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.

The Story Of My Ph.D.

As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t go to the postgraduate school for my Ph.D. First, I could not afford to go for several years on the postgrad stipend instead of salary, and second, it wasn’t easy to get in. I do not even remember whether it was Boris or I who first came up with the idea that I should go for a Ph.D., in some sense, both wanted it to happen.  

I registered with the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics and became “an aspirant.” For the benefit of the Russian-speakers, the Russian word aspirant means “a postgraduate student,” and a Russian word “soiskatel” means “an aspirant.” Super-confusing, I know 🙂

So, I became an aspirant, and then my timeline was entirely up to me. I didn’t have to attend any classes, except for if I felt I need it to pass the qualification exams. I had to pass four of them: English, Philosophy, Speciality One (which was Computer Science for me), and Speciality Two (which was Data Management).

I registered in 1989, and the only exam I passed before Vlad and Anna were born was English. For our English exam, we had to “submit thousands.” If you do not know what it is about, you will never guess. We had to take any book, or books, or journal articles related to our specialty, computer science, in my case. There was an official estimate of how many characters are there on each page, and we had to be ready with something like fifty pages. The examiner could open the book on any page and ask us to read a paragraph and to translate it. Also, we had to prepare several newspaper pages, and they had to be actual US or British newspapers, not Moscow News. Only the Communist Party newspapers were available, so in my case, usually, it would be “The Morning Star.”

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All of Today’s Negativities

First, about my eye surgery. The vision in the operated eye is non-existent; it’s as if I have an aquarium inside. I know that that’s exactly what I have in my eye :), but it looks like everybody expected it to be better. Plus, I am seriously upset with this surgeon and the whole office and the whole organization. Vlad, who took me to the post-surgical today, is equally upset. We waited for him for the whole hour, and he didn’t even say that he is sorry for being late, and he barely talked to us. I am also upset that although I’ve explained to him how important it is for me to know what to expect after the surgery precisely, he didn’t give me the correct information like he said I would be able to drive right away. Now I do not trust anything of what he said, including whether I indeed needed this surgery.

I need to come for a checkup in two weeks, and then in another two weeks to see the first surgeon. I hope that my regular eye doctor will finally start coming to the office because I need to consult with her about the situation.

And on top of it – the EU is banning all the travel from the US. Now, once again, same as in March, although Boris theoretically can come, It won’t help if the planes won’t fly. And I still can’t go there because of the current restrictions.

I’ve almost talked myself into some calmness because there is nothing I can do, and because Penelope waited longer and didn’t have Facetime :).

Today’s Eyes Update

I am back home from the surgery; they said it went well, but I can’t tell until later, because I have a patch on the operated eye and will be blurry for a while in any case. Although it was local anesthesia with sedation, it feels more serious than with the cataract surgery, I am still dizzy, and I still feel like half of my head is numb. So most likely, that’s all for today, and I will post an update tomorrow after my post-surgical.

Everything Is Falling Apart!

Last Saturday, I walked into my kitchen and noticed that something was on the stovetop, which looked like splashes. I proceeded with wiping them off, but I quickly realized that they were not splashes – they were cracks. My glass stovetop had two massive cracks, and I had no idea when and why they appeared! I didn’t drop anything on the stovetop, that’s for sure, and I didn’t hear anything falling. In any case, there was a double-crack and some dents along with it.

I googled the situation, and Grandfather Google told me that I couldn’t use the stove like this, and I need either to replace the glass or the whole stove.

Figuring that the glass top would cost at least $200 plus labor, plus I need to find a technician to do this job, plus the wait time, I decided that the best bet would be to buy a new one. I went to the Home Depot website, being slightly upset that I do not have time to do a throughout research. But I quickly realized that most of the models were not available until mid-July or even August, and there were just a few which could be delivered within a week. I chose one of those, and then I thought that since I am buying a stove, I can also buy a new over-the-stove microwave. I planned to replace it in February, but then life happened. Once again, looking mostly at the earliest delivery time, I chose one and proceeded to the checkout. The website was hinting that I can apply for a Home Depot credit card, and have zero-percent financing for a year. I had this card a while ago but stopped it when I stopped making major purchases at Home Depot. Having too many credit cards is not good for your credit history, and I terminated it. This time I said to myself: I do not need this card, and I do not need zero percent financing; I can pay right away, but the next page said: you will receiver $50 off each appliance if you apply, and I gave in :).

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“The Pioneers of Computing” Talk

Reblogging from my professional blog

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Last week, I attended several online events, way more than I usually do. One of them was sponsored by the WIE (Women In Engineering) Group of IEEE Chicago section. I am an IEEE member, and I used to be more active in the group than I am now. As with many other things, I hope that I will be able to participate more in the future.

The talk, which was presented on Thursday, was called “The Pioneers of Computing and The Imposter Syndrome,” and it was about women pioneering programming and computer science. Everybody knows about Ada Lovelace and Grace Hopper, and several other female figures in the world of programming. But I didn’t know that at the dawn of programming as a profession, it was considered a “girls job.”The talk was presented by Anne Lee, Nokia Bell Labs Technology Strategy and Architecture CTO Partner. She made it clear that…

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Eyes Update

There’ve been too many of them recently, which I hate. But so far, it seems that posting these updates here proved to be the fastest way to let my close friends know what’s going on. So here it goes.

My next eye surgery will be on Monday, and I am pretty upset that I was not provided enough information about the surgery itself, why it is necessary, how I should prepare for it, and how the recovery will look. 

