Connex Vodafone - new look

I think I gonna throw out!

In the post below I wrote about the thing that Romanian mobile operator Connex will suffer a branding process, due to the fact that was bought by Vodafone. The new CEO is Liliana Solomon, a Romanian woman that worked in top positions for Deutsche Telecom and T-Mobile. She was a very great student in Romania and then she was a tennis player. In 1989 she went in Belgium for a tennis championship and she never came back, trying so to escape from the communist regime.

Today in 2005 she’s back in Romania. Her story it is everywhere because she is a smart woman, because it is strange that Vodafone choused her to be the CEO and because she was one of those that against all the “security” of communism regime she managed to escape.

I read an article about this woman on the website www.evz.ro (a Romanian newspaper). And there was a comment also, signed by somebody “Professor Mezinu Mihai”. This guy was saying about Solomon that she was a betrayer and that she is rustles for coming back, and that “we don’t want you in Romania”,.

I searched the net to see if I can find out who this guy is. I found some other comments on other Romanian newspaper forums. Reading his comments I think that he is the most racist person I ever “meet” and the most anti-Semitic one.

Then I searched for an old Romanian communist song (download here) in my laptop, I found it and while I played it i read again all those comments of this guy. Now I am more embarrassed about some people from my country. I can’t believe that after 15 years from the Romanian Revolution there are still people thinking like this. I am sick of this and I feel pity for my “sick” country. And now, more than ever I think that I can’t (I don’t want!!!) to be back in a country where people can’t accept the blacks, the Jewish’s, gays, lesbians or bisexuals. I am sick of this “anti-everything” people.

An advice for everybody that is still 30! Please people make your packs and get out of there, wherever you can!!!

P.S. - From the cycle: IT CAN BE WORST: In Poland they had the last round of their presidential elections last Sunday. It won the guy that is conservative. Some of his actions as president will be: dissolving a feministic group, canceling all homosexuals’ events in Poland, making a new law that says that Sundays everything should be closed.

As a joke Polish people said that there are ads of travel agencies saying that they lowered their prices for exotic destinations as Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Yugoslavia, where probably will be better than in Poland. So, Polish should take this change … now as they still can travel abroad.

Welcome Connex-Vodafone Romania! Welcome to it new CEO - Liliana Solomon! Ca bonus: opinii si injuraturi din presa vremii!

Anul acesta Connex a fost cumparat de Vodafone. Primul lucru care urma sa se intample ca urmarea a acestei tranzactii era o schimbare de brand, si mai precis adoptarea logo-ului international al Vodafone.

Canadianul Ted Lattimore, CEO al Connex in ultimii 6 ani, preda stafeta, incepand cu 1 noiembrie, romancei Liliana Solomon, noul director executiv (CEO) al Connex-Vodafone Romania.

Liliana Solomon, noul CEO al Connex

Dupa ce a lucrat in pozitii de top pentru Deutsche Telecom, T-Mobile si Cable&Wireless Solomon are datoria de a integra pe piata romaneasca serviciile Connex sub noul brand Connex-Vodafone, pentru ca mai apoi sa se treaca la Vodafone. Pasii urmati vor fi probabil aceiasi ca si in Italia, unde reteaua Omitel a devenit pe rand Omnitel-Vodafone, Vodafone-Omnitel si abia mai apoi doar Voadafone. Nu am reusit sa accesez pagina Connex si deci nu stiu ce schimbari s-au facut la logo momentan …dar iata ce s-a intamplat in Italia:

Cat despre Liliana Solomon, in afara de faptul ca a lucrat in strainatate pentru firme de mare renume in telecomunicatii, se pot spune extrem de multe alte lucruri. Iata cateva linii dintr-un articol publicat in ziarul Evenimentul Zilei:

“… in facultate (Facultatea de Fizica din cadrul Universitatii „Babes-Bolyai” - n.a.), Liliana Solomon a avut un parcurs de exceptie, mediile ei fiind in majoritate de 10,00. A terminat ca sef de promotie, dar, pentru ca era in acelasi domeniu cu savanta de renume mondial Elena Ceausescu, nu a putut sa opteze pentru un post la un institut de cercetare in domeniu.”

