Žemaičiai, Vilnius, Lithuania

Žemaičiai. The home of Zeppelinos. Old Nom Nom Nom.

Andreas Dax - WebSphere Sales Manager for CEEMEA region. Does not drink beer, Vienna native, his grandmother just turned 95. Up till now IBM-er for life with a brief Telco experience in between. Avid skier, programmed his own bartering exchange Jagooa (svahili origin) and MeetMe.at. Dawkins and Darwin fan, creating and following memes.

Aleksander Oleszkiewicz - WebSphere Technical Sales and Service Manager for IBM in CEE. Likes a little bit of everything, Warsaw born and based, grand-grandfather was from Lithuania, but not from the time of great Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth. Had a company, was programmer and also teacher in Palace of Culture in Warsaw. Six years odl son Leon, is on the Canon side of photo enthusiasts divide, sailing with big boats on great Polish lakes, reading Shock Doctrin - The Rise of Disaster Capitalism and he always wanted to be a policeman. To serve and protect.

Read the menu 5 times really fast. Didžwhat?

Imperio Mexicano, City Park, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Imperio Mexicano in the midst of City Park shopping center. "Decent and good value if not award winning Tex-Mex food" as they would put it In Your Pocket. Colorful Cotrugli MBA Alumni gathering.

Jože Perko - Marketing Manager at Schneider Electric in Slovenia. Born, bred'n'tried in Ljubljana, used to be part of Iskratel team before joined Schneider Electric marketing force in Slovenia. Passionate about his family, regular visitor of Sunny Studio sauna sessions. Cotrugli Alumni. What book? Energy isn't free, but learning to save it is. (S.E.)

Dejan Božič - Treasury Department Manager at ACH, originally from Podnanos, his grandfather was in RAF and brought first English words to the village. He used to work for BDO and Energetski Sistemi - on of predecessors of GEN-I, an electricity marketeer.

Listening to IBM SWG SVP Steve Mills' podcast while driving. Is there a law against it?

Hilton, Budapest, Hungary

Buda castle Hilton - best hotel, best view. Top.

Rade Bogdanovic - Soon to be announced new WebSphere Channel leader for IBM in CEE. Belgrade native, used to live and work in South Africa, magnificent Cape and Jo'burg, among others worked for CA and SUN, has 14 year old son - just kicking in adolescence, reading Fowles' Magus, plays guitar in his band The Spanks - they played at Beer Fest - and will one day fully get back to painting, music and writing. (He)art on!

One Big Gentlemen Company. Blue Martini for Blue Ladies.

Gold Center, Budapest, Hungary

Gold Center - Yoga, Squash, Poker and ... a very good Restaurant! Gold.

Viktor Geczy - Software Group Technical Manager at IBM in Hungary. Originally from Miskolc, plays guitar in his band Superfly and reads Szlenblog - the könyv. One day he will have his own music studio, while still developing business, for fun. You've got to move - by Superfly

Jozsef Holderith - Driving Large Software deals for IBM in CEE region. Budapest native, just finished building his house and very soon expecting his second child. Way to go! Reading The Watchman and eating özgerinc = doe = female deer for all you lay people out there :)

Laszlo Boa - WebSphere Sales Specialist at IBM Hungary. Grew up in Nagykanizsa, just about to be blessed by his second child, passionate photographer with his Nikon firmly in his grip and reading one of the Predators. Great guy to work with.

Find the deer in the central letter forest of gold.

Thai Inn Pub, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Thai Inn Pub - a very nice recently opened Thai place. Very flat fee for very "unflat" curry. Om Nom Nom Nom.

Rok Urbas - zSoftware (runs on IBM system z a.k.a. mainframe) representative at IBM Slovenia. Grew up in Logatec - close to where Čufarji use to dwell, great-grandfather was a captain of a minesweeper ship, FRI graduate with a stint in Student Parliament, presided KLS and worked for Halcom before joining IBM. Used to travel a lot, places like Indonesia and Brazil where he also stayed for a while in "republica house" in Ouro Preto university town. Bixu freshmen need to pour beer all the time to other students there. Reading Getting Things Done and one day he will open ingredients shop/cooking classes place focused on oriental dishes. Smack in the center of Ljubljana on Čopova street. Om Nom Nom Nom.

Slamic KavaCaj, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slamic (Slamič) KavaČaj - Cafe and Bed&Breakfast on Kersnikova street. Nice place, also a popular student hang out. Rich selection of teas. Many times doubles as working office for non-profits.

