Kscope14 Days 4 and 5

What happened to live blogging Kscope14?

That, as the saying goes, is a great question.  Kscope happened.  I have never, ever, ever been so busy over a sustained period of time as I was this past week.  Ever.

Sleep?  Gave up on it.  Food?  Gave up on it.  Coffee?  Definitely did not give up on it.  Fun, learning, networking, giving?  Gave all I had and more, just like everyone else at the conference.  I will say that not getting sleep at Kscope is par for the course, but literally not having enough time to eat…Not Cool.  I usually carry some kind of energy bar.  Good thing or I’d have completely dropped dead.

So that’s my excuse, I was just too busy to blog.  Surely eating and sleeping do have to have some kind of priority?

 It gets worse and worse every year.  Or is that better and better?  You decide.

So, Cameron, what did you do?

Yet another great question.  Natalie Delemar aka @EssbaseLady and I were comparing notes about sessions post the conference.  I figured out that I managed to go to just two sessions other than my own.  Two.  That’s really a bit disappointing but it does sort of explain why I seemed to live on Mojo bars.

Briefly:

• Two presentations (ASO Planning and Hybrid Essbase)
• As an aside, you have not “lived” till you stay up past 1:30 am rehearsing your part of a presentation in preparation for a rehearsal 3-ish or so hours later with your copresenter.  Fun times, fun times.
• Essbase experts (so what was I doing there?) panel participant
• Meetings with Oracle
• Interview with OTN
• Interview with ODTUG
• Moderated the Thursday Planning Deep Dive session
• Attended the two aforementioned sessions
• Did a meet and greet of (just about) each and every vendor in the exhibition hall
• Had fun
• Sometimes
• Slept
• Ate

So yes, after all that I think I understand the paucity of sessions.  What a conference.

Yeah, you were busy.  So what?

My presentations with BFF Tim German

ASO Planning – Do this, not that

ASO Planning, is real, powerful, and hugely fast.  Even procedural calcs with a sufficiently powerful hack (If there was a hack meter, and its range went from 1 to 10, this one would be an 11, thanks to Joe Watkins.) can be almost absurdly, did-it-really-calculate fast.  I mean fast.  ASO Planning isn’t for everyone (there are licensing, calculation complexity, and other considerations, but not very many), but if your application fits within its constraints and needs ASO Planning’s speed, I would definitely encourage you to look at it.  It can be magic.

Several blog posts, maybe another presentation, and a webinar or two may come out of this session  – there was a ridiculous amount of content we couldn’t use because of time constraints.    

Hybrid Essbase – Evolution or Revolution

I think it’s safe to say that Hybrid Essbase is a revolution and it will change what we do with Essbase.  It’s almost better than ASO, and I think ASO itself is a very exciting concept and a proven product.  The marriage of an ASO-like aggregation and query processor with BSO is going to solve all kinds of design and performance issues that BSO imposes.  And we get to use BSO’s rich calc script language.  Magic.

The two presentations I managed to see

Glenn vs. Edward

I’ve already blogged about this in my Day 2 post.  As always, the snipping and bickering between the two of them reminds me of an old married couple.  I think they like each other.  And no question, Glenn won that contest.

It’s mostly basic stuff, but I did like the review of Glenn’s accumulation trick.  It’s a clever idea that allows you to get dimension totals while skipping intermediate aggregations you don’t need for allocation purposes.  

There was however something about what he and Edward went back and forth on that bothered me.  As I looked at the code sample, I wondered how the code worked when it was run more than once.

Here’s what it looks like in EAS:

The concept is really quite clever:  loop level zero members adding their value to a top of house (or wherever if you used @RELATIVE and an intermediate hiearchy ancestor) ancestor skipping all of the intermediate hierarchies between the bottom and top levels.  There could be quite a few so time would add up making this a fast approach to get that total for allocations or whatever the purpose is.

Does it work?  

The answer is yes.

Before accumulation

After accumulation

A run of Glenn’s code gives us the 2,300 we would expect.

The sting in the tail

So what happens if 100 is entered into Sasparilla?

Unpossible!  But all too true.  What happened?