“„In vara lui 1989 a plecat la un concurs in Belgia si nu s-a mai intors. Nu ne-a spus nimic. A tinut totul pentru ea si nu a vrut sa ne zica pentru a nu ne face rau. Nu pot sa stiu. Cert este ca a ramas in Belgia, iar apoi a ajuns in Germania. A fost foarte greu sa vorbim pentru ca ne ascultau cei de la Securitate. Totusi, am reusit printr-o prietena sa iau legatura cu Liliana si am aflat ca era foarte bine”, isi aduce aminte Olivia, mama Lilianei. “

Articoulul cu pricina are si un comentariu semnat de prof. Mezinu Mihai.Redau mai jos comentariul, integral. Nu-l luati ca pe o gluma pentru ca nu este!

“rusine
Trimis de Prof Mezinu Mihai (e-mail: m…a@yahoo.com) la 21-10-2005

rusine tie trdatoare de tara si popor dar mai ales partid.
partidul si tov Ceausescu ti-au oferit sansa s-a inveti gratuit la universitate,te-a facut om ti-a oferit stadionul olimpic din Cluj ca sa devii sportiva olimpica a tarii si cum ai rasplatit tara?
fugind la capitalisti.
nu te vrem in tara in acest post care ar trebui rezervat oamenilor cu raspundere civica
pleaca de aici la capitalisti in Belgia nerusinat-o “

Am citit acest comentariu si am crezut ca este vorba de o bascalie. Am incercat sa caut pe net mai multe informatii despre acest “domn” si am mai gasit o serie de comentarii care m-au facut sa inteleg ca “domnul” nu glumeste.

Jurnalul National:
RE: Jos manelele, jos tiganii, jos cultura sexului, a fotbalului si a manelelor
Nume: prof dr ing mezinu mihai romica, Data: 03-08-2005
Mesaj:
da matel ce crezi ca Nastase sau Iliescu sau Voiculescu sau Vacaroiu sau Mirea sint rumani?
toti sunt tigani de tigani ca si Lucescu senior si junoir
in Romania sunt 7 milioane de romi si la cei 8 copii in medie rromii vor devenii majoritari in 20 de ani si atunci am sa-mi vad visul cu ochii
au fost rromii sclavi pina la 1860 la boieri si la banditii BOR?
AU FOST
EHEI acu se schimba roata cu regele Guta viitorul presedinte al RSRomania in 20 de ani
soi o sa schimbam numele tarii in NEW INDIA SA MOARA RUMANII MINORITARI DE NECAZ

Adevarul On line:
Articolul
Imigrantii ilegali africani iau cu asalt portile Europei

Opinia cititorului
bai Geo sugi ********* maimutelor borate care aduc moartea ,sida si drogurile si terorismul in Europa. Moarte maimutelor borate DIN AFRICA care jefuiesc populatia pe strazile europei,fac trafic de droguri,sunt teroristi si raspandesc SIDA.
Trimis de: prof mezinu mihai la data/ora 2005-10-08 00:24

Ei, ce spuneti de asta?

Airlines? Have a look here!

So, as I said some time ago I’ll try to develope a project about arlines. So there it is a website having as a subject airlines. Keep in your mind that is at the start so there are not many datas.

Link: http://www.boardingmedia.net/fly

EVA AIR - In-flight SMS

The era of ussing telecommunication in-flight just started. Soon we will be able to use our cell phones while we are over Atlantic. Also, we are already able to use internet on board of some airlines.

Now … a new thing is on the market. In-flight SMS.
EVA Air (Taiwan based airline and one of the best and busiest Asian airline) is introducing the new SMS service to coincide with the arrival of its first Boeing 777ER this summer, and as part of a major modernisation programme across its fleet of 48 aircraft. The service, which taps into a mass market worth over US$35 billion a year globally*, will be available to passengers in all cabins and will cost US$1.50 per message sent or received.

