New Status

I received a private note from Dick Berg wondering where I am/whether I’m ok – which was very nice of him – since I haven’t been active on the ACP Forum recently. Indeed, I’m just fine. Dick suggested I might want to post a note regarding my status since I’ve been pretty active on the forum for quite a long time and some of my cyber-friends might wonder what’s happened. I've decided to take a hiatus from my astronomy pursuits for a while. One of the things about my personality that I learned long ago is that I approach things in an "all or nothing" fashion - I'm either "all in" or "all out." I don't seem to do very well when I just dabble in something. I don't know if that's good or bad, but it is the way I am.

As you all would know, this hobby requires a great deal of time and dedication just to keep up, let alone progress to new levels. I've just reached the point where I need to focus my priorities elsewhere. More specifically, my sister lives on a farm in southern Ohio. Her husband died a year or so ago and I've been lending a hand periodically with the farm work. (I’m born and raised in the city, but I’m told I’ve graduated to “assistant farm hand” status!) Further, my parents decided to move back up from Florida to be close to her and help as they can. Even though they're in reasonable health, they're both 88 years old so there's only so much they can do. The good news is that I've seen my sister and parents more in the last year than I had in the last 20!

Since it's likely to be at least a few years before I get back into astronomy, I've decided to sell my complete setup so others can get use out of it rather than letting it rot in the basement. I actually just sold my mount last week to an ACP user, so I know it’s in good hands. I will be posting my other equipment on Astromart over the next week or so.

So that's the story. I specifically want to thank Bob for:

1) Some great software
2) Great support
3) Willingness to take my calls with questions
4) Willingness to listen to my suggestions (and even incorporate a few of them into ACP)

I believe I’m Customer #6, having bought Astronomer’s Control Panel early on when it was basically a replacement for the Meade LX200 handbox, so I’ve been on this ACP ride from the beginning. It’s been great! I’ve enjoyed the community here immensely and wish clear skies to all!

Jim