Month: August 2019

Finnish Blueberry Rye Cereal

Hettie D.'s avatarHealthy Cooking - Hettie's Way

They do not call it a cereal in Finland, and from what I understand the actual word means something liquid-ish, like a creamy soup, or a breakfast meal. But I can’t find a work in English with the meaning close enough, maybe my Finnish friends can advise.

I’ve got this recipe from one of my Finnish friends, and it is very Finnish since blueberry is a national berry of Finland :). I usually make it in the second half of summer, when the weather is still hot so that you would look for a clod breakfast, rather than for a warm meal. Also, this is the time, when Michigan blueberries start to arrive, and you do not feel guilty to consume the whole cup of them in one meal.


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On Time Management, And When It Can’t Help

I am usually doing great with time management, as all my friends attest. Most of the time I can squizz in three times more activities, that anybody can imagine. And this is not for the record – I love doing everything I am doing. Since I happen not to be Hermione Granger, and nobody gives me a Time-Turner, I have to be creative. But sometimes even my time-management skills are not enough.

And that’s how this week looked like. I feel like it was one long workday. Yes, I did a couple of activities after work. I cooked at the Youth homeless shelter on Monday, I went to the concert at Millennium Park on Wednesday, and I went on a casual bike ride with Palatine Bike Club on Thursday.

It might look enough – for anybody, except me :). Besides, I was so busy at work, that I couldn’t even get out for a short stroll or for an ice-cream. And I didn’t have time to email or chat with my friends. Ad I still have a little bit of work to do over the weekend.

So when my coworkers were asking today – any plans for a weekend? I would reply – to catch up with life! Hopefully, more blog post will follow 🙂

Postgres DEI Work Group

I am usually keeping my personal and professional life separately, but I wanted to share this one!

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Last Friday, I participated in the first conference call of the DEI Work Group of PostgresConf. And if you are wondering what DEI means, it means Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion.

The whole conversation started at the PostgresConf  2019 in New York. There we had a diversity panel on the last day of the conference. I was mildly unhappy with both low attendance and somewhat too universal coverage of the issues of diversity. I think that the striking lack of diversity in the Postgres community is a bigger problem than in IT in general, and was expecting a more in-depth conversation.

And then a usual exchange happened. I am a person of action, and I can’t complain about anything without proposing a solution (even when nobody asks for one!). But this time I was actually asked whether I will be interested in doing something to improve the situation, and granted, I…

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The Trip To The East Germany (Part 3)

I have almost no pictures from our trip to East Germany. I know what I have some from Saxische Sweitzer – Saxon Switzerland, but I could not find them. Maybe they will emerge later, and then I will add them to this post. For now, I will continue without pictures.
When we arrived in Berlin, our hosts told us they would try to exchange our return train tickets, and they managed to get us an extra three days! We were overjoyed, and I will tell you in a little bit, what did I do with this additional time.

We liked East Germany. Now, when I read memoirs about the time the country was divided, people comment about the striking contrast between the East and West Germany, about East Berlin and West Berlin. We didn’t know anything about what’s going on behind the wall. We loved Berlin, and we loved Leipzig. We also loved all the other cities and towns our hosts would take us. We visited Weimar, Erfurt, and Eisenach. We had a three-day trip to Dresden, and one of these three days we visited Maison, and it’s famous factory. We roamed Saxische Sweitzer. We had an excursion to Potsdam.

We loved everything. The fact that the trams had schedules, which they were obeying to the minute. That the streets were clean and the university dorms were tidy. We loved the school cafeterias.

Continue reading “The Trip To The East Germany (Part 3)” →