Yesterday was bright and sunny. Today we have returned to winter gloom. It doesn't look good for the weekend, either, and Saturday night at the Observatory I was supposed to host our first Public Night for the year. Oh well, at least it looks like the sky conditions will be unambiguously opaque — no second-, third-, and fourth-guessing a decision on whether to open. The worst times are when we have an event planned and maybe it will be cloudy and maybe it won't be cloudy. Do I drive to the Observatory or not? Because this was going to be a Saturn Observation Campaign special event, we have a rare "rain" date –next Saturday– in case sky conditions prevent our opening. That's Northern Ohio for you… not exactly the astronomy capital of the world.
This year's big event calendar publishing project seems to have taken forever! In fact, we ought to be in print right now and might have been except we needed to find a new printing company. It seems Rohrich Corporation closed its doors, apparently late last year, and I was left scrambling looking for a new company that could provide excellent quality and service at an affordable price. I got three estimates and selected the new provider. About all that remains on the publishing end is a page or two of text to place, copy-fitting, and a photo caption or two. I hope to be able to >>finally<< finish the publication tomorrow (a scheduled day off) and ship the CD-ROM off to the new guys. Celebration will be in order. A bonus: this year, for the first time ever, I won't do the majority of shipping and distribution from my house! The new printer will handle that. What a relief: you have no idea how much 20,000 full-color "magazines" fresh off the press can stink up your house unless you've actually lived with it! Of course, I'll lose the exercise of lugging 20 or so cartons of 35 pounds each down into the basement and back up again over the course of a few months — I guess I'll have to do strength and cardio training some other way.
My thoughts go out to the fine folks formerly with Rohrich. So sorry to learn of the closure and job losses for people we worked with for many years. Here's hoping they all find better times not long ahead.
Weekend: We plan to visit the Cleveland Auto Show. Yes, a little pre-shopping.
PhotonStopper 