What im working on...

So it's about time i wrote a little bit about what I've been doing for work. While working in Ireland, I interviewed a guy named Dawid from Poznan and after we hired him he turned out to be a great developer. We got along well and started thinking about business ideas. It didn't take us long to realize that there wasn't much development talent in Ireland and that was one of the main reasons we saw many software projects failing or producing low quality software (one look at Bank of Ireland's Business Online banking software and you'd be convinced). We looked for an opportunity and when it finally arrived we made the right moves and launched our company. We hired a couple developers in Poland and were off. It's been almost 2 years since then, we've both transitioned to work at this full time, the company has gone through a name change, we've opened up an office in Poland and just a few days ago we launched our web page BarooSoftware.com just in time for the global downturn :)

What do we do exactly? We an outsourcing company that helps Software Product companies build their core product...we have a similar culture, very high hiring bar and we all come from a product development background. See our page to learn more.

Anyone still reading this?

This is what happens with blogging...you get caught up in life and forget to do it!

So what's new...I'm currently on a 2 week work/vacation in Cali, Colombia visiting the most amazing girl in the world. I've rented an apartment in the center of the city and spend my days working on my laptop. It's hot, it's colombia, i love it. This coming weekend im heading up to Bogota with kate and some of her friends to see the city and party of course.

My regular life now of course is in Poznan, Poland. I've made many friends, mostly through the couchsurfing network. A couple of weeks ago i had a house warming party (called a parapetowka in polish) which was a huge success...about 35 people, candles, music and dancing into the night.

On the work front, things are going well...i've got this little software company I'm building...more on that later when i have a web page to show off.

Final update, two of my old friends are traveling the world! Shawn is doing it hardcore...after a year of being a ski bum in whistler he's taken off on a world tour that will only end when his funds run out...i think it will be a while (microsoft pays well). Check out his blog...notice how he partially blames me for his lifestyle :) Also, Dan is traveling with his girlfriend...great blog by the way...lots of reader interaction.

Who's Happy?

Every year someone does a big world survey to figure out which nation is the happiest. Some countries dear to my heart that made the top 10:
- Colombia is number 3!!!
- Canada not too shaby at 9...way ahead of the americans woohoo!!!
- Ireland is still ranked high at 6...but i think this survey was taken a few months back...real estate is currently in a freefall so they'll most likely be off the top 10 next year.

Poznan - my new home

Time goes by and I've been in Poznan for a month now. I've been living in cozy hostels and for about 2 weeks now couchsurfing with some students i've met here. It's summer so the weather is fantastic, the streets are filled, the outdoor beer gardens are filled and everyone seems to be in great mood. In the past i've spent some time in other polish cities (gdansk, warsaw, cracow, wroclaw) and i really have to say i love poznan. the people seem to be friendlier and there's waaaay less tourists. i've been making lots of new friends, mainly through couchsurfing (the community is really active here) and im in the process of signing up for salsa lessons (really popular in poland for some reason) and spanish lessons. apartment hunting has proved to be a challenge as it seems everyone wants a cool flat in the city center :S luckily though, today i found one! i move in soon, and like always, guests from around the world are welcome :)

Google Mail?

I was in Berlin over the weekend and this is what you get when you type www.gmail.com in a web browser:

We can't provide service under the Gmail name in Germany; we're called Google Mail here instead.

If you're traveling in Germany, you can access your mail at http://mail.google.com.

Oh, and we'd like to link the URL above, but we're not allowed to do that either. Bummer.

I don't know the reason behind this, but I'm guessing that google wasn't allowed to do this as germans would think that the 'G' in Gmail stands for Germany...some kind of nationalistic email program. But then again, the word Germany is Deutschland in german and www.dmail.com is not blocked...hmmm.

North and then East

So Celtic bart is continuing the rollcoast ride called Life. After Colombia, i made a short stop in Miami...spent a few hours being harassed by tough-guy american customs agents...for some reason the following story doesnt sound right "vacation in colombia 2 months, i don't work, i was living in ireland for last 2 years, im going to visit my parents in toronto, i have a polish passport cause my parents are polish, all my visa stamps looks suspicious: colombia, turkey, egypt, etc." Anyway, after sweaty miami i spent a week relaxing in TO with my family and also caught up with some old friends. Next i was in ireland, weather as miserable as i had remembered it to be...but of course good friends, good time. Now im back in the motherland, Poland...to be specific, in Poznan...a city that's underrated in my opinion. Stay tuned.

Miss Universe

Here's something i forgot to blog about. A few weeks ago was the Miss Universe pageant and there was lots of hype in Colombia because the runner up was from Colombia (actually from El Poblado the same neighborhood that i lived in for 5 weeks). Also interesting that 4 out of the top 5 were latinas...Venezuela won.

Colombia i will miss you...

So my 2 month stay in Colombia is over. Really i could stay there for much much longer but unfortunately my visa expired and life is waiting. It was an unforgettable experience which i am so happy i was fortunate enough to finally do.
What made the trip was the people i met...i made some really cool friends and a special someone i will never forget. Thanks Colombia, i will miss you.

Coffee and Volcanos

After a memorable time in Cali, Soeren and i headed north to a city called Manizales where we based ourselves from. The city itself is pretty cool...extremely hilly and filled with universities...you can definitely feel the university vibe while walking down the city streets.

The following day we visited a Hacienda de Cafe (Coffee farm) where we had a private, 2-hour tour of the entire place. We got to see coffee production through the entire cycle and finally enjoy some fresh colombian coffee from beans we had just roasted. Did you know that one coffee plant produces 1kg of coffee beans per year which sells for anywhere between $0.50 and $2.00 (depending on quality)? haha...the best thing was that then entire tour was in spanish and i understood everything!

Our final day, Soeren and i took a trip to Nevado del Ruiz. The weather wasn't great, so no beautiful views, but we did manage to make it to 4850m. In the end we were rewarded for our efforts with a long soak in a hot spring.

Salsa & Soeren

What does Salsa and my buddy Soeren from Dublin have in common? I encountered both in Cali. Cali is Colombia's Salsa city and i got to see quite a bit of it. I arrived before soeren, and was lucky watch a football match which included a team from Cali - the street party afterwards was awesome! Soeren and I didn't do too much in cali, as there isn't much to do (except dance salsa of course) but it was warm weather and chillin was the name of the game. I also met a really cool Calena via couchsurfing who showed me a few new dance moves (gracias katherine)!

