Month: October 2022

Post-Pandemic

I go to the office most days, take Metra, and the cars are almost full; I can never sit alone anymore. There are many people on the streets during rush hour. In the morning, I am not going with the crowd because my office is right by the train station, but when I go to a concert or other activity after work, I walk against the stream of people. In the office, we stop by each other’s desks and have quick sync. We sit together at lunch in the cafeteria and talk about kids and current events.

I finally had a live Postgres User Group meetup, and we had pizza and beer, and I hugged my former colleagues. The CSO is close to full each time I go to the concert, and they have refreshments again.

I look at all of this, and I can’t help but recall all the people who grimly predicted that our world would never be the same and humans have changed forever during the pandemic. Where are these people now? Of course, there are other horrible things in the world, but the pandemic didn’t change human nature. And I think that war is not changing human nature either; it just makes it more evident.

CSO Last Night

The concert was absolutely amazing. But let me tell you first, what was before the concert:). The CSO resumed the Classic Encounter series – interactive multimedia presentations by Chicago’s radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmer. Each time, it is a meeting with one of the CSO musicians who participate in the concert on that night, so they talk both about the music and the instrument, and it is incredibly interesting. Oh, and also, there is wine and finger food, and sweets.

Yesterday, the guest was CSO trumpet John Hagstrom, and he was so cool, and witty, and everything, and the experience was truly amazing, and it definitely helped to feel more connected with the piece!

And the conductor…. I believe it was the first time that I heard ChristianThielemann conducting – I very unique, so passionate, and the orchestra is visibly enojing his leadership. John Hagstrom mentioned that he might be a candidate for replacing maestro Muti who’s last season with CSO we are currently celebrating. We’ll see…

Ohm and Thielemann was conducting Bruckner 8th symphony without the score – can you imagine it?!

And the final note – I went with my neighbor, we didn’t do anything together for a while, and now she is a subscriber, too! I am glad we can do things together.

Chicago PUG is live again!

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Today we had the first live meetup after …
You know, I do not even count my two attempts to resume live meetups a year ago. I can’t compare them to the meetup we had today. Today was a blast! It was back to the old days and even better.

Fewer people than I used to have pre-pandemic, but a dozen people showed up, and we had pizza and drinks, and we socialized before the presentation. Several long-lost members came, and even some people who started to attend virtually during the pandemic attended for the first time in person.

I took the risk upon myself and did both hosting and presenting, and it went great! The tech team rehearsed with me three times, making sure there were no glitches and experimenting with different setups until we found the perfect one. I didn’t need to take care of the food and…

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Delegating

Last Saturday was the first time that I asked my cleaning lady to come to do some additional work in my house, and I could not even imagine what a difference in my life it would make!

When I started my new job, I realized I should delegate more things to others – pretty much everything possible. I am a person who does not feel comfortable when my house is not in order by my standards. I have already noticed that I do not have time to finish important things during the weekend because I can’t leave my clothes not ironed.

This delegation was one of the best decisions I recently made! I felt so good being able to focus on my presentation since the early morning and then going to the OHC. Yes, I had to fight the discomfort of letting another person into my fridge and linen closet, but the result was the most rewarding.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

The most important outcome of this weekend was that I finished my presentation for PG Conf EU. That was a huge undertaking: I didn’t realize how much time it would take to build a new example with a sizable data volume when I submitted the proposal. It took me ten times longer to prepare this presentation than I thought it would take.

I challenged myself by announcing that I would deliver a rehearsal of my talk on October 18 at the Chicago PUG meetup. That meant that today was my last day (I am making dinner at the shelter on Monday).

I am glad that I could make this task a priority, but at the same time, I didn’t abandon everything: although for half a day only, Igor and I went to the Open House Chicago. Since both of us were time-constrained, Igor decided to focus on Rogers Park and Evanston (which we never did before).

I was most impressed with the Park Castle Condominiums. They were built in the late 1920s and went bankrupt ten years later.

The indoor swimming pool is astonishing!
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NY Times Story

The first interview took place in July, and then the author of this story visited Chicago in August, and now the story is live – here.

***

I feel like I blogged on this topic multiple times, but I want to repeat it.

