Month: July 2021

Keeping Fixing Everything

While Boris is here, we are trying to complete tons of house projects with intermittent success. One of the happiest things for me was that Boris installed the remaining rolling blinds in the sunroom.

Schaumburg IKEA didn’t have the right size and color, and I needed six of them! At some point, I saw on their website that they have four, but since there were only four, they were not selling them online. That was at the end of May when Vlad and Dylon were still here. When Dylon took me to Schaumburg Toyota to sell my car, I asked him to stop at IKEA, and I bought these four grey blinds. I still needed two more, but they were nowhere to find. Finally, when I started to see the “last chance” notice by all blinds of that model, I decided to purchase two green ones. It ended up being not bad at all, and now I have this huge relief of one more thing being fixed!

Post-Pandemic Riverwalk

As seen on Saturday night 🙂

A Very Long Bike Ride

One of our plans was to go on a long ride on the Lakefront Trail. I didn’t do long rides for a while, so I was unsure how long I could bike. The longest I biked this spring was one hour and twenty minutes. The total length of the Lakefront Trail is over 18 miles one way, and we are 2.5 miles away from the start.


We decided not to rush. Saturday was the perfect weather; we got out after breakfast and decided we are not doing more than 3 hours. In reality, we biked for 2.5 hours, but I was surprised by how far we went! I decided it’s time to start going back because I started to be a little bit tired. It was a good call – we didn’t realize we had a tailwind all the way there! On the way back, we had to go against the wind!


Surprisingly, it took us only 10 minutes more, probably because we made fewer photo-stops

Continue reading “A Very Long Bike Ride” →

***

Boris flew in on Friday, and it took him almost two hours to get through the immigration. He said there were just two agents for several hundred people. Then, we made a mistake. Or rather, I let this mistake happen.

Since we moved to the city, Boris said that now we do not need to take Uber to the airport because we can take L. I told him it would be a very long trip because you need to get into the city and get out again. Last time, I called Uber because we were fixing things until the last minute.

Now he mentioned it again, and I said – let’s.

Because the inner airport train is still not operating, it took us 30 minutes to get Terminal 5 to Terminal 2. And then – another two hours with all the waits! I told him – at least, it was on the way from the airport, not the other way 🙂

I hope that one experiment was enough 🙂

How Is My New Job

At work, there are so many things every day that I do not type fast enough :). It’s a very different environment, different ways of doing things. In the beginning, I felt like Chad is breaking his promises and does not let me do the right things. However, it was not the case, and yesterday, we had a conversation that I do not even know how to describe. In this conversation, we started with some very practical questions, but then we went into a very theoretical discussion about levels of database modeling. I can’t remember when was the last time I discussed such things, especially as a part of my job responsibilities :).
It’s breathtaking how many things are out there for me to improve and to create from scratch.

As usual, one me is not enough:)

Biking Along The Lake

I bike towards the lake almost every morning. Soon, the sunrise will be too late to bike before 6 AM, and then, I might retreat to biking on the weekends only. But for another several weeks – every morning!sSome days, it it windy and stormy

Other days, it is calm nd peaceful:

One Sunday morning, I went to a rather long bike ride, and ended up by this “windmill” sculpture:

It’s still very far from being able to cover the whole Lakefront Trial!

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, Or How I Donated a Mirror

I had a small gym in my Palatine home, and in it, I had a wall mirror from IKEA, which consisted of twelve separate pieces. You might remember my previous pictures from there.

Since I already knew I would have a gym in the new building, I gave away a lot of equipment, but there were several pieces I wanted to bring with me to the new building. Among these items, there were a wall clock and a mirror. You won’t usually think of them as gym equipment, but you notice when they are not present.

I asked the association whether I can install both on them on the gym wall (I was not sure whether I am allowed to make holes in the walls :)). They replied that they would ask a maintenance person who was in charge of these things. The wall clock was easy to install, and also I needed it, so I installed it myself. As for the mirror, it required multiple holes, and I thought that it should be installed by a professional.

