Sun Tech Days FY08: Manila
Back in June, I attended the Tech Days in Manila, running the OpenSolaris
track. For anyone who hasn't attended one of Sun's Tech Days events, this Sun developer conference is run in various locations throughout the year, usually about 10-15 of them, spread around the globe, Manila being the last event of these in FY08.
If you want to find out more about the Sun Tech Days, check out this URL: http://developers.sun.com/events/techdays/
The event ran for three days, encompassing various tracks: Enterprise; Desktop; Java; OpenSolaris; Sys-Admin; Web 2.0 & Hands on Labs (HoL), plus a NetBeans DeepDive & a University Day.
Build Up
My role at the event was to prepare for & ensure that, the OpenSolaris
track, which ran over two days, went smoothly. That included running rehearsals, ensuring all the freebies for hurling into the audience were
where they should be, the Ultra 20 systems for the prize draw had
arrived and marshaling (no pun intended) the speakers to make sure there
were in the right place at the right time.
Rehearsals the evening before the first day started at 6:30pm & were...
interesting. One of my speakers disappeared, another was late and two
others couldn't get their laptops working with the projector system. It was 9pm before finally everything was working properly!
The Event
I started work at 7:15am the next day & was completely bowled over by the
sheer enthusiasm of the delegates, who were queued up outside even at
that time in the morning! Most of them were university students or young
developers & their response to Sun was unlike anything I'd seen before
and I was completely unprepared for the way we were received in Manila.
Sun is exceedingly popular in the Philippines and if you work
for Sun, it seems you are seen as somewhat of a celebrity. Sun speakers were
received with enthusiastic applause and when t-shirts & stress-balls
were thrown from the stage, the crowd went wild, literally jumping over
each other to grab a prize!
Day 1 ended with a Welcome Reception that ran on until about 9pm. All the organisers attend although we were very tired by then. The kids were so excited about having us there,
they insisted on taking turns having their pictures taken with us (even
me!). It was a very strange and amusing situation, being mobbed for
photos; not, I would imagine, unlike being a rock star!
The event as a whole was very successful with in excess of 1600 delegates and considering that the majority of delegates were there for the Java sessions, the OpenSolaris track captured the attention of up to a respectable 350 of those attending.
Although it was an exhausting experience, it was very enjoyable.
Manila
Manila itself was hot sticky & bustling. Despite spending most of my time in the air conditioned venue running around like the proverbial blue-ar**d fly, I was finally able to venture out into the city where I found the people to be friendly, polite and very welcoming. With English being the main language spoken in the Philippines (all lessons at school are taught in English), it felt pretty comfortable being a foreigner there.
I was lucky enough
to spend my birthday there and as the event had finished the previous
day, so I booked myself on a tour of Metro Manila & Intramuros, the
walled city.
Manila American Cemetery & Memorial
Our first stop was Manila American Cemetery & Memorial - the largest cemetery in the
Pacific of Americans killed during WWII. It is located about six miles
SW of Manila in the grounds of the former U.S. Army Fort William
McKinley (now Fort Bonifacio). There are in excess of 17000
soldiers interred at the cemetery with thousands more named on the
memorial who's remains have not been found.
Intramuros
At Intramuros, we saw a red monument marking the place where executions of local people were carried out by the Spanish however National hero, Jose Rizal was executed outside the walls of the city as an example to the local people. We saw the footprints that mark the steps taken by Rizal on the way to his
place of execution, outside the walls of Intramuros. His feet weren't
shackled and yet the steps are placed close together. It is supposed
that he was trying to prolong his final moments on Earth by walking as
slowly as possible.
Manila Cathedral
Our last stop on the tour was Manila Cathedral. Despite looking like a fairly ordinary church, it's history is far from mundane. Below is a word-for-word copy of a plaque on the outside wall of the building:
Roman Catholic Cathedral of Manila
First Cathedral built in 1851. Damaged by a typhoon 1852, and destroyed by fire 1853. Second Cathedral built of stone in 1592 and partially destroyed by earthquake 1600. Third Cathedral built in 1614 and destroyed by the earthquake of 1645. Fourth Cathedral magnificently built 1654-1671 by Archbishop Miguel Poblete and destroyed by the earthquake of 3 June 1863. Fifth Cathedral built in 1870-1879 under architects Luciano Oliver, Vincente Serrano Salaverria and Educardo Lopez Navarro and solemnly blessed in December 1879. The center of the cross on the dome is a reference point of astronomical longitudes of the archipelago destroyed during the battle of Manila in 1945. Sixth Cathedral reconstructed 1954-1958 under the direction of Archbishop Rufino J. Santos of Manila mainly with the support of the people. Fernando Ocampo, Architect.
All my photo's from the tour are on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51132&l=0e8da&id=766953697 & http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=51148&l=b70c5&id=766953697