The explanation

Simply that there was already 2,300 in Product->Sales and Glenn’s technique added another 2,400 (the already existing 2,300 from all of the existing level zero Products and the new 100 in Sasparilla).  If the technique doesn’t clear beforehand, the code will return unpexpected results.

I can almost hear Glenn say, “But it’s not an aggregation, it’s an accumulation.”  And so it is, and it is fast.  Having said that, usually well-written BSO calc scripts can be run one or a thousand times in a row and return the same result each time.

If you want to use this technique, make sure you have a way of clearing out that top Product->Sales member before you run this code.

NB – It’s not that this accumulation approach is bad (I actually like it else I wouldn’t bother to highlight it), it’s that it breaks the normal behavior of Essbase aggregations if the developer isn’t careful to remember that he isn’t aggregating, but instead using a clever hack.  

Glenn, MMIC, you may very well have stated this and it flashed by me, but I sort of don’t think so and this could really trap the unwary.  If you talked about it, think of this as a further illustration of your amazing acumen.  If you didn’t, I’m here to correct your mistakes.  :)  Heaven knows if I am correcting a mistake or oversight, this might be the second or maybe the third time.  I contrast that with the 100 (at least) going the other way.

Speaking of the power of Hybrid, see Planning on the cloud

Shankar Viswanathan and Prasad Kulkarni really wowed the crowd on this one.

The big deal(s):

• Really big grids really, really, really fast.  Faster even than Smart View.  Did I mention they were big?
• Client side calcs via an Excel-like editing metaphor that post back to forms.  OMG cool.
• Intelligent sandboxes (finally, as I have kludged this at just about every Planning client ever)
• Valid combinations
• And of course Hybrid
• Did I mention that all of this is coming to on-premise Planning?

I’m going to write a blog post on this one as well as there’s simply too much to go into but the act of opening up a 120,000 row grid, changing drivers, having it flow through into calculated results, and then aggregating immediately, live, well this particular geek almost swooned.  Just as well I didn’t as the choice was either the carpet or the metal frame of a chair.  I like all of my teeth and I like them still in my mouth.

In other words, Planning cloud demoed really well.  If it works half as well as it demoed, they will have knocked the ball out of the park.  If it works as well as they showed…well, that will simply completely change the way we architect Planning solutions.  Interesting and fun times lie ahead.

We can (if all goes well) hopefully expect this around the end of the year although as always Oracle reserve the right to say it was all a gigantic game of Let’s Pretend.

If it didn’t happen on social media, it didn’t happen at all

I have a steam punk smartphone, aka, it’s five years old and its camera isn’t exactly on the cutting edge of functionality.

Happily I happen to know some people who are apparently not as cheap as I am (the phone, text, and email bits work, mostly, just fine, thanks) and thus can actually provide photographs that can illustrate all of the cool parties that only happen at Kscope.  Thanks go out to Leticia and Jessica Cordova (yes, they are sisters who work together in EPM and that is actually pretty cool) who were kind enough to take time out to get some great shots of the entertainment and send them to me so I could post them here.  

Monday night EPM carnival

You’ve seen the madness here, now see it in a legible and disturbing photograph.  Correction, very disturbing photograph.  Was a message being sent?

Space Needle

Tim Tow of  AppliedOLAP and Jonathan Berry of Accelitis threw a great big shindig at the Seattle Space Needle.  That was super cool, and the view from the top was amazing.  Of course, what do people take photos of when they’re at the top of a tall building that overlooks a beautiful city?  Other people on top of that tall building.  

Buddies

Jessica, yr.obdt. svt., Leticia, Jason Jones

Okay, to be fair, here is why cell phones are not used to do real photography:

But it’s still a pretty cool picture.

EMP

Here’s my buddy Joe Aultman looking…weird

It was sort of interesting when Joe walked into my Hybrid presentation and sat in the front row as I was halfway through a slide.   I just about lost it.  This shot of Joe, at the conference well before he actually needed to look like a refugee from a big hair band, is stolen from @EssbaseLady.