Mitja Jurkovnik - Finishing chemistry study at FCCT, founder of Semantik, spent some time at CSIRO research agency in Melbourne, tech freak, NLP trained, passionate about rhetorics, improv fan, active at BEST and Vodstveni Inkubator. Given a lot, he will give a lot - focused on personal and business growth. About to start Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

Andrej Gregorka (left) - Grew up in Vrhnika, his study at FRI is currently on hold as he is fully engaged in programming for Ixtlan Team. Cycling and poker. Determined to improve speaking skills through participation at (soon) newly founded Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

Matej Potocan (Potočan) (right) - Maribor native, Medicine student, working at Radio Študent, TEDxLjubljana organizer. Culture would benefit, if he would. About to start Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

(Matjaž) Matjaz Bergant (left) - Lives near Stari Vrh, but does not and will not ski. Period. FOV graduate, IEDC EMBA alumni, grew up with livestock, avid traveler, packaging entrepreneur with his Siscor company, hunter with particular passion for moose. His full openness revealed at his domain. About to start Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

Rok Mihevc (right) - Logatec indigenous tribe member. Physics student at FMF, programmer and web developer, soft skills trainer, disciple of Aikido master Danč, BEST member, TEDxLjubljana organizer, travel, travel, travel. About to start Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

(Matjaž) Matjaz Pecan (Pečan) - Koper born, Izola raised, related to mayor, FE student, IAESTE member, writer, one day he will cycle around the world - or at least to Nordkapp. About to start Toastmasters club in Ljubljana.

Tretter's Club, Prague, Czech Republic

Tretter's - THE expats place in Prague.

Achal Prakash - WebSphere and Rational Marketing Manager for IBM in CEE. Roots in Uttar Pradesh by his parentage lineage, Lehigh and GWU graduate, recently moved from Atlanta to Prague. Reckitt Benkiser, Capgemini, PriceWaterHouseCoopers and then IBM Global Services. Travels a lot, nuts about German cars, classical music but not smoothjazz.com, avid baseball and soccer spectator, reading book on animal thoughts. One day he will buy Italy and restore Indian continent. BP, NP, EP and SPH.

Ray (Raymond) Petruch - Tivoli Sales Exec for IBM in CEEMEA. Ukraine roots, moved to Nueva Yersey (New Jersey), Austin and recently Prague. NJIT graduate, cigar lover, counts snowboarding, volley ball among his other sins, rides Suzuki M109 (2007 blue one), reading Coelho's Witch of Portobello on Kindle. Future - he will invade Ukraine (everybody does that) and write books.

Trattoria Da Lello, Budapest, Hungary

Trattoria Da Lello in MOM Park. Slightly crammed place. Good food.

Teodor Hellinger, Sales Manager at Qualysoft. Avid cook, likes travelling, loved New York. Recently went on Kirk Franklin concert. Master of Sous-vide.

This can actually happen to Coca-Cola's Naturaqua glass bottle. Somewhere in an office in Budapest.

Hotel Ilica, Zagreb, Croatia

Hotel Ilica - very old fashion type of decoration. Lot's of it. Definitely catering to someone's taste.

Tamara Sisic (Šišić) Kramer - on the left, Product Manager at Abbott, her first employer. Enjoying intensive time at Cotrugli EMBA, has had red hair for quite a while now. Recently married, reading A Whole New Mind and will give back a lot more in the future. Who is going to be on the receiving side?

(Nataša) Natasa Zibelnik - on the right, Market Access Manager at GSK, but first and foremost a devoted music soul. Her roots are in Sentjur and Celje area, likes music and also enjoys her Cotrugli EMBA flow this year. Freak or Frik - not her, but her dog.

Hotel Ilica has, I believe, strong affiliation to Bas restaurant. By decoration for sure.

Restauracja Roma, Warsaw, Poland

Restauracja Roma, a nice cosy, quaint-ish style. Martin liked the interior. Service with attitude.

Bert Schaekers - Tivoli Security Sales Leader for IBM CEE. Grew up in Bree, Belgium, where Kim Clijsters is from. Committed IBMer straight from University, doing MBA at Henley, avid runner and cycler, reads interesting books (also on subconsciousness) given to him by his wife. One day he will master kitesurfing and Hercule Poirot is not French but Belgian/Walloon.

Rubelj, Zagreb, Croatia

Rubelj Grill. Great cevapi. This one in Crnomerec part of Zagreb.

Marijo Bos - Consultant, professor and a business woman running BosAdvisors. Delivered a great Business Communication class at Cotrugli MBA. Madrid resident, but works all over Europe and worldwide. Was part of dot com bubble, involved in selling business.com domain name for many million USD. Recently went to Namibia, Kenya and South Africa - without any hotel bookings in advance. Giving and receiving good feedback.

Veža, Bratislava, Slovakia

Restauracia Veža in the TV tower on the hill Kamzik above Bratislava, with a nice view over the city and the castle.

Javier Torres - WW WebSphere GB Sales exec, born and raised in Venezuela (where Miss Universe 2009 is coming from), can find only good words for Colombian girls, father sent him to Miami to study English and he never came back, married a Spanish lady, cannot sleep in the car, worked for Ingram Micro before joining IBM. Lives in Miami and will one day give back to society, while having his own restaurant - maybe near Vulpellac in Spain - as he likes to cook and does it often. Aye!

