Born Again Virgin(ian)

Some weeks ago, at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, I submerged into a world of long freeways, gas stations, fast food, good and bad hotels, and a couple of timezone changes. I resurfaced in Fairfax, Virginia 1,620 miles and a few days later with a sense of disorientation, new schools for the kids, the potential of an exciting new professional opportunity, and the sound of birdsong in my ears.

I’m a big fan of Virginia so far, although I was very keen on Colorado also. I’ll miss the mountains, the cool dry air, the endless sunshine and my Sunday morning motorcycle rides into the mountains to the Donut Mill to bring back breakfast for the family. I’m not looking forward to the local humidity, the insects and the heat, but to see so many trees, birds and little mammals is a delight. The cat is very interested in those also – he’s out of practice at hunting but looks ready to get back into the game. Wildlife beware.

I managed to skip the hard work of supervising the household packing by virtue of a daytrip to Washington DC for an interview, followed by two days at the RMOUG Training Days 2007 where I presented a paper on Linux 2.6 I/O Schedulers for Oracle Data Warehousing — to say that it’s a niche subject is quite th understatement, so an attendance of around twenty was well above my expectations. I managed to duck out of some of the unpacking by attending the Hotsos Symposium in Dallas TX last week, which was just about as much of a brain-melter as last year through the intensity of the technical presentations and the long hours at the bar in the evening. “Symposium” is derived from an ancient Greek term for “drinking party”, as it happens.

Today I’m at home with a sick-but-sleeping three year-old so I suppose I’d better get some unpacking done then. When I get a moment I’ll write up something about a dynamic sampling epiphany I had recently – try not to burst with the anticipatory excitment.