It's Been a Long Time

My last blog post was a tribute to Scott Spadafore. A year and a half before, I also offered tribute to another close friend and APEX guru, Carl Backstrom. I have had a hard time getting past the loss of these two friends. Such a hard time that this is my first post in over a year--my first since Scott's haiku. I have started to write many posts, but none seemed worthy of moving Scott's haiku down the page. Scott was a pillar of the Oracle community--not just Application Express, though he certainly dominated that arena.

The passing of these two friends was a loss to many others as well. Several months ago John Scott had a grand idea. He gathered together over a dozen people who had benefited from the work of Carl and Scott, who had enjoyed success because of their efforts, and had become friends with Carl, Scott and each other through the APEX community. John suggested that we jointly write a book, in Carl and Scott's memory, and donate the author royalties to the funds established for Carl's and Scott's children. I was honored to be included in this group.

John's blog provides the full list of authors and more info about the book, Expert Oracle Application Express. I offer my thanks to John for coordinating this project, and to all of the contributors.