- That’s a question I’ve been giving a lot of though to lately as I work on the latest revisions of the blog
- I guess it can be anything I want as I have complete control of the content and design – within the technical limitations of my server and the WordPress platform
- Over the years I’ve played with different designs, using mapping and GIS data in different ways
- My latest revision to be released next week will focus a lot on aerial photography and the full screen beauty of the land
- It’s kind of a work in progress but I’m trying to find new ways to both express myself and the world around me
- I think it’s important to capture both the good and bad in society, both the new and old
- I’m so fascinated and at the same time horrified when I look at both historical and new aerial photos of our changing landscape
- So there is definitely more to look forward to next week
Watching Youtube Videos in VLC
I use external-app-launcher and yt-dlp to watch Youtube videos in VLC without ads and full-screen. By using yt-dlp, it tends to be most up to date to Youtube changes, which isn’t always the case with VLC or other players like freetube.
I have this file saved in my ~/bin directory as pyt to load the video in VLC.
#!/bin/bash
notify-send -t 15000 "Loading Youtube Video in VLC ..." "Should open in a few seconds." -i /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/symbolic/mimetypes/video-x-generic-symbolic.svg &
yt-dlp -f b --simulate --exec video:'vlc --play-and-exit --meta-title=%(title)#q %(url)#q' $1
A dreary start to Monday ☔
That said, I think I want to try to ride in this morning as I don’t think their is any rain going to hit this morning, and while the evening commute is dicey, the worse thing is I get soaked riding back to the express bus stop. I mean, last Monday I could have gotten away with riding both ways without getting soaked, despite rain mid-day.
Must be that I am in my extreme manic phrase, 😀 after the coffee and caffeine pills but I also don’t see a lot of rain on radar so I guess it’s fine to ride in. At least my ass isn’t dragging yet this morning, though I might crash when I get in the office and coffee maker is broke because it exploded all over that wonderful old Italian guy who makes the office coffee every day, like happened so tragically on that first day of the time change. ☕ I’m just giggling with memories of being high as fuck on summer vacation, laying back in hammock listening to Lovin Spoonful, Did You Have to Make Up Your Mind. While probably reading a book about homesteading, enjoying the warm cow-smelling breezes of Finger Lakes. 🐮 Or those days listening to Grateful Dead, floating on Seneca Lake. It would be fun some day to own cows, but it’s also so much meat, manure and feed. 🥩
But truth is I’m ready to ride in 🚴 as yesterday was bitterly cold and wet and while I went for a short ride on Saturday I didn’t get many miles logged over the soggy weekend. Plus I don’t like paying the bus fare or running between the shuttle and express bus at the end of day. 🚍 And my stomach feels a bit bloated and upset after all that rice and lentils yesterday, plus the cornmeal and onion pancakes this morning, and a bit achy from the rain. So riding in will feel good. But I’m severely mentally ill. 🤮
Making the money 💰 today with the COLA now in effect, though I also got fill out the tax form so they take even more money out of my paychecks to give to the government. I think an additional $46 a paycheck should cover it. Rather do it that way then bother with quarterly tax payments. At least I didn’t fined for underpayment of taxes last year. I don’t know how I escaped the fine, but I didn’t get asked to pay it. Lots of data frames to build, records to link and other things to build in the new week. 🖥️
I’d love to get out of town this weekend, 
but it looks to be rainy and cold again this weekend. Maybe I should just bring a tarp and string that up. At least the fire danger would be low. 
I think there might be a fair amount of snow up north, though I might head to Adirondacks if the weather improves. I’d love to get up north again soner then later.
Snow Depth – Monday March 31
After this weekend, there is a fair amount of snow up north.
I don’t want to DIE in New York State
I don’t want to spend the rest of my life in New York State if I can all avoid it. New York, the confined living operation, is a good place to make money if you don’t mind the wokeism and the extreme demands of greenies and wilderness advocates.
