitude of 44° from the horizon, 239,204 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:59 pm. At sunset, look for sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 20 degrees. The wind chill around sunset will be 6. ☃️ There will be a northwest breeze at 15 mph with gusts up to 25mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 39 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 57 seconds over today.

This afternoon I am heading out to the folks house for Sunday dinner. 👪 I want to hike Bennett Hill this afternoon 💨 but every time I hear the wind gust up, my mind is changed. Maybe it’s best to just stay home and work on some various projects before going out to see the folks. Tomorrow will be warmer, I can go for a bike ride before work 🚲 or at least walk laps in the plaza before work. 🏃 And maybe an evening walk tonight, as the wind will hopefully die down this evening. Or at least tomorrow, though the rest of the week may be hard with rain coming in.

Tonight will be mostly clear 🌃, with a low of 11 degrees at 6am. Four degrees below normal. Maximum wind chill around 5 at 6pm; Northwest wind 6 to 11 mph becoming light west after midnight. In 2023, we had light snow in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -20 occurred back in 1984.

As previously noted, there are 3 weeks until Don’t Cry over Spilled Milk Day 🥛 when the sun will be setting at 5:22 pm with dusk at 5:50 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly sunny, snow showers and temperatures between 38 and 23 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1981.

Maybe not the coldest Martin Luther King Day ever … ⛄

I could of and probably should have spent another night in the woods last night, but I didn’t. I was put off by the promise of high-winds, heavy snow squalls and my still fairly new camp stove that wasn’t working really well. Going to order a backup regulator and filter so going forward to avoid future problems. I might go back out camping in two weeks, if it warms up for my 41st birthday or maybe I’ll wait until Presidents Day Weekend.

Good morning! Mostly sunny and 18 degrees in Delmar, NY. There is a southwest breeze at 5 mph. 🍃.

Up at 5 AM 😀 making some pancakes with oatmeal, wheat flour and shredded carrots 🥕 to get that fiber-rich boost to my morning. Feeling good this morning, I thought I was starting to develop a cough yesterday, but I think I might have breathed into too much campfire smoke 🔥 in the cold on Saturday night. Blueberries, mango, honey and pure maple syrup to top the pancakes. 🥞 Probably have a bit of a sugar high today, and if not that, I definately did do that second pot of coffee. ☕ I’m up and going. Clear but cold this morning.

I do think it wouldn’t have been a bad day in woods, 🏕 but the forecast seemed so bad yesterday, plus I didn’t really pack enough food and I forgot to bring road salt to control the ice at camp. There will be future weekends, or so I tell myself. I do want to make sure I have that stove working well, at full output as I like my pipping hot coffee and eggs cooked quickly 🐣 especially on a cold day today. But it’s easier to get up at 5 AM with a heated apartment and electric stove to quickly heat up coffee on such a winter’s morning. I do wish I could be watching the sun rise at camp again.

M. L. King Day will be mostly sunny 🌞, with a high of 28 degrees at 2pm. Four degrees below normal. Southwest wind 5 to 7 mph. Not terrible for mid-January. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 65 was set in 1995. Seems like a good day to be listening to Dion’s Abraham, Martin and John on this cold winter day, though it’s expected to warm up as the day progresses. 13.4 inches of snow fell back in 1983.❄ Maybe an inch or two of snow tomorrow. I could drive into my new office, but I think I’ll figure out a way to bus it was the transfers and or the shuttle as I don’t want to deal with snow or for that matter traffic.

Thinking about going for a bike ride this morning 🚴‍♀️ though the rail trail might be covered with snow. I could just ride the roads, maybe go out to Five Rivers or something. I also want to go to the library for a while, I’ve thought about making some Iowa caucus data from 2016 maps up to share on the blog. 🗺 Then later on this morning, going to head out to the folks house for a visit. 👪 Pork roast for dinner, should be yummy. 😋 Last night, I made some chicken soup up, 👩‍🍳 I was pretty good. I am guessing will be for lunch again too. Then I also want to make some bread up tonight, so I can put that in the oven for the morning. As I want to get in early tomorrow, as it’s the first day with the new position, I do need to be careful about cooking up soup or anything that takes too much time in the morning. Cold enough this morning I heard the heat kick on a few times, especially early on around 5 AM when I first got up to cook breakfast.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:05 pm with sun having an altitude of 26.2° from the due south horizon (-44.6° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.2 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:03 pm with the sun in the southwest (234°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (242°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:47 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 19 seconds with dusk around 5:17 pm, which is one minute and 9 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southwest (206°) at an altitude of 40° from the horizon, 226,535 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:53 pm. At sunset, look for partly sunny skies 🌃 and temperatures around 28 degrees. There will be a south breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 28 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 40 seconds over today.