I went to the retina doctor on Wednesday, when through several tests, the doctor came in, looked at the test results, and said: OK, you need surgery. I still do not understand why that rush, and what would happen if I won’t have it. Turned out, that I need this surgery on both eyes, not just on my left eye. Since I live alone and need to take care of my mom, I was asking what my limitations will be after the surgery. When I asked a nurse a week before that appointment, she said, that it will be “pretty much like cataract surgery, ” same restrictions for a week. When I asked the doctor on Wednesday, he said that I could “drive from the surgery,” which is not true, because they never allow it. His nurse said that “there are no limitations,” which is not what I read online, and I find it hard to believe. 

That was on Wednesday. On Thursday, a lady from the Day surgery center called and said that I need to take a COVID test and that it has to be done at their location. I just received a self-testing kit because I agreed to participate in the research, but they said – no, they need the test to be performed in their facility. I can’t drive that far by myself, and I can’t take Uber to the testing site, for obvious reasons, so I had to ask Vlad. Vlad told me he would come on Friday, and I called back to set up an appointment. I was very upset about the situation. They told me nothing about the test when they gave me a surgery date, and it was very time-sensitive. It had to be completed before surgery, and it is valid for only 72 hours. That left Friday being the only option. The testing site is open from 9-30 to 2-30, and these days we have summer hours on Friday, and I hated to take time in the middle of the short day. 

After I got tested, they gave me a paper saying I have to self-quarantine from now till the time of surgery. Imagine, you are asked to self-quarantine for three days with zero notice! Good thing I took mom shopping in the morning before I started work! Now I am afraid they will tell me to self-quarantine after the surgery! Hopefully, the next surgery will happen within the next week. 

I completed my online check-in on the hospital web site at the patient portal, and I saw yet another set of post-surgical instructions, different from the other two. Also, when the nurse called me, she asked about my ongoing medications and told me I need to stop taking multivitamins. Today, when I ready my personalized instructions for pre-surgery, they said: stop taking any vitamins or supplements with fish oil two weeks before the surgery.

At the moment, I am officially upset!

Supporting Local Business

Copying here an Instagram entry from last week: my t-shirt which I ordered as a part of supporting local business (Vanille Chicago) has arrived. And that was a reason for me to bake some frozen croissants which I ordered from them a couple of weeks ago.

Pictures From Summer 1995

For the benefit of my older granddaughter, I am skipping right to the summer of 1995, so that I could show some pictures. The first two where taken in June 1995.

Anna, Ania, Igor and Vlad in the Summer Gardens (Letniy Sad)

My friend Olga had a daughter Ania, who was just several months younger than Vlad and Anna. We lived in the same building and knew each other since our children were babies. When they grew a little bit older, we started to plan our adventures together. On that day, we took subway (Metro) to the city center to the Summer Gardens, the oldest park in Saint Petersburg

On our way back home, with the Church on Blood on the background. Guess, how I know that it’s on the way back, not on the way there?

The next picture was taken later the same summer, when we were staying in the University boarding house. Here we are visiting the Peterhoff park with the fountains. We met Inna and her daughter Kira when staying in the boarding house a year earlier, and once again, now the kids were old enough to take longer trips.

Igor, Vlad, Kira and Anna in the Lower Park of Peterhoff

My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.

1995: Gigs and Odd Jobs

Since I was fired from Urbansoft, looking for some side jobs, which would put bread on the table, became a part of my life. Most of the time, these jobs were very loosely related to my skills. However, by 1990’s standards, I had decent written English, which was a way to make money.

After the HighDoc project, there was one more, which I consider an epic fail on my part.

Boris was a part of the group, which was contracted by Nortel to write a reporting system – I want to say, for their first cellular data, but I need to double-check with Boris. (Correction: Nortel thing was later, what we did in 1994 was a project for GTE Labs, and it happened because of Boris’ connections to Micheal Brodie – more shame on me! ) He incorporated me to write a user manual for that system. As usual, the pay was verbally negotiated. And I failed it unimaginably.
Although I was full-time employed by the University, the attendance was optional, and there was no real research work. I would come to the office twice a week and spend time meeting with people and talking about random stuff. On the days at home, I often started my day going to the city center and checking “what’s new” in the stores. I was still not accustomed to the fact that there were consumer goods available, and I could buy things that I liked. Shopping for produce was another adventure, with multiple food stands on every corner, different prices and different quality.

There were always emails to answer and some cooking to be done at home, and then there was time to go and pick up the kids from the daycare. When I would sit to write my technical documentation, I didn’t progress much and was still thinking that I have enough time to finish. After some time, I realized that there is no way I could finish on time. Boris was sending me the parts of the reporting system, which were already done, and I had almost no documentation. I told him that I failed just four days before the stuff was due. He managed to write up something and had us covered, but that’s the shame I had to carry for many years.

I do not remember how we got involved with Bank Saint Petersburg, there were some connections involved, but I do not recall the details. Somebody somehow talked them into trying to use Oracle. It was Oracle 6, and the installation process was a journey with an unpredictable outcome. The group consisted of Boris, Yuri, and myself. I have a vague recollection that there was somebody else, maybe a person from the bank. We were supposed to install and teach others to use Oracle, and that was the first experience for all of us. I do not know how we managed to present it as if we were competent, but the task was completed, and we got some insane money. I used my portion to take the kids to Poland in summer (I will tell this story later).

The Bank gig happened in spring 1995, when I was finalizing my Ph.D. Thesis, which will be a topic of some future post.

My historical posts are being published in random order. Please refer to the page Hettie’s timeline to find where exactly each post belongs and what was before and after.

Deers and Butterflies

Some pictures from the forest preserve, the beauty of nature.

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