A proposal for a new venue for meetings

Hello all,

First off, as Robby posted earlier, it's PDXLUG's two year anniversary 
this month.  It seems so long ago that this started; in fact I was 
trying to remember when exactly it did start, and I couldn't pinpoint 
the exact date.  I didn't think to just look at the very first post to 
the mailing list. :-)  For those of you who don't know me, I am the 
person who came started PDXLUG, with the help of  Robby Russell, a 
fellow linux/open source advocate.

I haven't been able to attend meetings lately because I have been very 
busy building a new company.  The new business is called Portland 
Internet Company, and is run by me and my business partner, Justin.  We 
provide web development services, focused on standards compliance and 
open source technology.  We are the only two at the moment, but we are 
completely satisfied keeping in that way for a long time.

We just moved into a new space near Fireside Coffee Lodge, the usual 
meeting place for PDXLUG.  It's a nondescript building off of Milwaukie 
Ave, called the Lafayette Building.  We lease office space and share 
the building with other companies who are mostly involved in the 
creative industry (film editing, video production, etc).

We have recently been having many gatherings, mostly for personal use, 
utilizing our office space.  After all these successful gatherings I 
thought, "wouldn't it be fun to have the PDXLUG meetings here?"

The original reason I wanted to start PDXLUG was to have a mailing list 
with a less flame-war and more on-topic discussion.  Later, when 
monthly meetings were proposed, I envisioned them being more of a 
social gathering, and less of an audience/speaker dynamic.  Our office 
is an ideal place to hold meetings that are more of a fun get-together, 
is more private than a coffee shop, and with way cooler amenities, 
including:

-  Wireless/Wired high-speed Internet access (of course)
-  110" movie screen with 1024x768 projector (yes, you can hook your 
system up to it if you want) for movies/games/presentations/surfing
-  Sound system and music (from either our music library or from yours)
-  Much better parking; the office is in a residential neighborhood 
with plenty of on-street parking
-  A place to hook up your computer, should you want to bring it in to 
get help with a problem, complete with monitor (or projector), keyboard 
and mouse

I would be willing to provide some refreshments and snacks, and if 
anyone wants to bring something they would be more than welcome.  Also 
available is a coffee maker and an espresso machine, for those who 
would miss the caffeine at the meetings, and the best part is, it's 
free.  We have libations for people who want a little pick me up, 
complete with a 50s style mini-bar.

PDXLUG meetings are a great way to meet new people, have fun, and geek 
out without feeling weird for bringing your laptop to a party.  I think 
having meetings at our office would further encourage those things and 
might be even more exciting than the meetings at Fireside.

I want to know from anyone who cares to reply, would you want to move 
the next meeting, or the meeting after, to this new venue?  Or do you 
want to stick with Fireside?

--
Matt King
Portland Internet Company
http://www.portlandinternetco.com