I hope Joel doesn't mind that I used this image here to commemorate #JoelKallmanDay. This picture was posted by our dear friend, Joel Kallman, in 2019. Shortly after Mike Hichwa was presented with the first coin in the first series of the Oracle APEX Challenge Coin.
Doug Gault had suggested a while ago that I could bring more awareness to the Oracle APEX Challenge Coin project if I had an Oracle APEX application that plots the location of each sponsored coin on a world map. I agree. However, aside from a lack of time, I had also wanted to find interesting ways for awardees to submit their claim of ownership. Over the last week, I had worked on making this dream of a "claims" map a reality with the use of the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) Vision AI service, more specifically, its custom model training feature.
Here's an early preview of the claims process in the Claim My Oracle APEX Challenge Coin application.
My personal journey with programming started more than two decades ago. Back then, the one language that I was very passionate and determined to master was Java. Early in my career, I would find any opportunity to attend a Sun Microsystems event like the Sun Tech Days, where I had the opportunity to learn about the constantly evolving platform that went from desktop, to enterprise and then on mobile devices. I can still remember watching the cool things you could do with Lego Mindstorms and an embedded Java runtime, and the vision that JXTA was going to revolutionise the Internet of Things with its state-of-the-art, peer-to-peer technology.
Probably too late for New Year greetings, but not if you also celebrate the Lunar New Year that's coming really soon. For readers who, like me, celebrate this festival, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish you 新年快乐，万事如意!
It's now been almost a year since the APEX Challenge Coin was released, and I must say, it's made 2019 a year to remember!
My #ThanksOGB will be short and sweet!
Most in the community probably don't know, but I am a sucker for military stories and even more crazy about hard-to-find memorabilia. Earlier this year, I took a gamble and started a little social experiment and minted a small batch of APEX Challenge Coins.
The coins demonstrated our deep appreciation for APEX developers who have impacted our lives. Through the process of distributing them worldwide, I was blessed to have basked in the warmth of givers and the happiness of receivers. Words cannot describe the emotions and joy I felt each time someone opens his or her little mail packet to find a gift of gratitude.
So... for my #ThanksOGB appreciation post this year, I wanted to express again, my heartfelt gratitude to all APEX Challenge Coin sponsors for making this project a success. Thank you for supporting APEX developers!
Late last year, I started binge watching the entire four seasons of The Last Ship. It was one of the rare TV serials that my wife and I shared a common interest in. I think this was mostly because the first season was centered around the ship and its crew's fight against total human annihilation by an infectious disease. For me though, it was also about the military hardware and camaraderie amongst the soldiers.