wires crossed?

Manuel sent me an email. He was not having a good time.

Hope you guys are having fun at CAO.  It seems that I am moving backwards.  Could not do a rough polar alignment using the mount finder scope.  Thus guiding failure.  What was easy is now becoming difficult.  Very frustrating.  Could not do anything.  Feel adversity won.  See you at the star party.

I wonder what he's doing wrong? Could it be he's choosing a star that is not Polaris? Mixing up the Celestron process with the Orion (which I had previously cautioned him about but that he brushed off)? Choosing poor alignment stars?