Month: April 2024

Fort Sheridan: Early Spring

I am so glad that I planned a trip to Fort Sheridan for this Saturday! I put it on my calendar several weeks ago, thinking that I needed to have it on my calendar; otherwise, I won’t go at all because there will always be something more important. I was thinking for a while that I needed to take my mom there because I knew she would love it, and that although she can’t tell it, she misses nature outings. It turned out that she almost forgot our Deer Grove Forest Preserve frequent walks, but she enjoyed that one just the way I hoped for – she said that it can’t be captured on camera and can’t be described – you need to experience it.

I will take a picture of this tree each season!

The Series Of Unfortunate Events

It was an ideal morning for a long bike ride. I left the house before dawn with all intentions of having the first long bike ride of the season. I had gloves on and a bag with wipes so that I could fix the chain if it fell off. I was biking and thinking about how well I was prepared, how I had an injury last May that ruined a big chunk of my summer, and how it would not happen again.

And then…. I ran over a small branch on the bike path and got a flat tire! It was so dumb that I could easily avoid it! It was 28 minutes into my ride, which means I was pretty far into it! The closest CTA stop was Thorndale, and I started my walk there. It was not much fun when I needed to walk the bike, and it took me pretty much the same time to reach the station. When I climbed up holding my bike (no elevator), I looked at the train tracker and saw that the next train was in 27 minutes!!! I cursed – but what could I do?! I stood at the platform for the train in my direction and suddenly saw a train approaching from the opposite direction! I thought – well, that looks like there is a problem somewhere on the tracks, I guess I need to wait. Five minutes later, I saw a train in my direction, going on the far track without stopping! I was: what’s going on?! I still waited, the tracker showed 23 min, then, one more train in the wrong direction stopped, and one of the passengers told me: you need to go in that direction and then go back!

It was only then that I opened the CTA web page and read the Red Line alerts: they were doing track repair, and the trains in the North direction didn’t stop “from Thorndale through Jarvis.” I cursed again but now had to wait for the next train South. (And Sunday trains are, to put it mildly, not so frequent). Finally, the train arrived, and having checked the CTA website (Thorndale through Jarvis), I stepped out on the platform and brought my bike down again to switch to the opposite direction, and only when I was down, and I didn’t see others stairs up, I remembered, that Bryn Marw works only in one direction until the new station will be built. So, I had to bring my bike up again and wait for yet another train South. The next stop, Berwyn, is closed until God knows what time for renovation, so I could only exit on Argyle. Then there was one piece of good luck because the train North was standing on the other side, and at least I didn’t have to go down and up again. Only when I was on board and heard the announcement did I realize that “thorough Jarvis” meant that it would not stop at Jarvis! So… I had to go to Howard, and escalator up and stairs down, and wait again, and finally got home, plus one more stairs down.

I returned home two and a half hours after I left in the morning, having biked for less than half an hour!

This post attempts to make lemonade from lemons, so please, no condolences!

Before Mensplain

I had this article: Why Men Can’t Admit They Don’t Know Something by Brendan Leonard, in my bookmarks forever and never shared it; and isn’t it brilliant?! I tried it on Boris, and he had to admit his defeat (actually, I asked him whether he ever said explicitly that he was wrong – to anybody?)

Here it is – enjoy!

Continue reading “Before Mensplain” →

Elijah At CSO

On Thursday, I went to listen to Mendelssohn’s Elijah in the CSO: I needed to replace two matinee concerts for which I was going to take my mom and which I couldn’t make because of my schedule changes. I hadn’t heard Elijah before and was slightly unsure how the two-and-a-half hours of oratorio would go with my mom (and with me, for that matter).

And it turned out to be two-and-a-half hours of such joy that it was almost difficult to keep being joyful 🙂

Mom loved it and said that she never thought Mendelssohn would write something like that :). As usual, she did find things to complain about, but that was minor.

The CSO has an Instagram post about this concert; you can scroll to see the pictures of the singers, but unfortunately, you can’t hear them. I didn’t find any recordings with this particular cast; if I will find it, I will add a link here.

I wondered why it was performed in English, and then I learned that its premier was in English and that there were both English and German versions from the start.

After a questionable Aida last week, it was such a delight! The impeccable voices, the moving music, and all the performers united by the great masterpiece – it couldn’t be better!

In spite of my best efforts, I didn’t miss my train

My trip to an oil boom town in North Dakota started off on a pretty nerve-wrecking note.

I feel like, at this point, “in spite of my best efforts, I managed to make my Amtrak train” has become a running joke. For every time I made it onto the station with plenty of time to spare, there are two times when I caught it pretty close, either because I didn’t leave as early as I could, or there were transit issues, or some combinations of both. But even compared to all that, catching the Empire Builder today felt like miracle.

My plan was to do what I usually do when taking the Hiawatha train to visit my sister. Since I usually head down to Milwaukee on Friday, I take Red Line/Yellow Line/Pace Route 210 combination to the Glenview Amtrak station. It just feels silly to go down to Chicago Union Station only to go back up again on Amtrak when you live in Rogers Park. That’s not an option on the weekend, since none of the Pace bus routes serving Glenview run on weekends, so I just take the train down to Union Station and take Brown/Red line train combination up to Rogers Park.