At some point I got to wash my truck and mountain bike, 🚿 both which have a lot of salt and mud on them. But right now with the cold that’s probably pointless as the roads are likely completely encrusted with road salt. There were a handful of things I didn’t get at Hannaford like peppers and more sweet potatoes I’ll probably want to get to get when I run out to Glenmont next time. I could drive in mid-week, and do all of those things on my way home after work. It really depends on how cold it is.

Tonight will have a slight chance of snow showers between 2am and 3am, then a chance of snow after 3am. Mostly cloudy 🌨, with a low of 20 degrees at 3am. Four degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around February 23rd. Maximum wind chill around 18 at 7pm; Northeast wind around 5 mph becoming light and variable. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 19 degrees. The record low of -16 occurred back in 1971.

I am excited about tomorrow with the new position. 👨‍🏫 I have so much to learn in my coming months, though everybody seems to think I will be a good fit for the position, with my knowledge of data science and public datasets. In other words, I am good at typing a lot of %>%, though I probably should brush up on Python and certainly COBOL in the coming months. But a lot of things it’s best to leave up to the actual programmers. It’s a big change, but it’s good to embrace change, and I look forward to doing good work and improving my own life. I’ll need to update my investments and tax deductions, but I first want to to slowly bring up the level in my checking account 💸 which has been so depleted in recent months, mostly due to inflation eating away at everything. I worry a lot, probably way too much, though I’ve had fewer and fewer problems with actual anxiety attacks since I’ve been eating healthier. 🥦 But as I note in one of today’s blog post, there are so many problems and risks in the world, 📉 that most important thing to do is to protect yourself against all the evils of the world today. They really are out to get you.

Cold and blustery weekend on tap. 🧤🧣 ⛄ It’s winter, what I can say. But it’s not expected to last with a warm up expected the following week. Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 17. Blustery. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 23. Probably filming my little part of Reszin documentary that week. Oh, really, as Reszin once said about my bullshitting. Probably too cold to ride over to the filming location, 🎬 which I am not actually sure where it is but it can be combined with a run to the store or Walmart. Always seem to need more food. 🍏 Typical average high for the weekend is 32 degrees.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until my 41st Birthday 🎉 when the sun will be setting at 5:05 pm with dusk at 5:34 pm. That year of being forty went by like a flash. But it was good day, I mean year especially in the markets. How fast the days come and gone. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 44 and 22 degrees. I had a lot of fun camping that weekend, doing a bunch of cross country skiing. Maybe I should do again. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 54 back in 2002.

Rain is starting to clear on this start to the Martin Luther King Weekend 🌦

After much of the summer having rainy Sundays, this winter seems to be dominated by rainy Saturdays. And it will get cold come tomorrow, for an extended time period, though that’s somewhat to be expected this time of January. I bet by my birthday at the end of the month things will start to warm up again. Maybe that’s when I take that left-over carrot cake in my freezer and camp then. Who knows!

Good morning! Rain and 48 degrees in Delmar, NY. 🌧 There is a south-southeast breeze at 14 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at around 9 pm. ☃️

I slept in until 5:30 AM this morning ⏰ which was late for me, and I was in bed by 8 PM but I think the net result was I got a good night’s sleep. Probably was the excessive amount of sugar 🍰 I had yesterday. I didn’t want any parties, but they still threw me two different parties for my going away at work. One of them had carrot cake 🥕 and yes it was super sweet, as I no longer normally eat sugar. 🍭 😋 I was pretty wound up for the rest of the day, and I wish I ad been able to ride to work 🚲 to burn calories but that was not to be due to that loose bolt. I did have a nice walk last night. 🚶‍♀️I like yellow foods, note my obsession with turmeric, 💛 only followed by obsession with oranges, e.g. carrots and citrus like oranges and grape fruit. 🥕 But then again, Red is kind of my favorite color, ❤️ witness my big jacked up truck. 🛻 It’s not like I don’t love smoked paprika and red peppers especially when good and sweet too. And then dark orange, which is another word for brown, 💩 which I do poop a lot with my fiber rich diet. 🤣

