Hi, Jeff--

Thanks! It's an 11-inch (diameter of the main mirror) computerized Schmidt-Cassegrain. It's fantastic! As I said in my profile, I do a lot of sidewalk astronomy, mainly twice monthly in Gulfport during their "gallery walk" nights. Unfortunately, since we're experiencing an "el nino" winter, we'll had a run of cloudy, rainly weather this season. (Doesn't "el nino" refer to to baby Jesus...?) Most of our observing events have been clouded out the last couple of months. But, next year we should be back to normal, which means clear skies and great observing during the fall and winter--and also, of course, the threat of an active hurricane season. But we Floridians are pretty hardy and used to that anxious time of the year...

Cheers!

Hi, Jeff--

Good to hear from another local atheist! I'm a "native" of St. Petersburg, and my wife, Liz (also an atheist), is from Oldsmar.
I've been calling myself an atheist, at least in my own mind, since at least the early '80s. I've yet to "come out" to both my parents, though. Mom is very active in her church and I don't want to upset her. Guess she'd be OK with it, though. Dad's more open minded, but we're not that close. I suspect they both know, however, since I've written numerous letters to the editor over the years about freethought and humanistic issues, and they both live in St. Pete.
Thanks for contacting me, and hope we can keep a dialog open. (I tend to be away from the Web for days at a time, so I'll apologize in advance for maybe not getting back to you right away...)

Cheers!

Greg Simpson