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.

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It is tough for me to write about everything which is happening now. As Anna pointed correctly, the fact that Boris and I won’t see each other in person indefinitely is the worst. I didn’t even realize that that’s why all other things hurt me so badly that I am losing control over my life.


People often think that because we do not live together all the time, and only see each other every several weeks, it’s not something which should affect us so severely. However, all of the periods between our visits to each other are planned and pre-calculated. Most of the time, we know our schedule for several months ahead. And we try not to be away from each other for more than six weeks.

This time it was supposed to be longer – eight weeks. But there was not much we could do: I had my surgeries (and three and a half weeks before the first surgery to be contacts – free). And then we were going to go to New York for the conference, and there was supposed to be a week full of talks, presentations, training, meetings with different people. It was supposed to be our professional highlight of the year. Because of all that, I was OK to wait for two more weeks – we did it before.

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My Mom’s High School Photo Album

I photographed each and single page of my Mom’s High School graduation album, but never showed these pictures to anybody, on any of the social networks. The main reason is that I brought it from Russia just a couple of weeks before my back surgery, and less than a month before my Mom came to the US. So I had other, more urgent things to address.

Last Sunday, I brought Mom to have an afternoon coffee with me, and she asked me about the album, and I took it out. She was slowly turning the pages, looking at each face, and reading all the farewell wished from her friends. And I thought – that’s what my next historical post should be about.

Then I missed two of my “historical” days because there was too much of life going on, and I promised myself to write a historical post today.
I am saying “high school,” but actually in the Soviet Union, it was just “school.” Students went through all the ten years of education with the same group, which was called a class. And what we call “class” in the US< was called “a parallel.” Do not ask me why :). Most of the time, each parallel would have two or three classes. And these classes would stay the same unless somebody would move to another place to live, which did not happen often.

My Mom was born in 1935, and at that time, children would start the first grade at eight, which means she started school in 1943, during the war, when she was evacuated to Siberia. She returned to Leningrad when she was in the second grade, and since then, she attended the same school.

Mom graduated in June 1953, and here comes her album.

The school building. Once again, it is 1952, seven years after the war ended, and the building looks how it looks, and nobody cares – this is the first photo of the album
Mom’s class in from of the school. The schools didn’t have names, only numbers, her school is number 245. As you can see, it was girls-only school, the schools were separated into boy’s and girl’s in 1943, and returned to mixed education in 1954. Mom is in the back row, with her face turned to the side.
Continue reading “My Mom’s High School Photo Album” →

I Almost Forgot!

… that Saturday was a Pi Day! I remembered late in the evening, and I also remembered that I bought some plums for the Plum Pie! But nevertheless, both pies were baked on 3.14, and I gave some to my neighbors and Mom the next day 🙂

The State of the United States

I don’t understand how officials of all ranks issue their orders without even thinking about the consequences—both for the economy in general and for each person.

I can’t imagine the impact on the entertainment/catering/restaurant business. All so sudden and so abrupt. I talked to Vlad yesterday; he said he would be fine, but he worries about other employees in the bar, people who are paid hourly wages, and who now will get no paid time off, and no tips. That is such a significant portion of the country’s population! They have no safety net, no savings. When I was talking to Vlad, just twenty hours ago, he was saying that the closing will only apply to bars and restaurants, that the fast-food cafes will stay open – not anymore!

I do not understand how people are expected to manage: schools are closed, daycare facilities closed, and you should not ask grandparents to babysit, and you are still supposed to work. And some are not even allowed to work from home.

Last week I was saying that the world is canceled. But I was optimistic – this week, it is even more so now. I could not even imagine how many things could be canceled. Most of my volunteering is canceled, including the youth shelter; they do not reply to my emails, although they sent a generic email about preventive measures. I do not want to think that I was the only person who answered that I could come. The Forest preserve volunteering was canceled last weekend, which made me mad – ten people outside – really? The weather was bad anyway, but I was still upset with the fact itself. The only volunteering which is keeping the schedule is Clinic escorts. I went to escort on Saturday. It was a bad idea because it was cold, and I do not tolerate the cold when I need to stand in one place. But I felt I needed to do at least something good.

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El Greco Exhibit in the Art Institute

On Friday, I was planning to see El Greco exhibit in the Art Institute, since now the museum has after-hours three days a week, including Friday. I was anxiously monitoring their website, which was saying that the museum is opened. Finally, since there was not that many people in the office, I decided to go there during the lunch break. We were told to work from home on Thursday evening, but since I left on Thursday before that announcement, I had to come on Friday to pick up some stuff.

