Darrin's Weird World

Still here ... November edition

2011-11-18T08:36:00.002-05:00

Yeah... I'm still here.======================================The Mrs and I went down to Hocking HIlls... like a month ago. It was great to get away in that little cabin... with no TV. We went hiking and saw Old Man's Cave and Cedar Falls. Then we ate some BBQ. Then we trekked all the way to Circleville for the last day of the pumpkin festival. We parked in some dudes backyard for $10,

Saw it!

2011-10-25T11:42:00.004-04:00

I actually saw the Northern Lights last night. And it was a total fluke. We were watching "The Sing Off". I really wasn't in the mood to look for satellites, but I also new it was super clear that evening. I had gone out around 8pm but nothing was going on then, at least none that I noticed. About 9:30pm, during a commercial break, I decided I'd go out quickly to see if I could spot a satellite

What's new - August and mid-Sept Edition

2011-09-16T19:59:00.002-04:00

I started writing this entry at the beginning of September, but then time got away from me 'cause I was trying to have the satellite spotting stuff in here. But it's just too much ... so I'll get the sat stuff up later. Once again it's been a month (and a half) since I've updated. Good golly. I barely check email once a week now. How sad is that???The latest and greatest thing is that I

August satellite sessions

2011-08-28T12:54:00.043-04:00

August is turning out to be a pretty decent month for sky watching. There was the Perseid meteor shower, and it's also been cool enough that the mosquitoes haven't been too horrible. This past week was great because the moon was 'off-phase' and wasn't up for most of the evening. I spotted my brightest objects just the other night. It was a flare from an Iridium satellite which clocked in at -

July Sightings

2011-07-31T20:27:00.005-04:00

The summer has not been as kind to satellite spotting as I had hoped. The sun sets late and the bugs are out. :( The bugs are what I don't like honestly. I can deal with the heat and humidity. But bugs getting into your eyes sucks.Anyhoo... only two sessions in July. The July 4th session occurred because the Mrs and I went out to watch the M'ville fireworks. She even spotted a

I'm still here

2011-07-28T20:13:00.005-04:00

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth... yet. :PNot much in the way of satellite spotting. I think I have one session from July 4th that I have yet to catalog and post. It's hard going outside in the summer cause the bugs are relentless. I could burn a candle, but candles are brighter than you'd think... plus... who wants to go to bed with someoen who smells likehttp://www.blogger.com/

RIP Sherwood

2011-07-13T06:15:00.000-04:00

Sherwood Schwartz, the creator of one of my favorite shows - The Brady Bunch, died yesterday at the age of 94. http://news.yahoo.com/creator-brady-bunch-gilligans-island-dies-173447353.html

Quick update - July 1st 2011

2011-07-01T06:54:00.004-04:00

Discovered this game called "canvas Rider" the other day where you pedal a bicycle along a trail. Except the trail is someones drawing. Just go look at it and check it out. It's addicting and I suck terribly at it.http://cahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnvasrider.com/Purchased a big old Little Tikes playhouse for the kids a week or so ago. I put it together 2 days ago and basically the

May and Early June sessions

2011-06-16T21:39:00.000-04:00

Sessions have been very short and infrequent as of late. If it wasn't for the storms making everything so darn cloudy all the time, the other issue is the fact that the sun doesn't set until 9pm and it doesn't even get truly dark until 10pm at which point sometimes I just want to go to sleep.Most sessions were literally occurring as I was going to bed. I would step outside long enough to see

Ants suck... and other things

2011-06-13T21:35:00.002-04:00

Yeah... we have ants in the house... again. It appears that this will be a yearly thing unless I figure out how to deal with them. they are itty bitty teeny tiny orangish ants. I think they might be pharaoh ants. All I know is that I went to get somethign out of the pantry and they were in several lines up and down the wall. We we had to take all the shit out of there. Of course, my mom

Sorry it's been so long...

2011-05-23T19:36:00.001-04:00

At my new place of employment all blog and video sites have been blocked. So, whereas I would go through all my blogs and crap during the day at work, I can no longer do. And then, since I'm so used to be doing that, I forget to check when I'm at home. D'oh!Nothing new, really ... I ripped like 10 Mini DV tapes and have been busy getting those on to DVD doing chapters and all that crap so it

April sessions

2011-04-30T07:25:00.019-04:00

Here are the April sessions =-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-0=-Here's the time-line for the evening of:Date: 05-Apr-2011 Tuesday9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1626 - Magnitude: 2.9 Int'l Designator: 1985-009-AThis is my 3rd sighting of Kosmos 1626, a Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite that was put into orbit using a Tsyklon-3 rocket in 1985.9:32 PM - Name: Cosmos 1220 - Magnitude: 3.8 Int'l

6th time is a charm -and- a month of sat sessions

2011-04-23T20:50:00.017-04:00

Well, it took me a while, but I finally got a USB keyboard for the KVM that will work. I think I ended up trying/buying 6 different keyboards. The first was when I tried to use a PS-2/USB adapter on the Microsoft Natural keyboard that I already had. that did not work. The lights would come on and then just go right back off, even after a reboot. So I asked my buddy todd for a USB keyboard

Super Desk is almost done...

