Plans for Clinton Visit still in flux

[Ernie Herrera]

Hear, hear, Bill, especially the very last part.

Bill Nickless wrote:

> There has been some concern expressed about the dearth of information about
> the Clinton visit.  The problem is that there simply IS no information we
> can count on in terms of scheduling, or possibly even which room at Dine'
> college will be used.
>
> The best information we have, as of the sending of this email message, is
> that Clinton is expected to tour the visualization lab at Dine' college
> some time on Monday.  Earlier we were hearing he would participate in a
> Digital Talking Circle.  Please understand that we simply _do_not_know_
> what is going to happen, because this involves political maneuvering
> between at least a half dozen entities.  I fully expect the plans to be in
> flux until Marine One leaves Shiprock altogether.  I wish this were not the
> case.
>
> Tomorrow morning (Thursday) Liz Frank will be making the four hour drive up
> to Shiprock from UNM.  She will be working to configure the Access Grid
> node up there.  We expect nothing major to be taken out of the UNM Access
> Grid node itself, which will remain operational.  Some involved network
> hacking was required to keep the UNM Access Grid node working while their
> Cisco 2621 router was moved to another building to handle the T1 lines.  I
> am hoping that ANL people will be available, by phone and/or mud, to help
> her walk through the process of configuring the node.
>
> I expect to go up to Shiprock on Friday, arriving there after noon.  My
> first priority is to get the 6 T1 lines terminated properly, and routing
> set up.  I have very limited AG node operating experience, but may be able
> to work on audio testing once the networking is going.
>
> Liz Frank will be returning from Shiprock to UNM sometime Friday afternoon,
> with an intent to return to Shiprock sometime on Saturday.  If all goes
> well, we should be ready to start doing testing Saturday evening,
> continuing through Sunday.
>
> As mentioned above, we must be prepared for the Clinton demo to be anywhere
> from 8:00 AM MDT to 6:00 PM MDT on Monday, April 17.  Even if we hear
> something different, we still have to be prepared to do the demo with as
> little as 10-15 minutes of notice.  I'm sorry that I can't be more
> specific, but literally nobody on the planet knows for sure when it will
> take place.  Several people may have an idea, but they all have to come to
> consensus and that's not going to happen before Clinton is literally
> walking to the Dine' college Access Grid node.  Since the national Meida
> will be here, we should try to have it up and running all day as an
> attractive thing for them to see.  No matter what--you can rest assured
> that Frank will be making this a PR extravaganza!
>
> Following is a summary of things that have to be done:
>
>   - Configure the Dine' College Access Grid node.  Liz Frank is going to
>     be the person with the screwdriver and keyboard.  She will need help
>     to get it done quickly and correctly.  As mentioned in the mud, audio
>     gear there will include the Gentner.  Argonne folks, could you please
>     be prepared to walk her through this?
>
>   - Configure the Multisession Bridge stuff for this demo.  We need to
>     choose a private multicast group for the active particpants.  (And
>     no, we DO NOT KNOW who the participants outside of UNM and Dine'
>     college will be yet!!!)  We need a one-way bridge to a normal
>     Virtual Venue room for interested onlookers.
>
>   - Keep pushing.  Things keep falling into place slowly.
>
>   - Keep talking.
>
>   - Keep testing.
>
>   - Keep tempers in check.  :)
>
> Thanks all!
>
> ===
> Bill Nickless    http://www.mcs.anl.gov/people/nickless      +1 630 252 7390
> PGP:0E 0F 16 80 C5 B1 69 52 E1 44 1A A5 0E 1B 74 F7     nickless at mcs.anl.gov

--

Ernest D. Herrera
Associate Director
High Performance Computing Education and Research Center
University of New Mexico
505.277.8330