Author: Tim...

DBA, Developer, Author, Trainer.

OpenWorld (Monday) – Part 2

I was totally stitched up in the “Meet the Experts” session with Tom Kyte. Tom got the times mixed up and arrived a little late, so I spent the first few minutes taking questions from a bunch of people who really came to see Tom. I was a bit nervous, but anyone who knows me knows I can talk the hind legs off a donkey, so I managed OK. Of course, when Tom turned up I didn’t manage to get a word in edge-ways. 🙂

It’s really interesting hearing Tom answer questions. He doesn’t just answer a question, he does a complete brain dump on the subject. It’s very impressive to witness. Certainly something to aspire to.

Later on I did a “meet and greet” at the Texas Memory Systems stand. This involved a 15-20 minute presentation on PL/SQL tuning and then just chatting to people and signing books. It’s quite wierd doing this sort of thing because you essentially have to start presenting before people will sit down. I started presenting to 1 person, but as soon as I started talking other people came and sat down. It was good fun. I’ve got two more of these today (11:00 and 16:00), then that’s my official duties over for the week.

I attended the a session by John Kanagaraj called, “Using ADDM, AWR, ASH, and Database Metrics with Oracle9i and Oracle8i Database”. His company manages lots of 8i and 9i databases, so he has looked at some of the monitoring features in 10g and “backported” bits of them to 8i and 9i. Some of the ideas were quite neat. It’s certainly worth taking a look at his paper if you are using older releases of the database.

In the evening I went out to the Oracle Technology Network party. There was food, drinks, a quiz show, dancers, contortion artists and some artificial camels. What more could a guy want?

While I was there I bumped into John Scott. We had a bit of a chat about being new ACEs. Nice guy!

Cheers

Tim…

OpenWorld (Monday), and my mission begins!

Day 1. OK, so it’s not really day one for me, but you get the idea. What’s my mission I hear you ask? I’m going to try and get through the rest of OpenWorld without getting any more photos taken of me. Tom Kyte already got a snap of me at dinner last night, and I think Eddie Awad has one of me also. From now on I’m in stealth mode!

I managed to do a Helicopter tour of the city yesterday. It went all round the city, over and under Golden Gate Bridge and over Alcatraz and around the coast. Pretty cool!

I’m on a “Meet the experts” panel with Tom Kyte in about 1 hour. If he gets out his camera he’s history! 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Arrived at San Francisco…

It was a long flight, via Amsterdam, but I eventually got to San Francisco. The city is very busy. The place if full of people going to OpenWorld and this morning the streets are full of people about to start the San Francisco Marathon. If only I’d brought my trainers… 🙂

Yesterday was a long day. It started at 4:30 and with the 8 hour time difference, I ended up going to bed about 26 hours later. This morning I woke up at 5:00 local time and went to a 24 hour diner for breakfast. Life is good… 😉

The plan this morning is to go and register at OpenWorld, take a look around and decide on a plan for the day. I might check out Alcatraz. I’ve got the Oracle ACEs and Oracle Magazine Editors Choice awards dinner tonight, so whatever I do I have to be back in time for that.

I bumped into Mark Rittman and Andrew Clarke yesterday so we went out for a drink and some food. Mark insisted on taking photos on his mobile phone, so I’m sure you will soon see more pictures of me which I’ll moan about. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

Memnoch The Devil…

I fear these posts are going to become a little repetitive. 🙂

I’ve just finished reading “Memnoch The Devil”, the fifth book in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. This book has loads of bad reviews and I was really hesitant about starting it, but I shouldn’t have been. It is brilliant!

It’s not really a vampire book. The whole vampire theme is kind of incidental. It’s more a book about God and the Devil and their relationship. It takes a Christian view of God and the Devil and gives it a twist. I guess views might vary depending on religious beliefs, but I thought it was totally cool.

I’m looking forward to the next book now. I’ll take a couple with me for the flight to the San Francisco.

