Spring Cleaning, Messier Star Parties, and Pot Luck Dinners

Spring is finally here. It has been a long cold winter. While I enjoy the cold, I have to admit I am glad that spring has finally arrived. My mallards have returned, and are nesting upstream from the building in Stow. My friend the muskrat is not only alive and well, he is quite plump. I haven’t seen his mate yet, but I am assuming she weathered the winter well. The blue herring should be arriving any day. In the recent years, he has moved his nest further up the river, but he still enjoys fishing in the canal.

It is time once again for the astronomy club’s annual Messier Star party/pot luck dinner. This is an annual rain or shine event. In the early years, it used to be held at a member’s home during the prime messier viewing period of the end of March, beginning of April. However, over the years, the weather has not always been kind, and the party pushed out now till the end of April, or early May. We have also stopped holding it at members homes and now hold it at the observatory. This of course makes me the official “host”. The only thing I can say is that no one goes home hungry. I cook to excess. This year, I keep telling myself that I will practice restraint. Now ask me if that will happen?

This past winter I burned some very old, dusty, dirty firewood. The building is a mess. So this week is clean up time. I figure if I work hard, and factor in the cat’s “big help”, I should have the place clean by September. 🙂  On a good note, I resurrected one of the dead roombas. I love roombas, when they work, they are fantastic. However, I have killed 8 roombas in a five year period.There is something about the wood ash dust that kills them quickly. As I left the building this morning, the roomba was happily cleaning away. If I run him every day this week, the room might actually look presentable. To add insult to injury, the refrigerator is acting up. I am afraid to stock up for fear, the fridge will die. I will say a prayer and sprinkle holy water on it to see it through the week and hope for the best.

Well time for work, no rest for the weary. May you have a safe and happy week.

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Spring is Here, It Must be Time for the North East Astronomy Forum

Winter has finally released its grip and spring is slowly working its way in. This of course means it must be time for the holy pilgrimage to Suffern New York to see the 23rd Annual North East Astronomy Forum. For those not into amateur astronomy, The Rockland Astronomy club hosts the largest astronomy forum in the east coast, if not the entire united states. Over a hundred vendors bring their latest wares for display and sale. Top speakers from all over the world come to give talks over the two day event. Thousands of amateur astronomers attend each year.
I look forward to the lectures this year, several are very interesting. I also look forward to catching up with old friends I have met over the years.  If you are one of the people going this year, I will see you there. If you have never heard of the forum before, check out their website:
http://www.rocklandastronomy.com/NEAF/Index.html

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Sacramento Bound

Well we are half way through the first leg of our journey to visit a sick friend. We are currently cruising at 28,000 ft and I’m writing this post. I love technology.  Can’t wait to visit with my friend

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In Flanders Fields, Memories Forgotten

For as long back as I can remember, Memorial Weekend was a time to travel to the cemetery, plant the annual flowers on the graves of our departed, and reflect upon their memory. The cemetery where my grandparents rest, is cut into a sloping hillside. As a child I remember riding with my father to the entrance of the cemetery. An iron gate guarded the entrance. It was always freshly painted, its hinges well oiled. The road to the grave site was lined with majestic maples. The stones and statues stood tall and picturesque on the hillside. The cemetery was always full of life, people planting flowers, grooming shrubs and paying their respects.

Today, there is a new cemetery, the field of death as I prefer to call it. It too, has a grand, well-kept gate protecting the entrance, but there the similarity ends. Once within, a vast ever-growing field of flatness is presented to you. Gone are the trees, and shrubs of old. In many sections, only flat headstones are allowed. A barren wasteland of sorts. Pounded by the sun, the grass mowed too short, is brown, and fights to live. This is the memory of today. The field today, is full of the living, they come to pay their respects. They set pots of flowers on the tombstones, knowing they must be removed in a week, so the dying grass can easier, be kept at bay. Despair fills my heart when I enter this field of death, not because of the memories of those departed, but the emptiness the field contains. As I place my pots of flowers on the various graves and say a prayer, I often sigh, knowing I too, one day will lie in this forsaken wasteland.

