On family history, parenting, education, social issues and more
I did Bike the Drive for the fourth time, and for the first time, Boris and I did it together. The total distance we covered was slightly shorter than our Friday ride (36 miles), but it felt much easier!
And one more thing! The apples that we had for snacks at the rest stops were provided by Michigan Apples, and I could tell the difference! I didn’t know until I saw their booth and stopped by, but I knew the apples were different this year!
Some (not all the books) I listened to and read recently.
The Tree of Knowledge – I liked it when I just started reading it; it looked like an interesting
The Dream Machine I LOVED this book! So many things we now take for granted, and you do not think that at some point, somebody came up with this idea! Things like “there shall be memory” :). Starting from the very first ideas, how a computer should be built, the concepts of processor and memory, the concept of a program as a set of commands, binary representation… I knew some bits and pieces of that history, but only some. Absolutely fascinating reading.
A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes. I liked it less than all the other books by the same author. I felt like she tried to talk about too many characters in one book, and it ended up being more shallow than some of her other books.
After the Spike – great book! The first book on the subject of (de)population and declining birth rates that I have ever come across, which discusses the real causes of the problem, rather than merely suggesting that “women should be paid more and daycare should be affordable.” Love how the authors talk about the “opportunity cost” and what we all can do about it.
The Rope Walker. I learned who Jaan Kross is when I visited Tallinn last January, and saw his sculpture on one of the Old Town streets. I wanted to find out who this person is, and I learned that he lived in Estonia all his life, including the years of Soviet and German occupation. And during all this time, he has been writing historical novels. He was very popular, and for some reason, he was never prosecuted, and his books were regularly published. At the same time, he continued to be deeply respected by everyone in the country.
Naturally, I wanted to read his books, and I discovered that his most popular trilogy had been translated into English. It took me a while to finish it, because I rarely have time to sit and read, and there is no audio version, but I loved it!
Honestly, I do not know how in the world Jaan Kross got away with writing this kind of book under Soviet occupation, but I guess they took it literally like he was talking about Germans 🙂
Regardless of political context, it’s a great book! I may be biased, because I love Tallinn, and I know not every street, but almost every building mentioned. When you read this book, you are completely immersed in the life of Medieval Tallinn; I felt like I could hear every sound, and smell every smell… I am on book three now!
Today, Boris and I did what I wanted to do for a very long time: biked from our house all the way south, almost to the end of the Lake Front Trail. “Almost” was because of imperfect planning and our local problem of the absence of public bathrooms everywhere, especially in city parks, and specifically on the Lake Front Trail. Moreover, there were several portables sitting around during summer, but someone decided that summer was already over 🤷🏻♀️.
We planned for the worst-case bathroom scenario, so it was not a complete showstopper, but another thing I didn’t know was how many interesting things we would discover along the way. We should have planned a day trip to have time to stop by each overpass and look down, or cross the Lake Shore Drive and look at the small pond with swans, or stop at the wildlife sanctuary.
Also, for some reason, I thought that the Lake Front Trail ends by the Museum of Science and Industry, but it turns out that it doesn’t. I was determined to reach the very end, but there was a big traffic crossing very close to the abovementioned end, and I knew it was just a mile and a half left, so I made an executive decision to turn back.
In total, we covered 39.6 miles, and I was planning for 41 miles, but I decided not to focus on these small details 🙂
I took way fewer pictures than I planned, but it is definitely not the last time. Next time, we will plan for at least six hours on the road.
There was construction going on on the second floor of our office building, and a couple of weeks ago, a new tenant lounge was finally opened.
Just showing off 🙂
I didn’t post the photos and videos from the Ukraine Independence Day march because I was very upset about how it was handled this year. Also, everything was happening amid the talks, and what’s not. There was obviously no hope for any positive outcome, but there was still an uncertainty in the air.
I am finally sharing these photos today, on the day of yet another deadly Russian attack.
My overall impression of the August 24 march was that the event was muted in public opinion, even with the “peace” talks being in the news headlines. When I walked to the Jarvis CTA and looked at the people sitting at the cafes, I knew that exactly zero people cared about what day it was and what it meant.
Also, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that the march took place on the State Street rather than Michigan Avenue, and on a sidewalk rather than the street itself (which might be not such a bad idea giving multiple road closures this year, but still).
The crowd was massive, but I believe the overwhelming majority of it were Ukraininas and people of Ukrainian decent. The new chant of this year’s march was “Ukraine is not for sale!”
My overall feelings about the war at the moment are at the rock bottom with pretty much no hope for any acceptable outcome.
August 23 was Vlad’s and Anna’s 34th birthday, and I had plans to publish a historical post about this actual date (I already have one on my timeline, but without many details). However, I had too much life for a lengthy historical post (it might come at some point in the future, maybe next year when they will be 35 :)).
For the past month, I tried to arrange Vlad’s visit to Chicago, which is as challenging as you could imagine, given his work schedule and his ambitions. I am very thankful that he was able to make it, even though it was for less than 24 hours. Boris and I haven’t seen him for over a year, so I tried to make it happen when Boris is here. When we were discussing the schedule, I said that any day except for Tuesday would work, and of course, the only day Vlad could make was Tuesday!
Anyway, we met for an early dinner at the Gage to celebrate Boris’ 75th and their 34th birthdays, and I presented the T-shirts designed by Boris for the occasion:
They should have advertised more!
Last Saturday, I went for the longest non-stop bike ride I have ever done (28.1 miles), and then I went to the beach. I knew that a sharp temperature drop was in the forecast (and it happened, on the clock!), so I wanted to seize the moment. I know that’s not the “real” end of summer, and there will be more warm days, but it was definitely the end of an unconditional, abundant warmth – the default warmth with not a thought of an extra layer. So I soaked in the lake, saying numerous thanks to him, and then sat in my beach chair, and then lay down on the sand, and then sat in the chair a little bit more. As long as time allowed. And a little bit more 🙂
For the past several weeks, the early morning shifts have been added to the Washington location where I volunteer. That’s because antis started to show up very early in the morning every day of the week.
Since this location is less than tw blocks away from my office, it is relatively easy for me to come out and help; the only problem is that my early mornings are busy because I need to catch up with what had happened in the UK office by that time, and our “sync” meeting overlaps with that one, and also sometimes, I use this time to call Boris, not mentioning that I need to have breakfast at some point:). That all being said, covering this morning shift requires planning, but I am figuring this out and committing to coming at least once a week.
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