Skip to content

NZOUG 2010 Day 2…

Day 2 started with an ACE panel session. There were more ACEs than attendees, but we all had fun chatting to each other. I guess one of the difficulties with this was it ran along side regular presentations, but such is life.

Straight after that it was the second part of my PL/SQL Presentation Layers session. Familiar faces from the day before and a couple of new people, although I think I did lose a few to Robert Freeman as I expected. I thought this session would finish early, but true to form I over ran and had to bolt through the last few slides. The blind panic at the end meant it didn’t feel as slick as I would have liked it to be, but that’s the price for trying to squeeze 120 minutes of content into 100 minutes.

I spent the rest of the day talking to people. I am blessed, or cursed depending on how you look at it, with the ability to talk to anyone and I just kept finding myself on conversations with various attendees and exhibitors about a whole variety of subjects. This is my favorite bit of going to conferences if I’m honest.

The day was wrapped up by an assortment of prizes from the sponsors, including a couple of people who got prizes for injuries sustained during the luge ride the night before. There was blood. :)

In the evening I went out for food with a few of the guys and we had a walk around the park, looking at all the thermal vents that spontaneous appear there. Lots of bubbling mud and water, along with a little cat sitting slap bang next to one. Cats are crazy.

So that’s the NZOUG conference over for another year. It was good fun and I hope I get to come back again, but with it being such a long way from home you never really know if it’s going to happen. Fingers crossed though.

Thanks to all the people on the NZOUG committee for making it happen and to all the attendees for coming. I hope to see you all again next time. Also, a big thank you to the Oracle ACE program for getting me down here. Without them this just wouldn’t happen.

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 16 March 2010 † Tim... § Oracle ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , ,

Storm Front (The Dresden Files)…

One of the few advantages of such long flights as UK to New Zealand is you get plenty of time to read.

I’ve mentioned several times that I’ve struggled to find something to follow the Discworld series. Several people recommended The Dresden Files series so I went out and bought the first few books. I tried a couple of times to read the first book (Storm Front) and really couldn’t get into it. I brought the first 3 books with me, just in case I got bored, and fortunately for me it was a case of third time lucky.

I really enjoyed Storm Front and can’t believe it was the same book I gave up on two times before. Just goes to show how mood and circumstance has a big impact on your taste. I’m on to the second book (Fool Moon) now and so far so good.

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 15 March 2010 † Tim... § Books ‡ Comments (1) ° Tagged: , ,

NZOUG 2010 Day 1…

The day started in the normal way. First, an introduction by Francisco, the new president of NZOUG, then some keynotes, then on to the presentations…

One of the difficult things about being a speaker at so many conferences is you often struggle to see something on the agenda you have not already seen several times around the world (nice problem to have). As a result I side-stepped Dan Morgan’s first presentation because I had already seen it (or most of it) at OpenWorld. I’m sure it went down well because Dan is a natural speaker.

My first session of the day was Robert Freeman’s. A quick romp through the Oracle features that have been around for ages, but you probably don’t know exist. You will struggle to find a nicer guy than Robert, so it’s always good to see him present. I kinda like this sort of presentation because because Oracle has such a lot of functionality, it’s easy to miss things. Robert has turned “to the dark side” and is now an Oracle employee. Come on Oracle. Stop poaching our ACEs. :)

I spent a lot of time during the day chatting to people (there’s a surprise). Plenty of familiar faces along with some new ones.

My session was the last time slot for the day. I’m doing a two-part session on PL/SQL presentation layers. I had a good turnout. It felt like it went well. I guess the real test will be how many people turn up for the second part, although I’ve just noticed I clash with Robert Freeman on my second slot, so when nobody turns up I can massage my ego by telling myself I was amazing, but Robert is famous. :)

In the evening we went over for the social event at the Skyline Skyrides. It was great fun going on the luge again. I learnt two lessons last year.

  1. You have to brake on the corners, or you die.
  2. You don’t enter the “carry a cup of water to the bottom” game unless you want to be ridiculed the whole evening for having a wet ass.

I remained alive and dry, so all was good.

After the luge rides came the dinner. Lots of food, lots of drinking (for those that do), comedian, party games and very little in the way of speeches. I think the NZ sponsors have got it right. Essentially it was, “Thanks for coming. Have a good night. Cheers”. Perfect. :)

This morning I’ve got a “Learn about the Oracle ACE Programme” session, followed by the second part of my PL/SQL presentation layers session. Then later in the afternoon I’ve got a “Meet the Experts” session. I’m interested to see what experts they’ve got for me to meet. :)

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 15 March 2010 † Tim... § Oracle ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , , , ,

Arriving at NZOUG…

I walked off the 7 hour flight to Dubai, straight on to the 13+ hour flight to Melbourne. I got a 1 hour rest at Melbourne while they cleaned the plane, before I started the 3+ hour flight to Auckland. I got to Auckland at about 14:00 where I was met by one of my friends. I was whisked straight back to his house and spent the rest of the day catching up on everything that happened since my last skype call ( 4 days before :) ) and playing with their kid.

The following day was mostly spent with a trip to some of my friends relatives and general idle conversation. Very low pressure. Very cool. The funny thing is, it’s about 18 months since I was last here and I feel like I never left. :)

This morning I got up early to pick Chris Muir up from the airport, where I bumped into Dan Morgan, not literally. Chris was delayed, so after a bit of messing about we got on our way to Rotorua. The roads were quiet so we made good time and I’m now in the hotel ready to go. We have a little get together tonight, then the conference starts tomorrow.

