ORACLENERD

ApEx: A Guide

2009-11-06T17:00:00.002-05:00

Since I'm going through and relearning everything, I'm creating this page as an index page for all future posts. Yes, I could use a label and have blogger do it automatically...I'm just trying to make more work for myself.

Administrative Services

ApEx: Administrative Services

2009-11-06T00:28:00.006-05:00

Getting back into the Application Express (ApEx) world again.

Trying to refresh my rusty memory on some key aspects. I figured I'd start with Administrative Services, in other words, controlling/configuring your ApEx installation.

Login
I found this confusing when I first started using ApEx. There are 2 login screens, one for the Administrative Services and one for Workspace Administration.

Administrative Services is in the (URL) form of:

http://<domain>:<port>/apex/apex_admin

For me it looks like this:

http://192.168.1.199:8080/apex/apex_admin

Which quickly resolves to:

http://192.168.1.199:8080/apex/f?p=4550:10

A helpful picture:

For Workspace Administration, the URL looks like this:

http://<domain>:<port>/apex/apex

For me it looks like this:

http://192.168.1.199:8080/apex/apex

Which quickly resolves to:

http://192.168.1.199:8080/apex/f?p=4550:1

A helpful picture:

Services
After you login, you are presented with the following screen:

Your choices are:

Manage Service
Manage Workspace
Manage Applications
Monitor Activity

Actually, I'll leave it at that for the time being. Each of those sections incorporates a bit of functionality which probably deserve their own post.

Losing A Job: The Aftermath

2009-11-05T23:38:00.004-05:00

So I've got a little experience in "losing" my job. Laid off, furloughed, rehired, resigned (and walked out), new job, laid off.

Of course I didn't lose one of those jobs...I know right where they are. I just can't or won't go back to them.

Fortunately for me, I've made a lot of good friends online. Very supportive friends. It makes "losing" a job that much easier.

Of course there's more to it...the effect it has on the family.

Kate...she doesn't understand yet. She just smiles and laughs and makes everything go away.

LC, however, is starting to grasp it. He doesn't say anything to me, but he does say stuff to his mother.

"Are we going to have to move back to Gainesville?"

"Is poppa going to pay our bills for us?"

You know...fun stuff like that.

Strangely, not to long ago he was always asking me to fire myself so I could be home all the time (it's the only way I get a vacation these days).

And then there's the wife, the lovely woman who agreed to marry me (yikes!) and has supported me through all of this. Without her, I could not have made it as far as I have.

When we met, we were polar opposites. I was a bit on the timid side and she...well, she doesn't have much of a filter. A perfect match!

Over time I have found my voice and she has muted hers (only a little). We're meeting somewhere in the middle (at least that's what I tell myself).

Kris does not work. She held LC in her hands and told me she didn't want to go back to work. I couldn't argue. Although she did work briefly but was let go because LC had an ear infection and needed medical attention. We didn't fight it. She's a stay-at-home mom, and we like it that way. She's been able to help Kate out with doctor visits, physical therapy, speech therapy, HGH injections...the list goes on and on.

Since she doesn't work, she feels, at times, out of control. When I "lose" my job, that feeling is heightened.

Not really sure what the point of this was...it's not to feel sorry for me, that's for sure. Just a warning to those out there in a similar situation. It doesn't effect just you...it effects your entire family (I haven't even mentioned my parents, or Kris' parents).

The only advice I can give to help alleviate this is:
1. Have enough money in the bank to weather the storm
2. ...OK, just 1.

Method R + C.J. Date = Fun!

2009-11-05T18:05:00.004-05:00

I just got an email blast from Mr. Cary Millsap.

It reads as follows:

This brief note is to update you on some of the things we've been doing at Method R Corporation.

C. J. Date seminar - There's a new course on our schedule: we've invited Chris Date to teach "How to Write Accurate SQL and Know It: A Relational Approach to SQL" January 26-28, 2010 in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Our make-or-break date for the course is December 4, 2009, so if you're interested please enroll soon. I'm personally excited about the opportunity to sit in a classroom for three days with one of the inventors of our whole industry. http://method-r.com/education/107-cj-date-course.