Guitar sculpture

Sky Church video screen (insert sounds of pounding music to get the right feel)

Some total geek with (apparently) Tina Turner and Madonna-no-it’s-Cindy-Lauper-no-it-is-some-sort-of-generic-80s-female-rocker

Do I look like money?  I’ve got it on my fingers and round my neck.  But not in my wallet.  Sigh.  Perhaps the glare from the bling is why my eyes are closed?

Btw, that is Natalie Delemar, conference chairwoman on my right and Opal Alapat BI/EPM content chairwoman on my left.  I understand each and every one of us has a serious, real, and responsible job.  I agree, it is somewhat hard to believe.

Professional dancers (really quite good; certainly better than drunk geeks getting it on)

Amazing aerialists

In short, as only Kscope seems to be able to do, an outstanding series of entertainment events.  No one does it like ODTUG.  No other conference is like Kscope.

And now we begin planning Kscope15

Kscope14 was the best Oracle user conference ever, bar none.

ODTUG will now make Kscope15 the best Oracle user conference ever, bar none.  That means it will beat Kscope14.  Such is the penalty of awesomeness.

That awesomeness doesn’t come from Seattle, or the EMP museum, or a really nice convention center, or even the awesomeness of new product demos and strategy direction Oracle give.  Kscope isn’t about technology at all, it’s about people.  People who give time, effort, and money (never forget the opportunity cost of all of that time) to make sure that attendees meet life-altering friends, learn career-changing techniques and theory, and experience the transformative opportunities that only physical contact with a group of like-minded individuals can bring.  Those communities are what make ODTUG and Kscope special, and in some way they’re what makes Oracle the special and successful company that it is.  It all comes back round to people and Kscope is the vehicle that unites those people.

Every conference is like magic in a bottle and I begin thinking about the next one before the current one has even finished.  Only crazy (I am sort of sure I’m not crazy.  I think.) or crazily passionate (guilty as charged) people think that way but the awesomeness of Kscope has that kind of influence. 

If you work in Oracle technologies, and you don’t come to Kscope, you’re crazy.

See you at Kscope15!

Kscope14 Day 3

Oh my goodness

Are we really at the halfway mark?  I suppose it depends on how you define the start of Kscope14.  Given my state of tiredness, I don’t know if I can count to 5 (or is it 6 or is it 4?) and then do a divide by 2.  No matter, Kscope14 is now in full swing.

And what does that mean, Cameron?

It means busy.  I should note that this state of business is true for everyone, not just me.  Or maybe especially not me.  I, thankfully, don’t have to work a booth.  I do have ODTUG (not too bad) and OTN (quite nice, actually) responsibilities but compared to doing the meet-and-greet that conference booth duty entails it’s nothing.  So I am not (well, maybe just a little, but this is hopefully the last time today) whining too much about it.

No really, what?

I am actually relaxing right now listening to Gary Crisci explain the nuances of ASO Design Principles for Financial Reporting.  I feel so…calm listening to Gary.  He’s really an excellent presenter:  a good speaker, extremely logical, and very, very, very thorough.  Yes, I am a fan.  And, unlike me, Gary is relaxed.  Isn’t he a little bit like Rick Moranis’ satire of Perry Como?  Perhaps I am the only one who sees it?

So where was the stress?

I am not presenting today but I was on two panels.  

The first was at 8:30 (eek!) on Tim German’s Essbase Optimization Panel with John Booth, Dave Collins, Edward Roske, and MMIC Glenn Schwartzberg.  Considering breakfast consisted of two cartons of milk and an energy bar (I have too little time to eat – That Is A Bad Thing) I think I managed not to embarrass myself too much.

The second, the OTN-sponsored Essbase ACE Lunch and Learn was at lunch time (food, so this was good).  It was moderated by the aforementioned Gary Crisci and the panelists included yr. obdt. srvt., Glenn Schwartzberg (Glenn, like me, fits the idiom a bad penny always turns up), Tim Tow, and John Booth.  

And that was all a bit tiring.  Happily, I am mostly obligation free for the rest of the day.  That means I get to look forward tonight to rehearsing with Tim German for our Evolution or Revolution:  The New Hybrid Essbase session.  For those of you interested in seeing the future of Essbase development (surely everyone?) you really ought to be there at 11:15 in room 604/603/602.

