Air Sick

For some reason, when I travel on airplanes I often get sick. I don't know if it's the recycled air or the change in temperature going from a warm place to a cold one. At any rate, I'm not well.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

Goodbye Ron

The International Year of Astronomy 2009 has been diminished. Ron Ravneberg, a prolific amateur telescope maker who was a driving force in the "Dobsonian Revolution" of the 1980s, has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 60 years old.

His most famous telescope was probably "Alice," an 8" Dobsonian that he designed to fold up small enough that it could be taken on his first trip to Alice Springs in Australia. That telescope was the inspiration to the telescope I designed and built many years ago called "Twisted Alice" (the scope design on my home page). Ron later built his own version of Twisted Alice with much better execution, but he went out of his way to credit me with the tweak to his original design when he published an article about his newest scope in Amateur Astronomy magazine. I never forgot his generosity.



Thanks, Ron. You will be missed.

Dawn of IYA2009

We are now three days into the International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) and so far it's shaping up to be fantastic! The first event, put together just a few weeks beforehand, was Dawn of IYA2009. The idea was to get out and show people the Sun through filtered telescopes on New Year's Day, kicking off IYA2009. This was the brain child of someone in the southern hemisphere, where January 1 is routinely very warm. Still, folks up north were encouraged to participate, and if it wasn't overcast and lightly snowing we would have been out on the sidewalk with our solar scopes. Still, we had our own little Dawn of IYA2009 celebration...

Our very good friend Hesther was visiting us from Minnesota during the New Year's holiday. She went with us to Northwoods Starfest back in August. It was her first star party, and she even pulled an all-nighter with Becca and I, observing until morning twilight. I couldn't let Hesther begin IYA2009 without a scope, so I secretly procured a used Orion XT 4.5 Dobsonian from Astromart and hoped it would arrive by Wednesday the 31st, which it did (the box with the tube came on Monday, and the box with the base came on Wednesday, so it was close).

On New Year's Day we gave Hesther her new telescope, which she immediately named "Orion." That night, it was clear for short period of time, and Hesther was able to set up the scope on our deck and observe the Moon. I didn't realize that she never saw the Moon through a telescope before (Northwoods Starfest was held during New Moon) so it was extra cool for her to see the Moon for the first time through her telescope.

All in all, it was a wonderful Dawn of IYA2009. I hope every day of IYA2009 is a fun as the first.

Thoughts On Tires

A few months ago I took my 2002 Dodge Grand Caravan to the dealer for some minor service. I had them rotate the tires because I couldn't remember the last time I did it, and afterword my steering wheel shimmied back and forth. I called them and they said it's because of the uneven wear of the tires, and it would "drive out" over time. Well, it got better in a few days but it never really went away.

So I figured that maybe I'm due for new tires, and I asked a few people at work. They asked me how many miles I had, and I told them I just went over 100k on the vehicle and the tires were original equipment. Everyone was shocked and more than a few made me think my tires were in danger of blowing out at any moment.

Yesterday I went into a local tire shop (on the recommendation of my brother) to have them replace the tires with the exact same ones (Goodyear Integrity). When I asked them how bad the tires were, they said there was still a little tread left -- no need to panic -- but they would need to be replaced fairly soon. So I had them go ahead with the procedure.

Now my vehicle rides like a new car. I know I got away with having those tires for twice their warranteed life, but I think I'll pay a little more attention to this set. Like rotating them every 6k miles like I'm supposed to (this place does it for free), if for nothing more than preserving the new, almost luxurious ride I now have.

When was the last time you rotated your tires? :)

Snow and astronomy

As we speak, people in the Milwaukee area are experiencing their first winter storm of the season. We had several hours advance notice, so I was able to move things around the garage to get my car in. During the process I put away a few telescopes that I had left put together, and I thought to myself "I won't be using most of these until next spring." I was a little sad, but not completely. My next thought was of the newness and excitement of that first spring day, the day I take the covers off the scopes in the garage and get them ready for the new observing season.

It sounds cliche, but I really think I appreciate the nice observing evenings more because I know they are limited. When Becca and I were in Arizona, it was absolutely wonderful, but I did find myself kind of taking the night sky for granted. If we didn't look at Comet Holmes one night, we said "oh, well, we'll catch it tomorrow night" with the expectation that it would be clear and warm -- and it was. Every night, in fact.

Awesome? Yes. But tonight, as our newly-hung outdoor Christmas lights get their first blanket of pure white snow, I think to myself that we were able to appreciate those perfect Arizona nights a little more because of our Wisconsin heritage. And I also remember that, at the end of the honeymoon trip, I was missing the quiet outdoor scene of our snow-blanketed neighborhood -- just a little bit.

Black Friday lives up to it's name

I cannot believe the story coming out of Long Island, NY this morning. The throng of people waiting to get into the store at it's 5am opening smashed the doors and tore them off their hinges? At least two people were trampled, including one an employee of the store WHO DIED from his injuries, and another pregnant woman who miscarried because of her injuries?

Wow.

I hope the security cameras at that Walmart are put to good use by the assistant DA in prosecuting those who were responsible.

http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/28/2008-11-28_worker_dies_at_long_island_walmart_after.html

Black Friday -- buy a toaster

These are the days when people jump around from store to store, trying to get the best bargains. My normal advice for avoiding local retail as a source for telescopes goes double for the thousands of boxes of "product" imported by all the retailers this time of year. Please do NOT buy the super-powered telescope from the department or big-box store. Buy the toaster two aisles down -- at least, you can do something with a toaster.

If you want to buy a telescope for that special someone this year, take a look at the recommendations at http://www.ncsf.info/ or ask me here on this blog. Want a second opinion? Check out the de-facto standard gathering place for all things amateur astronomy at http://www.cloudynights.com/.