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.

Salonen and Kuusisto

Continuing on the topic of cultural activities. Last week, when Boris was in Chicago, we went to two CSO concerts, both with Esa Pekka Salonen conducting. I like him a lot and didn’t mind at all that after a couple of ticket exchanges I ended up having two pairs of tickets to two concerts just a day apart.

It was a very exhausting week in terms of work, and I was not sure whether it would be a good idea to make myself sleep-deprived for two days, but both concerts were exceptionally good!. One piece which stood out was Dessner’s violin concerto performed by Pekka Kuususto. On my way home from the concert, I found a recording of this very piece performed by Kuusisto with a different orchestra.’

If you watch it, I guarantee you would feel what I felt!

It Was Perfect!

Don Quixote at Joffrey – just perfect. Every single little detail was just perfect. Such a treat! Can’t go to bed although it’s super late – remembering details of the performance and smiling 🙂

Campbell Farmers’ Market

Everybody knows how much I love farmers’ markets, right :)?

Love the name!
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Monterey

While I have some breathing room, here are more California pictures. When we finally arrived in Monterey, it was an afternoon already, and not even an early afternoon :). Did I say it already, how I completely forgot about traveling by car and traffic jams? Saying it again!

We had a late lunch/early dinner, and then we took a long walk along the ocean coast. The ocean is beautiful! So beautiful, it does not seem real! Not like I would trade living by lake Michigan for living by the Pacific :).

Can you see the seals?
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San Juan Bautista Mission

One more part of our California trip. Our friends wanted to take us to see a mission, and I liked this idea a lot because I saw one. Moreover, I didn’t even know about these catholic missions, nothing about that part of the US history. And there was so much to see and to learn!

Our hosts’ original plans were altered by the Memorial weekend traffic (frankly speaking, after living for a year without a car, I forgot how it feels when you can’t go anywhere without a car!) But we all agreed that this change of plans worked well – there was so much more to see at the San Juan Bautista Mission!

Several rooms in the main building
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Rogers Park In Census

Most of my neighbors saw this article, and I had the post in Drafts for a while. This article in SunTimes makes me proud of my neighborhood, and reminds me why I love living here so much!

It turned out to be challenging to copy the whole article here, so I hope that my friends will be curious enough to follow the link!

Roses

The whole week after we returned from California was insane. On any given workday, I was actively engaged with more than one customer, so it was a constant context switch. Things were so intense that I could not even have a normal lunch break when I didn’t have to look at my watch all the time or check work emails several times during a meal. Boris and I had only two no-rush conversations during his visit.

Just to be clear, I am far from being done with all the things I need to accomplish by tomorrow, but I want at least to post more pictures from California:)

Continue reading “Roses” →

I Said I Was Not Fast Enough…

I guess, not anymore since now I have three customers at the same time, and sort of covering all three full time. Do not ask :).

I am running around the house to fit in some minor chores and take 15-min lunch breaks. No lunch breaks at the beach for some time 🙂

Homeless Turning To CTA For Shelter

I hear it a lot: how unsafe the CTA has become during the pandemic, especially the Red line. Not only do I hear about that, but I also see all the homeless people, especially when I happen to take a very early morning train.

I believe this article in Tribune provides very in-depth coverage of the problem describing measures already taken and some immediate plans.

As usual, copying the text here.

Continue reading “Homeless Turning To CTA For Shelter” →

California Trip

We are visiting my friend in Campbell CA – I decided that I do not need to have an excuse of a conference to visit her, so I exchanged the tickets for San Francisco one more time and added Boris to that trip.

Yesterday we were on the go for the whole day: we visited the Rose Garden, the St. Juan Bautista mission, and Monterey, and I have a million pictures 🙂

As usual, not sure whether I will have time to write in detail about all of it, but here are some:

More to come!