I put on double socks knowing there'd be a lot of walking today.
We made a last-minute switcharoo to have breakfast at the hotel instead of going out. It was not too busy. The buffet was a little pricey at $16, most of us made two trips. They had a very wide selection. Infinite coffee!
The robotic dome was no longer in the lobby...
Dietmar and Phil guided us to the Rockland Community College. Passed Spook Rock Rd, which made use all do a double-take. After parking in the south lot, we followed the signs for the forum, inside building 5. We asked some other visitors to snap photos of the posse. With Dietmar and Katrina's cameras.
Next stop: registration. There was still a queue! Argh. I had suggested we NOT arrive when the forum opened its doors. But it seemed my logic was faulty. We queued up.
But confusion ensued. From our spot at the end of the snaking line-up, we could see a small bank of computers. People seemed to be filling out some sort of electronic form. One of the computers did not seem to be working. Phil wasn't convinced this was the correct queue so he headed over to the far side of the open space to make some inquiries. A few minutes later he returned with show tickets! Huh? He said we were in a line-up for registering for prizes. And we could do that any time. We all left the long line, received a hand-stamp, and entered the forum proper.
9:04 AM. Phil shot his panorama and then Katrina photographed us. The white balloon reminder me of Rover!
On the floor, we received a plastic bag of goodies. Provided by Sky and Telescope. Included the glossy program with speaker agenda and floor map. And the magazine, of course. I suddenly realised I had forgotten my knapsack...
We casually discussed meeting up for lunch around 12 (assuming at some point we'd split up)... And we were off! Katrina, Phil, and I started in the far aisle.
I fired up my Psion and started making notes.
The first thing we noted the Kid's Corner. Great idea. Keep the junior astronomers happy (and away from clean eyepieces). Phil expressed an interest in returning, to get ideas.
I overhead someone say there was free wifi service. Whoa ho. I fired up the iPod and found a good signal, compliments of AstroGizmos! Thank you.
Noted the astrophotography gallery. Was not expecting that. A nice idea, showcasing (presumably) some of the Rockland Astronomy Club member's work.
Saw a cute plushy of Earth. Learned later they were sold by Astronomy To Go (booth 62). Funny.
I spotted Oberwerk Corp big binoculars (at booth 235). But as we drew closer to the vendor, I could see more of their products. I didn't know they made "regular" bins, normal size. Good to know.
Katrina and Phil took turns at mirror grinding at the Amateur Astronomers Association booth (66).
Chatted with a gentleman at the Moonlite Telescope Accessories booth (245). Was happy to hear that it should be easy to adapt their Newtonian Focuser to Mom's Edmund Scientific OTA. In part because they have inexpensive "install kits" that come with curved base plate and spacers.
In the second aisle, we stumbled across the Questar crew (239). Cool! Another surprise. Saw a few 3.5" units, like ours. But I had never seen, up close, the bigger Questars. Absolutely beautiful.
Later we found the Sky-Watcher booth (224). I took a closer look at the collapsible Dobsonians. We'll need to get a replacement for the loaner program once we abscond one to live at the CAO. I grabbed a brochure on the 8", 10" and 12" (manual) products.
I also spotted a very small go-to 'scope/mount, the Virtuoso. Interesting, a way to have go-to with a very small 'scope; or to do tracked imaging with a camera. Neat. Grabbed a flyer.
Katrina and I chatted with the man at Astro Haven Enterprises. She was curious about the robotic dome. In particular, she wanted to know how you'd get inside. Jump?!
Spotted the Starry Night booth (225).
Hey, Willmann-Bell was here (booth 222)! And Cambridge University Press (229). Springer (217). I had not considered that the book publishers might be here. I revisited by wish list. Willmann-Bell had Scott Ireland's Photoshop Astronomy book! Drool. No show discounts, unfortunately.
Spotted the Meade (313) and Celestron (421) booths near the centre aisle. Good.
Katrina and I chatted with the pleasant man at the AstroTrac booth (326). He explained in detail how the system worked. I still think it brilliant. When a visitor came by the booth and asked me some questions, I found myself helping. Ha.