Highest Palm Trees i've ever seen!

My first quick stop after leaving medellin was Salento. It's a really small town next to a Palm Tree invested valley called Valle de Cocora. I spent the day hiking with an australian buddy through this beautiful place. Most of the land has been cleared by farmers except for Palm trees which remain due to their protected status. It's quite surreal to see 60m high palm treas standing at various elevations along a mountain side with nothing but grass around them. Also, we stopped an a mountain house and got to see various species of hummingbirds feeding. Nice to be out of the city and see some nature!

After 5 weeks...good-bye Medellin

Sorry...im catching up on the blogging...

After 5 weeks of living in Medellin, i took a deep breath, a few good bye kisses, some "see ya later dude" 's and i left my colombian sanctuary to checkout some more cool before my visa expires.

I gotta say, I love Medellin and it will always bring back warm memories. Of course this bias is always present when one gets to live in a new cool place for a short period of time so take it with a grain of salt. ...I'll be back :)

Hot Songs in Colombia

This post is mainly for me...to remember the music i've been listening to everyday, on the radio, on TV and in the clubs. If you're interested to hear the popular music currently in Colombia...download these and enjoy!:

Frank Reyes - Tu Eres Ajena
Daddy yankee - Ella Me Levanto
Cabas - Bonita
Felipe Pelaez - Loco
Vicente Fernandez - Estos Celos
Enrique Iglesias - Donde Esta Corazon
Mana - Si No Te Hubieras Ido

La Rumba in Medellin

So a few weeks have gone by and i've settled down in Medellin. I have my own flat, take spanish lessons everyday, go to the gym, lye by the pool, meet friends and party of course. In most spanish-speak countries the word 'fiesta' is used for party, but in colombia it's 'rumbia' presumably after the latin dance Rumba.

I've decided to dedicate this post to list a few peculiarities of the night-life culture here in Medellin:
1) Every kind of latin music is played (salsa, meringue, reggaeton,etc) but no one, i mean no one knows how to properly dance to them. People dance only in couples here and it's the same dance for every song. Guy/girl very close swinging hipps right and left. Positive side is that it's not hard to learn for a gringo like myself.
2) There are no open dance floors. Huge nightclubs are packed wall to wall with tables and chairs. People come in groups, occupy tables, drink and then when the moment is right, stand next to their tables or on their chairs and dance.
3) Bottle service is not a luxury, it's the norm. E-v-er-y-one has bottle service here. You sit down at your table and order a bottle of Medellin Rum with coke or 7-up...you get refills of ice, popcorn (i've eaten more of this in the last few weeks then my entire life combined), and some exotic fruits.
4) There are 'shows' where sexy girl and guy dancers come on stage and put on a show before moving to dance on the bars. Sometimes midgets are present too (only at the best clubs).
5) Chicken soup is served around 3am. Sounds very strange, but it's brilliant after a night of drinking/dancing.

Ya, exactly...strange but it's unique which makes it kinda cool.

The Nice People of Medellin

For the past week, i have been living in Medellin "the city of eternal spring". The home of the world's most famous drug cartels, is now a safe, modern city beautifully settled in a mountain valley. My buddy igor is here with me for a week and we've decided to go all out and rented a pimp apt. Days consist of lazy tourism, eating and nightlife. The people here are the nicest people i have met ever. For example, the other day, Igor and i were lost looking for a restaurant...so we stopped by a chicken fast food joint and asked for help. All three staff got to work, first finding the restaurant in the yellow pages, then calling them to get precise directions, writing it all down on paper for us and then coming outside to point us in the right direction. Another example happened today on the public bus. A young girl who was sitting next to igor, tapped a man that was standing next to her and offered to hold a bunch of documents he was carrying with him.

Im in the process of trying to organize some spanish lessons...turning out harder than expected.

Sweatin it out in Cartagena

Hola Amigos! So i´ve finally executed on a dream that started over 2 years ago. My first attempt failed a few months ago, but now im in Colombia. I arrived to Cartagena without any luggage, but managed to survive a day before it was delivered to my hotel. It´s figgin hot and humid here...so im taking about 3 showers per day and trying to walk slowly. Cartagena is a beautiful small city, full of colours and history. The people are great so far, everyone is chill and smiling. Im only here for 3 days (thankfully cause i won´t be able to stand the humidity much longer) but enrolled in a language school as it´s a easy way to meet people and to refresh my spanish. Like yesterday, i met a very cool korean girl and we ended up taking marengue lessons after which we practiced our new skills at a bar built on the old fortress walls (which surround the city) overlooking the sea.

Last Day In Ireland

After 2 years and 2 weeks, my final day in Ireland has arrived and another chapter of my life is closed. My time here has been incredible, i've enjoyed every after work pint, every deep philosophical conversation, every couchsurfer, every weekend trip, every party in Studio56. But it's time to move on again for new challenges and new excitement. I will miss Dublin, i've connected more to this city than any other place i've ever lived. So I'm sure i'll be back to visit.

Last night, I took it easy, went to see a film 'In Bruges' which is absolutely fantastic. Then to a good friends house for a goodbye drink. Today I fly out to NYC and a few days later to Cartagena, Colombia. Stay tuned.

Booze Cruise

The journey continues. After an inspirational conversation from my friend Tomasz, me and my two buddies Nick and Soeren booked a short party trip. After missing my flight to Stockholm, i managed to book another one the following morning. I arrived, and met my buddies and my good friend Ida whom i have not seen for three years. It's amazing that after such a long time, you can see someone and pick up exactly where you left off. Thanks Ida and i'll see you again somewhere in this world. The three of us then took a party boat cruise across the baltic to estonia. This was something amazing. A cruise boat, filled with young people, a duty free liquor store onboard and a few discos...we partied the night away with estonians. We have spent the last two days in the beautiful town of Tallinn...continuing what we started on the boat. One more day and we're back on the party boat to Stockholm. What a trip.


Sunset on the Baltic (photo by S. Kunst)

Highest Cliffs in Europe

Just spent the last three sun-filled days on the west coast of ireland with my sister. We started in Galway, then headed north through Conomara National Park where we hiked to the top of Diamond Hill and saw plenty of beautiful beaches. We visited Archile Island and then drove to Donegal where we hiked up Europe's highest cliff. At nights we would eat local seafood at nice restaurants and drink at the local pubs...we even bought an irish music CD for the car to ensure a full irish experience. Overall i think it was a great journey...she has a couple more nights in dublin before flying home and i fly out to sweden!


