Thursday, May 28, 2015

My son Jan - born 05-05-2015


Our son Jan (commonly called Honzík) is the best thing, which has happened to our lives.
And with this great experience of becoming mother, I will stop contributing to this blog for now. It has mapped my experience from study times, through first serious work experience to big achievements in my adult personal life and I hope it will still have some readers from time to time.

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Change of marital status ... alias ultimate adventure into new phase of my life

To continue dramatic year of 2013, I am now a married woman; after an absolutely amazing day full of celebration of our love hopefully lasting for the rest of our lives.


Friday, May 3, 2013

Ariba, Ariba, Ariba!!!

Hello, hello. I am reporting some news about my new employment. In mid-April 2013, I started working as a new project manager in Ariba's European Prague-based deployment team, working on implementation projects for on-Demand Procurement solutions. So far, I have to say that the job looks very promising and challenging at the same time. I am again working with very smart and international people around me. So, let's help build the networked economy :-).


My team deals with the deployment of the On Demand procure-to-pay piece (everything starting from contractual agreements with suppliers, purchase requisitions/ purchase orders, through shipping notices, receipts, invoices, invoice reconciliations to payment files, and remittance information.

Friday, April 12, 2013

2013 - the year of changes

This year, I decided to change my life, literally. You might think, that 13 is an unlucky number, but I am turning the year 2013 into the happiest-ever-after year.

Number 1: I am getting married in August in my hometown! I sure hope, this is going to be the best day of 2013!
Number 2: After gathering quite some experience at Cisco, I am changing jobs to a more prospective employer who offers me a new challenge in the field of e-commerce projects.
Number 3: I got PMI certified (PMI’s Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM)®).
Number 4: I am still going to support the CEMS Alumni Community in Prague in the next term.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Cutting another year 2012/2013 - so let´s jump and face new experience!

 Those last months of 2012 brought great moments with my family and close friends and also some travelling around Europe. I have to say, that 2012 was a jolly good year, year of big decisions and groundbreaking news all around and I believe, that 2013 will continue in the same pace ... so let´s jump ahead just like we did near Spindleruv Mlyn this September :-).




Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Documentation of Sri Lankan holiday goes visual


Lonely Planet website has just
recommended Sri Lanka as one the best countries for holiday in 2013. We went in 2012 and I have to say, it was worth it. Finally, I have managed to compile a little video of our 2 week adventure spend on this pearl of Indian Ocean.

Enjoy watching ...





Saturday, September 8, 2012

September 2012 update

Hi folks, I have left posting activity for few months, but now I am back again. There have been so many nice and important events happening during this summer and I am also busy with everything, there is no time to even stop and look back, which sometimes is really sad, because I would like to reflect back on things I did, but there is always something new coming and something unfinished.

I will start with my biggest piece of news! On August 8, which was my 27th birthday, I got engaged!

Whoopsie .... yes, it is here .... I can start making my own wedding plans and get ready for another thrilling and serious part of my life.

And just before that, me and Lukas spent wonderful two weeks travellling through Sri Lanka. Great stories and pictures and it was my first real Asian travelling experience!

We also went to visit my friend Lucy to Edinburgh in June and in July, I also spent one week in Lisbon, visiting some of my colleagues and helping out with a training event in Lisbon Cisco office.

In August, we went for canoeing trip on Vltava river, we visited a music festival with my sister and I celebrated my birthday heavily!
I also managed to crash our car a bit, but nothing serious happened and we had our car fixed already.

Alongside with that, I organized a successful CEMS Alumni Networking Dinner in Prague and continue participating on activities of CEMS Alumni club in Czech Republic.

I still work in Cisco´s channel operations area and currently expect what this company could offer me as next adventure!

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Spring 2012 Inspiration

People say, that spring always brings new ideas, spark in your relationship or work, fresh inspiration and strong motivation. I would also admit, that there are more and more things inspiring me at the moment. I am a very social person and by listening to stories of my friends, I always end up thinking, that the world is still such a great place and I am so lucky to have all of you. And so, as spring continues and trees blossom, I am feeling a fresh new wind in my head, now the question is, where and how it would start blowing :-).

It is not just me thinking about all these new things, which are coming. One of my best friends gave birth to her beautiful first son at the end of March and moved back close to her hometown and entered another era of her live. I keep hearing about people getting engaged, married and moving together, changing jobs and getting promotions, also stories of another kind, but it is true, that being twenty-six, almost twenty-seven, seriously brings all these stories closer. We are not kids anymore and so I guess, it is time to listen to our adult inspirations and motivations.