LOT Polish Airlines - world’s first airline with a Boeing 787

LOT Polish Airlines announced an agreement for up to 14 Boeing 787 Dreamliners, making LOT the first global network carrier in Europe to operate the world’s newest and most technologically advanced commercial jetliner.

Also, a new LOT advertising campaign was launched on August 1st, 2005 under the motto “You’re under our wing.” The campaign aims at remodelling the brand image and implementing the communications strategy “We follow requirements of our passenger.”

BlueAir … are “probleme” si totusi nu are!

Din ciclul “sa facem din cacat bici” presa romana si-a dat putin in petec samptamana aceasta relatand cu mare tam-tam o asa zisa defectiune survenita la una din aeronavele singurei companii low cost romanesti, Blue Air.

“Defectiunea” a fost de fapt o fisura in geamul de la cabina pilotilor. Pilotul a considerat ca acest caz nu este unul major si s-a renitors de la jumatatea drumului Bucuresti-Maastrich, la Bucuresti. Dupa “reparatii” avionul a plecat din nou in cursa. Nu mai gasesc acum stirea (si nici nu mai tin minte pe ce site am citit-o) conform careia jurnalistul era pur si simplu socat ca pasagerii au fost imbarcati in aceasi aeronava.

Putini dintre reporterii nostrii cunosc detalii despre avioane. Pot pune pariu ca nici nu stiu care este diferenta dintre un Boeing 737-300 si un Boeing 737-500 (cele doua tipuri de aeronava cu care opereza BlueAir).
Putini dintre reporteri stiu ca marea problema a BlueAir si a celorlalte companii care zboara pe Baneasa este starea pistei care a fost reparata ultima data acum 20 de ani. De asemenea trebuie luat in calcul ca Baneasa a fost redeschis traficului de pasageri acum cativa ani si are o cota cu 1,300 % mai mare decat pasagerii transportati in anul 1995.
O alta problema este prezenta pasarilor. Dar, dupa ultimul incident Blue Air aeroportul a cumparat o instalatie mobila pentru indepartarea pasarilor si a decis refacerea integrala a pistei in urmatoarele 6 luni.

Mi-am adus de asemenea aminte de un incident al MyAir, de la sfarsitul lunii mai 2005. Atunci 122 de pasageri au fost tinuti in mica zona “duty-free” a aeroportului timp de 9 ore pentru ca aeronava care venise de la Venezia si trebuia sa plece in directia Milano avea o defectiune. Presa nu a raportat incidentul desi PASAGERII ROMANI AVEAU DE SUFERIT.

Cele patru incidente pe care le-a avut BlueAir au fost prezentate prin prisma “durerii” pasagerilor. Stau si ma intreb … oare de ce? Cine are proble cu aceasta companie care zboara pe majoritatea rutelor bune ale TAROM-ului?

Ma mai intreb de ce anularile frecvente de zboruri ale Alitaliei pe ruta Mialno-Bucuresti si retur nu sunt cunoscute. De ce nu s-a spus nimic despre cursa TAROM pe relatia Bucuresti-Dubai (si retur) cand “pasagerii fara bani, dupa vacanta” nu aveau cum sa plateasca la hotel (la unul din incidentele sale BlueAir a platit cazarea)?

Anyway, si ca sa fie si mai tare BLUE AIR anunta achizitionarea a trei noi aeronave si marirea numarului de curse externe. Blue Air va opera si rute interne. Cel mai probabil spre Timisoara si Cluj.

Dar pana la noile curse sunt niste reduceri penrtu zborurile spre/dinspre Franta si o cursa suplimentara pentru Barcelona pe data de 23 decembrie- la cerinta pasagerilor.