Beach in Conamara


The 'Bens' in Conamara


Looking down from highest cliff in Europe


Me and my sister

The Best Place in England

And the award goes to...(drumroll)...Brighton! To be honest, i haven't seen much of England at all but i really don't think it can get any better than Brighton. It's like a mini-san fransisco but filled with students. Similar architecture, sunny weather (hence the name), beach, hippies, organic food, alternative bars, you name it! I can't believe i've never heard of this place until very recently.

Brighton also has an amazing palace built by King Henry (the 4th i think) called the Royal Pavilion...you've never seen anything like this in your entire life - a palace built by a English Playboy Prince in a Indian/Chinese style to throw huge parties for his friends.

During my last night in Brighton, i attended a Divorce party. Yes, two people (who married 5 years ago, separated a few years later and now finally were officially divorced) were celebrating and decided to have a big party. To summarize: "Just Divorced" balloons, a Wedding-style cake but cut in half (with the groom on one side and the bride on the other), couchsurfers from all all over the world, lots of alcohol, 'Just divorced' speeches and skinny dipping at 2am.

On the way to london from Brighton i stopped at Stonehenge to take a few photos. I decided it was not worth the £6.50 for the entrance so i took photos from outside the perimeter fence (i love my new zoom lense). Was i impressed...not really...i've been spoiled by egypt :)


India? Guess again...


San Fran? Guess again...


It's Brighton!

Rains in Spain?

I've been traveling for the last week in the only place in Spain were it does rain quite a bit...and boy did it rain! My friend Djali and I started our journey in Galicia, the very north-west province of spain. Our first destination was Santiago de Compostela...a small beautiful town, famous for being the end point to the 'Camino' or Road to Santiago which is a month-long trek that starts in the Pyrenees. It's also famous for its seafood...which i endulged in from the moment i got there. The most famous dish is Pulpo (octopus)...yumm. The area is nothing like the rest of spain...it's hilly and very green...greener than seattle, greener than ireland...even the churches have moss growing on them. After a day in santiago, we met a very nice couchsurfer (luis) who took us on a drive all along the coast...magnificent cliffs, beaches, etc. Next was Vigo were i bought some fresh oysters from old ladies :) From Vigo we crossed the border to Porto, Portugal. I really liked this place...it had a very undisturbed decrepit feel to it- very charming. I spent most of my time getting lost in small side-streets and discovering little nooks here and there. My final day was taking tours of Port Wineries and port tasting of course. That's it...no story, just an update :)


Lonely Beach


Porto in B&W


Porto in Color

The Sandman

Old Port...3000EUR per bottle

Egypt - The End

Well, that's it. I've added some fotos to old posts below, but really they don't do the place justice. I must say Egypt is one of my favs. There aren't too many places in the world where you can look thousands of years in to the past, experience the desert, the sea, meet friendly people and explore a different culture all on the cheap.


Walk like and Egyptian

Sharm, Sharm, Sharm

After a very long and relaxing time in Dahab, i made my way over to Sharm el-Sheikh. My whole life i've heard nothing but great things from egyptian friends back home, but after arriving egypt i would consistently get the opposite message from other backpackers. So, i decided to check it out for myself. Sharm in a nutshell: Take the tackyness of Las Vegas and mix it will a beach town, add world class diving, great nightclubs (like Pacha which i went to last night), add lots and lots of Russians (the stylish and beautiful kind) and raise the prices to european standards. So i guess the like or dislike of Sharm comes down to what you're looking for in an egyptian vacation. For me, I place it at the end of the list, luckily i only budgeted 1.5 days here. On the up side, instead of staying at one of the resorts, im couchsurfing with a cool English guy who's been living here for two years as a diving instructor. Tonight, I fly back to Cairo to meet up with my buddy ahmed for dinner and then back to chilly dublin.

Relaxing in Dahab

So this place it is folks...the coolest place in world :) Ok that may be an overstatement, but Dahab is simply amazing. Imagine a small little town, lined with chillout restaurants and bars on the most beautiful red-sea water you can imagine. Add the mountains of Saudi Arabia across the sea and another mountain range behind the town. 350 days of sunshine per year, world class diving and windsurfing and packed with backpackers.

I met some cool russians who live here, mainly working in the windsurfing centers...tonight im invited to a BBQ followed by a firedance show...nice.

Be like Moses

After two nights of no sleep, it's time to blog.

After taking a 16 hour bus ride from Luxor, I arrived in Dahab, the backpackers paradise of Egypt. Dahab it filled with hostels, chillout restaurants by the sea, a few bars and shops. Every backpacker ends up here at one point or another, and it seems no one wants to leave. It's also a hot-spot for scuba diving and windsurfing.

After spending the day strolling around town, followed by a great seafood dinner, i departed at 11pm for a night hike up Mt. Sinai. The hike started at 2am, and i reached the summit at around 4 or so in time for the sunrise. As the story goes, this is the place where God gave Moses the Commandments...now it's packed with Polish and Russian tourists. After the sunrise, everyone headed downhill to visit St. Catherine's Monastery which is the site where Moses spoke to God via a burning bush. There's a bush within the monastery which is apparently a descendant of the original bush...although im not sure if the have conducted any bush DNA tests to verify this...i guess for many, faith is enough, as everyone was lining up to touch it (including myself).


Heavenly

Temples Galore

Well I gotta say im all templed-out. Though i must admit this stuff is incredible. I'm not gonna go into details and recite names as it will mean nothing to you unless you've been here and experienced it for yourself. But there have been at least four occasions now over the last few days, where i have just stopped and looked up at a 5000 year old monument in complete awe (and i don't get awe'd that easily).

Final note, if you're ever in Luxor stay at the Bob Marley Hostel...it's rockin.

Threading Ambush

Another day, another story. So yesterday i decided to get another shave. Found a nice barber shop, the guy didn't speak much english but smiled a lot so i decided to give it a go. Very good with the blade, i was impressed. My shave was coming to a close, when he opened up the drawer next to me and pulled out a long string...about a meter in length and folded it. Now the following paragraph happened faster than you can read it.

