Aloha.

Sunrise on Saturday 16 May 2009 marked the end of my final night as an operator of the 2.2-m telescope run by the UH Institute for Astronomy on Mauna Kea.

4.75 years earlier, on 14 August 2004, I began this adventure after former observatory foreman Ken Maesato and others took a chance on hiring an IT geek whose only astronomy experience consisted of three months volunteering at the Mauna Kea visitor information station.

I was always part-time, always casual-hire, and always "temporary," but the Mauna Kea astronomy 'ohana treated me as one of their own. I have enjoyed - and taken great pride in - working in astronomy, working on Mauna Kea, and working for the IfA in particular. I have had the opportunity to work with many people who truly are "the best and the brightest," and to meet everyone from NASA astronauts to Native Hawaiian practitioners.

In anticipation of this account eventually going away, I have moved the page that was here, and those connected to it, to my general-purpose UH web space, and added some updates there about what comes next for me.

A tout mes amis, je vous aime; je dois partir. Merci.

-Dan

P.S. To those of you who've never worked in astronomy, or on Mauna Kea, or for the IfA - if the opportunity presents itself, don't think twice.