I guess I’ll do a run through of my presentations now, and maybe sleep a little later.

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 14 March 2010 † Tim... § Oracle ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

On my way to NZOUG…

Today is the day I fly to New Zealand to present at the NZOUG conference.

I got to the airport 2 hours before the flight as usual, but I’ve been here 3 hours already and I’ve still not boarded the plane. I have a long wait at Dubai, so this delay shouldn’t affect my connection. It’s 7 hours from Birmingham to Dubai, then 18 hours (including a fuel stop in Melbourne) to Auckland. I have a feeling I’ll look like “Dawn of the Dead” when my friend picks me up from Auckland Airport. I’ve not even started yet and I’m already kinda nervous. The thought of 18 hours on a plane is really getting to me. I only hope I can get some sleep on this trip.

It’s about 5 minutes to boarding now so I need to go through my last minute panic session before getting on the plane. :)

If there is ever another blog entry it means I made it. If not, it was nice knowing you all…

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 10 March 2010 † Tim... § Oracle ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: ,

phpBB 3.0.7-PL1 Released…

Hot on the heels of version 3.0.7 comes an additional security fix (3.0.7-PL1).

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 06 March 2010 † Tim... § Random ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: , ,

Thank heavens for backups… (phpBB 3.0.7)

This evening I noticed (a few days late) that phpBB 3.0.7 has been released.

I did my normal thing of upgrading, only to find my forum was trashed. Luckily for me I had a backup (file system and database) of the forum and with a little tweaking it was all restored, then upgraded again.

Bye the way, there was nothing wrong with the upgrade process itself. I just made a mistake during it.

Another reminder that one of the most important things you have is your backups! :)

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 03 March 2010 † Tim... § Random ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , , ,

Computers are still complicated…

A couple of days ago I was sorting a printer out for my mom. It was a 5 minute job, but it was preceded by over 2 hours of getting the laptop up to date…

She only turns it on to do a specific task, like send an email, then it is switched straight off, so it is never on for very long. As a result it had not done a Windows Update or AVG update or a Virus scan for ages. I dread to think of the state of the PCs out there where the owners don’t have a friend or member of the family providing PC support.

This sort of experience makes me think that maybe something like the iPad is a good idea for most regular folk. Keep everything on the net and use the simplest client possible, so you can’t screw yourself up.

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 26 February 2010 † Tim... § Random ‡ Comments (4) °

WordPress 2.9.2…

Not sure how this one sneaked past me, but WordPress 2.9.2 has been out for a few days… :)

Cheers

Tim…

Posted 18 February 2010 † Tim... § Random ‡ Comments (2) ° Tagged: , ,

Visiting the Doctor…

Warning: If you are offended by bad language, please don’t read this post. You’ve been warned!

I’ve had a problem with my heel for a few weeks and what I suspected was an ear infection for a couple of weeks, but I’ve avoided going to the doctors because I hate it. I never used to be doctor-phobic, but the last 3 years have really put me off. Every time I put my head round the door I get stabbed with multiple needles, which have also become a new found phobia.

I explained the problem with my heel and the positions that were painful and the response was, “But why would you want to do that?”. I explained that it was quite a normal thing to want to do in both Karate and Yoga, but this didn’t seem to register. So the rough translation of her solution was, stop doing silly things for a few months and it will be OK. I have very little faith in GPs where mechanical issues are concerned, so I guess I will have to pay to see someone to have it looked at properly.

As far as the ear goes, it turns out I have an infection in both ears, not just the one. I think I got this from the swimming pool as it ties in nicely with me trying to resurrect my daily swimming routine.

At this point things took a turn for the worst. First she decided to take my blood pressure. As soon as she did this I knew what was coming next, so of course my heart rate and blood pressure spiked. Next I got a polite “telling off”, which is more embarrassing than getting shouted at, for not having any recent blood tests. My new found fear of needles is rather unfortunate since as soon as someone approaches me with one I get a massive adrenaline rush, resulting in mild shakes, severe sweating and a minor case of Tourette Syndrome. Even worse than looking like an idiot and swearing a lot, this causes my veins to collapse as soon as a needle hits them.

First attempt in the left arm was a complete failure. Big vein disappears as the needle goes in. Even a bit of wiggling and in-out movement of the needle, accompanied by me saying, “For f*cks sake!”, didn’t help. Second attempt was the back of the left hand. Can’t remember what swearing accompanied this attempt, but it was another complete failure. To diffuse the situation we had a little break, which involved me getting weighed to confirm that I truly am as fat as I look. Then it was on to attempt 3. Right arm this time. Big vein disappears completely as soon as the needle hits it. I now decided that enough was enough and was just about to say, “You put another f*ckin’ needle in me and I will kill you, your family and any f*cker that has ever met you!”, when some blood started to come out. I figure the decision to start a killing spree calmed me down enough to let the blood flow. :)

The doctor then started to fill in her notes and in passing said, “Have you been depressed at all recently?” You know how some questions provoke a little monologue in your head? In my head I said,

“You’ve told me I’m fat, but of the three forms of exercise I do, two have knackered by heel and one has given me an ear infection. Then you turn me into a human pin-cushion and suggest I come more often for blood tests. Depressed? I’ll give you f*ckin’ depressed!”

Of course my actual answer was,

“No”

I really, really, really don’t want to go back to the doctor again…. Ever…

Cheers

Tim…

PS. I made sure the doctor was fully aware the I was not verbally abusing her, but having a little freak out about the repeated stabbing. She’s actually really nice.

Posted 04 February 2010 † Tim... § Random ‡ Comments (7) °