Greetings from Oklahoma!

[Rocky Rascovich]

Even though I joined back before Christmas '09.. I'm finally getting around to my first post here on this forum. My name is Rocky Rascovich and currently live on our little hobby farm about 30mi. NW of Oklahoma City, OK. A far cry from the type of life you fortunate folks enjoy near MWN. I actually was born in CT., raised in FL. and after 15 years total in Michigan's beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula, came down here to Okla. I dreadfully miss the north including all the snow and chances are that we'll be relocating back north (probably around Minneapolis or Duluth, MN. where my wife's family lives close by) in a year or two.. if the economy improves.

Anyway.. I have been all over New England but only around Mount Washington once when I was a kid and barely remember it. One of my goals for the rest of my life is to visit this area and get to the top of Mount Washington.. even to hike it would be great. My only concern is that once I get there, I'll be bugging my wife to move there.. I can easily see myself somewhere nearby this wonderful place but I know that the economy is not the best.. (or is it not as bad as other areas in the northeast?)

I am contemplating becoming a member of this organization.. part of the reason to access the webcams that are in HD. Are the HD images that much better? How big are the images? I'm amazed of the high quality of webcams that come out of New Hampshire.

I look forward in keeping in touch with folks here on this forum. I am a photographer, a former radio broadcaster and a general lover of the outdoors .. I also have been an active stormchaser for over 30 years... I'm truly a weather geek. So I look forward in discussing these topics as I check this forum out a little more frequently.

Thanks! Rocky&family

[Bill O]

Rocky -

Welcome, thanks for joining. We need more weather geeks on here to liven up the meteorological conversations. Of course, anybody who is interested in Mount Washington, hiking and the outdoors is welcome too.

Not sure if you recognize the name, but I am a long-time member over on storm-track. I've sort of grown away from storm chasing, but I still ilke the conversation over there.

[Charlie]

welcome Rocky
i like what you said "One of my goals for the rest of my life is to visit this area and get to the top of Mount Washington.. even to hike it would be great. My only concern is that once I get there, I'll be bugging my wife to move there.. I can easily see myself somewhere nearby this wonderful place "
and i the same way i have bin to the top several times and now im looking to move from PA to Maine very soon

[Bill O]

I forgot to mention that we have some great photographers here too.

The webcams are great and the time-lapse movies, zooms and hi-res images are worth the price of a membership alone. In addition, you get the quarterly newsletter and many other benefits. Finally, you're supporting a great scientific organization.

[Charlie]

and the OBS cast also is the best

[fifteendays]

I'm glad that our "Premium Content" is being discussed here... We rolled out that concept quite a while ago, and we haven't been able to expand what we offer for our generous members since then... but we're working on that right now.

Here's a little preview on what we will be unveiling here on the website, exclusively for Mount Washington Observatory members, in the coming months:

• Two new daily day-long time-lapse videos (tentatively from the Presidentials and North View cams)
• Full current and archive editions of Windswept
• 8-12 specially-designed MWOBS wallpaper images
• A new "Ultimate Mount Washington" page, with every webcam image and every time-lapse movie all in one place

All of this is in progress, and we don't yet have a solid date for when it will all be completed. However, it will come soon, and it will be released all at once.

More details to come as we get closer to completion... My guess would be late May/early June for when all of this would be unveiled. Sure, I may be the executive director, but I'm also a fan. I can't wait to see this stuff!

Our hope is that this would be a compelling reason for many of our web visitors (1.17 million unique visitors over the last year) to step up and support this tremendous website by becoming a member of the Observatory.

To all of you who are already members-- THANK YOU!

Scot
MWO Staff

[KathyC]

Welcome to the boards, these are the best!! Everyone is warm and freindly. And def. become a member, you get so much more out of this site and it brings you so close to everything that you don't feel so far away. And I love my Windswept, and read it from cover to cover.

Scot: Thanks for the heads up about the upgrade, I'm looking forward to it.

[Snow Miser]

Welcome Rocky! These forums and the OBS website are great to be a part of. So much is available for such a reasonable membership fee. Look forward to your participation.

Scot, I too says thanks for the heads up on the upcoming new content. Can't wait to see it.

[Anna LeBlanc]

Nice to hear from you Rocky and a resounding YES you definitely want to join the OBS.

The forums and all the wonderful special priviledges you have when you become an OBS member are worth the membership fee a hundred times over.

We feel that our forum members are our extended family.I have made some wonderful friends here.And your first tour of the observatory will be a memory you will carry with you for the rest of your life.

This mountain gets into your heart and never lets go.

Thank you Scot for the heads up too.

___________
Anna

[Brad]

Rocky,

Welcome to the forum and as Scot said, we all hope you will join the organization and support it financially.

Many of us have lived "away" or do so now. But, the mountain and the beauty around in NH and Maine has drawn many of us to get a second home or move to the area. I have lived in RI, NY, WI, OK, KS, NY again, FL, CT, NC, and England. But, every year our vacation in August was to Maine and I spent plenty of time in NH and the mountains. My love for all things Mt Washington started when I climbed it in the summer of 1959. And I have been going back up ever since.

When we lived in NY we built a "2nd home" on a lake in Maine. But, quickly we realized we loved it more than the big house in NY - so, we moved to Maine and just had a small townhouse by work - wherever work was. Now we have shifted full time to Maine and love it. I too love photography and it is hard to imagine a place with such variety of season and subject.

We are glad you are joining from OK, but, watch out. The mountain will pull you in!