Breakfast was onions, eggs, some spinach, canned tomato with some milled corn mixed in. 🍳 The result was pretty good, though I wish I had more fiber 💚 but by this morning my pantry was pretty bare. 🥫 I like carbs a bit too much, but at least I always try to include lots of fiber with my carbs, and almost always whole-wheat carbs. First this this morning after showering 🚿 and breakfast I went to Hannaford. I don’t love shopping there, they have a small spice selection, and while their produce selection is higher quality it’s also more expensive. But with coupons 🎫 I was able to knock $35 off of a $121 shopping bill, which got it down to $86. 💸 Still things are more expensive then Walmart and of course I had to settle for regular plain yogurt, as they didn’t have non-fat Greek yogurt. That did not make me happy, and included a few cuss words. 🤬 I probably should have given the full-fat yogurt a try. Some fat isn’t bad, even if it is omega-6 saturated fat, and it fills you up quicker then no-fat, or so I’m told by the dairy farmers, who want to get a better price on their milk fat. 🤰 Shopping is so depressing 🙁 🛒 with inflation these days.

Got home from shopping and decided on an early lunch. 🍌 The banana I had wasn’t satisfying enough, so I decided to fry up one of those wonderful sweet onions from Hannaford along with a bunch of peas, broccoli, and some tofu with lots of turmeric and red-chili spices, plus a dash of salt and black pepper to maximize vitamin up tick. That finally got me filled up. 😋 Now I’m feeling good. Probably still on that glycemic roller coaster 🎢 from all that sweet and wonderful carrot cake yesterday. I actually took home a quarter of that carrot cake, and promptly stuck in the freezer for some time down the road, after licking down the box. The frosting they use at Cookie Factory in Troy is just pure cane sugar and egg whites. Pretty heavenly 😇 especially when you don’t normally eat sugar. Of course now I have a big sweet tooth again, 😬 but I’ll keep it filled apples, bananas, and especially that mango I got. I am so happy to have bananas again this week, last week was sad without them. The carrot cake is locked away in back of the freezer. 🍰

Today will rain likely before noon, then a chance of showers, mainly between noon and 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a temperature rising to near 51 by 11am, then falling to around 39 during the remainder of the day. 🌦 South wind 11 to 16 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 29 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning, remaining cloudy in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1932. 13.1 inches of snow fell back in 1964.❄

What to do today is the question on my mind. 💭 I intentionally got up and early and to the grocery store a little after 8 AM so I could shop both before the crowds 👩‍👩‍👦‍👦 🛒 and so I could have the balance of my day free. Really I could see today going in three ways. Stay close to home, go to the library, 📚 and maybe a bike ride on the rail trail 🚲. Another option would be to go to the Village of Colonie, check out clothes at the Salvation Army off of Central Avenue 👔, and then ride trail in the Pine Bush. I do get best clothes from Salvation Army, so much of the new stuff is China-made fancy-label crap. For riding trail this afternoon though, even with the sand though, the trails might be soft. But if it clears out later, might be nice to watch the sun set from Albany Pine Bush. 🌲🌲🌲 The third option would be to get my stuff together, do a night or two up in the woods, though I’m sure after all this rain things would be soft. 🌲 🏕 Tomorrow everything will be frozen, and it will be sunny, but it’s going to be cold with the wind. Maybe one night in woods freezing my ass would be refreshing though if the balance of day is sunny. 😎

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.8° from the due south horizon (-45° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.4 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 4:00 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:44 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 5:15 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (224°) at an altitude of 18° from the horizon, 226,726 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:51 pm. At sunset, look for rain 🌧 and temperatures around 42 degrees. There will be a west breeze at 15 mph with gusts up to 28mph. Today will have 9 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 28 seconds over yesterday.

Tuesday I finally start out my new position in earnest, 👨‍💼 moving up to the office in North Albany. Looking to put my data science experience and knowledge to work at new Director of Data Services. And be the keeper of the LOL book, the list of lists, as they called them when I worked at Higher Education Services Corporation years ago. 👨‍🏫 I won’t how much of the Job Control Language and COBOL I remember from back in those days. 📜 I’m sure it will come back quickly, it’s sort of Unix like, and programming is ultimately just programming. COBOL is just extra verbose. And operators and programmers probably do most of that anyways.. I could drive, but I think I’ll take the express bus in then transfer to the shuttle. 🚌 Everybody says it’s not worth the effort to transfer buses, but it really won’t impact my morning commute much, and maybe I’ll get home later on days I don’t ride my bike in, but it’s a chance to walk laps in the Empire Plaza 👣 or visit with people in the Capitol Complex. 👥 It’s important to be seen at events, and meet up with people. Honestly, in person I’m not as obnoxious as on the blog where my slogan is, “All My Heroes Burn Their Trash and Smell a Little Like Cow Shit”.

