oraclehq

It's been a long time since I've written something here, but I reckon the following is worth a post.

For those of you who don't know what Oracle 'Are you the smartest' is (or ayts short), have a look at this post I wrote a couple of years back.

Basically it's a competition for Oracle partners in the Benelux - I've entered the first time in 2008 and since then I've won it twice and became second once.

Have a look at this year's topics (http://www.ayts.be/)

All Benelux based Oracle partners can enter, and there is a winner per partner.

This year, AXI was the smartest partner in Benelux, meaning, on average, we had the highest scores on the exams... again.

Anyhow - I've won it this year for AXI - and the first price is a trip to Oracle HQ, followed by a quick stop in Vegas. Now that's a cool incentive !

Have a look at Marcel's blog for a more detailed overlook of the trip.

I've been to SF and Vegas numerous times, but it never gets old !

Although this year, I must it admit, I was very tired before I even started the trip.

I've become a father 6months ago and this sort of starts to work on your sleep patterns

So I was looking forward to some rest, but these were 4days packed full of action and this tired me down even more.

Also the group was quit large (25people), and people who know me, know I don't thrive that well in big groups.

This meant that by the end of the trip I hadn't talk to all the people I wanted to talk to !

The trip was a blast tho - I teamed up with Geert Depaep (the guy from DBA-Village) as a room-mate. He also won in 2008, the same year I last won.

Two high lights stand out

- the visit to Oracle HQ, were we had 2 presentations.

One from Wim Coeckaerts on Oracle virtualisations and one from Jeff Davis on SOA.

I can't really say much about it since we had to sign an NDA, other than, OracleVM 3.0 does exist.

(it has been in beta so long, I started to wonder if it acutally existed !)

Also, have a look at Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder.

I had never heard about this tool but it looks pretty cool if you want to deploy VM images and customize them.

- my poker session at the Venetian

I didn't enter a tournament (allthough those deep stack tournaments look mighty tempting) - just played cash games 4h straight.

Most of the guys went to the V club after 1h of gambling - apperently I was the only one not there ... but when I'm at the tables

I lose time and interests in anything else ... and I made some money as a bonus.

Anyway, overall excellent trip, a great incentive from Oracle, and a big thanks to Yves Van Looy.

Now if only I could get this song out of my head they were playing at the Paris Chateau Nightclub.

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Are you the smartest 2011