For those certified scuba divers that will (or can) be in the Monterey Bay area on 21-June, I invite you to come diving with me. I’ve arranged some reserved spots on the Beachhopper II dive charter that I’ve dove with before. Brian and Mary Jo (the captain, crew, and bottle washers) are top notch and we had a great time last fall at the first annual pre-OpenWorld scuba event (look for more details on the 2nd annual event later this summer). The boat isn’t huge, but 10 divers is enough for a lot of fun.

The pre-Kaleidoscope dive day is Sunday, 21-June (Father’s Day). The boat will depart the K dock at Monterey Bay harbor at 8am, so load-up is 7:30am. We’ll have a nice morning, drain 2 tanks at some of the best sites you’ll see in northern California (specific sites will be determined that morning by the captain and diver requests), and then motor back to the harbor probably shortly after noon or 1pm. Mary Jo said that she’d also entertain the option of an afternoon 2-tank trip as well, if there is interest (I know I’m interested). Oh, I almost forgot to mention that snacks are provided and they are amazing–made by Mary Jo herself!

The boat costs break down like this:

• $70 for the boat trip (weights are not included)
• plus $20 for two tanks of air ($90 total)
• or $30 for 2 tanks of Nitrox ($100 total)

The charter doesn’t offer gear rental, so we’ll have to pick that up separately. I previously rented from Glenn’s Aquarius 2 which is located pretty close to the harbor and opens at 7am for morning pickup. Their pricing for rental are:

• Weights only: $8
• Wetsuit, hood, gloves: $21
• Full gear (BCD, reg, exposure suit, etc.): $65

We’re less than 1 month away (I just found out I was going to be able to attend last week), so let me know ASAP if you’re interested in diving with us. Once you contact me, I’ll send you the signup instructions. I’m releasing the remaining open seats on 29-May, but there may still be open spots after that, so contact me (comment below, or email) if you’re interested.

As a special treat, Stanley will be joining us for his first scuba dive as well!

The session scheduler (login required) is online and available to registered attendees. Once there, you’ll find my sessions listed (please come by, ask questions, try not to sleep):

• Monday, 1:15p: Oracle Identity Management – The Total Identity Solution (presenting for Matt Topper who won’t be able to attend the conference)
• Tuesday, 9:15a: RAC For Beginners: The Basics
• Tuesday, 2p: Development DBA Panel (I’m the moderator)
• Tuesday, 5p: Oracle ACE Directors Panel (I think I’m on the panel…or at least in the room)
• Wednesday, 8a: How A RAT Will Save Your Job

Piocon will also have a booth set up at the conference, so stop by there and say hello (who knows–you might find me there occasionally too). The Oracle ACE Program will be represented well with many speakers and also Oracle representatives such as Justin Kestelyn will be floating around the event too.

I’ll also be participating in the Community Service Day coordinated by ODTUG on Saturday, June 14th. If you’re going to be volunteering with the group, I’ll probably see you then. If you can’t make it, I’ll see you on Sunday or during the week. If you haven’t heard about Community Service Day, check the link above to get more information and get involved!

See you in New Orleans!

As has been the case for several years, the IOUG and ODTUG have graciously selected some of my submissions for presentation at their respective conferences. While ODTUG has announced that they’ve selected their sessions, they haven’t yet posted them or notified many of the speakers.

For the 5 or so people that probably read this blog , here are the sessions where you’ll find me at Collaborate 08 this year:

• To RAC or Not To RAC: What’s Best For HA? (this is a debate session that I’m coordinating), Thursday @ 9:45 AM
• SSL, Load Balancers, Rewrite, Redirect, and More Advanced Configuration (a 2-hour expert session co-presented with Matt Topper), Monday @ 9:15 AM
• Building A RAC Test Environment On VMWare For Free (a 2-hour expert session), Tuesday @ 3:30 PM
• Oracle Adaptive Access Manager: What, Why, How, Wednesday @ 8:30 AM

Of course, I’ll also be coordinating and participating in several sessions for the RAC SIG at the conference, but we haven’t yet set dates or times for them.

At the ODTUG Kaleidoscope conference happening June 15-18 in New Orleans, I’ll be presenting the following sessions (they haven’t scheduled them yet):

• How A RAT Will Save Your Job
• RAC For Beginners: The Basics
• Sunday Fusion Middleware Symposium session: SSL, Load Balancers, Rewrite, Redirect, and More Advanced Configuration (co-presentation with Matt–a repeat of the Collaborate session)

UPDATE: The last session listed above (OAS Advanced Config) is only to be presented at the Sunday Fusion Middleware Symposium instead of a regular conference slot. If you really want the full version, come to Collaborate!

If you submitted a session to ODTUG and haven’t heard back, check here for status.

Still not enough? I’m also presenting at the Northern California Oracle Users Group conference on February 19th at Oracle’s Conference Center on the HQ Campus. At that event, you can see me in the front talking on these topics:

• Oracle Adaptive Access Manager: What, Why, How, at 2:30 PM
• High Availability Options for Oracle Database, at 4 PM

It’ll be a busy spring and summer. I’m not sure I really understood how busy until I wrote it all down in one place…yikes.

Then things might calm down, but not for long since Oracle OpenWorld is coming early this year (September 21-25)!