My first thought at seeing this long string was that he wanted to floss my teeth. Just a natural reaction after having my dentist floss my teeth over the years. Before i could open my mouth and to say "Ahhh", he started 'threading' the tiny hairs left on my upper cheak after the shave. Shock is the only way to describe it, then pain. This man was fast...with my eyes closed all i could hear is the thread spinning. Then i felt pain all over my face...and a few seconds later it just stopped. I opened my eyes, the smiley barber exclaimed "beautiful". A quick look in the mirror and i quickly realized that not only did i get a shave but also an eyebrow threading. Wowzers. Luckily, he only 'cleaned them up' instead of doing some kind of shaping.

I walked down the street back to my hostel, passing by other barber shops and witnessed many more egyptian men getting this done. Back home this threading business is reserved for women, homosexuals and metrosexuals. But here, it seems to be the norm, along with pairs of straight men walking down the street with their arms locked. I think i have a good idea for the next (metro) GQ ad...how about David Beckem and Robbie Williams walking into a movie premier together? (BTW, as i type this, there's a 6 or 7 year old kid having a smoke next to me).

Today i took a train with the 'locals' from Aswan to Luxor...entire ride cost me 1 euro. To put that in perspective, if you take the 'tourist train' then this same journey would cost 25Euro.

Peace from the middle east.

The Deep South

Just a short update today. My final day in Cairo was spent visiting Coptic Cairo with my buddy Ahmed. All was great except for the fact that he kept getting harrassed by the 'Tourist Police'. Aparently if an Egyptian wants to walk down the street with a tourist they need carry some special tourism card. I know this is probably for some greater good...but come on. After saying good-bye, i hopped on a night train with a gazzilion other tourists and woke up the next day in Aswan. Aswan is pretty far south down (or should i say up) the nile. Today i spent the day on the river...i had my own personal Faluka boat (old school egyptian sail boat). Yaman (the captain) worked like a dog all day while i sipped tea and took pictures...so i gave him a huge tip for his effort (and to ease my conscience).


El Capitan


Faluka Boat



Sunset on the Nile

Belly Dancing = Paaaartay

Last night a bunch of us decided to go see a Belly Dancing show. According to our trusty loney planet we had one of two options: classy and expensive show at one of cairo's 5-start hotels, or cheap and sleazy with egyptian locals. One of the american girls who was coming with me was on a low budget so we defaulted to cheap and sleazy :)

So at 11pm, 5 of us hit up a place called Palymra. Unfortunetly, when we arrived we were told the show starts at midnight but we were invited to a bar next door. This was the begining of one of the most bizzar/fun nights i've had in a long time. This little bar was so tacky, you could call it cool. The place was decorated as it it was someone's birthday (think coloured ballons lining the walls). The locals in this pub were ultra friendly, they would come up shake our hands and introduce themselves. But the best thing about this bar was the service. In general, i've found the service in egypt to be quite poor...for example, i've been to a nice bar where you have to place an order for beer a few times before it comes. At this place, the moment the word 'Stella' starts rolling off your tongue, there's a guy running to the fridge to get it for you. Ashtrays immediately are replaced after every cigarette. Anyway around 12 we moved onto the Belly Dancing bar which slowly filled up until it was full around 1:30. There was a live band, singers, and a new dancer every half hour. Now for the bizzar bit. At one point one of the audience members decides to go on stage and shake his fat belly along with the dancer...cool i think. But at the end of the dance, he reaches into his pocket and takes out a stack of cash and proceeds to through large sums of real money into the audience. At this point i thought it was part of the show. But then the next song another guy gets up and walks up the the first guy (who is sitting at his table smoking shisha) and pours money onto his head. Anyway, more guys get involved in this money pouring fiesta and the place is alive. The dancers are happy of course because all the money that is thrown around ends up in their pockets...there's a guy who's sole purpose is to collect money from the floor - I wonder what he writes on his resume. To cut long story short, a few hours, many beers and a couple shishas later im on the dance floor with the belly dancers pouring money on an egyptian guy's head (i made friends with him earlier as i was sitting next to him)...which of course was kindly recipricated later :)

This morning, i woke up with a wicked headache and spent the morning in bed trying to make sense of what happened last night. The afternoon was spent in the famous Egyptian museum...the highlight was of course the mask of king Tut.



Shake it like a polaroid picture

Celtic Bart in Egypt

That's right, after 2 years of essentially no sunshine i've decided to take a vacation to the land of the sun. And man, is it ever sunny...has been hitting 35C ever since i got here which i've been told is very hot for this time of year.

I arrived in Cairo, which is absolutely massive. I was thinking that this would be a good opportunity to get off the drink for a while, but of course, to my dismay, there are local beers in Egypt which of course i have to try. So the first night was spent with a few fellow backpackers on the roof terrace of a hotel smoking Shisha and drinking beer.

My first real day was spent visiting pyramids. I hired a personal driver along with a nice swiss couple and we spent the entire day visiting a series of pyramids (including the famous Giza pyramids). Not wanting to be a complete tourist, we passed on the camel/horse rides and did all our sightseeing on food through the dessert...fantastic! They truly are breathtaking. We had the opportunity to go inside the Red Pyramid which was a cool experience as well.

Today i met up with Ahmed (aka Chronoman) which is a developer i hired to do some work for me a few months ago via the rentacoder.com website. We spent the day visiting Islamic Cairo, many beautiful mosques as well as the Citadel and a cemetery know as 'The City of the Living and the dead'. Just like in Morocco, i couldn't resist building up a little facial hair and then going for a traditional shave.

So far so good. I'll be off in a couple hours to seek out a belly dancing bar.


The famous Giza Pyramids



Me


Cairo in B&W



Prayer time in the Citadel

Negotations with the landlord

Yesterday, Soeren (my flatmate) got a phone call from our landlord. "Shit, he wants to raise the rent by 100Eur per month (50 each)" says Soeren. So we invited him over for a round of negotiations on our turf...Studio 56 (this is what we call our flat).

Before we get into the details, lets state a few facts. The rent that we pay for our flat is great; smaller apartments in our building go for 300 EUR per month more. We haven't had a rent raise in 2 years even though apartment and rental prices have risen significantly during this time. Finally, our landlord is a shrewd business man (owns 30-40 apartments in the city).

We had a couple hours to prepare before his arrival so Soeren and I came up with a game plan. Our opening position would be that we were happy with the current situation (paying low rent) and that we did not want any change. This would give us a good starting point as we knew he would come in with the opposite goal - to raise the rent. Next the plan was to concede on the rent raise but in return to get lots of cool stuff for our apartment in return.

