Toxic Bar, Zagreb, Croatia

Toxic Bar - recommended by FiveStars. A bit small. DJ. Good vibes. Nice looks. Belvedere. Cool, I guess.


Rossen Petkov - Senior Marketing Manager at Pernod Ricard Bulgaria. Sofia native, graduated at American University in Bulgaria in Blagoevgrad, worked for BAT, Kraft and for a while also in USA. A back nature peson, kick-boxer, reading The Power of Subconscious Mind. Given all means needed, he would build quality development schools all over Bulgaria. The fastes and most effective way, I say.


Toxic Apple-ish tables. Lit Belvedere. Not Pernod Ricard, though. Yet.

Kaptolska klet, Zagreb, Croatia

Kaptolska klet - exclusive location and interior, BUT the staff was really trying very hard not to accidentally appear friendly. Do not go there. Period.


Matic Meglic (Meglič) - CEO of Center za sodobne izzive and Researcher at UP PINT. Influenced by late prof.Marusic, medical school graduate with interest in cognitive neuroscience, working on his Ph.D. in eHealth and care process management, addicted to free-climbing and mountain sports in general. Does not subscribe to the theory that drinking alcohol is removing low performance brain cells, making you cognitively more powerful in the process. Reading Goldratt's The Goal and will one day devote himself fully to innovation in eHealth services. Some of it might even be in line with US Recovery Plan.

Franjo. The man.

K Pivovari, Zagreb, Croatia

K Pivovari - during weekends full of Cotrugli MBA students and sometimes with live music. Service varies, but in the long run (read: many samples) one gets a normal distribution with mean being on acceptable level.


Andrej Strojin - project manager and consultant at Infotehna. Brewed in Novo Mesto, lived in Trieste and is not Strojan. Used to work for RCL and is Generation 6 Cotrugli Executive MBA student. Co-founded web design company when he was 19, vegetarian that eats prosciutto, but only on islands. Learning Russian language and sauna is a must for him. Has 1 year old son and is reading Kids Are Worth It! and In Their Time: The Greatest Business Leaders of the Twentieth Century. One day he will buy Trieste and be therefore responsible also for Barcolana. A quite big main sail.

El Rincon De Esteban, Madrid, Spain

El Rincon De Esteban - Classy place. Good food. Good wine. Good service. Recommended. Also by Michelin.


Doru Constantin Nica - pervasive WebSphere Sales person at IBM Romania, in Bucharest office. Grew up in Craiova where he graduated at Universtatea din Craiova - known also for good sports. Worked for Xerox and is currently reading Goleman's Emotional Intelligence. Recommended.


Bernd C Blasczyk - IBM Application Integration Middleware (AIM) Business Developer for CEEMEA region, based in Hambug. Being partly Polish-Bohemian origin, most of Blasczyks actually reside in USA. Used to work in controlling filling spreadsheets all day, then escaped to Cognos before joining IBM. Loves David Beckham (NOT), read Kurzweil's Homo S@piens, did Camino de Santiago on bike and enjoys travelling and spending time with his family. Neat.


They were also here. A while ago. And the light is still on.

Vinos, Madrid, Spain

Vinos - a very old, very traditional (read: never upgraded) Spanish wine bar. A different experience. Very. For those who need to try everything. And for those that want to put things into perspective.


Marko Raubar - for a while still vice CEO of Housing, before joining IBM in Slovenia as WebSphere sales. Grew up in Koper with Kras roots, worked for Tobacna and Magistrat International, as an avid mountaineer climbed Triglav 4 times and can also serve as handball referee. Having an almost 2 years old kid, he's reading parenting books, recommends a great wine place Cejkotova domačija in Goče in Vipavska dolina and will one day nurture his own vineyard. Cheers!


Tom Boonen - recently appointed ILOG Sales Leader at IBM in CEE Growth Market Region. Born in Belgium to father veterinarian, knows the other famous Tom Boonen through wide Boonen family gathering, lived in Moscow, Vienna and now back in Belgium. Worked for Microsoft, is a parallel reader, currently crunching on The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari and The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. When too much money will not allow him to work for it, orphans around the world will benefit. Immensely. Whatever events and ideas spin around his world, the center of gravity remains with his kids Nathalie and Stefanie and wife Svetlana.


