Galerija Dali, Kranj, Slovenia

Galerija Dali - will not spend much words on it. You need to come yourself to see it and feel it. Thumbs up and thumbs up.


Mojca Gosar - associate to attorney at too-long-a-name-to-be-written-here law firm in Kranj. Grew up and lives in Gunclje and her grandma was one of fourteen kids. Yo. Used to be a tour guide for Collegium and also a while in public admin (Urad za Šport). Being one, generally lawyers don't like to read much as they are constantly under heaps of paper, but she does recommend Jesper Juul's Competent Child - a book she will also give as a gift to Peter that just incidentally stars in Gunclje video. If she happens to say goodbye to the intriguing world of law, she would help orphans and delinquents. She already does to an extent. Good cause.


Dali's interior is always changing and really worth paying a visit.


Ošabnik and Klofutar - being lawyers - are really not the most serious names you can pick in Slovenian language. But so is not Mojca. Yet to be added on the empty plate.

San Martino, Ljubljana, Slovenia

San Martino - nice pizzeria in part of town that was dying for a decent restaurant (many offices in vicinity with not much choice for business lunch. San Martino is now one of four Italian places in BTC - with the same owner, I presume.


Gregor Papez (Papež) - System Administrator at Simobil, the mobile operator. Originally from Črnomelj, now lives in Turjak (but actually not in the castle, yet). Worked also for Atlantis (translation part of the business, now known as Iolar), Hermes Softlab and Vzajemna. Reading The Joy of Perfect Health and is totally into model airplanes: has four acrobatic ones and a big DC3 has been in the making for a while now - a big gathering of such machines can be seen in Vilesse in Italy each year. Lots of money would buy him an island near Bahamas, lots of golf lessons and most probably you would often also find him close to kerosene smell.

Mishio Bahnhofstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland

Mishio - casual Asian dining. We ended up in this place as it's design and message drew attention from far. And it was well worth it. Good place. Mishio = Mi (light) + Shio (salt). Japanese words. Also serves as a first name there.


Steve Knell - IBM Tivoli Netcool Channel Manager for North East Europe. Raised in London with his home club being FC Tottenham now living in a 600 years old house in Ipswich in East Anglia. A house that has a record in William the Conqueror's Domesday Book and needs a lot of care and attention as every precious investment. Long time BT employee, moved to TCSI (now Rocket Software) and later to Comnitel that merged with WatchMark and bought Metrica to form Vallent only to be bought by IBM. During that ride he lived half a year in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has 3 kids, does a lot of sailing and is reading Greene's Fabric of Cosmos. One day he might find himself buying some more of those Domesday Book mansions and renovate them. Demanding, to say the least.


Mixed interior. Mixed food. All casual. All Asian. I was served Traditional Chinese medicine food supposedly having positive effects if one is experience attention deficit disorder. What a niche. What? A?

Floss Bellevue, Zurich, Switzerland

Floss Bellevue - a temporary raft set up on Zurich lake for the time of EURO 2008. It became the hottest place to be and to be seen - and they don't want to take it away now. Summer nights in Züri.


Mihaela Gotia - IBM Software and Services Manager at Avnet in Romania, where she recently came from MBD, another IBM Software distributor. Lives in her newly built house in Mogosoaia, but is originally from Alba in Transilvania from where job brought her to Bucharest. Recently finished ITIL Foundation Plus certification in Finland and briefly crossed the Arctic Circle. Has a 2 year old daughter, was a professional swimmer, likes scuba and already tried Parasailing (Parascending). Latest books Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus and Goleman's Emotional Intelligence. Down the road she might get heavily involved in fashion and do some more of cubist-type painting of hers. Paracubism.


I love Fluglärm (Noise from the airplanes). Sticker on a car parked in a town near the airport. A funny way to protest. Or what?

Opera Bar, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Opera Bar - one of the hippest places in the evenings and during the day also serves as a good out of office sandwich or coffee meeting place.


Martina Zmuc (Žmuc) Reflak - Tivoli Marketing lady at IBM office in Ljubljana, covering CEEMEA region. From day one a Ljubljana native and as she got married she joined the only Reflak named family in Slovenia. First started working for IBM as a student 14 years ago and recently just returned from maternity leave that brought her Brina. Walking the dog, reading Mutant Message Downunder (as did Marko Žagar) and is about to finish her second study at FDV. One day she might bring to Slovenia and EU brands such as GAP and others that are currently available in USA. Good for us and US :)

Julija, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Julija - great location in the old town - not difficult to find, good service, good food. Ideal for a summer lunch out.