So is the above a whine?  I guess you could argue that it is, but it’s all tremendous fun, despite the level of effort, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Are you here?  Do you agree?  What, you aren’t here?  Why?

If Oracle technology is important to you, and you like to stay informed, aka employed, I can’t think of any other place on God’s green earth that is a better place to learn, meet the experts (obviously someone other than me), have fun, and figure out what the next step in your career will be.

I know I’ll see you next year.

And for those of you who are here, don’t you agree?  Send your huzzahs care of this blog.

Be seeing you.

Kscope14 Day 2

Kscope14 Day2

It has begun

Finally, yes, the “real” Kscope has started.  Okay, to be fair yesterday’s Sunday Symposium was the real kickoff, but today is the first day that attendees are presenting.

I’m currently watching my hated former oppressor beloved ex-boss, Edward Roske, battling my older-brother-that-I-never-had-and-will-never-have, My Man In California, Kind to his Mother, Glenn Schwartzberg on Essbase design concepts.  One of them is the smart one, the other not so much.  You decide who.  I know who the better man is.

It will begin

The ASO Planning session I am copresenting with Tim German (you can decide who is the smart one and who isn’t, I’m pretty sure Tim is the former and I am the latter) is at 1:15 pm in room 604/603/602.  

I’m very excited about all of the cool things we learnt in putting together the presentation.

ASO procedural calculations

If you are an ASO Essbase database developer, and you have struggled with ASO procedural calcs, even if the word “Planning” makes you ill, you need to be at this session.  We have something really exciting and I hope to see you all there.

The end, but not really

I will, as time permits, update this blog all day long.

Update numbers 1 and 2

Update the first

The ASO Planning presentation Tim German and I gave went over well, hopefully.  We just pipped the 60 minute mark so not as bad as we might have thought from a timing perspective.

Otherwise, it went well, although of course the reviews will tell the tale.

We are going to see if we can present all the cool stuff we didn’t have time for in an ODTUG webinar, or failing that, some other kind of webinar.  Watch this space.

Update the second

Gabby Rubin (ODTUG Oracle Contributor of the Year) is doing his always entertaining best with Essbase futures.  Of course it’s all under Safe Harbor, so I can’t say anything.  But it is very interesting.  :)  This is some seriously interesting stuff.  You should be here.

Probably all for today

Kscope14 is nothing if not fun, beyond seeing the future of Essbase.  After Gabby’s session, is the next cocktail party, and then the EPM Monday Night Festival.  

Nope, not all for today

The EPM Carnival

Wow, what a fantastic success this was.  Please excuse the Stone Age nature of my pictures as my “smartphone” uses vacuum tubes, needs to be wound regularly, and I think uses coal or maybe charcoal for power.  All of the nice looking pictures are courtesy of Leticia Cordova who apparently isn’t as cheap as I am and thus can take pictures that are actually legible.

The madness begins

Arch of balloons

Are these games disturbing?  Why yes they are.

Finally getting me to shut up

Will need eye bleach after this one

Monday night meetup

We EPMers are a hardy lot, and there was more, more, more  to Day 2.  If there is this much more, more, more to day 3, I may not make it till Day 3, but I will have a good time in doing it.  In short, Natalie Delemar (aka @EssbaseLady) and I hosted another of our ODTUG EPM Monday Night meetups.  A fun (and late) time was had by all.  

As the saying goes, if it didn’t happen in social media, it didn’t happen at all so here are the pics.

What do EPM geeks do when they’re at a bar having a fun night out?

Sometimes we smile at the camera

We draft unwitting Oracle employees into our midst

Or we make silly faces

It was a lot of fun.  I am beyond sleepy.  I also can’t believe how fast Kscope14 is passing by.   Noooo, make it last longer!  That’s my brain – the rest of my body may be disagreeing.

Be seeing you.