2011-04-11T21:44:00.004-04:00

Changed the look and feel of the template for my blog. Hope you like it. Looks like shooting stars. Neat-o!!!(mildly wordy post below)Super Desk Deux is shaping up (and getting cleaned up as well). We bought the Mrs a new desk (and laptop) for her study up in the loft. She needed a printer stand so I gave up one of the printer stands from the super desk. However, this weekend my sis brought

old job -> new job = new stuff

2011-04-07T12:00:00.004-04:00

Well, in case you hadn't heard, I got myself a new job last Friday. W00t! I also received my severance package from my former employer. There were quite a few things that the Mrs and I had been wanting to get for a while, so we've been splurging a little bit. The first thing (I think) was that I got a new pair of dress shoes. My old ones weren't actually all that old, however, the sole came

March 28 2011 session

2011-03-28T23:59:00.001-04:00

Here's the time-line for the evening of:Date: 28-Mar-2011 Monday8:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1300 Rocket - Magnitude: 3.9 Int'l Designator: 1981-082-BThis is my 2nd sighting of this Tsyklon-3 rocket which was used to put the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite into orbit in 1981.8:43 PM - Name: Cosmos 1703 - Magnitude: 3.3 Int'l Designator: 1985-108-AThis is my first sighting of Kosmos 1703, a Russian

A day without the kids and a morning / night session on March 27th

2011-03-28T10:10:00.006-04:00

I also woke up Sunday morning around 5am despite taking some Tylenol PM the previous evening. I couldn't get back to sleep and I remembered that one of the satellites I wanted to see was likely going to be out an about. After peeping through the blinds, I determined that it was clear enough to likely see some satellites. I checked my chart, put in my contacts, got suited up and went outside

March 24 2011 satellite spotting session

2011-03-26T20:21:00.008-04:00

Got a fairly clear night on March 24 2011. I had my list all printed out and I kinda just rushed outside. The past few sessions had been in fairly mild weather where I didn't need a hat, gloves, wool socks, or even a sweatshirt. However, this even I _should_ have had those things... I didn't. Well... actually, I was smart enough to bring out my hat and gloves, but I was only wearing a t-shirt

Bad Darrin

2011-03-24T15:22:00.004-04:00

After my interview was done... I stopped in at he Borders that is going out of business on Sawmill. Most stuff was at least 40% off... some has high as 75% (if you like holiday CDs). Of course, I meandered over to the DVD section... and of course they had some of the 50 Movie Packs. So, at 40% + 10% off I picked up a couple more of them. Legends of Horror and Western Legends. Bad Darrin.

a few more sessions (Mar 16,17,19 2011)

2011-03-20T16:03:00.005-04:00

I managed to get a few more session outside. It's been very difficult lately due to the sky being very hazy and the moon coming up in the east during the peak sighting hours. One night I only managed to accidentally see one satellite flare and that was it. But, still, a few is better than none. Enjoy (or not).Here's the time-line for the evening of:Date: 16-Mar-2011 Wednesday8:28 PM - Name:

some stuff and #500 (yay!)

2011-03-15T09:22:00.019-04:00

I had a pretty decent weekend. On Saturday, I got a chance to walk outside with lil N to park and back using the trail behind the house. There is a little 'waterfall' farther down the trail that I did not know existed. I always assumed that the trail connected to the park down the street, but just never ventured that far down the trail to find out.On Sunday, the lot of us went to the zoo

Tues and Weds (Mar 2,3 2011) sessions

2011-03-03T21:22:00.009-05:00

Got a couple of clear nights on Tues and Weds. Tues I was only able to sneak out for a few minutes to catch a few, but I got a good session in on Weds. Most importantly, I finally was able to snag a view of NanoSail-D2!!! I've been wanting to nab a view of this one since it deployed. It's going to de-orbit in a month or so and the calculations make it look like this week might be the only

this weekend and other stuff that's on my mind

2011-02-28T12:23:00.004-05:00

I got to see some sats on friday... but i'll post more on that later.------------I can't remember what I did on Saturday. I know the Mrs took lil N to the zoo. And that's all I remember, other than getting up early with the lil ones. And then the Mrs and I watch The Mentalist that we taped from Thursday evening... I thikn that's what we did on Saturday.-----------Sunday, the Mrs had her sister

23 sats on a Friday Night (sung to the tune "Clock Strikes 10" from Cheap Trick)

2011-02-27T13:52:00.015-05:00

Considering all the crappy weather we had on Friday, amazingly enough it was quite a clear evening. Now, if I could just get my neighbors to let their dogs take a piss in the dark, the world would be great. All in all it was a pretty good session. I had a good run from 7:30pm to 8pm. I was really REALLY hoping to catch a glimpse of NanoSail-D2. Yes, it's NanoSail-D2 despite what most websites

8 on a partially cloudy evening

2011-02-23T21:48:00.008-05:00

I honestly didn't think I was going to have a chance this evening. It's had been overcast all day, so I figured that they gray skies would continue. So it was to my amazement when I looked outside after putting lil A to bed that I could see some stars. I could also see some clouds coming, but it looked like I could get some time time in. Which I did. Yay!Here's the time-line for the evening of

