Monday, January 14, 2008

I got tagged in the Oracle Blogsphere tag game by Shay Shmeltzer so here goes my entry of 8 things you didn't know about me.

1. In 1973 I was sent from Reading, UK to live on a cotton farm and attend high school in Arkansas, USA for a year by AFS Intercultural Scholarships. At the end of the year I was inducted as an Arkansas Traveler. Even now I drop into an Arkansas drawl the minute I reach the Delta - love it!

2. This started my love affair with Blues. It grew and developed after I met my husband, Scott, through his research for the original writers of songs recorded by such great guitarists as Rory Gallagher. In about 1986 during a blues festival holiday in Memphis (TN) we met some people who have become our great friends: David and Liz Berntson who, earlier in the year, had founded the Tulsa Blues Society. Also first met Paul Jones who was in Memphis to cover the festival for BBC Radio. As a result of these meetings we arrived home to find Paul had talked about our ideas on air and we started the British Blues Connection and the magazine Blueprint.

3. During over 10 years of the British Blues Connection and Blueprint, we became the first overseas Blues organization to be affiliated to the Blues Foundation and were Keeping The Blues Alive award winners in 1990. In the late 1990s we passed the UK blues gauntlet over to Blues In Britain

4. I love music, singing and dancing. From working the amateur chorus lines in productions like Lady Be Good in my 20s (when I was younger, thinner and more flexible!) to singing and dancing with blues men or my fab musical family or anyone who will let me. One of my special blues moments is dancing on stage with Willie Dixon when he presented us with our KBA Award in 1990. But it's not just about Blues, I love music - from Karaoke to Kraftwerk, Blues to Bartok and all the Kings (Elvis, Freddie, Albert, James, Frank, Bob ....)

5. I love to travel. I'm not sure I'll ever make the Traveler's Century Club (think I'm at about 35 currently) but I like to take every travel opportunity (whether work or leisure related!) Last year I added South Korea and China to my list and this year, as well as Europe and the USA, we will be in Rio to celebrate the wedding of our good friends: Blues man Alamo Leal and Mariza Lopez

6. My first personal computer was an Mac SE30 Bought this in 1989 when Blueprint became a magazine that could no longer be pasted and photocopied on my office copier but had to become more sophisticated as its readership grew. I learned how to use Adobe Pagemaker and spent many long, long nights waiting for the tiny screen to refresh as I moved across its 32 pages adding articles (Scott was the editor) and leaving space to paste in the photos. This was also the time of my introduction to 'programming'. I used spreadsheets and macros to maintain the subscription list and create mailing labels. At the time I thought I had designed a database!

7. Oracle is my second career. In my 20s I was a Financial Controller for a SME US company in the UK and started up subsidiaries in France and Germany for them. In my young, thrusting days I was even a finalist in the UK 'Young Career Woman of the Year' (can't remember which year - didn't get far). Later I took a Computer Science degree (for fun) and decided to try life at Oracle - the rest is history!

8. I have two favourite types of footwear! In the summer it's hard to imagine not being in flip-flops. I have many, many pairs - including High Havaianas that can make that awkward transition from shorts to cocktail dress ;-) In the winter I move into cowboy boots - the most comfortable footwear ever. But be sure to get a good brand. For me that has to be the Ariat.

So, if you see a flip-flop carrying, cowboy boot wearing, laptop hauling Oracle Product Manager demoing with blues-inspired examples - be sure to say "hi y'all"

I hate chain letters but who am I to deny you the opportunity to join the fun? So I tag Sue Harper, Kuassi Mensah, Doug Clarke, Eric Rajkovic, Brian Duff (sorry)