Month: July 2023

Mom’s Updates

Last Friday, I tried to initiate two processes: issuing Mom’s US passport and updating her Social Security information so that she could receive a new card and apply for benefits. I knew that we needed to present the original of her Citizenship certificate. Still, unfortunately, I completely forgot that when you apply for a US passport for the first time, you must mail the original certificate.

So, although the SS office has the information that mom’s status changed, they can’t update the documentation before her certificate is returned. On the one hand, I regret that I didn’t think about it in advance. On the other hand, last Friday afternoon was the only time I could address some of these urgent things, and I took the last slot for the passport appointment. If I would skip the passport, the next time I could take my mom there would be in mid-August, and her desire to be able to travel is strong, although entirely irrational. So I didn’t have much choice.

Also, I am not sure I would have time to go to the next round of appointments with her if we had the SS information updates. So let’s say that everything happens for a reason.

The Russian bank saga continues. After I yelled at my mom that she had to call the Russian bank (and Boris transferred money to her phone), she pulled herself together and did call (although she called from Skype, thereby, she could not be identified by the phone number). They took down her information, but she didn’t know her secret word, and they told her she needed to come in person (!!!).

Fortunately, a good friend of mine has the authorization to perform everything that can be done with Mom’s accounts and receive her new bank cards. She went to the bank branch today, but the results were mixed. Although it is clear that there were no fraudulent actions, they refused to unblock this card and insisted it has to be reissued. The online access is still blocked even though they said they unblocked it.

My friend is going to the bank branch again tomorrow, so help her God!

Lena In Chicago

My friend Lena, who used to live in Palatine, and now lives in Ann Arbor, is in Chicago again!

She is my only friend who moved away a while ago, but still,l we not only keep in touch but visit each other regularly. Moreover, through the years, we came up with the annual visit schedule: she visits me for Christmas cookies baking, for the Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show in spring, and for one summer weekend, and I visit her at the end of summer.

This time, in spite of completely unpredictable weather, we had an almost perfect weekend. The only item on our agenda that we didn’t check was a Millennium Park concert, and that’s because of the rain – again! Actually, I am sort of proud of us because we waited for the first rain to stop, still went to the Riverwalk, had a nice dinner facing the Chicago River, and then looked at the forecast and saw that the rain was about to start again, and when back home instead of tempting our good fortune :).

We visited the Art Institute, saw the Van Gough exhibit and Japanese drawings, had lunch there, went to the Lurie Garden, then – to the Field Museum for the Kings of Europe exhibit and 3D dinosaurs movies, and then to the beat the rain and still made it to the Riverwalk 🙂

Today, we went for an early morning bike ride, then, after breakfast, went to the Glenwood market and then – to the beach.

Finally, it’s that time of summer when the lake is warm, even in the morning. I think it was the first time this summer that I could lay on the sand and do nothing for an hour!

(I am still three chapters behind in the book, and still have piles of work, but I am glad I am not giving up on my summer :))

July Chicago PUG

We had Chicago PUG on July 19 – the last one before we break for summer.

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

On Wednesday, July 19, we had the last meetup of Chicago PUG before going on a summer break, and I could not be happier with how it went. We had the pleasure of hosting Shaun Thomas, one of the first Chicago PUG members. In fact, he has been a member since September 2011, and he attended the very first Chicago PUG meetup, the one I could not attend :)).

Shaun presented at our meetups so many times that I lost count, and he was always a great contributor to our discussions. At first, he attended almost all of the meetups because he lived hee in Chicago, then he moved, but since it was still the time when consultants would go to a customer site rather than zoom in, he was in Chicago often enough to attend the meetups from time to time. And then the pandemic happened, and we…

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The Lake Is Our Backyard!

One More Crayziness

A couple of weeks ago, my mom told me that her Russian phone was sending her messages that there were not enough funds on the card which was used for phone payments. It was indeed not enough because five years ago, I added her Visa, which was issued by a Russian bank but was in US dollars. She used this card to pay for all he necessities, and I periodically transferred her pension to this Debit Visa, converting from rubles to dollars. After the war began and my mom couldn’t use this card anymore, it sort of became useless, but I forgot to switch her phone payment method to her ruble card.

Now, these dollars were finally gone. I tried to login to her phone account page multiple times, but the page was hanging and never came back. Then, as much as I hated it, I tried to login to her bank and transfer some money to this visa. Although I’ve done it many times before, this time transaction was declined, and the automated message said that somebody would call her (mom) from the bank within the next hour or so. Good luck with that.

When I tied to login a day later, the bank page said that her online account it locked, and in order to unlock it, she needed either to come in person or call the number listed (in Moscow). I knew that she had to call from her cell phone; otherwise, they won’t believe that she was she. But her phone… you got the picture.

Boris told me that he would try to transfer money from his Russian bank to my mom’s phone, and then we will figure out what to do next. I still thought there is no emergency because all her payments for her Russian apartment were scheduled as auto-pays. However, today they sent her a message that her automated payments are stopped because her card is blocked! So now it’s not just her online access but everything. What she still has to pay are the property taxes and utility fees (so that the heating and electricity won’t be shut down completely). So now that’s one more thing I need to resolve.

The War And The Media

Over the weekend, I had a conversation with a person who is not only very intelligent and hold very progressive views but is also not ignorant of what’s happening in Europe—someone who knows that there is the rest of the world outside of the US.

Still, my account of how the war is unfolding and what is really going on at the front appeared to be a revelation. She asked me whether I think the American media does a good job reporting about the war, and I said – no, gave multiple particular examples, and spoke about the trend in general. The war disappeared from the front pages, and even during the latest mutiny, the interest was directed toward Russia, not Ukraine. And I cited my friend, who said that no photographs and no reports could capture the horrors of destruction.

She listened to me with great attention and said: we live in a bubble that the media created. And we do not even know we live in a bubble.

I blogged about it so many times that I lost count. People do not understand the gravity of the situation; they push away the fact that the war didn’t stop, that people keep dying – every day.
And they keep explaining to me why NATO will never get directly involved, and I, in turn, keep explaining the consequences of that and the inevitability of confrontation with Russia, if not now, then in the future. And all of this feels hopeless.

Weekend Baking

Two new desserts, both delicious:

Sour Cream Apple Squares

New rhubarb pie

Fort Sheridan Forest Preserved

After I blogged about the Lion’s Den and mentioned that there is nothing like that in Illinois, my friend promptly replied that in fact, there is something like that, namely, the forest preserve with the lake!

When I looked at the map, I realized that it is perfectly reachable by public transportation, namely by Metra UP-North. The next thing I realized – the only option to go there before the end of September was the upcoming Sunday (July 16). I promptly made up a plan and executed 🙂

I have just one word to say – a paradise!

Continue reading “Fort Sheridan Forest Preserved” →

Monarchs In The City

Corporate Apparel

I forgot that I had a lot of points to order some corporate-branded merchandise, and when I received a reminder about the points, it took me by surprise. I ordered several items for different weather, and I was pleasantly shocked when I received the items – I never had corporate apparel with such a perfect fit (I probably do not show well in the picture, but trust me!) Even a hoody fits like a designer jacket!