MR Tools - A few weeks ago, we released a new set of software tools that let you do some pretty unbelievable things with Oracle trace data. Take a look at our Guided Tour pages behind the individual tool links at http://method-r.com/software/mrtools.

Method R Profiler - Recently, we released Method R Profiler 5.2.0. The Profiler now runs on Mac and Linux, in addition to Windows. And new with 5.2 is a graphical user interface that's a genuine pleasure to use. I was always a command line guy when I used the Profiler, but with the new 5.2 GUI, I'm sold. http://method-r.com/software/profiler.

The tools are currently a bit out of my league, but the opportunity to listen to C.J. Date would be cool (cool as in geek chic or nerd chic of course). I have no idea what my schedule will be like at this point, but I would definitely like to attend. Hopefully I'll have some things tied up so I can plan for it.

OpenOffice Writer: AutoComplete?

2009-11-03T20:56:00.002-05:00

Now that I'm using Ubuntu, I'm also using OpenOffice.

However, I like Google Docs quite a bit so I've used OpenOffice sparingly.

I've had trouble with Google Docs though; the Download as Word bastardizes the document. Looks great as a pdf, not so much as a Word document. The reason for creating a Word document is for recruiters, they all seem to have some sort of application that parses the Word document and fills in your employment history and such. This would be a great place for XML and some sort of standard wouldn't it?

Anyway, in OpenOffice Writer, I type in:

November 2009

which Writer immediately turns into

11/01/09

No! Stop it!
I tried turning AutoComplete off:

Tools --> AutoCorrect

and disabling everything I can find...try again. Same result.

Reading this thread, I begin to wonder if it's like Excel...you know, you enter a date and it automatically puts it into the default date format.

Sure enough, right click on the column, select "Character" and voila! No more transformation.

ACEs are Wild

2009-11-03T16:42:00.003-05:00

They must be if they've included me.

Today I found out that I had been nominated and accepted into the Oracle ACE Program.
I believe my first exposure to the program was through Lewis Cunningham, a bit over 4 years ago. I then began to notice it in the OTN forums...you know, that little ACE next to a person's name?

I wanted one.

I won't say it's the only reason I blog or participate, I still believe that's just my personality.

But I am truly grateful for the award. (Yes, it's already on my resume).

Freedom of the Blog

2009-11-02T17:15:00.003-05:00

According to Wikipedia, Thomas Jefferson thoughts on the press were as follows:

...An active press was essential as a way of educating the population. To work freely, the press must be free from control by the state. Jefferson was a person who himself suffered great calumnies of the press. Despite this, in his second inaugural address, he proclaimed that a government that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall. (emphasis mine)

Why is this important?

Well, I've had a lot (too much?) time to think lately.

...a government that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall.

What if you replaced "government" with "business"?

Yes, they are different. When working for a business you do not have the same rights as you do within the government (speaking of United States here). There are confidentiality rules (hopefully). Trade secrets. Etc. Those things apply when you are working at a company.

What about post-employment though?

Of course if you are under some sort of non-disclosure agreement (NDA), you can't publicly talk about your former company.

There's also the small matter of burning bridges. I never quite understood this concept. Maybe I just haven't worked long enough. I understand that you don't want to piss off someone who, in the future, will be in a position to hire you. What if you don't care? What if you would never, ever work for that person or business again? Where's the bridge? Why not burn it? You certainly don't want to travel across it again.

Oh wait, future employers. That's not technically burning a bridge though is it?

Future employers would/might see it as a bad thing. You know, if you burned one bridge, you'll burn more. I understand that...generally speaking.

...a business that could not stand up under criticism deserved to fall.

I don't necessarily believe a business should fail. Blogging about them though would let others know what it's like to work there. A warning of sorts.

Also, how would you determine who is telling the truth and who isn't? I could be a lazy, disgruntled ex-employee with an axe to grind. How to separate the wheat from the chaff?

Maybe that's where Jake's reputation stuff comes in...(it's not really his of course, which I'm sure he'll remind me of).

