Rane's World

So I have had the opportunity to visit my team in Serbia twice this year.  Our first visit was to discuss Q1 plans and how things are going in the server business in Serbia and how our outreach was going to IT Pros across the country.  I love this team where 2 guys are doing the work of 15.  During our brainstorming, we decided to launch our first ever Influencer Summit in Central Eastern Europe at the Sinergija Conference.  Sinergija is the Serbian’s team largest IT Pro and Developer conference that has been running for more than ten years.  This year we decided to do a pre-day with our top technical experts across Central Eastern Europe to bring them together, share their stories, get additional trainings and understand better their needs for the support they do for local communities.  We brought 85 experts from Russia, Poland, Hungary, Greece, Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Malta, Bosnia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Serbia.  We also brought some MVP experts to speak, Microsoft Research and one of our Security experts from EMEA.  The poor team hit Murphy’s law like no other.  First, with an outbreak of swine flu that scared many from wanting to travel to Serbia.  Then the patriarch pasted away and the country was declared 3 days of mourning which put businesses on hold.  Then the track leaders of their Win7 sessions got the worse flu and had their demo machine stolen.  But the team still moved forward and drives an amazing conference!

As you can see from most of my trips, they are composed of the MS office, Conference Center, Hotel and some local restaurant.  So Jose, Gavin and I did a tourist trip on overdrive after breakfast.  We powered through the sites in 2 hours before we had to head and do our sessions.  So a little about Belgrade, Serbia...  Belgrade (Beograd) is the capital of Serbia, and has a population of around 1.6 million. It is situated in South-Eastern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula, at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers. It is one of the oldest cities in Europe and has since ancient times been an important focal point for traffic, an intersection of the roads of Eastern and Western Europe.  Belgrade is one of the oldest cities in Europe, with archeological finds tracing settlements as early as the 6th millennium BC.  Belgrade's wider city area was the birthplace of the largest prehistoric culture of Europe.  I was quite surprised to read this.  Also, Serbia has been conquered by many groups.  In medieval times, it was in the possession of Byzantine, Frankish, Bulgarian, and Hungarian rulers. In 1521 Belgrade was conquered by the Ottomans and became the seat of the Pashaluk of Belgrade, as the principal city of Ottoman Europe and among the largest European cities. It frequently passed from Ottoman to Austrian rule and remained an Austrian outpost until the breakup of Austria-Hungary in 1918. The united city then became the capital of several incarnations of Yugoslavia, up to 2006, when Serbia became an independent state again.

Couple of cool sites to visit: Kalemegdan Park, St Mark’s, Old Palace, Student’s square, parliament, and the walking area is pretty nice.  A few pictures below:

So I am a bit behind in my blog, so I am going to try to catch up with my trip to Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine, Romania and TechEd Berlin.  My last three weeks have been a little crazy.  So first stop Hungary.  We have a great team of Zoltan, Peter and Judith.  Unfortunately, our team of three is severely understaffed and taking on more work possible for three people.  For a team of three they are doing an amazing job but have a lot on their plate to make significant strides and changes in the business.  With this launch wave of new products (Windows 7, Windows Server 2008R2, Exchange, System Center, Forefront, SQL, Visual Stoudio, Office 2010 and the list goes on), my lead Peter is doing so great outreach and creativity with helping IT Professionals get up to speed, improve their skills and have all the resources needed to help their companies save money and be more efficent.  What makes things very difficult is the current economy.  After long days and many meetings, a little about Hungary...  A great article from the Economist, talks about Hungary is on its way out of this recession just a little exceprt below for detailed article visit- http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14512527.   

 

AFTER years of crisis, Hungarians are used to belt-tightening. Although Hungary was among the European Union members that suffered most in the recession—GDP will shrink by 7% this year, just behind Romania and the Baltics—the outlook is now better, thanks partly to recent austerity measures.  The government has trimmed public spending by fully 3.8% of GDP this year, with most cuts falling on social spending and public-sector pay. These cuts came on top of earlier ones that reduced the budget deficit from 9.2% of GDP in 2006 to just 3.4% in 2008. More are on the way. The Socialist government, led by Gordon Bajnai, wants to chop an extra 1.7% next year to keep the deficit within the IMF-approved limit of 3.8% of GDP. It has also set up an independent fiscal council to monitor compliance with budget-balance targets.  The combination of these cuts and a big IMF loan is having a marked effect. The threat of a run on the currency has receded. The banks, mostly foreign-owned, have not collapsed, as many had feared. The forint is not quite back to where it was before the financial crisis but the central bank has felt able to start cutting interest rates.  What Hungary really needs is a review of all areas of public spending. A slimmer state requires big reforms. Yet the likely election winner, the centre-right Fidesz party, has spent the past seven years zealously denouncing even tiny reforms as sell-outs to fat cats or as disasters that would condemn the country to poverty. As elsewhere, Hungary’s underlying problems arose from wage rises unmatched by productivity growth and social spending that is too generous. It may be optimistic to think that, like the rest of Europe, Hungary has now learnt its lesson.

