Zlata Ribica, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Zlata Ribica - old style, old fashioned gostilna - food OK, service so-so. Surviving because of exclusive location at the crossing of heavy tourist currents in old town Ljubljana. When you've tried everything else you can also try this. But no sooner, 'cause wooden steaks do appear from time to time.


(Aleš) Ales Leskosek (Leskošek) - managing director of Comparex in Slovenia. Born and raised in Celje, graduated at FRI, worked for IGEA and IBM, before he co-created Comparex office in Ljubljana. Aikido practicioner, will one day also try Capoeira and sometimes in the future also take the whole golf game a little more serious. Reading Lee Iacocca's autobiography and loads of money would buy him time to reflect and think about what to do next.


Robert Bozic (Božič) - Information Management salesman at IBM office in Ljubljana. Raised in town called Golek pri Krškem, FRI graduate, worked for S&T and recently joined IBM. Polar watch on his wrist gives a hint about sports activities, but the type was not revealed during conversation. Added later.


Tourists swarming Ljubljana old town ... I guess we need them.

Stara Mačka, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Stara Mačka - recently opened restaurant on top location at Ljubljana "beach". Shisha place and during EURO2008 also football place. As every other. Recommended.


(Aleš) Ales Pernecky - IBM Tivoli Netcool Sales Manager in CEMAAS region. His family roots are in Germany, Hungary and Slovakia, lives in a village called Hlasna Treban, worked for Czech Telecom (now Telefonica O2), was in the first team when Eurotel (now also Telefonica O2) was founded, worked for Phillips, Cisco and at Micromuse - which was acquired by IBM. Avid footballer proud of his wine and beer cellar at home and a member of local gardening society. His wife is a professional gardener and their garden was rated #1 for 2008. Passionate about ancient history (Greek, Egyptian), likes traveling and reading historical books - currently about Mayan History. One day he might turn into an archaeologist.


Petr Styblo - IBM Tivoli Netcool specialist, born and raised in Ostrava, used to work for Nokia and now works for IBM in Prague. Has glider airplane license and used to fly Blanik. We were sitting outside Stara Mačka (Old Cat), but he is currently reading William Burrough's The Cat Inside. Plays guitar - mostly blues - and is looking for a band to play with.


Yes, they won. But at the end they did not. It's all history now anyway.

Kratochwill BTC, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Kratochwill BTC - one from the Kratochwill chain of restaurants, located in BTC shopping center. Good beer, good pizzas, big terrace. As the temperature is rising, the shopping is intensified. Summer is almost here.


Aleš Cerin (Čerin) - founder of Edusatis, a company specialized in helping generic pharmaceutical companies comply with regulation in drug production quality and also find better ways to communicate, capture knowledge and share ideas - also via Eduwikis and Open Space (Odprti Prostor) workshops. Before starting on his own he worked for Lek, is very engaged in scouting scene - member of ISGF, ran a couple of marathons (one time also 144km in 24 hours) and is currently reading Covey's The 8th Habit - From Effectiveness To Greatness. He also does wiki gardening - a very good phrase for facilitating wiki collaboration and maintaining order. Preparing the ground, taking out the weeds ...

Belfast Irish Pub, Kiev, Ukraine

Belfast Irish Pub - a classical Irish Pub, sponsored by Staropramen, which is also what they were serving us. It went well with watching Czechs beating Swiss at EURO2008.


Igor Sichkar - Tivoli specialist at SI BIS, an IBM business partner company in Ukraine. With Sichkar family having Cossack origin, he was born and raised in Kiev, graduated at Taras Shevchenko University, as a student did some Perl programming at Antonov - the famous aircraft maker and worked for KP VTI and SIS before recently coming to SI BIS. Avid football player and pretty good at Russian Billiards - which is way more difficult than English/American one. Enthusiastically reading books about important historical figures, such as Peter The Great and Napoleon. People one can learn a big deal from.


Russian Billiards - bigger balls, tighter holes. Not sure how that sounds ... :)


Disco Party Boats on Dnypro - comes Friday, young Kiev citizens hop on boats and have a good time. Good times rolling up and down the river. Lots of them.

Pervak, Kiev, Ukraine

Pervak - a very nice restaurant in downtown Kiev, with pretty interesting interior decoration. Serving business lunches during weekdays, moderately priced, considering the top location near one of the poshest streets in Kiev. A definitive recommendation.


Sergey Belous - Tivoli Tech Sales Specialist at IBM Ukraine. Belous means "white mustache" and he is originally from Zaporizhia. Before joining IBM, he worked for Baltic Beverages Holding (recently acquired by Carlsberg Group) and IBM partner company S&T Ukraine. Has a two years old child and is perceived as a calm person with high aspirations.


Tatiana Lubimova, managing relationship with Developer and Academic community for IBM Ukraine. Nicknamed "beloved", born and raised in Kiev (Kyiv), travels a lot and used to hate fish. Before coming to IBM she worked for APC and S&T - and in the beginning also as a primary school teacher. Has two young kids, is reading Sigmund Freud and will one day have a private primary school in Kiev. Good for kids.


Alexander Danko, sales person for Tivoli software at IBM Ukraine in Kiev. Grew up in Lake Synevir (Sea Eye) region in Zakarpattia, where he will one day probably return and help develop tourism. Prior to IBM he worked for InfoPlus and Borland. A little weaker on English, but that much stronger on experience. He is reading Taras Shevchenko - a very important Ukrainian poet, artist and humanist with the same name as today most internationally known Ukrainian: Andriy Shevchenko, the footballer. The old and the new.


The bra lady. Has wide selection of them holders, basking in the sun on one of the many market-busy streets of Kiev. Where is the changing room?