Merit Award

Hi all

I just wanted to express my thanks to the broader AAVSO community after receiving the AAVSO Merit Award this year. I was unable to attend the meeting in Las Cruces but asked Gordon/Stella to read some words of thanks at the meeting and wanted to share them with you here.

Given the list of previous recipients, I'm honoured and humbled to receive this award. Thank you!

I'll always be grateful for that conversation with Arne Henden at the 2008 National Australian Convention of Amateur Astronomers. Thanks for taking a chance on me Arne.

Thanks to Rebecca and Aaron, in particular, for Citizen Sky. It was wonderful.

Sara Beck is a domain expert, mentor and friend. VStar wouldn’t exist without her.

Michael Umbricht was a great early advocate. Kristine Larson patiently reviewed the user manual as I wrote sections. More recently, Cliff Kotnik and Dave Hinzel have been providing great support.

I just want to thank everyone who has contributed to, reported bugs in, or advocated for VStar over the past decade. See VStar’s About box for more!

A special thanks to my wife Karen who encourages me to follow my passion and tolerates my obsessive nature.

Grant Foster’s dog-eared light curve analysis book is one of my favourites. It and he enhanced my understanding of period analysis and more. Also, Grant's blog is awesome.

I’ve learned much by seeing JoDee and Brad instruct, refine and extend my first cut of the VStar course.

Anyone who has written a non-trivial piece of software knows that it’s never done and that the closer you are to it, the more you focus on its flaws. Suffice to say that I am not done yet.

AAVSO, VStar and a modest amount of variable star observing have been a huge part of my life for a decade.

I’m sorry I can’t be in Las Cruces with this subset of a great community that spans the globe. I hope one day to attend an annual meeting.

Thank you all again.

David