From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, January 24, 2005 4:22 PM
Subject: Luckless @ LLL
Well folks,
Things didn't quite go as planned...
O Fortuna,                              O Fortune,
velut luna                                like the moon
statu variabilis.                      you are changeable
and boy, was she laughing at me! Sunday night, I watched helplessly as a row of clouds moved northward from the south. This morning, driving in to work at 8 AM, the sky was clearing from the south toward the cloudy north. C'est la vie say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell. My title looks like a brand, and I was feeling a little branded myself. Mmmmooooooooooo! On top of all this, I missed Wynne who came out briefly. She got the best of the night, though, with a jet flying through her eyepiece over a Saturnian backdrop!
On the plus side, Gary and Scott came out and got to see a foggy Saturn. For a moment, Fortuna slid open the heavens for a good peak at Machholz for them, and we caught the ET and Double Clusters for a moment. But those gems were ultimately absorbed back into the cloudy veils of the night. Ursa Minor and a setting Deneb as indifferent to us as the cold blowing wind. Hopefully we'll have better luck next week - at a dark sky site!
Hasta next weekend, amigos,
CDS 

-----Original Message-----
From: Collin Smith [mailto:CollinofAlabama@cox.net]
Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 7:58 PM
Subject: Sunday night special
Folks,
It won't be hot as a pistol on Sunday night, but it just might seem like it after Saturday night's chill. And it will really feel hot if you cock your head, aim your eye, and bam! feel those photons a-hittin' your optic nerve. Probably have oohs and aahhs all over the place. What a mess! But it'll be worth it, for sure! Blastin' inner stell'r photons at folks' optic nerve, man, don't get any better'n 'at!
So where's this here stell'r photon shootin' gallery at? Well, we're so crazy we're gonna do it right here in town! That's right, no long drives out to dark skies in the country cause guess what? There ain't any left. The moon done washed up the sky while she shoots us an almost full one! So that means we got all kinds of photons shootin' all over the place. Yep, gonna get blasted with photons. But since you're gonna get blasted anyway, why not enjoy it?
Go to the Lubbock Lake Landmark about 6:45 on Sunday night, January 23rd, when its good an' as dark as it'll get. When you get to the stop sign and turn left to enter the LLL/Burl Huffman Sports complex, veer to the left like yer goin' to LLL. Drive right past the gates cause they ain't open then anyway. You'll come to a long row o' parking spaces on the right (with a handy tree line) and covered picnic tables on the left. Should see some cars parked there on the right and some folks with long barrels pointed at the sky. You're there, and ain't nobody can stop you from focusing them photons and, K‑Pow! right into your brain! Oh, the humanity! Yee haw!
Dress WARM cause it's always cooler 'n' you think. Gimme a call if my directions leave you out in the dark or cold.
We got photons. Let's have some fun with 'em!
Hasta Sunday night, babies,
CDS