I was up early again on Friday morning to have breakfast with Patrick Leblanc (SQLLunch man), and then off to a four hour Board meeting, then a few more shorter meetings, finally finishing up the day at 4 pm with a trip to the bookstore and the mall for a few gifts to bring back. Back to World Grill about 5:00 pm for dinner with Wayne, Rafael, Kendal, Mike Wells, Rick Heiges, John Welch, and a few more that came and went, then back to Sheraton to pick up our bags for the ride to the airport. Rick and I were flying together, him up front in the nice seats, me way in the back, but he did treat me to joining him in the Delta club pre-flight and if I traveled more I’d have to get a membership, nicer chairs and real desks to work at. Arrived home at 9 am on Sat, and now still trying to get back on normal schedule. Good to have weather in the 80’s again!
Hard to recap the week in a few sentences, but I’ll try!
- Really glad I flew in Sunday, that extra half day was great networking time and time to just let go of work for a while
- Terrific week for me. No problems, lots of people, felt like an incredibly good use of my time
- I almost wish for a closing session on Thursday, almost a shame to have it quietly fade to an end!
It’s hard to describe how immersive an experience it can be. I took my wife to dinner Sunday night and walking through the restaurant I was mildly startled to realize I was looking around for people I knew, and expecting to see some. For 6 days I was hard pressed to go 5 minutes without seeing someone I knew, now back to the lonelier life of the DBA!
Now the question for me is; how many other attendees had that same great experience, and what can do to try to make sure they get it next year?
