I am travelling and have little connectivity or time to read and reply to the firestorm of messages over the last few days. But as a NA ALAC rep, I need to get my views out. 1. I did not support the Vancouver meeting because it had become clear that there would be virtually no US ALSs present, and I felt that this would be a bad start to a NARALO. 2. Unlike some others, I value a face-to-face meeting. I appreciate the belief that people "should" be able to function fully via e-mail without in-person contact, but in reality many people function better electronically after a face-to-face meeting. I am one of them. That does not mean I cannot work "blind", I have plenty of times, but it is just less effective. (Perhaps it is an age thing - although I have been an e-mail user for 30 years, and a heavy user for most of that time, I did start a bit late in life.) 3. If a well-represented NARALO can be organized in time for San Juan, fine. If not, the world will not end if it takes another month or two. 4. I support a face-to-face meeting (in Yonkers or Montreal or wherever) assuming it is announced in sufficient time for people to make arrangement to attend, it does not conflict with other major events, and that there we can get a significant number of both US and Canadian ALSs (or likely candidate ALSs) to attend (I will not get into playing the 50% game though). 5. I would not be able to attend the tentative meeting in Yonkers due to schedule conflict. It strike me that a date in early June might be more suitable, but I have not passed this by anyone. Alan