[phoenixdiy] Re: May or June meeting?
- From: "Michael Elliott" <opporknockitytunes@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: phoenixdiy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 25 May 2008 00:44:46 -0700
On Sat, May 24, 2008 at 3:06 PM, Becky Stern <becky.stern@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Oh and Michael, so sorry nobody could give you a ride last time.
I didn't actually expect anyone to give me a ride (especially since no
one yet knows me), but I didn't feel very welcome with no reply of any
kind. :-( Then again, I'm wierd. :-) Also wordy, so forgive the
long reply. ;-)
> Is there a venue that would be easier for you to get to?
The one in downtown Phoenix (I've forgotten the name) wasn't too far
to go, since it's about half the time for me to get to by bike that
ASU is, about 3 hours total both ways, perhaps. I don't want you to
have to change your venue or make it harder for you to find places to
hold the meetings, though. If most of your members are in Tempe or at
ASU, for instance, it certainly makes sense to hold the meetings
there. If there is a "halfway point" for wherever your membership is
scattered around the valley, I suppose you could average it out and
find someplace close to there, hopefully a place willing to let you
meet there regularly (though that would probably require a regularly
scheduled meeting date/time, to work around their other meetings, if
any).
I don't know if all the Bookman's are converting their community
meeting rooms to coffeehouses, but if they are not, you could see
about reserving one (it's free, AFAIK) at some more-or-less
member-centric location, as a regular thing. The AZ Browncoats were
doing this at the one on 19th Ave & Northern for months, but they just
closed that meeting room (as of this month or next) to convert it to a
coffeehouse (profits, you know ;-) ). There may be other places like
that, too. Some Denny's and JB's have larger reservable areas,
assuming people want to eat during the meetings (and assuming that's
safe to do around whatever is being done each time, or practical).
> Is there a convenient bus line?
Convenient? Yes. Practical? Not really, because of time. RedLine
bus takes about 3 hours or so to get from Metrocenter to
Mill/University area, and not all of the RedLine buses even go all the
way one way or the other, so sometimes the wait for one is a while.
Sometimes all the bike racks on a bus are full, too, meaning I then
have to wait for the next one (which could be full, too), meaning I
have to always plan to start the trip at least 1 hour before I
actually need to, and get to the end of the trip at least an hour
early if I don't have to wait on a bus (not a big deal, since I can
always stop and eat somewhere to kill time if I have to). So it takes
at least 4 hours each way for time eaten up to take a bus. It's less
time out of the day to ride the bike, since I can start/leave whenever
I want, but it leaves me a lot more worn out.
Either way, it's still maybe 6-8 hours travel time (including
potential wait time for buses). I've done it for a couple job
interviews and seminars and such that were at least theoretically
worth the time, but I can only do those with sufficient planning well
in advance.
Biking from the end of the bus ride to wherever a meeting would be at
ASU is easy enough, it's getting *to* ASU that is not really possible
either by bike or by bus, for the sole reason that unless I know about
a meeting far enough in advance (about 6 weeks) to ask for the day of
and after off of work, I can't risk going that far and either wearing
myself out or being unable to get back in time to get enough sleep for
the next workday.
Since my workplace usually doesn't make the schedule for my workweek
until late the day before the workweek starts, I cannot know more than
0-6 days in advance whether or not I will be off on any particular
day. If the meetings were scheduled a lot further in advance, I
*could* plan to ride the bus or bike out to ASU area for them,
otherwise, not really. Even riding with someone is difficult because
of this, since without the advance notice I can't guarantee I'll have
the day in question off, or at least the part of it the meeting is
happening in (since it's retail, the shifts can be anywhere between
7am to 10pm)
>> May's been a busy month, what with most of the organizers finishing up
>> the school semester and travelling to Maker Faire (which was awesome,
>> by the way).
Someday, I'd love to go to one of those, too--when i can make it there
in an HPV/electric-assist of my own making, I'll go for sure. :-)
>> We're planning on a meeting for June with a couple of
>> ideas for presenters; anyone wanna open that discussion up?
I'm afraid I'm not good at actual presentations, just about talking
ideas out with people and/or working on them, or I'd volunteer to
discuss electric bikes or other HPV's (as it's the only recent thing I
have been doing--all my other hobbies have been put to the side for
almost a year now to give me time for this). Despite my written
verbiage, I'm not actually much of a talker (or at least, not a public
speaker).
Anyone else on the list interested in either subject, perhaps enough
to work up a joint presentation or something?
--
--
Michael Elliott
Cybernetic Necromancers, Discorporated
Phoenix, AZ
E-Bicycle Conversion Blog: http://opporknockitytunes.blogspot.com
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