I finally learned my new salary, it is a bit less then I hoped, especially these days with inflation, but if I work hard to get the bonuses, it will be find and with next year’s inflation adjustment and step increases, it will be the nice round number I was hoping for. 💵 It’s just tough with inflation, but I’m doing better then a lot of people. And I got paid early this week, so I no longer have $162 in my bank account, though come next week when the auto investing is done, it’s probably be hovering around $1,000 again. 📈 But it’s still a good time in stock market after last year, even if this year is starting off soft. 🏦 I do worry about some damage being caused in economy by pay-now-pay later’s exploding popularity, though I don’t think it’s likely to be as damaging as the housing crisis of 2008.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 28 degrees at 3am. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around March 21st. Southwest wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 29 mph. In 2023, we had light snow. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of -24 occurred back in 1957.

I’d loved to spend the night in the woods, 🌲 🌲 and it’s not going to be super cold but that wind will be cold, as will the dampness of things after that inch of rain we got last night. Who knows my urge for camping 🏕 and having a fire up in the woods 🔥 might get the best of me and I’ll be huddled over the propane heater either tonight or tomorrow. At least there is no fire risk, even with the wind. Kind of wish there was some snow and less mud. It’s that wind that’s what will get you. 🌬

Sunday will have a chance of snow showers, mainly after 9am. 🌨 Partly sunny, with a high near 35. Breezy, with a south wind 11 to 20 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. Then Sunday night, partly cloudy, with a low around 16. West wind 10 to 18 mph, with gusts as high as 28 mph. Going to be ducking cold. 🦆 And for M. L. King Day, mostly sunny, 😎 with a high near 26. West wind 7 to 9 mph. Still rather old.

Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Clean Your Computer Day 🧹 when the sun will be setting at 5:21 pm with dusk at 5:49 pm. On that day in 2023, we had mostly cloudy, mild, rain showers and temperatures between 51 and 34 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1955.

Another work week draws to a close with the holiday party today 🤶

One week until the start of the Christmas Weekend and two until New Years Eve Weekend. Both weeks will be abbreviated as I plan to take off next Friday and the following Monday and Tuesday after Christmas where I work are holidays. Lot of work projects on my desk as I pack up my office and get ready to do a trip out to Madison County next week. Today is Bill of Rights Day and also the 56th anniversary of the Silver Bridge Disaster down in Point Pleasant, WV.

Good morning! Happy Friday. Only two more left this year. Mostly clear at the freezing point 🌅 in Delmar, NY. There is a south-southeast breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Going to be a nice day. Will be a bit cold for riding into work but I’ve done it in much colder weather for sure. Time goes by so quickly it seems.

The ride to work 🚲 was pleasant and if leave early from the party 🎉 I’ll be able to ride home after getting a beer 🍻 at City Beer Hall. I haven’t decided what’s for dinner tonight, last night fried up some left over riggis from last week’s Sunday dinner with corn, butternut squash, tofu, mushrooms and onions. Not too bad. Had some more of that rye bread I made up. Maybe I should stop frying things up, but it’s so good especially with some spices, and a little avocado oil isn’t the most unhealthy thing ever. You need some fats in your diet to absorb fat soluble vitamins, and omega-3 fats are the healthier option to do so.

Today will be sunny 🌞, with a high of 50 degrees at 1pm. 12 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 15th. South wind 6 to 16 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 33 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2015. 8.2 inches of snow fell back in 1968.❄

The cookies 🍪 I baked for cookie share day were kind of disappointing in my book, rather bland and too tart. The whole wheat flour I used was grainy, the stevia wasn’t sweet enough and had an after taste not balancing out the cranberries well. 🍒 I need to experiment with other sweeteners like monk fruit, or maybe honey or pure maple syrup, or just plain old sugar. Not everything has to be perfectly healthy, though I don’t want to get in the habit of consuming large amounts of unhealthy sugar, though I guess it’s somewhat balanced by the whole-wheat red flour adding fiber. Truth is I’ve kind of gotten to really dislike the taste of stevia — I first got into it for sweetening lemonade in the summer as a healthy low-calorie alternative to beer while camping, but the after taste it leaves in my mouth is kind of yucky, and I don’t like how it tastes with baking those cookies.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:51 am with sun having an altitude of 24.1° from the due south horizon (-46.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.4 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 14 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the south-southwest (213°) at an altitude of 15° from the horizon, 228,509 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:31 pm. At sunset, look for clear skies 🌄 and temperatures around 47 degrees. There will be a northwest breeze at 13 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 7 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 30 seconds over yesterday.

