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.

Sleep and Time Management

Back in Cyprus, during my conversation with the local organizer, I told him I had one complaint about the hotel – the fitness center opens at 8 AM. He looked at me with amazement and asked: and when do you go to workout? I shrugged: at 5 AM. He looks at me inquiringly: when do you sleep? And since I hesitated for a moment, he continued: or are one of those people who do not want to waste time on sleep because there are better things to do?… I nodded: precisely! He continued: oh, I know! I once had a girlfriend like this; I couldn’t stay long with her, I need my sleep! We broke up!

Mind you, that conversation was happening next to Boris and before this gentleman said that my husband is lucky:)

Nevertheless, one resolution I made when in Cyprus was to get my sleep back. First, for a very long time, I was sleeping 4 – 4.5 hours a day, and that was way too little even for me. Second, while monitoring my sleep when I did not need to be ready by a specific time, I figured out that my natural sleep need had shifted a little bit. Instead of the previous 5 – 5.5 hours, I now need 5.5-6 hours. And trust me, this is not a fictional difference. 

Since I still want to be up at 4-30, because it fits my schedule better, I resent my evening alarm to 10 PM, which means I am up from my computer at 10 PM, no matter what. The maximum delay is to finish a paragraph. Since I still may need to get my tomorrow’s lunch and/or breakfast ready and to get prepared to sleep in general, that means I am in bed between 10-30 and 11, not close to midnight or past midnight, as it used to be in November – mid-January. So far, ten days after I returned from Cyprus, it really works. 

That’s to the fact, that a New Year resolution does not have to be attached to January 1 

New Bitemporal Correction

I know that this does not make any sense to 99% of my friends, but I still wanted to reblog this post here because it gives some idea of what I was doing for the past five days. Except for my tax returns 🙂

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

It might take several more days, till the new ll_bitemporal_correction function will appear in pg_bitemporal GitHub repo, but it is ready. I finished development and basic testing, and it works.

It means nothing for those who do not care about “the state of bitemporality”, but I know that some people care. For those people, I am happy to report, that finally I delivered what you guys have asked for a long time. Now, you can make bitemporal correction not just to the last effective interval, but to any stretch of time. It may cover several historical intervals, it may start in the middle. It can’t end i the middle, because I didn’t come up with any business case for such situation, but if there will be a demand, I am sure I can provide :). Overall – I am very happy about this result :). Stay tunes – I will…

View original post 42 more words

I Just Have to Say (a Rant)

Last year was a year of big and small changes, which I was mostly happy about. I am not talking about changes in my views, preceptions or any professional achievement; those were all changes in my everyday life. I changed my hairdresser, my nail spa, and my dentist, and also my tax preparer. The latter one was by personal recommendation, and I was very much satisfied with the outcome. 

Last year, I visited the tax preparer office in person. It was about 25 min drive one way, and we talked for about 30 min. And that was it. 

This year, since nothing except numbers have changed, I was hoping I can send him all my supporting documentation. Instead, I got a very thick envelope in the mail (it arrived when I was in Cyprus), and it contained a questionnaire I needed to fill, even if this is not the first time they are doing my taxes. I already spent two hours on it, and I am not done yet! I will be lucky if I will be able to mail it by Saturday. Honestly, I feel like I’ve already prepared my tax returns by myself 🙂

Goodman Theater: Roe

Today, Igor, Mom, and I went to see a new play “Roe” in Goodman Theater, and it was so powerful! Everything: the play itself, the performance, staging, actors – everything was excellent, and the content is mind-blowing.

As you can guess from the title, the play is about Roe vs. Wade. To be more precise – it tells the actual story of the case, told separately by two women: attorney Sarah Weddington and plaintiff Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe). 

Turned out, I knew nothing about the story. Yes, I heard that “Jane Roe” ended up speaking against the Roe-v-Wade amendment, but I knew nothing about her as a person, about her story, her circumstances. To put it bluntly, she was misled by two young attorneys, who made her believe she will be able to have an abortion, which was not going to happen. She was designated to suffer “for the sake of future generations of women.” Which leaves the audience with an eternal question – can good cause justify all means? 

That’s exactly what I said after the show, at “Drinks and Discussion” after-show event. The even was full, and all the participants had chance to share their thoughts and to talk to the actors.

The play is incredibly deep and moving. It gives voices to the people from all sides, and it does not provide an out-of-the-box answer. I highly recommend it, o matter what your political affiliation is and what your believes are. It runs for three more weeks!

Why They Vote for Trump

One more article, which was sitting in my “to write about” list for a while, published in Washington Post at the end of December.

Along with the book “Heartland,” which I was listening to at the same time, this article helped me to understand some not-so-obvious things. Here is a family of farmers. They struggle financially. They are deeply ashamed of the fact that they have land, and they can’t earn a living working this land. They can’t come to terms with the fact that they have to apply for food stamps. Their situation is desperate, and it is a direct result of the trade wars with China, but they voted for Trump, and they will do it again.

I cited this article at Matt Flamm’s fundraiser on the New Year Day, when some of the guests were saying they could not understand what goes on in the minds of Trump supporters.I think this article provides at least some answers.

Continue reading “Why They Vote for Trump” →

New York Times: Going to Museum May Help You Live Longer

I had this article in my bookmarks for a while, hoping to write about it. The article talks about the effect of art on people’s longevity, and it states, that not even making art, but just art appreciation helps people to live longer. When I read this article, I thought that I was right dragging my mom to concerts, museums and such. And that I should continue doing it!

Here is a link to the article, and the full text is below.

