Chick Pizz, Lahore, Pakistan

Chick Pizz. Abbreviation?


Ready to serve mister ...


Waseem Khokhar - working for IBM in Pakistan. A busy man. Doing his best to keep IBM Business Partners satisfied, selling and working with IBM software. Has a young family and loves hiking on Pakistani mountains. (Google's Blogger is pretty reliable, but original post was unfortunately lost and that's all I can remember from our Chick Pizz lunch after a really long time)


Funeral procession on the main street.

Cocoo's Den & Cafe, Lahore, Pakistan

Shisha place. Relaxed. After Cocoo's Den.


Cooco's Den is full of artifacts. Variety.


After Cocoo's shisha chillin' with Hasan and Muneeza. It was "fit", "tight" and it "clicked". Pakistani slang.


Cocoo's Den is pretty famous. Read the story about the Cocoo's Den in Time.com article. Very interesting story involving a painter and Lahore's Red Light district.


Red light district. Home of Cocoo's Den.


Hasan Zaid works for Roma Business Machines taking care of IBM Software. His wife Muneeza Hasan is in brokerage business and is about to help open JP Morgan office in Pakistan. Moneeza took Hasan's first name for her last name. They do that. We had Tawa Chicken and Brain Masala - goat's brain .. yummy & brainy :) Hasan is Karachi born, worked for a while in UK where he also finished Oxford Brookes University. Prior to Roma he also worked for Jaffar Brothers and ITP in Dubai. Muneeza has a MBA in Finance from University of Karachi. She worked for AKD before deciding to start with new JP Morgan office in Karachi. He plays basket, they both play card games and enjoy movies and books. With unlimited time&money Hasan would buy Arsenal and would manage it.


They cook on the street and lift the food up on the roof to serve it.


Did you know that blind people also play cricket? http://www.blindcricket.org.uk/ They hear the ball. Amazing.

Pearl Continental Hotel, Lahore, Pakistan

Interesting and interested audience listening to new things.


Unnecessary crowd and cues at the airport incoming control. An issue that most of developing countries need to sort out to improve the first impression of visitors.


Well prepared venue. Pakistanis are very hospitable.


Shahjahan Larik - an enthusiastic and ambitious young man, techie in his heart and with a lot of marketing and sales skills. Currently taking care of IBM Software Sales in Pakistan.


Beetroot juice. A potent potion.

Fatafeet Cafe, Siemens building, Internet City, Dubai

Dubai by night. Amazing city.




Artificial, yet very nice lagoon amid office buildings. 20th November - the very first time in 2006 that it actually rained in Dubai. We had to change tables to get away from the rain. Imagine that.


Predrag Lucic (Lučić) will take care of your IBM Tivoli services needs. He was born in Prijepolje in Serbia, was raised and lived in Ljubljana and recently moved to Dubai to work for IBM office here. After finishing Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Slovenia he worked for Fotona, Cading and IBM. Has 2 kids well on their way to be independent soon. Golf enthusiast - Dubai being one of the best places for that. Also tennis and football. He devours books - one of the latest: From Science To God by Peter Russell. His path leads him to more non-business travel, even more golf, and even more research below nano and beyond consciousness. And Pedjo (as Predrag is called by friends) is not a "cicija".

Costa Coffee, Dell building, Internet City, Dubai

There is a tedious and almost hilarious process for getting Saudi Visa in place. There is also a very interesting Visa story for Schengen Visa. You get it incrementally first for one entry, then for multiple entry, then for longer period etc. But all your "miles" don't mean anything if you switch embassies. Our dear EU also has a lot of room for improvement.


Nicely decorated Hummer. Ad.


Nadim Nakkash is a very interesting, nice and fun guy. I've met him during IBM Sales School with bunch of his friends from Lebanon. He is 100% Lebanese, currently living and working in IBM Middle East office in Dubai. Selling IBM System X boxes. After graduation from American University of Beirut and completing his Army service, he joined IBM. He's just started his MBA at Warwick. He travels a lot on business and also private. When flying around Europe he is always "randomly" selected by Airport Security staff, for some additional treatment :) He has a bike: BMW F650 CS and he rides through Arab desert to Fujairah with friends. Once he will switch his mind off regular work for a long time, he will go traveling and meeting interesting people.


