My Phone is Better than Your Phone!

I got my first cell phone back in 1992, a Motorola flip phone which, for the time, was quite an astonishingly small piece of gear. It was a phone. No Internet. No games. No contact list. No frills of any kind.

Got it because I'm a gear freak; a boy-toy junky...not because I particularly like talking on a phone. Frankly, it is quite the opposite. Most of the time, I prefer to be lost...be total anonymous...total unfound.

Even so, I'd alway said that I want my phone to just be a phone...nothing else. In fact, next to fax machines, I've always been kinda phone-stupid. If I needed something set correctly on the phone, I'd just let one of the local teens do it. Funny thing, really. Kids can navigate through a 1-9-7 menu combination on a Nokia...from memory...in a fraction of a second...to fix something that would take me days to fix...yet that same kid can't remember to keep his damn bike from blocking my front door.

I've never wanted my cell phone doing anything much but receiving calls...or being there for me in an emergency...or for when I'm required to "check in" with the aforementioned wife. By the way, I'm quite sure that makes me no different from any other married man with 3 kids, 3 cats, a dog, and a bunch of squirrels that infest the attic.

So it's ironic that my wife, Helen, would be the person who gifted me the first cellphone I actually enjoyed a few years ago, a Pocket PC that just happened to have a functioning phone built in. It had a stylus and a sliding keyboard, which we nice features, but the phone was otherwise a little clunky. Even so, it did a lot of useful things.

Now, I have a cell phone that is better than your cell phone. Yes, even better than your Blackberry.

So, next time you see me on the observing field levelling my scope's tripod with my phone...or checking the moon phase with my phone...or using my phone as a red flashlight...or controlling the laptop remotely with my phone...well, just remember that you too could have an iPhone!

Just a Beauty Shot!

Nothing stirs the astronomer's soul like good equipment. Fortunate as I am, I still have access to Taks and APs - SBIGs and FLIs.

While my association with the Three Rivers Foundations is not a strong as it once was - my role is one of a consultant now rather than being on staff - it's still a blessing to be able to surround yourself with great gear...as well as great friends (such as the guy who took this shot of me, Phil Jones).

Taking on a new family and a recent newborn has yielded little time for life's hobbies. But I still love the sky. Still love the gear. And I still love sharing the passion of astronomy.

My goal for 2009 is to be more involved in astronomy than I have been in the past two years. No, I will not neglect those who are precious to me, but I will devote more time to my astronomy pursuits, my astronomy friends, and my astronomy writings.

I hope you'll take the time to check into ALLABOUTASTRO regularly. I promise that you'll find the new blog entertaining, informative, and educational.

New Blog is here!!!

Welcome to the new Blog!

A long time ago when I created this website, I didn't know what a "blog" was. I did, however, know what an online journal was, and at that time I decided to call it "AstroUpdates," in keeping with the All About "Astro" theme and with the intent to update you on various things in the All About Astro world.

In looking at my last post, three or four YEARS ago, I figure I better do something about it...so I've gone with a simple "blogger" service.

I'll post more often now...and feel free to respond with your comments!