I still go to the cemetery of my grandparents and my forefathers. Their memory instilled deep within my soul. The once grand gate, is now broken and rotting, it sags on rusted hinges. The once majestic maples, are now diseased and dying. Along the hillside, the once proud headstones are leaning or fallen over. Some have layed forgotten on the ground for many years. The cemetery, once full of life and memories, is almost empty. The memories of the living have passed with time, as did they. Memories passed to the youth, seem to have been forgotten. Only the memories of today, and the field of death remain in their minds. It too will one day be forgotten.

Yet sitting here in the cemetery of my youth, I find peace and solitude. I remember those who have passed before me, and their accomplishments and sacrifices. Today, while sitting on that hillside I couldn’t help but remember a poem of my youth. I think it is an appropriate way to honor their memory. Here is the poem:

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch: be yours to hold it high
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields

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The New Map of Orrehaven Island

Here is the new map of Orrehaven Island. The map was created by the very talented Kip Ayers

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The New Map of Shivenridge

Here’s the new map of Shivenridge created by the talented Kip Ayers. His attention to detail is impressive.

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The Keya Quests: The Curse of the Black Sword Book Trailer

Here is the video trailer for the fourth book in the Keya Quest series.

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Upgrading an Acer Iconia Tablet to Windows 8

With the release of windows 8, I decided to see if it would improve the performance of my sluggish Acer Iconia Tablet running windows 7. While the tablet worked OK, its performance has been mediocre to say the least. The Iconia tab running windows 7 was really not tablet friendly. While Acer had a nice “tablet” app for windows 7, it was far from what one would expect for a tablet. Using windows 7 directly was awkward and clumsy.

The install:
I went online and purchased windows 8 directly from Microsoft at their promotional rate. Prior to the actual purchase, an upgrade wizard was downloaded to the tablet and it analyzed the software for compatibility. The results stated 22 out of 28 applications and drivers were compatible. It also told me that the touch pad was not windows 8 compliant. The touch screen would work as well as it did with windows 7, but some of the functionality may be limited. While I was not happy with that piece of information, I was impressed that the wizard let me know in advance. Among the applications that was supported was my installation of Office 2010 home edition. The bluetooth driver needed to be uninstalled before the upgrade, which the wizard informed me in advance and assisted with the uninstall. It also told me that I would have to re-install the ATI (AMD) graphics driver and software. At this point I should note that the Iconia W500 comes with a 32 gig solid state drive. What the upgrade wizard failed to mention until the very last screen is that you need 16 gig of free space on the C drive to perform the install. This required removing all installed software including my copy of office 2010. While annoying, I thought I would just add back the software after the install. After freeing the space, the actual installation proceeded without any issues. It took about 45 minutes give or take for the upgrade to complete. After the installation completed and the system rebooted. I found myself on what looked like an actual tablet (older style tablet) The scrolling desktop was filled with large square or rectangle easy to push buttons. Some of the buttons were scrolling news feeds, weather and sports. One of the buttons, took me straight to my old familiar “windows” desktop. It took a while to get used to the navigation (I am still learning I admit) but after a while I was adding and removing buttons from the start. I downloaded the new Netflix app from the “app store” and began to assess the actual install.

What Worked:
After the install, With the exception of my old desktop wallpaper, all of my personal settings and files were intact. The lan card connected to my network with ease, the bluetooth functioned without reconfiguration on both my mouse and keyboard. Boot time on windows 8 on the Iconia tablet compared to the windows 7 originally on it is fast. I would say it is 35-40% faster than with windows 7. I was honestly surprised and impressed. The touch navigation worked fine, the menus are easy to use (there is a learning curve) I found them responsive and very touch friendly. The audio performed flawlessly. Internet explorer which can be accessed from a button on the start screen. It launched much quicker than IE on windows 7 on this machine. I downloaded the graphics driver and the webcam software and installed both. The install was clean and both worked perfectly after a reboot.

