The Riley Family, Part II

You didn't miss Part I, at least not here you didn't.

Many of you know Mike Riley. If you don't, here's a little history. He's the past president of ODTUG (for like 37 years or something) and for the last two years, he's served as Conference Chair for Kscope. Yeah, that doesn't really follow, but you know I'm a bit...scattered.

Did you read the link above? OK, well, here's the skinny. Mike has rectal cancer. Stage III. If it weren't for the stupid cancer part, the jokes would abound. Oh wait, they do anyway. Mike was diagnosed shortly after #kscope13, right around his 50th birthday (Happy Birthday Mike, Love, Cancer!). Ugh. (I want to say, "are you shittin' me?" see what I mean about the jokes? I can't help myself, I'm 14). Needless to say, cancer isn't really a joke. We all know someone affected by it. It is...well, it's not fun.

Go read his post if you haven't already. I'm going to give my version of that story. I'll wait...

So, Sunday morning, Game 3 of the World Series went to the Cardinals in a very bizarre way. I was watching highlights that morning as I had missed the end of the game (doesn't everyone know that I'm old and can't stay up that late to watch baseball?). Highlights. Mike lives in St. Louis. He's a Cardinal's fan. Wouldn't it be cool if he and his family could go to the game (mostly just his family, I don't like Mike that much). So I make some phone calls to see what people think of my idea. My idea is met with resistance. OK, I'll skip the people. Let's call Lisa (Mike's wife).

Apparently Sunday's are technology free days in the Riley household, no response. I go for a bike ride, but I take my phone, just in case Lisa calls me back. After the halfway point, my phone rings, I jump off the bike to answer.

So I talked to Lisa about my idea, can Mike handle the chaos of a World Series game?

We hang up and she goes to work. BTW, I asked her to keep my name out of it, but she didn't. We'll have words about that in the future.

She calls back (I think, it may have been over text, 2 weeks is an eternity to me). "He doesn't think he can do it."

So I call Mike directly (Lisa had already spoiled the surprise.)

"What about Box seats? You know, where the people with top hats and monocles sit? Away from the rift-raft, much more comfortable and free food and beer."

Backstory. Mike had finished his first round of chemo less than a week before Sunday. To make things worse, he decided it was a good time to throw out his back. He wasn't in the best of shape.

Mike said he thought he could do it.

OK, nay-sayers aside, let's see what we can do. I emailed approximately 50 people, mostly ODTUG people; board members, content leads, anyone I had in my address book. "Hey, wouldn't it be great to send Mike and his family to Game 5 of the World Series? We need to do this quick, tickets will probably double in price tonight especially if the Cardinals win." (that would mean Game 5 would be a clincher for the Cardinals, at home, muy expensive).

Within about 20 minutes, a couple of people pledged $600.

Holy shit!

At the prices I had seen, I was hoping to get between $50 and $100 from 50 people, hoping. I had $600 already. Game starts. Now it's up to $1100 in pledges. Holy shit, Part II. This might just be possible. Another 30 minutes and were about an hour into Game 4. Ticket prices have already gone up by $250 a ticket. Given that maybe 4 people have responded and I have $1600 in pledges, I pull the trigger. I bought 4 box seat tickets for the Riley family. (I had to have a couple of beers because I was about to drop a significant chunk of change without actual cash in hand, I could be out a lot of money, liquid courage is awesome).

Tickets sent to the Riley family. Pretty good feeling.

Like I said, I was confident, but I was scared. Before the end of the night though, there was over $5K pledged to get Mike and family to Game 5. Holy shit, Part III.

By midday Monday, pledges were well over $7K. I'll refer you back to Mike's post for more details. Shorter: jerseys for the family and a limo to the game.

Here's the breakdown: 35 people pledged, and paid, $8,080. Holy shit, Part IV. Average donation was $230.86. Median was $200. Low was $30 and high was $1000. Six people gave $500 or more. Nineteen people gave $200 or more. The list is a veritable Who's Who in the Oracle community.

Tickets + Jerseys + Limo = $6027.76

Riley family memory = Priceless.