 

A liitle about the country- Budapest is the capital of Hungary and is split into 2 main areas: Buda-The hilly West side of the Danube (Districts I-III, XI-XII, XXII) and Pest-The flat East side of the Danube, covering the modern commercial core of the city(Districts IV-IX). Top sites:

The Parliament Building (Országház). A neogothic jewel, beautifully situated overlooking the Danube. It is very much worth going inside, but you can only do that during guided tours, which are FREE (ignore those trying to pick you up outside the Parliament). Tickets for guided tours can be obtained each day from 8AM. You will have to go in front of the Parliament and queue at the ticket line. Again, ignore those that ask you if you want a guided tour. Just pick up your ticket inside and come back at the hour on the ticket. Guided tours in English are held each day at 10, 12 and 14.

St. Stephen Cathedral (Szent István Bazilika). The main church of Budapest is an important example of neoclassical architecture, recently renovated.

Great Synagogue and the Jewish Museum (Dohány utcai Zsinagóga) The biggest Synagogue in Europe, and the most impressive in the world. Next to the Synagogue is a small but impressive museum. In the rear of the Synagogue is a memorial for victems of the Shoah. The synagogue was recently restored to its former grandeur. A block away you'll find a smaller, but nearly identical synagogue built long before the Great Synagogue. The plaque in front explains that this was used as some sort of assembly grounds for those persecuted during the Holocaust before they were deported. It has not been renovated, and you can see through the boards on the outside how decrepit it still is. A chilling sight.

The Royal Palace (Királyi palota). The most popular attraction on the hill. Very cool and there is a yummy wine cellar at the Palace- you must try....

National Gallery (Nemzeti Galéria) Inside the Royal Palace wings B, C and D houses an astounding collection of paintings.

The Fisherman's Bastion and lookout terrace (Halászbástya). For impressive views across the Danube to Pest.

Matthias Church (Mátyás templom, aka Church of Our Lady). Dominant neogothic church crowning Budapest's cityscape - nowadays is under reconstruction.

 

Couple pictures from the trip:

So last week I headed to Warsaw, Poland to see how my team is doing.  They went through a big transition from moving from one team (Maggie, Kasha, Mariusz) in one division of the company to another team (Karol and DPE team) in a different division.  It was also difficult as the new team has a different execution model than how my team is use to executing.  I would say each team member has a great plan but now they need to come together to build a cohesive strategy.  Almost there...After long days of meetings, planning, revising and negotiating we headed out to fun dinners to see the town.  The first night we headed to the Praga area and had a very yummy international restaurant where both old teams and new teams came together.  The second night we headed to a fun local place that was very angelic.  The food was fabulous and we had traditional polish favorites.  The last night we started at the roof top lounge where you could see the entire city of Warsaw and then allowed my boss Csaba join the ladies night out.  We took a nice walk from the Marriott to old town Warsaw.  We had Polish Tapas and Vodka at an old time Communist Era Bar.  We then headed to this cute restaurant that had over 50 different types of pirogues and special polish honey drink that was hot, alcoholic and very sweet! 

 

Let me give you a little history of Warsaw.  Warsaw is the capital and the largest city in Poland.  It is located on the Vistula River (very beautiful) roughly 370 kilometers (230 mi) from both the Baltic Sea  and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the metro area is approximately 2,785,000.  Warsaw is the 8th largest city in the European Union.   On 9 November 1940 the City of Warsaw was awarded with the highest military decoration for courage in the face of the enemy.  Warsaw is also known as the "phoenix city," as it was completely destroyed during World War II, and rebuilt with the effort of Polish citizens.  It is an amazing town and the people are so very friendly.  I loved our taxi driver who had amazing customer service but was 3X the price of the regular taxi- oh-well.  Sometimes service is worth the extra charge.  I hope you decide to visit Warsaw.  A few pictures of the trip...

