A Christmas Eve Cloudfest!

As I've noted in the past, one of the new holiday traditions we've followed the last couple years is to drive an hour north of our house in Tucson to photograph or observe the sunset alignment behind Kitt Peak National Observatory.  It happens a few days before, and a few days after the Winter Solstice, so, of course, prime dates are Christmas and Christmas Eve.  Fortunately, most everyone is available to join us as they don't work on those days - but I understand about family obligations.  But there are a few astronomy buddies who have grown children who are joining us in our tradition.  We were joined by at least 10 people along the road on the Mount Lemmon Highway at milepost 8.8 for the annual alignment last evening.

This year we were joined by our TAAA buddy George Barber, who moved to Utah 2 years ago for a job.  We were pleasantly surprised when he turned up in town for the Holiday, so he joined us.  That is him in the right photo, standing next to Richard in the truck, with Elaine and Carrie at far right.  In the left photo, Bill was aligning his scope at left, with Mary sitting behind it, then Susan is visible, with the Jims at right...

 

And while we were concerned a few days earlier with threats of an arriving front, it cleared early morning and we enjoyed some spectacular blue skies all afternoon and for the trip up the mountain.  Just as we arrived at the observing spot, there were a few tiny clouds over the distant view of the observatory, and as we set up gear, waiting for the sunset, those tiny clouds grew into larger ones, obviously borne by pretty high winds - you could actually see them whipping past in the telescopic view of the mountain.  And as the photos show, the sunset alignment was wiped out by clouds at the last moment - I only got to briefly see the silhouetted solar telescope in the picture at right.

 

But as the saying goes - "when life throws you lemons, make lemonade", it was quite a pretty sunset!  Obviously after the sun set behind our view of the Observatory, it spent some time in the clear again, and you can see a faint shadow of the 4-meter telescope at the right side of the mountain casting it's shadow up into the sky.  Somehow, Melinda caught it more clearly in a hand-held shot with her telephoto and camera at right - you can see the shadow being projected into the cloud itself!  Click for the full-sized image and to see it a little more clearly.  But even though we missed the observatory silhouette, we had a good time, and proceeded down to Village Inn for some socializing over dinner as we often do after an astronomy club meeting.  It was fun spending time with friends, consoling each other over our miss, but telling yarns, tall tales, and big plans for the future.  And of course, there is always next year...

As the Year Winds Down...

Another 90 minutes until 2009 ends. Melinda is working tonight and tomorrow, so a low-key holiday for me. I've been working on an optics project I'll post about eventually... This evening I've been searching through my boxes of photos looking for ones I've visualized the last couple months - of friends lost this year.


The news came in early October that my friend Glenn Losey died in Cedar Rapids. He was 71 and died of lung cancer - I've never known him to smoke, but I've only known him for 15 years. I met Glenn in 1993. I had flown into Sioux City, Iowa to take part in the annual celebration of the bicycle called RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). Well, through a series of circumstances, United Airlines had "misplaced" my bicycle. Fortunately, though, there was another biker who suffered the same situation. She was coming in from Seattle, and their team driver was Glenn Losey, waiting curbside for her, and a smile and handshake for me. He offered to bring me back later for my bike, meanwhile me and my camping gear were welcome to join "Team Toad". Well, my bike wasn't "found" for 24 hours, so that first day of the ride, Glenn had me as assistant support driver as we exchanged life stories. He was just about the friendliest guy I had ever met, and seemingly had an endless supply of silly t-shirts, as illustrated in the photos. We only saw each other the week of the ride every year, but it was if I were family, and we kept in touch by e-mail the rest of the year - he put me on his mailing list of "groaner" jokes, and had about a thousand questions when he and his wife Barb adopted a mother cat and kittens. He stopped driving for the group after a few years, and I only saw him only occasionally when they loaded the bus for the continuing RAGBRAI trips. I stopped going myself this year, so I had lost track of the health of him and others in the group. Then the bad news from Carl, our team leader about his death - a shock of sadness knowing his smile will not greet me on my return... Sad indeed.