From the Adorama (445) booth, I chatted about wide angle Canon lenses. Grabbed some neat materials. The 90-page glossy Canon EOS System document. Fantastic stuff. And they also had a little, quick 8-page colour printed document, the Canon EOS DSLR Camera Settings for Astrophotography by Jerry Lodriguss. Cool! I grabbed a couple of each.
Gradually, I lost track of Katrina and Phil. At 12:18 PM, I found Millie waiting for others. But no one was in sight. Was lunch scrubbed? I cooled my heals for a bit.
Bought 7 raffle tickets from the RAC booth. And I filled out a ticket main draw. Then decided to go for walkies. I want to verify if I could access my bank account. Gulp.
I found the ATM, as per the facility map and signs, a little ways away, in the Cultural Arts Centre building. A fringe benefit of the walkabout was stumbling across the full cafeteria! And here Phil had given me the impression that there was no good food to be had. With some lunch money in hand, I bought a nice ham sandwich, juice drink, and a big muffin. It looked quite pleasant outside. I took to a bench overlooking the solar observing area. Beyond, the amphitheater.
Around 1:00 PM, Katrina found me. I directed her to the cafeteria and we had lunch together outside. A lovely day but a little cool. I had to leave her as I was—without a sweater or jacket—starting to get chilled.
Bumped into Dietmar at 1:27 PM. OK. I was ready for day 1, round 2. Took in the rest of the vendors, quickly, tackling the last couple of aisles. Spotted Astro Gizmos (52), Tele Vue (524).
Saw a familiar face. Said hello to Dave Lane, past RASC president. He was telescope shopping for the university. Perhaps the Software Bisque booth (330) or 10 Micron (318). Or PlaneWave (430) or Officina Stellare (212). Wow.
I hit the brakes at the top of aisle 1. The vendor MyCaseBuilder at a booth (545) at the corner and I immediately saw that they were offering custom inserts for cases. Absolutely brilliant. Grabbed a card and brochure. Where were they 2 years ago?! I chatted briefly with the woman rep about the process. Sounded very easy. They offered two types of foam. I wanted to know about out-gassing but didn't press the matter. I'd have to share this with Charles...
I chatted with the nice TV people to clarify what be needed if I wanted to image double stars at high magnification with my old Celestron 8". A 2-inch Powermate 2x should do. I was shown how to remove the flanged black end for photographic use. Also a PTR (a Powermate t-ring) would be needed. But they didn't have in stock to show me. They suggested I request that of a vendor, perhaps OPT (515) or Woodland (309). They also assured me I wouldn't need anything else; for some reason I started to think I'd need more adapters and rings. Whew.
While I could get signal, I compared retail prices for Tele Vue Powermate and PTR. The show vendor prices, all in, were much better than Canadian retail. I then revisited OPT and Woodlands and a few of the other bigger shops to get their best price. Woodland Hills won out, after brief haggling. I picked up a Powermate and PTR. It was a good feeling knowing that I could begin some serious double star research.
Over the course of the day, I had passed all the magazine booths, including Astronomy, Sky at Night, Astronomy Technology. Grabbed a copy of Astronomy Now.
Picked up lots of brochures and flyers.
Found a Kendrick controller for Phil at Hands On Optics (booth 417). Referred him to Telescope Support Systems (55).
Returned to a vendor booth for the draw prize. Realised I had missed some ones from earlier...
It was near 4:45 PM. I wanted to hear Dr Grunsfeld talk. I headed to the Celestron theatre. Dr Brown was quickly wrapping. John proved a great speaker. He was funny and humble. It was neat hearing his words, from his side, regarding the Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission, one that I had followed closely live.
The show was done for the day! Everyone reconvened. We piled into the van. I was in the shotgun seat and tried to help direct Joel back to the hotel. But I goofed up. Phil, using Google Maps, bailed us out.
We found the Appleby's restaurant. Dave joined us. Katrina caught up with a few of the tweet peeps. Had dinner with the posse. Huge portions again but not-so-great service. Despite the built-in 18% tip.
Back at the hotel, we had drinks in the courtyard again. But we didn't carry on too long. I think everyone, like me, was pretty tired.
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