Database Changes

2009-11-02T00:00:00.001-05:00

OOW 09: Real World Performance Demo - Exadata

2009-10-30T01:15:00.000-04:00

The Perfect Job

2009-10-28T17:46:00.002-04:00

Since I am no longer tethered, I can talk about my perfect job without fear of offending.

Company Size
I don't necessarily care how big the company is, but I know the bigger it is, the more bureaucratic it gets. Small usually means more nimble. I like large companies because that's a lot of people to get to know.

Culture
Casual. Definitely casual. I've been spoiled the last 6 months...shorts, t-shirt and flip-flops to work everyday. I met a recruiter the other day and I actually had to wear (long) pants and a button-up shirt. Yuk. I like to dress up...just not every day.

Cursing. Have to have cursing.

More points if you add in a swear jar.

Even professional. I want to work with people who have Jedi skills. I want to work with Good Lazy people, not Bad Lazy.

Benefits
Health Insurance, 401k plans, vacation time...all of those are important. On site gym? WIN! Even though I fail to go, it's nice to have that option. That was one of the big selling points in moving to Tampa. WellCare had a massive (to me anyway) campus, weight room, basketball and racquetball courts. They even had a softball field.

The last place I worked had a great gym and a car wash guy that came every week or so (though I never partook).

Environment
This definitely crosses path with some of the other categories, but I decided to create a new one because I wasn't sure exactly where it fit.

By environment, I mean your desk set up. Must haves:
--2 or more 21 inch monitors
--kick ass desktop machine
--a very nice chair. If I spend a lot of time in that thing, in better be comfortable.
--Ergonomic keyboard. I've been using Microsoft's Natural Keyboard (the rounded one) since I started using a computer in 1996 or 1997. I even take it to work if they don't provide one. I left mine at the last place and sent a frantic email to the HR lady to retrieve it for me.

+1 if this is your setup.

Location
I don't want to work at home all of the time, but I do want to be close. Spending more than an hour on the road a day is a waste of time. Traffic sucks too. The past couple of months I would have baseball practice at 6:30 on Mondays and Tuesdays which means I had to leave the office no later than 5:15. I'd then swing by home, pick up LC in the driveway and off to practice we went. Thursdays were similar with tutoring at 6.

I'd also like to be able to work from home once in awhile. Some places never let you do it...I work a lot and I get into the zone at night typically. If you don't want to allow me to work from home once in awhile, why should I work at home at all?

More than anything I just want the flexibility.

So what's your perfect job? Anything like mine?

How to Use Social Media to Increase Productivity

2009-10-27T12:45:00.004-04:00

I kept seeing these announcements on Twitter for ODTUG Kaleidiscope 2010 and the call for papers.

Since I have nothing better to do right now, I wrote something up just to see what happens.

How to Use Social Media to Increase Productivity
Social Media has been on the rise over the last few years, but many in the development community (especially Oracle) have yet to truly embrace it. I would like to convey my own experiences with Social Media (specifically Twitter and Blogging) and how it has helped me to become a better Oracle Developer.

Abstract
In the past year I have received free passes to COLLABORATE 09 (http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/03/collaborate-09-oaug-forum.html) and Oracle OpenWorld (http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/07/whos-going-to-oow-09.html). I have also been able to have conversations with some of the industry experts, solely because of my use of Twitter. I had a great email exchange with Cary Millsap on the differences between Logging, Debugging and Instrumentation, which I eventually posted on my blog (http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/07/logging-debugging-instrumentation-and.html).

Christian Berg, of OBIEE fame, saw my plea for help on Twitter and responded with a full explanation via email. Read it here: http://www.oraclenerd.com/2009/03/obiee-how-to-migrate-your-rpd.html

Thanks to Twitter or my blog, I have been able to have (technical) conversations with some industry heavyweights: Alex Gorbachev, Eddie Awad, Chen Shapira, Jake Kuramoto, Matt Topper, Lewis Cunningham, John Scott, Dimitri Gielis...I could go on and on.

I would like to encourage other Oracle people to add these tools to their repertoire and show the real benefits that can be achieved through their use.