And then another e-mail from a friend in mid-November - another good friend, John Gregory, had been killed in an auto accident, and his wife Carolyn was critically injured when a driver drifted across the center line. John and I had been friends for about 20 years - we met at the Texas Star Party - a gathering of telescope nuts, some to use them, some to make them. I was just getting into the optics biz and he had been a lens designer and telescope maker for decades. Interestingly, though, the thing that brought us together was that my mother had died of cancer, and his first wife was going through a similar circumstance, eventually dying. We consoled each other in our grief, and became friends with repeated visits either at TSP, or his trips to Tucson or when he and his second wife Carolyn flew their "Cindy Cessna" to take part in the Grand Canyon Star Party, which I organized for nearly 2 decades. Again, a great guy - a renaissance man, really - he surprised the heck out of me when at a dining hall he uncovered an old upright piano and started playing honky-tonk music. So besides optical design, telescope making, he played music and made jewelry as well! He certainly had the energy of a man much younger than his 82 years! The photos are of him and Carolyn arriving at the Grand Canyon about 10 years ago, and a picture of him at a talk he gave about his experiences in optics in 2006. The picture on the screen is of John back in the 50s (I suspect) and his 2 little boys - I love it! I had corresponded with him only a few weeks before his death, so the suddenness again is so shocking. Another friend I will miss dearly.


So with the unpleasantness over with, have a better 2010! To our distant friends, we can't wait to see you again. To those of you we've not had the pleasure to meet, we look forward to it! One hour left to the New Year - almost time to break out a beer and dig out that piece of chocolate cheesecake in the fridge - Melinda left me a piece from the one I made yesterday for her staff party tonight!

Christmas Day 2009

Christmas 2009 has come and gone, and what a day it was! A beauty of a day here, though cold by Tucson standards with highs in only the 50s (F). But talking to far-flung relatives, some currently involved in ongoing blizzards, we felt lucky indeed.


We had a Christmas Eve dinner party Thursday, with 7 attending, and I spent most of the day tending the fire smoking a 20 pound turkey! After 6.5 hours and another 15 degrees to go, I moved it into the kitchen oven because I had hungry guests arriving. The turkey came out great, followed by standard Midwest holiday fare (green salad, mashed 'taters, corn, green bean casserole), and a pumpkin-chocolate cheesecake. Everyone got appropriately stuffed and we've got smoked turkey to last us into the weekend! Sorry, no photos of that event...


Our friend Donna came down from Phoenix and is staying with us for a few days, so became part of our holiday tradition this year. After staying up late after the above dinner, excited relatives phoned and woke us at the ungodly hour of 9am! Donna had brought down pumpkin bread mix, so before opening presents she and Melinda made muffins and bread - a real treat. We got piles of presents from family and friends - a pile almost big enough to hide behind - we are lucky indeed! We got a fine mix of clothes, linens, practical (rice cooker!), picture frames, and treats Donna rescued from her offices at work. After watching her try to photograph a lizard with her camera phone on a previous trip, we surprised her with a little digital camera, and we've all been learning how to use it. It has already been used to e-mail pics back to the Southeast to her family, and I think it will get a lot of use.



Of course, part of the tradition lately has been another trip up Mount Lemmon to again photograph the sunset alignment behind Kitt Peak. Even though we were successful last week, the weather was great, so went up in case others wanted to join us. We had another fellow who had joined us last week who returned, otherwise it was just our two groups. It was obvious that about half of Tucson had gone up the mountain to play in the snow. There was literally a constant stream of vehicles coming down, some sporting snowmen on hoods or roofs, some trucks shovelled full of snow. Did I mention the southernmost ski area in the country is on Mount Lemmon? Anyway, the constant stream of vehicles actually blocked one of my sunset exposures, otherwise didn't have much effect on our operations. Another beautiful sunset, though this time we weren't above the inversion layer, so the sun got quite dim as it dropped the last bit into the Observatory. It also added a more jagged edge as the image of the sun passed through the different layers of air.



We packed up more quickly than last week, and got down to the Babad Do'ag (from the Native American name "Frog Mountain") overlook in time to see the stars and lights of Tucson come out in the dusk. We even tried a self portrait that came out pretty well. Kitt Peak was still easily visible 50 miles to the southwest. Even the innermost planet Mercury, shockingly bright a week ago on our last trip, was still visible low in the sky. But as it rounds the sun more quickly than our Earth, the crescent phase it extends will make it fade quickly - we may not see it again this apparition. As we drove towards home, we had thoughts of walking through the lights of Winterhaven, but after seeing the crowds of people with similar ideas, we pressed on for home to feed the hungry herd of cats, and break into the turkey leftovers for the adults. All in all a great day spent with friends, family and a fun outing!

Tis the Season!