Elia Guides and Gallops to Perfection, stage 4 tour of slovenia

Final stage of the Tour of Slovenia today to wrap up what's been a full gas on the rivit few days of great racing! The Cannondale clan had one simple objective for the final stage, to give the Green Missile Elia Viviani the best possible chance to chalk up another bunch gallop victory. Along with that we wanted to ensure our super athlete koren maintained his 4th place on the GC and Damiano also consolidate his 6th place. By days end the results sheet stated that we met all these goals to cap of the perfect day for the green machine so here's a bit of a look at how it all transpired.



On paper the stage had bunch sprint written all over it. It was was the only such stage in the 2014 edition of the race so obviously the numerous teams that brought a sprinter had a big interest in ensuring this happened. As a result of this a fast fast 50kmph + first hour ensured thanks to a combination of riders keen for a head start and all the sprinting teams not willing to let to many go to make things easier to control. In the end the perfect group for us went clear as although it was small it included a rider who was a threat to the GC and as a result the team of the yellow jersey kept the escapees on a very tight leash ensuring a very fast 153km, very fast actually as elia would stop the clock at 3hrs 22minutes when he blasted through the finish tape ahead of the rest of the field. The stage was pretty straight forward, 120 km on nice roads followed by 4 laps of an 8km circuit to finish things of. So with the race well and truly we sat tight and kept the powder dry for the frantic positioning to begin in the final laps of the finish circuits.



I must admit I had a pretty good feeling about today. This morning at breakfast elia looked very calm relaxed and confident. This pleased me for a couple of reasons. Firstly it meant he felt good and believed he had the goods to win the stage, and secondly and most importantly for me he believed that the troops he had at his disposal were capable of helping deliver him to finish in a position to sprint for the victory. So day was off to good start and reminiscent of the feeling within the group we had at the tour of turkey. With the knowledge of this I too started the stage full of confidence in the fact I would be able to do whatever was asked of me and just waited with anxious anticipation to get the battle plan from elia in the closing stages of the race once he had scoped out the finish circuit and most importantly the final km's of the race.



Sure enough with around 10km elis rolled up beside me and laid down the law. The race would be won with perfect positioning in a tricky right hand corner 300m from the finish. Elia knew if he was in the first few positions there then the victory would be a formality. At around 2km to go there was a small rise which topped out at 1.5km to go and the 2km marker was to be our moment to pounce. The plan was pretty simply, damiano, 2nd last man, king Kong koren last man, and elia would line up behind me and at 2km I would hit the gas and keep the head of the peleton. Next damiano would get them inside the final km and koren would take over with one big powerfull pull to have elia in pole position for the all important right hand turn. Seemed like such a simple plan and with elia brimming in confidence I absolutely chomping at the bit to see that final 2km to go marker!



As we entered the last lap the boys lined up behind me. We waited patiently saving our bullets for the charge to the front at the right moment. Initially elia took my wheel and told me when to move. At the end of the day we had to move in a way that kept his legs as fresh as possible so as I was the one to take the wind and drag the train forward it was best he guided me. Again like Caruso on the climb yesterday was like have an excellent coxwain sitting behind. When elia said go I went, when he said nothing I know he was happy with where we were. All was going plan and then with 5km to go things got even better for us as Snr sagan and the austrian oxe krizek stormed to the front to take the wind responsibility away from me. This was crucial as all of a sudden I was able to save my legs for that all important 2km to marker. At 3km to krizek bulldozed his way to the front of the peleton and ripped out an almighty pull that immediately had the bunch in a long line. I sat patiently behind him and when the 2km sign came into view and his fearsome surge was done It was my time to take the baton! I took a quick look over my shoulder to make sure the boys were lined up and all was in order and hit the gas!



