Malcolm brought the kids up to the David Dunlap Observatory. I went up early to assist. Left Phil in charge of my gear while I joined Courtney, Liam, and Malcolm for the 8 o'clock tour. Mel Blake talked about binary stars. About the only thing we could see in the clouded sky!
This was a good, focused topic idea. Malcolm and I looked at each other. I myself could easily do such a presentation in the future...
Late into Mel's presentation, the conversation eroded into saving the DDO. As much as I'd like to see the building and telescope preserved, and even though Mel made a good case for current, on-going research at the DDO, we're only getting half the story here... That left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
When we got inside the dome, while there was lots of room, and no where to go but wait in the long queue, the people behind us were jackasses. A very tall young man kept inching up and bumping me. I turned around a couple of times. I didn't say anything. He just didn't get the message. Somebody touched my ass at one point. Well! Never on a first date! Pedestrian tail-gating. That just makes me angry. And it makes me slow down. I left more space between me and the kids. I also started rocking and tilting my head back, ha ha. Similarly, the young couple behind Malcolm were bumping him too. When the guy starting fiddling with his mobile phone, goofing around with his gf, turning the phone on and off several times (he said he was checking messages), when Malcolm "lost it." A heated argument ensued. For a moment, I thought we were going to get into a burly brawl.
That kind of things makes me wonder why they even go to such an event. Why are you here? Oh well. That left a bad taste in my mouth too.
When we returned outside, it was completed clouded over. We could barely see stars overhead. The Moon was murky beside north-east cloud-cover. Phil was packing up and ready to leave. Dang. I felt bad for delaying him! I'll have to make it up to him...
My little 'scope was colliding with the mount! Oops. Early, I had set it to track Albireo. That famous meridian crossing problem with equatorial mounts... Got watch out for that in the future! It was ironic that the topic of telescope collisions came up earlier, in Mel's talk, Malcolm asking about it, in the dome. I was a little worried I had damaged my new Vixen motor!
I put my 'scope on the Moon briefly. You had to look at it for a while to make out any detail...
My planned meeting with 2 RASC members to hand over their ordered weather stations did not pan out. One person arrived earlier than they said they would, I was later than expected, and the other was a no-show. I felt awkward about missing the first person.
Flurry of emotions and feelings tonight. I was not happy when I got home...
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