COLLABORATE 09: Day 2 (Wrap-up)

Another long day at COLLABORATE. I'm not complaining, I'm just out-of-shape. I've walked about a million miles with a 40 lb backpack. Good news, I've lost 3 lbs. :)

After a long night, I got in kind of late today. Add to that the fact that I got lost on the way...with GPS. Sad really.

I attended a short presentation on SwingBench, grabbed a quick lunch and then headed on down to the Press Room with David Peake (ran into him in the exhibit hall). He's a funny (and fun) guy. Well traveled to say the least.

After fighting with my computer for 30 minutes I went old school and used a pen and paper to prep for my interview with Jan Wagner. While waiting, I read every single OAUG packet I could find.

I spent a little more than 30 minutes with Mr. Wagner and headed back downstairs to get online. I may or may not have stopped in the exhibit hall for snacks.

I (finally) heard from Billy Cripe [ blog | twitter ] and decided to attend his session on ECM. What is that? I have no idea. ECM stands for Enterprise Content Management. Not only did I want to meet Billy (at Jake's suggestion) but I wanted to see what else was out there. I thought Oracle only had a database?!

Which reminds me, I need to write up his session. Let's just say he's an infectious speaker. Well worth the trip to the edge of the OCCC (again, no internet connection).

Billy then invited me to the ECM party and I gladly accepted.

In between Billy's session and Billy's party, I got a demo from Sue Harper [ blog ], the Product Manager for SQL Developer. She showed me some tips and tricks with both SQL Developer and the SQL Developer Data Modeler. I even submitted an enhancement request, though she already had that one queued up.

Ran into Dan Norris talking to Sue Harper. He introduced me to Ian Abramson, the President of IOUG and I tried to convince him he should let me come to all of his events...for free. Dan and I presented the case for allowing bloggers (not that they weren't allowed, there's just no policy yet) to attend. Especially super cool ORACLENERDs.

Off to the ECM party which had a Cinco de Mayo theme. Margaritas, Mojitos and beer. I think there was food...and some guy in the corner hand-rolling cigars. Fun was had by all. I had to retire early so I could come home and write. Tomorrow night I'll be getting a ride home so I won't have to worry about drinking or getting lost...