Summary
I would like to encourage other Oracle people to add Blogging and Twitter to their repertoire and show the real benefits that can be achieved through their use.

Benefits
Benefits of of using Twitter.
Benefits of Blogging.
Building your social/professional network.

This being my first submission, I have no idea if it is what they want or need. As far as content, I believe Blogging and Twitter in particular, are underutilized. There is a vast community of Oracle experts out there who love to help...why not help others tap into that?

Free Oracle Developer/dba

2009-10-27T12:25:00.006-04:00

There is a serious lack of work in the Tampa market and desperate times call for desperate measures.

Now, I've always wanted to do this, but was never in a position to do so financially...I'm still not, but something is way better than nothing.

I'm going to offer my services for free.

Not forever mind you, somewhere between 2 and 4 weeks. It is negotiable.

If it works out, i.e. you like what I can bring to your organization, I prove that I pick new systems up quickly and I fit in well with your team; and I like working in your organization, then you pay me for that time worked and I sign up full-time either as a permanent employee or some sort of contract.

If it doesn't work out, we part ways and no one is worse for wear. You get free work from me and I get to experience a new environment (i.e. meet new people, expand my network, etc).

You can view my resume here (permanent link up top coming soon).

Some basic highlights:
PL/SQL: Expert (I don't like that term)
DBA: Junior to Mid-level (or DBA in lowercase, "dba")
APEX: Worked with up to version 3.2, admittedly rusty, but passionate about the product.
Design: Love modeling data. Model just about everything in my head (in normal life). Use Visio extensively for visual representations. Experience with SQL Developer Data Modeler, ERwin, etc.
Documentation: Give me a wiki or something similar and I'll document just about everything that I do.

That's it. Contact info is on my resume or up top on the "email" icon.

It's now posted on craigslist as well.

Followup Question for Mr. Ellison

2009-10-26T19:33:00.004-04:00

In my first year in IT, I was fortunate enough to be sponsored by my employer to go to Oracle OpenWorld. This was way back in 2002. Hard to remember that far back isn't it?

Anyway, I attended Larry's keynote, and if I remember correctly, he wasn't there. He was in Australia (or somewhere) in the middle of a some sort of boat race. I do remember being dared, during the question and answer period, to ask him for a job. Amazingly I didn't do it.

One thing that stuck with me though...

He was talking about the internal operations of Oracle. He stated that there were something like 500 databases in use throughout the company. With those 500 databases there was the requisite staff to support those databases. His goal was to get all of Oracle into a single database.

So my question to Larry, or anyone else that might remember this particular speech; Did this ever happen?

I was reminded of this last week at the SOUG meeting. Charlie Garry gave a "where we have been" type presentation. The title of the first slide was Oracle Database: 2000-2009, which I thought was a misprint, until he got started. The gist of the talk was that way back in 1999 (before I was IT born), they set out a plan for the database for the next 10 years. I can't remember specifics because that's the time I started to come down with The Plague. In essence, this phase of Oracle database development has been completed with the release of 11gR2. Pretty interesting presentation (stupid Plague).

* I still have The Plague, so pardon the haphazard ramblings

Specifically what reminded me of Mr. Ellison's statement back in 2002 was Mr. Garry telling us that all of his files were in a database somewhere.

Seven years later, I'm asking the followup, Did Oracle ever get down to a single database?

APEXposed 2009

2009-10-26T01:33:00.003-04:00

and "..you down with OPP(2009)?". Sorry, couldn't resist. Was it 1991 that song came out? Were freshmen in college even born yet? You know you're old when you start saying stuff like that...

The event takes place in Atlanta, GA, November 10-11th.

Join PL/SQL and Application Express experts Steven Feuerstein and Scott Spendolini for two days of Seriously Practical training that can immediately be applied to your daily duties at work.

Are you interested in optimization, PL/SQL tools, or writing maintainable code? OPP 2009 is the place for you.

Are you interested in tuning, debugging, or APEX and the Oracle Database? Sign up now for APEXposed 2009.