Arguments were in the following order (LL- is landlord)-
LL - I want to raise the rent by 100 per month as it is already low and i have not raised it in 2 years. This is just to cover inflation.
SB - We don't want to raise the rent we are happy like this.
SB - We know our rent is good. But at the same time when we compare our flat to our friends who have similar flats their flats are better furnished.
SB - We are good tenents, never cause problems, keep the place clean and fix things ourselves and never bother you.
SB - Look at that shit TV in the corner, it's not even a TV. And this couch, it has a hole in it and it's not leather.
LL - TV is not good for you and the couch is fine.
SB - We like watching sports on TV and the couch has a hole...people can fall through and sue us.
LL - But the couch is made of wood
SB - That's not an argument.
SB - We want a new TV, leather couches and the rent increase will not start for another two months.
LL - Ok, we can delay the rent increase but i can only do the TV or the couch.
SB - We want both. Look, at 100EUR extra per month, that's 1200EUR extra per year. We can find a TV and couch for half of that.
LL - OK we have a deal.

That's how it went. Anyway, that evening Soeren and I picked out a 32" LCD TV for 630EUR which he prompty purchased for us. Now we just need to find a leather couch set....will probably be another 600 or so.

So all in all...we are pretty happy. We still have a good deal on the rent and Studio 56 is pimpin.

And 2008 Begins...

Happy New Year! Hope everyone passed it well. I was in Amsterdam for 2 days celebrating. We rented a very nice flat in the city center with a bunch of my friends from Dublin. New Years was spent at a pimp club called Supper Club which was pretty good cause it allowed us to get away from the swarms of tourists invading the city during this time of year....but i did manage to sneak out of the club just before midnight to watch the fireworks in the main square (with the swarms of tourists). Nice.

2007 in Review

There goes another year folks. It's been a great year now that I think back on it. Many great parties, lots of travellers and old friends stopping by my flat in Dublin, some cool vacations, running my small software company (www.baru.ie if you haven't heard of it!), fell in love for the third time in my life and discovered Facebook!!

I've been in Dublin for over a year and half now and have really settled down into the place. I've walked every street, been to 'almost' every pub, and really do feel like a local. I'll admit that im also starting to feel antsy, but when i leave for a few days i always feel great the moment im back in the dub. Something very comforting about knowing a city so well but at the same time i still recognize that it's a really special place to live...or should i say, a special place/time to live. For those who don't know, dublin his just over the peak of a huge boom in the economy, it's the 'youngest' population of any european capital and it's just filled with people from all over europe coming to study english work and party...mix in the traditional irish love of everything alcohol and you get the general picture. I can't say it enough, if you haven't been, go! And go now! I've had many people visit and everyone has gone back with a smile. So for 2008 - it's still gonna be ireland :)

I've taken number of trips this year. Started off with a failed attempt at going to Colombia which turned into a vacation in Malta and Poland. My hiking trip in Scotland was probably the highlight...excellent mix of cities, hiking and spending time with a close friend. On the sporty side of things, I've launched back into windsurfing with a trip to the canaries. On top of this was a bunch of weekend trips: Stockholm, Dusseldorf, London, Warsaw, Southampton and Riga. I already have travel plans for 2008! At the end of March I'll heading over to Egypt for three weeks. I've got a wedding in San Fran in february and finally but most importantly i've been given a 3 month leave of absence from work starting May so I'll be heading back to south america!

Another new thing for me this past year was opening my first business with a fellow coworker of mine. It's been an interesting roller coaster ride and i've learned quite a bit along the way. Im proud to say that Baru Software has done some really cool projects since we've opened 10 months ago and that's all thanks to our talented engineers. Our plan for 2008 is to continue the good work we've been doing and hopefully grow our team further.

And of course, the year finished off great with a week with my family in Toronto!

Well that's it for this year...im hopping on a plane tomorrow and flying to Amsterdam to finish off this great year with a bang! See you in 2008!
Bartek

Contacts

Many people probably don't know, but my vision isn't perfect. Five years ago i used to wear glass on a regular basis. Back then my vision was -1.5/-0.75; meaning that i could see well up close but not so well for distance, luckily my vision was always within the legal driving limits. After loosing my glasses a number of years back i have been lazy and haven't had a chance to go in for another eye test or buy new glasses. So the years passed, and i forgot about it completely. But recently, i started thinking about contacts....they were never really an option for me before since i have seasonal allergies and used to suffer from dry eyes syndrome (DES). My DES was cured a few years back with something called punctal plugs which are essentially really, really small silicone plugs that are inserted into your tear-ducts to slow down tear drainage; you're not producing more tears, but they take longer to drain from your eye. And my seasonal allergies are gone as Ireland doesn't really have any seasons :) So i went in for an eye test and to my surprise found that my vision had improved...now only -1.0/-0.5. woohoo! now i got some disposable contacts and am enjoying my new found vision :)

Long time, no blog...

It seems like the summer has gone by without a single blog entry from your favorite blogger. I know this fact because when i compare the dates of my previous post to the little date popup at the bottom right side of my computer screen, apply some complex mathematics and turns out a few months have passed. If i didn't have that magnificent little popup, which i admit i've used more times than any other computer program (except for the web browser), i would still think it's spring. why? cause there has not been a summer this year in Dublin...period. rain, clouds, wind for 4 months. wonderful. luckily i managed to escape to Fuerteventura for a wonderful sun-filled week of windsurfing and relaxation. more about windsurfing in a later post.

but now onto a more important topic: the US economy and in particular the event some of us have been waiting for for a while...the housing market crash hehehe. alright, 'crash' is probably much too harsh of a word for what is happening but it's fun to exaggerate once in a while. some economists call it a 'correction' or 'rebalancing'. Im living in Ireland and if you thought the housing market in the US was a little over-cooked...come check out the fine real estate for sale on the emerald isle. For example, this lovely shack on the edges of the city center will be yours for 450,000EUR (multiply by 1.4 for USD or CAD). I imagine this rebalancing will spread to other countries around the world which have gone through the recent housing boom due to 'free money'. Even places like Colombia have had high rises built, the apartments scooped up by foreigners for 200-300k per apartment in a mad frenzy to buy...but how many people actually need a vacation home in Colombia? If not, who's gonna rent the place? And if they have to sell it, will regular Colombian's buy them? Anyway, this topic goes on and on...luckily we have some very smart people up top who know exactly how to help out...idiots.

