Up bright and early again this morning. Oatmeal Pancakes at five o’clock with cranberries, shredded oranges and bananas topped with maple syrup and cherries. A good sugar rush to start my day. It’s nice that with the new smoke detector it doesn’t set it off even when I send a big cloud of smoke up overheating the olive oil on griddle. Photo-electric detectors are good if you are annoyed about the alarm going off every time you cook. That and use avocado oil, you’ll produce a lot less smoke if you a bad cook like me.

Good morning! Happy Tuesday. Snow flurries glitter down from the sky as I sip my coffee ☕, its around 30 degrees in Delmar. ❄ There is a south breeze at 9 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. 🌡️ Going to be decently warm come mid-day, figuring we are in the second half of December. Going to ride to work 🚲, hopefully there won’t be a lot of damage to the rail trail from yesterday’s flooding.

Not a lot cooking up this morning 👨‍🍳 besides pancakes. Used up the last of the cranberries with a banana and a whole orange mixed with some whole-wheat flour, egg and some baking soda to make the pancakes, 🥞 topped with cherries and syrup. 🍒 Last night I enjoyed Cajun 15-bean soup, with lots of carrots and celery, and fresh rye bread, which actually is a mixture of rye and whole-wheat flour, as I don’t have white flour to use with the rye. 🍞 Came out pretty good, very dark in color and rich in flavor as I used red onions. Also some vital wheat gluten was added for texture, and obviously dill weed which is neccessary for rye bread. Maybe the next result is pumpernickel, although I guess in that case it would be truly whole-grain rye, which is pumpernickel not the blend between medium rye (partially refined rye) and whole-wheat. I am happy, and if you don’t like it, don’t break into my apartment and eat my bread.

Today will have a slight chance of snow showers, mixing with rain after 9am, then gradually ending. Partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 38 degrees at 10am. One degree above normal, which is similar to a typical day around December 17th. South wind 9 to 16 mph becoming northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 26 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had cloudy skies in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 36 degrees. The record high of 54 was set in 1895. 7.8 inches of snow fell back in 2008.❄

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:53 am with sun having an altitude of 24° from the due south horizon (-46.8° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 13.5 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 (230°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (238°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:25 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 25 seconds with dusk around 4:56 pm, which is 24 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the First Quarter 🌓 Moon in the south-southeast (157°) at an altitude of 43° from the horizon, 226,942 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:32 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 34 degrees. Breezy, 16 mph breeze ⛅ from the northwest. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 6 minutes of daytime, a decrease of 9 seconds over today.

Tonight will be partly cloudy 🌤, with a low of 24 degrees at 1am. Two degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 13th. Maximum wind chill around 21 at 6am; Northwest wind 7 to 13 mph. In 2022, we had mostly clear skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 23 degrees. The record low of -19 occurred back in 1951.

Today in 1974, Nelson Rockefeller is sworn in as Vice President of the United States 👴🏼 under President Gerald Ford under the provisions of the 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution. 📜 His appointment was controversial, and what should have been a swift confirmation process turned into a protracted and grueling inquiry into the extent of the Rockefeller fortune and its hidden influence. 💵 Basically he handed a stack of cash to anybody who got in his way as Governor of New York over his 15-odd years in the position. Which is why he always got his way and built so many big things, including the Empire State Plaza and World Trade Center.

Looks like great weather leading up to Christmas 🤶. Saturday, partly sunny, with a high near 37. Sunday, mostly sunny, with a high near 41. Christmas Day — Monday, Partly sunny, with a high near 44. Typical average high for the weekend is 36 degrees. And the days running up to the Christmas holiday will be as follows — Thursday, mostly sunny, with a high near 36. North wind 10 to 13 mph. Friday, sunny, with a high near 33.

After chewing it over for a while, I decided to take off Thursday and Friday to head out to Madison County, likely for four days. 🏕 While I’ll need to camp in two different locations unless I go down to Sherburne to get a permit, I could either go out to Cazenovia or Brookfield or stay part of the week at Cherry Ridge and the rest at the horse camp. Got to watch out for snow, though it doesn’t look like it’s going to be much of a problem though there could be a dusting or even an inch or two after the snow showers come rumbling through today, and it’s not going to be much above freezing in coming week. 🌨 Going to work from home tomorrow I think so I can run to the store mid-day and fill the propane tank and get any other needed supplies for camping. Plan to drive home on Christmas Day for Christmas dinner with the family. 🎄 👪 🎅

One option I’m seriously looking at is on Friday 🚲 riding more of the Canalway Trail, this time from Canastota up to the area around Rome, maybe Durhamsville depending on the time. I think the trail will be free of snow by then, though Friday might be a bit chilly though sunny and shouldn’t be so bad with gloves on. Or I could hike around Stoney Pond or if I decide to spend time at Charles Baker, then I could ride the roads there. 💭 Off-road bike riding isn’t permitted in the winter, but road-riding is okay per their website. The road up to Cherry Ridge could be icy, though it’s usually plowed but not sanded, except for the campground which isn’t plowed at all. But as of now, they don’t have any more then any dusting per the web cams and snowfall predictions.  ⛄ Thought about heading further south to Long Pond State Forest, but that’s quite a ways south and west. West Virginia is too far away for four nights, not to mention they have a ton of now.

