Hard Rock Cafe, Zlote Tarasy, Warsaw, Poland

Hard Rock Cafe in Warsaw boasts a lot of clothing items of famous stars. Sonny Bono likes it furry.


A-mazing cheese cake. A must taste when in Hard Rock in Warsaw.


Hard Rock Cafe was opened on February 8 2007. Very new, very crowded. Aspiring place.


Bartek Machnik - bringing new software business to IBM from investment account customers. Born and raised in Kielce and later moved to Warsaw for university education. He finished Faculty of Economics at University of Warsaw - majoring in Banking and Finance. During his study he did some website development jobs and later joined IBM. He took care of IBM Channel partners and Websphere software business. He has 7 month old son Jan. He likes to go skiing every year and he is a big fan of F1 - this year his heart is beating for BMW Sauber F1 team since they have a Polish driver on board: Robert Kubica. His last book was about 3rd Reich in the light of Nuremberg trial. He does not like fiction - movies or books - also James Bond for that matter :) To have to decide what to do if he would have all the time, money and resources in the world - therefore all the choices - would be a nightmare for him. He would take time to think about it. In Israel you need to go to the airport 5 hours before your flight. According to some article, Jack the Ripper could have originated from Kielce.


Zlote Tarasy. Modern multifunctional complex.

Piwna Kompania Podwale 25, Warsaw, Poland

Podwale 25 - brewery house style restaurant, but they actually don't have home made beer.


When walking around Warsaw Old Town one needs to be careful or medieval people might chop the head off. It cost me 20 PLZ to keep my head. And they were kind enough to exchange EUR :)


Marek Kuchciak - IBM Tivoli and Lotus software consultant working for Winuel/emax --> Sygnity. Born and raised in Wroclaw. His family is part from eastern Poland and part from Lvov in Ukraine. - due to Territorial changes of Poland after World War II. There is at least one famous Kuchciak in Poland: Zenon Kuchciak also called Polski James Bond. Marek started Math study at Wrocław University of Technology, but then changed to and finished Software Engineering at the same Uni - WUT. He worked in IT at the Uni and moved to CCS and then to Winuel. He has 7 years old daughter and he played Field Hockey in high school. He likes photography and is taking a lot of them in Lower Silesia region and Sudety mountains. He also publishes the photos. His latest/favourite books were: one about mysterious death (possible assasination) of general Władysław Sikorski and Band of Brothers by Stephen Ambrose. Movie series is also very good.
With unlimited resources he would create a foundation devoted to developing SW tools to support a lot of different people activities - to ease everyday life.

Hotel Lev, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Apple and IBM. Once fierce rivals ...

Lobby bar in Hotel Lev - one of top 3 in Ljubljana.

Rodrigo Olivares - helping develop business and gives advise in (business related) people relationships - based on his long year experience in this field in a multicultural environment. Born in Patagonia part of in Chile. He Left Chile for Ecuador with his newly wedded (1 day) wife during Chile coup in 1973. From Ecuador he had a chance to move to Brazil, Australia or Porto Rico. He decided for Porto Rico and later went to live in Boston, New Hampshire, Boca Raton, Venezuela and now he lives in Miami. His English still reveals his Chilean roots :) He graduated at University of Chile and had several smaller jobs before he was employed by Burroughs Corporation as a sales rep. Later he had a long career with Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). He was founder of DEC office in Venezuela. After DEC he worked for Tandem Computers, but when Tandem changed management, he moved to IBM to develop Storage business in Latin America. He also worked in NetworkPC, SAN and LifeScience areas before finally settling in Tivoli Channel business. While with DEC he had IEP class at INSEAD. He used to run a lot. Almost every day for 29 years - equivalent distance of 1,5 times around the globe. Then his hip was damaged and it needed repair. His latest/favourite books: The Four Agreements (by Don Miguel Ruiz based on observations of the ancient Mayas), The World is Flat and The Da Vinci Code. He likes cooking and having friends over to his house. He organizes parties and everything he says is truthful. Family: 29 years old son (with MBA working for Wrigley in Chicago), 27 years old daughter Paula and 23 years old daughter Pia. His current dream is to be a rancher, raising good stock. Time and money permitting, he would also do more coaching. Especially on fairness and relationships.