S3 ... Super Saturday Session

2011-02-20T17:07:00.011-05:00

It took me 2 days to enter in Friday's near record breaking session. However, I went and set a record on Saturday night. In all honesty, I should have obliterated my record as I had 3 pages of satellites to spot and a full 2 hours to do it. The first hour was gang-busters. There periods where I would be trying to spot 5 or 6 satellites in a 2 minute period. It gets tricky because you need to

Sooooo close to tying my record

2011-02-19T13:46:00.014-05:00

It was a beautiful evening last night. The sun is setting around 7pm, I'm getting really good sessions in at the moment since I'm not missing alot of the early satellite and I'm still catching all but the later satellites as well. Yay. In about an hour and a half I spotted 24 satellites. That's one shy of tying my record of 25 set on Oct 8th 2010. The neighbors mostly played nice, the moon

Valentine's Viewing session and this morning

2011-02-16T09:42:00.003-05:00

I got to go out on a fairly clear night on Valentine's Day. No, I didn't use my telescope. With those kinds ofb things, I tend to take my time, RTFM, test it out on a good day when I can see what what I'm doing, etc. For some reason, I did not fair very well (only 7 satellites) despite being outside for an hour.There was a fairly bright older object that I wanted to see on Tuesday morning,

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

2011-02-14T09:48:00.008-05:00

My wife is very cool. She got me a telescope for Valentine's Day. Yay! It's nothing huge, just a little ol' starter telescope but that's all I really need right now since I have no idea what I am doing.In other space news, I managed to catch one satellite yesterday morning while looking through the glass of the front door. This is actually quite difficult because of the lights inside as well

One in the morning, one in the evening

2011-02-11T14:58:00.002-05:00

Managed to get some time in yesterday during the REALLY cold morning and the just-about-as-cold evening. Both objects were new, so ... yay!Here's the time-line for the morning/evening of:Date: 10-Feb-2011 Thursday6:46 AM - CZ-4 DEB - 3.4 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 2006-046-DThis is my first sighting of this object. This is some debris from a Long March 4B rocket. This rocket was used to launch

Another clear evening, thank goodness

2011-02-08T21:51:00.005-05:00

I was starting to get a little bit of satellite spotting withdrawal. Finally it was a clear night. I only got about 5 minutes in, but that was all I needed to spot 3 different object, one of which was totally bad ass.Here's the time-line for the evening of:Date: 8-Feb-2011 Tuesday7:26 PM - orange fireball - 1.0 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: (possibly) 2006-050-AMThis was a bright orange fireball

Lately....

2011-02-08T09:19:00.002-05:00

Here's a brief update of all kinds of stuff...--------------------The one job that I was really pulling for gave me a 'not at this time but maybe later'. That was very much a drag and very depressing for me, but I'm getting my head back up and will continue on the search.--------------------Ian and I went to the record show. Well, it's more like we were in the same building since we really

Finally, a mostly clear night

2011-01-31T20:00:00.009-05:00

On Sunday, I finally got a clear night after one entire week. Geeez! Stupid weather. Looks like it'll be cloudy at least until Wednesday. We'll see I guess. I did managed to cross another year off the list. I nabbed 1969. There were four 1969 objects this evening. I was going to wait until later in the evening, but decided that I might as well stick my head outside since at that point it

Brrrrrrrr on Jan 23rd 2011

2011-01-23T20:39:00.007-05:00

it was a cold one this evening, but there were a few satellites from some of the years that I haven't seen yet floying overhead. It was fairly clear this evening and the neighbors mostly behaved (yay!) Managed to catch two satellites tonight including one of the ones that I wanted to see. I was actually working on my peripheral vision when I spotted one. Some parts of your peripheral vision

shovelling snow, spotting satellites

2011-01-21T19:26:00.002-05:00

It was a cold mofo this morning. I knew that I was going to have to shovel the driveway, but I also knew there would be few and far between at work, so I was in no hurry to get out there... until I peeked outside and could see the stars. It's been cloudy as all hell (hell has clouds???) lately and I haven't been able to see ANYTHING!!! So I put on my glasses, got geared up and went outside to

First satellite sessions of the new year!

2011-01-12T19:40:00.008-05:00

Well, I finally managed to get all my duck (and satellites) in a row for this posting. Managed to get a few sessions (a couple morning sessions, a few evening sessions) on a few clear days at the very beginning of the new year. One of the main reason to go out during that time was the occurrence of the Quadrantid meteor shower which peaked on January 4th. I get to cross off a couple more years

2011-01-10T13:17:00.003-05:00

For some reason today, I thought about a couple of Saturday Night Live clips that I saw recently which cracked me up (and still crack me up) to the point of losing my breath. I'm sure I'm the only one who finds these clips that hilarious:SNL's take on the Lawrence Welk Show, featuring Betty White (though that's not who I find hilarious in this clip, that would be Kristen Wiig as Dooneese)This a

Good weekend...

2011-01-10T08:51:00.003-05:00

The Mrs and I got away from the little boogers for a b-day celebration for the wife. It was nice to get away, eat food without rushing, sleep in, see some friends etc. Grandma survived the weekend as well. She's a trooper and loves the kids and they love her, so everyone wins!I have about 3 days of satellite observations that I need to get entered in... that will be posted in the coming days.