In the final few km's there is no messing around or holding back. You do an effort at that time and it's going to be your last effort for the race if you do it properly as you will have lactate acid up to your eyeballs when you unceremoniously blow yourself to pieces. The most important thing was to ensure our train had the momentum as we crest the top of the rise around 1.3km from the finish. I have to admit I had to dig very deep to keep the front of the bunch for this 1km small km! I was absolutely maxed out and simply fixated on the top of the rise. As I finally crested it I stood up and gave it one final dig before giving damiano the nod I was done and he dully ripped past with what seemed effortless ease. At this point I knew it was in the bag. Damino looked like he was capable of taking elia all the way to the finish line at 70kmph and he also still at koren at his disposal with not much more than 1minute of the race remaining, to me there seemed to be no other possible result. Sure enough as expected the boys delivered Elia to absolute perfection and he celebrated his 4th win of the season. My assumption of damiano's effortless ease in those final km's was also confirmed with him finishing 10th on the stage and climbing a spot to finish 6th on GC so a great way to finish the race for him. All in all it was an absolute awesome effort by all the boys from Snr sagan juraj, and krizek setting up the train and delivering me perfectly to the 2km to go marker. From there it was as simple as 45 seconds all out from us 3 and then for and explosive 15second sprint where elia produces the horsepower of a jumbo jet! Absolutely awesome way to finish of the tour of slovenia and thanks to all the boys and especially elia for having the goods to finish it all of in such fine style!!



CJW

A Railroad That Turns Heads and Makes a Profit

Hardly a week goes by that someone doesn’t ask me… “Why doesn’t a private company take over Metro-North and run it properly?” 

The reason all US railroads got out of the passenger business is there was no profit to be made.  Even with the highest rail fares of any commuter railroad in the US, Metro-North’s tickets still cover less than 75% of their actual operating costs… and that’s not counting the billions in capital spending needed to keep the rails, bridges and signal system running.

But earlier this summer I rode a profitable, privately owned passenger train.  It only runs 45 miles but commands $85 - $175 per ticket (round-trip)(.  It’s been running for over 130 years and carries over 160,000 very happy passengers a year.

It’s Colorado’s Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, one of the most spectacular railroads in the world.          

“People will pay a fair price to see history,” says owner Al Harper who, along with his wife and three sons, is hands-on in running this National Historic Landmark every day.  His passengers come from around the world to the tiny town of Durango, just to take this ride.

The D&SNGR runs 3-4 steam power trains up the mountainto the tiny town of Silverton (with only one paved street) using restored passenger cars kept painstakingly in working order by dedicated craftsmen.

Unlike depressing historic rail lines in the east, which run a few cars two miles down a track then return, this is a fully working railroad with a paid, year round staff of 75 that, in the summers, swells to 200, many of them volunteers.  Damn, I would pay them to volunteer on this railroad!  And some folks do.

For $1000 (one-way), you can ride in the cab of their old steam locomotives wearing authentic overalls and cap and catch the bus or passenger coach back.  You can even help them shovel coal into the boiler.  

For $134 (round-trip) you can ride in the Deluxe Rio-Grande  open gondola car, or for a bit more, enjoy the 3 ½ hour ride sipping wine in a restored 1880 first class car.

While many who ride this line are railfans (“foamers”, as they are pejoratively called by most railroad folks, because they foam at the mouth when they see a train), history buffs or western fanatics, the D&SNGR’s owners know they have to grow their audience, so they offer discounts for kids and many other specialty excursions:  Brews and Blues, a Cowboy Poet excursion and many seasonal trips. But no, they have no plans for “Reefer and Rails” despite the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. (Durango has yet to authorize retail sales of pot.)

They are clever marketers, packaging the train ride with horseback riding, ATV’s, camping and other activities.  And, importantly, they have the support of their community which recognizes how much this little railroad means to the economy.  In 2001it was calculated that the railroad brought $100 million a year to Durangoin business… hotels, meals, shopping… not to mention those employed by the railroad.

Imagine that:  a railroad that people will travel thousands of miles to ride, are willing to pay high fares because they get an amazing experience, owned by people making a good return but reinvesting for future generations of customers, while keeping the local economy thriving.

Yes, you can run a great railroad that people love and turn a profit!

Kscope14 Day 1

If you’re not here, you don’t know what you’re missing

Sunday at ODTUG Kscope14 is where Oracle let down their collective hair and tell us, under Safe Harbor, where our beloved tools are going in the next year.  Note – this happens before Oracle holds their own, little known conference.  This is preview, in a word, awesome.

But of course that Safe Harbor means I can’t tell you anything about the content.  Nope, sorry, not going to do it.  I want Oracle to come back next year.   And I’d like to not get sued.

