I've been running a 'stat' on /coda when a user logs in, in the hope that
I could have them change into their coda home directory only if it was
available. Which in turn is only done if their regular NFS home isn't
available. 

The problem is I think when venus is in a messed up state, 'stat' doesn't
return right away. I might wrap it around an alarm call I guess to make
sure things still flow smoothly. 

Any other ideas on how to do set up these fallback type of directories,
so that the user is always able to sign in to the system?