Anyone have any Portland recommendations?

As in, places to go? Powells. You must go to Powells.

Yes Powells is awesome. That's where I found Vampire People.

It occurs to me that, although I said I couldn't do June 5th - 7th, I actually kind of maybe could.

Hmm.

I mean - I should be back at school on June 8th, in Bangkok, which makes it very much less than ideal and probably not doable...but I'm off school from 3rd - 7th for the Half Term holiday, so it's not totally inconceivable. Just highly highly impractical. But....want!

Fay, did you include the dateline in your calculations?

Lovely of them not to have mentioned that to me, despite my confirmed reservation. Anyhoo, our travel office is currently trying to reserve me a new room.

ugh. Let us know if you need help finding a place, or if you want to run a location by us.

Yes. As I said, it's highly impractical - obviously it would involve taking a couple of days off work, which is very unprofessional and something I would be extremely reluctant to do - in situations where I only have 2 days off work in the first place, this is totally pointless, but with five days off work it becomes...well, still highly impractical, but not insane.

Thanks, Vortex. It sounds like our travel office was able to get a room in another nearby hotel. I should know tomorrow for sure. I'm just glad I found out in enough time to get another place. Reconfirming already confirmed reservations is my plan from here on out, as this is not the first time this has happened to me. Well, the other time was much closer and they weren't closed, and they did find a room for me, but they canceled my reservation for a completely unknown reason. Even they didn't know why they canceled it.

Fortunately, my bad travel cloud doesn't seem to rain on friends or traveling companions.

I would ask for a coupon for a free night's stay. To confirm a reservation in a closed hotel is unacceptable.

Are we considering the poll closed now?

Final results: What is your FIRST date choice for the F2F 2009?

17% (7) May 29-31
7% (3) June 5-7
15% (6) June 12-14
5% (2) June 19-21
20% (8) June 26-28
17% (7) July 10-12
7% (3) July 17-19
7% (3) Aug 7-9

What is your SECOND date choice for the F2F 2009?

5% (2) May 29-31
10% (4) June 5-7
12% (5) June 12-14
10% (4) June 19-21
7% (3) June 26-28
17% (7) July 10-12
17% (7) July 17-19
17% (7) Aug 7-9

Pick TWO other date choices for F2F 2009:

8% (3) May 29-31
25% (9) June 5-7
22% (8) June 12-14
45% (16) June 19-21
31% (11) June 26-28
11% (4) July 10-12
28% (10) July 17-19
11% (4) Aug 7-9

What dates can you NOT come to F2F 2009?

48% (14) May 29-31
27% (8) June 5-7
24% (7) June 12-14
10% (3) June 19-21
24% (7) June 26-28
24% (7) July 10-12
20% (6) July 17-19
31% (9) Aug 7-9

So, using the method we discussed before, of 3 points for first place, 2 for second, 1 for other, and subtracting a point for a can't come, we get:

May 29-31: 14
June 5-7: 18
June 12-14: 29
June 19-21: 27
June 26-28: 34
July 10-12: 32
July 17-19: 27
Aug 7-9: 18

So the top three to go to the runoff would be June 26-28, July 10-12, and June 12-14.

Subtracting two points for each "can't come," we get:

May 29-31: 0
June 5-7: 10
June 12-14: 22
June 19-21: 24
June 26-28: 27
July 10-12: 25
July 17-19: 21
August 7-9: 9

So the top three that way are June 26-28, July 10-12, and June 19-21. So two of the top three are the same for either method, but that third one (June 19-21 or June 12-14) changes.

Are we considering the poll closed now?

We are.

I think I like weighting the "can't come"s heavier, but that's me.