The biggest Oracle gathering is just around the corner. I am really looking forward to it as always. This year will be special because I will have my first Oracle ACE Director briefing just before the OOW.

I have been really busy this Summer and especially now before the OOW. My everyday job as a CEO for Miracle Finland has been keeping me busy as always, writing my first book has been an amazing experience (2 more chapters to go…) and preparing my sessions for the OOW has really nailed it totally;) Not to mention my trips to different events to speak, running the user group etc. But I do not complain: I love my work. And during the Summer I had one week really off and I spent it in Rome, Italy with my fantastic family. So life is good.

Now I must finish my presentations for the OOW so that I can upload them to the system. Write a little bit about Subversion and Data Modeler. Finish quite a bit of work. Pack my stuff and be at the airport early on Wednesday morning.

On Thursday it all starts. The ACED briefing and actually also the IOUC (International Orale User Group Community) Summit. I was planning to attend both but that was made impossible (long story) so I will only attend the ACED briefing. I hope my friends will have a great IOUC meeting and I really wish I were there with you too. But I know I will see you all at the OOW and hear all that was decided and talked about in the meeting.

In Friday evening I will move my bags to San Francisco and start the OOW preparations. On Saturday morning I will have a breakfast with a good friend of mine, Julian Dontcheff, and then off to vineyards. I have been on San Fra more than I can count but never, ever had a spare time to visit the vineyards. I am really excited about it.

On Sunday I will attend the legendary Bridge Run (at 8.30, join us!) organized by Jeff Smith and I will actually lead the high-heel runners (=walkers). You are most welcome to join my “team”! Sunday is also a speacial day for user groups: there is a whole track of excellent sessions from EOUC amoung others ( https://oracleus.activeevents.com/2014/connect/focusOnDoc.do?focusID=19052). A very special thing is our 12 Looks at Oracle Database 12c: EOUC Short Talks, short sessions about 12c presented by ACEs and ACE Directors from EMEA. And of course at The User Group Pavilion (Moscone South, Upper Lobby) you can meet the EMEA user groups (EOUC) from Sunday till Wednesday. Sunday is also the day for OTN Kick-off, Annual ACE Dinner and Finnish dinner (country dinner) among others.

Monday will start with the legendary Bay Swim (7.30) by Oraclenerd. I know I have been swimming in ice but I still feel a bit unsure about this but will definitely do it, no doubt. Then I will attend some Exadata sessions etc. And finally to the Accenture event in The Exploratorium. Looks like a full day.

Tuesday starts with the IOUC Global Support Committee meeting at 7.30. My first own session is 10.45 in Moscone South – 310 (Successful Oracle Exadata Implementation: A Real-Life Example CON3684). I really hope to see you there! I will be presenting with my friends Elise Valin-Raki and Tuomas Pystynen. From 4-6pm I will be hanging around with the amazing ODTUG people in Chevy’s and at 6 pm I will join the 20th anniversary party for OraclePress (congratulations!). And after that I will go and meet my friends from Rittman-Mead. Full day again.

Wednesday officially starts at 10.15 when I go and attend the Sustainability Innovation Awards event to honor the winners of the contest that used to be called ECO-award. I have been judging this award for many years and I feel that it is really important to have this kind of recognizion for companies who use Oracle products for more ecological solutions. I am really excited about this. At 1pm I will go and meet my friend Brendan Tierney to get his signature to his amazing new book (Predictive Analytics Using Oracle Data Miner). If you do not have it yet, OOW will be a great place to buy it. At 5.15 pm I will join the traditional Bloggers’ meetup sponsored by OTN and Pythian. It will be great as always, I already know. LOVE your bloggers:) And then if I am not too tired I will attend the Appreciation Event in Treasure Island.

If you think my week has been busy so far you have not seen anything yet:)
Thursday is the day I fly back home. My flight is in the evening a little after 7. I start the morning at 9.30 presenting a session together with THAT Jeff Smith (Collaborative Design with Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler CON7333) in Moscone South – 307. I do not think you should miss this session…it will be fun… At 10.45 (or 12.00, I am not sure because I was told it was moved to 12.00 but the Content Catalog still says 10.45) I will be speaking in Marriott Marquis – Golden Gate B with a topic Getting Started with Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler CON3576. And if you did not hear me enough come back to Marriott Marquis – Golden Gate B at 1.15 pm to hear a session by me and two of my friends, Elise and Ursula, about Preventing DBA Burnout by Implementing Maximum Security Architecture on CON4733. And that is my official ending of OOW14 and it’s time to change clothes and head to the airport. When I was at the OOW the first time I was so tired after the event I fell asleep at the airport. It might happen again…

So this is my schedule before I go and see the content catalog. On Monday I will see it and then my schedule will look even busier:)

But the best thing about OOW is networking and meeting everybody so please come and find me to say hi and talk a little about life and Oracle! Or whatever you think is worth talking.

I will be tweeting during the week. You will find my tweets by following @helifromfinland in Twitter.

Oh, last but not least there will be the traditional airhockey tournament during the OOW: Alex vs Heli. And that is serious… 😉 Right, Alex Nuijten?