So, what happened to the rest? Well, they have bills. Lots of bills. With the remainder, $2052.24, we paid off some hospital bills of $1220.63. There is currently $831.61 that will be sent shortly. It doesn't stop there though. Cancer treatment is effing expensive. Mike has surgery in December. He'll be on bed rest for some time. His bed is 17 years old. He needs a new one. After that, more chemo and more bills.

"Hey Chet, I'd love to help the Riley family out, can I give you my money for them?"

Yes, absolutely. Help me help them. I started a GoFundMe campaign. Goal is $10K. Any and all donations are welcome. Gifts include a thank you card from the Riley family and the knowledge that you helped out a fellow Oracle (nerd, definitely a nerd) in need. You can find the campaign here.

If you can't donate money, I've also created a hashtag so that we can show support for Mike and his family. It's #fmcuta (I'll let you figure out what it means). Words of encouragement are welcome and appreciated.

Thank you to the 35 who have already so generously given. Thank you to the rest of you who will donate or send out (rude) tweets.

Fun with United Airlines

I'm currently broadcasting from a very small hotel room in Houston, TX. My flight out of SFO was delayed (Blue Angels and other traffic) which caused me to miss my flight into Tampa. Ugh.

United automatically booked me on a flight leaving IAH at 1 getting into Tampa at 4:14, PM. To top it off, they wouldn't cover my hotel room, they said it "wasn't there fault" that the reason was "Air Traffic Control" (i.e. Blue Angels and stuff) so they weren't responsible. No food voucher, no hotel voucher. Thanks United. Reminds me of work sometimes where someone just points the finger at someone else..."it's the database" or "it's the network" or some other way to shift blame. Whatever.

I understand that it wasn't there fault. If it were me though, I would have helped out more. Pilar, from United at IAH, was very helpful, but I believe she was handcuffed by their corporate policy, you know, shift the blame. Pilar did put me on standby for an earlier flight (7:22 AM) and did book me on an earlier flight that gets in at 1:30 PM. Better than 4:14 PM.

I'll miss out on taking the kids to school. I'll miss out on katezilla's speech therapy meeting and I won't get to pick up my son from school (assuming I don't get on the standby flight). The 1:30 arrival also puts me in jeopardy of not being able to pick up katezilla. Sucks.

I know travel is hard. I expect things like this to happen once in awhile. I don't blame United for the traffic at SFO and I don't think it was their fault. However, I think they could have done a bit more to keep the customer happy. If I were in their shoes, I would have. It seems like a moment to make a great fan and they missed it. Had they helped in the smallest of ways, I would be singing their praises...opportunity lost.

Random Thoughts: #22

I haven't written much lately, six months in fact. Just trying to get my life in order...priorities.

Strangely, traffic to the site has increased during that time. I would think that any post during this period would slightly increase traffic. Nope. Opposite effect.

I like traffic (only child, I need attention), but it's not why I do any of this. If that were the case, I wouldn't post at midnight on Saturday. Anyway, amusing.

Here's a random video for you: Larry Smith - Why you will fail to have a great career



I have this really strange fascination with this one, Cheap Flights with subtitles



Finally this one which I have watched every other day (it seems) for the past 4 months: Jeb Corliss " Grinding The Crack"



If you made it this far. I'm sorry.

Great Night of Baseball

If you are a baseball fan, last night was spectacular.

Even more so, if like me, you were fans of either the Tampa Bay Rays, Boston Red Sox, Atlanta Braves or St. Louis Cardinals.

Well, the Braves and Red Sox fan's wouldn't call last night spectacular...spectacularly horrible...maybe.

I decided to take LC and my father to the game last name, the Three Chet's if you will.



David Price was pitching for the Rays and the Yankees were throwing Johnny Bullpen, or the remainder of their 40 man roster, to save their arms for the post-season. The Yankees had already clinched their spot, the Rays were tied with the Red Sox for the Wild Card slot. Boston was playing the Baltimore Orioles at the same time.

On September 3rd, the Red Sox had a 9 game lead over the Rays, a seemingly insurmountable lead. But this is baseball, it's not over until the fat lady sings. The fact that the Rays were now tied with the Red Sox was a testament to the Ray's pitching and the utter collapse of the Boston Red Sox.