Asa ca people … low cost rulez!!! Imi pare rau ca eu nu-mi fac planuri de calatorie cu prea mult timp inainte ca sa mai pot gasi si eu locuri in cursele de care am nevoie ale Easyjet say WizzAir.

Precizare: nu am nici o legatura cu comapania BlueAir, dar pur si simplu am fost very pissed off de stilul profesional al “stiristilor” romani.

Kulula - the flying “trains” of South Africa

Kulula is one the youngest airlines from South Africa. Everything at this airline is strange. Starting with the thing that every plane of their fleet is painted in another way, but of course with green (the official color of Kulula).

Why I said in the title that here it is about “flying trains”. I do not know any airline in this world that has flights scheduled from one in one hour for the same route. For example there are 9 daily flights from Johannesburg to Cape Town (and back). There are also 9 flights for johannesburg to/from George. That’s so cool. And the prices are around 140 euros for a round trip. And for thos of you that dont know, airports in South Africa has the most low airport taxes and surcharges. These taxes are around 100 ZAR (South Africa Rand), that means a bit more that 12 euro. All I can say it’s that’s the way … to fly. It’s a pitty that you can use their services just here.

Netzoom reloaded = boardingmedia.net

Huh! It’s over! This entire thing with branding or re-branding.
It punched me last week that I really have to do something with the netzoom site. I wanted a change. Here it is this change.

Netzoom.ro is full transformed in boardingmedia.net. For the moment the content is the same but I’ll work at this too.

One of my main goals in this moment is to transform this blog in a more-specialized blog in commercial aviation - airliners and aircrafts. And of course there should be very useful information: like strikes, cancellations, news about airlines, etc. And of course BM (boardingmedia) should become a web identity, right?

Now I am happy that I was able to move the full content of the blog in a new data base. it went without problems. I want now to thank you to my hosting guy (www.claus.ro) for all its support during the moving/changing operations.

Why I am still flying with Alitalia … ?

On Thursday around 11.30 I arrived in Rome’s Fiumicino Airport. I was coming back in Poland after some days spent in Italy. Before leaving the house I called Alitalia to check again the status of my flight, AZ 552. One day before, on Wednesday, there was a stroke and this flight was cancelled. Now everything was ok. So I am in the airport. I am trying to find on the boards were the check-in desk for my flight. Nothing. I am going to the information office and the girl told me that I have to go at desk 316. I went there and I just found a queue of at least 100 persons. I am asking 2 people is here they are checking in for Warsaw flight. One of them was traveling to Paris, the other one to Athens. What is happening? At desk 319 there was nobody in the queue. I go and ask where I can check in for Warsaw. The girl told me that all Alitalia flights have the check in no matter what desk from 310 to 323. I still don’t get it well. Why that? Anyway, I put my under 10 kg luggage on the balance. This is a record for me cause usually I am flying with 19, 9 kg or 19,95 kg … at the top of the luggage weight limit. She gave my sit and here I am on my way of spending 3 hours around the airport making photos. Around 13.30 I went to my gate. People for a flight to Larnaca were still waiting for boarding; even it was supposed to take off around 13.00. Then next to C22 gate a Turkish Airline flight was delayed. Same happened with a Canada Air and British Airways flight. At a moment I saw on the screen that my flight was been delayed with 2 hours. Ok!
I am walked around the terminal and at a moment a nice voice was all over the place: “We inform all our passengers that due to bad weather conditions no flight is landing and most of the flights have a delay of 3-4 hours at departure.” Hmm… this do not sounds well. I am in the front of a board looking like an idiot how next to AZ552 – Rome-Warsaw is writing VOLO CANCELATO. I am going directly to my gate were everybody was waiting … normally, the boarding, even on this screen was the VOLO CANCELATO inscription. They didn’t saw it. I went straight to an Alitalia desk where they found out from me that the flight has been canceled. Then they made some calls and they said that the single possibility is to send us to Milan and from there to catch the flight to Warsaw. But unfortunately in the plane were just 5 seats free and we were 108.
After negotiations with LOT (that is a Star Alliance member – Alitalia is in Skyteam) LOT said that they can take 70 passengers on their flight. And the fun started. People yelling and talking dirty wanted to catch a seat. Hysterical woman and “cool” kids was giving a show also. I took a seat and I said that if I will remain in Rome is not big deal. Same, was thinking a girl from Spain and a guy from US that I had share with almost one hour of chatting. In the end they say that they will decide who will leave: woman with children, sick people, business class and mille miglia members (here I was included as well my chatting partners) and then the rest of the passengers. After a 3 hour chaos people that would remained in Rome received 300 euro each for hotel, transportation and meals and the rest of us were boarded in a nice LOT plane. Except the thing I was in the back of the plane. After some discussions with LOT flyers we changed some places and I was again with my 2 Spanish and American companions.

