6/27/11

Planning meeting


Some photos from our meeting last week where we were presenting each other discussion topics for our upcoming session.

Meeting was taking place at N-iX office. First, we were discussion introduction part of our session. Then Jim presented his topic on disaster planning and recovery.

Viktor presented his topic on searches - as appeared quite discussion-triggering one.
Ivan suggested topics on IBM longevity phenomena and maturity of cloud services for production use.

Wad made a small presentation on how to use mind mapping.

These seem to be the main topics for discussion on Wed Jun 29th. We still have around 10 places free, so your are welcome to register.

6/18/11

Brief introduction with people hosting the group

Hi all,

with this post I'd like to introduce to you people who are hosting the group. So, here we are:

Jim:
I am an American who is greatly enjoying living in Lviv with my Ukrainian wife. I treat my current life as a self-financed sabbatical from work in technical training for a computer manufacturer then a storage manufacturer. Most all my work has been in large enterprise environments.

Interests outside computer science are traveling and history.

Look forward to seeing everyone at the meetings.
Ivan:
Well, my history of IT-obsession goes far back into early 90s: the first computer I played on was actually a microcomputer VAX (CM-1420), I wrote my first program in C on another VAX which run under OS VMS. Since then my life is inseparable from computers. Currently, my field of expertise is system administration, especially of Linux systems. My fixation about open source triggered interest in English and now these two items rank very high in my pantheon of interests.
Zhenya:
I was born on a Wednesday and there are 12 days till my next birthday on which my cake will have 26 candles. I am idealistic and must feel useful to be happy. The main contribution I make is that of advice, service, and ever present support. Once my grand mother used the word "meeting" instead of Ukrainian "нарада" describing why I should leave earlier. That time I understood English is not simple foreign language. And at last, but not the least I believe, life's just a big chewy bone and happy to meet the same people.
Viktor:
So, I'm Viktor and my primary 3 passions are high tech, travelling and English. There might be a few other 'primary passions' but in this world 'nothing lasts forever' :). I'm always open to discussions regarding those three at least. One can find more about my IT background on LinkedIn, the rest, I think, could be discussed during the meetings. Se ya all there!
Wad:
I'm Vadim Mashkov. I was born long time ago and far away from here. I call myself 'IT philosopher' as I am trying to understand why we need computers, mobile phones and other high-tech gadgets. I love free software, reading (especially science fiction) and history (investigate historical events). Some time ago I fell in love with Lviv girl so I moved here about five years ago.
Ira:

I rock-climb, dance and develop software for fun & profit. When not working, I travel to remote countries, preferably poor but with spectacular nature. During travels I load myself with heavy reading, anything from software development to Seneca the Younger. Reading list suggestions are always welcomed

6/12/11

First meeting on June 29th


Our first meeting will take place on June 29th @17.45 at the N-iX office (elevator works till 18.00). Expected duration: 1-1.5 hours.

Agenda:
  • Welcome - Administrativa
  • Worm up: tech news discussion
  • Discussion: disasters and data safety
  • Discussion: using mind maps
Location: Storozhenka 32, floor 7, room 702

Contact: (if you have problems getting into the office, otherwise mail is preferred) Zhenya Kondryn, +38O5O7273II7

Limitations: We are limited to 25 seats. It is also advisable to have at least upper-intermediate level of English.

Registration: Registration is required, because the list of people attending the meeting must be passed to the guards.

Should you be in a desire to contribute as a presenter or host, please send the topic you would like to lead a discussion on to our google group: http://groups.google.com/group/lviv-it-ramblings

If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to write an email to itramblingslviv {at} gmail.com will try to reply asap.


Welcome to IT Ramblings


Hello and welcome to IT Ramblings Group Blog!

IT Ramblings is a group of people who share a common interest both in English and information technologies. The idea of our group is to exercise our English speaking, listening, comprehension, and presentation skills in the field of IT.

We gather on a monthly basis and discuss different IT-related topics in a form of:
  • expressing our opinions on recent tech news
  • discussing generic problems and working on a solution
  • giving presentations on various IT-related topics
We welcome new people to join us in our activity. We do it for our own fun and hope that people who participate will have fun as well let alone the benefit of communicating in English.

This blog contains information on when and where we meet, what are we going to discuss, feedback perhaps, etc. You can also join our google group where we usually discuss our agenda, topics, and so on.