Month: October 2024

And About The Conference

And of course, there was a conference! And I am blogging about it a week later! PGConf.EU 2024 took place in Athens, and that was my primary reason for traveling. It’s the world’s largest Postgres conference, but this year, it was the largest ever Postgres conference – almost 800 participants!

This time, I didn’t have any accepted talks, but as I told everybody who was wondering – nothing can prevent me from talking! And I talked a lot! Of course, I was also listening to the presentations – there was only one session in three days when I didn’t attend any talks (Boris and I went to see the archeological site of the Temple of Zuess during this time), and it was only because of the last-minute speaker substitution.

I met with a lot of people: my old friends and colleagues, people who heard about me or read my blogs and were happy to meet me IRL, and people whom I helped in different ways. Unfortunately, there were also many stressful moments. I tried to meet with a couple of people to solve some long-running issues, and that didn’t happen, and I keep chasing them from the first day of the conference till the last day.

No pictures of me, but plenty of pictures of my good friends:

9I made sure to attend almost all talks of female speakers!

Something everyone should know!
Роберт Хааз — человек, уважающий свою аудиторию, и очень много делающий для поддержки начинающих
As always, I went to Robet Haas talk!

Summary: lots of positive emotions and good ideas, but too many people!

Coworking In Helsinki

This is the first time I am working from Helsinki since I started to work for my current firm – not just connecting here and there, but actually working. When we started planning it in June, I started looking for a coworking space, and I found one close to our place. It’s only a 10-minute bus ride, unfortunately in the direction opposite the city center, but still very close.

In June, we went there to find out all the details. I liked what I saw and heard. I could claim a free day within the first month I sign up for their web app and then pay per day, or buy a series or a subscription (which I didn’t need, but that was an option). Monday was my first day in this coworking space (a free day), and I loved it. I immediately bought a ten-day series for a private office.

Here is what I got:

  • The room is a private office “for 1-2 people”, it has a desk, two office chairs and two stools, a desk monitor, a wall monitor and a white board.
  • It has a private bathroom with a shower, towels, shamooo/coditioner/hairdryer
  • There is an ironning board behind the mirror and an iron
  • Also a mini-kitchen with the sink, the kettle/tea bags/coffe/milk:
Continue reading “Coworking In Helsinki” →

Acropolis

When we were in Athens last time, we wandered around without tour guides, and I wanted to take one “proper” tour. I booked it for the first half of Tuesday so that I would be free to meet with people arriving on Tuesday afternoon.

Short summary: too many people! Back in 2014, we were in Athens in March. It was warm and there was enough tourists around, so I pictured pretty much the same in the second half of October, but I was wrong! This time, there were crowd and crowns, and one stream of people moving up the the Parthenon, and another stream moving dows. The marble steps polished my millions of feet made these ups and downs quite adventurous.

It was still beautiful, and the sky was still blue, but I missed the lonely climbs we had back then, when at least at some moments, there was nobody except of us, the mountains, and the marble.

Continue reading “Acropolis” →

Traveling With Russian Passport

That was the first time in a while that I traveled together with Boris and had a connection in London. Actually, since I had a connection in London on my way to Helsinki, I had three London connections in a week!

The first one was just me, and there was a very long wait, and no priority line was opened.

The second one was with Boris, and we had it all:

  • Interrogation at the passport control in Helsinki
  • Interrogation at the boarding gate (the gate attendant started checking the regulations for transfers – as if Boris was the only one transferring person without a UK visa)
  • Interrogation in Heathrow
  • Long lines at security without a priority lane
  • Barely made it to the gate

The third one, again with Boris, on our way back from Athens

  • The online check-in didn’t issue a boarding pass for him
  • In the Athens airport, a BA counter attendant went to check the regulations (as if Boris was the only person connecting without a UK visa).
  • Then he called another associate, and this whole process took twenty minutes, and for some reason, they asked for my passport as well. They finally issued boarding passes for both of us, adding that Boris “can’t step out from the airport” in London (as if it was ever different). Then they tried to convince us to check in our carry-on (we refused because we didn’t want to wait for our luggage at 11 PM)
  • We finally made it to the lounge, which was not very impressive (fun fact: you had to go to another lounge for a toilet)
  • Interrogation at the border control, however – no lines!
  • Surprise: no lines at the security check!
  • We were absolutely sure we wouldn’t have time to go to the lounge, but because of zero wait time in the security line, we had it!

Completely unexpected:

  • When we arrived in Helsinki and had to go through passport control again, they figured out that “we were together,” and despite my protests, they sent me to the same officer who talked to Boris. I should have said that “we are not traveling together,” not “we have different passports,” but I didn’t realize it right away, and then I was a subject of interrogation. They assumed that I wanted to stay longer and asked whether I had a residential permit, and then when I said I didn’t they asked to show my returning ticket.

Summary: it was so good to finally be home, and before midnight!

P.S. Just to be clear: I understand that the suspicions against Russian passport holders are completely justified, and that post is not a protest.