I'm sorry... but...

2011-01-05T08:23:00.002-05:00

...Josh Groban cracks my shit up. First there was the song he did on ... the Emmy's where at one point he actually sang The South Park, Love Boat and Prince of Bel-Air themes (amongst many others). Then he did a cheezy tune with Ben Folds and has sang with him a couple of times on tour. And now this... from the Jimmy Kimmel show. Josh Groban singing Kanye West's tweets. I'm sorry, but

Sun Dogs

2011-01-04T07:36:00.003-05:00

I've seen a few weird sunlight phenomenon since moving to Marysville. I think it's mainly because on the drive home it's just lots of open fields and whatnot. Anyways, you see these things that look like mini-rainbows.But yesterday was special. I nearly saw an entire CIRCLE rainbow. Screw that guy and his double rainbow crap, I saw what was nearly a rainbow in full circle.And, by chance, I

Happy Holidays and 3 Satellites

2010-12-27T20:33:00.002-05:00

A happy holiday was had by all. I got some very cool stuff. Lots o CDs, DVDs n Books. The kiddos got sweet stuff as well. I took the week between Christmas and New Years off this year, so it's even sweeter.The clouds finally cleared this evening so I was able to spot a few satellites. Yay! It was cold and I swear that my watch is off by a few minutes, but I sync'd up my computer using

Family Fun and 1 sat

2010-12-18T19:44:00.004-05:00

Tom and Amy came over with their wonderful kids. We all got to run and jump and play. We also had tasty pizza. Papa Murphy's really is da bomb (though this one seemed a bit greasier than usual.After they left the Mrs gave our kids a bath. I put lil A to bed.I went outside, armed with a list of 10 satellites to look for, around 7:10pm. It was probably in the teens. Luckily, I managed to find

1979!

2010-12-17T19:53:00.003-05:00

Got to go out for about 10 minutes (which was plenty 'cause it was COLD outside, probably around 20 F. Brrrrrr. My goal was simply to see as specific object which was launched in 1979. And I got it. Take that space junk! Only 10 more years to go! Here's the time-line for the morning of:Date: 17-Dec-2010 Friday7:09 PM - Resurs 1-4 Rocket - 2.1 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 1998-043-GAhhh,

Geminids!!!

2010-12-15T19:51:00.007-05:00

The Geminids (a December meteor storm whose focal point is the constellation of Gemini) peaked on the morning of December 14th. I had kinda planned on trying to see a couple on my way out to the car to go to work. However, around 5:30am the Mrs came in and told me to get up with lil N who had been up since 4am (ugh!). At first, this was a big drag. However, it was a blessing in disguise. I

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, it's cold!

2010-12-13T19:28:00.003-05:00

I got to do my first shoveling of the year. I think we had about 3 inches in the driveway. While shoveling I managed to see one satellite. Yay!Then I drove to work and the car turned over 100k. And somehow, with only .7 miles to go from when I had last looked at it, I missed that magical moment. I had to do the clover leaf at 33 and needed to pay attention to the yay-hoos who were driving

SpaceX rocks and 1 sat

2010-12-09T19:49:00.005-05:00

SpaceXWell, the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon capsule attached went of nearly without a hitch on Wednesday. They had to stop the countdown on the first attempt, but the second countdown went off without a hitch. Both stages of the rocket performed nominally (i.e. within parameters), the Dragon capsule detacted successfully and then the Dragon capsule performed 2 orbits

random crap

2010-12-08T08:13:00.002-05:00

JOBWell... I still haven't found a job yet. Which is okay for now since I still have the one I'm at. The market doesn't seem to be bad, though I was hoping a bit more from some of the agencies around here. With the market being the way it is, I was hoping for at least 3 referrals by now. Alas, that is not the case. Most others won't return my calls when they find I'm only looking at FTE

1 sat I saw a couple days ago

2010-12-03T19:05:00.003-05:00

While heading off to work Monday morning, the sky was fairly clear. So I went out between the houses and stared up into the sky for a minute or two. And I caught sight of a faint satellite going S to N almost straight overhead.Here's the time-line for morning of:Date: 29-Nov-2010 Monday6:31 AM - IRAS - 4.9 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 1983-004-AThis is my first sighting of the Infrared

Go Bucks!!! and 12 sats

2010-11-27T19:58:00.005-05:00

Watched the OSU vs Michigan game today. A 37-7 win for the Buckeyes!!! Wasn't too sure how things were gonna pan out after that 1st quarter, but once they found their rhythm, it was all over. Great job by both the D and the O. It also helps when the team you're playing literally is tied for the worst field goal percentage and therefore ALWAYS went for it on fourth and whatever when they were

A couple talks and 1 sat

2010-11-23T19:44:00.003-05:00

Well, in case you didn't know already, my company is canning our office. See ya later. My date of departure is something like end of March. yay. (note the lack of capitals and exclamation points) No one likes dealing with this. But, on the uppity side, I did have a couple talks with a recruiter and a local business who has some openings. The first few are always hard. One doesn't have