Martin Frolo - WebSphere Sales Specialist at IBM in Slovakia. Originally from Povazska Bistrica, studied computer science in Nitra, before moving to the capital. One day he will buy a small island and get busy with it.

Cara cu bere, Bucharest, Romania

Mici = Chevapchichi. Not server in Cara cu bere, but in Bucharest Business Park by Eurest.

Ovidiu Bastea a.k.a. Che Guevara - WebSphere Connectivity Leader in CEE region. Raised in small village near Galati. One day he will have a Hasselblad camera. That moment will probably be posted on blog.ovidiubastea.ro Like most Romanians, he also likes to "share" food in the restaurant = take from other plates :)

Carmen Raileanu - WebSphere Technical Specialist at IBM Romania. (The guy next to her is Adi). She grew up in Constanza, likes dancing, in particular rumba and salsa, was international aerobic and fitness instructor. Speaks Spanish and visited Argentina. And one day she will have a spa resort and travel a lot - Bali among one of the first destinations.

Cankarjevo nabrezje, Ljubljana, Slovenia

One of the bars on Ljubljanica river bank in Old Town. Always full, always available.

Miguel Nobre dos Reis - WebSphere Commerce Sales Manager for CEEMEA region. A very interesting figure, born in Portugal, lived in Central Africa, South America, met his German wife in Madrid and now lives with his family in Munich. Some day in the future, he will take care of his own hacienda. Not in Germany.

IBM. Innerpeace. Yeah.

A-GAIN. RE-START.

- - B.R.E.A.K. - -

Pomodoro, Vilnius, Lithania

Pomodoro - a nice Italian place. Recommended. Non typical furniture. Cosy.


(Gražvydas) Grazyvydas Govaras - WebSphere Sales for IBM in Lithuania. A proper Vilnietis, VIKO and KTU graduate, used to work for GNT, a Baltic distributor, before joining IBM. Reads Sci-Fi and is getting more and more involved in sailing - recently sailed to Swedish Gotland Island in the Baltic sea. He musts taste Adriatic/Mediterranean sailing. And one day he will sail around the world with his friend and sailing buddy Darius. Calvados is an apple brandy from Lower Normandy.


Volnius2009.lt Click&Experience


A white tribute to all bicycle accidents casualties in Vilnius. Peace.

Manna Euthentic Lounge, Budapest, Hungary

Manna Euthentic Lounge - Buda is the posh side of Budapest. Manna is the posh side of Buda. A very nice place. Especially nice in summertime when the happening spills on the terrace with DJ keeping demand for sparkling sky high. Gotta come at least once. Next time we'll check Olympic - or something like that.


Peter Lakhegyi - developer of international business at AAM Technologies. Father Lakhegyi works at IBM. Educated in Miskolc Egyetem, virtual photonics practice in Berlin, worked for IBM HU, Avnet HU and Avnet Australia before joining AAM. Recently participated at MEFTEC2009 in Bahrain. Had an Indian teacher in Australia that was drinking water through nose, is reading Oscar Wilde series, adores snowboarding and watches Dallas on storytv4. One day he will buy history and give it to the ones that don't have it.


"Manna has the most extensive selection of champagnes in Budapest. Paired with caviar, it is the perfect starter for a special celebration." - as per Budapest Week. All of Hungary only gets 6 bottles of Salon (the one on the photo) per year. Cheers!

Buena Vista, Budapest, Hungary

Buena Vista - one of the many fine places on Liszt Ferenc ter. Recommendation. Particularly in summer time. Things open and show.


Alexander Knaani - member of IBM Software Industry Solutions team, living in and leaving Boca Raton, Florida to move to Vienna, Austria. Born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay with Austro-Hungarian roots and likes Slovenia. Earned his PhD from NWU, speaks five languages, is parallel reader and El Juego del Angel is one of the books currently open. Avid cook, careful and systematic about food, very much into healthy nutrition, working out and a big soccer fan will one day study cinematography inside out. Cut.


There was a distinct Buda-side posh-ness to the place. Emptiness including.

Menzies Airport Lounge, Prague, Czech Republic

Menzies Aviation Lounge - serving "Schengen flyers" only. Nice, quiet and most important - pretty empty. No white wine. Damn :)


(Tomaž) Tomaz Vincek - IBM System p senior tech specialist. With presumably Czech/Polish origin, Vincek is also "probably Zagreb’s most popular dessert hangout" as described by IYP Zagreb. Long ago he used to program controlling apps that would fit to 8K memory, has no cakes for birthday, adores Belgium chocolate and denounces chocolate attributes to anything that has less than 70% cocoa in it. For the past three years slowly, but relentlessly accumulating "soaring" hours to earn his glider license. Reads Steel Rain and immensely enjoys beer drinking pleasures. One day he will transform himslef into a jewelry maker. And have an ice cold pint o'beer. Cheers!


Nokia E90 and a "light" paperback. Professional business traveler's devoted companions.