Friday night after work Bob and I went to the star party at the El Rito observatory. Most notable was the fact that the alignment pins were installed on the 16" scope, and Bob and I were able to track down some software setting errors leading to a pretty well-aligned scope. The tracking on that thing was a disaster before Friday; now it'll hold an image in the FOV for at least 15 minutes or so.

Next time I'm going to do a drift alignment and we're actually going to correct the pier azimuth - this involves rotating the entire 250kg assembly very precisely and will require lots of beefy lads. Right now the scope is acceptably aligned for modest exposure length photography and more than sufficient for any visual work. I'm pressing Roger to get the Losmandy rails and counterweights so I can hook my photo gear up and take some pictures.

Saturday and Sunday were both excellent weather. I did a lot of work, but managed to work in a short geocache hike with Robin on Saturday. Finally watched Citizen Kane, which I recognize as a landmark film but in a modern context I didn't find it all that impressive. Sunday I got my hair cut down in Santa Fe, bought two new cookbooks (Pasta and "High Altitude"), bought the Donnie Darko DVD, and did a couple of quick geocaches within the city. Watched Soylent Green when I got home. SG is infinitely better than I was expecting. Somehow, because the final dialogue is so heavily parodied, I figured that the movie must be schlock cliche or something. But I loved it! Heston Factor 12!!

After I went to bed last night, the weather went to shiz and it snowed 7 or 8 inches on us. When I woke up everything was heavily blanketed. They delayed the lab opening until 10am to plow the roads. I went in at 8 anyway, only to find that they had closed the lab for the whole day. I guess they're expecting futher shiz.

I'm staying at work because I've got way too much to do to take a day off, but I figure I can take a few minutes for writing journal entries. :)