[luau] Saturday workshop?

[R. Scott Belford]

Dean Takemori wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> Was there supposed to be a Saturday workshop this afternoon or not?

The workshop remained on the calendar until Saturday.  It was scheduled.

> 
> The web site calendar says yes and I do not recall any notices to LUAU
> to the contrary. I talked to Michael Bishop at McKinley today and he
> said that last week was the last in a series of DOE-conference related
> workshops with nothing scheduled for today.

He is correct.  As far as he knew, there was nothing scheduled for 
today.  He planned to be around in case someone showed up, but he was 
not aware that a workshop was on the calendar.  I failed to announce 
that it would not be held.

> 
> Who is in charge of the web calendar and workshop related email posts?
> (I often do not know if I will be working on Saturdays until Friday
> evening, so I rely on such sources)

Dean, I am at fault here.  I am sorry.  I knew that the workshop was on 
the calendar, and it should have been taken off earlier.  Our Saturday 
sessions are not drawing much of a crowd at McKinley, so they have been 
made bi-monthly.

> 
> In the past, the absence of any specifically purposed workshops meant
> to default back to testing and refurbishing machines at Pricebusters.
> 
> Since we no longer have a Pricebusters relationship, do we no longer
> have regular workshop/meetings?

Well, this is a time-consuming and unfortunate setback.  With the 
impending loss of the space at Price Busters, we are unable to fulfill 
one of our core missions:  receiving and refurbishing hardware.  While 
we try to find another partner, the scheduled events are educational in 
nature, and they are at McKinley.  Regretfully, there is no fallback 
workshop at this time.

> 
> What about the machines left at Pricebusters?

As it stands, we are supposed to get the equipment out by March 31st.  I 
will likely have to ask for a bit of an extension.  We are working on a 
few alternatives:

Partnering with someone like the Salvation Army or another entity with 
space to host the refurbishing workshops.

Finding funding to lease a space, or having space donated

Focusing more the outreach/education elements of our mission since many 
schools/charities/businesses have the computers but lack the know-how.

We need something permanent and sustainable.  The relationship with 
Price Busters has been critical, and we are most thankful, but having a 
key mission shut down has been a frustrating but inspiring obstacle.  It 
was a critical mistake on my behalf not to forge an endearing 
partnership with a more permanent partner.  Live and learn, and we do learn.

> 
> Are we having an organizational meeting next week? When is it? Noon
> or 1PM?

The correctly modified calendar shows that the organizational meeting 
will be at 1 pm next Saturday.  All future org meetings will be at 1pm. 
  They will continue to be on the Second Saturday of each month. 
Thought is begin given to having these meetings either outside to 
facilitate a cookout or at an eating establishment.  Opinions on this 
are welcome.

Until we have space to refurbish, our meeting times will be found on the 
calendar.  We currently have two scheduled Saturday sessions a month. 
Look for more weekday evening offerings providing specific tidbits of 
knowledge, ie Samba configuration, Apache, Firewalling, etc.

> 
> -dean takemori


thanks for the inquiry, Dean

--scott

R. Scott Belford
PR Director
HOSEF