My title at work is "Principal Database Administrator." My employer is looking for another one, to be my peer. Here is the job posting. I helped write it, and it did not get too badly garbled by the HR process. If you want the official view of what I do at work, this is it. If you have the relevant background, and are willing to work closely ( Read more... )

On Sunday morning mia_mcdavid and our son James left here for a road trip. They drove to Michigan, to see Mia's mother and other relatives. I have been alone here, except for the cat, who apparently regards me primarily as her servant. So what have I been doing? ( Read more... )

More than two years ago I took an introductory class on the Oracle database management system. Oracle is used in my organization, but not nearly as much as SQL Server, which is where I had been spending almost all my time. My supervisor was an experienced Oracle DBA and handled such tasks as came up. However, she just left, to take a job in the ( Read more... )

The classroom computers at the Oracle training center run Red Hat Linux. All my years of playing with Linux at home are now paying off: I am perfectly comfortable with the environment here.

I am spending the work week in Bloomington (southern suburb) at a class on the Oracle database management system. It is my first exposure to the product.

However, I do know the office complex. It is on the 8th floor of the 8000 W.84th building. I have often been to the 8300 building, where Oracle's rival Microsoft has its local offices.