On that score, things will be a little quiet until I return…

Cheers

Tim…

Oracle Magazine Picture…

Eddie Awad posted his Oracle magazine picture on his blog, so I thought I’d have a look for mine…

The photographer sent me some rought drafts of the shots he was going to send forward and one struck me as being the worst of the pile by a long shot. Guess which one they used? 🙂

Now I’m no oil painting, but this shot is really bad! I’m squinting so badly my eyes look like they’ve been transplanted from a 70 year old. My shirt is billowing out in the wind, making me look like I’m about 50 lbs heavier than I am, and the angle makes me look like I have some sort of tumour on the right side of my jaw. It’s nasty!

On the plus side, I’m normally deathly pale, but in this shot they’ve made me look like I’ve got some colour in my skin. Amazing what you can do with photoshop!

Please try to avoid this picture and think of me as looking like Brad Pitt! I’m so vain it’s unbelievable… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

The Tale of the Body Thief…

I’ve recently finished reading “The Tale of the Body Thief”, the fourth book in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. This is a rather unusual affair and there is little I can say without giving the game away. It’s very different to the other books. For a start, it seems that every character Lestat comes into contact with, regardless of age or gender, is a past, present or future sexual conquest. The previous books alluded to this, but it’s a little overplayed here. There were a couple of times in the book where I got a little bored, but for the most part I really enjoyed it. The story at the heart of the book is quite nifty, and for the most part it plays out very nicely. I don’t think it’s a strong as the first three books, but it’s not half bad.

My biggest problem now is, do I continue with the rest of the chronicles, another 5 or so books, or do I knock it on the head and get a life? The answer will come in this blog… 🙂

By the way, I wrote an article on OS Authentication. I’ve been asked a number of questions on the matter over the last few weeks and it just seemed a sensible way to simplify my answers. I’ve purposely not discussed privileged connections, so it’s very basic.

Cheers

Tim…

Thoughts on OpenWorld…

I’ve got a few obligations at OpenWorld, including a few dinners, but for the most part I just intend to wander around for a few days and let my feet take me where they want to go. I’ve not planned a schedule of presentations I want to see. I’ll just go along to anything that grabs me on the day, provided the queue isn’t massive. More than anything I just want to see what it’s like, talk to people and try not to take it all too seriously. 🙂

Of course, my biggest concern at the moment is the weather in San Francisco at this time of year. What do I pack? 😉

Cheers

Tim…

The Queen of the Damned…

I’ve just finished reading “The Queen of the Damned”, the third book in the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice. As a mentioned previously, the film of the same name takes much of its story from the second book, rather than this book, but that’s beside the point. This is a seriously cool book.

The first book was very much an autobiography of the vampire Louis. The second book was an autobiography of the vampire Lestat. This book continues from the second book, telling the story of Akasha, queen of the damned. Lestat talks of his own experiences and those of his friends, as told to him. As a result, you get multiple angles on the same story. Lots of minor variations, which all build up into the big picture. It’s kind of like a Quentin Tarantino film, the focus and timeline constantly shifts, but at the end is all comes into focus.

Anyway, it was a good investment of time. On to the fourth book…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I’ve remembered again why I don’t read. First, I’m a really slow reader. Second, I give up practically everything in my life to get the book finished. I really should learn to do things in moderation… 🙂

Karate Grading and The Departed…

I failed my 3rd Dan Karate grading at the weekend. There’s lots I could say, but it is all irrelevant. Never mind. I’ll try again and pass it in 6 months.

On a lighter note, I went to see The Departed last night. It is a totally awesome film!!! I highly recommend it to anyone. I’ve never understood the appeal of Leonardo DiCaprio until now. He is a fantastic actor, sure to be one of the greats. Matt Damon is cool and of course Jack Nicholson is superb, as always. Although not a major role, Mark Wahlberg’s character is very funny and certainly adds a lot to the film. The film is full of violence and expletivies, so it’s not for the faint hearted. Go and see it!

Cheers

Tim…