Six tonight

2010-11-22T20:01:00.006-05:00

I haven't really went outside to look for satellites since Nov 14th. Tonight was tough as it was windy and with the wind came the clouds. Luckily it wasn't a giant sheet, but lots of wispy clouds that moved across the sky quickly, which has its disadvantages in itself. It plays tricks on the mind and make one think that the stars are moving when it is actually the clouds that are moving. So,

Stupid Movies

2010-11-20T16:36:00.010-05:00

(updated Mar 24 2011 - added two collections: Legends of Horror and Western Legends)I'm a fan of really bad movies. I don't know why... but I am. Honestly, it probably stems from the fact that my wife likes good movies. I didn't really watch many movies until I met my wife. And those that I did watch before I met her were suspect... like "The Stuff", "Pump Up the Volume", "Turk 182", "Looker"

1 Leonid

2010-11-17T19:23:00.004-05:00

I was up a little early this morning, and with the Leonids peaking this morning I figured I'd step outside and try to catch a meteor or two. I got one, but that was enough for me. I was tired. I hadn't slept well. It was cold. And the kids were tearing up the house.Here's the time-line for morning of:Date: 17-Nov-2010 Wednesday6:45 AM - Leonid meteor - 3.0 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: nice

Eleven on Nov 14 2010

2010-11-14T20:08:00.006-05:00

I was gonna go out last night super early. The Buckeyes were winning and the rest of the family had headed down to Cinci for the day, so I was free to go out as early as I liked. I grabbed my clipboard and satellite sheet and stepped outside... it was coast to coast clouds. Pretty much a sheet of clouds. So, I came back inside and continued watching the Buckeyes beat Joe Pa's team. I have to

9 more on 11-12

2010-11-12T20:18:00.005-05:00

Got to go out for another hour this evening. At first, I could have sworn that I just had the wrong sheet. I was seeing absolutely nothing on my list and seeing all kinds of vbright stuff that WASN'T on my list. When there was a break, I went back inside to look at the sites, just to make sure that maybe I hadn't used the site with the wrong location or maybe the wrong month... but nope, my

11 on 11-11

2010-11-11T20:14:00.005-05:00

Got to go out for an hour this evening. Armed with a list, I actually ended up with a perfect score which might be a first for me. By 'perfect score' I mean that see everything that is on my list from the time I go outside til the time I come in. I actually did better since I actually saw a few more including the ones on my list.Here's the time-line for evening of:Date: 11-Nov-2010 Thursday6:

A week and a half of sessions

2010-11-10T19:38:00.015-05:00

This is gonna be a long post containing 43 observations (including observation #200). Sorry. I just haven't had time to get them in as I felt that REAL news like Halloween n Record Shows were more important. I'll try to only really go into detail for objects that I've not seen before. Once can only hear about Helios 1 or Resurs 1-4 so many times.This post covers Oct 31 morning (technically a

A weeks worth of updates and satellites

2010-11-07T06:47:00.003-05:00

Here's a weeks worth of what's been going on... Enjoy!This is a big post so just skip to the sections you care about.=-=-=-=-=I wrote the last update Halloween morning. The grandparent's came up to help take the kids out for trick-or-treat. I passed out candy. While I love seeing my kids all dressed up, I'm too much of a control freak to actual go out with them (actually, that's a crock cause

Happy Halloween! (and a sat)

2010-10-31T07:30:00.005-04:00

Just wanted to tell everyone Happy Halloween!I went out very briefly this morning and got to spot one satellite. The deck was really cold and all I had on my feet were some really thin ankle socks. Brrrrrrr.Here's the time-line of the morning of:Date: 31-Oct-2010 Sunday7:17am - Cosmos 2237 Rocket - 2.9 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 1993-016-BThis object is a Zenit-2 rocket body which was used to

Cars, pumpkins, TV shows and satellites

2010-10-30T17:28:00.009-04:00

Stupid car. If you recall, last year about this time (well, more like November, but whatever)... the Low Coolant light started turning on. Eventually, while driving into work on a 17 degree day, the light came on.. and never went off... and the car overheated. Turns out the transmission fluid lines run through the radiator and they were leaking into the coolant. Trans fluid does NOT act like

Too nice to even have a chance... well, except for 3

2010-10-25T20:03:00.005-04:00

It was just too darn nice a night for me to even have a chance to go sky-watching for long. They neighbors two houses down were outside. Not sure what they were doing. They were quiet so that part was nice. Their outside lights being on sucked royal donkeys. Still I was not deterred. I managed to spot three sats in about 15 minutes. Then the neighbor next door on the other side, well, the

17 objects on Oct 22

2010-10-21T22:05:00.005-04:00

This might be a speed record. I went out around 7:25pm and came back in around 8:35pm. In a little over an hour I saw 17 objects. It didn't even seem like I was rushing. This evening was special because I saw all three of the COSMO-SkyMed satellites (including the first sighting of SkyMed 2). The fourth (and final) SkyMed satellite is set to be launched around Halloween.Here's the time-line