The Delphi Museum And Going Back

After visiting the archeological site, we went to the museum see some excavated artifacts. It was equally if not more interesting than visiting the site itself. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable, and we learned a lot from him, and each time after he had given us the information he would say: look, what a beautiful art! And now as I am looking at these pictures I took at the Delphi museum, and I do not want to write about each of the sculptures what/who do they represent and what is their significance. I just want to say the same thing our tour guide Kosta said: look, what a beautiful art! Look at all these muscles! Look at all these imperfect wrinkles of the clothes!

The ivory and gold statues of Apollo and Athena. They were buried near the temple in the antiant times when were became deteriorated of natural causes
Did you know that you could tell just by the clothes or absence of it that the first culture represents a polititan, the second one – a warrior and the third one an athlet?
The bronze Charioteer is considered to be a most valuable exhibit of the museum was created in 470s BC
I don’t know who has lunch at 2-30PM, but apparently, some Greeks do 🙂
That was supposed to be a picture by the #marathon hashtag, but I opted for the better view behind me

A Trip To Delphi

Now, here is a little bit more about our trip to Delphi. Boris was joking about visiting the first database in the world (because Delphi is a place where Oracle lived), and I said that it’s rather the first AI :). Except for that, we knew little about Delphi, so we spent all three hours on the road listening to the tour guide who was filling us in.

As I said, the most striking part were the views on the mountains and valleys, but that’s something impossible to describe or to capture on a photo. I tried but it doesn’t represent the reality, even remotely!

Each turn of the road produced more ahhs, because each next view was even more scenic than the previous one!

I have to admit, that I either forgot or never knew that Delphi is located by the Mount Parnassus.

And similarly(or consequently), I forgot that the temple with the Oracle was dedicated to Apollo. Another thing I didn’t know was that Appollo supposedly was out of town for winter months, and at that time, Dionysios ruled the city, and the plays were presented at the theater.

The visitors could ask the Oracle for advice only when Apollo was present.

The road the visitors would take to get to the temple

The Pythias were older women, but it was not like this from the beginning. Initially, Pythias were young virgins, but because of multiple cases of rape, the decision was made to choose Pythia from older virgins (over 50).

Pythia sat in the “basement” of the temple surrounded by the smoke of burning bay leaves. Also, although it is not confirmed, but it was believed that there were some cracks in the earth from which the vapors that caused the trance emanated. Pythia didn’t say anything in response to the questions. She could just move or produce some sounds, and these signs were interpreted by the prophets and communicated to the priests who gave the meaning of the response. So it was a very complicated procedure indeed!

Omphalos – a conical stone that symbolizes the center of the world, located close to the Apollo temple
The Theater – the first row seats were designated for dignitaries and have backs
The view of the Temple
Continuous excavation
The view of the Theater
A gigantic Roman stadium above the theater

I Don’t Know How People Do This!

I mean, those people who post on social media while being at the conference. I can hardly post anything because I am talking to people and writing follow-up emails and messages. And I can’t even finish one post about our trip to Delphi, which was back on Monday!

Till later!

Flights – A Lot Of Them

My current trip was planned several months ago, but I was utterly not prepared by my departure time on October 18. Just one thing to mention: I was not packed in the morning of the day of my departure.

My flight to Helsinki had a connection in London, and when Boris and I flew to Athens on Sunday, we had a connection in London again. Both times, it was horrible: long security lines and no priority line, and taking all the things out. Both times, there was no time to stop in the lounge.

The good part was that I had a Business class upgrade on the flight from London to Helsinki, and for some reason, they had a larger aircraft on this flight, so the business class was a real thing, with all these cool seats, and a nice lunch, and a cinnamon bun for a dessert.

I arrived in Helsinki at about 4-40 PM on Saturday, and on Sunday morning, we took off to Athens, with yet another connection in London, and the flight was delayed again, and no business class this time :).

On Saturday, when I was doing an early hotel check-in, I realized that I accidentally booked one extra day, and it turned out that removing this extra day was considered a late cancellation, but it was too late to do anything about it.

That will be the end of the complaints, because the hotel is great, and we did a day and a half of touring, and now the conference is happening, and although I am not presenting this time, I do not have a second to spare!

Delphi

Just pictures for now, but there will be words as well 🙂

The best thing was the day of traveling through the mountains, but you can take as many pictures as you want, and they won’t even remotely describe how it looks and feels!

TIME Magazine: The World Is Still Hooked On Russian Energy

A recent Time Magazin article talks about the anti-Russian sanctions and how they didn’t work. Unfortunately, nothing in this article is new to me: for several reasons, I have been well aware of a “shadow fleet” and other ways to get around the embargo. The horrifying numbers from this article basically say that about half of the Russian war is funded by EU countries. Again and again, the economy rules and there is not enough political will to change the course … although as I just said, I have hope!

The full text of the article is below.

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: The World Is Still Hooked On Russian Energy” →