What didn’t work:
My biggest “gotcha” after the install was the fact that I could NOT re-install Office 2010. I received a message that stated the installer was not compatible with windows 8 and referred me to a KB article on Microsoft. The article told me the workaround was to restore the tablet to windows 7, install office and upgrade! Duh! I had to uninstall office to free sufficient room to install windows 8. Further the technote stated, if I wanted to buy a new copy of office 2010, the new installer would work. This is classic Microsoft in my opinion. I have a legitimate copy of office but because I was forced to uninstall, I cannot re-install unless I purchase it again. The other thing that did not work, is the new Netflix app on my Verizon FIOS network. I receive errors that the router is not configured correctly. On my Comcast account at my office however, the app work flawlessly. I have not had time to speak with Netflix support to troubleshoot the issue.

Overall opinion:
Despite the infuriating situation with office 2010, I am really impressed with the improved performance of the Acer Iconia tablet running on windows 8. I finally feel, I actually possess a windows true “tablet” I still have software to add back, and honestly if you were upgrading on a computer that had sufficient drive space where you would not have to uninstall office, the issue with it, would not have occurred. The app store is very limited, and the real issue is how many developers will come on board developing apps when android and IOS have so much more development.

UPDATE:

After the upgrade to windows 8, there was only 7 gig of free drive space on the SD drive. After the first couple windows 8 updates the free space was down to 4 gig. After examining the C drive I realized the upgrade made a complete backup of the window 7 operating system in a folder called “windows.old” after a quick google search, the folder can be removed manually by deleting it, or using the drive cleanup tool. After removing the old system files, I now had 11 gig of free drive space. I used the drive cleanup tool. The windows 8 cleanup tool is similar to the windows 7 tool, however, there is now a button that says “clean up system files”. Selecting that button will then give you the option of selecting “Previous Windows Installation(s)”.

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Review of Billy Purgatory and the Curse of the Satanic Five by Jesse James Freeman

I was fortunate enough to have received an advanced copy of Billy two. I really enjoyed Billy one and was anxiously awaiting the release of the sequel. The Curse of the Satanic Five sort of picks up where the first book left off. The story is full of action and non-stop adventure. The plot is deep and twisting. The author did not let me down. The sequel revolves around the consequences of Billy’s actions in the first book. Without giving away spoilers, the Satanic Five are after Billy and Anastasia. They are unleashing all, in their attempts for revenge.

The story is well written and fast paced. The characters are rich, full of life and enjoyable. I had a few minor issues with the story. I found the beginning confusing; it took me several pages of reading before I realized where I was at in the story. There are also a few chapters in the book that breaks away from the story line to introduce new information, I found these breaks distracting. The distractions lessened slightly my enjoyment of the story. Lastly, what happens to Billy at the end of this book made me raise my eyebrows. I won’t go into detail, read for yourself.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it and the first book, to everyone I meet. The storyline is unique, refreshing and entertaining. If you’ve read the first, the second is a must. I for one cannot wait for the third installment.

I give this book 4 stars

You can purchase this book on Amazon

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How Do I Pronounce that Word?

As a fantasy author, I have created many names of people and places to fit the world I have created. I am often asked by readers how is a word pronounced, or listen as they pronounce the word as they think it should be. I will be the first to admit that I have mispronounced more words in my lifetime that I’ve gotten right. I have done a number of astronomy or meteorite related talks where I have apologized in advance for the mispronunciation that is bound to come out of my lips. In my world of fantasy however, I am bound by no rules other than my own. I take great pleasure in pronouncing the words I have created in the voices of my characters. To make it easier for my readers to understand Keya’s world, I have added a new section to the Keya Quests website. It is called “How do I Pronounce that Word” I am still building the list of words, but there on that page, you can click on a button and hear the word being pronounced as Keya and her people would say it.

The page requires either windows media player, or quick time player plugins for your browser. I have tested it on IE, Firefox, and Chrome. If you are looking for a word not yet on the list, let me know and I will see that it’s added. If you would like to see anything else on the Keya Quests site, let me know.

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