10 more on 10-21

2010-10-21T21:59:00.009-04:00

Went out for about an hour this evening.Here's the time-line of this evening:Date: 21-Oct-2010 Thursday7:49 PM - Cosmos 2228 - 3.4 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 1992-094-AFirst sighting! This object was the Russian Tselina-D ELINT satellite, Kosmos 2228. It was launched into space using a Tsyklon-3 rocket.7:52 PM - Resurs 1-4 Rocket - 2.7 Magnitude Int'l Designator: 1998-043-G(insert Eric Clapton

15 on 10-20

2010-10-20T22:00:00.003-04:00

After managing to see a couple of Orionids this morning, I spent a good hour and half outside on the evening of 10-20-2010. It 57 degrees and a bit windy. I was without a coat, and I have to admit I started to get a bit chillllllly towards the end. Around 8:30pm was about the time I started shivering , but I wanted to try to catch Lacrosse 2 and Lacrosse 3 since both were going to be fairly

Interesting (to me)

2010-10-20T11:08:00.003-04:00

For the years between 1970 and 2010, I have seen at least one object from each of those years with the exception of 7 years (1970, 1973, 1974, 1978, 1979, 1986 and 1989). And that's with not even trying to see something from every year! I guess when you've had 125 observations, you're bound to cover quite a few years. The earliest object I've seen so far is from 1961 (1961-015-C - Ablestar 008).

Top o' the morn' and the Orionids

2010-10-20T07:25:00.004-04:00

Lil N had an EARLY doc appt this morning, so I was up early as well. Luckily for me, lil A stayed asleep. I knew that the Orionids (a meteor shower which they suspect is caused by the remants of Halley's comet) were going to be peaking tomorrow, so I knew that the odds of me being able to see something this morning were pretty good since the moon had already set. And... I did. w00t! I also

six on 10-19

2010-10-19T21:25:00.006-04:00

It was a bit cloudy this evening which combined with the bright moon made observing a bit difficult. But, I still I got to see a few. It was also a bit cool out. I had my list all printed up... and then I left it at work. I had to 'old school' it and actually write some down frantically on a couple pieces of paper using a sharpie. The satellites are occurring earlier and earlier. Not sure

super short session

2010-10-17T19:59:00.005-04:00

This evening was a super short session. 10 minutes to be exact. But I managed to nab 4 objects in that time. I knew it was going to be short when I opened the door and heard my neighbor out in his hot-tub watching a football game or maybe a baseball game. Then, 6 minutes in, the dog next door did his duty to alert the owner that there was someone out there. They of course told him to 'be

Oct 15 - ten sightings

2010-10-16T19:49:00.004-04:00

(I should be watching the OSU game, which is on behind me, but it's better if I keep my nose away from the stench that is the game that is currently in progress...)Nearly a week since my last session. It was nice to take a break. One thing I've meant to mention since maybe my third or fourth session is that the eyes can play tricks on you. Sometimes you SWEAR something is moving and then, the

2010-10-12T21:31:00.001-04:00

Finally finished the October 8th session where I saw 25 objects. Whew! You can read it here.

Evening session

2010-10-11T13:41:00.008-04:00

Managed to get back from Cinci in time to head outside of a little bit. Finally got to see the Hubble Space Telescope. I literally walked outside, turned to the south and there it was. Usually the Marysville lights kill the skyline over that way, but this evening it was really clear with zilcho clouds so it wasn't too bad.BTW, I'm still working on the session from Oct 8th when I saw 25 objects

First morning satellite

2010-10-10T08:01:00.006-04:00

Lil N got up at 6:00am after sleeping through the night (despite even falling out of bed). So, I went outside to stare at the sky. Lil N followed as well. Lil N was fascinated by the stars and kept saying 'there's Mars' and 'there's Earth'. Armed with nothing more than a pen and paper, I finally spotted a satellite going straight overhead. I also saw a shooting star after that.Here's the

put it on the table (and other random non-satellite related stuff)

2010-10-08T23:43:00.004-04:00

Our new table FINALLY arrived on Thursday. It's be 16 or so weeks in the making (after they told us it would be 8-12 weeks). Grrr. Dinette Gallery is not on my happy list. But everything is here now and I am very happy with the table and chairs.Been watching Season 3 of Big Bang theory (we're trying to catch up as quickly as possible by getting them from the Marysville library... who is ahead

Super Mega Spectacular Session

2010-10-08T22:00:00.002-04:00

This is by far (pretty much double) of any session I've done to date. Twenty-five objects in one sitting. I think I went out around 7:45pm and finished up around 10pm (even though my last sighting was at 9:30pm). Craaaaazy man. Crazy!Here's the time-line of this evening:Date: 08-Oct-2010 Friday7:54pm - Cosmos 1340 Rocket - 3.3 MagnitudeInt'l Designator: 1982-013-BThis is my first sighting of

Not 7-11, 7-twelve

2010-10-07T12:56:00.001-04:00

That would be because on Oct 7th, I saw twelve satellites or other orbiting objects (or OOOs - pronounced "Oooh!"s)Got to go out for about an hour on Thursday. This was a good evening because I got to see two 'old-man' objects that I had been trying to see for a while. They were in the running to win the 'oldest object seen' award before Ablestar 008 came out of nowhere on Weds.Here's the

Chopped up session...

