Monday, August 14, 2006

Rejuvenated and refocused

Well, leave it to the greatness of Astronomy Boy to say the words that would rejuvenate my will and reestablish my focus on the goal. When I first started this scope-building vision quest, my goals were to get a good scope for a decent price and to get the satisfaction of having built this scope myself. Astronomy Boy reminded me that he had similar goals when he began building his eyepieces, and it took a little initial investment to build eyepieces that he could have just as easily purchased for about the same cost. Yet it was the personal satisfaction of building them himself that kept him going.

As I long-time woodworker, I should’ve known from my experiences gained while learning woodworking that trial and error can be a harsh mistress. I’ve built my share of wobbly tables, chairs you can’t sit in or they’ll break, mismatched wood grains, etc. to know that it took me a long time to gain the skills that enabled me to build my last big project, this 12x9 built-in bookcase that now graces our living room:

Learning to build a spotting scope—a high-powered optical instrument capable of viewing birds at long distances, made for digiscoping (another skill I have yet to even begin to master)—will require a similarly long and not-so-vertical learning curve. As such, my disappointment with my English-pea-sized lenses will only be a temporary setback. I will not give in! I will not be defeated!

I will find a short focal length, larger-diameter eyepiece lens/set and persevere. I have to! My pride and my force of will require no less.

Thanks, astronomy boy, for your encouragement and your wisdom. I’ll press on.

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