Trader Joes Bay Blend Discontinued...

 I am generally not a super fan of any one brand of coffee, I'll drink most anything from any carafe.... but TJ's Bay Blend came in a large bucket for a very good price.  Its great dark roast coffee, smooth and earthy , not too bitter. I don't live near a Trader Joes, so often I'd trek over to the one in Nashua or Manchester just to buy it, and ususally a couple packs of their Tamale's, which are also very nice.

Last night I walked into TJ's and it was gone.. I asked the guy working the shelves in the aisle and he looked at  me.. I knew it before he said it... nooooooooo it cant be.. Bay Blend is no more...

Reluctantly I grabbed a similar size package of "French Roast" and we'll see how it is.. but it is rare that I become so fond of one style of coffee.. and Bay Blend was my brand...

Apparently it went away quietly during the pandemic, I've been drinking random beans purchased locally or off Amazon since the shutdown. 

Another one bites the dust...

https://kendaljourney.com/2022/06/25/what-happened-to-trader-joes-bay-blend-coffee/

Gardening from seed

 Spring has sprung.

 Remember when germinating seeds not to plant them too deep, and get the soil warm. Presoaking in water helps. Seeds should be planted when they first show a tail. It can take a few days or a week, but if a couple weeks go by, something is wrong.

When the soil gets warm, the seeds will grow towards the heat. When they poke through the soil, take them out of the greenhouse container and plant them in the light. Its ok for the germinating seeds to get very warm, but that same heat will kill the plant once it sprouts.

Cloud Native Defined

There is a lot of talk of moving into and out of "The Cloud". Some would say "The Cloud" is just someone elses computer. That is not really so when it comes to developing software. Whether your application is a embedded in a small device or running on a giant server in some mega data center, developing for the cloud is a mindset. There are many tools, techniques and design patterns that have emerged as a result of availability of low cost cloud computing infrastructure. Even traditional "Embedded Systems" are implemented with these ideas and techniques.

According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation, the definition of a software application being "Cloud Native" is:

"Cloud native technologies empower organizations to build and run scalable applications in modern, dynamic environments such as public, private, and hybrid clouds. Containers, service meshes, microservices, immutable infrastructure, and declarative APIs exemplify this approach.

These techniques enable loosely coupled systems that are resilient, manageable, and observable. Combined with robust automation, they allow engineers to make high-impact changes frequently and predictably with minimal toil.

The Cloud Native Computing Foundation seeks to drive adoption of this paradigm by fostering and sustaining an ecosystem of open source, vendor-neutral projects. We democratize state-of-the-art patterns to make these innovations accessible for everyone."

Truth

 Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.

~Martin Fowler

Trackballs

For several years now I've been using the Kensington K72337US ORBIT TRACKBALL  its a great mouse to use with a gel wrist pad. This has kept my arm off the desk, and and reduced painfu; hand issues I had been experiencing. Ive been programming all day every day for years now, and for a while I was really having a hard time with mousing and clicking and scrolling. The wrist pad and scroll wheel change the lean angle and the fingers used to do the tasks, this changing the repetitive motion issues. The mouse today, after about 5 years has stopped clicking. So I have to say its a darn good mouse. Im looking at buying another and they are back ordered so I'll have to use a traditional mouse for a few weeks. We'll see how that goes.

Here is a YouTube video of the mouse I found

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DEiXR7Ul3Y

Git tip : How to delete a remote branch

GIT tip for Friday - Delete a remote branch

git push origin --delete kspringh/my-branchname-foo

To ssh://git.hostname.com:7999/botz/core.git
 - [deleted]               kspringh/my-branchname-foo

Rockingham Recreational and other local rail trails

Spent some time on the Rockingham Recreational Trail recently. Its a multi use trail with several access points near my home in Hampstead. Its unpaved, pretty level and varies between loose gravel, hard pack, and a short stretch of sand. I was able to walk it in sneakers, ride it on my BMW R1200 GS, and I borrowed my friend Rileys WR426 which has proper knobby tires.

Here is a link to the trail

https://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/recreational-rail-trails/rockingham-recreational-rail-trail,-fremont-branch

It is mostly wooded with some wetlands, and it comes out in Fremont near a pizza place. Crossing 121A in Sandown there is a great little coffee shop, as well as a small market that off roaders gather at.

This is the first multi-use trail Ive ever had the opportunity to spend a lot of time on and the folks on the ATVs and bikes seem pretty respectful, and it is a good trail to walk as well as bike on. I took my Trek mountain bike end to end and it was a pretty good work out , but mostly level as it is a former rail trail.

Last Saturday I checked out the Windham / Derry rail trail, starting in downtown Derry this trail is paved and crosses a lot of busy roads near the center, and for a while runs along the highway.
https://derryrailtrail.org/

This trail is not a multi use trail, and is paved. There were a lot of folks bicycling and I had a nice 2 hour afternoon walk thru mostly wooded sections.

One of my favorite local motorcycle rides is on back roads from my house on Kent Farm road up thru Sandown, Chester, and Auburn to Lake Massabesic. There is a pedestrian only rail trail that passes by the lake and it is a nice twisty bike ride to the lot, and then a nice hour walk thru the woods.

Getting to know the area having lived here a couple years has been rewarding. The roads are in good shape and there are many paths and rail trails to explore.

I've walked just about 60 miles in November on the trails. Haven't seen any big animals other than a few deer and lots of birds.

I'm tempted to buy  a snowmobile or a fat bike for the winter, but if I do it is a near guarantee it wont snow.