What I can relate

As I type this, the audience is grilling Matt Bradley.  Matt is brave.

And  I can tell you is that Oracle has (or will, later in the day) talked about:

• EPM Strategy and Interactive Keynote
• EPM Reporting with OBIEE
• DRM
• Planning Suite
• FDMEE
• Essbase
• Smart View
• Wrapup

Don’t you wish you were here?  You can be if you aren’t already.  Just attend Kscope15.

See you there!

P.S.

As I can, I will update this blog as the day goes on.

Planning -- OMG, so cool.  And I have to leave and do ODTUG stuff.  Arrgh.  Way to go Shankar!

Kscope14 Day 0

Introduction

The Saturday of Kscope is, for me at least, always the first day of the conference.  One could argue that in fact it’s the Sunday symposiums, but Saturday is when I get to meet all of the friends I communicate with via (almost exclusively) all of the electronic media available to us today.  That face to face meeting is super important as we are all human (I think) and that physical presence allows connections that simply aren’t possible any other way.  

My first Kscope (then Kaleidoscope) was in 2008 – I made friends at that first day painting a school that, for instance, helped me write a book and hosted me at two conferences in New Zealand and Australia.  And it gave back to the host city.  Pure magic and one I am very grateful for.  It was my first inkling that Kscope and ODTUG were very special things indeed.

This year

The Community Service Day is one way to make that connection and do a good deed for whatever city Kscope is in.  This year’s event was (I am writing this the day after the fact) with the Nature Consortium, a local group that ties environment, people, and the arts.  All admirable goals, to be sure, and Kscope14 is proud to be part of that effort.  And of course, you know what that means – geeks struggling, a lot, with physical  labor.  Even my typical pasty white pallor has been darkened (I think that is the polite way of saying I got a bit of a sun burn) by my time in the sun mulching and digging out invasive species.  I hate yard work, yet I enjoyed this.  It has to be the people, the people, the people.  And so it is.

I should mention what all of this work was for – we helped the Nature Consortium in the never ending quest to get rid of invasive species.  In this case it was removing (digging out with shovels) and making sure that it cannot come back (the mulching) Himalayan Blackberry from the native forest.  So delicious and so bad for everything else.  Perhaps it was just as well we were not there when we could eat the fruit, else there might have been a mutiny?  Geeks can sometimes loose their rationality in the face of fruit.  Or at least I can.

For your amusement

These pictures tell their own tale.  Please excuse the poor photography – I have slipped since I first learnt how to develop B&W film back in 4-H (can this actually still be done – we were likely a living breathing Health & Safety disaster in the making with all of those chemicals).  Also, I think my “smartphone” is now old enough to vote.  No matter,  the pictures do show the progress that we made.  I’m always glad to give back to nature – no woods = no hiking and that = no fun.  

Brekkers

The bus ride out

Shovel ready

Mulching

Btw, you cannot see the bucket brigade that supplied we happy few mulchers.  There was a line of people handing off mulch buckets to us – was the line really a mile long?  I had no idea I was getting they were getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop.

The bucket brigade

I actually did manage to get a shot of them.  Thanks, guys.

Our Boss

This is OracleNerd’s aka Chet Justice’s son, Chet Justice, Jr., aka LC (Little Chet) being the He Who Supervises And Catches Empty Buckets In A Surprising Manner.  I have certainly worked for worse bosses and LC really put his heart into the whole matter.  Just like his father, when I think about it.

Arts and Crafts

We were the craft, here was the jazz trumpet.

And the finished (well, almost) product

That’s LC just not giving up.  Tougher than us geezers, that’s for sure.

The end of Day 0

At the end of all of this (for some of us, quite unusual) hard physical labor, we had a pizza and then, hopefully, a shower and a nap.

Of course that was not to be (apologies to all who had to be near my, um, fragrance – I am better now that I’ve bathed), as registration and of course rehearsals of presentations were on order.

I’ve basically had a headache and been tired since I got here on Thursday last (ODTUG’s board meeting was on Friday) and it ain’t getting better.  Oh well, par for the course for Kscope and it is all tremendous fun.

Be seeing you.