Top 10 Tips for Backpackers

Lots of my friends are starting to get into the backpacking culture and one of them suggested I start a backpacker tip of the day on my blog. I think that may be overkill, but instead i've decided to create my top 10 list of tips (the kind you only learn from backpacking a few months) for backpackers:

1) Don't travel with any white clothing. No white shirts, underwear, nothing. It gets dirty much faster than colors, it's a bitch to clean, and ends up turning pink when you accidentally wash it with a color. Once exception: if you're going to Rio de Janeiro for New Years.

2) Travel with a Cocoon. It's a very light, silk, sack you can sleep in when you end up in a hostel that ain't up to your standards of cleanliness. Buy one at your local camping store.

3) Travel with a role of Duct tape. You can fix anything with Duct tape.

4) Travel with Imodium. If you plan to backpack on any other continent other than your own, bring this stuff....it's worth it's weight in gold.

5) Don't bring shaving cream. The water in different parts of the world is different, and your shaving cream/gel is made to foam with the water back home....absolutely useless and takes up lots of space/weight in your pack.

6) Only take three pairs of underwear, max!!. Face it, if you're traveling for a while you're gonna have to do laundry (by hand in the sink). Once you get over this, you realize you don't need a week's worth of underwear and socks. Spend 5 minutes doing laundry every night and you have clean underwear everyday and a much lighter pack. Make sure to buy high-tech hiking underwear...dries in 2 hrs!!!

7) Hide some cash somewhere other than your wallet.

8) Don't travel with your girlfriend, best friend, sibling or any person from back home. Ok, that's a little harsh, but don't do it for too long cause you'll miss out on meeting new people...that's half the fun of backpacking!

9) Use a website like HospitalityClub or meet locals and get free accommodation. I know partying with Americans/Canadians/Australians/English/Irish is fun...but how about a little fun with the locals too?

10) If you're Canadian, don't put that silly flag patch on your pack...looks cool for the first week and then you realize you're a nerd. If you're American, buy a Canadian flag patch and put it on your bag.

Social Networks Galore

Social networks have come and gone, i was an early adopter of a few of them, including Orkut which ended up being hijacked by brazilians, but after a while i got tired of them because they didn't really provide much value.

Over the last month, I've jumped back onto the social networking band wagon to see how things have changed over the last couple years. I chose two social networking sites which many of my ex-coworkers were on: LinkedIn and Facebook.

LinkedIn, the social network for professionals was a challenge to get started. I found the system of linking up with old friends (who i hadn't kept email contact with) quite time consuming (and not very intuitive): ask a friend to introduce person X, hassle your friend to forward it on (some people are better at forwarding than others), person X approves and sends back their email address, copy the email address and add a new contact with the email, request is then approved by person X. Do this for 30 people (only 5 at a time unless you upgrade your account) and you'll understand the pain. But after all the setup, i think it's been worth it. Other people write reviews of your work, which im sure will be read by future employers and you get to keep all your contacts in one place receiving updates about their careers even though you're not working together anymore. They also have a nifty 'Answers' feature which allows you to ask questions via the social graph. Recently I asked a question about hosting providers in the US and got a stream of high quality answers...ended up choosing Slicehost in the end (very cool btw). Overall i'm pretty pleased with LinkedIn.

Facebook, a 'web 2.0' social networking site that i've been hearing about for years has been quite a bit easier to setup. Literally in one evening, I had upload pictures, found university/highschool/elementry school friends, added a map of places i've been to around the world and even poked someone! But seriously, the main reason I actually got onto Facebook was due to them opening up with platform to third-party development...it's a great idea and seems like a win-win for almost everyone involved, but still very early to tell. Thumbs up regardless.

Mon gone

Another great weekend in Dublin, we finally have some summer weather. Monika, a friend of mine from canada, visited and was treated to our usual warm Dublin welcome which included excessive drinking and partying...for the play-by-play visit her blog. She made quite a good impression and im sure i'll be fielding many 'when is monika coming back' questions for some time.

Stockholm

Hey all. Just a quick update...i spent the weekend in Stockholm with a couple friends of mine.
Many things were as expected:
- Clean city
- Meatballs
- Beautiful women
- Ice Bars

But there was also a few unexpected things. For instance, it was cheap!! Ya, i've been living in Dublin for too long... But the strangest thing was small pieces of American culture scattered about. For example, 7-11 on almost every corner! Plus, they're crazy about classic American cars. The weather was great, so all the swedes were out styling their 1960's muscle cars or 1930's whatever.

Hiking in Scotland

So another trip over and it's time to blog :)

I spent 10 days in Scotland with Ania. What made the trip was the weather. We were both expecting typical Scottish weather but were greeted with day after day of blue skies. First was Glasgow...some site seeing, partying with university exchange students and preparing for the trip.
The next four days were spent trekking the West Highland Way, Scotland's most famous trek. Beautiful mountains (some with a little snow), wild hairy cows and great camping. After the trek, we based ourselves in Fort William, a small town in the highlands from which we spent a day visiting Loch Ness (no monster), climbing Ben Nevis (Britain's highest mountain) and day road trip to visit the Island of Skye. After all this good outdoorsy stuff we spend a couple days in Edinburgh which in my opinion is one of Europe's nicest cities. I also managed to eat some Haggis which is a typical Scottish dish made out of sheep's lungs...yummmmm.



End of the West Highland Way


Cool dude


Church in Glasgow


Church again


Top of Britain


Random castle


Moooo

One year @ Vision

Today is my one year at Vision Consulting.

I can say that it's been an interesting experience. I've been given lots of responsibility, been involved in many different projects and played may roles. I've been mostly learning as i go through brute-force and it's probably the best way...i've been lucky as i haven't tripped up along the way.

Year two begins :)

BTW, i just spent the last week in Scotland...blog and pics coming soon.

Wicklow Way

Happy Easter (for all those who celebrate it). I had an amazing weekend in the Wicklow mountains, which are just outside dublin but feel like a world away. Rafael (who i met through hospitalityclub) and I took a bus to Glendalough on friday and picked up the Wicklow Way about the halfway mark. The weather couldn't have been better all weekend...my new rain jacket was just weight in my bag.

