So I went ahead and upgraded WordPress to the [at present] most-recent version of 2.6.3. It actually went pretty painlessly and I’m excited that there’s a new widget for tag clouds (I had been running 2.3.1 that I installed almost exactly a year ago). If you’re on the main JayceLand page, then you’ll have to go to the blog home page to see them. Even the plugins still work, and the theme I tweaked seems to function okay too (although I’m now using the built-in sidebar instead of a custom one).

Ali and I went to Mendon Ponds Park (Pond Rd., South Entrance) to find the bird trail there. She said you can feed the chickadees right out of your hand — and, with enough patience this early in the winter, you actually can. The bird sanctuary they have there is quite impressive, too. Several volunteers were showing off some owls, and they had everything from a bald eagle to a crow in captivity (all of the birds are rescued: usually either hit by a car or with some kind of disability, although the crow was simply illegally domesticated). Once on the songbird trail, we eventually succeeded in coaxing the tiny chickadees to eat from our hands. I guess it’s much easier in the middle of winter when food is much more scarce — but definitely a fun thing to go try.

I heard a rumor that if you drive too fast between exit plazas when using E-ZPass, they would calculate your average vehicle speed and issue a ticket. Snopes has an article where they claim this is untrue — partly on grounds that a moving violation ticket can only be issued to a driver, not to a vehicle (although apparently, red-light enforcement cameras are in use in New York State, and they would be just as illegal). A few years ago it dawned on me (if tickets are indeed issued automatically) that when we go off Daylight Savings Time, the computers might be tricked into thinking I was exceeding the speed limit during the switch. Of course, if that were indeed true, then there must have already been erroneous tickets issued, and the problem would have likely been corrected.

Regardless, I thought I’d try it myself and this past weekend I finally got out to do it. Ali came along for the ride and we got on the Thruway at Victor at around 1:55 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time. We traveled west, stopping for a snack at the Ontario Service Area, then getting off 50 some-odd miles later at Pembroke at about 2:02 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. According to The Wikipedia New York State Thruway article, the distance from Victor to Pembroke is 50.73 miles.

Traveling from Exit 45 at 1:56:05 a.m. to Exit 48A at 2:01:41 a.m.

Well the transaction finally came up on the E-Z Pass website and indicated that we got on at Exit 45 at 1:56:05 a.m. and left at Exit 48A at 2:01:41 a.m. That’s 50.73 miles in 5 minutes 36 seconds for an average speed of 544 miles per hour. Counting all our dawdling and the actual elapsed time, our actual average speed is only 46 miles per hour.

I look forward to receiving the ticket — and presumably, the instant suspension of my license for reckless driving.

I’ve been planning to make French onion soup sometime this week, and I finally got out to run some errands. Since The Rochester Public Market (280 Union St. N.) was open, I figured VM Giordano Import, Inc., European Cheese Shop (6 Public Market) would also be open. Alas, this is not the case.

But fortunately, the owner [or, more properly, some guy I presumed to be the owner or one of the owners] was picking up some mail at the time. Everything was packed away, but he was nice enough to grab some Gruyeres from the cooler and sell me half-a-pound. He said that they are open Saturdays during Market hours, but they are no longer open on the other days — except during the holidays when they’re open more. Also, he invited me to call if I had a specific item I wanted so we could arrange a time to pick it up.

Definitely the benefit of a locally-owned small shop.