This week a student stopped by my classroom and asked me if I wanted to buy a postcard. Me: <em>Um</em>. Yes? But what is it for? Student, mumbles: For the Rozhen Observatory. The thing is given the large size of my classroom and a little mumbling I don't understand what is being said. That and at this point, I'd never heard of the Rozhen Observatory. <a title="Rozhen observatory and ACS by karolinka.sofia, on Flickr" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/29050866@N06/8233473905/"><img src="http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8350/8233473905_37fef603a2_z.jpg" alt="Rozhen observatory and ACS" width="640" height="480" /></a> Me: What? Student, pulling out a plastic sleeve of beautiful postcards: The Bulgarian government isn't funding our observatory. Well, actually they've decided to fund it this year but it's underfunded. Rozhen Observatory is the largest observatory in Eastern Europe. So the ACS Science club has made these postcards in support of the observatory. Me: Ah. I'll buy  a big one and a small one. Five leva later I was the proud owner of two of my own ACS supports Rozhen Observatory postcards. <!--more-->I proceeded to tape them to my wall. These days I don't need one more piece of paper on my desk. Things like this make me so happy and sad at the same time. What a great thing that our students in the ACS Science Club and their advisor care enough to start this campaign but it's of course an uphill battle. The sale of postcards certainly wont close the budget gap for the observatory. At the same time, if they don't try, then what? Support <em>is</em> support. And they are doing a great job raising awareness around campus. In fact, this next week we're having a lecture on campus about the observatory. What I didn't realize at the time is what a big deal the observatory is. You can read more about Bulgaria's <a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=145604" target="_blank">Rozhen Observatory</a> in this article. After reading this article I was extraordinarily proud of our ACS students and I think this year instead of buying Christmas cards for family and friends I am going to buy a stack of Rozen Observatory postcards instead. This said, if you'd like me to mail you a post card let me know in the comments section below. I'm willing to mail out 5-10 additional postcards to blog readers anywhere in the world. So just leave a comment and I'll follow-up by email to get your address. Anyhow, if you're a usual suspect--you've gotten cards from me in the past, you're related to me by blood (lucky you), you've married into the family, we've been friends for ages or you've been forced to live with me--don't worry you're already on my list and you don't need to leave a comment. I mean, unless you want to leave a comment.  You can always leave a comment.