Location..

Thu Oct 13 08:42:37 PDT 2005

Yep, you're both correct.  I've laregely fallen out of attendance simply
because it's become too far to go.  I've made exactly one meeting his year.
Mostly I made it because I had to head down to our Colo, which was in
San Jose, so was already nearby. 

While the population center is likely still in the south bay, it's also
about the worst area to get into at the end of the day.  I recently tried
in the course of organizing some south bay sushi mixers, and the flocks
of commuters migrating south to their nests create no end of delays.

About the worst drive north from the south, I'd say, is the 680 return to
the Livermore side of things.  Coming south on 680 wasn't great either.

>From my own experience having to/from Oakland, WC, Livermore, SJ, SF,
Redwood City in the past year or two, I'd say that the drive is worst
to the bedroom areas (SJ, Livermore, WC/Concord/Pitts), and best to
the center (SF, Oakland, down the peninsula as far as... MV).  I'm
leaving out a lot of the north bay since I've only driven in and out of
Mill Valley so far, which isn't really typical.

The only reason Oakland might suck would be 880N between 280 and 237,
so many of our Colleagues from east Santa Clara and west San Jose
would still be stuck.

Oddly, when I was working in the south bay, it turns out that it's really
not all that bad to drive up into SF.  I think there's a big psychological
barrier, but if I could stay on the 280 corridor, it never got worse than
slow (as opposed to parking lot on the southbound side), even near SBC
Park on gamedays (and for now, at least, the season's over so no prob
there).  Fortunately for me I was coming out along 85, but even when I had
to start near Brokaw/101, it wasn't so bad.

Ray

On Thu, Oct 13, 2005 at 12:24:08AM -0700, Michael T. Halligan wrote:
> Bill,
> 
> You are correct. Most people in attendance of BayLisa are in the  
> "Silicon Valley" region.  I cannot personally speak for them, but
> my guess is that Systems Administrators in San Francisco, the  
> Peninsula, the North Bay, and the East Bay would love to have a
> professional organization filled with peers that they could network  
> with. I know I would.
> 
> Just from a financial point of view, sysadmins are not buying housing  
> in the over-priced silicon valley. The SAGE salary survey is
> proof that most systems administrators cannot afford the valley  
> anymore.  Almost every sysadmin I know who has purchased housing
> in the past 5 years has. They've all moved to Dublin, Pittsburg, San  
> Ramon, even Santa Rosa.
> 
> Beyond housing problems, not all companies with technology needs are  
> in the "Silicon Valley" (man I hate that term). A lot of our  
> colleagues work
> in the further reaches of the east bay at security companies,  
> financial institutes, etc.  These are all people with great potential  
> contributions to BayLisa,
> none of whom have the time to commute to BayLisa. Cupertino is not  
> central to anything but Santa Clara, San Jose, or Sunnyvale.
> 
> Is the goal to inject some new blood into BayLisa, or to maintain the  
> status quo? If it's to maintain the status quo of a stodgy, decades  
> old group content
> with sitting around and playing remember when,  then by all means,  
> keep the meetings at Apple, but consider changing the name to  
> SouthBayLisa?If the
> goal, however, is to reinvigorate this as a professional group for  
> networking, information exchange, collaboration, and professional  
> advancement, then consider
> that the other 3/4 of us will never find Cupertino convenient for  
> anything (except pot shots).
> 
> (BTW, this rant wasn't directed at Bill, just at the notion that the  
> world revolves around Sunnyvale. It doesn't.)
> 
> 
> On Oct 12, 2005, at 10:44 PM, Bill Ward wrote:
> 
> >On 10/12/05, Danny Howard <dannyman at toldme.com> wrote:
> >Eh?  Location is up for debate?
> >
> >I vote for "anywhere on the BART network, especially Oakland or  
> >Berkeley"
> >
> >That would be a great idea except I think most people who would  
> >attend are in the Silicon Valley region.  If near BART is a key  
> >criterion, why aren't there a lot of successful user groups in SF  
> >and the East Bay?  Or are there, and we just don't hear much about  
> >them?
> >
> >Public transport is great, and it sucks that we don't have BART  
> >'round the bay.  Caltrain's pretty good too.  But they don't go to  
> >Cupertino.  I don't know any big companies willing to host BayLISA  
> >that are near rail in the south bay.  Oracle in Redwood Shores is  
> >close to Caltrain though, and I might be able to arrange for  
> >BayLISA to meet there if there was a lot of demand for it, however.
> >
> >-- 
> >Help save the San Jose Earthquakes - http:// 
> >www.soccersiliconvalley.com/
> 