2010-10-07T06:30:00.005-04:00

Haven't been able to go out for sat viewing because of all the clouds as of late. Well, last night I got a chance, but it was very chopped up. I went out around 7:30pm / 8pm. Lil N wasn't asleep yet, so of course as I went outside Lil N said 'You going outside to mow the lawn', so I did what any respectable father who did not want to disappoint his little one would say and said 'yes, i'm going

8 sat obs - Oct 4 2010

2010-10-04T22:18:00.003-04:00

I got a little session in this evening between 8:00pm and 8:45pm by which time a veil of clouds had rolled back in. Nothing of note other than I'm starting to piss off the dogs of my neighbors. They tend not to like people just 'hanging out' and looking to the sky or something. My next door neighbors put their dog out 3 times. He'd come out, bark, they'd pull him back in, then he'd get let

13 in 1 night

2010-10-02T20:37:00.018-04:00

Just when I figured my 10 in one evening record would stand for a while, two days later I bested my efforts. It was probably the extra half hour. Lil N went to be extra early this evening, so I got to go out on Oct 1 2010 from 8:00pm to about 9:30pm. Of note was that I saw seven in a row that were on my list... technically (I later figured out that I didn't see the one sat in the list but in

10 in 1 night

2010-09-29T23:11:00.006-04:00

Had a bit of a marathon sky watching session this evening. It has been cloudy cloudy for the past few days and when I saw the moon 'up' at noon today, I knew it was gonna be an awesome night for viewing since the moon would not be up. I was out from 8:30pm to 10:00pm and saw 10 little moving objects. I was armed with some new 'equipment' this evening. I had my handy dandy 'red' flashlight from

Cool! Air Force launches new satellite to track space debris

2010-09-27T13:34:00.003-04:00

On Saturday evening, September 25 2010, ththe Air Force launched a new satellite to help track the nearly 500,000 pieces of space junk and debris floating around the earth. This is I believe the first in a series of satellites which will be known as Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS).Read more about it hereAlso of note, the satellite was launched on a Minotaur 4 rocket, which is basically a

Fun day / Five Objs

2010-09-26T07:32:00.012-04:00

Lil A and I got to spend all day together when the Mrs and lil N went up to Cinci. Me n lil A basically played around the house all day. We even walked to the McDs way down the street and ate some lunch. Of course, we also watched the Buckeyes put on a decent (not great IMO due to certain lapses in defense) game with Eastern Michigan, who, I have to admit have a pretty good QB.Later in the

A couple more

2010-09-25T12:48:00.006-04:00

The kiddo went to bed just before 8:30pm, so I quickly went down stairs and jotted down about 10 satellites that were occurring in the next hour. One never knows how long the Mrs will be up there. I got about a half hour in and saw 2 of 5 that I had noted. Part of the problem was that many were in the east, which is blocked from my house. But being in the east didn't stop me from seeing the

Morse Code vs. Texting

2010-09-22T09:06:00.001-04:00

This is freaking awesome.Morse Code-Leno - The best video clips are right here

Too cloudy :-(

2010-09-22T07:45:00.003-04:00

I had a few satellites lined up for viewing (written with a big black sharpy on a while piece of paper which makes it much more visible at night... though, if I were REALLY trying to protect my eyesight, i'd do the opposite - black paper with white letters)... anyhoo...I had a few satellites lined up for viewing, however I went outside and it was mostly a big blanket of clouds. I could see a

Cartoons and Satellites

2010-09-20T21:36:00.010-04:00

Cartoons!When I got home, the wife informed me a package had come in for me. It was my Giant 600 Cartoon Collection that I got for a steal on eBay. 12 dual-layer DVDs and over 60 hours of cartoons baby!=-=-=-=-Satellites!It was about 8:30pm and I thought I heard the kiddo go to bed, so I went to a couple of my satellite tracking sites and quickly came up with a list of four sats that I was

Lacrosse 4 - sighted

2010-09-17T21:01:00.005-04:00

I finally nabbed a glimpse of the Lacrosse 4 reconnaissance satellite this evening at 8:51pm. I only caught the last 15 seconds of it since it seemed a little early (but then again, 1) who's to say the clock on our oven is correct -and- 2) the sites have 'projections' of when they will be at their peak magnitude and their position in the sky. I had a few more on my list, but my neighbors a few

Take that, X-37B

2010-09-15T13:51:00.008-04:00

At 8:30pm, I finally managed to nab a glimpse of the X-37B last night. Probably got to watch it for a good 2 minutes. The Int'l Designator for the X-37B is 2010-015A.Yeah, watched that lil' white dot go straight overhead.I don't know why I find spotting these little things so much. Probably because it's like a treasure hunt. You have to search the sky for them; looking at all those stars

W00t! Three SATs in one

2010-09-13T21:26:00.014-04:00

Just got done seeing three satellites in one sitting. Armed with a list of 6 satellites / objects, I went outside around 8:12pmI first went out looking for the X37-B Experimental 'Top Secret' Aircraft, but at 8:14pm, it was still rather bright outside and it's a fairly dim object (and my aim is still subject in the backyard, meaning, I'm not exactly sure where N/S/E/W are.Next up was the

Can you say TASTY?!!?!?!

