[H-GEN] LA's inspection for LCA 2010

[Russell Stuart]

Having got all the ducks lined up for LA visiting us on
the 6th (all venues, including QUT) in what I though was
record time, it turns out some other team beat us to it:

On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 12:28 +1000, Stewart Smith wrote: 
> On Thu, 2008-09-04 at 10:21 +1000, Russell Stuart wrote:
> > It looks like this Saturday is good for us.  The venues need
> > to know the approximate time we are coming, and they of
> > course only have certain times available.  Figuring out a
> > workable schedule will be a bit of a jigsaw puzzle.
> 
> This Saturday has just been booked by another team (Wellington) as it
> was the only time feasible to get there...
> 
> Is next Saturday possible (likely arriving friday afternoon)?
> 
> > To get the ball rolling I need to know what times you will
> > be here.  And sorry - but I need to know today.  Other 
> > things:
> > 
> > - How many of you will there be?
> > 
> > - What transport do you need?  We are happy to chauffeur 
> >   you for the weekend - or to and from the airport, or
> >   whatever suits.
> > 
> > - Do you need accommodation?  I am sure we have willing
> >   hands that can put you up for the night.  But again
> >   I need some warning so we can get it arranged.
> 
> Usual procedure is to grab a hotel, if someone wants to give lifts, then
> that's okay - but no problem with taxi/train. If you have some
> convention beureu springing for the trip, then it pays, if not, LA does.
> 
> At this point in time, it's looking like it'll be only me coming.

The upside is it gives us some breathing space.  So now we 
have to choose another date.  There are three considerations
I can think of:

1.  Stewart's availability and preferences.  His preferences
    are unknown, but his original email implied by might prefer
    earlier dates.  In the dates he did list the 20/9 wasn't
    mentioned, so I guess that is out.

2.  Availability of QUT.  Ideally Mark Looi, the man behind QUT's
    offer, should be showing them through.  However Mark's time
    is limited.  It boils down to one day in the next 4 weeks:
    27/9.  Jared, Mark's standby, is overseas.  But Mark has said
    he is happy for James Iseppi to do that task, and of course
    James _will_ be available on any date.

3.  Coincides with a Humbug meeting.  I consider this fairly
    important (and thus the press for the 6th).  The next 
    meetings are 20/9 (which wasn't listed by Stewart) and 
    the 4/10 (which Mark isn't available on and could not be
    considered "soon").

I guess, unless Stewart has strong objections or suddenly says
the 20/8 is available, I would go for the 4/10 - the other
issues notwithstanding.  What do the rest of you think?