Living in the Southwestern Desert, if you REALLY look, you can notice the 5 or so seasons we get. It starts in January with cool-damp, graduates to warm-dry, hot-dry, hot-damp, and finally warm-dry to close out the year. But you do have to notice the small things. Here it is, the 20th of December and it was in the 70s (F)! Now how can you celebrate or notice a Winter Holiday when folks are walking around in shorts and t-shirts?

Today as we drove around town, we noticed a few signs that Christmas is approaching. First up is the Paul Bunyan statue up on Stone and Glenn. Normally carrying an 8 foot long prop axe, this time of year he switches to a candy cane. Paul is a bona fide Tucson landmark, the origins of which are lost in the mists of time. But supposedly he has made guest apperances in the movies "Easy Rider" and "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore".

We've mentioned Padre Kino before, and have even posted about the Santa hats that mysteriously appear on his horse's ears at Christmas. But it is nice to see a bit of color added to his statue on the north end of Kino Parkway.





And we noticed recently that the groundskeepers at Tucson Medical Center have also added the Santa hats to the tops of many of the saguaro cacti. Understated, yet a bold use of color to remind us we approach another season of good will.

Thanksgiving and a Bonus!

We received a Thanksgiving invitation from our friend Donna up in Gilbert (southeast suburb of Phoenix). The best thing is, she offered to do most of the work! We contributed a pumpkin chocolate marble cheesecake and green bean casserole, but the rest was her effort and it was great! The trip up to Phoenix was like being in rush hour for 2 hours - not quite bumper-to-bumper, but close. We got there about 11:30, a couple hours before eating, and helped with what we could, but Donna had most everything under control. The photo at left is our holiday table just after I hacked at the turkey and before chowing down. Donna is in the background holding the remnants of my beer for me...


An hour later, stuffed, with LOTS of leftovers, we adjourned while some of us (me) took a nap. Eventually we digested enough to have a piece of cheesecake - the girls thought it was the greatest!





Finally, I reminded them that the Space Shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) was making a pass just after 6pm. I had missed photographing an Iridium flare the night before, so we made it out in plenty of time to set up a tripod and camera to capture them. While the Shuttle Atlantis and the Space Station had been attached for the week-long mission, they had undocked in preparations for Atlantis' scheduled landing in Florida tomorrow morning.

In an open field only a block or two from Donna's house (near Power Line Road and Guadalupe)we easily spotted the bright ISS just off the northwestern horizon. The slightly fainter shuttle trailed by 15 or 20 seconds. It passed very close to Polaris and the Double Cluster before continuing to the east where it faded into the Earth's shadow. We waved and shouted a Thanksgiving greeting as they passed. The first exposure is 2.5 seconds, the other 2 are about 14 seconds, all with a Nikon 20mm F/2.8 and ISO 800 (click the images to load the full size version). To predict when the Space Station, shuttle or Iridium flares will be visible, THE Internet tool to use is the website http://www.heavens-above.com/ - just enter your location from a map or database and you are on your way! Interestingly, it's appearance from Tucson, 120 miles to the Southeast, was very similar. But at 5 miles per second, it made the trip in less than 30 seconds - if only it were so easy for our return home!

Valentine's Day 2009

We hope everyone, reading this, had a happy Valentine's day!

We had a fun, adventuresome, day! Our friends, Mike and Elvira Spooner, from Phoenix/Arizona City called on Friday, asking if we had plans for lunch on Saturday. They planned to be in Tucson on Saturday and asked if we could get together. We hadn't seen Mike and Elvira since last summer, so we welcomed the opportunity to visit with them! Our lives are oddly similar in many aspects. Mike is "an old (our age) optics buddy" of Dean's. His first wife died of cancer around the same time that Dean's first wife, Vicki, also died of cancer. What a bond for two men to have. Mike met and married Elvira, a wonderful Peruvian lady, who works for the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix....Dean and I met, and so we're two (relatively) newlywed couples! Mike and Elvira married before Dean and I, by about a year or so. We last spent time with them at the Grand Canyon Star Party, in June of '08.