Want to learn a little of both? Sign up for one conference and attend sessions at either conference. This provides you with a great opportunity for cross-over training.

Admittedly, I've been out of the Application Express community for a couple of years now, but I still use the tool on occasion for smallish (personal) applications and I still follow blogs of those I do know. I still try to sell the tool at every organization I join (maybe APEX is the reason I keep losing (actually, I haven't lost any of them, I know right where they are) my job?). And yes, that list is long...especially recently.

My point is, I wouldn't have remembered this even if I weren't neighbors (so to speak) with Dan McGhan, the Tampa APEX guru. Am I not plugged in to the right communities? Half of this event is PL/SQL...I should know about events related to that. I think they need more press to get the word out...

Of course I want to go and since I have free time now, all I need is a pass. Now...wait for it.

You knew I was going to ask someone didn't you? I still don't qualify as a new media douchebag though.

It's funny, I always thought that this blogging thing would one day pay off in terms of a job or conference attendance. The latter was realized last May when I attended COLLABORATE 09 and almost realized for OOW earlier this month. No job yet though. I've asked John and Dimitri. I've asked Scott too. No takers yet. They've probably read my history. :)

Random Things: Volume #10

2009-10-26T00:52:00.004-04:00

First up, the plague has visited our household. All 4 of us have it to some degree or another. The funny/cool part though, Kate seems the least affected. With her breathing issues in the past, we've either shipped her off to the grandparents or shipped ourselves off to the grandparents...if it's me, I'm usually just shipped downstairs. She's a tough little one and likes to kick hardship/illness/death in the balls whenever she can.

On the job front, nothing remarkable to speak of. Mr. Cunningham...while not getting/giving me a job, at least posted some helpful resources. Rumor also has it that he's weighing in at a svelte 219. I tried to compete with him for awhile, but as is my habit, went the other way again.

I currently have feeds from Indeed, Twitter, and Dice in Google Reader. I love it when the job search companies provide RSS capabilities.

I definitely like being at home. I like being around my family more. I know I have to pay the bills, but if I can swing it, I'm shooting for something closer. Forty minutes each way isn't terribly bad, but it's an hour and a half I could be doing something with my family.

I have revived a couple of personal projects though, 1 is the basic testing tool that will generate PL/SQL stubs. I'm not completely convinced of it, but it's a fun exercise. 2, fine-grained dependencies. OK, I can look in %_DEPENDENCIES and see that there is a dependency on TABLE_A, but what kind? Is it read-only (SELECT) or is it doing something (UPDATE/INSERT/DELETE). 3, I just came up with this the other day for some reason. I was told that a certain website had 10,000 pages. WTF? I'd like to build a little app that will find all the links within that website...if only to confirm that ridiculously high number.

Father, Husband, Employee, Coach, Tutor

2009-10-20T23:12:00.001-04:00

I had been pondering a post on how impossibly busy I have been lately. You know, the 45-60 hours in the office, the 2 hours on the road back and forth, coaching a bunch of 6-7-8 year olds and tutoring someone in database concepts. And blogging of course.

It doesn't seem to have quite the punch now.

Here's what it would have looked like anyway...

Father
With all that has happened in the last couple of years, I still get to come home to people that like me no matter what. LC and his battle stories with the girls at school and Kate...well, she just is. Her smile lights up the room. The infectious laugh...the hugging (finally!)...she just makes my day.

Husband
Intentionally left blank.

~~Employee~~
Move along...nothing to see here.

Tutor
It's been about 4 weeks since I began tutoring. I thought I would post more on it, but I've been so busy with everything else that I just never go to it. That should change now though, at least for awhile.

There is nothing like having to communicate complex systems to those who don't know the first thing about databases. Where do you start?

Last week was especially difficult. We had to diagram some tables based on one paragraph of requirements. This was more inline with logical modeling as well, which I don't have a lot of experience with. Which means, you have to represent (as I understood it anyway) your relationships without use of an intersection table. WTF?

Coach
One of the best things in the world. If you ever have the opportunity to coach young children, take it! Yes, it's painful at times. Yes, it is like herding cats. Yes, they do not listen. <-- does that even make sense?

