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The year is really moving along, as we head
into prime time for Mars observing. Anza in August can be
both a pleasure for observing and a challenge - the price
of comfortable viewing temperatures at night is blazing hot
days.
And, speaking of challenges - we have
a few others that have come up in the last few weeks. These
aren't necessarily in order of importance…
This is one of those object lessons
in why we shouldn't take it for granted that things are working
the way we think they should. Without going into a complete
blow-by-blow description of the entire sequence, the ultimate
outcome was that the July issue got lost in transmission between
Darren Thibodeau (our illustrious editor) and the printer.
We didn't find this out until Charlie Oostdyk, who is the
person who receives the printed copies, processes them, and
gets them in the mail, called to find out when he was going
to get them, and was told the printer didn't have the issue
and couldn't find any trace of the transmission. This was
in the late afternoon of July 3, when a lot of people were
taking off early for the 4th of July weekend, so the earliest
they could actually receive the resubmission was the following
Monday morning. They weren't delivered to Charlie until Friday,
the 11th, but he got them processed and in the mail in 24
hours, even though the general meeting was that night. And
we profoundly hope that all of you have now received it …
The August issue should come much
earlier in the month. Liam Kennedy graciously agreed to help
out with that issue, as Darren has a major project going at
work and won't be able to put the issue together. Unfortunately
for those of us who have to meet the paper's deadline, this
means that the deadline for material had to be moved up by
several days. If you get this issue early, you can thank Liam,
who had to put together before he left on a business trip.
As many of you may know, Darren has
been working in Moorpark during the week and coming back to
Orange County on the weekends. His work as editor of the Sirius
Astronomer has mainly been done on weekends, as he hasn't
had the facilities to do it in Moorpark. This was a tolerable
situation for him while he thought the job was for a limited
period, but it has now become a long-term commitment. While
that is great for him professionally, he has reluctantly concluded
that this means that he will not be able to continue in the
position of editor of the SA.
Darren has been doing a great job
as editor, and the issues he has produced show that he has
indeed been a worthy successor to Chris McGill and John Sanford.
We are very sorry that he will be stepping down from that
position, and very grateful that he has been willing to continue
as editor over the last few months even though the job has
been made a lot more difficult for him because of his work
situation. He has also assured me that, though he cannot continue
with full responsibility for the SA, he will be helping out
in any way he can, which should make the transition to his
successor a lot easier.
Liam was instrumental in finding us
our current printer and has worked with Darren on a lot of
problems that have come up while Darren has been editor. Besides
stepping in to put the August issue together, he has generously
agreed to help out until we can find a new editor for the
long term. He has some ideas, drawing on Darren's experience
and his own background, for further streamlining the mechanics
of putting each issue together, and we expect that this part
of the editor's job will become easier and less time-consuming
than it has been for Darren as a result.
As anyone who has had anything to
do with the newsletter can tell you, what takes the most time
and effort is obtaining enough material for each issue, and
getting it in by the deadline. We really need a group of people
helping with this aspect of the newsletter - the more people
we have scouting for articles and contributing their own,
the more original content each issue of the Sirius Astronomer
will have, and the better it will be. In the time I've been
on the board, I've received more comments and complaints about
the SA than about any other single aspect of or service provided
by the club, so it's obviously very important to all of you
- and well worth its own "special interest group"
to support it.
If you have any background working
with newsletters or journalism in general, or would like to
gain some practical experience working in that area, we would
love to have you get involved in working with the Sirius Astronomer.
And, of course, if you are interested in taking on the job
of editor, we are very interested in hearing from you! Please
contact Liam Kennedy at Liam.Kennedy@ocastronomers.org or
949/552-6187, or me at btoy@cox.net or 714/606-1825.
For the last couple years, Stephen
Eubanks has been doing a really wonderful job in the very
necessary position of Anza House Coordinator. That position
is primarily intended to oversee Anza House, and to take care
of such things as making sure there are adequate supplies,
collecting the money left by people who stay there overnight,
letting the board know of any significant problems, and generally
seeing that the house is running smoothly. Steve has consistently
gone beyond that, making repairs, taking care of cleaning
and other maintenance himself, improving the arrangement of
furniture and obtaining new items that make the house more
functional, and generally doing everything he could to make
Anza House as inviting a place to stay as possible.
Those of you who know him know that
he has his own business and many calls on his time and talents,
and we are very grateful that he has been willing to devote
so much of his energy to Anza House while he's been the Coordinator.
Unfortunately for us, he has reached a point where he can
no longer do this, and he has now advised us that he will
have to give up this position by the end of the year. We are
all hoping that one of you will step forward to take on this
position in his place while he is still handling the position,
so he can work out an orderly transition to his successor.
Anza House is a wonderful facility
that really makes our Anza site both unique and much more
comfortable than most dark sites. The Anza House Coordinator
is in a unique position to make the experience of members
and visitors to our site memorable, and to continue the process
of improving the facilities at the site. If you have any experience
with Anza House, please consider taking on the position of
Coordinator. If you have questions about what is involved
in the position, I'm sure Steve would be delighted to talk
to you about his experience. He can generally be found around
Anza House during part of each star party, or you can reach
him at SSEubanks@earthlink.net. You can also contact me about
this.
