Author: Hettie D.

My name is Henrietta (Hettie) Dombrovskaya. I was born in Saint-Petersburg, Russian (actually, back then – Leningrad, USSR) in 1963, and immigrated to the United States in 1996. I love Saint Petersburg, the city I was born and raised in, and I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the world. Similarly (but differently) I love Chicago, and can’t imagine myself moving somewhere else in the observable future. I have three children, Igor, Vlad and Anna, all adults living on their own, and one (so far) granddaughter Nadia. I also believe that my children are the best thing that happened in my life. As for my professional life, I am working in the field of Information Technologies. When I was twenty, I’ve declared that the databases are the coolest thing invented and that I want to do them for the rest of my life. Thirty plus years later, I still believe it’s true, and still, believe that the databases are the best. These two statements together imply that I think a person can have it all, and indeed, I think so! Keep reading my journals to find out how I did it.

Uber Crisis

Recently, I often have had trouble getting an Uber ride right away. I first noticed it after the late evening concerts, and I learned that I have to wait or start walking away from the venue or both. But last Friday, I could not get Uber to go to the airport for more than 20 minutes, and then we hit the rush hour!

I had a very interesting conversation with the driver. He told me that the share Uber pays to the drivers is relatively small and does not reflect what the passenger pays. That’s why, he continued, drivers no longer want to pick the airport rides. He said that he is considering becoming a CTA bus driver. He mentioned that the bus driver’s pay used to be very low, but now they are paid $40/hour and have insurance and other benefits. I asked him whether Lift or any cab service would be better, but his advice about getting to the airport was to use the train!
I need to think about it 🙂

Lady Inertia

I could not decide whether I should take a larger suitcase on my upcoming trip or a cabin size. Now that I have Finnair Gold, my luggage is free, but I didn’t want to wait for it. Besides, I am going to Berlin from Helsinki, and if I took a larger one, I would have to check it on my way to Berlin. I always take a folding duffle bag with me so I can check it in on the way back if needed, and I told Boris that if this folded bag weren’t taking extra space in my luggage, I would be okay with it being the carry-on only. Then he said – why won’t you check it in on the way to Helsinki as well? It is free, and then your carry-on won’t be so overpacked, and your backpack won’t be so heavy. And you can go to Berlin with a carry-on only. And I thought- why was I not thinking?! Why I didn’t consider doing this in the first place?! I know perfectly well why – because of the mind inertia! Because I always had to pay for an extra luggage piece, and I forgot that I did not need to pay anymore. Also, I forgot that my luggage travels with the “priority” label, so it is always the first to be unloaded.

That’s what your mind’s inertia does!

Fall Colors

Post-Pandemic

I go to the office most days, take Metra, and the cars are almost full; I can never sit alone anymore. There are many people on the streets during rush hour. In the morning, I am not going with the crowd because my office is right by the train station, but when I go to a concert or other activity after work, I walk against the stream of people. In the office, we stop by each other’s desks and have quick sync. We sit together at lunch in the cafeteria and talk about kids and current events.

I finally had a live Postgres User Group meetup, and we had pizza and beer, and I hugged my former colleagues. The CSO is close to full each time I go to the concert, and they have refreshments again.

I look at all of this, and I can’t help but recall all the people who grimly predicted that our world would never be the same and humans have changed forever during the pandemic. Where are these people now? Of course, there are other horrible things in the world, but the pandemic didn’t change human nature. And I think that war is not changing human nature either; it just makes it more evident.

CSO Last Night

The concert was absolutely amazing. But let me tell you first, what was before the concert:). The CSO resumed the Classic Encounter series – interactive multimedia presentations by Chicago’s radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmer. Each time, it is a meeting with one of the CSO musicians who participate in the concert on that night, so they talk both about the music and the instrument, and it is incredibly interesting. Oh, and also, there is wine and finger food, and sweets.

