Looking good! Who (or what) is going to be the first guest of honor?
One thought about "getting the pit up to temp", I really don't worry about that all that much.
I fill my fire basket with charcoal (briquettes and/or lump) and mix in some wood chunks randomly, but leave a small open space on one side. I throw about 8 or 10 briquettes into my upside down starter chimney and light those and just wait until they are ashed over pretty well, then toss the hot coals into the space left in the basket. Drop the whole basket into the bottom of the drum, install the meat grille(s) and drop the meat right on and close it up, bringing the pit up to temp with the meat already on and getting smoked. On the gas fired COS I just light the burner, throw some wood into the smoke pan and slap the meat on the grille right away.
My reasoning is that although the pit is still cold, it's like getting a little cold smoke before you start cooking the meat with heat. I've read that smoke flavor is only absorbed by the meat while still cool, until it starts getting cooked on the outside, and then it's pretty much done except for the outer most bark layer. The more smoking you can get done before the meat cooks the deeper the smoke ring will penetrate.
That's my thought process anyway...