Verdun/Central/Spoon, Beirut, Lebanon

Bassem B. - due to nature of his work, his name is not posted in its fullness - I can give it to whomever request after I get his approval - sounds spooky, I know :). The guy in white t-shirt sitting in the window next to traffic sign :) He can help you develop your company's strategy, help develop your business and give you ideas you cannot get yourself. An ambitious guy from Beirut. Born and raised here, working in Dubai. AUB graduate. While studying he was PR officer for Japan football team during AFC Asian Cup 2000 in Lebanon. At one time he also worked at TGI Friday's as a waiter. He worked several jobs with IBM Global Services, moved to LogicaCMG and lately he has been doing strategy consulting at a govt organization. He's just finished his Duke MBA. Boy Scouts were a big part of his life. He is passionate about playing his guitar. Some of his latest and/or favourite books were Monkey Business, Fooled by Randomness and How to Make Love Like a Porn Star - though, he usually reads the first 100 pages to get the idea, then jumps to the last 10 pages to catch the finish. With (almost) unlimited resources he would probably fund NGO aimed at helping single needy mothers to get top education of their top intelligent kids. He would also open the first rock radio network in Middle East and establish an incubator for local rock bands together with a label to distribute them. He would also have a rock band with a political note. Thoughts maybe a little influenced by his visit of Dubai Desert Rock Fest - otherwise Rock runs in his blood! A Ph.D. is also somewhere down the road.


Delicious Lebanese table.


Verdun. To see and be seen in Beirut.


Central Bar-Restaurant. Very cool. Very posh.


Present political crisis - sit-ins.
Busy Monot nightlife.

Yolki-Palki, Moscow, Russia

Yolki-Palki is largest, well known chain of restaurants.


It is owned by Novikov Restaurant Group. The main attraction, the centre of the tavern, is always the same: a "wheel-cart" with snacks. This table has Caucasian, Jewish, Ukrainian and goodness knows what other delicious food because on the Russian table temperaments and traditions were mixed a long time ago.


One example of colorful abundance.


Svetlana Krasnikova, helping IT companies in Russia make business with IBM software easier. She is a true Moscow girl. Born and raised here. She loves Moscow and long walks through Moscow. She graduated at Moscow Engineering Physics Institute - majoring in Information Security. She worked for two small companies before joining IBM. Latest book: one by Andre Moreau. Getting a lot, she would give a lot: A chance to people to see Moscow through her eyes. Pirozok.


A healthy family.

One can hardly like anything about Moscow traffic in rush hour.

Aist (Stork), Moscow, Russia

Absinthe served in Holiday Inn Lesnaya.


Restaurant Aist belongs to Novikov Restaurant Group. According to an Passport article "Aist has now become the latest place to be seen for the Moscow’s rich and beautiful."


Poor lobsters are terrified at the sight of their future slayers.


Fedor Pshirkov, up and coming software sales guy with his first completed year in IBM. He was born and raised in Moscow where he also finished Computer Science and Math at Lomonosov Moscow State University. During his study years he earned extra money at Columbus IT and Russlavbank and after graduation he joined IBM. He likes nightlife and his guitar (he had a metal band). His latest book was A Moveable Feast by Hemingway. Given tons of money and years of time, he would go to study at US Berklee College of Music and record at Blue Note Records with music being definitely a big part of his life.


Lovely waitress Tanya, while having one of her last days at Aist, has served us Ukha soup and other great stuff.

Goodman Steakhouse, Europeisky trade center, Moscow

Goodman. A popular steakhouse in Moscow.


Now opened also in TC Evropeiski in Moscow.


Alexandr Novak, Head of Sales department at SIS in Kiev, Ukraine. He was born and raised in Boyarka and later moved to Kiev. He finished his study at Kiev Polytechnic Institute, worked for Interbank on Security Systems, at Creditreform as DB Admin and later at SIS as Tech person for System p and Tivoli team leader. He has a 4 years old daughter and his latest book was Harvard Business Review on Leadership. If he will leave IT business, he might one day open a restaurant.


Valery Soltys, Commercial director at SIS in Kiev, Ukraine. Born and raised in Kiev he studied at Tomsk Polytehcnic University and he was in signal/communications field for 15 years: RadioKom as lead engineer, Velton telekom as Tech director, KievOnline as general director, back to Velton as commercial director and latest SIS. He has a 15 years old son and his latest book was Old time calling by Ivanov. With extra time&money he would do a lot of travelling.


No a lot to comment, but a lot to taste.

Spazio Martini, Maremagnum, Barcelona, Spain

Zlatko Krastev is doing a very good job consulting companies to achieve greater IT efficiency and he has too many certificates to fit on a single business card. He is specialized in reorganizing IT infrastructure (Unix, Storage, Sytems and Services Management) to run more efficient. Born and raised in Sofia he finished Mathematics study and then worked for several organization, among them also CUAEPP (Committee on the Use of Atomic Energy for Peaceful Purposes) where he got his first contact with IBM RS6000. After disagreeing with the last employer (his boss didn't think services is a good enough business), he founded his company Akit. He likes driving. With his car. One day he will drive a Lamborghini. His iwn. One of his favourite books are Discworld Novels by Terry Pratchett and The Wonderful Adventures of Nils. With unlimited time&money resources he would apply for presidency of Bulgaria, EU and Planet Earth.


