What have you been up to lately?

[pakarinen]

Finally have some fish in my nano reef aquarium. I have a Firefish and a Chromis. I had a Tomato Clown, but took it back to the LFS due to it being very aggressive. I have some lime color coralline algae growing, but I would rather have the purple.

Maybe I missed it - are you using an acrylic or glass tank?

Didn't realize Tomato Clowns were aggressive. Beware triggerfish - I thought it odd when one of my sergeant majors seemed to disappear. Then I saw the head of my other one drifting in the tank. My Niger Trigger apparently was hungry.

[turboscrew]

Hmm, got something else, besides the mount check, done this weekend. Ordered ZWO filterset (Ha, OIII, SII), and from a fellow Finnish astronomer used 3 and 4 mm TV Radians, 150€ a piece, postage included. Do you think the price was good?

[davesellars]

Hi Juha... Sounds like a productive (expensive?) weekend.. Radians that I've seen come up recently seem to have gone for around £120-130 so probably not far off the mark with the postage included. Let me know how you get on with the 4mm Radian as I'd like to upgrade at some point my TMB clone 4mm to a Delite or Radian (not sure how much difference there is between them...)

[davesellars]

Beautifully clear again tonight and have the dob out cooling... 3rd night in a row! (you can't say that too often from the UK).

[turboscrew]

Hi Juha... Sounds like a productive (expensive?) weekend.. Radians that I've seen come up recently seem to have gone for around £120-130 so probably not far off the mark with the postage included. Let me know how you get on with the 4mm Radian as I'd like to upgrade at some point my TMB clone 4mm to a Delite or Radian (not sure how much difference there is between them...)

About 800€ (£670) weekend, even if I kind of promised to myself not to buy expensive astronomy stuff this month.

[Refractordude]

Finally have some fish in my nano reef aquarium. I have a Firefish and a Chromis. I had a Tomato Clown, but took it back to the LFS due to it being very aggressive. I have some lime color coralline algae growing, but I would rather have the purple.

Maybe I missed it - are you using an acrylic or glass tank?

Didn't realize Tomato Clowns were aggressive. Beware triggerfish - I thought it odd when one of my sergeant majors seemed to disappear. Then I saw the head of my other one drifting in the tank. My Niger Trigger apparently was hungry.

I have a glass tank. Sorry for the lost fish.

[GCoyote]

First meal off the grill for 2022.

[GCoyote]

First real day of yard work for 2022. Filled in some holes, moved some stones. Seeded a few bare spots. T-Shirt and jeans weather as long as you keep working.

[UlteriorModem]

First real day of yard work for 2022. Filled in some holes, moved some stones. Seeded a few bare spots. T-Shirt and jeans weather as long as you keep working.

Its the day after that is rough

[OzEclipse]

First real day of yard work for 2022. Filled in some holes, moved some stones. Seeded a few bare spots. T-Shirt and jeans weather as long as you keep working.

Its the day after that is rough

That second day is today for me.

Was swinging a 2-stroke petrol hedge trimmer and brushcutter for a couple of hours yesterday and an hour on Sunday. I did have the sense to split it into 4 x 30min sessions so only a bit stiff today. Not as sore as I expected, but worse than I'd like.

Joe

[pakarinen]

Routine eye exam. Need a "stronger" prescription, but that's nothing new. IPD = 67mm.
Happy to hear my eyes are still dilating to 7-8mm according to my doc. And my "baby" cataracts are still tiny.

[UlteriorModem]

I did some yardwork over last weekend. About an hours worth of weed wacking. Was a relief when the battery finally gave out

But god it took like 2 days to recover from stiff and sore muscles. So out of shape!

[notFritzArgelander]

Routine eye exam. Need a "stronger" prescription, but that's nothing new. IPD = 67mm.
Happy to hear my eyes are still dilating to 7-8mm according to my doc. And my "baby" cataracts are still tiny.

That’s great! I’m only dilating to nearly 6mm so I’ve lost a little there. My cataract issue is also too babyish to worry.

[turboscrew]

First real day of yard work for 2022. Filled in some holes, moved some stones. Seeded a few bare spots. T-Shirt and jeans weather as long as you keep working.

Still about 20 cm (8") of snow around here.

[turboscrew]

The TV Radians arrived. They look like new. I can remove the 4 mm from my list, and got a 3 mm too. Didn't plan that, but might come handy later.

[davesellars]

The TV Radians arrived. They look like new. I can remove the 4 mm from my list, and got a 3 mm too. Didn't plan that, but might come handy later.

Sounds like you got a good deal then!

[Bigzmey]

Congrats Juha! Radians are nice EPs

[DeanD]

I got my Volunteer Ranger uniform today (hence my new avatar): the start of a new "occupation" now that my Astronomy Education business is moribund thanks to COVID, and I am sort of retired as a result. In South Oz the Govt has just started a volunteer Ranger program to assist our undermanned National Parks staff: 1/4 of the State is now "National Park", but there are only around 90 full time park Rangers. So I get a uniform and take tours or do whatever is needed to help out. Watch out Yogi (koala?) bear!
I hope to institute some Astronomy tours in some of the Parks as well once COVID settles down again.
My career has now gone from Civil Engineer/RAAF officer to Minister/Pastor to Chaplain/Teacher to Astronomy Educator to Park Ranger. And I just realised that sadly my income has decreasing in relative terms for each step: right down to zero as a volunteer! Lucky I am a "kept man" while my wife is still working; although not for much longer...
I guess too it is time now to dust off my astro camera and start some serious astronomy again.

[Butterfly Maiden]

A bitter-sweet time for you at the moment Dean.

I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy being a Ranger, but tinged with sadness that your astronomy job is going through such difficult times.

Good luck and I hope all goes well for you in your new venture.

[pakarinen]

And I just realised that sadly my income has decreasing in relative terms for each step: right down to zero as a volunteer!

You're not alone. My income has gone down ever since I left software project management. OTOH, I don't work 60-hour weeks anymore and my stress level is minimal at worst.
Next stop I think will be 20 hours a week at my local hardware store - I can stock plumbing and electrical supplies.