The List

I usually have a list of things that need done on the summit. Mostly manini things, stuff that takes a few minutes, or maybe an hour. Not enough to justify a day on the summit, this stuff can usually wait for a week or two, until I find time. When a more serious issue takes me to the summit, something that must be done, it may take an hour, or half a day. When the main thing is done I always have the list to fill in the remainder of the day.

There were three things on the list, one that had to get done. No problem, I will be on the summit tomorrow. A phone call added another item to the list. A co-worker stopping by my desk with a favor to ask… One more item added. When the end of the day was finally upon me, the list had grown to ten items. It usually works that way.

A small yellow-lined piece of paper pulled from a pad, a scrap that would rule my day on the summit. I slip the list into my left breast pocket beside a black ball-point pen.

Attach a data logger to the K2 shutter drive controllers and move the top shutters. The data looks… Ummm… interesting. That will wait for another day to analyse. The shutters have been faulting out a bit lately, there is something wrong with the VFD drives, but I am not sure what. Hopefully the answer is in the data. Much of the morning is consumed with getting the test done.

Align the WYKO interferometer under the AO bench… No problem, takes five minutes… After I gown up to enter the AO enclosure. I can replace the wave front camera controller while I am in there, just swapping the unit with the controller from the development lab at headquarters. Alignment complete, nice fringes on the video monitor… Sam will be happy with that.

Time for lunch and a game of cribbage, a busy day makes this break all that much more enjoyable, It is a fun game, even if we do lose. We do not keep score, we play for fun and bragging rights for the day. All is forgotten a day later, with years of experience the skill level is pretty even and everyone takes a turn winning or losing.

A tour at 1pm, some family friends from Portland getting a tour of the telescope, always fun. A meeting at 3pm… I forget what for now… It must have been terribly important. The day was just a mite hectic, hurrying from task to task. Slowly the list dwindled as I cross off items.

As we headed down the mountain, I pulled the now well tattered list from my pocket. Not complete, a couple items will wait for another day. But still… A sense of satisfaction, of accomplishment. None of these tasks were of major importance, none would stop the telescope from going on-sky that night, just the routine minutiae of keeping the telescopes operating.