Tonight will have increasing clouds ☁, with a low of 34 degrees at 5am. 11 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 9th. Northwest wind around 7 mph becoming northeast after midnight. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became light rain by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 33 degrees. The record low of -11 occurred back in 1917.

It’s annoying having that broken burner on my stove, ♨️ so I need to get that part this weekend. I am pretty sure it’s a standard 6 inch burner, and I can get that at Lowes for $11 so I am not going to bother my landlord. I’ll replace the drip trays again, which after about 3 or 4 years have burned through again. I really enjoy cooking, 👩‍🍳 so I want to make sure my stove is in top shape, especially as I often find myself using all four burners, and that’s the largest burner on my stove.

On December 15, 1967, the Silver Bridge collapsed under the weight of rush-hour traffic, resulting in the deaths of 46 people. Two of the victims were never found. 🌉 The Silver Bridge was an eyebar-chain suspension bridge built in 1928 and named for the color of its aluminum paint. The bridge carried U.S. Route 35 over the Ohio River, connecting Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and Gallipolis, Ohio. Investigation of the wreckage pointed to the cause of the collapse being the failure of a single eyebar in a suspension chain, due to a small defect 0.1 inches (2.5 mm) deep. Analysis showed that the bridge was carrying much heavier loads than it had originally been designed for and had been poorly maintained. The collapsed bridge was replaced by the Silver Memorial Bridge, which was completed in 1969.

Also, today in 2000, was an the end of an era at the infamous Chernobyl Power Plant. Reactor No. 4 was the site of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986, and the power plant is now within a large restricted area known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. ⚛ Both the zone and the former power plant are administered by the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management. The three remaining reactors remained operational after the accident; all three were eventually shut down by 2000, and the plant remains in the process of decommissioning as of 2019. Nuclear clean-up is scheduled for completion in 2065.

Tomorrow will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 45 degrees at 12pm. Seven degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 27th. West wind 6 to 8 mph becoming north in the afternoon. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 35 degrees. The record high of 61 was set in 2021. 9.5 inches of snow fell back in 1981.❄

Planning on riding to the French’s Mills 🚲 and maybe the Pine Bush tomorrow. Should be a good day for a nice ride. Also need to put the hub caps back on my truck. I am thinking either Saturday night to go shopping and get the replacement burner or maybe Sunday morning. Depends how tired I am from lots of biking.

Looking ahead to Sunday, rain likely, mainly after 1pm. ☔ Cloudy, with a high near 47. Southeast wind 7 to 10 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. Typical average high for the weekend is 38 degrees.

Sunday going to the Nutcracker 👪 with the family, that is after going grocery shopping early in the morning. Then probably bake some bread later on in the day. 🍞 And head to bed fairly early.

Looking ahead to longer days and ultimately summer, next Friday is Days are Getting Longer ☀️ when the sun will be setting at 4:27 pm with dusk at 4:57 pm. By then we’ve already gained almost five minutes in the evening. First full day of winter. But probably won’t feel that way. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy, rain showers and temperatures between 34 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 36 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1990.

Well, I Didn’t Expect that Rain this Morning 🌧

After cooking the rice-beans-lentils, along with the sweet potatoes and the acorn squash, I stuck them outside to cool down. Then I heard the rain starting to pound down the roof. Not a problem as the dishes were in sealed containers but it was a surprise. By the time I put the pea soup out I had been cooking, the rain had let up and by the time I took out the overflowing compost inside to dump into the biggest bucket, it wasn’t raining at all. And despite being a little bit damp, and having some sprinkles when I was riding in along the South End Railyards, it turned out to be a super nice day for a ride in.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 41 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. 🍃. Temperatures will drop below freezing at tomorrow around 5 am. ☃️

Despite the rain, it’s a super mild day. 😀 I noticed how warm it truly was when I got up during the night to go to the bathroom 🚽 and started cooking a little before 5 AM. Started out by rinsing the peas that had been soaking overnight and cooking them, and then went back to bed for a little more R&R 🛌 after which about 5:20 I got up and got a jump on the day, tossing the bread and acorn squash 🍞 🎃 into the oven to cook, chopping up the carrots 🥕 and onions 🧅 for the soup 🍲, starting up a pot of rice, lentils and beans 🍚 for lunch and frying up onions, spinach, mushrooms and other vegetables 🍳 for breakfast.