But...you can yell at them for an hour straight. I don't mean the jerk kind of yelling, I mean the fun, obnoxious kind of yelling. Whatever that is.

For whatever reason, I'm naturally loud. Amazingly, I get louder on the baseball field.

There is no better way to turn your day around than by yelling at a bunch of kids. The best stress-reliever of all time possibly.

Wu Wei

2009-10-20T00:25:00.003-04:00

...is an important concept of Taoism (Daoism), that involves knowing when to act and when not to act. Another perspective to this is that "Wu Wei" means natural action - as planets revolve around the sun, they "do" this revolving, but without "doing" it; or as trees grow, they "do", but without "doing". Thus knowing when (and how) to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think "now" is the right time to do "this", but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing.

From Wikipedia.

Starting Over...Again.

2009-10-19T01:00:00.003-04:00

On Friday I was told, "They're [things] just not working out..." and let go from my job. The job counter was up to a whopping 189 days though...which is encouraging. That was my longest un-interrupted stint of employment in 17 months.

On the surface, it looks terrible; there's no doubt about that. I cringe at my record over that time. Two firings, one layoff and one furlough. Ouch.

The first firing was self-inflicted. Not something I am proud of...I had interviewed, was offered and accepted a position with RevolutionMoney prior to that though, so you could say I was checked out or just looking for an easy escape. I still wish it had gone down differently but I can't change the past.

That self-inflicted would, combined with the most recent news, looks pretty bad for me as an employee.

Employee Oriented

Am I a team player?

Do I work well with others?

Am I a good employee?

Do I lie, cheat or steal?

Technical

Do I have technical skills?

How do I compare to my peers?

What is my skill level?

All perfectly valid questions for a potential future employer.

I should defend myself right?

I have no idea right now.

I think the best thing I can do right now is engage potential employers, answer any and all questions, as openly and honestly as possible, and hope for the best. I know the market isn't great right now...but I'll do what I need to do find a job.

I find myself envious of those who have been with companys for a long period of time. Amusingly, had I been a bit more patient, I would have probably found WellCare to be a nice home for awhile. I still have a lot of great friends from there I think mostly because they were my support system when Kate got sick.

I took the job at RevolutionMoney because it was a startup and offered an opportunity to do all kinds of really cool stuff. None of the "really cool stuff" came to fruition though and all of the people behind that push either left or were let go.

I had just gotten comfortable in my recent job, was in a bit of groove...but "things just weren't working out."

So I'm looking.

If you know anyone out there looking for a lazy Oracle developer/modeler/little dba, send them my way.

Calculating on the Fly

2009-10-19T00:27:00.002-04:00

From the mind of John Parades, author of The Multidimensional Data Modeling Toolkit.

"They're just not working out..."

2009-10-16T16:31:00.002-04:00

Yup, let's stop the clock.

189 days isn't so bad is it?

Read the timeline for more info on my brief stint in Tampa.

My Love Waits There in San Francisco...

2009-10-15T22:35:00.003-04:00

A tad dramatic? Yes.

Rough week "watching" everyone at OpenWorld. I gave it the old college try, but I didn't have the heart for it, it and it.

June
I submitted my registration to attend as a blogger.

July 27th
I received notification that I had landed one of those coveted prizes.

August 1st
I published How To: Oracle OpenWorld Free Passes which has become the 3rd most viewed article on my site.

While wrestling over silly things like:

Travel
Hotel
Expenses (no vacation time in the bank)
Mild fear of flying

I was still expecting to go.

August 24th
I came to terms with the fact that I wasn't going to be able to make it. This was spurred on by a visit to my parents to beg for money to pay our mortgage.

August 25th
I found this tweet from Justin Kestelyn, aka Mr. OTN:

That linked to his post here, Jake followed suit a short time later here.

I decided, again, to give it the old college try.

August 27th
I thanked everyone for their support.

September 1st
And 4 days later, I bowed out again.

September 28th
Someone bought 100 oraclenerd T-Shirts!

September 30th
Posted a blurb with links and everything to all that I could find concerning OpenWorld.

