Meeting my Fans

I have a lot of fans and sometimes I simply don't get time to see them all. At OOW I missed seeing Sean Tucker from Team Oracle, this is a man I admire not only is he famous for his flying skills but he takes time out to spend with his fans, he is 'down to earth' .... well when he is not 'up in the air' something I aspire to be.



So when I missed the chance of catching up with him at OOW, I was still feeling poorly after my operation (see previous post) Sean took time out to donate a signed cap to me. Then to make sure he knew how he felt about me he allowed Steve Romeo to make this little video. It is a bit dark but if you turn it up loud you can hear Sean talk about me, The great Stanley.

A Belated Happy Birthday

Before Oracle Open World got going we had the ACE party, it was fantastic and even better we got to celebrate the birthday of our beloved leader Justin Kestelyn . Lillian and Vikky arranged the best birthday cake ever with a fantastic picture of him in icing. But what do I as a simple vest give a man such as this?

My friends Mogens and Dan thought I should do something very special and give him something that means a lot to me. They came up with the idea of making a T Shirt that actually included a bit of me. I love Justin a lot but giving him part of me is possibly a bit too much. The idea was that I would supply the ACE for Justin's T Shirt.

But then I thought about it, people give kidneys to the ones they love and so I could do the same. I went through the 'live donor operation' and was glad that during OOW I could sit on my special chair and take things easy. Debra carried out the operation and was quite gentle, her stitching was very neat and if you and I become special friends I may one day show you my scar.

Big Apology from Stanley

I went to Oracle open World expecting to blog everyday, when I get together with my friends I normally get involved in a few escapades but this time I was so busy. I had to be there for my fans, I had my chair in the OTN lounge and I had stickers and cards to give out. I saw so many people wearing the 'I love Stanley' stickers.

I did have my own unconference session, it was a small crowd but I enjoyed it, the chance to talk about me, the ACE program and OTN.

I got to show off some holiday snaps and reminise about all the places I have been in the last year. Denmark, Finland, Sweden, UK, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Israel etc. I have had such a great time.

The Original ACE Director

Not only am I the original ACE Director but I am also acknowledged officially.

I am so pleased and when you check out my entry look around at all my friends the other ACEs.




If you are at OOW please look out for me I will be in the OTN area all week, come by, have your photo taken with me and get one of my business cards.

Stanley's dive vacation

As I've been working very hard and non-stop since leaving my homeland Vietnam, Debra and Dan finally relented and allowed me to go on vacation. It just so happened that Dan was headed on a scuba vacation (surprise!) with my friend Mogens. It was a live aboard trip which means that you board a boat from land and then spend the entire trip on the boat where your only priorities are eating, sleeping, diving, and occasionally having one drink (after finishing diving for the day, of course).

My adventure continued on this trip. I did go on several dives and Dan snapped a few pictures of me meeting some new friends. First, Mogens wanted to have (another) picture taken with me (who doesn't really?).

I got to meet a great looking barracuda who didn't look very friendly, but also didn't seem the least bit interested in me (which is unusual--most other beings are very interested in me).


There was one part of the trip that made me a little uncomfortable, but no one else seemed to mind much. That was when my new friend Anne made her 300th dive somewhere in the middle of the trip. To celebrate, my friends took their scuba gear and me on a "special" dive. They didn't take anything else ifyouknowwhatImean. It was all good fun and I served as a witness and also as a rash guard for Mogens on this "special" dive. Luckily, the water was warm, so I didn't get cold and my friends enjoyed "hanging out" too.It was very strange, but other than Dan and Mogens, most of the people on the boat didn't really have much interest in meeting me or having photos taken with me. I guess sometimes it's nice not to be a celebrity and enjoy just blending in with the rest of the crowd.

Of course, in their endless pursuit to cause me some pain on every trip, there was an incident where I took a little good-natured abuse. See for yourself.


I didn't go on every dive, but if I did, I would have been glad not to have any pants since I would have peed them when Dan caught this video.

I'm very excited about my trip to OOW09 coming up in about a month. I recently spent a few days in a very small space and traveled all the way back to my friend Debra in Belfast, so I'll have to share some of that experience soon.