I am dipping a bit into my time reserve for time next year, ⏲ not rolling over the maximum into 2024, but when I thought about it some more, it doesn’t matter as I don’t expect I’ll be taking much time off until late April, which will give me several pay periods to build time back up, plus I get 35 hours of personal time (5 days) on the first of the new year. Starting my new position as Director of Data Services, I am not going to want to miss much work 👔 as I have much to learn and I want to put in the long hours, to make a good impression in my new position. Not sure how much comp-time I’ll get to use next summer, 😎 though I think there is definitely a possibility of remote work with my new position that is more about working data and running reports ⌨ then working with people, or so I think. I don’t know, I haven’t started the training yet. 👨‍🏫 Things are getting wrapped up at Research it seems for the year, there is a handful of projects outstanding in the Production Book but I’m not worried as the year comes to close.

It will be four nights out camping this week leading into Christmas, 🏕 then I have off Christmas Day to visit with the families and Boxing Day is also a holiday at my company. 😀 Then it’s three days of work, but I”m thinking of potentially working from home that Friday leading into the New Years Weekend, so I can leave early and set up camp in Rensselaerville and do a three-night trip there through New Years Day. Depends on how much snow we get the second half of next week. ❄️ Really hard to say. Lots of winter camping this year, but it’s been so mild. Come January though I’m not planning anything until at least mid-month with Martin Luther King Day but even that’s uncertain — and as I noted, I’m not sure if I will take any time off from work for trips until April with my new position getting underway. Might be a busy summer too, but I’m thinking at least part of the time I will be able to remote work 👨‍💻 so I could extend trips by working part of the time from camp and/or the Speculator and other other libraries.

Looking ahead, next Tuesday is Boxing Day 🥊 when the sun will be setting at 4:29 pm with dusk at 4:59 pm. Days are getting longer. On that day in 2022, we had partly sunny and temperatures between 30 and 16 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 35 degrees. We hit a record high of 59 back in 1895. Before my time, lol 😂.

It’s not going to discourage me from riding in. I’ve been looking through my phone and noticing how much I’ve been saving on bus fares by riding in – not as much since the time change – but still riding in one direction saves and it’s good exercise. Truth be told though I end up spending more though when I end up stopping to buy groceries mid week on my commute but I guess it’s important to have healthy eats.

Good morning! Snow flurries and 28 degrees in Delmar, NY. ❄ There is a north breeze at 6 mph. 🍃. Things will start to thaw out at around noontime.

Figure ride to work today 🚲 as time is limited. Not much time left in the year or daylight left to do this, especially as I move to that new office 🏢. I’m treasuring that view of the Capitol and the Hudson River as I know soon I’ll be forgoing it for the suburbs but admittedly better pay, more responsibility and a better sounding job title for experience and the future resume building. 📄 Plus it’s a way to use my skills better 👨‍💻 and expand my knowledge.

Noteworthy, 25 days remain until the end of the year. 🗓 I hope you’ve worked to maximize this year to the best of your ability. ⛺ Hoping to get at least one more adventure out in the wilderness maybe two before the end of the year. 🎄 Maybe Madison County in the days leading up to Christmas, but it all depends on how much snow and cold they have. Rensslaerville State Forest is another easy option, though I’d rather to NYE there.

After feeling kind of sick after work 🤮 yesterday evening and cleaning up after changing my pants 👖 💩, feeling better this morning. Too much stevia and cranberries yesterday with the oatmeal for breakfast followed by rice and lentils I guess or maybe I should have cooked the kale better. I have a lot of trouble with cooked oatmeal though fried or baked with bananas or eggs I’m good. I don’t know, I got washed up and showered and it was fine. 🚿 It’s like the pissing and farting problem, a matter of tweaking what I eat 🍽 to meet nutrition goals 🥅 while not destroying my digestive tract in the process.

