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Ok, I should be out observing tonight, but it is a bit cloudy and I'm settled with a bottle of red instead.
1. Polar alignment is not that important - so forget about that as long as you are pointing somewhere near, that will get the initial slew roughly in the area, which you have reported. My polar alignment is around 1/2 degree off the pole and still the 1st and 2nd stars are about 2 - 3 degrees off when it slews to them. This can be a result of your "home" position, which is dec 90 and RA at the pole - you seem to have that correct.
2. Make sure your time is within say 10 seconds of true EST, and remember Month/day/year
3. Always select rate 4 or 5 to slew the align stars to the centre of the field - finder first and then an eyepiece around 100x. The longer you take to slew the stars, the worse your alignment will be, and I am talking about the time spent with the buttons pressed, not the overall time. So what I am saying is that you will be doing well if they are in the field of the finder initially.
4. Set align select by magnitude - otherwise you will get stars you have never heard of (and I have been doing this for over 50 years)
5. If you do not get good pointing, then try a 3 star align - some scopes can have substantial cone error. In the field of a 100 power eyepiece is "good pointing" in my view.
good luck
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