2010-09-09T16:24:00.002-04:00

This just looks awesome. I'd eat it for sure. Too bad I think they only have it in Japan.The girl in the video is known as Gal Sone. She's awesome. She is one of the more well known competitive eaters in Japan. She can put away food like crazy. I've seen the video where she eats 6 kg of curry (Japanese curry, not Indian curry) in 23 minutes. BTW, 6 kg is 13.2 lbs. Oh, and she weighs

Two words

2010-09-09T07:50:00.002-04:00

Not awesomeMike Portnoy has left Dream Theater.http://www.mikeportnoy.com/forum/m2585154.aspxhttp://www.antimusic.com/news/10/sep/09Mike_Portnoy_Quits_Dream_Theater.shtmlLike most, I am a bit stunned... but quite honestly not surprised either. As Mike stated, after doing shows with Hail, Transatlantic and Avenged Sevenfold, he realized that he was having more fun with those things that he was

One word

2010-09-02T08:31:00.002-04:00

AwesomeCan't wait for the new Ben Folds album to come out! Sadly, this song will not be among them. It's a iTunes only track. Stupid iTunes.BTW, the rest of the stuff from Pamplamoose (whose name is a play on the French word for grapefruit) and Nataly Dawn is incredible. Listen to it. Listen to it all (especially Nataly's take on 'Book of Love' by Magnetic Fields)

2010-08-27T20:39:00.005-04:00

(written on 9-25-2010)For posterity's sake, the first time I saw the International Space Station go overhead was on August 27, 2010. It was 8:30 in the evening and the sun was just starting to set, but it was still plenty light out. It went from the SW overhead to ENE and had a magnitude of a whopping -3.6. I saw pretty much the entire 6 minutes it was visible. It just kept going and going and

My day playing hookie

2010-07-29T08:22:00.004-04:00

Ok... they be clear about this... I really wasn't playing hookie. Hookie is calling up working and saying " I don't feel so well. *Cough* *Cough* I won't be coming in today. *Cough*". That was not the case. I put in for a day off and it was accepted. However, playing hookie sound WAY cooler, so we'll just leave it that way. :PTom picked me up around 8am and we headed off to the National

Weekend and my latest addiction (and no it's not cheap meth again)

2010-07-26T08:34:00.004-04:00

Just thought I'd drop a note here.-= Part 1: The Weekend =--= Saturday =-Saturday my parents and sister came into town to do family photos. The kiddos behaved about as well as kids can when you're asking them to stand in the same place for 5 minutes. Had to let the lil little one run around a little bit when he started doing the 'I know you want to hold me , but I don't want to be held so I'm

Save A Turtle Day

2010-06-11T12:44:00.003-04:00

Okay, I don't really think there is a day called that... but today I saved a turtle. I was leaving work to hit Taco Bell. As I was leaving I about hit a rock that was up against the curb... or at least it looked like a rock at first.. but as I looked in my rear-view, it appeared to be a turtle. So, I drove on not really sure of what I was seeing. I went to Taco Bell and on my way back, I said

Mother's Day

2010-05-11T08:07:00.002-04:00

Had an interesting Mother's Day.Woke up and told the wife 'We're going out for breakfast'. Lil kiddo said she wasn't feeling well, but we atrributed that to her not eating much the day before due to her tonsillectomy. Rolled into Waffle House. Strapped the one kiddo into the high chair. The other one, made her way into the booth, and then, informed us again she was not feeling well... and

Saturday out and away

2010-05-09T22:04:00.002-04:00

I went out on Saturday and did a little bit o wandering around.First stop was the record show. Got there around noonish. It was packed, which I was actually happy to see. In recent times the crowd hadn't been that good (especially in the later Vets Memorial days), but today the whole Haimerl parking lot was nearly full. Nabbed a few things there. In a six records for $5 bin, I got the

Mid April Stuffage = Script Ohio

2010-04-23T08:02:00.004-04:00

Before I forget all this stuff which I remembered this morning from the previous weekend (<--- was this even a sentence????)We to my dad's shin-dig for Eastern Star. Had a beer and a stiff rum n coke to get me through the pleasantries. But the cool part of the evening was the fact that the entertainment that evening was the 'Hyperactive' Ohio State Alumni band. As I learned there are 3

April n March n stuff

2010-04-05T13:20:00.005-04:00

Lessee here.... Finally got to see Ian's house which was cool. Can't wait for him to get the rekording studio up n running in the basement. We went to Blue Ginger on Sawmill. It's in the strip mall with BD Mongolian and Buy Backs. It's one of those weird things where on the outside it's just like any other building in a strip mall.. but when you walk in there, it is a very nice Japanese

your monthly update... n stuff

2010-03-08T08:03:00.003-05:00

Had a good weekend. The parents came up on Friday so the Mrs and I got to tool around town. We first went and got a family membership at the Y. I need to get my butt in shape! Then we ate lunch at the Montgomery Inn in Dublin. It was teh suxorz. As my wife best put it, everything was drowned in sauce. You couldn't taste the meat if you tried. My hoagie sandwich was on a fairly blah bun.