The first day we visited Glendalough, it's churches, cemeteries and beautiful lakes...very nice but also very touristy. That night we took a little detour off the official way and found an amazing camp spot on a white sand beach with a beautiful lake in front, green valley behind and mountains on both sides all to ourselves! The following day provided views of the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain, many valleys and animals (i think we saw between 100-200 deer that day). We camped by a river in a valley that night. The last day was physically the hardest for us, but it was a great feeling to come over the final mountain and see all of Dublin before us. The hike finished in a park on the edge of the city (this is actually the starting point of the Wicklow Way...we had decided to do it backwards), from there we took a bus home where we immediately bought some fish n' chips and beer.

BTW, all photos were taken by Rafael with his spanking new D80.



Glendalough



Officially starting the way. Notice that i already look like i've been hiking for a few days...long week at work.



Sunset at our first camp site.



Sunrise at our first camp site.



Sex legs!



Where's Bartek?


Rafael and I at the end of our hike (beginning of the Wicklow way)

Alone and not so alone

Wow, im sitting on my couch tonight and i just realized that it's the first night since i moved to dublin that i'm alone. My flatmate Soeren flew out to Germany this morning, my best buddy Tomasz is in Madrid with his girl Almo, my girl is in Poland, Jarmo (probably swimming the Liffey), other friends are in Poland as well.

Anyway, cooked myself a great vegi dinner and opened a 2002 vintage bottle of wine....not too shabby.

This weekend is a 4 day weekend, and i've decided to go hiking in the wicklow mountains...in particular i will be doing half the wicklow way. I was planning to do this alone, but a couple days ago i got an email from a Hospitality Club member from Guatemala who is visiting ireland for a week or so. He emailed me for a place to stay at in dublin for a night or two over the weekend and also mentioned he's also into hiking and photography. I couldn't offer a place to sleep, but i offered to take him with me on the hike. So he organized the proper equipment for himself and we're off on friday!

15C and sunny in dublin today :)

St. Patrick's Day

For all of you who didn't notice, St. Patrick's day was last weekend. I had the pleasure of celebrating it in Dublin. Our weekend included bar hoping, a hospitality club gathering and a huge party at my place. To make things even better, my buddy Cam came with a friend to join the celebrations. They're now off traveling around europe and should be back this saturday for one last dublin-style bash before heading home...im sure they'll have plenty of good stories to tell.

One year countdown begins again :)

Book Review: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

While on vacation I had a chance to hit a few off the ol' reading list. One was a classic personal development book - The 7 Habits for short.

In general when i invest time into such books, my simple formula for evaluating is something like (amount learnt) * (quality of the learning) - CONSTANT * (reading time). Im sure the price of the book should be in there too but let's keep things simple and assume unlimited financial resources. Now i don't know what the constant is or what units everything is measured in...but i hope you get the general idea.

To be honest i was a little disappointed by this wildly read book. Although the quality was high I don't feel i learned enough for a book this size. After the first chapter i was already skimming pages, skipping entire sections and wishing there was a reduced version for lazy business students. I found that there was an excessive use of examples (i particularly fell asleep when he referenced problems/solutions with his wife or son) and rambling that bloated this book. The habits are important and i honestly believe that by improving them you will become a more effective person...i would recommend finding and reading a condensed version.

They say 'you can't judge a book by it's cover'...ha! take a look at the long-winded title and you'll get a feel for the entire book.

Relaxing in Malta

My week of relaxation in Malta is nearing its end so i figured i'd give everyone an update. My first three days were spent in the beautiful city of Valletta...architecturally one of the most amazing cities i've seen...reminds me of Dubrovnik but with much less tourists. The history is really fascinating and makes this place worth visiting. This is a country that has been under foreign control for almost all it's history...Romans, Arabs, Normans, Order of Knights of St. John, France (Napoleon was here!) and England...you can see these various influences everywhere. The city of Valletta itself is a huge fort that was built by an Order of Kings (ex-crusaders that needed something else to do) and is fascinating just to walk around. For art buffs, Caravaggio lived here...he was accepted into the Order of Knights and painted a few works...one of which was his largest work - the beheading of St.John the baptist which still hangs in the main cathedral.



I also took a short trip to Mdina, another nice but much small town to stroll through.

After 3 days of history and carnival, i changed hotels to the Westin in a touristy area called Paceville :) Five-stars, king bed, balcony looking out into the Mediterranean, swimming pools, Jacuzzis, gym, chandeliers, a man in white gloves playing a piano, and everyone calls me 'sir' all for €60 per night (great low season internet rate - in high season the same room would go for €250).

Wroclaw

I must admit, Wroclaw has exceeded my expectations. It is now my favorite city in Poland and i would recommend it for anyone who is interested in visiting this area of the world. The old town is huge and beautiful...everything restored so well...there are nice shops and restaurants everywhere and it does not feel over touristed as other popular eastern European cities. Most importantly, the locals here don't walk around with that depressed look on their faces that is a common sight in other polish cities.

The new plan...Malta!!

Happy valentines day everyone. We just came back from a pimp restaurant in gdansk...very classic, very european and very romantic. Tomorrow, ania and i are taking the train to wroclaw, a town in poland that i've never visited before...we'll spend a few days there and then im flying to Malta. Yes Malta, i'll be there for the last three days of carnival and then some. Send me an email if you're interested in joining...18C and sunny :)

Big Change

My colombia plans have gone up in smoke. I flew over to Madrid, where i met up with a group of americans and went out partying. We hit-up a few clubs, the best one being Capital...a 7 story club that was packed until the wee hours of the morning. The next day, i headed for the airport, hung over but on time. When it was time to checkin, the woman at the counter had trouble with my reservation, left for a while and then informed me the bad news. Apparently, Iberia Airlines has a strange policy which requires you to confirm your ticket purchase with 48 hours. If you don't, they cancel your booking and refund you - this is what happened to me. So i had no ticket to colombia, the next available fight was a few days away and would cost more. This compounded with the fact that i was already planning on cutting my vacation in half (from 4 weeks to 2) and i decided it was not worth it. With only 2 hours of sleep, it was probably one of the most stressful days of my life; so i checked into a nice hotel next to the airport and slept had a good sleep.

The next day, i purchased a ticket to warsaw and then gdansk (Poland). Im hanging out with my girl and having a great time.

Sometimes you just can't force something, life just decides to put you on another course and you just gotta go with the flow.

Vacation time!