A very long email chain followed. Periodically, I asked “where we are” and when the morrow will be installed. I placed the parts and the hardware by the TV so that they would be visible. Twice, I was told “the next week,” and I had to ask again in a week. Finally, I was told that the mirror was installed and that the maintenance person” won’t charge for it.” I went to the gym to check it out.

You won’t believe what I found out!!!

There was a small mirror that somebody brought in a long time before I moved in, and this mirror was standing by a wall. And that was the mirror he installed!!!

I laughed, took the pictures, and emailed the board :).

Finally, ten days later, the correct mirror was installed!

Children’s Hospitals In The Soviet Union

Some time ago, a fellow blogger mentioned staying in the hospital with her son, who got severe burns. I commented that I remember how I was coming to the children’s hospital every day when Igor had his eyes surgeries. I felt that a short comment was not enough to describe the difference and thought I should write more about this story.

Igor had severe nearsightedness from birth, and when he was four, the ophthalmologist told me he needs scleraplastic surgery. Even now, I can’t tell whether it was necessary. Here in the US, nobody heard about this surgery. But I was told that he absolutely has to have it; otherwise, he may go blind.

Before I proceed, I need to explain several things about hospitals in the Soviet Union. First, the patients would stay for a long period. Here, if you had surgery and no complications and concerns, you will be dismissed in a couple of days to recover at home. Also, you do not need to come to the hospital “in advance.”

However, back in the Soviet Union, a person, regardless of their age, would be admitted a week before the surgery “to get ready.” I am not sure about the rationale behind this practice. Were the doctors afraid of infections? Still, it seems completely unreasonable.

Continue reading “Children’s Hospitals In The Soviet Union” →

Nasturtium Salad

I didn’t make this salad for six years! But when I was shopping for my herbs, I saw nasturtiums, and I immediately knew I want them. All the childhood memories which I mentioned in this six-year-old post came to life:). Now that I had them for almost a month, I finally got a chance to harvest some and make a salad precisely like the one I mentioned in that old post. Just added almonds – I do not remember why I didn’t have any nuts in it six years ago, it’s not like me 🙂

One More Step Toward Normalcy :)

Although I am absolutely happy at my new place, the move itself was quite disastrous, and even a month after I moved there were still numerous problems not fixed. Moreover, the moment one thing got fixed, another would break (just remember my air conditioning story!)

But recently, the havoc retreated, and multiple things got back to normal or were resolved.

Accepting the offer on my old house was one of these things (although I didn’t close yet). Finally starting my new job is another one. The fact that Etsy returned me money when one of the sellers didn’t ship the shelves to me was another nice and almost unexpected thing.

Saturday was the day of major progress: I finally (almost) resolved my ceiling fans problems.

Among many things which were wrong with this condo were the ceiling fans, none of which were fully operational. It was especially frustrating because they are expensive light fixtures of excellent quality, but I didn’t have either remotes or users’ manuals. In three places, the fans were not working. In the living room and the guest bedroom, the fans were moving, but the lights were not turning on.

Both Vlad and John tried to address the problem, and Vlad even sent me a link to purchase a remote, but neither he nor John could connect this remote to any of the lights. I knew I needed to find a proper electrician, but things were piling up, and I just didn’t have time to start solving this problem.

Finally, I made an effort and went to the NextDoor to search for posts about electricians. Soon I found a person who had a problem similar to mine and was looking for an electrician two months ago. I messaged them and asked whether any of the contractors who were recommended to them worked. I added that everybody tells me good electricians are hard to find.

That was it! Immediately, several people replied to me with, “there are good electricians in Rogers Park!”
The one I hired promptly suggested that he come on Saturday (I couldn’t stay at home during the week of job changing).

After a little bit over an hour, the living room light/fan was working. The guest bedroom fixture could be operated with the new remote. We also discussed the plan to fix the rest of the fans and to get new remotes. Oh, and we also talked about Universal Health Care and Berni Sanders :). So it’s all close to eternal happiness :).

… Can you imagine the joy of being able to turn the lights on?!