In the mean time and to stay closer to more inspiring people, I decided to participate on activities of CEMS Alumni activities in Prague and became vice-president of CEMS Alumni Association Prague for another year ahead. I am sure, it is going to be great fun ... full of inspiration.



Saturday, March 31, 2012

Photo-shooting Experience



Once in a while, everyone wants to make a memory in form of a nice picture, which you can show around without well-known excuses such as: "I was really tired when they took this photo" or "I did not know they were shooting a picture and had no time to smile". 
Therefore, I decided to spend one hour with my boyfriend in hands of a professional photographer. It seems, that it was a really good idea, because the result pleased us and our families a lot.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

TEDx Prague for the 2nd time...

This year again, organized by team of volunteers, TEDx Prague conference, held on March 3, 2012, has entirely fulfilled my expectations and made one of my Saturdays inspiring and worth to remember. Here are some thoughts, which I have noted down:

  • Collapsing societies have always had something in common: increasing mandatory expenditures, the most lucrative positions are granted to relatives, close friends or convenient acquaintances, the concept of the state stops working, public spending is being cut, universal truths are not true anymore and it is hard to expect how people would react to new events because human behavior is not predictable although most economists would say it is. The best is to be prepared, that change can come and not take everything for grante
  •  The essence of our live is a primary trust and assumption, that certain things do exist and that certain things do function. These primary assumptions determine our feelings and even if we see things to fail, we do return to our primary trust in form of our hopes.
  •   People can be either good or bad.
  • If you want to be successful, you need to be great at something and get lucky, but it does not automatically mean that you would be happy once you are successful.
  •  People like to dream and plan, but they are afraid of realizing their dreams or plans. So don´t be afraid and execute!
  • Our families do not want to feel responsible for bringing children to the world. We have sent pregnant women to solve all their issues with doctors, but pregnancy is no illness. In the past, older women in the family used to educate young mothers and gave them support through the pregnancy and the moment of childbirth.  A woman is not supposed to be afraid when giving birth, she needs to feel relaxed and she needs to feel supported by her family, because women naturally know how to deliver and children know how to get out.
  •  How to improve listening? The rule is RASA - receive, appreciate, summarize and ask. In other words, pay attention to what is being told, admit that you have been listening, appreciate the person talking, summarize what you have understood and ask if you have not.
  • At the end of every day, remember 3 moments of that day and try to picture those in your mind – it improves your imagination. Next tip how to improve our imagination skills: tell yourself a date in the past and try to remember what happened on that day – this would help you to come back to important periods of your life
  • It is important to concentrate as much energy on your work as you can and to limit number of thoughts you´re working on at once. Every hesitation about what you´re doing and why you´re doing it limits your energy. Therefore, companies should always explain to their employees why they are asked to do what they should do and what is their purpose of work and what is the aim of the company for future. Visions of companies do not exist just to exist. They are supposed to make people concentrate on their work without the need to think about its meaning itself.
  • Simple action repeated as regular intervals generates the success.
  •  80% of our reality comes from our perceptions of that reality. We often create our own perception of things, people, and situations before we meet them. It is good to think about those from a distance while we are not in these situations or while we do not see those people and to prepare an objective view on those.
  •  Who is the real hero? It is someone who is ready to sacrifice his life for the life of others. Even if you are not the hero saving lives, remember that small things and helps matter as well.
  • Great offers often come spontaneously.


Saturday, February 25, 2012

Tour de Cuba

Hi my friends, little memory from my holiday in Cuba at the end of 2011. One of my co-travellers has much longer footage, but I did at least couple shots with my camera and combined them with selection of pictures in this video below. There is also a travel diary at http://touramericas.ontheroad.to/tourdecuba/, written in Czech. Cuba is a friendly and safe country for travelling, one of the last skanzens of surviving totalitarian socialism, but also offering tropic temperatures all year long, selection of very good rums and cigars and dual touristic economy prepaired for international visitors.


Tour de Cuba 2011Tour de Cuba 2011
"3-week round trip thru the island of Cuba with four of my friends..."

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas 2011 and PF 2012!

This year´s Christmas break was very calm, spent with my boyfriend and family. I feel relaxed and ready for what this next year would come up with. So bring it on 2012!

Note: Also, I had a very refreshing three-week break touring Cuba at the end of 2011. Pics are on facebook and I started a travel blog describing this tour, which I did with four of my male friends :-). Just a little reminder, this blog is in Czech.

Good luck in 2012 my readers and followers. Let your dreams and hopes come true!

