07 November 2012

ACED Nordic Tour 2012: 4 days, 4 countries

Can't believe it's almost two weeks ago.
Together with Mark Rittman, Carl Dudley, Sten Vesterli, and Tanel Poder, I was invited to join in for the ACED Nordic Tour.
During the Nordic Tour we visited Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. Four countries in four days.
I knew it was going to be a busy week, but didn't expect to be exhausted when I got back home on Saturday.
On Monday I flew into Copenhagen, Denmark where I met up with Sten Vesterli and Ken Holmstykke Jensen from the Danish Oracle User Group. They were kind enough to show me around the city, Tivoli and the World Press Photo exhibit, all very enjoyable, thank you very much.
Tuesday was the day of the Danish Oracle User Group at the offices of Oracle Denmark. In Denmark I did two presentations: "Analytic Functions Revisited" and "Edition Based Redefinition". When all the sessions were done, and the beer started to come out, we had to go to the taxi and rush to the airport.
Wednesday was Stockholm in Sweden. The location was absolutely stunning, an old school building (so I was told), with grand staircases and high ceilings.
My session in Stockholm: "Who's Afraid of Analytic Functions?" and "Getting Started with APEX Plugin Development".
This time we really had to hurry to get to the airport, nearly losing Carl on the way the to the trains.
Thursday: Oslo. The board of the Oracle User Group Norway were kind enough to welcome us in the hotel with some food and drinks. A nice welcome after having had airport food for a few days. My sessions in Oslo: "Getting Started with APEX Plugin Development" and "Who's Afraid of Analytic Functions?"
Friday, the last day of the tour: Helsinki, Finland. The sessions that I did in Helsinki: "Getting Started with APEX Plugin Development" and "Solving Puzzles with SQL: Cheating when playing the game SET" . Even though my last name was spelled wrongly on the agenda, I can't really blame them - they are not the first. This time we didn't have to rush to the airport, at least not all of us. Mark and Tanel were flying out that day to go home.
Sten, Carl, and myself did stay an extra night in Helsinki so we could enjoy a very nice meal and some Finnish specialties (which all seem to include wodka).
Like I said before, on Saturday I was exhausted. Looking back at the tour I really enjoyed it. Wish I could see more of the countries than just the airport, but maybe some other time. Looking back at the tour, I really enjoyed it and was in good company.

Thanks to the user groups who invited us, and organizing the conferences. Special thanks to the Ace program for sponsoring.