Yo, prosciutto! Hang on there!

LH Lounge, Terminal A, Frankfurt Airport, Germany

Lufthansa Business Lounges. A must for a frequent traveler. Usually nice atmosphere and great wine.


(Srečko) Srecko Janjic (Janjić) - ILOG and WebSphere BPM technical sales specialist for CEE region, based in IBM Slovenia office. Worked for Monolit and SŽ, reading Mario Puzzo's candidate book for Godfather 4, survived terrorist bomb attack in Paris Metro in 1997 and can talk about Huntigton theory. Since the middle of the 1980s Spain’s foreign population has risen nineteen-fold to 4.52 million.


Mexican Japanese mix served by Germans.

Figovec, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Figovec - old, traditional, in the center. Surprisingly empty on working Monday lunch time. Spicy. Good.


Simona Poljansek - public sector employee, global woman with a pinch of desert sand and passion for finance. Elementary school class president wannabe always ended up as treasury secretary. Italian-Czech roots with a half-Pakistani cousin. Twin sister, parallel reader: Obama's Audacity for Hope and Questions of King Milinda. Observing, motivating and testing boundaries of possible. That's her cup of tea.


Figovec is boasting full variety of Simčič wines.

Pekos Pub, Trzin, Slovenia

Pekos Pub, local joint, sponsoring local sport. Not for wine lovers. Stopped there on the way from the airport as I found out via Facebook that a friend is celebrating the birth of his child #2, son #1.


(Matjaž) Matjaz Tavcar (Tavčar) - head of development at Infohit. Grew up a block away from me, my mother taught him English in elementary school. FRI graduate with highest grade and distinction. Recently read Coelho's Alcimist, tried paragliding and finding inner peace while hanging out with Domen.


An innovative STO Bluetooth welcome at Ljubljana Airport.

Workload 2.0

Embarked on a 2 year Cotrugli Executive MBA journey.
Time is shrinking. Blogging is re-optimized.

The Club House, V Parku, Prague, Czech Republic

The Club House in The Park - home of many hi-tech companies in Prague: IBM, EMC, Sony, Accenture, Dell, CA ... to name but a few of the tenants. The Club House looks way better in summer as there is an actual golf green next to it. All offices around having full glass walls, not many employees do the "greening" though :) Food is pretty good and overall experience recommended.


Dalibor Chrudina - WebSphere Sales Specialist at IBM office in Prague. Peculiar about his great spoken English language is distinct North English accent. Has UK ties and naturally loves Monty Python and Channel 4's The IT Crowd. Used to work for Reuters and used to live in Cheb. Parallel reader, currently open are Eco's The Island of the Day Before and one from Egon Bondy. While his son enjoys snowboarding, he loves drawing, had a good experience in Timbuktu and might one day be on a permanent journey around the world with occasional longer periods of settlement while categorizing people into nomads and farmers. When is future?


No pizza today. No pizza yesterday. No pizza tomorrow. Timeless signposts.

Buf Celovška, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Buf - this relatively new chain of restaurants is a very positive surprise. Neat, simple, user friendly, very affordable. Never judge the book by it's cover and restaurants by dirty snow outside. Definitely recommended.


Romana Weissbacher - project management and business processes guru at Hypo Leasing in Ljubljana. South Tirol roots, drawn many times to Germany thanks to her first Au pair there. Prior to Hypo also worked for Filc and attends conferences like BPM 2008. NTF Textile graduate, reads Kafka's Castle and will one day have a consulting practice out of her home office in a castle such as Neuschwanstein or yet-to-be-restored Turnišče, while interesting thoughts delivered via email will still be written offline to her Moleskine.


Ryanair among canteens. And the biggest salad plate ever.


How can this aircraft actually fly, with propellers all sloppy. Czech magic, I guess.