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.

Motivational Post

I heard a lot about people “showing off on Instagram,” posting the “perfect bodies which do not really exist,” and so on. Also, and this is not what people are saying, but what I observe – in their “End of the year” posts people often say that they dropped X pounds, finally started to exercise and practice yoga regularly, and so on.

I am posting my picture, not for the show, but motivation. And I consciously did not photoshop the imperfections (except I’ve chosen the photos with the most intelligent expression on my face :)).


I will turn fifty-seven in less than three weeks. My weight is stable for ten years, so nothing new here:). I practice yoga for about 12 years and work with personal trainers for approximately the same time. Nothing new.


Almost two years after my back surgery, I am continuously getting better. I do not think I will ever feel “like new,” but I can walk and stand longer than many other people even without surgery:). Although I can’t lift heavy weights anymore, I’ve almost rebuilt my muscle mass to the pre-surgical period.

I was not an athletic person neither in school nor in college. I started to take good care of my body pretty late in life. And what I want to say – it is never too late. You should not “feel old” just because of your age. It is not natural :).

Last Forest Preserve Workday of 2019

Both November and December were extremely busy because of work, professional commitments, and health issues. As a result, I had to cut on many of my usual activities, including most of the volunteering. I limited it to the youth shelter, as this is an activity, which does not allow interruptions.
After Christmas, I felt like I started to have my life back, and one of the first things I did – I went to the Forest Preserve workday. It was the last workday of the year, and we had quite a crowd.
It was before the snow started, and the day was really warm and not wintery at all. We were cutting bushes and burning the wood.

I was happy to catch up with the folks I know and to chat with new people. One of the new volunteers was trying to pull out a small dead tree, whose roots were loose in the soil. He suggested I would try to cut the tree close to the roots, but I told him, he should be able to pull it out, He said – I tried, it does not go. And I told him: let me help! I was ready to pull it together, but just one person (me) was enough:). He was… well, impressed :).

Everybody was encouraged to bring Christmas leftovers to share, and I brought some of my cookies, and they were a hit! I hope that by next Christmas, people will still remember that they can join me in the cookies decorating activity and also get some cookies for themselves.

Here are some pictures:

On the way to the work site
Waiting for the fire to die out
The last of my cookies 🙂
Continue reading “Last Forest Preserve Workday of 2019” →

2019 Highlights

Copying here my post with professional achievements

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Today, on the first day of 2020, I am looking back at 2019 – what an amazing year it was for me! Here is what I am especially happy and proud about:

  1. Undiubtfully, the most outstanding professional recognition I ever received was myITA Technologist of the year award.What made it especially significant for me was the fact that I ended up being the first female ever receiving this award.
  2. After three years of rejections, I finally have another paper accepted for the academic conference. I will be presenting atSOFSEM 2020 in Cyprus
  3. I ran a full-day training for the first time in my life, at 2Q PG Conf in Chicago. That was way more work than I initially thought, but I am pleased with the outcome.
  4. Also for the first time, I was a part of the talk selection committee (for the same conference)
  5. It was also…

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My Cookies are Finding Their Recipients:)

Un Saint-Petersburg
In Moscow

And I know that one is waiting to be picked up from the post office. Only three parcels are still on the way! Cookies rule 🙂

Family Gift – Giving

This year, we were unable to get the whole family together for Christmas gift exchange, which is not the first time in our history. And even for “all of us minus Anna” part, we had to find a day when Vlad was able to take at least a couple of hour off.

To be clear, he didn’t. I do not think he had any time off except of time to sleep for the past two months. Even that time, we met at his work. He reserved a private room in zBar, and then he ended up being on the floor for most of that time. He said – Mom, did you see how many people are there in the bar?! And I saw!

The Peninsula lobby, all decorated
The zBar private room
My Mom is tasting hot chocolate
Continue reading “Family Gift – Giving” →

Chicago Union Station Decorated for Christmas

I took these pictures almost a month ago. Our conference venue was a W hotel on Adams, and before the conference start, we decided to stop at the Union Station fo see their Christmas tree and the Polar Express. The tree was gorgeous, and for the ornaments, it had the plaques with the names of the Amtrack and Metra lines. And overall, the Great Hall was even more beautiful than ever. I decided that the pictures are too good to be abandoned even though the season is over.

