2007 In Review

Picking up the idea to present "my blog-year in review", by taking just the first complete sentence each month's post (remembering not to make this the first post for Jan;-)

January	Apache Axis2 is the core engine for Web services.
February	I've been working a bit with Oracle's OCCI (the C++ API for Oracle Database), and stateless connection pools in particular.
March	Recently wanted to track down the details of the process that had a specific port open.
April	"Where's the alert log?" .. usually the first thing you want to know when looking at a new database.
May	Say you have a connection to a remote Oracle Database server and want to get the ORACLE_HOME setting.
June	A little while ago I got to dust off my C++ skills for a project that was to use Oracle Database (via OCCI) and also Websphere MQ
July	This week its my pleasure to host Log Buffer #54, the Carnival of the Vanities for DBAs.
August	I've just spent the past few days at Oracle OpenWorld Asia Pacific in Shanghai.
September	I've blogged previously about playing with the reCAPTCHA service in Perl.
October	I had the privilege of listening to Kevin Walsh's "30/30" presentation last week.
November	Well, today is my first as a member of the Oracle Alumni
December	Laurent Schneider just asked what LinkedIn is good for?.

Hmm, very geek. What's not listed is the post that generated the swiftest, strongest reaction: Ballmer Peak and the Programmers' Paradox, which probably goes to show that frat humour is the surest way to internet fame;-)

During the year I also started blogging quick reviews of all the books I read over at PrataLife. So as a variation on the meme, here's my Book-Year In Review:

July	The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsène Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar (audiobook)
August	The Ambler Warning
September	A Different Point of View (audiobook)
October	The Warden (audiobook)
November	Code Generation In Action
December	Quarter Share (audiobook)

The number of audiobooks is a bit misleading, as I'm sure I actually read at least as many on paper (although Neal Stephenson is slowing me down a bit at the moment!). And ye gads, only one tech book! But this is to be expected: with fiction its easy to read and do a quick blog entry, whereas technical non-fiction is generally not suited to blogging an instantaneous reaction. They'll tend to stay on my desk/shelf for a probationary period;-)