After 9 months of working it's time i take a vacation. I'm tired, pale white and my spanish is starting to get rusty; so what better place to vacation than south america!! There's a few countries that i have not visited and one in particular grabbed my interest just as i was departing SA from my previous visit: Colombia. For a few weeks i had travelled with a fantastic couple...let's call them Androel. Androel spent a little more time in SA than i did and managed to visit a few more places including Colombia. They highly recommended it due to the beauty of the country, the friendliness of the people and the utter lack of tourists. So let's do it!

Compared to my last adventure, I have more money, less time and no DSLR. Generally speaking, having more money is a good thing, i can take flights instead of long bus rides, stay at hotels if i get tired of the hostel scene and try some nice restaurants. I do have less time but quite enough, 4 weeks! And my poor DSLR which died at the top of Volacano Baru in Panama has not been replaced, but i have borrowed a decent point-n-shoot from a friend.

I will continue to update this blog with stories and pictures. First stop: Madrid Spain.

Green Card Ireland

Working in Ireland has never been easier. New legislation coming into effect next month gives foreigners instant access for 2 years via a Green Card. All you need is a job offer and make at least €60K. And if your occupation is in the selected list of eligible occupations then there is only a €30k requirement.

YouTube

I had a few hours to kill today so i decided to drain the day away by surfing YouTube. I've been guilty of this a few times, and im sure you have too. But up until today i had basically seen videos fall in three categories: comical (ie comedians, tv commercials, etc), pirated (ie simpsons) or cheesy-sleazy. But for the first time today, after filtering out all that nonsense i actually struck into the core of YouTube and what makes it such a revolutionary service: the ability to give real artists a medium to reach the world without the help of a big label.

Here's a great 10min short film entitled Who Wants to be an Amerikan by a Canadian Film Student Aaron Beckum.

And here is Mia Rose, who literally 4 weeks ago was just a girl with a great voice, and after posting a few videos of her singing is in the process of signing a record deal. Most of her songs are covers...but she's also posted a few of her own songs, for example Husband to Be - after being posted for only 3 weeks, has been viewed over 500,000 times! Listen folks, 10 years ago, she would be sitting in some grungy recording studio try to put together a "demo tape" and trying to sell it at "gigs" hoping that some "scout" would stumble upon her and sign her to their label.

The times a' changin'.

New Years Resolution

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I had a great time in toronto after which i flew back to Dublin to celebrate the New Year (which by the way turned out to be one of the best parties we've thrown, i passed out at 4 but it was still going strong till 7).

I usually never make new years resolutions, i think it's one of those things that was invented by the marketing group at some Fitness Gym conglomerate and somehow has embedded itself in our society. But generally, making resolutions, ones that if successfully achieved would make you a happier/wiser/healthier person, should be done all the time, not just once per year.

When i was on the coast in Croatia last year, i thought to myself...this is a beautiful place, but the best way to see this part of the world would be from a sail boat...maybe one day i will come back and do it again the right way. At the time it was a dream...and really, it still is a dream. But there's no better feeling in the world than turning a dream into a reality...and the first step is to learn how to sail. I live next to the Irish Sea, it's windy here _all_ the time, the Irish National Sailing School is in dublin, i have no excuse. My newest resolution is to learn how to sail by summertime.

Merry Christmas

Finally got some snow on the ground today...2 days late, but better late than never. I've been spending time with the family and catching up with old friends (many of who have sworn to visit me in dublin...we'll see).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Just little more to the right...

I like two kinds of photographs...beautiful ones and funny ones...check out what happens when you take a picture from just the right angle.

History of Religion

High level view of how the various religions of the world spread.

CN Tower

It's coming to the end of a year and like usual, it is a time for joy and celebration...but just in a couple years, for all my dear Torontonians, it will be a time of great sorrow. I always knew this day would come, i hoped it would always be the same, but finally the end is in sight. Two years from now, our beloved CN Tower, which has put Toronto on the map for so many years as being "the world's highest free standing structure" will be surpassed by the Burj Dubai! How can this be? When someone foreign asks me what's special about Toronto...what will i say? My line about canada was always "Montreal's got the culture, Vancouver's got the beauty, Calgary's got the oil and the mountains...but TO's got the CN Tower". No one cares about the second tallest free standing structure in the world. All you torontonians out there...enjoy it while it lasts, milk it for all it's worth, because it will never be the same again. Sorry for this depressing post.

Here's a list of all the tallest free standing structures throughout history.

London

A couple weekends ago i visited London to meet up with a few old friends from seattle. Mukkul (who you remember from a previous post, or my europe trip) flew in from copenhagen and we stayed at Nick's place in central london. We partied both nights, very expensive, but a change from the dublin scene so it was all good. During the day on saturday i went shopping at a designer sale that was recommended to me by a Finnish friend. This is the type of place you'd never in your life find unless someone told you about it: in a residential area, down an alleyway, through a small door with a piece of paper above it labeled "Sale". Once inside, a different world...everything you have on you must be checked...only allowed to have one layer of clothing on...huge rooms filled with this years designer clothing (prada, boss, armani, diesel, blah, blah, blah) and people going through it like it's their job. The sale only happens 8 times a year, 4 weekends for women and 4 weekends for men...i was lucky to just happen to be in london during one of the men's sales. Discounts range from 50-80%, so some of these clothes are actually affordable...i ended up buying 2 jackets and a tie. Anyway, if you're into shopping and in the london area...may be worth a look...it's been labeled "one of the top ten reasons to live in london".

Tiss the Season 2

The numbers are in and we beat last year's amount, grand total €2700.

Tiss the Season

In most nations, christmas is a time for family, friends and loved ones. Ireland is a bit of an exception, where the entire month of december is dedicated to heavy drinking (with family, friends and loved ones). Last night we had our first (of two) christmas parties. Again, the irish do things a little different here. Back in good old north america, a small company such as ours would organize a dinner at a nice restaurant, kriss kingle, speech from the CEO, a few drinks and call it a night. In ireland, the employees get a huge wad of cash, reserve their own room at a bar and drink all night. We even had a "beerometer", a big thermometer type thing that we used to measure how much money we've spent on alcohol. Last year, roughly €2500 was downed, so the goal was to beat that...not sure if we succeeded...the beerometer got destroyed halfway through the night. Anyway, if you're ever travelling the world and find yourself trying to figure out what to do during christmas "cause everything is quite during the holidays", head over to ireland for a good craic.