Enjoy this after- Christmas show 🙂

Continue reading “Chicago Union Station Decorated for Christmas” →

A Picture of Our First Christmas

I finally found one picture from our first Christmas Eve in the US, which I described here. I’ve already added the picture to the original post, but for since in was published a week ago I thought it’s worth to show this picture separately.

I do not know where are the rest of the pictures, I only have this one – Val posing with Anna and Vlad.

You can see our tree with paper ornaments, and a star, and a string of lights, and a garland. The holiday outfits were given to us by my co-workers with older children, and the hat was made of plastic (came from some game set), but Vlad loved it:)

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.

The Art of Gift Giving

On Sunday, our family will get together for Christmas presents exchanging. It’s not the first time we are exchanging presents on a day other than Christmas Eve (we are “the Eve family”). Due to both our family being distributed and members having demanding jobs, it happens quite often. Sometimes we get together before Christmas, sometimes – after. Sometimes on the right date :). In the course of many years, we learned that dates are not that important. What is important, though – that over the years, my children not only mastered the art of giving presents but are doing it better than I.

SInce 2011, we always recorded our Christmas gift-giving, in full or partially, and I spent the last hour going through these recordings. I will post a small fraction of them here, to give an idea, how did it look like in the past. It is looking more or less the same every year. Every year I am delighted to hear multiple “how did you know?!”

I firmly believe that Christmas presents should be special. They might be practical (like on several of these videos my children receive computers for Christmas). Still, they should be at least partially surprises, something a gift recipient does not expect to receive.

You will hear some Russian in the videos, but I hope that everything will be understandable regardless :).

Christmas 2012
Christmas 2012
Christmas 2013
Christmas 2014 – we had guests from Moscow,
and also Vlad lost his voice and could not perform his Elf duties

For the record, Vlad still wear that coat from the last video!

I stopped myself from watching these old videos, because I could easily do it till tomorrow:). Now I am going to schedule this post so that it would appear tomorrow morning, and then we shall see, how our gift-giving will go in the evening.

What I Did and What I Didn’t Do This Season

Many people told me that they are impressed with how much I managed to do this holiday season. Most of the time it is expressed in a rhetorical question – how I manage to find time to do “all that.” The truth is, this season I did less than I normally do. The reason why it does not seem so is that I knew ahead that won’t have time for all my usual activities, and I planned which of them I am going to reschedule or cut entirely. 

The moment Anna asked me: Mom, are you still enjoying your Christmas, or are you stressed out, I realized I need to watch for the latter. I can’t rush when choosing presents. I can’t rush when I wrap presents, because this is an enjoyable activity. I need to wrap carefully each and single cookie I am sending out because that’s the way I add my love to the recipe :).

And you know what? I am really happy with my season. I didn’t do any of the shows: either Welcome Yule, nor the Christmas Carol, nor the Nutcracker. And I am OK with that. I didn’t get a chance to listen to the Caroling at the Cloud Gate, not even once, and this is a little bit upsetting. But I am delighted that I had time to meet with many people who are near and dear to me. People are the most important, and for all the rest, there will be next year – this is not the last Christmas season! 

Mom and I had a subscription concert on Dec 20, it was a matinee, and it was one of the days when I  could not leave work earlier. I’ve exchanged out tickets for Sunday matinee, the same show. It was great since it was Dec22, and all shopping and packing was done. I could spend time with Mom, not thinking about other things in the background. I also delivered two more boxes of cookies:), and we had lunch with my friend Lena -2 (not to be taken for Lena -1 from Michigan).

Continue reading “What I Did and What I Didn’t Do This Season” →

Before I Get Back to Work and Life…

I’ve already posted this video on Instagram, but Instagram saves only the first minute. Here is the full version – all three minutes :). There are lots of things I am going to write about in the next several days, which will be relatively relaxing (but only relatively:)). Still, before all these things, I just wanted to say how much I love my house at Christmas and how happy I am to be able to spend this after-Christmas time here by myself.

I spent the last couple of hours sitting by the fireplace, catching up with my friends’ updates, and drinking hot black tea with Finnish blueberry liquor. And having some parmesan cheese with the most fantastic fig jam with ginger and cardamon, a Christmas gift from my friend.