Archive Group I : Random Thoughts and Stuff

Fun and Annoying at the same time

1/5/2008 9:20:33 AM

I find it funny the no matter how hard I try I can never seem to catch up on all of the things I have to do.  Just as I get two or three out of the way, i turn around and there is another four to add to the list.  

I guess it is the curse of adulthood that we are on a perpetually steep curve of work until we die.

More later I have to clean the house now.. :")~

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Project Re-purposed

2/28/2008 9:12:37 AM

  As much as I have resisted the urge and insistance that I create and maintain an 'Internet' presence, it looks as though I cannot put it off any longer.  So, I decided to repurpose this space to express some thoughts on one of my digital hobbies.  Oracle Application Express (APEX).  This product is a trully one-of-a-kind in my book, it was presented as the first of the Free 'Express Editions', in Oracle Express Edition, that we now see a flurry of on the market.  But it existed much earlier in the Oracle Database products as an application layer that has become one of the most flexible, powerful and easy to use products out there today. 

  Since this isn't my primary job where I work, I consider it to be more of a hobby that may grow as time progresses.

  On this site now are some links into this realm of web development and many of the major players are represented.  My purpose here is to share my knowledge as it grows and to show how an idea for a personal or business system progresses from idea to application across the steps in between.  It should be fun, but then again I redefined fun a long time ago.  As a result I have much more of it. 

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Vacation, Collaboration and General Insanity

4/18/2008 12:48:47 PM

Well,

  I  have not been a prolific poster to this thing of late.  This is due mainly to 'finally' having a family vacation to the land of the mouse in Florida.  Once back I had all of three days in the office then it was off to Collaborate 08 in Denver.  Funny thing is that it was 30 miles from home so I was thrilled.  So with 5 lbs. book in hand I met some fellow jet-lag junkies and proceeded into the press of the Colorado Conference Center.  The overall setup was good and had a lot of open space to move in most cases.  The only complaint I could trully give is the complete lack of coffee after lunch.  The net result, as any teacher can attest, is that the struggle between the session and the inevitible post-lunch food coma became an epic battle worthy of Homer and other poets of Antiquity.  This was my first Collaborate and having been an APEX hermit long enough I wanted to place faces with names and in turn had a lot of really fun conversations on a variety of topics, not all Oracle or even IT.  Great times and even better contacts. 

  In all cases the presentations I attended were exceptional and I always had something to take away from each that formed the basis for a new test or experiment.  In an odd way three of these individual nuggets have collided into one new concept that I will work on a bit and announce at a later date.  Either way it will be fun.

  The more favorite sessions delt with the best practices to:

                          Make your application function better:  John Scott and Dimitry Gielis (Separate Sessions)

                          Make your application look better:  David Scott

  However, one area I found to begina course of study on is more of a soft topic around Systems Design and the smooth flow of an application so that it leads the user in the right direction without having to write a whole manual on how to get there.  Again this a future topic of interest.

  For those who have met me and I have your card there is a good chance I will get individual emails out next week to at minimum thank you personally at maximum I have notes on items of interest and will be following up then. 

Cheers to all,

"If we don't change our direction we will likely end up where we are headed"  --Adaptation of a Chinese Proverb

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Carl Backstrom

10/28/2008 2:42:11 PM

I had never met Carl Backstrom face-to-face.  Even still, he was one of the reasons I became such an advocate for APEX in the first place.  His example as a member of the community set the bar exceptionally high.  In Denver last month I was at the training center on break and found his number and was very tempted to call.  Thinking now, I wish I had. 

I hadn't been keeping up on my reading lately and I got a call today from a friend to see if I had heard the news.

Carl will be missed by more than this community.  My condolences to his family and friends, and coworkers.

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Mom, Dad. I just Enlisted.............

12/3/2008 3:09:55 PM

This was the way my evening conversation started on August 5th 1992, the day I told my parents and the rest of my family that I had just joined the US Navy. Since my oldest brother, my father, and my grandfather all served as well I thought of it as a tradition, of sorts. This was mainly due to the fact that just about every generation of my family served in the military since the United States was founded.  I had no idea how right I was, about the tradition.  I was wrong about the specifics, though.  As my father explained it that day it was more a tradition of sons disobeying their fathers, and thereby making their mothers cry. 

While I was in the service I found that, in many ways, it is exactly like you'd expect.  In other ways not so much.  The one thing I do remember the most, apart from meeting my wife, was the men and women I served with.  There were some really great friends that I had the pleasure of knowing.  I trusted every one of them with my life, even the ones I didn't particularly care for had at least that measure of respect, because that is your reality.  I served seven years,  eleven months, seven days and fourteen hours.  Then I became a Veteran.  This year I made a fun thing for some of the Vets I work with and thought it was funny enough to share.  (Thanks to www.dispair.com for the DIY utility)

 

For those who may be scratching their heads.  The Purple Heart is a medal that is 'awarded' to soldiers and sailors of the US military if they are wounded in combat.  Some under very unique and daring circumstances that border on questionable sanity.

Cheers!    "Smile! It make them wonder what you're up to." -SJ

Comments

Tom - 12/29/2009 10:31:12 AM

I know this is an old blog, Jason, but it was the only one I understood. The IT stuff is way over my head. I'm just a simple private investigator-writer-director-actor. Good piece. I check back.

Questionable Sanity

9/9/2010 5:17:47 PM

As I get prepared for a combined conference (OOW) and Work Week in the Bay Area this month.  I thought to bring this one out for all of my fellows in the APEX community.  Hope to see you all on Tuesday night or before

 

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