Thursday and Friday were super-hectic because my time-sensitive project at work re-emerged with almost the same deadline, but now with me traveling. In addition, I needed to significantly modify both of my PGConf.dev submissions. I submitted everything more than two weeks ago, because I didn’t want to submit at the last minute, and I had to do it anyway, with the submission deadline being the EOD Friday.
With all of the above, I had very little sleep since Wednesday. Even though the show on Wednesday ended early, I couldn’t go to bed because I saw a new conference sponsor sign up, so I had to respond immediately and send a contract to sign. For some reason, I could not fall asleep for a while after that, and this pattern has been going on since then. Usually, I can fall asleep immediately when my head hits a pillow, and that’s one of the reasons a short sleep is enough for me. Something got broken, and even though I was very tired, I couldn’t fall asleep, and since Wednesday, my sleep pattern is completely messed up, so my goal for the next several days is to get it back on track.
Since I was packing for my trip in a half-sleep mode, I was sure I had forgotten something. One thing I realized on Thursday evening was that I couldn’t find my new good presenter, and it was already too late to order a new one. Boris said he will lend me one of his, but I know it won’t be as good as the one I had, and I can’t figure out why mine was missing.
What appeared to be more critical was that it wasn’t until I arrived in Helsinki last night that I realized that I hadn’t pack any extra jeans. I am not sure how this happened, but now it’s a problem – we left for Vienna early in the morning, and we will come back late on Tuesday evening, so no shopping till Wednesday sometime. Unfortunately, airport duty-free shops have only super-fashionable jeans, and I do not like the wide-leg look that is now popular. And I do not want to spend time shopping in Vienna – we have better things to do!
To finish on a positive note, one of my Thursday accomplishments was moving the box with all cookie-related items back to storage. This box is huge and so heavy that I dreaded taking it down and putting it up on the top shelf, and I still do not know how I managed to do it, but I did!
On Wednesday, I went to see the first show of the year of my Broadway subscription: Eureka Day.
This Timeline Theater production was performed at the Broadway Playhouse by the Water Tower. I have mixed feelings about this venue: it’s further from the Loop, so I need to plan for an almost 40-minute commute, including the wait (or walking for approximately the same time), and also, it is often very cold inside, but I really like the house layout (a better view from virtually any seat), and faster commute back home.
The plot is as timely as it can be. A private school in California, based on principles of consensus and inclusion, where no decisions can be made unless all Board members agree, faces an outbreak of mums. The events take place during the 2018/19 school year, when Zoom is still new and largely unfamiliar, and a quarantine decision is not taken lightly. And then comes the contradiction between parents who want to change the school rules to make vaccinations mandatory and anti-vaxxers, some of whom have deeply personal reasons to refuse to vaccinate their children.
I really liked how the Zoom message exchange was displayed on a big screen, revealing very common conversation patterns between the parties.
For those who have time to read the Behind-the-scenes booklet for Eureka Day, here is the link. There is a lot of interesting information about the history of vaccination in the world and in the US specifically. The most interesting part is that the play was actually written in 2018, before the pandemic, and now it’s hard to believe the choice of dates isn’t intentional!
Unfortunately, I didn’t find any video clips from this play. If you find any, let me know, and I will add them to the post!
On Tuesday, we had the first meetup of 2026, and it was such a great start to the new year! I was so happy to see many familiar faces, as well as first-timers. We had great attendance (one of those rare situations when I didn’t order enough pizza :)), and Ryan Booz, one of the speakers who never fails me, gave a great talk on configuring Postgres for effective logging and query-optimization analysis. I liked the fact that we had thirty participants that early in the year, when people just start to get back to their regular activity level. More importantly, we now have a group of active members who not only keep coming to the meetups but also actively listen, participate in discussions, and stay long after the presentation ends, discussing what they just heard, sharing experiences, suggesting future topics, and talking about how we can make Postgres more appealing to application developers! I always have to remind the last group of people staying late that, as much as I love them all, I need to close the house, but those are my happiest moments!
On days like that, I have this strong feeling of community building happening right here, and all my work is not in vain.
Trump administration hit with federal lawsuit over ‘occupation of Illinois and Chicago’
The new lawsuit makes claims about the feds’ capture of biometric data, warrantless arrests, immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like courthouses and schools, the swapping of license plates and trespassing on private property.
Illinois and Chicago on Monday accused federal immigration officials of an illegal occupation that’s led to “fear,”“indiscriminate violence,” and an “impermissible interference with state sovereignty” designed to force local leaders to abandon critical public policy.
