It's been quite a while since my last post. This doesn't mean that I haven't done anything, but more that I've actually been working on "real life" issues, rather than studying.
Over the last few weeks I've had a few assignments with customers, so my MEEP has suffered. I have tried to read a little at night and over weekends, but the progress has slowed.
I started Dan Tow's "SQL Tuning" and worked my way through the first 8 chapters. I must admit that the diagramming etc. didn't come easy for me. In an attempt to "consume" more MEEP I've put the book back on the shelf, and picked up Cary Millsap's "Optimizing Oracle Performance". This book has give me a lot of insight into the raw trace file, and how to understand what is collected during extended SQL trace.
I've also had use of details from the book in trying to solve a performance issue for a customer I visit regularly. It has helped me understand the explain plans and how they are manipulated better.
I hope to finish the book over the Easter break and then take a stab at "Oracle Design" by Ensor and Stevenson.
As far as the MEEP curriculum, I still have a few of the newer books left. In addition to "Oracle Design" I also have to read "Relational Database Index Design and the Optimizers" by Lahdenmäki/Leach, finish Dan Tow, the YAPP paper and also Toon Koppelars "Building Robust Applications in a DB centric Environment".
The bad news is that my MEEP period is over at the end of March. Right now it's not looking pretty for me!!!!
I'll return when more books have been completed. Until then, enjoy your Easter.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Time flies....
Monday, March 3, 2008
Hitting the wall !
I've never run a marathon, but last year I made my best effort (so far). With weekly trips of 17K I felt I was on track. In my preperations I talked to friends who has finished the dreaded 42,125K and heard about "hitting the wall". Their description was kinda like "everything was OK, according to schedule. I was tired but doing OK and then all of a sudden my body was drained. Everything hurt and I couldn't focus on running anymore". Even though I never pushed my body to that extent, over the 17K runs I imagined what it would be like. The ironic point is that most were within the last 10K or less.
As far as MEEP goes, I'm afraid that I'm close to hitting the wall! I've looked over the initial MEEP schedule, and I'm pretty close to finishing what was mentioned in that first curriculum. I'm confident that I could have finished that within the first 3 months, looking at it from where I stand now. The ironic thing about this is, that the scope of my MEEP has changed. The finish line has been moved while I've been running.
Now another 4 books (1741 pages) have been added, moving the finishing line so far out in the distance that I seriously doubt that I can cross it within the allotted time.
Further more I'm worried as to the direction I'm going. In a real marathon the course is clearly marked, people line the streets and at tricky intersections special markers indicate the direction to run. As for MEEP, I don't see the course as clearly. We have all been given the challenge to read and increase our knowledge, but the structure has not been clear to me at all times. I'm afraid that I spend too much time on one thing, and won't make it through something even more important. On the other hand I'm forced to move forward at a breathtaking pace if I'm to have even a remote chance of finishing all the material within the time set aside for this.
The hands-on exercise was actually really good. Even though it sounds like we hugely disappointed Mogens, us MEEP'ers all agree that it was very good and we all learned new things there. As for James Morle I was greatly impressed. I only knew his name from peeking at his book and from chapter 8 of "Tales of the Oak Table". I was perhaps expecting a bit more Bill Gates, both in appearance and age but what I found was perhaps more Ewan McGregor. A really cool guy probably not much older than myself with alot of knowledge and still giving us the impression that we were all seeing eye to eye. A pleasant surprise :)
As a final note on my progress, I'm halfway through Dan Tow's "SQL Tuning". I find this book very "dry" and have opted to switch it for Cary Millsaps "Optimizing Oracle Performance". Desperately scrambling for progress and knowledge. Perhaps also hoping that the advice of the Cheshira Cat in Alice in Wonderland holds true "if you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there”
As far as MEEP goes, I'm afraid that I'm close to hitting the wall! I've looked over the initial MEEP schedule, and I'm pretty close to finishing what was mentioned in that first curriculum. I'm confident that I could have finished that within the first 3 months, looking at it from where I stand now. The ironic thing about this is, that the scope of my MEEP has changed. The finish line has been moved while I've been running.
Now another 4 books (1741 pages) have been added, moving the finishing line so far out in the distance that I seriously doubt that I can cross it within the allotted time.
Further more I'm worried as to the direction I'm going. In a real marathon the course is clearly marked, people line the streets and at tricky intersections special markers indicate the direction to run. As for MEEP, I don't see the course as clearly. We have all been given the challenge to read and increase our knowledge, but the structure has not been clear to me at all times. I'm afraid that I spend too much time on one thing, and won't make it through something even more important. On the other hand I'm forced to move forward at a breathtaking pace if I'm to have even a remote chance of finishing all the material within the time set aside for this.
The hands-on exercise was actually really good. Even though it sounds like we hugely disappointed Mogens, us MEEP'ers all agree that it was very good and we all learned new things there. As for James Morle I was greatly impressed. I only knew his name from peeking at his book and from chapter 8 of "Tales of the Oak Table". I was perhaps expecting a bit more Bill Gates, both in appearance and age but what I found was perhaps more Ewan McGregor. A really cool guy probably not much older than myself with alot of knowledge and still giving us the impression that we were all seeing eye to eye. A pleasant surprise :)
As a final note on my progress, I'm halfway through Dan Tow's "SQL Tuning". I find this book very "dry" and have opted to switch it for Cary Millsaps "Optimizing Oracle Performance". Desperately scrambling for progress and knowledge. Perhaps also hoping that the advice of the Cheshira Cat in Alice in Wonderland holds true "if you don’t know where you are going any road will take you there”
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