Truth is I worry a lot about my time to escape. I told myself after college that my job was a temporary one just to save up some money for moving on to the next stage of life, buying land in some rural area far away from the cities. But that was years ago now, and each year I’ve made a bit more money, saved more, and realize I need more to fully be able to build a life away from city, especially with limited opportunities for good work away from cities. As the money and work gets better as my career advances, it gets harder and harder to walk away.
Now with my parents getting elderly, I see another threat to my future. Their homestead with the much to large and modern house. What happens if I ended up inheriting it? And then all their equipment plus other equipment I end up buying? Livestock I end up buying? How to a wind that all down when I’m 55 years old and can put in for early retirement to persue my dreams?
Plus another concern I have is just time. The less then 13 years between now and age 55 will come and go quickly, but so will the 15 years between age 55 and 70, the later year which I tentatively plan to make the final year of my life. It just seems such a short time period when you look at it that way. But there is no guarantees between 70 even if I don’t blow out my brains at that age.
Maybe it’s just that I need some nights in wilderness, but I want something more then a one night stand in life. Even summer vacation when I spend 9 nights in National Forest, it’s just a vacation. I set things up and before long it’s taken down and packed away. And then there was those videos of Homesteady moving to Alaska and so many other off-gridder channels.
Truth is I can’t get back time, but my investments are growing, though slower now that the economy is heading towards the crapper in the short-term. Granted lower stock prices are good for future growth, especially as I continue to buy the dip, but I’m also watching the time fall of the clock one meaningless year after another.
It really is a guess 🎲
Taxes are done, though I ended up owing the federal government like $1,200 and got back $1,100 from the state. I tried to accurately adjust it but I always been putting extra away for state because usually that we’re I’m under saving. I guess I’ll be adjusting my withholding on Monday. I’ve been avoiding finishing it up mainly because I was confused a bit about the reporting of blog revenue, and I knew I owed the feds quite a bit but I was done the state is sending nearly same back. So it’s a wash.
It’s a relief to get it done, 
and I think I did it right, but I’m sure somebody in the government, or at least their computer program will be checking my work. At some point I need to figure out my finances, but for now I’m happy to live paycheck-to-paycheck and have my employer withhold a bit extra to cover what I owe from the interest and re-invested dividends. I’ve moved more of my money into bonds, so hopefully that won’t be generating as much taxable interest at least in short-term. 
I do need a plan for some day getting the money out of market, but I really don’t have one yet. But I do eventually want to use some of that money to buy land and retire. At least the Roth IRA money isn’t taxable, though it’s years before I can touch that. I got to find an advisor but I really don’t like to be told what to do, or treated like a kid by somebody who thinks they’re smarter then I am. 
I’m an egotistical son of a bitch, after all who doesn’t like to be told how to live my life.
After I bled and topped off the front brake on my bike, 
yesterday it seems it was soft after I bled it off the first time. Often I find that when I bleed the brakes, the first time isn’t enough on the bike. Hopefully it will be good now, otherwise I’ll have to pull off the caliper and do a full bleed to get any remaining bubbles off. 🫧 Also adjusted the front derailuer again, wasn’t shifting good from low and high when I was riding trail, though I do think I ultimately may need to pull the cable and lubricate it well, as now it’s sticking more then anything.
Now I’m ready for warmer weather. 
I have less and less of reason to be home on weekends, except for the shit weather – the cold and rain – but next week is April and despite rain most of the week, I’m hopeful things will start to get warmer and I can finally have that big ol’ fire in the wilderness that I’ve been thinking about for too long now. Maybe next weekend? Even if it’s for one night, maybe it would be nice to finally get away.
Out to visit Mom and Dad shortly, 
Sunday dinner and then head home. I guess I could do a hike, though it’s so damp, windy and with rain showers around. 
Rather not get soaked like I did last Monday. I probably won’t ride in on Monday, in favor of the city bus and shuttle 
with rain being around. Then maybe drive to Walmart after work for the weekly shop. 
Pantry is getting a bit depleted. Tuesday looks nice for riding, but the rest of week is more marginal.