I think a lot of the problem lately as I’ve gotten out of the habit of soaking lentils overnight 🥘 before cooking them, though I do wash them. I heard that can make them easier to digest. 🤰 Plus I am trying to drink more water with meals, eat slower, and mix things up. I want to include lots of fiber and protein in most meals, but I need to be careful about how many beans and alike I use for cooking. 👩‍🍳 I don’t have as many problems digesting the pea soup, when I make sure to add water and lots of balmastic vinger and not eat too much.

It was probably better to miss the talk by Miko Peled, Israeli-American human rights activist, as he’s really controversial and I didn’t want to go to the event and get caught on TV 📺 by the news 📰 attending it. The thing is if I’m interested in such alternative perspectives I can always watch on my phone 📱. I really try to stay away from controversy today, especially outside of the blog. Nothing in this world is quite as third rail 🚈 dangerous ⚡ as the Isreal 🇮🇱🇵🇸 conflict. Best to keep opinions to yourself. Not that I don’t know what really to believe which is why I kind of wanted to see controversial Miko Peled. Just to hear another view. 🎤 👤

Today will have snow showers. Mostly cloudy 🌨️, with a high of 33 degrees at 1pm. Eight degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical day around January 5th. North wind 6 to 8 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%. A year ago, we had light rain. The high last year was 54 degrees. Going to likely be that warm come Saturday. The record high of 68 was set in 2001. 12.5 inches of snow fell back in 2003.❄

I was in bed 🛌 by around 7 PM last night, though I did more study of the Udemy course. 📱 Continuing to learn more about machine learning. 🤖 Woke up around 5 AM and started out with a cold glass of water with some apple cider vinger and ginger. Then frying sweet onions, peppers, adding stir-fry vegetables, mushrooms and corn. 👨‍🍳 Then turmeric, red peppers, two eggs scrambled, some corn starch and topped with nutritional yeast. 😋 A delicious meal complemented by coffee with skim milk, cinamon and ginger. ☕ Yum. Power to ride to work and make it through the day.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 11:47 am with sun having an altitude of 24.9° from the due south horizon (-45.9° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.9 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 (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 22 seconds with dusk around 4:53 pm, which is 8 seconds earlier than yesterday. 🌇 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:30 pm. At sunset, look for snow 🌨 and temperatures around 31 degrees. There will be a north breeze at 7 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 13 minutes of daytime, a decrease of one minute and 3 seconds over today.

Spent too much time yesterday trying to figure out what was wrong 😕 with the maps and graphs of landfills vs social deprivation. I realized that the issue was I should be comparing against state-wide numbers and as such have made up graphs and maps of income and race. I will have to revise the Messer deprivation maps later on when I have time. 🗺 At any rate, it’s been an interesting thought and coding experiment. 🤔 Also I am continuing on with my machine learning class, as its gotten further along and more technical, most of the stuff I’m learning is totally new to me.

Tonight will be mostly cloudy 🌫️, with a low of 20 degrees at 3am. Five degrees below normal, which is similar to a typical night around December 25th. Maximum wind chill around 13 at 3am; North wind 6 to 8 mph. In 2022, we had cloudy skies in the evening, which became partly cloudy by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 47 degrees. The record low of -7 occurred back in 1901.

Been enjoying grapefruit for breakfast or as a snack. 🍊 I never thought I’d like grapefruit as I thought they were awful as a child. But at first I was kind of mixed on it, then learning that my mom can no longer have grapefruit being on statins, I learned to treasure the fruit even more. I should enjoy it, as there might come a time I won’t be able to enjoy it. Healthy to boot. Grapefruit and statins is an interesting topic, the chemical interaction is fascinating. The good news is unless you are on certain statins like Liptour for high blood pressure, grapefruit is healthy and delicious.

Continuing to look at houses and land on Zillow. The thing I find so frustrating is there isn’t a lot of tiny houses with a lot of land — everybody seems to be listing the big house in the suburbs. 🏘 I’d like less then 1,000 feet with lots of acres, to have fires 🔥 and have pigs 🐷 or other livestock. I guess there just isn’t as much rural property out there, but it is fun to browse and see what is out there. I’m not serious, I’m just browsing. 🚜

Today in 1902, a coal mine explosion at Monongah, West Virginia, kills 362 workers.🚂 And in 1953, Vladimir Nabokov completes his controversial novel Lolita. 📙 More uplifting is Adrian Kantrowitz performs the first human heart transplant in the United States in 1967. ♥

Mild this weekend but rather gray.☁️ Saturday, mostly cloudy, with a high near 48. Sunday, a chance of rain after 1pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 58. Breezy. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Remember it’s mid December. Typical average high for the weekend is 40 degrees.