Mike and Elvira arrived about 11:30am on Saturday. We thought they probably had other plans in Tucson, but when asked they said, "We came to see you!" Elvira had never played in snow before, as she grew up in Peru and has lived in So. California and Phoenix ever since. We suggested the top of Mt. Lemmon for lunch, as they had 18" of snow over the past week! We had previously eaten at the Iron Door (at Ski Valley) on our trip there New Year's Day. This time we decided to eat in Summerhaven, the little town at the top of the mountain. The Mt. Lemmon Cafe was busy, but we found a parking spot, and enjoyed lunch there - though Elvira was huddling by the heater the entire time! She was wearing warm clothes, but not used to the cold weather. She tossed a few snowballs, as did I (aiming for Dean, hitting Mike)! It was fun to see the people sledding on the mountain, kids playing in the snow, and some crazy guy shoveling snow into the back of his pickup truck. Mike had lived in Tucson on occasion, but had never been up to Mt. Lemmon, and I think he enjoyed the trip even more than Elvira! We stopped at the beautiful vistas on the way up and back, viewing waterfalls of melted snow at 7 Cataracts; views of Mt. Graham and Kitt Peak in the distance, and even seeing Dos Cabezos (near New Mexico) off in the far distance. It was a picture perfect day! At one of the overlooks there is easy access to the desert from the parking area. There are some spectacular Saguaro, as well as Ocotillo and Prickly Pear very near by. I love looking at the Saguaro, they are so bizarre looking and massive; and even the Prickly Pear were in a Valentine's Day frame of mind!













Returning to Tucson, we caught the last weekend of the Gem and Mineral Show. This is the largest one in the world, and no February is complete without at least taking a walk through part of it! We hit one of the hotels that has a nice variety of gems, fossils, meteorites, and minerals. Elvira bought a pendant, we did lots of looking. It was a full day! We returned home about 5pm, in time to feed kitties. Mike and Elvira had an hour's drive back to Arizona City ahead of them yet.





Saturday evening brought a long awaited movie at The Loft. We had been planning this evening for a few months! Moulin Rouge (2001 - Nicole Kidman/Ewan McGregor)! I put this movie as one of my all time favorites, but had never seen it on the big screen. I had happened upon it on cable several years ago, and have watched it countless times since. There was a good crowd there to see it, including our friend Nancy and her friend Paul! Nancy had never seen the movie, and it was fun to hear her reaction to it. People sang along with the songs (including me), though there was no can-can dancing in the front of the theater. If you have never seen the movie, I really recommend it! It's romantic, funny, sad, and exciting - all at the same time! Definitely a winner! The perfect cap to a fun Valentine's Day!

Ski Tucson???

What a beautiful day this has been! It's a brand, spankin', new year - the sky was clear and blue - the temps were in the 70's here in Tucson - and we decided to take a drive up into the mountains! I've long been 'dropping hints' (aka: whining) that I had not been to the top of Mt. Lemmon (our nearest, highest, peak - roughly a 40 mile drive from home) ever. Today was the day! The it was warm enough here, at the house, to lay out in the sun - but it wasn't long after we made our climb up the Highway that we started seeing snow on the side of the road. First a bit of snow dusting in the shadowed areas, then a bit more, until we were in the midst of a wintry wonderland! Since it was a holiday, many of the locals decided to make the same trip we did; enjoying the snow, sledding, building snowmen, and having snowball fights that spanned the road! The drive to Summerhaven (the town at the top of Mt. Lemmon) is breathtakingly beautiful as it is - overlooking the entire Tucson valley area, as well as looking out over the surrounding Rincon, Tucson, and Santa Rita mountains. Now, add snow to that scene and it was just perfect! And,yes, you CAN ski Tucson! Next to Summerhaven is one of the southernmost ski resorts in the Continental US - Ski Valley. They have some very challenging ski runs, as well as plenty to offer the mediocre and beginning skiers. We did not ski, today... I'm still hopeful! There is also a sweet little German-style chalet, restaurant at the ski resort - the Iron Door. The focal point of the seating area is a very large fireplace that they seem to use to heat the entire restaurant (nice fire going all the time). They specialize mostly in sandwiches, which come with German potato salad and red, cooked, cabbage. It was a tasty lunch, and we enjoyed our time there before going to explore Summerhaven a bit. Summerhaven is a beautiful little town, complete with a gift shop, fudge shop, cookie shop, and general store. We picked up a few things in the gift shop before heading down the mountain to enjoy the sunset. Stopping at a few scenic vistas on the way down the mountain, we stayed the longest at the Thimble Rock vista where Dean did a series of pictures of the sun setting over Kitt Peak, in the distance. He will present those pictures at another time - he said that it was "my turn" to blog today. Coming back down the mountain it was interesting to see that many of the visitors to the top load their cars up with snow so that when they arrive back in Tucson they can drive around with snow on top of their cars. We even saw a group who were kidnapping a snow man to bring home! It's a different world at the top of the mountain....no cactus; Ponderosa Pines oversee the terrain, bear crossing signs, deer crossing signs, and at this time of year - SNOW, GLORIOUS SNOW!!!

