blob data, Oracle JDBC

Sun provides a document that explains how to use
binary large objects (blobs) in JDBC
http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/docs/guide/jdbc/blob.html
If you plan to use Oracle's JDBC driver, you will discover
that Oracle provides a proprietary API for working with
the Oracle BLOB column type.
Oracle provides a document that explains some of the details
"JDBC Developer's Guide and Reference Release 2 (9.2)"
In chapter 8, the document explains how to work with
BLOB data and Oracle's oracle.sql.BLOB class
While working with Oracle's JDBC driver, I followed
the Oracle instructions for BLOB's but I could
not get it to work.
Ultimately, I realized that Oracle's instructions are
incomplete.
I also had to do the following:
--> setAutocommit(false) on the JDBC connection
--> add " FOR UPDATE" to the end of my SELECT statement
--> call commit() on the JDBC connection