I joined the TAAA in 2009 after moving to Tucson from the Dallas, TX area in 2006. I have been interested in astronomy since childhood, but only became really serious since I have been a TAAA member. My wife bought me a 50 mm Meade refractor which I got stated with. It turned out to be a decent little scope with which my big accomplishment was seeing the rings of Saturn. I progressed to a Celestron C 4.5 Newtonian that I used to view the impact of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. The coming of my son Hunter in 1996 relegated astronomy to second fiddle until I began my association with TAAA.
As a new TAAA member, I took the AFSIGs “Introduction to The Fundamentals of Astronomy” classes and learned a lot, as well as making the acquaintance of many wonderful members. My relationship with AFSIG continued and I eventually became the Chairman. I have lots of good memories of working within AFSIG and continue to have a special place in my heart for that SIG. As part of my duties with AFSIG, I began attending TAAA Board meetings, eventually becoming Vice President and now President. I am honored to serve the TAAA and remain in awe of what our club is able to accomplish.
My interests are mainly in visual observation and I am not a terribly organized observer. I mostly like to look at pretty objects in the sky and help introduce folks to them. In the past, I have been heavily involved with the TAAA School Star Parties and some of the Outreach events as well. I plan to remain active in the TAAA and encourage all our members to do the same.