Happy New Year!

There is nothing like a fire in the chiminea outside the back door to take the chill off those mid-60 degree temps! As the sky darkened and the Moon-Venus conjunction was made apparent, we built a fire to enjoy the outdoor evening here in Tucson. While we feel a little guilty to abandon family and friends in the frigid Midwest, now that the normal cycle of clear skies and high temps in the 70s have returned to Arizona, this is the place to spend a winter! Wherever you are, we're glad you made it through 2008 and hope you have a fantastic 2009!

Pictures to follow...

Merry Christmas (a day late) everyone! Dean took the pictures and I'll have to remind him to get them on here later today!


We had a wonderful day, despite my employer insisting that I work on the 24th and 25th! Dean was still in bed when I got home from work, but I coerced him out of bed - promises of presents! We had so many gifts from our relatives to open that it took a long time before we got to the presents we were giving each other! We both agreed that we must have "been very good" this year! Dean (knowing my fondness for home improvement) gave me a full set of cordless tools (drill, circular saw, reciprocating saw, flash light, and dust vac)! Yea!!! I am very excited about that!!! Within an hour of opening my present I was already telling him my plan for my next project! Granted, not all women would enjoy this kind of gift - and I understand that. But to me, cordless power tools....it sets my heart a-racing! He also gave me two books on tiling. I really like doing tile work (brought my wet saw with me to Arizona!), and have plans to do some tiling in the kitchen and the bathrooms here. Arizona is a great place to find all of the beautiful, decorative, Mexican tiles. We visited a tile store a couple of weeks ago; they not only had the decorative tiles, but also the bathroom sinks to match those tiles! Hmmmm! I see tiling in my future! In addition to the books and tools, he gave me a book on tape, a movie that he knows I like a lot, and a wallet that I described to him - and he picked out the perfect one! I must have been very good this year, and he did a great job shopping (considering he said he might end up shopping for me at the local Circle K gas station)! I didn't get him as many gifts, but I think he likes them. A new robe (he didn't bring his from Illinois), a sweater, and an IPod Nano! Now mind you, I spent two mornings loading music onto the IPod before giving it to him - roughly 20 CD's (more than 24 hours worth) of music! The stereo in his van has some sort of ability to play an IPod through it, also it will be great for him when he goes to the gym to work out. Up until now he has had to pick out the CD to listen to while working out - sometimes not finding the exact one that he was looking for. Now he can have all of his CD's on his IPod and listen to whatever he wants! It has 8G of storage, so he really can carry all of his CD's with him where ever he goes! Fun, but practical gifts, that we should get a lot of use out of!

We had hoped to go up to Kitt Peak to join a friend of ours there, this evening. The weather is not looking promising for that, however. Today is a perfect day for me to sleep - rainy/foggy/chilly - but may not be a good night to go observing. I'll get after Dean to get yesterday's pictures on here soon!

We hope that you had a wonderful holiday, and that 2009 holds nothing but happiness, health, and blessings more than you can count!

Another Traditional Christmas!

WooHoo - our 150th post since June - pretty good, I'd say! Here I am on Christmas Eve, and interestingly enough, I'm spending it exactly like last year's. After chasing the sunset behind Kitt Peak, I'm sitting home alone - listening to NPR's "Tinsel Tales. It is a great collection of Christmas stories from master storytellers from the radio archives, and I dare you to listen without shedding a tear or six! It can be found on the NPR website here. Melinda is off to the hospital to work tonight, but at least they get to share in a potluck holiday dinner tonight. I showed her the "secrets" of the chocolate cheesecake, so that is her contribution. And I got back from my sunset in time to provide a peck on the cheek.


Yes, I did chase the shadow of Kitt Peak up the road to Mount Lemmon north of Tucson. As told a couple weeks ago on this blog, the Observatory on Kitt Peak falls on one of the highway pulloffs a few days before and after solstice. Last week was absolutely miserable and cloudy/rainy and I didn't hold out much chance for tonight, but it cleared through the afternoon so I made the run up.