I really wanted to ride in today, 🚲 and was glad that the rain stopped before it was time to leave after my shower. 🚿 Running kind of late after all that cooking, but it’s fine, it’s going to be a quiet day in the office to at least start out the morning, but depending which projects come in things could pick up. Kind of in an transitory time now, things are winding down a bit at my current position but I haven’t moved on to my new position. Just trying to get loose ends cleaned up. 🎀 I figure once I move to the new office, at least until late January or early February I’m not going to be able to ride in as it will be too dark to ride from the office to Peter Kiernan Plaza to catch the express home 🚌 so I’m going to have to take the shuttle which lacks a rack for my bike. But not riding in January probably isn’t a big loss as probably much of the month the bike path will be snow covered, and not to mention it will be cold. ⛄

Had a nice Sunday dinner with the folks 🍲 which was turkey soup 🦃 left over from Thanksgiving. It was pretty good with dinner rolls and lots of egg noodles. Maybe less vegetables and fiber then what I would have at a meal at home, along with more fat 🤰 but it was still good and had a good big bowl of soup. I figure there is only a few more chances to have mom’s home cooking while it’s still good, as she’s getting up there in the years. I can eat healthy the rest of the week, and indeed for lunch, I had red lentil soup with spinach, mushrooms, broccoli and lots of spices. I’ve been noticing lately that my gut has been adjusting to the higher fiber loads, and things have been good though I do try to break up meals so not every night is loaded with beans and lentils, which can be particularly hard a times. 😤 I didn’t get many steps in yesterday, as it rained so much 🌧 so I was glad to ride to work today, and take the 17 flights of stairs up to my office.

Today will have a slight chance of showers after 9am. Mostly cloudy 🌦, with a high of 47 degrees at 12pm. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 22nd. Southwest wind 7 to 11 mph becoming west in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies in the morning with some clearing in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 63 was set in 1998. 6.0 inches of snow fell back in 1901.❄

On my list of things to get done today is called the shop about getting my truck state inspected 🔎 🛻, tires rotated and oil changed. It’s been nearly 8 months since the last oil change, but with synthetic oil, the fact my truck quit it’s oil burning habit, and the general lack of miles driven over the past few months — especially the early summer when I was looking at mountain bikes 🚵‍♀️ I still have plenty of time left on the oil, but I figure get it all done at one shot. Truck’s been running good, all the tail lights are working fine, so I expect the state inspection should go smoothly.

Last Monday when I was driving to the laundromat, 👕 and to wash my truck, the relay that controls the CB radio and was clicking on and off. 🔘 Not sure what the issue was but I ended up knocking the over-ride switch connector off, fiddling around with it in the dark. Strangely enough, when I was driving the truck on Sunday I didn’t have any more problems. I do need to replace that crimp connector I broke but I’m not sure where the loose wire was or why the relay was acting up, switching on and off repeatably. ⚡ It’s not such a big deal right now, as I’m not doing too much driving, and the worse thing that can happen is the relay gets burnt up, and it’s not expensive relay — I can always turn off the CB radio 📻 manually if I continue to have problems.

Last weekend when I was camping, I accidentally left one of the library books 📕 in back of my truck on the shelf on that rainy, snowy wet morning, 🌧 and the book got kind of wet from snow falling on it. 😭 After some careful drying over the past week in the oven — using residual heat from cooking or pre-warming the oven, I got the book mostly dry, and now have it propped up between some other books, and weighted down under my bed 🛌 putting a lot of weight on to flatten it out, almost back to the original shape and size. I’m hopeful I can return the book in close to original condition and not get dinged for damaging the library book. Also warped the cover of another library book using it as a wait to dry out that book in the oven when the broiler had just been ton, so that cover has been taken off the book and is drying out.

