Feeble Astronomy

I just realized that I completely forgot about a lecture I wanted to attend: Bob McDonald, a name that will be familiar to CBC fans, gave a talk last night to our local (and quite well-respected, I might add) amateur astronomy group.

This in itself isn't worth blogging about, but it's symptomatic of a problem that I encounter every day: I have not the time, energy, nor capacity of attention to keep up with my myriad interests. Last night, while Mr. McDonald was delivering his presentation, I was watching a documentary on another subject. Two nights before, I'd dragged my telescope out for the first time in six months; I'd intended to both build a power supply for its motor drive and configure an old notebook to control it, but I was so exhausted that I got only got as far as checking that the optics hadn't been damaged during its two seasons of storage (they were fine, and I can confirm that Saturn still has its rings at at least one of its moons).

I recognize that the core of the problem is organization and prioritization. I'm actually quite good at both of those, but ever since we bought our current house -- almost five years ago -- I've been without a "base of operations" because my office, for various reasons, has never been completed. (I should add, for those who don't know the story, that we bought a beautiful but sadly neglected century-old home and we've been bringing it back to life one room at a time; once my office is done, we'll finally be able to use the entire house.)

Anyway, obviously, I should be focusing on home renos instead of stargazing, but there are certain practical considerations. I can't do work in the evenings, because the kids are asleep and the work is loud by its very nature, and of course I work during weekdays, and Saturdays are consumed with family activities. That leaves the odd Sunday when something else isn't happening. I've exhausted our home renovation budget (and then some, as my lines of credit will attest) so hiring a contractor is out of the question. I'd take some vacation time, but work has been so insanely busy that my poor boss (who is really working far too hard herself) would probably collapse in shock if I so much as asked.

Ah well, intractable problems that will, I'm sure, be solved only when I become suddenly wealthy...