Well, it’s a good thing the clouds rolled in. My JMI Motofocus just died. It looks like the motor’s shorted out. It lasted about 5 years, so I can’t complain. Now I’ve got to get it fixed or find a replacement. Until then focusing is going to be really enjoyable. Lots of jiggles. I’m thinking the Meade #1244 might be a better avenue than the JMI because unlike the JMI it’ll connect in to the Autostar and draw its power from the telescope’s base. This might be good considering the LPI uses the autostar to send tracking corrections. That’d be one less hand controller to keep track of in the dark, and one less set of batteries to worry about.
Monthly Archives: January 2005
Meade LPI Imager
Today’s been my lucky day, my LPI Imager just showed up! This is another Astromart Classifieds purchase. I’m hoping that the weather holds so that I can hook it up and try it out tonight!
The Jeep’s in for service
I had to drop the Jeep off at Huffines today to get a couple little things fixed. The left jounce bumper is broken and there’s a recall on the engine/transmission mating surface due to a small leak. The only bummer is that the courtesy van is one way. I got a lift home but am going to have to find a way to get back there to pick it up. Plus, it’s too darned cold to ride today, so I’m working from home. But it’ll be nice to have that jounce bumper fixed before the LSJC trip to Gilmer on the 29th!
Ouch…
So I started back at the gym yesterday, working on my upper body and abs for the first time in a long while. Well, I’m definitely paying the price today, but the ouchies are telling me where else I need to work, especially my abs, since they’re feeling fine. Legs and abs on Wednseday…
The mirrors are in!
I picked up a couple 4.5″ mirrors, one an F/4.4 and one an F/8, from an Astromart classified listing and they came in today. So now I’ve got two more ATM projects. The first is going to be a dedicated solar scope so that I don’t have to lug the ETX-90 out when I want to do some solar observing. And with the solar cycle being where it is, there’s plenty of time to complete it. The other one’s going to be a first telescope for Reese when he gets older, so I’ve got even more time to build that one.
The Cotton Bowl
After I got in a short nap(!) we headed down to Reunion Arena to get on the bus to the Cotton Bowl. Heather volunteered to help out with the Tennessee Alumni Association’s bus, so we got a free ride over. That’s a really good thing considering the parking situation in the Fair Park area. I got some loaner orange so that I didn’t look so out of place since our seats were in the Tennessee section.
This was my first live football game, other than a few crappy games when I was in high school, and it was a blast. The Aggies were obnoxiously loud, but kept getting quieter and quieter as the Vols moved the score higher but I’ll give them credit, they didn’t give up.
We had great seats on the lower level of the stadium at around the 20 yard line which gave us a really good view of the field. I’m still pretty football ignorant, but it was a pretty good game, and I’m hoping to get to a few more.
There’s pictures of the game over here in case you’re interested, don’t mind the orange!
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year! I went to a party at a friend’s place and really had a good time. It’s now time to get a little sleep because I’ve got an early wake up time to get to the Cotton Bowl on time.