I replaced the smoke detector battery 👩‍🚒 🔋in my apartment, and now it’s been working properly without so many false alarms from the shower 🚿 steam and cooking. I’ve gotten in the habit now of just taking it down off the wall before cooking in the morning, because inevitably cooking involves smoke, even if it’s just crap I’ve split on the stove. I’ve been thinking of upgrading to a photoelectric detector, because I’m getting really fed up with false alarms from cooking or even the shower. This time of year, especially as I keep the heat turned down in my apartment, the smoke detector is so easily triggered by both shower steam and stove cooking. And as my bedroom is upstairs were smoke detector resides, it’s so easy to set off accidentally. 🛎 It doesn’t do any good to have a smoke detector if I’m constantly resetting it or taking it off the wall for cooking or showering, and then accidentally forgetting it reset it before bed.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 25.2° from the due south horizon (-45.7° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.8 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:39 pm with the sun in the southwest (232°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (240°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:23 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 21 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 13 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look out for a chance of rain 🌧 and temperatures around 45 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. Today will have 9 hours and 16 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 14 seconds over yesterday.

I am thinking of staying late today at work 🎆 to watch the fireworks and state “Empire Plaza” tree lighting 🎄 at 6:15 PM either from my office or down on the plaza. I think this would be my last chance to see the fireworks from my downtown office, 🏢 as I’m not going to be here that much longer. I packed a dinner so I can have it at the end of day. I’ll probably clock out a five, but we’ll see how things go and how much work there is to do.

After being so opposed to smoothies 🥤 I ended up discovering how much I like a warm glass of milk with some shredded fruit in it and lots of cinnamon, ginger or pumpkin pie spice to warm myself up as a healthier replacement for hot coca in the evening. I do think a lot of smoothie recipes you find on the internet or at your local health spa are still junk-food, but a warm glass of skim milk with cinnamon and ginger, along with shredded strawberries 🍓 or apples 🍎 with nothing additional added (i.e. no added sugar) really isn’t any worse then having a glass of milk with an apple. And it tastes good, and a good way to warm yourself up. ☕ I would do coffee, but in the evening, who wants to be up all night? Plus I like drinking milk 🐮 and supporting the dairy industry, plus all that good Vitamin A & D. I’ve become a lot less of an ideologue when it comes to eating healthy these days, but I still work to stay away from excessive fat and sugar, though I do give myself a break a times.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 31 degrees at 6am. Five degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around November 19th. Northwest wind 8 to 11 mph. In 2022, we had clear skies in the evening, which became cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 26 degrees. The record low of 2 occurred back in 1989.

Next weekend reminds me of the weekend that was. 🌧️ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 49. Sunday, showers likely. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 52. Chance of precipitation is 60%. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees. Probably another stay home weekend, it’s the last weekend of regular deer season after which the woods should empty out for exploration. I am still thinking about those days leading up to Christmas to head out to Madison County 🎄 but the week before then I am planning on attending a family Christmas event.

As previously noted, there are 2 weeks until Bake Cookies Day 🍪 when the sun will be setting at 4:25 pm with dusk at 4:55 pm. On that day in 2022, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 35 and 25 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 37 degrees. We hit a record high of 60 back in 1921. I actually need to to think about what kind of cookies to bake or buy. Saw a good recipe for sugar cookies, I might try to implement using whole wheat flour and stevia, and maybe bananas or honey rather then sugar, though I’m not crazy about how much butter it uses, though butter is kind of necessary to provide shortening to break the gluten bonds and give that wonderful cookie taste. Maybe work in some oatmeal into recipe, for soluble fiber. Or just get some cookies at the grocery store, and the cookies they don’t eat leave for other people.

And now another adventure 🛻

Next weekend now looks better lol? I’m packed though and ready to go with an ambitious agenda. More sun would be nice but I take what I can get as winter’s coming and I have Monday off with Tuesday being a state holiday for the mostly uncompetitive elections I voted in last week mostly pissed about the drone issue not that I even own a drone.

Good morning! Mostly cloudy and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☁ There is a south breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear around 6 pm.