They did so in a new federal lawsuit that amounts to the broadest challenge yet to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign. It accuses the feds of an “organized bombardment,”in which “uniformed, military-trained personnel, carrying semi-automatic firearms and military-grade weaponry, have rampaged for months.”
“Illinois and Chicago seek to vindicate their sovereign authority to govern, grow, and maintain public order and stability against an unchecked federal government,” the lawsuit alleges.
The lawsuit is similar to, but goes further than, the high-profile lawsuit brought by protesters, media and clergy last fall that challenged the feds’ tactics. U.S. District Judge Sara Ellis issued an historic order in that case in November, limiting the feds’ use of force.
The plaintiffs in that case have sought its dismissal. But Ellis hesitated to grant their request after the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis last week. Now state lawyers have sought to have their new case assigned to Ellis, given the similarities.
A hearing on the question has been set for Thursday. President Barack Obama named Ellis to the bench in 2013. For now, the new case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Georgia Alexakis, who was appointed to the bench by President Joe Biden in 2024.
Minnesota officials also filed a similar lawsuit Monday.
The Trump administration suffered repeated losses at Chicago’s Dirksen Federal Courthouse since the start of the immigration enforcement campaign known as “Operation Midway Blitz.” The state and city already sued successfully to block Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops last fall. They even handed Trump a loss at the U.S. Supreme Court.
Dirksen Federal Courthouse, 219 S. Dearborn St. | Rich Hein/Sun-Times
Now their new lawsuit makes claims about the feds’ capture of biometric data, warrantless arrests, immigration enforcement at “sensitive locations” like courthouses and schools, the swapping of license plates and trespassing on private property.
It points out that, for decades, federal agents enforced immigration laws and arrested individuals subject to removal “without significant impact on public order and safety.” But since September, they “have imported interdiction tactics from the border into Chicago’s neighborhoods, and then, as one senior official put it … ‘push[ed] the envelope.’”
The lawsuit seeks an order barring U.S. Customs and Border Protection from conducting civil immigration enforcement in Illinois without Congressional approval, and ending policies that have led to the biometric scanning, the concealment of license plates and warrantless arrests.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the complaint “reads like a far-left manifesto, not a serious lawsuit.”
“The Trump administration is enforcing federal law and arresting criminal illegal aliens in cities across the country,” she said. “Chicago’s lawsuit uses aggressive rhetoric meant to smear law enforcement officers and incite violence against them.”
Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat who has not ruled out a 2028 presidential run, said, “in the face of the Trump administration’s cruelty and intimidation, Illinois is standing up against the attacks on our people.”
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul
Attorney General Kwame Raoul added that, “Border Patrol agents and [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] officers have acted as occupiers rather than officers of the law.”
And Mayor Brandon Johnson said that, “the Trump administration has repeatedly violated the law and undermined public trust.”
Their lawsuit comes amid growing outrage about the feds’ tactics, especially since the fatal shooting of Good by ICE officer Jonathan Ross. Questions have also been raised about state officials’ ability to prosecute federal agents.
The new lawsuit refers to “the occupation of Illinois and Chicago” by immigration agents. It echoes claims from the National Guard litigation, arguing that the feds are trying to punish the state and city, especially over their so-called sanctuary jurisdiction status.
That means local authorities won’t assist ICE in tracking down immigrants without legal status.
“The federal government’s menacing, violent, and unlawful incursion impedes Illinois and Chicago from carrying out core sovereign functions in violation of the Tenth Amendment,”it alleges.
The lawsuit points to two shootings in the Chicago area committed by immigration officers — the Sept. 12 fatal shooting of 38-year-old Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez and the Oct. 4 shooting of Marimar Martinez by Border Patrol agent Charles Exum in Chicago’s Brighton Park neighborhood.
“Hundreds of residents have been injured by Border Patrol’s widespread use of tear gas in residential neighborhoods, including children, the elderly, and first responders,” the lawsuit alleges.
Beyond that, the lawsuit alleges that Border Patrol and ICE have used an app called Mobile Fortify to scan the fingerprints and faces of people in Illinois including a U.S. citizen, a teenager, and a man on his way to work.
It says the feds have “unlawfully arrested dozens of U.S. citizens across the country” under an illegal warrantless arrest policy, likely including many in Illinois.
And it complains of a “proliferation of immigration enforcement activity at and near sensitive locations including courthouses, daycares and preschools, K-12 schools, community colleges, healthcare facilities, homeless shelters, and domestic violence shelters.”
Among other incidents, it cites the Nov. 5 incident in which federal agents entered the Rayito de Sol Spanish Immersion Early Learning Center and arrested a teacher.
