"Unknowingly, we plow the dust of the stars, blown about us by the wind, and drink the universe in a glass of rain." -Ihab Hassam

We don't study what we do because its convenient. Astrophysics is not something that you just fall into. This is something that you choose, or that chooses you. Many of us were initially captured by beauty: colorful nebulae as unique as fingerprints, memories of a quiet night embraced by a brilliant dome of stars, shadows cast by Venus on the cooling earth.

The time spent wading through homeworks and labwork has led us to discover that behind all of the beauty lies substance: mathemetics, mystery and meaning so deep that it becomes something to measure your life by.

I am left with a quiet sense of awe, both at the immensity of the universe around us, and at the human ability to understand it. I realize that I truly treasure all the small things and the great things I learned here, -even the ones that I had to cram into my head.

This particular epiphany occurred to me one early morning on an observing run in the mountains of Arizona. We had taken data at the telescope all night. I found myself exhausted and sleepless in a cabin infested with hundreds of giant spiders. As I huddled around a can of RAID, I thought, "Man, I must really like my job."

But what means even more to me than the fact that I can tell you all about black holes and satellites and lasers and supernovae, is that I actually think differently now. I demand more insight into the life around me. My creative ideas have more power with an analytic structure to support them. It kindof sneaks up on you until you find yourself explaining to your friends how cell phones work, how light curves along space-time, or how we are all made of stardust blown about by the wind on this tiny planet.

For all that the years at Berkeley have meant to me:

I want to thank my professors,
who were late to class because they were checking their lecture notes on last time,
who expected me to tromp into their office, every Wednesday, asking questions,
and who tried to impart that glowing spark driving them to learn, seek and know.

I want to thank my family and friends for their love.

I want to thank all the graduate students who dedicated their time and effort to us.

I want to thank my fellow students. Endless hours in lab, arguments over homework problems, and just becoming friends has made this wonderful experience for me.

Thank you.