October 9th
Word starts to trickle out of the Oracle ACE Directors meeting...in their schwag bag is the official oraclenerd T-Shirt!

October 11th
OpenWorld officially begins.

October 14th
The Blogger meet-up.

Looks to me that it was a complete success. Alex Gorbachev organized the event. Doug Burns has a nice wrap-up here.

I kept trying to get people to send me pictures of them wearing their super cool oraclenerdT-Shirt, but I only got 3 action shots. I'd say Alex won that battle as well. ;)

Backtrack: October 9th 12:16 A.M. EST
I received this email:

Anyway, I also asked ~~redacted~~ if he knew of any bloggers who were interested being sponsored to go to OOW. My client is ~~redacted~~ and they asked us to reach out to some bloggers to sponsor in order to attend the show. At present we have two bloggers who have agreed to be sponsored. One is primarily shooting video and the other guy is a general tech/business blogger. ~~redacted~~ mentioned that you might be interested in a sponsorship? You are certainly well versed with Oracle and ERP, so your participation would be a nice addition. In return we would hope you would spend a little time getting to know ~~redacted~~ and perhaps covering some of the activities the company is doing during the show.

Please let me know ASAP if you are interested and if there is any more information you would like from me. We would make your travel arrangements. (emphasis mine)

Obviously I turned it down...just not enough time for me to make the appropriate arrangements (work/family). Oh well.

But...I am starting to save up now for OOW10! Spreadshirt is offering free shipping if you buy 2 or more oraclenerd T-Shirts. The deal is good until October 26th so hurry up if you want to take advantage. For US buyers, use the code TREAT9, for Canadians, use CADTREAT9.

OOW 09: Day 3 Wrap Up

2009-10-14T21:19:00.003-04:00

Today was the big keynote from Mr. Larry Ellison himself.

Ian Abramson, President of the IOUG, calls it LarryDay.

Larry was joined by the governor of California, also known as the Terminator, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Blogger meet-up seemed to be a resounding success, Doug Burns does a brief wrap-up here. I'm going out on a limb here, but Doug might have a few...problems.

Alex Gorbachev organized this years meet-up, but he doesn't have a post up about it yet. However, he does have some interesting pictures here. He's got a few Pythian OOW Diary videos on YouTube as well.

Wednesday
Steward Bryson from Rittman Mead starts off the day with this post. As does George Trujillo.

Debra Lilley, released some screenshots of some Fusion apps here (I still have no idea what Fusion is, do you?). You may know Debra from her travels with Stanley.

Todd Sheetz (one of the best last names ever), aka the Cheesehead DBA, talks about his Wednesday here.

Richard Foote wraps up Day 3 here (I think I'm a day behind...or ahead...whatever).

Oracle Closed World
Moans Nogood seems to have started the Unconference's unconference, aka, Oracle Closed World. Read about it here and here. Something else I'll have to keep in mind for next year...how to gain entry into this exclusive club.

That's pretty much all I've got. Fusion seemed to be the big announcement today, but like I said, I don't really know WTF it is yet...other than some vague notion of middle-ware. Not much this year on database related announcements, all those came prior to OOW.

Tonight is the big party at Treasure Island with Aerosmith, Roger Daltry, The Wailers and some others. I'm sure it will be a fun time.

OOW 09: Day 2 Wrap Up

2009-10-13T20:50:00.008-04:00

The sheer volume of information coming out of OpenWorld is astounding. There are thousands of tweets and maybe close to 100 blogs per day. For those of us not there, it's pretty easy to stay informed. So here's today's roundup:

Two from Rittman Mead:
Beginning Day 2 at OpenWorld by Stewart Bryson
Open World 2009 – Monday & Tuesday – BI Applications 7.9.6.1 Released by Venkatakrishnan J

Jonathan Lewis on Richard Foote's Unconference session (very few questions about David Bowie apparently).

To complete self-referential integrity, I give you Richard Foote's Oracle OpenWorld 2009 - Day 2 Highlights.

