I_Makes_tuff

You heard him.

And more greetings from Washington State up here in the northwest. Thank you for sharing your story.

GBU-24

That'd be a laser-guided bomb for those not in the know.

I consider myself a "serial-hobbyist" and I've still never gotten much into astronomy, despite being in my 30's now. It's something I've always been curious about, but I knew that if I started, it would hook me and consume a lot of time and money.

I'm not sure why, but your enthusiasm might have just pushed me over the edge. I know I'll be thinking about how to get into it for the next few days, despite having important adult stuff to worry about.

I'm not going back to college, but what advice would you give to a budding hobbyist astronomer? Should I buy a telescope? I love building things and playing with electronics. I know there are telescopes that connect to computers and/or the internet, but it would be a fun project for me to automate that part myself. Would that make a difference in what type of telescope you would recommend for somebody starting out? I don't want anything junky and I don't want fancy features I don't need.

I've been watching Alaska: The Last Frontier on the Discovery Channel. A few of them have no desire to have indoor toilets. "Why would you want to poop in your house? Gross!" If it's not a big deal in Alaska, I imagine that in California it would be even less of an issue (to some people).