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(Yet another arrived in San Francisco blog)

I almost got around to typing this yesterday but it felt like a longer than usual journey and in the end I was awake for 27 hours. Normally I'm good at napping on planes, but not a wink this time and I managed to leave Tapio's indexing book behind so it was a long flight. I think I recognised a few Oracle faces on the plane, but not anyone I knew well enough to say hello to. I was dog-tired when I arrived and it seems I wasn't the only one.



You'll note that I couldn't resist going for a quick walk to register, though. The bag's very nice and includes :-

- Conference badge including the all-important tickets for lunch and Wednesday night's do!

- A re-usable water bottle (I think Oracle are trying to cut down on waste this year)

- A hard-bound notebook and pen

- Marketing material and magazines

- Either the conference guide on a USB-stick or a printed copy. Environmentally unfriendly as always, I picked the book. I just find it easier to read and take in, even though I've got the electronic copy on my laptop. It's a bit heavy, though.

- By far the most important item is a red Oracle/AMD umbrella! It was pouring down in San Francisco all day and night. It seems like cuddly toys are not the only thing I brought from Scotland.

After registration, I popped along to an Irish pub I know for some non-airline food and a pint. Who should walk up to me in the pub than Chris Muir! The truth is, the city is awash with Oracle red and it's not hard to bump into people you know (at least electronically) but I still find it a slightly strange experience. A couple of pints with a couple of guys kept me going a bit longer, so thanks to Chris and bloke-who-I've-met-before-in-a-pub-in-Edinburgh and *still* can't remember his name. Not for the first time, I'll point out how utterly useless I am at remembering names so please don't be too offended!! (Oh, but Chris, that's my debt repaid ...)

It was always a struggle to keep going though. I tried to chivvy myself up with a long clean-up, a little stroll, went to a couple of locations where I *might* find others I know and in the end I managed to stay awake until 9pm, which I was quite surprised by. However, true to form, that meant I was wide awake and back out of bed at 3am. Mmmm, today's going to be interesting, but possibly not as interesting as popping outside of my hotel for a smoke, to find San Francisco's Saturday night activities drawing to a close while I'm just about ready for breakfast The hotel is quite, quaint would be the best description, but it has everything I need including free wireless, ironing kit and a 24-hour diner next door.

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