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(meteorobs) Recovering from the IMC !!

Greetings all,

Am finally pain-free enough to write up a note after the IMC.... ;>>  The
IMC was great!!!  I have pulled a back muscle since getting home though....
and am still having problems with pain and walking.

I wanted to give a big 'thank you' to all the organizers - Mihaela Triglav
and twin(!) sister Gabrijela, to Jure Atanackov (my 'first contact' with a
Slovenian! ;>>, to Jure Zakrajsek, to Javor Kac, and to all the others on
Mihaela's committee.  You did an <incredible> job of organizing and running
a great conference!!!

As the sole North American representative at the IMC, it was a delight to
finally match names to faces, and get to talk to all those meteor observers
whose work I have admired.  I had great conversations with... Cis Verbeeck
on radio meteor work... Mirko Nitschke on video meteors and unusual
cameras... David Asher on (guess what) Leonids!... and with many observers
on visual observation, my own particular field of involvement.  It was
interesting to hear of such things as meteor camps, common in Europe but not
seen in North America.  All the talks were great... and a great opportunity
to learn about observations being carried out around the globe.

I owe a big 'thank you' also to Rainer Arlt, without whose assistance it
would have been much harder for me to attend the IMC.  I flew from Canada to
Berlin, where Rainer offered a place to stay to both myself and Marc
Gyssens... and arranged for me to drive down with their group to the IMC.
Both before and after the trip to Slovenia, I took the opportunity to tour
some of the wonderful museums around Berlin and indulge my interest in
ancient history.  I toured some of the Prussian palace complex at Sanssouci
in Potsdam.  And... I had a delightful time cruising the handmade pottery
shops and the wonderful used and antiquarian bookstores...

Thank you to Marc Gyssens, our driver and fearless leader... who not only
showed incredible tolerance for our travelling menagerie ;>... but also gave
us a wonderful tour of Venice.  From the winding trip through the waterways
and the little cafes... to the top of the tower in the plaza, where Galileo
tested his telescope... Marc was the most wonderful and informative
tourguide.  Thank you so much!!

It was great to see lots of young people at the conference... such as the
young girls from Bulgaria.  As in every field of endeavour, we need to
encourage young people to get interested in astronomy... as they are the
future backbone of our observing base.

The IMC was also a good opportunity to meet people from our weekly online
'meteor chats' organized by Lew Gramer.  Over the past several winters, I
have spoken many times with Werfried Kuneth of Austria.... I finally got to
meet him!  It was also through the meteor chats that I got to know Jure
Atanackov... although we probably chatted just as much about comets as
meteors, as we share a passion for both!

I now know what 'astro poetry' is all about... thanks to the Romanians!
Their presentation was delightful!!  What a wonderful counterpoint to the
technical presentations... and I look forward to more next year!

There were so many great people at the IMC... and so many characters (yes,
Axel, I mean you! ;>>  Everyone was very friendly, and very kind to me...

In summary... the IMC was great!!!  It was worth every hour of all the
travel time to get there... and I plan to go back to the IMC in 2002!
Thanks again Mihaela and crew!!!

- Cathy Hall
  NAMN, North American Meteor Network
  Ottawa, Canada



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