Month: July 2025

Body And Mind In Balance

Even when the work is insane, there are two things that bring me joy every summer day; two things that make Chicago the best place to be in the summer: biking early in the morning and going to the beach in the evening. Even half an hour by the lake helps me to recharge and gives me peace of mind like nothing else. Each time I walk into the water, I say: Thank you, Lake!

New Bycicles And The Rest Of The Weekend

I had been wanting Boris to get a better bike for Chicago for a while, and he found a bike shop on the Near North, with a great selection and some discounts. Since he won’t be here until the end of August, I suggested he talk to Anna and delegate her to choose a bike for him from his list of preferences.

It all sounded very reasonable (after all, we had nothing planned for the weekend), but it ended up being a near disaster. I think at least half of the disaster was that the girls were still tired from Friday, but woke up on the inertia of early rising during the week. Boris and I thought that Anna could take the bikes into her van, but the girls said they wanted to take an L-train. There were a couple of minor disasters in the morning, the most significant of which was that Anna realized she had forgotten one part of the equipment to attach Kira’s bike to hers in a tandem manner. While she was figuring this out, I took the girls to the Artisan Market at Jarvis Square. We ended up leaving for the bike shop later than planned, and when we arrived, we found out that they were not allowing us to have an actual test ride; we could only use the mount on the shop floor.

Next thing, when we settled on the models for both me and Boris, the associate told us that they will assemble the new bikes for us (we could not take the bikes we tried), and it will take about an hour. I was ready to go home and come to get the bikes later, but Anna suggested we go for lunch somewhere close by, and then pick up the bikes.

The girls where already tired and acting up, and when we came back to the shop, the bikes were still not ready, and we had to wait for another half-hour. Retrospecitvely, I should have bought both bikes online, and we should have taken a van to pick them up when they were ready. That way, the girls won’t be so tired, and we could have some beach time.

The good part of that day was that later in the evening, Naida and I went for a bike ride. She is doing absolutely amaizing for a eight-year-old, especially for city biking on a Saturday night! My phone reported the 9.1 – 9.3 Mph speed! and she was excellent in following me at all turns and navigating the streets in general.

I rode my new bike on Sunday early morning (all the way to Monroe Harbor)

It is faster than my old one,and less bumpy, but somehow it looks like the seat post is too short. I can adjust the seat to the hight I need, but it goes below the “minimum” line; this is pending me calling the shop.

We walked to the Common Cup for breakfast, and then to the market, and made sure to show Anna new Rogers Park murals (the girls already saw them when they stayed with me earlier this year)

And finally, we had a couple of hours on the beach.

Next time, we should do more beach and more biking!

Beauty and the Beast

The Beauty and the Beast show was a part of my subscription. If it won’t be the case, I wouldn’t suggest taking the girls there, but since it was a subscription, and it was running on the week they were here, it was difficult to resist. I changed the tickets from Tuesday to Friday, and got the extra three.

The show was absolutely out of this world! Amazing! Nadia really enjoyed it, although it ended too late, and she was tired. Kira was scared in the beginning, and then fell asleep after the intermission, so it was not a great experience for her. Also, it was a rather long day: the last day of camp, then I took all three of the girls to do nails.

Then we had dinner at Ryo Sushi.

That’s my Mango California roll – so good!

Then we went to Amorino for gelato flower, walked a little bit at the Millennium park, and finally went to see the show.

Below are some official photos:

The Week’s Recap

I believe it was the longest time both my granddaughters stayed in my house. I think, overall, it was a very good experience, although Anna and I have a long “lessons learned” list.

Two things were completely out of our control: the aftermath of the NASCAR race and the buses’ rerouting, and both our work situations – none of us could take any time off or have a shorter workday. When we plan for next summer, we will choose a different week (or a camp closer to my house).