Yesterday, the guest was CSO trumpet John Hagstrom, and he was so cool, and witty, and everything, and the experience was truly amazing, and it definitely helped to feel more connected with the piece!

And the conductor…. I believe it was the first time that I heard ChristianThielemann conducting – I very unique, so passionate, and the orchestra is visibly enojing his leadership. John Hagstrom mentioned that he might be a candidate for replacing maestro Muti who’s last season with CSO we are currently celebrating. We’ll see…

Ohm and Thielemann was conducting Bruckner 8th symphony without the score – can you imagine it?!

And the final note – I went with my neighbor, we didn’t do anything together for a while, and now she is a subscriber, too! I am glad we can do things together.

Chicago PUG is live again!

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Today we had the first live meetup after …
You know, I do not even count my two attempts to resume live meetups a year ago. I can’t compare them to the meetup we had today. Today was a blast! It was back to the old days and even better.

Fewer people than I used to have pre-pandemic, but a dozen people showed up, and we had pizza and drinks, and we socialized before the presentation. Several long-lost members came, and even some people who started to attend virtually during the pandemic attended for the first time in person.

I took the risk upon myself and did both hosting and presenting, and it went great! The tech team rehearsed with me three times, making sure there were no glitches and experimenting with different setups until we found the perfect one. I didn’t need to take care of the food and…

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Delegating

Last Saturday was the first time that I asked my cleaning lady to come to do some additional work in my house, and I could not even imagine what a difference in my life it would make!

When I started my new job, I realized I should delegate more things to others – pretty much everything possible. I am a person who does not feel comfortable when my house is not in order by my standards. I have already noticed that I do not have time to finish important things during the weekend because I can’t leave my clothes not ironed.

This delegation was one of the best decisions I recently made! I felt so good being able to focus on my presentation since the early morning and then going to the OHC. Yes, I had to fight the discomfort of letting another person into my fridge and linen closet, but the result was the most rewarding.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

The most important outcome of this weekend was that I finished my presentation for PG Conf EU. That was a huge undertaking: I didn’t realize how much time it would take to build a new example with a sizable data volume when I submitted the proposal. It took me ten times longer to prepare this presentation than I thought it would take.

I challenged myself by announcing that I would deliver a rehearsal of my talk on October 18 at the Chicago PUG meetup. That meant that today was my last day (I am making dinner at the shelter on Monday).

I am glad that I could make this task a priority, but at the same time, I didn’t abandon everything: although for half a day only, Igor and I went to the Open House Chicago. Since both of us were time-constrained, Igor decided to focus on Rogers Park and Evanston (which we never did before).

I was most impressed with the Park Castle Condominiums. They were built in the late 1920s and went bankrupt ten years later.

The indoor swimming pool is astonishing!
Continue reading “Wrapping Up The Weekend” →

NY Times Story

The first interview took place in July, and then the author of this story visited Chicago in August, and now the story is live – here.

***

I feel like I blogged on this topic multiple times, but I want to repeat it.

I do not understand why so many people in Russia do not understand that in Ukraine, “Russians” sound exactly like “Germans” during WWII. Back then, people said “Germans,” and for them, it was the synonym for “the enemy.” This is not “discrimination based on nationality”; this is how life goes. And I do not know why it is so difficult to take in.

I remember how Boris told me exactly that at the very beginning of the war. He recalled how a couple of years before that, he saw a group of young men at the bus stop. One of them had a tube with drawings or something like that, and he was jokingly pointing it toward the others, shouting: puff, puff, I am Russian! Finns will never forget the Winter War, and Ukrainians will never forget this one… does it have a name yet?

… I am thinking about the conversations I had in the Greenleaf Art Center today. One of the visitors said, “Until it will be peace,” and I said – No, no peace! Until victory! And everybody agreed.

The beginning of the week was horrible with all these airstrikes. I have no doubts that those were the snaps of the tail of the wounded dragon, but they still can be lethal…