I do not understand why so many people in Russia do not understand that in Ukraine, “Russians” sound exactly like “Germans” during WWII. Back then, people said “Germans,” and for them, it was the synonym for “the enemy.” This is not “discrimination based on nationality”; this is how life goes. And I do not know why it is so difficult to take in.

I remember how Boris told me exactly that at the very beginning of the war. He recalled how a couple of years before that, he saw a group of young men at the bus stop. One of them had a tube with drawings or something like that, and he was jokingly pointing it toward the others, shouting: puff, puff, I am Russian! Finns will never forget the Winter War, and Ukrainians will never forget this one… does it have a name yet?

… I am thinking about the conversations I had in the Greenleaf Art Center today. One of the visitors said, “Until it will be peace,” and I said – No, no peace! Until victory! And everybody agreed.

The beginning of the week was horrible with all these airstrikes. I have no doubts that those were the snaps of the tail of the wounded dragon, but they still can be lethal…

Cultural Activities Continue

I love the CSO at the Movies series, and yesterday, they were performing Milos Forman’s Amadeus. I have seen this movie multiple times and know it very well, maybe not by heart, but very close to that. Still, it felt as if I watched it for the first time. Perhaps, that’s because my friends who went with me didn’t see it before, and I got this fresh vibe from them. Perhaps, I was just happy to see my friends. Whatever it was, I felt very positive, elevated, and not tired, although the concert ended at 10-40 PM.

For the third time this week, I opted to call Uber, and this time, the ride price was utterly insane. I thought for a moment (after all, the Red Line is right there!), but then I knew that I might wait for a train for a good twenty minutes at this time of the day. I decided the additional 35 minutes of sleep was worth 35 bucks :).

A couple of days ago, I received an email from Greenleaf Art Center which said “we would love you to join us.” Since it was signed by the Ukrainian artist from whom I bought a print during the spring fundraiser, I thought that it would be his event. I was not sure whether I can spend more time on anything except for working on my presentation, but at the very last minute, I decided to go.

Turned out, it was an Art fair, and all studious were open, and I didn’t budget enough time to see even a quarter of the artworks…But I stopped at Khmara’s studio, and we talked a lot – about our love for Chicago, about the war, and about “no piece, but only victory.” So after all, I am so glad I went!

(And do I have to say, that I left this Art fair with another two silver rings?!)

Still, No Gym, But…

Our building gym which was flooded in September looks pretty much the same. It is completely dry, but the carpet is torn, and the lower parts of the walls, the electric outlets, and the heating elements are removed. We were informed that the Association is waiting for the insurance to approve the repairs.

Meanwhile, some of the equipment is moved to the adjacent part of the basement, including the stationary bike. For the first several days, I felt guilty going down to the basement and using the stationary bike in the dark corner surrounded by some random stuff, as if I am committing a crime (or at a minimum, some violation :)). Then, full of guilt, I also started to use some equipment (and I bought two 10 lb weights to use in my apartment, so I can exercise there as well).

Then one day when I mounted on a stationary bike, I noticed that it was set to a different intensity level than I set it . That meant that somebody else was also using it in the dark corner!

And finally, this week, I noticed that the equipment was in use by somebody else as well – I saw different weights and different attachments than the ones I used. That made me smile, because officially everybody is waiting for the gym to be reopen and nobody is using it.

To be honest, I have no idea why we all are so shy of admitting that we use it they way we can :). For me, there is no other exercising option at the moment, and it is too dark in the morning to bike.

Joffrey Ballet

If I won’t return my ticket for the Music of Baroque concert, I would have three concerts in a row (and other cultural events Friday and Saturday :)). Yesterday, I saw “Beyond the borders” performance at Joffrey Ballet.

It consisted of three independent pieces: Vespertine by Liam Scarlett, Colorem by Da Silva, and the remake of Suite Saint-Saëns by Gerald Arpino. The last piece should have been supposedly the best of all three, and judging by the audience reaction, that’s how most patrons felt, but I loved the first two way more, and I am not even sure which of them was the best. These two pieces of choreography as so unusual, so blowing-away, I stared at the stage as if I am hypnotized all the time. Unfortunately, I could not find good pictures of these pieces anywhere on the web, maybe, they will appear later. I still hope that these two photographs from Vespertine give some sense of how it looked!

Once again, there were not that many people in the audience, and I have no idea why – the show is brilliant!