©emsolinka

Saturday, October 15, 2011

Women inspiration...

This week, I was twice inspired by successful women. One evening, I attended social event for professional women organized by Microsoft subsidiary in Czech Republic, it´s called "Opening Windows". 
The speakers were two women at different stage of their lives, both very successful in their career, yet also happy with  their personal lives. One of them said, that it was natural, that a woman would need to count with time, which she would devote to her family, however children would not be small forever and one day every mother would realize, that she would also need to work on something else than on a family. This woman had her two children in fairly young age and then started up a business of her own, which grew into an internationally successful company. She admitted that there is lots of sacrifice you need to give for your success or wellfare, but she managed to handle this all. I felt filled with energy when I was leaving this women discussion forum organized in beautiful premises of Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Prague.

The next day, I met couple of my friends from university for dinner at the Lemon Leaf restaurant. We have all been working during our studies, but now it has been between one and half and two years since we graduated and we focus solely on our work and personal lives.We have all studied an international management program, worked and studied abroad, we are young and ambitious. Therefore, it would not be surprising, that each and every of us has a challenging, international job, where we managed to be promoted in a quite hort time frame. What is the thing that really pleased and inspired me during that evening, is also the fact that we have fulfilled and satisfying personal lives. Great boyfriends, friends, a lot of fun and events, which we attend and enjoy. Each and everyone of us has travelled somewhere nice for holiday...I guess that the generation of our parents can be very happy for us...one can only hope that plentiful times would continue for young professional women :-). Three weeks back, I spent wonderful weekend in Paris with Lukas. And in the meantime, yes, there is lots of work...but one can always enjoy nice rewards for it.





Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Olinka has just turned twenty six...

And with that, I officially broke the tradition of our family. My mother gave me birth at the age of twenty-five. My grandmother gave birth to my mother at the age of twenty-five. Looks like I missed it. But never mind because although getting more serious, I am still a cheerful youngster inside. And babies still have some time to wait.
Olinka 26 vs. Olinka 25....


Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Five days off and International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary 2011

I am sitting on a terasse of my flat, sipping cold Cinzano and enjoying wonderful warm evening of July 6th. I´ve just had five days free of work and so this makes this very moment the ideal opportunity for blogging. Tomorrow, I´ll be flooded with new insights, emails and calls. Today is still for me :-).

We spent two days with my boyfriend Lukas in Karlovy Vary, the occasion was clear, the 46th International Film Festival took place there. We have had a very smart system of ticket reservation this year and that earned us tickets for 7 long movies and 6 short ones, of which we managed to see 11 in total. KV is a beautiful spa resort, that has many sights and hot springs :-) to offer and in addition to normal state of things, the festival turns the city into a living place where you can see people of all generations enjoying their time. Some come for movies, some for fun, some to see celebrities on the red carpet. Despite the awful weather, we managed to enjoy our time very much. And I also got a beautiful present from Lukas, as a surprise...

From all movies we have seen, I would definitely recommend some: Holidays by the sea (French comedy), Cracks in the Shell (German drama), Submarine (UK, directed by Moss - the character from I.T.Crowd series), Asleep in the sun (Argentinian kind-of-scifi)...

The next few days flew very fast and were filled with various family visits...the weather was very suitable for such social program, I must say. End of June and beginning of July in Czech lands was quite cold and rainy, now the weather seems to be coming back to summer temperatures. Of course, that must mean, holiday is over :-).

Never mind, looking forward to see some exciting news in Cisco tomorrow....


Thursday, June 23, 2011

CEMS Weekend in Jizerky

Fourth year in a row, this great event has been organized by our friend and dedicated CEMSie Judita.
We have always enjoyed barbecue, drinking, dancing, having fun, stay in fresh nature...and this year...there was even singing.

http://www.vimeo.com/25478130





Sunday, May 29, 2011

How to have the best possible bed table???

People always think that there is something missing in their flat, house...wherever they live.
I know that in my case, it was not only a feeling but there were some crucial things, which I really wanted to have. Today, I would like to share a story how my boyfriend and I came to a great pair of bed tables.

Our bedroom has a bed, some lamps, bookcases, work desk and a functionalist clothes hanger, which my boyfriend admires (I appreciate its usefulness as long as it stands in a hidden corner where no one looks). Anyway, back to bed tables. These were missing until recently and we decided to buy one to each side of our bed. I found it quite annoying to put everything on the floor next to the bed (my phone, laptop, books, camera, glass of wine :-)).

