Although pitching a good size starter never disappoints, it's good to hear the fermentation was successful!A belated update: The yeast worked just fine, with most of the activity in the first five or six days. The gravity has been at 1.012 for about a week. Thanks for all the help and advice. I learned a lot!
Are you going to save (some of) the yeast for a next batch? I hope so, especially with modern day yeast pricing. Yowsers!