Spazio Martini Lounge on top of Maremagnum. Chic.


Bottle people generation.

FrescCo, Maremagnum, Barcelona, Spain

Bridge to Maremagnum in Barcelona.


Columbus. Went to America and back and now he's stuck on the statue at the end of La Rambla.


Pizza, salad and drink. Looks good only on picture. Low resolution.


Fresc Co. All you can eat place. Not very tasty.


Andrej Jenko, storage solution specialist on the way to become an ITIL specialist. Born and raised in Ljubljana. He has a Chinese connection as he is related to prof. Mitja Saje from Sinology department. As his Electronics study still remains an open chapter, he's got himself some working experience having IT jobs (networking, admin, storage, ...) at Advant, Vega (failed 3rd mobile operator in Slovenia). His last employer Simt entered Vega with storage deal and at the end snapped him, just before the ship went down. He likes tennis and is a life long football player. He has 4 year old son, 1 year old daughter and the third one well on its way. His latest book was one of the Lord of the Rings books. Having too much time and money to spend, he would make something happen in sports. Andrej is using dual grammatical number correctly. This is good. And rare to hear.

The 33rd, Fairmont hotel, Dubai, U.A.E

The Fairmont, one of many fine hotels in Dubai.


Reema Faour, a fresh IBMer in Dubai, coordinating partner marketing activities. Reema actually means deer. Who wouldn't wanna be called a deer ;) By origin/parents she is Palestinian, though her parents were born and raised in Lebanon and she was born in Abu Dhabi at at age 5 moved to Dubai, where she has been since. She finished American University of Sharjah - majoring in Marketing and Management. She taught little kids to swim in Dubai, did interpreting and interviews at Feedback Research (now Claria), she helped for a while at her dad's small "chocolate" business, had a stint at NetAdvantage and finally landing a job with IBM. She loves swimming, shisha and shisha places. Her latest books were Social Intelligence by Daniel Goleman and Body for life. At the moment she is very occupied with shopping for her new house and preparing for her wedding. Sometime in no-time-and-money-worries future she will help society in through building a better education where it is needed. She might also once try to be a waiter in a beach side bar - good weather and meeting new people.


33rd floor, very nice view on bustling Dubai.


A not very unusual car park view in Dubai.

A stunning night view from the 360 degrees bar in Jumeirah, Dubai.

Barasti, LeMeridien Jumeirah Beach, Dubai, UAE

Classical music in the lobby of Le Meridian Mina Seyahi. Long red dresses.


Beach side bar&restaurant Barasti. Full of expats and visitors.


Wolfgang Rath Rauch - a specialist in system&service management at the moment focusing on IBM Service Management portfolio. Born and raised in Vienna - a true Austrian. Finished HTL TGM in Vienna and worked for many companies, among them: ELIN, Oracle, BMC and now IBM. He likes opera very much. He goes to far places to see and listen to it. Like Houston Grand Opera and St.Petersburg Opera. His latest book was The Seventh Seal by Ian O'Connor. Money and time not being an issue, he would become a musician.


Remy Zuelle - a long time Tivolian at the moment leading ISM sales in CEMAAS region. He comes from a small city of Appenzell - yodeling headquarters of Switzerland - where they were one of the last places in Europe to give voting right to women (in 1990!) and they give earrings to all boys. He worked for Telekurs, Tivoli and now IBM. He has been playing football all his life and is fan of Zurich Grasshoppers. He likes going to dangerous places in cities like Johannesburg and Bronx. His latest book was Perfume by Patrick Suskind. When he will really decide to have more time and money, he will open a night club :)

Red ladies filling the lobby with music.

Atrium IV, Ljubljana, Slovenia

The homeless. Paid them 5 EUR for this picture.


Atrium 4 on rainy Gornji trg in Ljubljana.


(Blaž) Blaz Kos, entrepreneur and networker. A lot about him on his own blog: www.daimonion.si His Economics/Management study is still an open chapter. He was involved in event organization, network marketing, started company mojrefill.com and now works for LUI and is also at the mysterious Core. Blaz also helped Gospodarski izzivi to be a successful story. Soon he will leave to USA excursion with colleagues from FRI - Computer Science Faculty. His wildest dreams just changed from having his own global corporation, to having his own country. Among latest books are Freakonomics, Kiyosaki and The Art of the Start, What drives people? According to Funky Business, it's one or more of the seven sins.


Red Atrium 4.