Congratulations are in order to the Keck I azimuth journal repair team of Mire Kelley, Chris Hunt, Cisco Galdones, Tyson Arruda, and Drew Medeiros who completed the job on Saturday after many months of work. The azimuth journal is the surface on which the entire 300 ton telescope rides, and a 10-foot section of the journal was showing alarming signs of deterioration, leading to the azimuth track's actually bending 28 thousandths of an inch each time a telescope drive wheel rode over that section of the track. Fixing it involved jack-hammering out the 10-foot, 6" deep section of "rotten" grout *under* the journal and extruding new, bubble-free, high tensile-strength grout into the gap and getting it to cure properly. Just learning how to produce bubble-free grout of the proper strength took *many* experiments over the last few months before the right combination was found.Last week, we shut Keck I down for 5 days so the new grout could be extruded into the 10-foot gap and be given adequate time to cure. The team put in long hours starting with 5 AM departures from Waimea, including on Saturday, to accomplish this difficult and critical task.Initial tests on Saturday indicate that the journal now deflects less than 10 thousandths of an inch (within an acceptable tolerance) and the popping noise, that had become a feature of the Keck I telescope whenever the drive wheels crossed this section of the journal, has disappeared.Unfortunately, when tests were done on Saturday, 7 out of 8 of the azimuth precision reference mark (PRM) sensors were damaged, so another team was rushed to the summit to repair them. Many thanks to Tom Nordin, JasonChin (from home), Wayne Dahl (from HQ), Mark Devenot, Steve Doyle, Bill Healy, Mike Kelley, Rich Matsuda, Drew Medeiros, and Craig Nance, who all joined in for the emergency repairs and had the telescope fully operational by sunset. The Sunday observers reported a trouble-free night and excellent pointing, so it appears Keck I emerged very successfully from major surgery and post-operation complications.Many, many thanks to all who participated in the az journal repair project and Saturday's rescue mission. You truly exemplify the Observatory's dedication to service.

Fred