The quickest way to get a bed table should be to look for some in a big furniture shop. For the sake of our satisfaction, we went to all of them. Hours of deciding, which one could be good? Most bed tables were just ugly; the rest would not match colors in our bedroom. Some of them were huge, as if you would like to put all your stuff in your flat on (in) your bed table. Finally, we ended up with a compromise. We bought bed tables with corresponding shape and size and we decided to stain these tables with a matching color.

Of course, the principle of today´s world is independence, so all furniture comes in pieces and you need to come back to your childhood and put the puzzle together, maybe helping yourself in a grown-up way with some hammer and screw drivers. Our bed tables seemed to fit together, but screws had weird shapes and we did not feel confident to put these into differently shaped holes. I tried to look for some better screws in other big stores. Then at last, clueless, we went back to the shop where we bought these tables and went to the bedroom-section and found the bed table and investigated how it looked after "do-it-yourself" procedure. That gave us necessary insights and when we came home, Lukas successfully finished the "building" part and we put these new tables next to our place to sleep.

Few weeks later, I was in a drug store and I came to the shelf with paints. Looking on the color pallet, I estimated what could be the right color matching bed tables with bookcases in our bedroom. One tin ended up in my shopping cart and we were ready for next phase of our bed table story.

It was a beautiful sunny Saturday, we woke up late, had a nice breakfast and then I found some old plastic bags, put them on the floor on our terrace, brought the first bed table out and show was ready to begin.

Already after first few moves with the brush, we saw that the color was not exactly what we had expected, but...what the hack. I thought it was looking different because the paint was wet and once it would become dry, we would have seen a lighter tone. The next issue was the fact that these bed tables were already covered with some colorless varnish and our stain would not want to soak into the wood. It meant that no matter how much we tried to cover the wooden surface consistently, some parts would always be more painted than other would. The wet result was very questionable, but Lukas, who did the paintwork, was exhausted and we let our tables become dry and left them on the terrace.

In the evening, tables were dry and both had even more unmatching color than before and the stain was not properly soaked into the wood so it would peel down every time you would touch the table or put something on it (and that is kind of a desired function of a bed table - you put things on it, right? In addition, you do not want the color of this table to stay on these things, right.).

Anyhow, this was terrible situation and we knew that we would need to do something about these bloody bed tables. One week later, I bought tin of pure acetone...then I closed myself on the terrace with these tables and rubbed them hard for two hours, so that all the stain would come down and the tables had the original color again. Acetone worked very well and an interesting fact was that it managed to get some stain to soak into the wood, so the final color is nice. When working with acetone, one needs to be careful, so I used some protective means.

 
In the end, we really have a good pair of bed tables in our bedroom. Goodnight.

Berlin over Easter

Me and Lukas in Berlin on Easter weekend...compilation of short videos.

Click to watch: http://www.vimeo.com/24187124


Friday, May 20, 2011

Where do people really work?

Today, one guy who connected to me in linked-in sent me a TED talk and asked me: Hi Olga, I would be really glad if you could tell me what you think about this video:

This speech is to some extent very true...it also interrupted my work by the way :-), but you will understand this when you watch it.
Have you watched it? What do you think? I would say I face every day, what the American writer Jason Fried describes. The thing is that my job actually consists of listening to other people´s requirements. But I am also business architect who should design solutions for their problem and help to solve it, for which I need certain portion of uninterrupted time.
What is cool, that I can compensate the constant interruption in the office by having homeoffice from time to time. Today I did that and it felt nice to have some space to think about unfinished stuff and work in silence. So do you feel like your day is one big confusion and you cannot concentrate on one thing anymore? Try some of these advices. Do not respond to an IM, if you are in the middle of a thinking process. Do not check your emails every minute. Do not accept every meeting, which jumps into your calendar just because you should attend. I myself have this problem and I am learning how to streamline my working habits to be more consistent during the day. 
I also believe that our brain can accommodate to quick way of work and that one can get used to certain level of constant interruption. In any case, I really like this sentence from the TED talk: "You cannot get creative in fifteen minutes".
Have a great weekend!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

The Best Cisco Business Architectures Team

 Our boss told us to be creative and prepare a nice presentation of our team for her boss. After some courageous ideas, Jeremie suggested an innovative photo shooting activity.
In this post, I can also introduce my colleagues from Business Architectures team sitting in Prague. First picture: from the right - Martin (Slovakia), Jeremie (France)  and next to me Jyoti (India).
It is great to work with these guys and also with our boss sitting in Zurich. Lots of work, but lots of fun and strong team spirit.