Sketch, Sketch, Sketch...

After the TAAS meeting last night at our usual get together at Il Vicino we were talking about one of the astronomy clubs in Texas that Becky and Shane belong to, this group of astronomers has started to recreate the Messier Poster showing all 110 objects using their members own photos of the list. Becky and I decided to do this same thing for TAAS but using sketches rather than photographs. We are asking anyone interested to take out your sketch book, pad of paper, napkin or whatever is handy and easy to use and the next time you are looking at M1 or M101 to draw what you see in the eyepiece, jot down what size scope, eyepiece and location and let’s begin to compile a bunch of drawings and begin to put this thing together. I am going to do through my sketch books and gather my Messier Sketches as is Becky then we are going to begin to sketch some more so lend us a hand and lets have some fun…

So what happened to the Stars?

It is amazing that the clouds can sense what we most want and then do what they need to do thwart our hopes and desires. I really like to look at the Moon when it is in the crescent phase it is now and I was so looking forward to UNM Campus last night and to the Planetarium this evening to do some looking at the Moon and maybe some sketching and photographing of it, but these "darn" clouds are getting in the way, it is still fairly early on Saturday so I am not giving up hope for a clear sky this evening but it may only be a hope (now that I have put it down in writing maybe it will clear things up). Tonight will primarily be focusing on Mars but I may take a few moments and sneak a peek at the moon in there sometime. So let’s all keep our fingers crossed and maybe we will have a nice evening of observing.

Photo of the Moon I took in February, 2009.

Construction, Construction, Construction...and it continues...

Are you tired of the constructin photos?  Well they will be coming for a little longer but hopefully I will have some other things to post along with the construction stuff.  I am having a lot of fun with this photo-stitching software and as soon as I have enough I think I am going to upgrade from the free version to the full version but I will keep playing with this for now.  The immage above is made up of 22 seperate pictures and there is another earlier post that shows more of a curve on the beams and such I am playing with another setting in the program that straightens the image a little more making it not so distorted.

But things are going well on the construction site (for the most part) and the building is coming along, the spaces are really starting to take shape now.

Construction Continues and so does STUDYING...

You know those mirrors at the fun house...

And this was done with my point and shoot digital camera and a photo stitching software, I think I am feeling a little dizzy, but I am having fun.

At least with the photos I am having fun, I am taking my next ARE on Wednesday and am not feeling very ready for it (I am not sure how to change that, I have almost finished all the reading for it (I will by tomorrow). Then I have a day or two to go back and look over some of the things I do not feel very comfortable with, oops all of it.

I think with all the reading and studying for this exam I have definitely learned why architect hire mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) engineers to do this work for them; IT IS BORING AS HECK!! (Sorry to all you MEP engineers out there, but you must be crazy.)

After this exam I only have two more to do (or re-do in my case), I am so close to the end of all this study stuff; except fro helping others, oh yea and then studying for the new LEED exam, will it ever end?

Still putting up Steel...

New Tech High School (NTHS or NexGen Academy) is still under construction, well it will be for another 9 months or so. I am assisting Bob R. in our office with the construction administration on the project so I have the opportunity to visit the job site each week for the weekly construction meetings and I have been doing some photographs for fun of the building as it is being constructed. I will be posting some of these photos as we move the construction moves on and we start to see the building take on its final form. It is a lot of fun to see the building growing from the ground up I am looking foreword to opening day.

Mr. President...

As of last Saturday (01.09.2010) I am now the President of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS). I have been a member of TAAS for quite some time and before going back to school in 2000 I was very involved and active in the organization. After starting back to school full time I did not have as much time to commit to TAAS so I all but disappeared fro the next 6 years or so, but after completing school in December 2006 I decided it was time to get involved again and now look what I got myself into.

I am looking foreword to the experience and happy that the members of TAAS have enough confidence in my efforts that they voted for me (a lot of it is that I was the only one foolish enough to say yes when asked, I have to work on that). Seriously though, I am proud to be a member of such a wonderful organization and very proud of the work that TAAS does to bring astronomy to the general public of all ages, we are one of the larger amateur astronomy clubs in the country and by far one of the most active ones and it is a great honor to be one of the leaders of this organization.

Wish me luck and look for some more posts regarding this position and astronomy in the future.

Construction, Construction, Construction...

It has been some time since I posted anything...well its a new year and I hope to get better about being a little more regular with my posts. I am fortunate enough to be fairly busy at work at this moment as we prepare for construction documents for our Del Norte project to be released very soon. I am also helping out with construction administration on the New Tech High School (NextGen Academy), this is Phase I of the Del Norte project and is scheduled to be completed later this year. Here are some of the construction photos taken during my weekly construction meeting at the job site, it is very exciting to see the building going up and I am looking foreword to the coming months and seeing the building take on more of a finished form.