10 important people that made a difference

in my professional life – chronological order:

1. Ioan Mihai Cochinescu - My father, bought my first HC 90 in 1992 instead of a TV video game that I wanted badly. By doing this he “forced” me to learn Basic as I had no games for my new computer. Then he got for me an external floppy unit and the CP/M saga began. I loved dbase II. Damn I miss those times!

2. Robert Benea - He had a PC runningWindows 3.0 in 1993, quite a thrill back then. Inspired me for things to come in my life, gave me the computers enthusiasm that I still keep nowadays.

3. Dan Gultureanu - My friend and physics tutor from the age of 15 until the age of 17, teen icon for me as he was and still is a brilliant guy. After finishing high-school I gave up on physics and started working.

4. Cristi Opris – Good friend that had a late night show in 1997 on Radio Contact. Helped me when I moved from Ploiesti to Bucharest and he also found my first job interview forEvZ. We discovered the Internet together in 1995 and opened our first pcnet uucp email accounts and created Geocities webpages later. (Interesting note: he managed to get invisible, no informations can be found about him on the Internet anymore. Nice trick, huh?)

5. Cristina Bratu – We’ve met at EvZ and became friends. She found my next job, atHBV in 1998. It was a big step forward for my career. Thanks Cris!

6. Bernd Morchutt – General Manager of HBVRomania in 1998 and later of Burda Romaniafrom 1999 until 2003. I see him as my “second father”. He believed in me and gave me the most painful but rewarding life lessons.

7. Sandi Apostoloiu - Friend and co-worker since 1999. Helped me get through some rough times in Serbia while working there together from 2001 to 2004. Pokes me when I go crazy at work. Somehow, he became my boss. We’re still friends.

8. Dan Shoop - Tech guru, a real relief for myApple related problems since 2003. He doesn’t know me but I’m his long time fan. His impact on my professional life was outstanding.

9. Ani Dumitru – Ex-head accountant forBurda Romania, talked me into creating my own company in 2004. Good advice, great success! Thanks Ani!

10. Florin Ghica - My godfather and good friend, boosted me on the romanian Applecomputers business market in 2004, expanding my company’s horizon.

NATO holiday

I don’t know how other people react when the NATO summit is held in their town, but we took Athos, left the city and ran in the mountains, outraged by the bad traffic and hysteria that covered Bucharest in those days.

Ana Lazar – reloaded

 

Well, this might have been the last trip to Romania for Ana, Cristi and Maia, but we sure were happy to see them again. It was nice to meet Emily and Mario from Greece too. Of course they were all dissapointed by the third world country that Romania is, but hey, so am I and I still enjoy living here. The trick is to cover your eyes and choose to see only the positive things arround you. Like… uhm… 

Meanwhile enjoy the photos and movies below.

Outdoor weekend – summer time

We found ourselves this Sunday at Bodo’s place playing tennis again. But the real fun part was driving the golf carts like they were ATV’s! Next time maybe we’ll also play some golf, not only torture the poor carts.

Cute horsie…

In the photo below I was playing backgammon with Anca, Bodo’s wife (wanna play, Ana?).

Of course I lost.

This photo was taken last time we were there. On the left side stood Andrei, watching my skills:

Motorcycles trip to Cheia

On Sunday my friend Andrei convinced me to take a trip with our motorcycles to Cheia, a mountain village 120km away from Bucharest. It was great, everything I was expecting to be and more, except the freezing cold.

Ana has a new toy!

Congratulations for your new car Ana & Cristi & Maia & Muca! Our friends dream came true… today! They got a new toy, with 7 passenger seats and stuff. Next time we’ll be in Toronto, both me and Maia will share the back seats without disputes. Don’t dare smoke in this car Ana, it’s too pretty and shiny and silver! May only happy things happen in/with this car my dear friends! I am very happy for you. Congratulations!

Family and friends

There following links will lead you to the blogs or websites of my family and friends. I will add more on the way.

Mihai

Luminita

Antoine

Titita

…to be continued