I was approaching the museum and wondering whether it was still opened. I was; there were not that many people inside, but there were some, and I was so happy I had that chance to enjoy the exhibit. Actually, the closing was announced two hours after I left the building :), so I was lucky indeed.

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In Connection with School Closing

Yesterday, it happened that I was listening to Mayor Lori’s announcement of the city schools closing. Five minutes into her speech, she said: “We all know that school is not only about education but also about meals.” And it was so appropriate! In the Chicago Public Schools district in many schools, over 90% of students receive free or reduced meals (breakfast and lunch). During the teachers’ strikes, schools remained open from 8 to 12, to distribute reduced and free meals. And now, when schools will be closed, they will continue to serve as food distribution centers. Parents will be able to receive three days’ worth of food at any given time over the next two weeks. And if the parents won’t be able to collect the food, they can request delivery to their homes.

I am not sure why I am writing about this, but it was such a right thing to do!

The Orchid Show at Chicago Botanic Garden

It looks like last week, I was fortunate to see three shows which will be now closed. I already wrote about the Field Museum event, and now I am going to writ about the Orchid Show.

My friend Lena (Lena- One, the one who used to live in Palatine and now lives in Ann Arbor) loves orchids, and she visits the Orchid show annually. 

This year, she planned to come the first weekend it was opened (good for her and me!) I was glad, she visited (not even mentioning, it was right after my surgery number two when I needed help). I joined her and her other friend from Palatine for the first time, and we also took my Mom along. 

The show was amazing! My Mom could not believe all of those were indeed orchids 🙂

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Very Brief Status Update

On top of all the thins which affect everybody in the world, my laptop battery decided to stop charging. And as you can imagine, our company tech support was busy with making sure everybody can work remotely, and they didn’t have time to figure out my computer (they were already working 24 hours a day!)

Fortunately, there was one new computer coming, so today a got it (thanks for our senior devops, who brought it to my house in the evening!) However, now I have to set up all the apps and then carefully transfer stuff from my time machine. Which will take, as I estimate, the big portion of Sunday.

I have at least five blog post in my queue:), but not sure when they will materialize 🙂

Apsáalooke Women and Warriors at the Field Museum

On Tuesday, I attended an event in the Field Museum. That was one of many occasions, when I was not sure whether this is a right idea, having all other stuff going on (nope, not what you might think – I am just genuinely busy as usual) and I am so glad I went!

The museum just opened a new exhibit Apsáalooke Women and Warriors. On that day, museum members could view the exhibition during after-hours, till 8-30PM. Also, the museum hosted a panel with some Apsaalooke Nation people, including the curator of the exhibit. It was very interesting to learn about their philosophical concepts and beliefs, and about their art and fashions – I didn’t know about the elk teeth on women’s dresses – I thought it’s just an ornament, and didn’t know about men giving them to women, and how long it takes to make a traditional dress, and all other things.

Also, it was very interesting to observe during the after-panel Q&A, how the “historical-political” questions are still relevant.

Here are some photos from the exhibit:

A cradleboard
Faces of Apsaalooke women
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Cancelations of Everything

Last week, my big New York conference was first canceled, then rescheduled for the beginning of August. The organizers still want to run training online, and then one more live training at the actual event. I agreed to do online training if there will be any participation, especially because Boris is coming anyway. If it won’t happen that all the air traffic in the world will be halted.
My speaker for March PUG also canceled, and I had to step up. As usual, in situations like that, I will be presenting myself – luckily, my NORM talk differs significantly from my original “JSON” talk.

Then comes Mom’s travels. She was supposed to go to Russia on April 1 and to be honest I do not see much difference between her being here or in Russia. However, the airlines are canceling flights, and the new schedule is much worse. For the first flight change, I spent seven hours total on the phone to find a good substitution for her. But 30 hours later, they called me and said that the return flight is not working anymore, and the only option LH has is a 5:55 AM flight, which would not work for her.


We are canceling, and now I have to spend even more time on the phone to finalize the cancelation.
Boris’ flight is not canceled so far, and Finnair sent him a message that they will do their best to fly people to whatever destinations they need to be. It’s ten more days, however, so god knows what will happen.