“Agents subsequently reentered the daycare, searching rooms — including rooms where children were present — and interrogating other staff as to their immigration status,” the lawsuit claims. “The daycare center closed for the remainder of the week as a result of this incident.”
The lawsuit complains that Homeland Security adopted an illegal policy “allowing immigration agents to conceal, remove, or swap legally required license plates when engaged in enforcement activities in Illinois.”
It points to Plate Watch, a hotline launched by Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias. It says Giannoulias’ office “received hundreds of reports of violations of state law governing the display of accurate license plates by vehicles which were, upon information and belief, operated by federal immigration agents.”
The lawsuit accuses immigration agents of unlawfully trespassing on private property, including at a cemetery, an open-air flea market, in residential yards and on city property.
Finally, it notes that immigration enforcement is likely to surge again in Chicago, quoting a recent social media post from U.S. Border Patrol Cmdr. Gregory Bovino.
“If you think we’re done with Chicago, you’d better check yourself before you wreck yourself,” it said. “Don’t call it a comeback; we’re gonna be here for years.”
Just finished this book (“The Serfdom in Russia”). I rarely blog anything about the books I read in Russian, but I wanted to share my thoughts about this particular one.
In the preface, the author states that “we” do not know much about this period of Russian history and that even progressive historians and political figures have always been non-specific about how and what exactly was going on during this period.
I thought that this statement didn’t apply to me, but I was wrong. I still hadn’t thought through many details, even when I knew them.
The book goes in-depth in describing the unthinkable treatment of serves, even by the “good masters,” but one tiny mention struck me the most. That’s when the author recalls the episode from War and Peace, when Natasha Rostova is ready to go to bed and calls her maid to blow out the candle by her bed instead of blowing it out herself. Perhaps the most striking thing was that I never noticed anything wrong about it before.
A recent Time Magazine article 8 Ways to Become a Nicer Person. I think that at the time when tensions are high, it’s important to know how not to put extra stress on people around you without compromising your values. Full text below:
OMG, that was something! I knew this documentary would be interesting, but it was so powerful and thought-provoking that I found it challenging to participate in the Q&A immediately after: I felt I needed to process everything I had seen before asking any questions.
Wiesel’s “Night” is a classic; it’s part of most high schools’ curricula. It’s one of these rare books that “almost everyone read.” Still, so many things we do not know; at least, I didn’t know. Most importantly, I never saw any footage of Elie Wiesel’s public speaking. And the whole documentary is just that: his own voice. The film producer/editor Michael Chomet, who spoke with the audience after the screening, said the film was commissioned by the family, but the artistic direction was his, and the family didn’t see the movie until it was finished.
The parts which impressed me most were:
The footage of Wiesel talking with Ronald Reagan before receiving the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor, when he explains to the President how his planned visit to the German cemetery will be perceived, and what he should do, and how, later, when speaking at the public ceremony where he receives this medal, he repeats the same speech. The way Reagan reacts and responds. (As I said, it’s hard to believe we had such an intelligent and sensible Republican President)
His Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech, when he says he understands Palestinians but disapproves of their methods
His urge to speak up, not to be silent
The footage of 13-year-old high schoolers from a New Jersey magnet school, when they discuss “Night” (Rudavsky told us that they made a separate short documentary based on this footage)
Said multiple times, both by Wiesel and his former student: suffering is not a badge of honor; suffering is not something that defines you, it’s something that informs you. I can’t stress enough how much I agree with this statement.
I can talk at length about this documentary, but I still won’t be able to convey everything I felt while watching. Five-star rating.
As I mentioned last week, my attepmt to see two new exhibits at the Chicago Architectural Center was unsuccessful, since they switched to reduced hours after the holidays. Yesterday, I was planning to attend the show at the Siskel Center, which started at 4:30PM, and I figured I can visit the CAC right before that.
The first exhibit is called “Framed Views”, and it shows the photos taken during the Open House Chicago. If was really nice, and I liked many of the photographs on display, but nothing unexpected.
The second one, however, was one big Awww!
This exhibit is called “The Disappointed Tourist”, and it’s descrition reads:
Is there some place that you would like to visit or revisit that no longer exists?” This is the question posed by The Disappointed Tourist, an ongoing project by artist Ellen Harvey presented in nearly 300 paintings at the CAC.
Based on this description, I thought it will be mostly about demolished buildings and such, but it was much more than that! It also covered real places which were gone long time ago, as well as some mythical ones.
Each picture includes the time when the building or placce was gone, and for me, the most horrifying were the pictures of ancient monuments gone during the most recent wars.