Flooding

On Friday, I went downstairs to the gym for a workout. I started with the TRX when all of a sudden, I felt something pushing my feet. Increadibly puzzled, I looked down and saw the water coming from the drain! It was not the first time we had water in the gym. In fact, I believe it was the third time after a major remodeling (after a really big flooding!), and all these times, the drain worked properly, and the water would go back almost immediately. It’s just the first time I saw the whole process 🙂

LPI

LPI stands for Linux Professional Institute, and that’s yet another not-for-profit I got involved with. Last Thursday, I participated in my first Board meeting, where I was officially installed as new board member. The meeting was scheduled for two hours, and I was wondering why we need two hours for such a small adgenda. But the actual meeting lasted for two and a half hours!

All discussions were very interesting and informative, and I learned a lot (and next time I will know that it might take that long!) but my Thurday feelings were: OMG! How did I end up here, and how I have to do this for three years!

Board of Directors List

Job Ads Minimize Work-Life Balance

Trending yesterday on LinkedIn. I would agree with the commentators who said that at least these companies are honest; the necessity to work insane hours was always there.

After years of luring talent with promises of flexible schedules and a healthy work-life balance, more employers are now opting for a tough-love approach, The Wall Street Journal notes. Companies like Shopify, McKinsey, and healthcare startup Solace now often go out of their way to stress their long hours and rough pace in job listings. While some applicants appreciate the transparency, one recruiting expert notes that companies are “testing the limits of what they can ask of their employees” in a competitive job market.

Follow the link above to see the discussion.

Nobody Will Notice!

I have a coworker with whom we used to be on the same team, and our desks were once close to each other. In summer, we used to go together to the Sweet Home Gelato place on the Riverwalk. We usually planned to go at least once a week, and used this walk to catch up on life.

When she moved to another floor, it became more difficult to coordinate, but I would still invite her to go, although not that often.

Today was one of our “gelato walk” days. We both got chocolate and blueberry gelato in the waffle cones. Usually, I throw away whatever is left from gelato and the cone right before I leave the Riverwalk, but this time, we were deep in conversation, and I forgot to throw it away, and then, there were no garbage cans on our way for a while. The next thing I noticed was the chocolate dripping over my white pants – the left side was covered with chocolate spots from top to bottom!

My coworker was more upset than I was. I told her that I would wash it off, and that I had a Tide pencil in my backpack, and that most importantly, nobody cares! Actually, this was the most important thing: I knew that nobody would even notice these chocolate spots if I acted as if they were not there. We kept walking back to the office. We met another coworker by the elevators, and chatted a little bit, and I chatted as if there was nothing wrong with my outfit. When I reached my floor, I went to the bathroom, took the pants off, washed the front of the over the sink, and pulled them on. Since my behind didn’t have any chocolate spots, I didn’t have to wash it, so I could still sit on my chair, and nobody would see the wet pants under my desk 🙂

… and that was today’s dinner time story for my granddaughters.

Life Is Getting Better

Today, the bus routes to the Museum Campus have finally resumed, and everyone is much happier and full of energy. I hope that at least two-thirds of the camp will finally be the way Anna and I envisioned.

My work crisis is still in progress, though :), and all the other millions of things which need my attention still need it!

Field Museum Camp

Anna, Nadia, and Kira are in Chicago this week, and the girls are attending the Field Museum Camp. That’s the thing Anna and I were looking forward to for years! Unfortunately, this experience has been affected by NASCAR race! I should have thought about it, but when we made this decision in January, neither me nor Anna connected the dots! The race happened during the Independence day weekend, and on Monday, there was still no access to the Museum Campus. Not only the busses were rerouted, but even the sidewalk was closed, so on Monday, the had a long walk around to get to the camp.

In general, Monday was quite havotic, because they arrived late on Sunday, and Monday morning was packing lunches and snacks, figuring out breakfast, and getting everyone out of the house. In addition, this week is presenting a major work crisis (and in addition I am severely behind on all my non-work professional activities).

Anna comments as a postitive thing that the girls do not fight with each other (I agree), and having fun at the camp, but it’s definitely more stress for Anna than I hoped!