So I headed to Oktoberfest today with my neighbor Bernie.  I should have known Greg was going to bail on me when he said he would meet me there at 13:30.   The wether was perfect not too hot, not too cold, no rain and not too many people- just yet that is...  We got there and walked around before meeting the Munich International Ski Club with our Box section Hacker Tent.  The tents are amazing, huge and hold 9000 people.  It is crazy they take 2 months to build, 3 weeks of festivities and then another 2 months to take apart.  Over 8 million people will come to Munich and I think it is 6 million masses of beer and 3 million chickens are consumed in the 3 weeks of Oktoberfest.  We joined 80 of our closest ski buddies for Mass biers, 1/2 chickens, dancing and singing.  Greg finally shows up to make an appearance for 15 minutes and then said he was going on a quick walk and never came back.  Bernie joined me and we enjoyed the next 4 hours.  After feeling quite drunk we headed home so we can be productive at work tomorrow and not be too drunk. 

 

Let me give you a little history lesson on Oktoberfest-  Crown Prince Ludwig, later to become King Ludwig I, was married to Princess Therese of Saxony-Hildburghausen on 12 October 1810. The citizens of Munich were invited to attend the festivities held on the fields in front of the city gates to celebrate the happy royal event. The fields were renamed Theresienwiese ("Theres'a Fields") to honor the Crown Princess, although the locals have since abbreviated the name simply to "Wiesn". Horse races in the presence of the royal family marked the close of the event that was celebrated as a festival for the whole of Bavaria. The decision to repeat the horse races in subsequest years gave rise to the tradition of Oktoberfest.  In 1811, an added feature to the horse races was the first Agricultural Show, designed to boost Bavarian agriculture. The horse races, which were the oldest - and at one time - the most popular event of the festival are no longer held today. But the Agricultural Show is still held every three years during the Oktoberfest on the southern part of the festival grounds.  In the first few decades, the choices of amusements were sparse. In 1818, the first carousel and two swings were set up. Vistitors were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands, which grew rapidly in number. In 1896 the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents and halls set up by the enterprising landlords with the backing of the breweries. The remainder of the festival site was taken up by a fun-fair. The range of carousels offered was already increasing rapidly in the 1870's as the fairground trade continued to grow and develope in Germany.  Enough history... Here are a few pictures from the day.

 

So I headed on Wed. from Moscow to the Windows Client BG Leads offsite in Milan.  To my suprise we headed straight to the Staium to see the Inter- Barcelona Game.  The downfall for me is arriving at the Stadium with 76,000 people and having a suitcase and backpack with it pouring rain.  I was then told to go against the traffic of all the people and head to the Metro to meet the bus to leave my bags and head to the game with the team.  After a 40 minute walk and 2 hour wait,  I finally found the bus-dropped off my bags and headed to the game.  The energy in the stadium was crazy but it was no Allianz stadium in Munich.  It was a tie 0-0 game and not much energy in the offense, mostly defensive game.  Expected a lot more from Barcelona.  We then headed to the Castle.  Yes, the offsite was in a Castle and we had the Castle to ourselves!  Our rooms were amazing and the faclities perfect!  The food was fabulous and the conference facilities great! Free internet access and anything you needed you got.  I felt bad for my leads as our offsite as always in Munich at the MS office. 

 

A little history of the castle for you.  Villa Gallarati Scotti is probably the most majestic of the many delightful villas constructed in the area. Of the Baroque structure, transformed into Neo-Classic shapes with a monumental entrance between the end of the 18th, beginning of the 19th century by the architect Simone Cantoni, there remain only the traditional U-shaped play and several interior spaces with 18th-century frescoes. The 19th-century modifications also involved the park, transformed into a typical English landscape, inside of which traces of the Baroque garden survive with a valuable nymphaeum of Neptune located on the northern edge of the landscaped area. In 2008, the restoration of the villa was completed and it currently houses a centre for conferences, seminars.  I would recommend staying here absolutely wonderful!  A few pictures from the 2 day offsite. 