Though most of Dubai is artificially made, it still does look very nice. Including office buildings and surroundings.


Nadim works for IBM, but the best coffee is in Costa Coffee place in DELL building :) This is why we went there. Nadim claims that Costa is better than Starbucks. Who would argue.

JB Restaurant, Ljubljana, Slovenia

JB Restaurant is a very nice place. Very good food, wine and ambient. I was enjoying a nice dinner with guys from S&T, a prosperous IT company operating in Central and Eastern Europe.


Mitja Podlesnik is running Managed Services department in S&T in Slovenia. He's a native from Ljubljana, used to work for ITS Intertrade which was acquired by S&T. He has two sons and he likes skiing and running. With enough time and money he would travel more, have an estate and among other things have bees.


Andrej Zimsek (Zimšek) is also a part of Managed Services team at S&T and will be overlooking the S&T IBM Tivoli Competence Center. Born, raised and still based in Celje. He graduated at FERI where he also continued his postgraduate study. If due to excess money early retirement would hit him, he would probably be building basic things out of basic tools and materials. Imagination is limitation.


Karl Promberger is also a very interesting guy from Villach in Kaernten in Austria. He is working for Austrian S&T HQ, overseeing Managed Services division in the region. He worked for Infineon, Siemens, T-Mobile, BillByClick and RZB, before joining S&T. His free, non-S&T time he spends playing hockey, practicing joga, trekking and mountaineering and taking care of his sisters in Villach. His plans for the time when he will have too much time and money are not yet define. He would create, make plans, execute .. same as today.

Glazuta, Hypo Alpe Adria Bank building, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The guy on the right is Sergej Olujic (Olujić). Dentist. Born in Ljubljana with Dalmatian/Serbian blood in his veins tying him to Zadar. As he was finishing his stomatology study, he took the view from above as a tourist guide. Now he is taking looks from inside (of mouth that is). He spends considerable amount of time each year traveling, hiking ad reading (recently Coelho). With his friends he is making sure that investment bubbles are inflating :) With excess of time and money, he would buy a yacht/sailing boat, continuously go around the world and stopping in carnival rich places. Meanwhile he will grow spiritually and have his first dental office in space. Life is and will be in colours. The guy on the left side is also a dentist. Dentist-o-rama.

Kulinar, FE/FRI, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Jurij Mihelic (Mihelič), teaching assistant at FRI. He lives at Vrhpolje near Kamnik. His uncle Polde Mihelic is a semi-famous painter. Jurij graduated at FRI, did some various programming, was junior researcher and is still at FRI. I guess he likes it here. He loves mountaineering, running, reading books - this year Cankar is his favourite. With all the time and money in the world, he would own an island with a house and broad Internet connection. He would immerse in research (most probably in the computer operating system area) only to go into civilization from time to time.





Faculty where the next generation computer talents are brewed. At least that's the idea.


Finally they included pizzas. They did not have it while I was a student here.

Pri Mari, Kamnik pod Krimom, Slovenia

A nice old style gostilna.




Marko Femc, CFO of construction company Plan-Net.A long time resident and former councillor of Litija is now living in Ljubljana.He used to work for several brokerage companies, among others also GBD and Medvešek Pušnik. He worked for Mobitel and Trimo. He has 1 year old daughter Zoja Lia, started playing golf and contemplate different investments. With no daily obligations he would create. New ideas, anything anywhere. Toward becoming old wise guy.

Skriti Kot, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Martina G - teacher of Slovene language. Born in Maribor, raised in Menges and Ljubljana. Amonger other roles also my sister. She has a degree from Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana, and holds a M.Sc. degree in Management from Manchester Metropolitan University. She used to work as a tour guide, taught in private school, is active in lectorship and has written several articles. Her free time is consumed in large chunks by her two year old daughter Eneja. The rest of it goes for shopping, reading and being a true friend by helping to solve problems that her friends have at any given time. With additional money and time she would start her own magazine, private school, evening private college for men focused on topic "How to treat women". She might also open a travel agency for more feminine public and learn how to make very good cocktails. And she will probably write a book or two - starting with fairy tales.

Skriti Kot is a nice restaurant with salad bar in an old piano. Innovative.

Location is not one of the best (Skriti Kot means hidden corner - and it is hidden indeed), but this restaurant is nevertheless a recommendation.