One change for Anza House that we've
been planning for a long time is finally going to take place
- thanks to Trustee Gary Schones, the exterior of Anza House
is finally going to be painted. This means that we won't be
able to refer to the two halves of the building by color (for
those who may not have noticed, currently they are two different
colors), but I'm sure we can adapt. We've decided on a beige
tone for the main color that is light enough that it should
reflect most of the heat, helping to keep the house cooler,
but with enough color that it shouldn't be too glaring to
the eyes during the day. The trim will be white. If you have
any interest in helping out with this job, please contact
Gary: gary378@pacbell.net.
For those who may not know him, I
should mention that Gary is another of our "unsung heroes."
His claims to fame include getting us Anza House, and continuing
to make improvements to it over time. He's helped plan and
then overseen the various grading projects on the Anza site,
and is the person who knows the most about getting Anza-related
projects through the county permit and inspection system -
so he's the one everyone goes to for help with the permit
process. More recently, he got us the storage container that's
now near the club observatory and that made it possible to
clear the warming room and observing area in the observatory
so they could actually be used - not only did he get the container,
he arranged for the gravel bed it sits on and built the shelves
inside that made it fully functional as a storage unit. He's
had a major hand in just about every significant building
project out at Anza, and always has a list of projects he
is planning to do for the club - the painting of Anza House
is only one of them. On top of all that, he is very generous
in sharing his knowledge and his time, and has been a real
pleasure to work with in the three years I've been on the
board.
This is something of a non sequitur, but
I've wanted to talk about the slide shows we run before the
general meetings for awhile. These were started by Liam while
he was president, in part as a response to questions about
why we weren't showing member slides. I'm told that member
slides used to be a frequent feature of the meetings, but
that, of course, was before we had the email groups and before
it became easy for people to post their pictures on the website.
It didn't take Liam long to realize that the slide shows also
are a great way to display club announcements, so people have
a chance to see them even if there isn't time to make the
announcements orally. He refined the concept over the months
he created them for the meetings, and, when he turned the
presidency over to me, I tried to convince him to continue
doing them. He declined on the grounds that these should remain
a presidential privilege - or responsibility. Although the
focus remains the announcements and member images, the shows
do provide another way for the president to communicate with
the membership, and I admit that I've been having fun with
them, though I started off with minimal knowledge of Power
Point.
Generally, at least half the slides in
any given show are devoted to announcements. As to the pictures,
I sent out requests for submissions a few times, but got very
few responses. I know, from seeing images posted on the AstroImagers
email group and, more recently, in the new Image Album on
the website, that there are a lot of members taking a lot
of really great pictures. Since these have been posted for
club members to enjoy, it seems reasonable to use them in
the slide shows, as the shows are meant solely for the club
meetings. On a few occasions, I've found an image that I wanted
to use that was on a member website but hadn't been specifically
posted to one of the club email groups, in which case, of
course, I asked permission before using it (I'm happy to report
that those members have been very gracious, even enthusiastic,
about giving permission).
My philosophy in selecting pictures is
to try to give as broad a representation of what members are
doing as possible, focusing on images that have been posted
since the previous meeting. I try to use only two images per
show from any one member (there are times when selecting which
two images to use is a real challenge!), and I try to include
images from less experienced people as well as from those
who are true masters of the art. The "two picture"
rule it isn't iron-clad and does get stretched on occasion.
The only changes I make in the images themselves are sizing
them to fit the slides, and sometimes rotating them to get
a better fit (but only on images without a clear orientation).
If I find that the way a particular image shows up on a slide
doesn't do it justice, I generally won't use it, even if it
happens to be one I really like. I started by trying to include
all of the information provided with each picture, but found
that the text too often detracted from the image, so now I
limit the verbal information I add to the title or subject
of the picture and the identity of the photographer. The format
of each slide is based on the template that Liam set up, which
has a black background and the club logo in blue with gold
letters at the top left corner - where this detracts from
the image, as with Jim Windlinger's beautifully framed picture
of the Horsehead Nebula that was in the June show, I eliminate
the logo.
Inevitably, I have limited time to find
good pictures for the show, and I'm sure there are times that,
if I looked a little further, I would have found a better
image from a particular photographer than one I actually used.
Which gets me to one reason for going on about this - if you
have any pictures you would like shown at one of the general
meetings, please don't feel shy about sending them to me!
It's easiest if you do it by email to btoy@cox.net, but I
do have a scanner if you want to send me a non-electronic
version. Any announcements that should be included in the
show are also welcome. To give me time to incorporate anything
you send into the show, please get it to me no later than
the Wednesday before the meeting.
Thanks, and with that I'll sign off until
next month. May your August skies be clear and the seeing
truly excellent!
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