From: Michael Armstrong <marmst1
To: Mike Simonsen <mikesimonsen
References: <002c01c64987$3903c9c0$ae6fe504
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 08:45:30 -0700

May I second that and raise my glass to three specific lunatics: Gene
Hansen (my visual mentor), Richard Huziak (my CCD mentor) and the
craziest of them all, Mike Simonsen (my chart team mentor and

All three of these individuals readily jumped on my requests for
mentoring assistance.  I'm sure and certain that there are many more in
our organization, whose names I have yet to learn, who would have been
just as eager to assist. Moreover, as Mike mentioned in his email, their
main thrust is "THIS IS FUN!"  Their attitude is contagious.

I think the main point to present to anyone expressing an interest in
this most fascinating endeavor, is that they should "check their egos at
the door."  Nobody has ever laughed at questions I have asked and my
head has never been bitten off. In fact, due consideration of my
questions, no matter how trivial, was always apparent and great answers
were/are always returned.  This is usually accompanied by great shared
humor, as well.  I think this is something that should be stressed
whenever we make contact with potential VSO recruits.    

And one more thing: Dan, since I hold you personally responsible for the
general (and specific) mentoring attitude displayed by folks in this
organization, all I can say is VERY well done!  To Mike: I couldn't
think of a better person to step in to fill those shoes. Thanks for
volunteering to build on Dan's success and congratulations on your
nomination to the position.

Mike AMN
 

> I would like to thank Dan Kaiser personally for the job he's done. I am one
> of the people who took advantage of the mentor program when I began
> observing, and it put me on the fast track to becoming a prolific,
> productive and happy observer. In most cases there aren't mentors in the
> immediate vicinity of the mentor requester. That's understandable since we
> are pretty spread out and a rare breed of bird in the amateur astronomy
> community.
> 
> That didn't matter to me much. Dan put me in contact with Peter Guilbaut in
> New England. I live in Michigan. Peter used a Dob, I was using an SCT. Peter
> observed eclipsers, I wanted to do Miras and R CrBs and some CVs. Peter was
> able to answer all my stupid questions and keep encouraging me as I stumbled
> along at first. He became the first of many friends I've made through the
> Internet. Some of them I eventually met face to face, some I still only know
> through email. He was patient, informative and humorous. He understood that
> the reason most of us get into VSO is because we have a desire to do more
> than just look at faint fuzzies; we want to contribute to science. But he
> knew the real secret. We KEEP doing it because its a lot of FUN! Pete was my
> first introduction to a 'real' VSOer, and the more VSOers I got to know the
> more I understood they are pretty much all like this.
> 
> One night I got a strange message from Pete referring to Klondike bars and
> some guy in AZ named Gene Hanson. Pete said if I was getting interested in
> CVs I should get to know this lunatic. So I wrote to Gene and asked a few
> questions. To my utter amazement I received an email about sixteen
> paragraphs long that made me think, answered my questions and made me laugh
> my butt off. Gene had been mentoring observers for some time, and he is damn
> good at it, because he knows the secret too. VSOing is FUN!! Gene was an
> inspiration to me, and remains a good friend who I still count on when the
> AAVSO chips are down.
> 
> Through Gene I learned of another legendary observer in England named Gary
> Poyner. Now remember, at this point I had made maybe 100 observations of CVs
> and was a complete neophyte. But I emailed Gary to ask him some questions,
> thinking sure he'd blow me off as just some punk from the other side of the
> pond. Hey, these guys were making 10,000 observations a year, and I was
> thinking of that number as a lifetime achievement. To my surprise and good
> fortune I learned that Gary was also very glad to take a new observer under
> his wing and point me to Internet resources and information and give
> personal accounts of experiences and lessons learned through years of
> observations. And he too was a funny guy. I got an education in cultural
> differences and the humor (or is that humour?) differences between us...and
> the fact that deep down we are all the same.
> 
> What better lesson could be taught to a young person than that? And if it
> could happen as the result of indoctrination into an activity that
> encourages math and science at the same time?!! The governments of all our
> nations should be paying us big bucks to share this good will.
> 
> The one message that I kept getting from the best mentors was that this
> stuff is FUN.
> 
> I had the pleasure of tapping both these guys to participate in the visual
> observing workshop last October, and if you want to see what I am talking
> about just view Gene talking about Gene's Rules, and check out Gary's
> presentation on observing faint objects from light polluted environments,
> given via teleconference, an AAVSO first and well worth it. Gary is a gem.
> 
> BTW, another observer I've emailed and talked to on the phone many times but
> met only once is Glenn Chaple. Talk about your high energy, inspired and
> excited VSOers! I've never been able to call Glenn without making a serious
> investment of an hour or more. I thought Gene was high octane until I got to
> talk with Glenn a couple times! His presentation at the visual workshop was
> another personal highlight for me. Glenn is cut from the same cloth as the
> others. He's knowledgeable, intelligent, personable, approachable and damn
> funny too. His talk on WebObs and AAVSO observing tools is a classic!
> 
> I have given a lot of talks to astronomy clubs about VSO, and the one thing
> that has become obvious to me is that those 5% of the active participants
> and 'real observers' are the ones to go after. Like every organization,
> especially volunteer clubs, out of 100 people, five do all the work. I've
> noticed that many of the people who eventually get into VSO have had
> negative experiences with astronomy clubs because they want to DO stuff,
> while most are just looking for entertainment on every third Thursday at the
> astro club meeting. These are the people we need to reach out to.
> 
> Along those lines, I have some other ideas that I have shared with Arne
> recently. We'll talk about all that in another discussion.
> 
> First things first. If you are currently listed as an AAVSO Mentor or would
> like to become one, please contact me offlist at mikesimonsen
> My IP will ask you to give a short note of introduction if you aren't
> already in my email address book. Don't worry, I let everyone in :^)
> 
> If you are someone I feel would be a good mentor, in the finest tradition
> set up by Dan Kaiser and his gang of enthusiasts, you can expect an email
> from me soon. And if your IP blocks me I'll come to your house!
> 
> Even more important in my mind, if you are someone who used to participate
> as a mentor or observer, but have left the fold of the AAVSO I want to know
> why, and see if I can't understand, or overcome your objections or reasons
> for leaving. You know who you are, and if you still subscribe or drop in to
> will be used to avoid losing any more of you if I have anything to say about
> it.
> 
> 
> Mike Simonsen
> 
> *********************************
> C. E. Scovil Observatory
> http://home.mindspring.com/~mikesimonsen/
> AAVSO Chart Team
> charts
> CVnet Administrator
> http://cvnet.aavso.org
> 
> **********************************
> 
> _______________________________________________
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