RE: ATMJ help

[Don Ware - CSS <Don.Ware@digital.com>]

Mel Barels said:

        For me, there are two 'thingee's about atm'ing.  First is the
personal
        satisfaction of building something myself, and secondly, when using
it
        to gaze at distant objects, a connection to the cosmos.

I can identify with these two 'thingees.'  I am now in a position where I
can afford to buy an expensive telescope, but I will never get the
satisfaction from it that I get from the telescopes I have built for myself.
If I count my time and the equipment I have acquired in my hobby, (lathe,
mill, etc.) then I'm not even saving money.  (I can't really count the time
because the satisfaction I get actually pays me.)  I finished a Crayford
focuser a while back.  It doesn't look as good as the ones from NGF, but it
works as well. (Perhaps I next have to learn how to anodize.)

We each have a different set of 'thingees' and prioritize around them.  Some
chase the 1/20 wave parabola, some chase the elegance of a finely hand
crafted telescope while others chase the elusive fuzzies in the increasingly
light polluted sky.  Vive la differance!

Clear skys to all,

Don Ware
Compaq Computer Corporation
CustomSystems Rugged/Government Segment Manager
wared@mail.dec.com
DTN: 264-1858
(603)884-1858