heading west

At long last, I was heading west. A multi-purpose weekend was planned.

I was to attend my first session in a University of Waterloo Optometry eyeglasses study. I needed to take some product boxes down to Mom's for storage and return some long overdue DVDs of Mom's. I wanted to retrieve my multi-format media card reader (perhaps to keep with the netbook computer). I was very overdue to celebrate my birthday. I also needed to change Mom's car over to a winter tire configuration (overdue as well but we've been lucky with weather). I expected that Mom would need my help with other house and yard tasks (as per usual). I had a couple of exciting astronomy items planned. Otherwise I was looking forward to a relaxing visit. It had been a while.

I wanted to take accurate measurements of Mom's telescope. This is so that I can begin plans to build a protective case. In particular, I needed the overall height dimensions, the "width" along the Declination axis, and the "depth" along the Right Ascension. I needed to check the eyepiece orientation and any other attachments and if they protruded outward.

I was also looking forward to seeing the progress in Mom's studio observatory. When I had last visited in June, the stairs were not installed, there was no door between the loft and deck, and the telescope mount pier was still in the planning stages...

It was very clear as I sat in Kitchener-Waterloo rush hour traffic. I entertained the thought, briefly, of pulling off, so to watch the bright ISS flyover at 5:00 PM. But I pressed on. No sighting from the car... Now that non-hands-free devices are banned while driving, does that mean identifying planets and bright stars and looking for satellites can get you a fine?

The sky was quite dark and clear when I arrived at Mom's. She had a tasty dinner waiting. And before I knew it, I was snug as a bug. I did not want to go out. I particularly did not want to set up a telescope and then have to tear it down later. Just couldn't get motivated. After a couple of whiskeys.

That said, I was looking forward to tomorrow!