I ended up sanding off all of the anodizing along the top and bottom ribs of the panel, and only to the corners since the sides were not touched. 400, 600, 800 grit wet sanded.
Polished those areas again and it turned fairly well.
After another cleaning with Simple Green and a wipe down with paint prep solvent I masked it off...what a PITA.
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Once the paint dried it went on the car. Even though paint got under the masking tape in some areas (doesn't it always?), it turned out better than i was expecting...still not perfect, but I can live with it for now. I'll eventually work on it some more. Already put in about 20 total work hours, it's not fun to do, and I'll never again complain about how much the professionals charge for their work.
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