I had forgotten how unpleasant the side effects were from the COVID jab 💉 as my arm 💪🏻 was a sore throughout yesterday though the bike ride in the cold both ways probably didn’t help. 🚲 And then I was sleepy 😴 all afternoon yesterday, maybe because it was a five 5⃣ day work week after

So I’m off for a four day trip out to Madison County. 🐮 Not quite West Virginia but it’s a good adventure I have planned closer to home. 🌥 Not going to be a real sunny weekend but mild, not looking super wet. Lots of gravel biking maybe some single track trail riding come Tuesday. Plus exploring Chittenango and Canastota on the Erie Canalway. 🚲 Plus Cazenovia, a fun town and I want to check out the Aldi there. 🛒

Tried to keep the packing list 📃 simple and to the essentials for this four day, three nights trip. I’m close enough to stores 🏬 to buy supplies if I forget something or if things go terribly wrong I can head home. 🏡 But a lot of the camping 🏕 gear I keep in the truck year round. Trying though to keep this trip under $100 for all consumables like gasoline, and any items above and beyond ordinary food. Banana or oatmeal that I would eat regardless don’t count but paper towels do. Though most of the consumables I have from vacation already bought.

Quick breakfast 🥚 of eggs I boiled last night, some whole wheat bread I baked on Thursday 🍞, apple 🍏 and I’ll bring an a banana for the road. A five hour energy ⚡ for my caffeine jolt and a quick shower 🚿 and hopefully I won’t be pissing all day. No ginger or tumeriac until I’m to camp, lol. 😂 That five hour energy ☕ packs in as much caffeine as 2 ½ cups of coffee which I probably would otherwise drink and be pissing my way to Madison County. Plus I drank a lot of water 💦 yesterday to overcome the symptoms of the COVID jab.

Stopping at Tractor Supply in Guilderland to top off my propane tank 🏮 after 8 am when they open to be safe though it’s not super low after such a mild vacation but the nights are long and cool especially with the time change. 🕒 Set my manual clocks ahead at home, will do the truck before I leave. Also will need more gasoline and a few groceries – bananas 🍌, apples 🍏, carrots 🥕 and whatever fruit and vegetables look good and are cheap as I’m good on grains and proteins. Maybe honey, 🍯 cottage cheese and Greek yogurt. Canned pumpkin? 🎃 And fuel ⛽ for the truck.

Today will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a high of 55 degrees at 2pm. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around November 2nd. South wind around 6 mph. A year ago, we had mostly sunny skies. The high last year was 71 degrees. The record high of 76 was set in 1994. There was a dusting of snow in 2006.❄

Going to be a rather gray day today but the plan is to spend the balance of the day riding the Chenango Canal Trail 🚲 down to Hamilton from Bouckville. But not too late as the sun sets early and I want to have time to find firewood. 🔥 Gain an extra hour tonight and I get up so early these days, but I’m going to be a bit more relaxed about getting up but still probably in darkness to maximize the limited daylight. 🌅 Plus I like sipping coffee ☕ watching the sun rise.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:40 pm with sun having an altitude of 32.1° from the due south horizon (-38.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 9.6 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 5:06 pm with the sun in the west-southwest (243°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (250°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 5:46 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 6 seconds with dusk around 6:14 pm, which is one minute and 15 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 6:49 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 53 degrees. There will be a south-southeast breeze at 5 mph. Tomorrow will have 10 hours and 12 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 2 minutes and 28 seconds over today.

Yesterday was my last bike 🚲 ride home after work with the time change 🕒 but I still think I want to try to ride to work as much as possible until too cold and snowy ☃ and take the bus 🚍 home in the evening. It was a nice ride home, the wind not as strong as I had feared. But by no means am I going to ride through the South End after dark and onto an unlit bike path in the gorge. But the buses all have racks to take my bike home. 🚶 And I’m going to start doing evening and probably morning walks again.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌥, with a low of 41 degrees at 5am. Six degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around October 17th. Calm wind. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 61 degrees. The record low of 17 occurred back in 1951.

Got looking at Ebooks and all the online services my library offers. 📚 I’m still in the mindset of the library being just physical books but they have hundreds of ebooks, magazines, and especially those free training classes on advanced computer classes for GIS 🗺 and other skills like programming with Udemeny. While I probably wouldn’t pay for the online classes, they’re remarkably good and free through the library. 🖥 And they can be accessed from my smartphone 📱.

Looking ahead, next Saturday is Veterans Day 🪖 when the sun will be setting at 4:38 pm with dusk at 5:07 pm (Standard Time). Big change with the time change. Friday also is a state holiday with Veterans day observed then. On that day in 2022, we had rain and temperatures between 69 and 48 degrees. This year it could snow or be wet ☔ or maybe not it depends on the timing of the front come Thursday into Friday. Typically, the high temperature is 51 degrees. We hit a record high of 70 back in 2002.

Andy Arthur.org

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