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heart and soul

Originally, I was going to post about my visit last week to the Microsoft campus in Redmond on a training course. The technical workshop was excellent: there were some great presentations and interesting speakers; we covered a lot of material in 3 days; there was a refreshing lack of marketing fluff; there was a lot of hands-on practical exercises; I learned a lot; I met some interesting people and our hosts at Microsoft were very friendly and hospitable.

in flight statistics

510 - duration in minutes of the (direct) flight from LHR to SEA

0 (zero) - number of times my immediate neighbour left his seat to stretch his legs, visit the lavatory or chat with his friend in 37B. Truly impressive.

6 - number of times my neighbour politely declined offers of drinks or sustenance from the cabin crew

1029 - number of times the person behind found it necessary to delve into the back seat pocket for his copy of ‘High Life’, the sick bag or the In Flight Shopping magazine

bits and large pieces

Oracle have an interesting collaborative project (MegaGrid) to develop a very large grid database designed to stretch technical and infrastructure resources to the absolute limit.

I also gathered from the informative US news media that a cat had been trapped up a tree in a Seattle suburb and that (shock, horror, gasp) the US Government has secretly been tracking all phone calls since 9/11.

This appeared to be a big, breaking news story but seeing as US immigration took the trouble to take my fingerprints and photograph on entry to (and departure from) the US, I honestly didn’t think that the Homeland Security department would simply discard this data.

standing at the urinals

Maybe it’s just me but I have a slight unease about sitting next to a stranger who is reading email. Obviously, I try to avert my gaze but sometimes you can’t help but read the words on the screen, no matter how banal.

Mind you, some people might consider it slightly rude to be even scanning email on a training course where the instructor is spending time and energy trying to teach you.

dead pop stars

Kurt Cobain. Seattle. 8 April 1994. Cremated and ashes scattered into the Wishkah river.

I vividly remember hearing the news of Kurt Cobain’s death. I was listening to the radio sitting in a hospital car park about to see my son who was born on the same day.

One door closes. Another one opens.

LWTUA

I happened to be in Macclesfield at the weekend and went over to the Crematorium to see Ian Curtis’ plaque.

I was never fortunate enough to ever see Joy Division live but I vividly remember returning from a United game and watching them perform ‘Transmission’ and ‘She’s Lost Control’ on a local TV program ‘Something Else’.

Ian Curtis was a very ill man and hanged himself on the eve of a US tour.

World Cup prediction time

Rooney will (and should not) play no part whatsoever. He should not even travel.

Eriksson should play 4-5-1 with Owen upfront if fit. Otherwise Defoe.

Midfield of Gerrard, Lampard, Cole and Beckham with Carrick in the holding role.

Eriksson has absolutely nothing to lose. He is leaving so why should he give a hoot what the public/media think.

However, he will care and will play Crouch/Owen upfront with a lop-sided midfield and England will be lucky to get out of the group stages.

further afield

I am going on a training course about Oracle RAC at Microsoft’s offices in Redmond (near America) so I get to wear chinos and a polo shirt and play with an Xbox in reception.

In fact, it’s even better than that. This course is actually described as a ‘Technical Hands-On Workshop’.

My only previous exposure to RAC was a few years ago, rote learning the Oracle manuals parrot fashion for an interview at a large UK Telco. The interviewer was an experienced, senior Oracle DBA and, inevitably, much to my embarassment, he found me out almost immediately.

SonicStage 3.4 released

Don’t know where, don’t know when but SonicStage 3.4 is available.

I haven’t had a chance to download 3.4 yet and I would love to be proved wrong but I suspect SonicStage remains the only software application in the modern world without a ‘Check for updates’ option.

Irritatingly, this post about version 3.3 remains one of my most popular blog articles. Sigh.

a truly horrible image

I dearly wish I had not opened a newspaper this weekend.

The image of John Prescott receiving sexual gratification from his secretary, while simultaneously reviewing a Whitepaper on the environment, is one I am desperately trying to expunge from my consciousness.