Good morning, I think your smoker is looking very good. I am not familiar with or had the chance to use almond wood, I am assuming you are out in California ? Here in East Texas we use a lot of oak, hickory, and pecan because of the availability a little further west getting toward Dallas quite a lot of mesquite, on occasion I try to get some peach (quite a few Peach growers around here. and a little cherry. I like cooking with fruit woods when I do chicken, and fish and sometimes a pork shoulder, mostly I use oak & hickory . For your first burn in I would go with oak, I would season with a mixture of bacon grease and cooking oil in a spray bottle. Spray everything inside the cook chamber get you fire going again and let it go. Maybe get it up to 300 - 350 for a little while, then when it starts coming back down, check the CC and spray it again and just let it go for several hours. You will have a seasoned pit. You can also use spray oil like Pam or the store brands it works. I am just an old school fan you can't beat bacon or bacon grease. Actually on a couple of smokers we did, after seasoning the CC real good and letting it heat for a while we loaded up the racks with bacon ends and cooked them till crispy. As for your first cook think about what type of meat you want to cook and the flavor you want and go with that type wood.
Let us know with pictures how it turns out. Again very nice smoker.
Gary