It didn't look good for the Rays. In the 6th inning, the Rays were down 7-0. Evan Longoria struck out with men on base to end the inning. He couldn't have looked more dejected...he just flipped his bat at home and starting walking out to 3rd base. That's when we decided to leave.

First, it was a school night. It was after 9 PM and it would take about 45 minutes to drop my dad off and another 15 minutes to get home. Second, it was 7-0 and the Rays appeared to have given up. So off we went.

We listened to the game on the way home, hearing that the Red Sox vs. Orioles game was in rain-delay. Dropping me dad off, we watched a little bit of the top of the 8th inning before heading home.

The Rays scored 1 run, 2 runs, 3 runs and had 2 men on base with Longoria coming to bat. I'm thinking he needs to hit a double...home runs are rally-killers (no one is on base...it just "seems" desolate out in the field). Before we could turn onto the freeway, Longoria hits a 3 run homerun to bring the score to 7-6 in the bottom of the 8th. Wow, just wow.

100 MPH on the Veteran's Expressway to get home...

Sitting in front of the TV...we watch the first 2 hitters in the bottom of the 9th make outs. They pinch-hit Dan Johnson, hitting .108 this season. Johnson was pulled up from the minors just a couple of weeks ago:

HE'S BAAACK: The Rays are bringing their lucky charm to Boston, having called up Dan Johnson, whose list of key hits includes the monumental and momentous pinch-homer off Red Sox closer Jonathan Papelbon on Sept. 9, 2008, with the bat mounted in his house as a memento.

Johnson said he'd welcome the chance for history to repeat itself: "I would love to add a bat to the collection, no doubt."

Johnson, 32, was thrilled just to be back in the majors, having been sent down in late May and hampered much of the year by a wrist injury.

With 2 strikes Johnson wrapped one around the right field foul pole to tie the game. LC and I jumped up, hi-fived, screamed and yelled...wow, just wow.

At 11:17, the 10th inning I believe, I sent LC to bed.

Around midnight, the Orioles/Red Sox game had resumed and it was now the bottom of the 9th, with Papelbon in to pitch. He strikes out the first 2 hitters. With 2 strikes, Chris Davis doubled. Nolan Reimold doubled to switch places with Davis, tie game. Then Robert Andino singled to left scoring the pinch-runner giving the Orioles the win.

As this was announced, Longoria was coming to the plate for the Rays (this is how I remember it anyway)...couple of pitches later, he hits a screamer down the left field line barely clearing the left field wall. Rays win, Rays win!

OOW 2011: No Soup For You!

For those that don't understand the reference.

I didn't ask for bread, I didn't break any of the rules...but I will not be attending Oracle OpenWorld this year.

Family matters require that I be home.

I'm sure I've suffered from some level of depression over the years since Kate was born, it hasn't kept me from working (an escape, to be sure), but it has affected me. I don't think I've understood the extent to which it has affected my family, as a whole though.

So I'm taking some time to help where I can.

Of course I'll miss seeing my friends, hanging out with the smart people...in other words, being there.

Family is simply more important.

TFJ: New Bike and Stuff

TFJ = Tired of the Fat Jokes Since purchasing a spinner a few months ago, I've been pretty consistent. I've got a full page of entries now on my workout sheet. I've lost, maybe, 5 or 6 pounds...not great, but I feel a hell of a lot better. I can actually go up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Yay for me. Last weekend I bought a mountain bike, so I could ride around with LC. No Jeff, no cool pedals yet. I'm just getting started. Need I remind you of my heyday? I picked the bike up early Friday morning. LC had asked me to come down to the Y(MCA) to see him swim that afternoon, so I thought that would be a perfect opportunity to break in the new bike. The Y is only a couple of miles away. For normal people. I decided to take the "back" way. Only there wasn't a back way. But I kept going...thinking that at some point I would find a street (I was on the trails, in a park). This park was underwater...well, the roads were. See, I took the back entrance into the park, so I missed the "Road Closed" sign. Every 100 meters or so there was a stretch of trail underwater, for about 100 meters. Did I mention this was my first outdoor ride in ~10 years? After the 2nd or 3rd one, my heart was racing and my arms were killing me. I stopped. Then walked a little. Got back on. Got off. Back on. Finally, the park entrance...and more importantly, a road, a paved road. OMG! I'm like 2 miles north of where I want to be. Make it about a mile. Stop. Half mile. Stop. Finally just push forward, I knew they had sustenance at the Y. I was supposed to be there at 2. I arrived sometime after 3. Bought 2 bottles of Gatorade. Said hi to LC. Went outside and sat down. Exhausted. After about 20 minutes, I gathered up my remaining strength and rode (straight) home. Took 10 minutes. Total time: 2 hours For perspective, this is what I did: Blue line is the direct route to the Y. The red line is the route I took. What can I say? I had no sherpa!