While not a new telescope, it was the first time I'd used this one for imaging, so had to modify it some to use my camera on it. The reason I'm using this one is that the focal length is just about perfect for getting the image of the sun just into the short dimension of the camera frame as illustrated here. This was taken while setting up - no sunspots at all to register - still just past minimum activity.

There was a lot of traffic on the road - people going down from a day in the snow, or to spend time with family in private cabins or lodges up at Summerhaven. The top of the mountain (over 9,000 feet elevation) had at least a foot of snow the last day or so, and one of the traditions is to shovel the top of your car or back of the truck with piles of snow so you can drive around Tucson with melting snow. A lot of them slowed when they spotted my telescope, but no one stopped to talk this year...

But luck wasn't with me this year. There was a narrow strip of clouds flowing north along the Baboquivari and Quinlan Mountains, and it appeared the Obseratory was in a cloudcap at times. Also seen through my telescope was the very rapid movement of clouds from south to north, as though the latest storm system was upon us, though the sky was mostly clear here in the Tucson Valley. Interestingly, after the sun had passed below this strip of cloud, you could see the shadow of the mountaintop and 4-meter telescope cast on the underside of the offending strip of cloud.

It was still a fun, peaceful trip, and a pretty sunset with the residual clouds around, but i would have been a lot happier with a "successful" (ie, clear) sunset. And now tomorrow (winter storm warning) is the last chance this observing season - as the sun moves north, it is out of my calibrated range of parking positions along the highway. Oh well, there is always next year - there is nothing like a tradition!

Nearly ready...

What a busy Christmas season this has been! Every day seems to be going quicker and quicker, with more and more to do! I have to admit, I think I have my shopping done. I know that Dean is still working on his. We managed to get the packages sent that needed to be sent, and our stack of received gifts is too large. One of my favorite things at Christmas is opening Christmas cards, and we've gotten a bunch of them this year! It's rare to get a hand written note from anyone, at any time other than Christmas, anymore. I think that's what makes each one so special. Someone sat, thought, and decided to write out a card to us - and put it in the mail. There's a lot of love in that action!

This year, as well as many before, I am working on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. While most of the world is off of work celebrating with their families and friends, Nurses, Doctors, all hospital staff, Policemen, Firemen, and countless others around the world are going about their jobs as usual. It bothered me the first time or two that I had to work the holiday, but it doesn't anymore. Our patients don't want to be in the hospital (in my case, the parents of our patients don't want their babies to be in the NICU) - but there they are. As long as there are people there needing care (as well as people starving, or without jobs), then I can't complain about having to work. The years when I have the holiday off I appreciate, but I also appreciate being the first one to wish a tiny little baby "Merry First Christmas!!" Christmas is a time when we should all still have a bit of childlike wonderment and awe about us. Hopefully you haven't lost yours and you can appreciate what a joyous and beautiful season this is! I'm sure we'll add more to this blog before Christmas, but in case we don't.......enjoy this Christmas wish from Dean and I both!

Disco Christmas

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Another Party!

Another party (tis the season!), this one a pot-luck holiday lunch at the Steward Observatory Mirror Lab, now in something like it's 15th year! One rarely gets to socialize much between the various crews of the Lab, so it was fun to relax, visit and check out the culinary skills from some unlikely sources! Thanks to all the efforts of the students in the front office for organizing the event. The best-dressed award went to Rich, here modeling his Christmas ornament shirt.


In this shot the buffet line is under attack and there were some great choices - a couple different kinds of chili and chicken gumbo, some interesting salads and more mainstream fare like ham and shrimp and some great side dishes. About the time all were seated, various managers reminded us of some of our accomplishments over the last year (LOTIS 6.5 meter collimator, a 1.6 meter off-axis solar telescope, the largest telescope secondary mirror in the world, another secondary for the LBT telescope, and some of the most precise test optics ever made for the upcoming GMT project) - really a lot of work got done last year. Upcoming projects were also covered (GMT, LSST, and a 6.5 meter for a Mexican telescope), and Roger Angel gave an update on his solar energy photovoltaic project (making electricity on the cheap). After all that morale-boosting, it was time for the dessert table - some killer stuff (including more of my chocolate cheesecake).


Star of the show was JJ's cute little boy. Now 7 months old, he put on quite the performance and may well be the next generation of employee to help us finish some of these big projects like the Giant Magellan Telescope!