Late Tuesday Morning: Trying to catch up . . .

1. Welcome to needa 

 

 

2. I did have a wonderful Sunday drive through eastern New York and western Vermont. There are pictures at: www.flickr.com/photos/47368232@N00/sets/72157611261912468/

 

Please take a look at them and comment/favorite if you would. It is a departure from my usual style.

 

The ice lasted one more day, then got seriously rained on. You can see the upcoming forecast below.

 

3. Everyone in the office where my office is (county Youth Bureau) is in the bosses’ office watching Gov. Paterson’s speech on the state budget cuts and the follow-up. It’s a pretty gloomy feeling in there, I think. I should not be effected, other than some cuts already made in our program. But I have to wonder if a couple of jobs I am applying for have gone away.

 

4. Call me a romantic, but I am all about Sen. Caroline Kennedy. She’s an accomplished attorney and author, is big-time pro-Bill of Rights and has raised millions of dollars for the New York City Public Schools. She didn’t need to do any of that stuff, but she did. And she is who she is. And I am a royalist. I would think it was great if she was my senator.

 

Politically, though, I think he’d be better off naming Andrew Cuomo to eliminate Cuomo as a potential rival for the governorship.

 

5.  From the news wires:

 

(Albany Times-Union)

 

Not only is Gov. Patterson going after sweetened soft drinks, he wants to tax Internet services, too.

 

Increases to taxes and fees add up to $3.1 billion in the new plan, including an 18 percent tax on non-diet soft drinks, and eliminating the sales tax exemption on clothing and footwear under $110; a new tax on satellite TV and radio and cable service, and enhanced fees for cigar smokers, fishermen and more.

 

6. Remember how we were just *above* the line for the ice storm’s worst damage?

 

That “line” was basically Route 29, which runs through Saratoga Springs and terminates at Route 22, a mile or two south of our house.

 

From our friends at the National Weather Service:

 

SNOW WILL BEGIN LATER THIS EVENING... BECOME HEAVIER AT TIMES OVERNIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY MORNING... AND THEN MIX WITH SLEET BEFORE TAPERING OFF LATE WEDNESDAY. BY THE TIME THE SNOW AND SLEET TAPERS OFF LATE WEDNESDAY... 4 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW WILL HAVE ACCUMULATED... WITH THE HIGHEST AMOUNTS FALLING NORTH OF ROUTE 29.

 

Yeah, we are on the “bad” side of the line this time.

 

7. It does worry me (though I may not notice) that the Arena Football League (yes, indoor football) is taking a year off. I hope the Women’s Professional Soccer League will be able to come back next year as planned.

 

From the Albany Times-Union:

 

The AFL's woes come at a time when the world of sports, once thought to be largely recession-proof, has felt the economic chill. The NFL has said it would cut 150 jobs, while the NBA and NASCAR also have laid off dozens of workers. The NHL is in a hiring freeze while the Internet operation for Major League Baseball also has trimmed positions.

 

The good news for Albany is that the Firebird, who play in the “af2,” an even lower league, will still have a team this coming season.