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My wife and I took the Washington State Motorcycle Safety course and of course, we had to go and look, just look, at some bikes. At the entrance of the dealership, I saw the biggest V-Twin that Honda produces: the VTX1800. Year 2005, 0 miles (forgotten in a warehouse and just
placed on display) and I ended up with a brand new bike for 2/3 of its price... 0 miles...
So, now I have a 800-pound bike I was unsure I was going to be able to handle. I even had it delivered, because I just didn't trust myself to hit the Interstate a bike this big. Keep in mind that the only other bike I ever had was a Vespa 50cc in Italy, many years ago... (yes, I know, not very sexy...)
However, after taking it for a couple of rides around town, I now love this bike...
Meade LX200GPS 10"
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Building on the legendary reputation of their predecessor Meade LX200 Telescopes and the
result of a two-year design effort at the Meade Irvine facility, Meade 10" LX200 GPS
Computerized Telescopes take previous telescope technology to a level heretofore unimagined.
I got this 10" telescope for my birthday a couple of years back and was really excited at the beginning. I managed to hook it up to my laptop and control the movement and a digital camera settings and shutter with a program I wrote. However, taking it apart
and putting it back together in the backyard required several trips and a strong guy (just the Optical Telescope Assembly weighs 27 kilos (60 pounds), 40 kilos (90 pounds) with the tripod).
It is not so much the weight, but more the weather... In Seattle we have very dark long, but cold and cloudy winter nights and then very short, dry and clear summer nights. What that means is that the only times to go out is during the summer and it doesn't get
really dark till 11-12pm.... then you better hurry, because it will get clear again pretty soon. Also, the weather here has a well established reputation for changing in a matter of minutes. That means a clear open sky can get overcast in 30 minutes or so, just
about when I was done aligning and ready to start watching anything....yup, actually happened to me.
So, in essence, I have taken the telescope out maybe a total of three times and kind of given up. It has been sitting without use in my office...
More soon...