Janja Grabic (Grabić) - currently seriously playing the role of a footballers wife, was born and raised as Kosec in Maribor, worked at TV Paprika (where she found out she can talk continuously for 4 hours in front of the camera) and at advertising agency Enki. Still freshly inlove with her new iMac and recently found out that she actually is also a cat person as she picked one from the street and named it duly Calla (calle is Spanish for street) and she recommends Third Eye for summer reading. And other seasons as well for that matter.


Dejan Grabic (Grabić) - more and more important and famous Slovenian footballer, currently midfielder for NK Interblock in Ljubljana. Croatian ancestors, born and raised in Novo Mesto and was a passionate footballer all his life: NK Bela Krajina, SC Bregenz, NK Domžale, NK Olimpija, ... A lot written about him on the web already and a lot more English language coverage is expected soon. When his football career is over, he might play a round or two with Poker Champion Chris Moneymaker Watch out for this unusually highly educated and kind footballer.


Pet + Butique = Petique.

Szenario, Swissotel, Zurich, Switzerland

Szenario, lobby restaurant in Swissotel, serving also as the breakfast lounge for guests. Jams are served in tiny glasses called Gläsli in Swiss German.


Stefan Hungerbuehler - IBM Tivoli Security Sales Leader for CEEMEA region. Before joining IBM in Switzerland, he worked for HP, AOL, Netscape (now AOL), Mercury (now HP) and a start up in San Francisco. Has two kids (they used to make balsam and would put it in small Gläsli), drives a Mini, used to drive BMW K1200S and is now thinking of a new Harley. At the moment reading Covey's 7 habits and their Jeep Commander is often taking his family to their cottage high in Swiss mountains. Views are taken care off.


Mini - shaky picture of interior while finding our way out of the garage. Mini could easily borrow Hummer's slogan: "Like nothing else."

Zeughauskeller, Zurich, Switzerland

Zeughauskeller - a very famous restaurant in Zurich. Popular hence crowded. You also just absolutely have to try sleek handdryers they have installed there. Whoosh.


Carolyn Sil a.k.a. Cass - recently appointed Tivoli Channel Marketing person for North East Europe at IBM. Grew up in Coleraine, marriage gave her Asian name Sil, she now lives near Windsor. Started working as trained chef at Mulligan's - same name as retaken shot at golf - the game she does not play. Went on to work at Christian Salvesen, Syllogic (now Perot Systems), FAST (UK version of BSA), Elyzium (now Portal Partnership) and did some freelance marketing, before decide to join IBM. In her pre-2-year-old-son era, she was - yes - an active dragon boat racer.She's done The Great River Race, recently read The Reapers by John Connolly and is a spa addict. No work and full of money, she would visit each and every Formula 1 race (paddock access, naturally) while flying in and out of her Italian sea side estate. Cheers!


No. 47 - a must when in Zurich. Not that anything else is not worth trying.


If you fancy a really long sausage, Zeughauskeller is the place to go to.


Smoking kills. Or at least hurts.

Mamma Mia, Zurich, Switzerland

Mamma Mia - a quite nice pizza and pasta place with good food, but a website from the 90s. You have to check it out, haven't seen one like this in ages ... :)


Bruno Hengartner - newly appointed Consultants and Systems Integrators Alliance Manager at IBM in Switzerland. Born and raised in St.Gallen. Technical and MBA graduate, worked for Oerlikon Contraves, Swisscom and later several years at IBM. Active member of IBM's sailing club, driving horse power packed Ducati 998s, a Moto Morini, Audi S4 and Maserati Spyder - most of this URL links were automatically added by Zemanta widget as I let my blog be "zemified". As a massively parallel reader, he would recommend Energy Medicine by James Oschman and something in that direction would also be the field of his future work, would he decide to switch career to not-for-profit. Possibly in cooperation with EU's Leonardo Da Vinci programme. Worthy cause.


Service button - I can think of many places that could benefit installing it ...


A very pleasant environment of IBM Zurich Research Lab. Great scientists deserve great care in order to bring to life exciting new nanotechnological wonders.

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?