katezilla: 6.56

6.56. That's about how old the little monster is now. She'll be 7 in December. Wow.

Just about a year ago, she had been admitted to the ICU at St. Joseph's Children Hospital. She spent 7 days or so on a ventilator.

Fortunately for her (and us), she's been strong as an ox over the past year. No visits (knock on wood) since then.

There have been a few moments, oh shit moments; she's coughing or congested and we think "oh no..." but nothing serious enough to warrant a visit to the "Man in White."

Where do we stand?

Kate is still not talking, but is making progress, however slow it might be.

I learned today that she knows how to sign "sorry" (as she apparently stabbed her teacher with a pencil today and also smacked one of her friends).

She's still not able to walk up the stairs. That means I am safe, unless she decides to crawl. If I'm on a call around 3, I warn the other participants that I'm about to be attacked by a little monster.

Her hair is super long now and I try to put it in a pony tail every day. She doesn't care much for that, but I try.

She'll be in the 1st grade this year, which boggles the mind. First, she's old enough to be in first grade? Second, WhyTF is she in first grade?

Of course she still lights up a room. As Dad, I am her universe...no pressure there huh? Makes me happy though, tough to complain about that.

Someday I'll get around to starting her charity; currently, if you buy John Piwowar's eBook, that money goes to her. T-Shirt money does too. Let's not forget the tons of money I make from Google for hosting ads!

For now though, I just enjoy.

Dream Job

I saw it posted somewhere recently but I can't remember where.

I originally thought it would be something technology related, but I recently procured myself one of these:



See it in action here:



As a pitcher, I spent a lot of time doing nothing. Take a 3 hour practice. I throw for about 10 or 15 minutes, maybe a little bullpen work, I'm up to 25 minutes. Maybe some PFP (pitchers fielding practice), 40 minutes now. I might be asked to be a runner in situational practice, 1 hour. That leaves 2 hours. That time is spent shagging baseballs during batting practice (BP). While it can be fun, it can also be incredibly boring, especially if you're stuck on home run duty (all alone across the street).

I fought that boredom by becoming really good at hitting ground balls to infielders during BP. Freshman year, coach had wooden fungo bats. He wouldn't let anyone use them because we might break them. What did I do? I used them. I didn't break them either.

The pinnacle of being good with a fungo bat is probably the ability to hit pop-ups for the catcher, you know, the ones straight up that curve back towards the field. I can do that.

I've been hitting fungo to the 7-8 year olds where I'm the assistant coach. Sometimes I'll hit them hard, mostly soft, but I just remember how much fun it was.

Wait, one more thing to go along with that. BP pitcher. I throw great batting practice (I'm not sure if that's was a good or bad thing career wise, obviously doesn't matter now). It's fulfilling to be able to throw strikes and see how far people can hit them.

There it is, my dream job. Fungo hitter and BP pitcher.

I wonder if the Rays are hiring and if they'll pay me enough to support my family?

katezilla: surgery update

I used Storify for this one, I hope it turns out OK.

Expert Oracle APEX

I'm a bit of a fan of APEX; haven't used it consistently in a while but I think it's a great tool. I've annoyed many managers/DBAs about getting it installed and configured for use...most of that to no avail.

