Despite an annoying 3 hour flight delay from Heathrow (and no, I wasn’t connecting there, I was leaving from there), I’m here in San Francisco and Santa Clara again ready for the MySQL User Conference 2009.

I obviously have my four presentations to get through, and there will be plenty of other stuff going on at the conference both in terms of other presentations, the show floor, the booths, and the Birds of a Feather sessions (which are terrific fun).

But mostly, I see the UC2009 as the best opportunity to meet up with both other MySQL/Sun people, our customers, and the community at large and talk about the thing we are all passionate about – MySQL and the technologies surrounding it.

And I don’t care if that sounds goofy. Nothing beats talking to face to face with like minded individuals, and one thing that MySQL – and Sun – seems to engender is an extreme passion about the products we deliver that I don’t always see in other products or companies. That means the talk is always interesting and intelligent, and, when it needs to be, good fun.

To anybody attending, welcome to the fun and enjoy the experience. To those not coming, you really are missing something.