What Are We Waiting For?

It seems everything but the temperatures are in a slump. The economy, hiring, employment, purchasing, proper government action, all seem to be missing. My question is what are we waiting for? We aren’t the ineffective government, we aren’t the ones making poor decisions, at least for the most part.

Perhaps we need to step forward and start movement. We need to do something positive, each of us. Perhaps it would just be cleaning up our yard, giving a bit more at church or working just a bit harder at our jobs. If everyone ignored Washington and just did a little more for each other I think we could positively effect not only our lives, but everyone else’s as well. If all of us treat each other honestly and fairly maybe it will trickle up.

Maybe instead of charging as much as we can, we just need to charge as much as we need to for goods and services. I am tired of seeing ten cents worth of plastic being sold for several dollars. How many employers could let their employees work from home? Do you really need to watch your employees like hawks to make sure they work? Can’t you tell by results if they are working? I submit that if you can’t trust your employees to do their work if you let them work form home, you can’t trust them to do their work at work either and perhaps you should find new employees!

I guess we need to lead from the bottom, if the entire base of the pyramid moves in the correct direction, the rest has to follow.

The Times, they are a Changing

For my presentations at VirtaThon least! Here is the latest schedule of my presentations:

Best of Both Worlds: Using SSd and Disks via ASM
Presenter(s):
Michael Ault
Time slot: 17 July 10:00 - 10:55

Room:
Virtual Room # 100
Infrastructure Technologies - Oracle
Target Audience:
All




VirtaThon GoldStar Session!!! 4-Hour Deep-Dive: Got Performance? Statspack and AWR Analysis
Presenter(s):
Michael Ault
Time slot: 18 July 11:00 - 15:25

Room:
Virtual Room # 100
Database - Oracle
Target Audience:
All




The Need for Speed: Using SSDs with Oracle
Presenter(s):
Michael Ault
Time slot: 19 July 13:30 - 14:25

Room:
Virtual Room # 200
Infrastructure Technologies - Oracle
Target Audience:
All





VirtaThon Keynote: Tuning on the Cheap: Oracle tuning Utilities Everyone Has
Presenter(s):
Michael Ault
Time slot: 20 July 12:30 - 13:25

Room:
Virtual Room # 100
Database - Oracle
Target Audience:
All

Looking Forward

Well, looks like I am booked out for the month of July! Starting Saturday (16 July, 2011) I am doing a 4 hour presentation on AWR analysis for VirtaThon http://www.brainsurface.com/virtathon here is the rest of my VirtaThon schedule (all times EDT):

Sunday 17 July, 2011 10:00-11:00 am "Best of Both Worlds: Using SSd and Disks With ASM"
Tuesday 19 July, 2011 4:30-5:30 pm "The Future is Now: A Fully SSD Database System"
Wednesday 20 July, 2011 12:30-1:30 pm " Tuning on the Cheap: Oracle Tuning Utilities Everyone Has"

On Thursday I present at the Twin Cities Oracle User Group in Minnesota: "Data Warehouse Development Techniques and New PL/SQL Features"

On Tuesday July 26 ,2011 12:00-01:00pm "Oracle Exadata X2-8: A Critical Review" (webcast)Check out http://www.ramsan.com/company/events for more information and a link.

On Wednesday, July 27, 2011 I will be doing a joint presentation with Tariq Farooq on "360 Degrees: Everything to know about Virtualization for Oracle DBAs"

Should be a quick end of the month! Hope you can all make it to at least one of the virtual or live events!

To see any of my past Webinars look at http://www.ramsan.com/company/events and http://www.ramsan.com/resources/videos

A Bitter Nostalgia

I remember in grade school and middle school when I was growing up they would roll TVs into the classroom and we would all watch in wonder as the Mercury and then the Saturn V launch vehicles would, with a rumble and roar lift our astronauts into space. With this technology we put the first men on the moon, sent probes into deep space and around the planets in this solar system. They also lifted up young hearts and minds to believe that maybe they could someday walk on the surface of a different world and stare back at the star that gave them birth with wonder.

Today, the last space shuttle mission launched. After the shuttle returns it will be mothballed and with that action, the USA will no longer has the capability to put people into space. Now, with the demise of the space shuttle we will become a beggar nation when it comes to space, just like the third world countries we will have to go begging with hat (and money) in hand to the Russians and Chinese to use their rockets, vehicles and launch facilities. John F. Kennedy will be spinning in his grave.

We have record unemployment, the lowest new job creation numbers and the dollar is at one of its lowest points in relation to other currencies that it has ever been. I don’t know what the future holds but I am worried. I worry that my grandchildren will be burdened with an immense load of debt that they can’t possibly repay. I worry that they will have no jobs and become dependent on the government for their sustenance, not because of lack of desire or ability, but because of the incompetence of our leaders. For the first time the future looks worse than the past.

Perhaps my memories just aren’t correct. I recall affordable housing, cars, gas and food. I recall a time when one income would feed a family and mothers weren’t expected to work outside of the home. I recall when a majority of time children were respectful to their elders, God was allowed in courts, in schools in lives. Many intellectuals wanted change, wanted God out of society, because after all, God was an outmoded concept that modern, thinking, scientific man didn’t need. How is a Godless world working out for you folks? Personally I find it a disturbing and quite a bit a scary place and getting worse as we get further from the basic rules, handed down by God that this country was based on.

Disgusting, violent video games that desensitize our youth to violence and death are authorized by the highest court in the land. Movies you are afraid to attend because you never know what they will contain fill the movie theaters. The basic rights that the country was founded on are perverted because our highest courts are filled with people with no common sense, no moral courage and nothing but empty academic theories instead of wisdom.

I am sorry if I am a bit morose today. The 10 year old with dreams of being an astronaut just died in my soul.