Continue reading “New York Times: Going to Museum May Help You Live Longer” →

Just a Moment of Life

Today, I finally cut my Christmas tree into pieces, which I can now use as firewood. It took me only fifteen minutes, including cutting branches with needles and packing them into a separate paper bag.

I know how funny it sounds, but I am genuinely proud of that fact. Just a couple of years ago, I could not use a saw. They taught me how to use it at Deer Grove Forest preserve; I did not want to be among the group of volunteers who could not use a saw. I tried several times, but at some point, it would stick in the wood. Then finally, Mark showed me a magic trick, and since then, I am capable :). But fifteen minuted is an accomplishment!

I took a tree down four weeks ago, but I didn’t have time to cut it the same weekend (or I thought so). Then it was raining, then it was cold, then snowing, and then I left and was away for two weekends in a row. Today I was running around all morning and all afternoon and got to this tree business only at twenty to five. And I managed to finish before the sunset :).
I took all the wood inside so that it could become dry. And then I started the fire with the last year leftovers, and I also threw a couple of fir tree branches into the fireplace. They make such a loud crackling sound, and they smell good!


One more skill which I recently learned – I learned to start and keep the fire with the natural wood (not the long-running “logs”) so that the fire does not stop before all the wood is burned entirely. And I do not have to watch the fire all the time. I like the real wood better, and also – it does not take four hours.

A fireplace with live flames, a glass of wine, and a piece of cheese make a moment of tranquility. And now back to work:)

Skating in Helsinki

The weather in Helsinki is extremely mild this winter, and there was barely any snow. Because of that, Boris was still biking almost every day. Before our departure to Cyprus, he asked me how I feel about biking. First, I liked this idea, because it sounded surreal to bike in Helsinki when I was not biking in Palatine for a while. However, although I had proper shoes with me, I lacked other winter-biking equipment, specifically pants, and gloves. My hands are getting frozen even when the temperature is in the 40s, yet along 30s, especially when biking. On Saturday, after we came back, it was sunny and still no snow, but there was a substantial wind. 

I thought that I would be better off going skating in the city center, so when Boris went biking, I got on the train, and in ten minutes, I was by the skating rink. It was minutes past ten, the rink had just opened, and hurray – there was no like! I paid for the skates and skating and hurried up the ice.

It was wonderful! The rink s huge, and ice was perfect; there were very few people, and although I originally planned to skate for just half-an-hour, I ended up skating for the whole hour and could skate more, if I didn’t have to meet Boris for lunch. 

Continue reading “Skating in Helsinki” →

Traveling Back to Helsinki from Cyprus

The last day of the conference was very busy. There were lots of interesting talks during all the four sessions. I was attending all the SE sessions and had tones of productive conversations. Since we had a very early flight onFriday, we decided against exploring the city one more time and had dinner at the hotel. 

Friday was exhausting. We had to get up at 4 AM, and the cab arrived to pick us up at 5-15. It takes a whole hour to reach the airport, and our flight was at 8 AM. 

An interesting thing happened at the airport. At some point, we heard an announcement that “the accident occured” in the building, and that everybody has to leave immediately. The announcement was repeated multiple times, and … nothing happened!!!

Another funny thing was at the entrance to the passport control lines. Remember I mentioned that there lots of Russian tourists in Cyprus? There were two directions signs, one – “EU ad CH passports” and another – “All other passports.” They were repeated in English, Greek, and Russian, and for the latter one the sing said: “Русские паспорта,” which means “Russian passports.” By the way, in Athens, a tourist from China try to go to the first of these two lines, because she thought that CH means “China.” 🙂 :):)

The flight back was exhausting, we had two connections, in Athens and in Munich. The first one was not bad, we had plenty of time, I even shopped for souvenirs and bought some Greek wine for Vlad.

Actually, after being in Cyprus for five days, I somehow started to miss Greece. We were walking along the aport in search of our gate, and the exits to the city were visible on the left. I asked Boris: can we step outside for just a brief moment? I want to be in Greece! SO we did. It was crisp outside, but sunny, and I saw the mountains :). And I thought I need to come to Greece again :). 

It was 7-30 PM when we came back home in Helsinki, so it was a very long day! 

Dinner Conversations

At the dinner, we sat together with the local organizers. It became very cold while we were walking around the city, so when we reach the tavern, I announced that they made a Chicagoan getting froze in Cyprus! That was a good conversation starter, for sure :).
Then I started my usual prizing Chicago speech, and that everybody should visit. Along the lines, it came that Vlad is a director of a bar (I even remember the context: we talked about the PG Day). I told the local organizer that Vlad makes cocktails inspired by different cultures and that his Greek cocktail has mustika. The gentleman was impressed and told me that Vlad must know his stuff.

Since I knew that Vlad won’t be asleep yet, I texted him right away. For which Vlad replied: We also have tsiopouro in the same cocktail from Argo!

When I presented this text, the gentleman’s brows start to raise and the jar dropped. He was like: this is so local! How does he know?! Did he travel to Greece? I said – yes, and he loved it.

Then the gentleman looked at me and asked how old is my son, and how many children I have. And I proudly told: three children, one grandchild, and one more on the way! And showed a group picture on the phone. And I said that I am 57, and my birthday was on Sunday, And he was: never tell that! You do not look like it! And I was – that’s precisely why I tell that! And he looked at me again and said emphatically: your husband is so lucky!


At that point, I didn’t have other options except to turn to my left and poke Boris into his elbow :). If people do not know us, they can’t tell, because we have different last names and different countries on our badges:). So it was all quite amusing:)