Oracle Bloggers Meetup, Tuesday

As I read Mark Rittman's excellent blog, I was aware that he was organising some kind of meetup for Oracle bloggers. His blog on Tuesday had a reminder about it, and as I was free and in the area, I thought I would head down there. It was also an excellent excuse to sample the wares at the Thirsty Bear pub and maybe grab some tips while I was at it.
I had no idea what to expect but Mark's invitational post had said 'if you've got an Oracle blog, come along'. I guessed there would be maybe 20 or 30 people and I would be able to hang out on the edges and keep a low profile. That's not how it turned out.
So, I turned up at the allotted time, and as soon as I mentioned Oracle I was ushered upstairs to a private party being thrown by (or for?) the Oracle Product Managers. I didn't realise this until I tried to pay for my beer and was told my money was no good. I went downstairs and tried again to find out where the bloggers party was - I had no idea what any of them looked like.
So, I pulled up a stool at the bar and settled in to wait and see what transpired. It wasn't long before I realised this was going nowhere. I thought "what I need is some kind of sign". My first thought was to write something on a piece of paper and hang it on my back. No pen, no paper. Then it hit me: set up a marquee screensaver on my laptop and wait for them to come to me. Unfortunately, OpenSuse Linux 10.1 doesn't ship with a marquee screensaver, so I had to settle for a really large font in InkScape. I started typing, "Looking for Bloggers Meetup: Lost". Before I had even finished, Mark tapped me on the shoulder and introduced himself - they were standing right behind me.
Anyway, it was a great night, with quite a few beers rounded off with a curry.