Because of Alitalia, LOT flight arrived with a delay of 2 hours in Warsaw. But this is not all. We arrive and we go to take our luggage. Alitalia put as in the plane but they forgot to put the luggage in the same plane (or more exactly the explanation was: we were very busy with cargo luggage). So a bunch of nervous Alitalia travelers was filling some forms for they lost luggage. I received mine at almost 24 hours after I landed. It arrived with the next day flight from Rome.

Now, when I will travel again I will probably book the ticket with Alitalia. I am still asking my self why. It’s about consequence or it’s about giving them another chance or it’s because I love adventures when it is about planes.

Nigerian plane - crashed or just “disappeared”

A passenger jet with 114 people on board disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from the commercial capital of Lagos, and Nigerian authorities say the plane had gone down.

The Boeing 737 left Murtala Muhammed airport at 7 p.m. (2 p.m. ET) Saturday and was en route to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja — a trip that should have taken about 50 minutes.

The pilot of Flight 210 issued a distress call just before the control tower lost sight of the plane about three minutes after takeoff, officials said.

Airport officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media, said they believed the plane had crashed on Saturday evening, although there was no confirmation yet.

Associated Press -
Frantic relatives of the passengers and crew gathered at the Lagos airport, seeking news.

Esosan Imasuen, waiting for hours without an update, said his father was the captain of the flight.

“Right now I’m in a state of suspended animation,” said the 22-year old student. “I’m just waiting for concrete information to know what to think.”

For the moment Nigerian authorities are trying to see if the plane landed in one of they neighboring countries.

Journalist, photographer kidnapped, later released in Gaza strip

Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip kidnapped a Knight Ridder
correspondent and a British photographer working with him Wednesday but
surrendered them to Palestinian Authority security officials after
almost six hours. Dion Nissenbaum, Knight Ridder’s Jerusalem bureau
chief and a US citizen, said neither he nor freelance photographer Adam
Pletts was harmed.

The kidnapping was the latest in a string of abductions in Gaza in the
past several weeks, apparently aimed at winning modest concessions from
the Palestinian Authority. All have been resolved within hours.

Desperate Housewifes - Part I

I added in the title of this post PART 1 pecause probably there will be more posts about this tv show. First of all I just hope there will be a DVD soon cause I saw not too many episodes from Desperate Housewifes.
I really like this show because says many true things … try to find which one
Till the next post please enjoy two photos. Below!

Shocking comment …

At least it was shocking for me.
Here is what I received today as a comment on a post about the Helios Airways 552 flight that crashed on August 15, this summer.

Comment from: dickran [Visitor]
the two pilots had heart atack then they say they didnt have oxygen then toxixs and problem with airconditions now they have found the black box the black box its something that it cannot be break all this are lies i belive that the poor people have died my friend barrett toutoundjian was inside so as his family they shoud shut down 2 helios airways why they had to die poor 121 passengers
Permalink 10/11/05 @ 21:24

Nescafe cup.