I startled when I saw Atlantis on this wall, because I first thought that this exhibit only concerned the recently demolished buildings, but it turned out, it was much more than that. Then, I followed down and saw the Hanging Gardens of BabilonContinue reading ““The Disappointed Tourist” Exhibit At CAC”→
My mom turned 91 yesterday, and we had a small celebration at Anto Pizza by Jarvis Square. This place never fails us; it’s perfect for any small family-style celebrations. They are officially BYOB and happy to provide glasses and bottle openers. I stopped by them last week and asked whether we could also bring our own dessert. They were surprised by request but said: sure!
Anna ordered a cake at a bakery just outside the border of Chicago, Sweet Temptations Bake Shop, and it was excellent! They used raspberry mousse instead of icing inside, and fresh raspberries for decoration.
My mom liked that the celebration was so small and cosy, and I think she also liked that John drove her both ways. At least, she didn’t complain about anything, neither at the restaurant, nor later in the evening when I called her.
The logistics for both Friday and Saturday were exceptionally complicated, because Friday night was my gift night for John and Anna: they had tickets for Phantom of the Opera and a night at Palmer House hotel, and I had the girls, and in the morning, the girls had a CSO for Kids concert, and then we had to pick up the cake, to pick up mom, and get my gift for her from my house.
I opened the Armenian pomegranate wine, which I bought on my recent trip, and it was also exceptionally good! Now I regret I got only one bottle!
The most important health-related event of 2025 was regaining sight in my left eye. Just to be clear, my vision is not perfect, and my two eyes still see differently and are still not completely synchronized. But I can get around without glasses or contacts most of the time, and that gave me the long-forgotten level of freedom. My only inconvenience is that because of the lasic in my right eye, I can’t wear a multifocal on it anymore, which means that when I wear contacts, I need to put on reading glasses any time I need to read something, not just some of the time. And unfortunately, multifocal glasses do not help. But those are such minor problems compared to the situation two years ago that I can’t complain. I probably should try to get a better multifocal prescription.
Because of the eye surgeries, I missed at least one routine test, even though I promised my GP I would schedule it. Now I need to have three procedures in 2026 :), but I already scheduled everything, so chances are they all will happen.
I definitely feel aging this year; the first area is reduced flexibility, and the second is facial aging. I think I’ve come to terms with the latter and hopefully figured out how to age gracefully, but the first one is a concern. Last year, I noticed for the first time that if I do not practice yoga for more than a week, I lose flexibility, and if I do not practice specific poses for several weeks, I lose them as well. That was an alarm bell for me, and I am trying to be more consistent with yoga than ever before.
I forget words periodically, but it happens with the same frequency as it has been for the past three years – about once a week on average. I am keeping track of it and checking with my doctor. I am glad I asked to take a baseline test two years ago, so now I can compare myself to myself :).
Other than the above, 2025 was rather uneventful healthwise.
Physical Activity
I am reasonably happy with the level of physical activity this year. The biggest achievement was increasing biking distance (both individual rides and total mileage). This year, Bike the Drive was almost not challenging. All my indoor exercisers are on the same level as last year, although I figured out how to increase the intensity of my indoor biking.
I was not consistent with yoga; there were different reasons for that, but all came down to me not trying hard enough to make time, and that’s one of the things I am trying to change in 2026; I do not want to lose my flexibility.
Update: checking the app, I can confirm that most of my active calories came from more biking, and I was hitting higher daily totals during the biking season, especially in July and August. Funny enough, the exercise minutes were almost the same throughout the year.
Food
I have a follow-up appointment with my GP in February, because I need to figure out the reason for my cholesterol still going up, especially with the changes I made last year. Since it is not a one-time spike but a three-year trend, I want to get to the bottom of it.
Sleep
In 2025, I made serious efforts to increase my sleep duration to six hours. I know that my need for sleep increased slightly in comparison to my lifetime minimum, and I do need to switch from 5 – 5.5 hours to six. I am trying with moderate success, and I especially didn’t like the last five weeks of 2025, when I slept an average of just four hours a night. If not for this last stretch, I would feel more successful in this area.
Update: just checked the health app. According to it, my average sleep in 2025 was 5 h 18 min, with December being 4 h 37 min. Some months, the average was over 5h 30 min, reaching 5 h 40 – 5 h 50 min, but this didn’t stick. Also, I looked at the time when the app recorded “time in bed” in addition to sleep, and remembered that when I was trying to get to bed earlier, it resulted in more time in bed than more time sleeping. So I should probably set more realistic goals 🙂
To summarize: not bad, but lots of areas for improvement.
Hettie's Reflections 