Continue reading “In spite of my best efforts, I didn’t miss my train” →

How My Days Look Like

The things that I need to decide/figure out with the conference keep piling up on top of the work things, which are piling up on their own.

For the past two weeks, I get up at 4-30 and go to bed at 11-30 every day (plus/minus 15 minutes). I am genuinely happy that I am still able to produce something meaningful at work – I figured out a couple of non-trivial things in the course of the past two weeks, which makes me feel good in terms that I am not completely neglecting my work 🙂

I am going out way less than I usually do, but I still go out sometimes, and I am trying not to abandon my volunteering. Once again, it’s not easy, but I am doing my best.

One more time: meals at work are huge time savers. Since I also do not need to do dishes or brew my coffee, it’s at least 1.5 hours a day, and I know how to use them for more important things 🙂 I even stopped baking at home (the last time I baked something was for Easter), and I am planning to hold off baking until after the conference (help me God!)

No time to get into details, it’s just that life is very intense!

Spring Prairie In The City

On a more cheerful topic, on Saturday, after our visit to the Art Institute, we went to Millennium Park and took a detour to the Lurie Garden. I never checked it out in spring, and it turned out that the spring prairie was it full bloom! I was running from one flower patch to another and couldn’t get enough of it. I have nothing else to say, just pictures:)

My Russian Passport

Another Russia-related Kafkian story. I knew my Russian passport was to expire in 2024, but in January, June seemed far away, and then life happened. Three or four weeks ago (not like life stopped happening, but I suddenly remembered that I was about to create a huge problem) I realized that I needed to apply for a new passport immediately: if I did not have a new passport before the old one expires, I would have to go through the “citizenship verification process.” That could take several months, and only then could I apply for a passport.

I went to the Russian Consulate in New York website and filled in the application. Then I needed to make an in-person appointment (they are not accepting applications by mail.) I started to look for an available slot, and it turned out that the first available was in mid-August. I took it, but I knew this was two months after my passport expiration, so I also signed up for a queue to receive the offers for the spots that could be released and offered to people in the queue.

Now, check out what were the conditions to stay in this queue:

  • Each time they send you a slot, you have to accept or reject it within 24 hours, otherwise they kick you out of the queue
  • On the other hand, if you login to the portal more than twice a day, they disable your access because “you might be a bot” and require you to reset your password, and you have to wait for an hour before you will be allowed to reset it
  • After you reject, the next offer comes almost instantaneously, and if you reject it, you are out of the queue
  • And all of the appointments that were offered to me were after my August appointment!

Although I tried very hard, it was impossible for me to keep monitoring all of these conditions while doing my day job and the conference, so eventually, I was kicked out. Not knowing what to do, I emailed the Consulate, asking them what I could do and what would happen if I did not get an appointment before my passport expired.

To my surprise, they replied in a couple of hours with the following: Right now, there are several openings on the following days (days listed). Do not get into a queue; go to the portal and reserve your spot. I did as they said and booked an appointment for May 2. I hope that it will go well, although there is a whole bunch of things I need to prepare, including cash for the services (they are not allowed to use banking systems at the moment) and a stamped return envelope. But at least I have an appointment!

P.S. If anybody wonders why on Earth I need a Russian passport, here is why. 1) Even if I choose to denounce my Russian citizenship, I have to have a current passport; otherwise, I can’t legally do this. 2) I do not want to pay the Russian government the fees that I have to pay for citizenship 3) If I don’t have a passport and don’t properly denounce the citizenship, I can’t get a visa to Russia either.

To be continued.

Mom’s Money

Mom’s bank blocked her again. It took us a lot of time and effort to unblock her account last time. Everything worked for a while, and I checked her balance occasionally. Then, one day (I wanted to change the card used to reload her Russian phone because the card used before had no money left), the bank blocked us.
I remembered what we did last time, so I came to her and had her call the bank using her Russian phone (I asked Boris to add money there). She called, and the operator asked her to verify her name, date of birth, passport number, and where and when it was issued. She gave them all the information. Then, the operator asked her what her secret word was, and she could not remember (of course!). Then the operator said that since she couldn’t remember, she couldn’t unlock her account, so she would text a link to reset the secret.
I can never understand what the point was because my mom had called from the correct number, and she had already verified the information, so what difference would it make to receive a text to the same number? But needless to say, the text never arrived. The account is still blocked, and I have no idea what to do next.
I imagine that they probably can’t believe that my mom is still alive at 89, but this does not mean they have to block her account every two months. I hate to spend time on this, especially when there is no resolution.

Hello Lake, Hello, Sunrises!

It looks like I am rolling into a season of morning biking. I hope that there will be no more freezing temperatures in the morning and I will be able to bike before work most days.

Full disclosure – these pictures and videos were taken on Sunday, a little bit later than I bike before work. I am not catching sunrises yet when I bike before 6 AM. Almost there, though.

When I was almost done, a lady started to walk towards me. She apologized for getting into my frame, but I told her that I was already done and that it was just her silhouette, which was very cinematic.