Always should be a Nescafe cup …

Photos in Rome Fiumicino - Leonardo Da Vinci Airport

Here are two photos that will not participate at the Orange Romania photo competion - Vezi Orange (See Orange) because I sent the photos last week before I took those one. That’s a pitty. But, I put them here!

Welcome to Poland!

I arrived few hours ago in Warsaw, Poland’s capital (maybe it’s somebody that don’t know, yet!). I need some days to accommodate and I hope this accommodation will be an easy one. It’s kind of hard to be not very close to your friends and people that you love. But … in the end I wanted it so!

Rome – I arrived in Rome’s Fiumiciono – Leonardo da Vinci airport, today around 12. One hour and something I have been waiting to see what desk will be the check-in for my flight. Seeing that there is just one more hour till the departure and I was still with my luggage in my hands I went to the information office. A girl told me that it’s at desk 316. I went at 316. Here they were checking-in people for Alitalia flights for Tunis, Catania and Amman. Yes! Exactly three destinations at one desk … Or I am a bit wrong here … for the same destinations were working the girl from 317. I ask if they are making check-in for Alitalia flight to Warsaw. The answer is “yes”. I stayed in the queue but because my flight was leaving first … I had sort of priority. My luggage was almost 24 kg … and they asked me for no money, thing that made me happy. Then, on my way to the gate C2 (that was near the check-in zone) I found 5 euro. J Good now.
I am sitting waiting for the boarding at Gate C2. Unfortunately they don’t have the plane anymore. They sent it to London with a bunch of very angry British people … Angry because they British Airways flight left with 30 minutes before the normal time. So here I am without a plane … and they also moved us at Gate C20. This was not near and I had to take a kind of train, SkyBridge, to that gate. In the end I left in time from Gate C22.

Warsaw – First of all, nobody picked me with “Taxi?”. In Bucharest you will never see this thing happening. Or at least to me it happened most of the time. I went outside of the airport and I took a cab of Radio Taxi (kind of Fly Taxi in Bucharest; but here they are using Mercedes cars). My trip was almost 15 euro. The taxi had even an EPOS … in case you want to pay by credit card.

From the taxi I could saw a small part of the city. Clean, with lots of parks and some skyscraper. We don’t have something similar in Romania and for sure what I saw here is bigger than in Naples. And the thing is that the architecture of these skyscrapers is wonderful. But please, don’t imagine here is New York.

I am living in a ground room from the university where I’ll be studying. The building is nice …. But there is a strange smell around. It is a complex with buildings here. I am not far away from the tram station and also there is a Carrefour and a quite big commercial center at one tram station from here.

At half of hour after my arrival here I decided that I want to go around, and maybe I will find a place where I can buy a Polish number. I get out from the building, I am leaving the walls of the school and I am going directly to a tram station. I was thinking to go in the center and all I knew was that I should take the tram 35. In witch way? Hmmm… I saw a young girl and I am asking her. She is going in the same direction and she offered to me to go together by walking because trams are not working well today. I said ok. She was speaking very good English, she was 25 and she is working in the Ministry of Infrastructure. She was kind of shocked that I choused to come to study and live here, giving that for here Poland is not really over Romania. Yes people! She heard about this country and she knows that the capital is Bucharest and no Budapest. Kidding … even the taxi driver knew this. So the people from small countries know more about countries like theirs.
In the end she saw a tram passing and we went back to the tram station and we took the next one.

Carrefour, Warsaw – I bought one from Orange. They do not have some rows in English about tariffs and so on. They don’t have more tariff plans and they don’t use here euro (like in Italy) or dollars (like in Romania). They used prices in their own currency and this is odd to me. This is another thing that I will have to get used with.

So. The city I think Warsaw is nice and I think I’ll have a bohemian life around here. Still, Naples, with all its noise and madness is my favorite city. It’s a city always alive and I like it, even Zack has another opinion about this thing.
Apart from the thing I would like to have over the street some friends there nothing else I do not like in Warsaw.

In the next two days I will start to discover some small parts of the city and I will let you know about them.