Hello Friend,

     Being an amateur astronomer can be lonely at times.

Often, if I am out stargazing, it's mostly a solitary pursuit.  My sweetie may pop out  to take a quick glance
at something that I am really excited about, once in a blue moon.

And I'm ok with that, as I do enjoy the quietness of the night sky, and all that it has too offer. 

Visions of nerds and geeks, and anti-social behaviour?  I don't think so.

     But with Valentines day fast encroaching upon is, for some it can be a dreaded time. 

Especially if you happen to be single. 

You know, the whole dinner, chocolates and flowers thing rolls around,
and well, it can make a lot of folks uncomfortable.

    So today I'm going to offer a few dating tips, a few do's  .  Mostly for the guys, but
hey, some of this could be useful for the gals too.

The do's:

1) Instead of inviting  her out to dinner,(ie boring, everyone does that)  invite her out to Look at Stars. 
   Grab a planisphere, and binoculars or a telescope, and try to get to
   a somewhat darker area or park, just make sure she feel's safe with the environment.

2)If you have an Ipad or Smartphone, with an astronomy app on it, use it as an icebreaker
   if you are at a social gathering.

3) Invite her to a meeting to a lecture on astronomy or attend a local astronomy club meeting.
    If she can sit through that, without falling asleep, you've got a winner!

Now, if you are not interested in any of this, then I suggest you simply reward yourself with
a new telescope accessory, or even a telescope for Valentine's day, and here are a couple of suggestions:

1) If you received a Celestron computerized telescope of any kind, then seriously consider buy
    the New Celestron Starsense autoalign device.  It's a bloomin' Godsend.
    I keep talking about this , because it's really that good.

2)As I mentioned previously, many telescopes and accessories are going up in price. One reason
   is that the Canadian dollar is losing strength against the US dollar.  By buying now, you can
   literally be saving up to 12%.  I kid you not on this.  Most manufactures send out new pricelists
   to dealers at this time of year, and we have been forewarned of price increases by the majority of them.

Clear Skies,

Ray "Romeo" Khan

PS  At the very least, buy yourself a box of chocolates and indulge. Purdy's are my favorite!