 

 

So I noticed I forgot to blog about MGX- Microsoft Global Exachange.  This is the one week a year that 17,000 Microsoft employees from around the world get together to understand the strategies for the new fiscal year.  This is my 7th MGX and I can't believe every year I get re-energized and chanting I LOVE THIS COMPANY!  Amazing Products, Amazing People, Amazing Research and Amazing impact in helping people around the world- makes me so proud to work for this company.  It is also great to catch up with co-workers you haven't seen for months- some for years.  I am amazed at our MACH ( Microsoft Academic College Hires), could you image what it would feel like starting Microsoft right out of college and then being in the Atlanta Dome and seeing flags from all over the world and people chanting I LOVE THIS COMPANY with Steve Ballmer runing around the dome.  Its pretty cool.  Here are a couple pictures from the week.

 

 

Well, we just got back from a long weekend in London and we want to share with you our latest adventures.  On the right you will see some pictures from our romps through London.  The first day we landed late and had dinner at this strange Pub called the Churchill Arms where we met my old boss and her husband but the pub was a Thai restaurant.  The next day we did a lot of walking must have been 12km, we went to Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, changing of the guard, St. James in the Field Cathedral, St. James park, Buckingham Palace, National Gallery and dinner at a Belgium Restaurant and met our friends’ boyfriend-Mike at a quirky little Pub in Notting Hill Neighborhood to listen to music. 

The third day it rained a lot so we spent most of the time using the underground.  The second picture is the millennium bridge that we took to the Tate Museum.  This bridge was over budget and did not open on its target date of 2000, it cost 10 million pounds to build!  We headed to  the Tate Museum and saw a play at the Shakespeare Globe and had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant called Neil's Yard.  The play was really cool, it is the top picture and it was open air and no roof.  The bad thing is it rained the whole time and the people standing in front of the stage got soaked.  Greg was smart and saw an area on the far right side of the stage where we had a good view and stayed dry.  My favorite part was our futbal game Chelsea versus Burnley.  The crazy thing is no beer drinking in your seats, only in the food area.  If that was the case in Germany no one would be at the futbal games. 

Greg’s favorite part of the trip was our ride on the London Eye.  The next 2 pictures.  Our friend in Munich, Steve Murphy help build it.   He told us that when they opened they did a big commemoration to breast cancer and he had to tied huge pink ribbons on top of each pod.  The view was amazing and it takes 30 minutes to go all the way around.  There is a cute kids 4D movie you watch before the trip-Greg liked the pictures of us in the funny glasses, we'll spare you from viewing.

Greg had not been to Prague, Czech Republic yet-so I took him for a long weekend.  I do love this city!  We did lots of walking, at least 18km a day- Greg wanted to kick my butt by the end of each day.  We saw Prague Castle, did a bike tour through the city, did a show, saw music, went to great restaurants, and investigated neighborhoods.  We love the great art structures around the city.  The FREEDOM wall was one of my favorites.  The Dancing Building is very cool!  We saw typical Praue flats, which are pretty cute.  We had dinner with one of my co-workers and his wife.  It was a jammed pack 5 days.  If you haven't been to Prague it is a must!

 

Some interesting facts of this Bohemian city- Prague history is an epic story. Inhabitants of the city have witnessed a declaration of independence, Nazi control, brain washing communism & capitalist democracy. And that was just the 20th century!  Since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Prague has become one of Europe's (and the world's) most popular tourist destinations. It is the sixth most-visited European city after London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Berlin. Prague suffered considerably less damage during World War II than some other major cities in the region, allowing most of its historic architecture to stay true to form. It contains one of the world's most pristine and varied collections of architecture, from Art Noveau to Baroque, Renaissance, Cubist, Gothic, Neo-Classical and ultra-modern.  It was also Mozzart's favorite city and it's known that he had stayed with many citizens of Pargue when he was fired by the King in Austria. 

 

So with my MBA finished, I now have a life and my hope is to keep my blog up to date.  So Greg and I headed home to enjoy the great Oregon Summer.  Greg stayed home for a couple months and enjoyed fishing, camping and hanging with his boys.  We climbed South Sister, did my hooding ceremony, went to the Oregon Coast and saw whales, hiked the Oregon dunes, went wine tasting, went to soccer games, went camping, went deep sea fishing and headed to central Oregon for fly fishing, hiking and enjoying the warm sun.  Oregon is one of the most beautiful places in the world and being gone sure has made us appreacite it.   It was great to see family, friends and catch-up with co-workers in Seattle.  Good times, now its back to Munich...