Many years ago, almost 6 to be exact, I decided to port my business' J2EE app over to APEX and I needed hosting. Still relatively new, the market was small. Through the forums, I found John Scott and ShellPrompt. It took a few months to write the J2EE application from scratch, it took less than 2 weeks of off-hours work to port. I hosted my site there for a year, maybe a little longer. During that time, John was pure awesome. I blogged about John's customer service once, but that was another life and the blog no longer exists. We have met IRL, but have yet to have a beer together, I'm pretty sure he owes me at least 4 now.

Anyway, John has put together a new book, Expert Oracle Application Express which is a joint effort by some 14 different APEX authors.



While the content must be outstanding, the best part is that all funds will be donated to the families of 2 men, Carl Backstrom and Scott Spadafore. Both men worked for Oracle on the APEX team. Both men were incredibly involved in the community. Both were highly regarded in that community.


John blog's about it here.

If you use APEX, new to APEX, or just want to know WTF it is, go out and (pre)order this book now. Not only do you get a great resource, but you get to help out the families of Carl and Scott.

katezilla: Rock Star

Of course I think my daughter is a rock star. Don't you?



It's been a little while since I have written about Kate, so here goes.

One of the awesome things about OOW this year...just about everybody I met asked about Kate. How cool is that? You guys are some pretty awesome people.

Kate has been doing well...nothing major to report over the last couple of months, until today.

Today was our follow-up visit with Dr. Sutton of Butterfly Effects. Back in February, we had a rather...poor performance from another doctor. He took our money and didn't really provide us with anything; no direction, no "I don't know", no nothing really. "I don't know" is just fine with us. If there is anything we've learned with Kate...she appears to be quite unique...so "I don't know" is perfectly acceptable. Funny how that ties in with IT isn't it? (no, I'm too lazy to explain that one)

Back to Dr. Sutton and today's visit.

We were aware that Dr. Sutton had already spoken to Kate's teacher and her Speech Therapist, way more than the previous doctor. Good sign. We met her at her office this morning at spent almost 2 hours there. She allowed us to vent (boy, you don't want to get either of us talking about Kate and her history and our plans...we'll go on forever). She took notes. She asked questions that she missed the first time.

The best part (weird, I know), Kate actually got a diagnosis. PDD-NOS. Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified. In essence, Autism.

(Small dig: The first doctor said she didn't have PDD...thanks buddy.)

So what does this mean?

Means lots of goodness.

We now have a diagnosis. Yes, it might seem weird to be happy about something like this...but we've been searching for the longest time. It's...just a relief.

Mentally. Something to hang our hat on. Something to work towards getting her as functional as possible. Hope.

Financially. With no diagnosis, insurance doesn't cover many of her services. By many I mean almost all of them. PT, OT, Speech, her Home Health Aid (new acquisition). That's almost all out of pocket. Not sure why we pay for health insurance...it hasn't done us much good (well...just in regards to Kate).

Kate. Kate will now qualify for more. More services. Better services. More services too. She'll have access to a host of organizations now that will be able to help her (and us).

So we're excited! katezilla, Rock Star!

Twitter as Social Support

Many of you know I went through a bit of a family crisis recently. My 5 1/2 year daughter Kate was hospitalized, then put in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and soon after that, put on a ventilator. Not only is it remarkable how fast it all went down but also how fast she recovered. Within a little over 24 hours after being removed from the ventilator, she was sent home.

Over the years, people have asked how I can air my grievances/likes/dislikes/personal stuff/etc openly via this blog. I have never really had a good answer...usually something about taking control of my online persona comes out...

Over these same few years, I've been privately contacted by many people. Some completely random; like recently, a mother who's 1 year old daughter was going in for the first of a few syndactyly surgeries and then others, who read the blog, who have similar family situations (a sick child) or know someone close to them that does.

I've gotten quite a lot out of those encounters...something I would never have been able to get had I just kept to myself.

So here's one argument for putting personal stuff "out there." Support.






















































































In case you weren't counting, there are 83 replies there. A couple of duplicates. Most of you, I have never met in real life.

Pardon my language, but how fucking cool is that? You all rock!