Tag: Spring 2013

BGOUG Spring 2013 : Photos

I was a little bit rubbish and forgot to get photos of the recent BGOUG event. Fortunately, the conference photos have arrived. You can check them out here.

There are a number of photos of an old fat guy that looks a little like me. I don’t remember meeting him though. Weird… I think he needs the toilet in this shot.

By the way, don’t say stuff like, “Bind variables are a waste of time!”, when you are near to Tom Kyte. He will slap you quicker than Debra Lilley after a negative comment about Fusion Apps. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

BGOUG Spring 2013 : Day 2…

How do you want to start the day? I’m guessing it’s not to be called out to the front of the room by a speaker and used as a guinea pig, while they ask you trick questions to make you look stupid. Tom Kyte, you will pay. Oh yes! You will pay!!!

The sessions I attended on day 2 were:

  • Tom Kyte : What’s new in Oracle database application development
  • Tim Hall (me) : A cure for Virtual Insanity : A vendor-neutral introduction to virtualization without the hype
  • Georgi Kodinov : Quick Dive into MySQL
  • Tim Hall (me) : From Zero to Hero : Using an assortment of caching techniques to improve performance of SQL containing PL/SQL calls
  • Husnu Sensoy : ZFS Storage can backup your Exadata
  • Tom Kyte : 5 SQL and PL/SQL things in the Latest Generation of Database Technology

Another very useful day indeed. I had some good feedback and interesting questions about my talks. This sort of feedback is really important when you are presenting regularly as it allows you to continuously refine your material and presenting skills. It can sometimes give you a fresh perspective on a subject, that inspires you to alter the focus of your presentations entirely. I’m very grateful to anyone who takes the time to provide this sort of feedback. Big thanks to Tom Kyte, who has given me some very useful advice over the last couple of days, but then he owes me for making me look stupid in his first session of the day! 🙂

In the evening we went out for dinner at a restaurant just down the road from the hotel. I ate plenty of cheese, so I was in heaven. Not surprisingly, much of the talk ended up being about Oracle. It may seem a little sad to some people, but when I’m surrounded by people with brains the size of a planet, I can’t help myself quizzing them about this stuff. I love it! 🙂

Great big thanks go out to Milena and her gang for organizing this event and inviting me. Thanks also to Stoyan for being my driver again. No offence to other user groups, but BGOUG conferences are my favorite events of the year. I will keep coming back as long as you will have me! Also, a big thank you to the Oracle ACE program for making this possible.

Cheers

Tim…

BGOUG Spring 2013 : Day 1 (part 2)…

So Day 1 (part 2) didn’t go to plan because I forgot to take my camera or my phone to the party. 🙂

Suffice to say, lots of food, lots of drink (for those that do) and most importantly lots of dancing. Yes, I once again murdered the traditional dances of Bulgaria, but it’s the takling part that counts right? 🙂

I had good intentions of leaving early, but I ended up chatting about Oracle until about 02:00. Day 2 is going to be tough… 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

BGOUG Spring 2013 : Day 1 (part 1)…

Last night we all got together to eat some food and chat. Julian Dontcheff is practically a savant where Bulgarian Poetry, World Cup match results and random Oracle facts are concerned. Although Christian Antognini was pretty impressive on the random Oracle facts too. 🙂

I didn’t have any presentations today, so I got to sit and watch. 🙂 I’ve done loads of typing, mostly of syntax for 12c features, but it’s not really stuff that is worth posting, because I have no way to validate it out, so I’m just going to keep it as a reminder for when I get hold of 12c and can try it out.

The sessions I went to included:

  • Joze Senegacnik : Is my SQL Statement Using Exadata Features
  • Christian Antognini : SQL New Features in the latest generation of Oracle Database
  • Julian Dontcheff : Upgrading to the latest generation of database technology
  • Christian Antognini : How the Query Optimizer Learns from its Mistakes
  • Clive King : Solaris 11u1 performance and stability : features and frameworks
  • Tom Kyte : Tom’s Top 12 Things about the Latest Generation of Database Technology

There was a lot of material I had seen at OOW2012 and UKOUG2012, but also a lot I had not, so I’m glad I went to them. The smaller setting also made it easier to ask questions, which can be quite daunting at the big events. 🙂

Tom gave me a couple of tips that have gone straight into one of my talks for tomorrow. I’m gonna have to name check him for it, or I’ll feel like I’m passing it off as my own. 🙂

I said this after OOW2013 and I’m sure I will say it again, but the number of changes in 12c is pretty daunting. I guess the fact it’s been about a 3 year wait, rather than the normal 18 months adds to that. In many cases (but not all) it’s not the scope of the individual changes that are the issue, but the sheer volume of them. I think people are going to be blogging for a long time before they’ve got through them. It will be interesting to see what gets selected for inclusion in the OCP DBA upgrade exam. 🙂

I’m off to dinner now. I will try to get some photos and post them in “Day 1 (part 2)@ tomorrow. 🙂

Cheers

Tim…

BGOUG Spring 2013 : Day -1

It’s stupid o’clock in the morning and I’m waiting for my taxi to arrive. Considering how close Bulgaria is, it takes me a very long time to get there.

I am a mix of excited and nervous. This is my first conference this year, so all the usual insecurities are in full effect, from fear of flying to the constant nagging thoughts that perhaps I don’t know anything about Oracle and maybe I shouldn’t be on stage acting like I do. 🙂

I’m sure it will go OK and it will be nice to meet up with the gang again.

Cheers

Tim…