![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/18.133.199.212\/wp-content\/uploads\/recovered\/oow11_01.jpg?resize=640%2C478\")
<\/p>\nAfter a happy and uneventful direct flight (what a joy it is to use those
\nwords!) to SFO, I emerged into sunshine and arrived at the Sofitel near Oracle
\nHQ around about tea-time to rest before today’s ACE Director Briefing. Once the
\nCuddly Toys had settled on their settee …<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
(… and checked the luggage allowance for
\nthe return trip. They think they’re taking it home!), I caught up with mail then
\npopped down to the bar, just on the off-chance I *might* find some Oak Table
\ntypes there 😉<\/p>\n
As the others had abandoned me to go for food, I settled
\non a quick drink before adjourning to my room for some nice room service and
\nsome more slide-polishing 😉<\/p>\n
Well, that was the plan but then James Morle
\nturned up and then Cary Millsap and then Alex Gorbachev and then …. Well, the
\nconversation and drinks flowed and, before I knew it, it was 1am and I’d had
\nnothing to eat! Sigh<\/p>\n
Fortunately, the food at the ACE D Briefing is
\npretty good and to my taste. Hooray!<\/p>\n
I was surprised at the high turn-out of people at the Oracle Conference Centre – there must be 100+ ACE D’s in attendance. I must confess I wasn’t sure how I’d already arranged to meet some friends from Oracle later in the afternoon so skipped out after the Exadata Q & A for coffee, chat and a bit of a sneak preview of the ASH Analytics part of OEM 12 courtesy of JB in the company of a couple of other Oak Table types. But pretty soon it was time to walk back to the hotel for a couple of quick beers with Marco before going to bed early to wake up early to keep polishing slides!<\/p>\n All in all, I really enjoyed my first day much It’s a shame the part about going to bed early didn’t work quite as well as planned, but the chat and company here are too good. Fortunately the getting up early part did<\/em> work so now I suppose it’s back to those damn slides again 🙁<\/p>\n Disclosure – I’m attending the briefing and Openworld 2011 courtesy of
\nmuch I’d enjoy the briefing – too many buzz-words and chat about technology
\nareas I don’t give a monkey’s about! I’ve been very pleasantly surprised so far.
\nEven areas that I had less interest in such as the Dev Tools stuff were
\nlistenable because the OTN people managed to line up decent speakers. There are
\nalso more upcoming announcements or additions to existing announcements in the
\ndatabase domain and not just Fusion Apps or middleware. I’d rather not go into
\nthe detail because even the subjects we can blog about at this stage probably
\nneed more thought so it might be after I’ve attended more presentations next
\nweek. (Added later – I’m glad I decided not to blog about the announcements or might have had to edit this post down a little 😉)<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/18.133.199.212\/wp-content\/uploads\/recovered\/oow11_02.jpg?resize=640%2C857\")
<\/p>\n
\nmore than I expected and I’m able to look forward to tomorrow (erm, today …)<\/p>\n
\nthe Oracle ACE Director program, which is covering my expenses. The time off
\nwork, Cuddly Toy incidentals and sizeable bar bills are on me.<\/em>
<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"