Chen (or is it Gwen?) Shapira, aka prodlife, tells us the Most Important Thing I've Learned at OOW09, which includes a reference to Jonathan Lewis. BTW, she asked me to create a shirt for her...and I still haven't heard back from her yet. If you see her, tell her it's here:

Arup Nanda, who doesn't blog nearly enough for my tastes (yes, I know he writes elsewhere), has OOW Day 2.

Here's another wrap-up from Monday by Dave at Experiences as a new Oracle Apps 'DBA'.

Dain Hansen talks about 1. Umbrella. 2. Espressos and the Innovation Across the Stack at the Data Integration and Management blog.

Alexander Kornbrust shares his thoughts on his SQL Injection Presentation.

Tim Hall talks about...Today's Oracle WaterWorld Sessions...

As far as Twitter goes, it was raining. Dan Norris was talking about Exadata. More rain. Michael Dell spoke today. Something about virtualization. The Blogger meet-up was relocated...due to rain.

Found this video via Mr. OTN, Ted Farrell the Chief Fusion Architect at Oracle

If you want to see the list of Oracle press releases during the event so far, check them out here.

And the (late) wrap up from Jake which is quite amusing. I think his style should catch on more...

One from Jared Still, a "Certifiable Perl Evangelist" or is it just certifiable?

Courtesy of fourquare, I was able to find some people I know as well:

OOW 09: Day 1 Wrap Up

2009-10-13T00:44:00.007-04:00

I'm just going to list all of the "Day 1" articles I have found so far...there seem to be quite a few, more than I remember last year, but then again, I don't think I was as personally invested in it. I did geek out and watch Larry's live introduction of Exadata. I have been way too busy at work so I didn't have the opportunity to watch or listen to anything today. I guess I'll be slowly catching up over the next few days. So here's "my" Day 1 wrap up:

Fusion Technology Explorations by Espen Barroso-Gomez

Fuad Arshad's Blog by none other than Fuad Arshad

blogging about oracle applications by Peter Slager

Amis by Peter Ebell

jarneil by Jason Arneil (who must be a programmer because he calls it Day Zero

Cheesehead DBA by Todd Sheetz

...technology, lifehacks, and all that good stuff by Bex Huff

Doug's Oracle Blog by Doug Burns

Avrom's Java EE and Oracle ADF Blog by Avrom Roy-Faderman

The ORACLE-BASE Blog by Tim Hall

Day 1 at Open World by Mark Rittman (with some cool videos ).

Update: A couple added in comments by Bradd Piontek

It's wonderful, but will I survive? by Claudia Zeiler (Girlgeek's Oracle Blog)

Philosophy – 7 by Jonathan Lewis over at Oracle Scratchpad

Duke at Oracle Open World by George Trujillo (also mentioned in the ACE section below.

OpenWorld Manifest: Days 0 and 1 by Jake at the AppsLab.

Oracle ACE Directors Meeting
Tim Tow's Hyperion Blog, OOW 2009 Ace Directors Briefing by Tim Tow

The Arup Nanda Blog, ACE Directors Product Briefing '09 by Arup Nanda

The ORACLE-BASE Blog, Oracle ACE Director meeting and stuff... by Tim Hall

Dimitri Gielis Blog, Oracle HQ by Dimitri Gielis

ORCLVILLE, Pre-OOW - Drinking From a Firehose by Floyd Teter

An Oracle Blog facilitated by Trubix, Oracle Open World 2009 - Oracle ACEs dinner by George Trujillo (which even has a picture of the oraclenerd T-Shirt.

OOW09: Cool Tricks

2009-10-11T23:42:00.005-04:00

Alex Gorbachev of Pythian fame has posted a couple of videos already; one with Justin Kestelyn of Oracle Technology Network (check out the shirt he's wearing underneath) and Richard Foote. You can follow his YouTube channel here.

I also found a video with Tom Kyte from OracleJAPAC (Oracle Asia Pacific and Japan).

You can watch all the keynotes live at LiveStream.

For the old-fashioned, you can follow the #oow and #oow09 hash tags on twitter here. I've already set one up here where I also include any blog or news article related to Oracle OpenWorld.