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.

“Parade” On Broadway In Chicago

Yesterday, my guests and I went to see Parade at the CIBC theater. I knew nothing about this show except that it was “about antisemitism,” and it shocked me. It sends a very clear message that all forms of racism are related, and no one is “better” than the other. It also demonstrates how easy it is to frame an innocent person, and how easy it is to turn public opinion against somebody. It was an incredibly heavy show, but my friends liked it.

All photos and videos, except for the first one, are from the official Broadway in Chicago website.

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Annual Ukraine’s Independence Day March

Please attend

It’s Not Only NASCAR…

The plan for Sunday that my guests and I had was to go to the market in the morning, and then straight to the Field Museum. We planned to be there by 11 and probably stick around until 3 or 4 PM.

We left the house a little bit later than we planned, and waited for the next L-train a little bit more than we planned, but it was still fine; we didn’t need to rush. We had two options: either to take the Red Line to Lake, and take bus 146 from there, or take the Red Line all the way to Roosevelt, and then walk. I decided on the first option, because it was a hot day, and the walk might not be so enjoyable, and also, it’s more fun to see something through the windows rather than being underground.

When we got out of the Red Line at Lake, we saw that State Street was closed for a small/medium size rally. It looked like it was about to pass to the North, so we waited, and about 15 minutes later, we finally saw our bus. It was packed, and when we entered, we realized that there was a Bears game at Soldier Field. That meant not only that the bus was packed, but also that it was barely moving, and all the traffic was stalled. People started to get off the bus and walk. I felt like an idiot for choosing the bus in the first place, and we still had to walk! We finally arrived at the Field Museum at 12:30, and we had to start with lunch.

Fortunately, everything was great after that: we stayed in the museum until it was closed. We saw the Evolving Planet exhibit, the T-Rex 3-D movie, and the new exhibit Reptiles Alive!

As usual, there were more things we didn’t see than the ones we saw :).

Get Out. Speak Up. Act

The destiny of Ukraine can’t be decided without Ukraine.

The Sentinels at Theo

Love it-love it-love it!!!

I am copying this review from the Evanston Round Table, because I think it will be removed from the newspaper website very soon!

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What I Liked Most About Our Aquarium Visit

The best part was that they didn’t change anything about the fight against climate change. Not only did all the notes in the exhibits stay as they were, including the Wild Reef and Amazon Rising, but they are also repeating this message during the dolphin show and other spotlight events.

I remember how, at the beginning of the year, several Chicago museums sent out the patron surveys asking the visitors’ opinion about the museum’s mission, supporting science and education, etc. I believe that the answer was almost unanimous, and when there is a will, there is a way.

Friends Visiting

My friends from France are staying with me for twelve days. We planned this visit for over two years, and I can’t believe it finally happened!

We had talked so much about the lake, and the first thing they wanted to do when they arrived at my house from the airport was go to the beach. I was happy to do this because I believe that the lake is the best thing in Rogers Park, and I completely approve of the idea of the beach being more important than dinner.

I was even happier to see their faces when they got into the water and declared that it was exactly what they needed.

I took a day and a half off, so today we went to the Aquarium, and it was an absolutely perfect visit!

…and went to the beach again!

Tomorrow, they will have a whole day on the beach while I will be at work, but I think it still won’t be enough!

One More Piece From Portland

The place where you work on a project does matter: you should have good coffee and good food. Chocolate is a bonus 🙂

In the morning, J and I worked at the Umbria Cafe, which had great cappuccino and espresso, and macarons as an extra bonus 🙂

In the afternoon, finding a coffeeshop became challenging: all of them were closing at 3 or 4 PM, and we didn’t like the dessert selection in those that were open. Finally, we came across a Chocolate House, which had everything!

They had chocolate-everything! Beverages with chocolate, pastries with chocolate, just chocolate in all shapes and forms!

This chocolate and espresso beverage was heavenly!
I went back to purchase more twice. When, on the second time, I asked for “regular coffee, the owner gave me a mini-french press and an hourglass and asked me to wait till the sand falls through before pressing 🙂

Amazon

That was the worst experience I have had with Amazon so far.

I placed a large food order with Amazon Fresh to be delivered on Sunday. Some time ago, Amazon began severely limiting the number of delivery windows available at any given moment, making it challenging to obtain the delivery window I really needed. It so happened that I had a chance to grab a slot while I was sitting at the Portland airport lounge late on Saturday evening. I placed the order and didn’t even look at the confirmation.

It turned out that I accidentally placed it at my mom’s address; I have no idea why it happened; I do not default to her address ever, but I had such a situation specifically with Amazon Fresh several years ago when I placed an order at Anna’s address, but I cancelled it immediately. This time, I only noticed the address was incorrect when it was out for delivery.

I started the Amazon support chat, but immediately noticed that the callback was available, so I pressed that button. A CR called back, and I explained the situation, and she said she would try to contact the driver. After some time, she reported that the driver is not picking up, and asked whether I want to cancel the order. Retrospectively, that’s what I should have done, but I told her: No, do not cancel, I will walk there and pick it up.

After I hung up with her, I saw a CR chat flashing with “Are you there?” I replied that I had already been contacted by phone, and my issue was not resolved. They said: well, let me try! I repeated the same story, and they double-checked that the addresses were within a mile of each other, and typed: trying to contact the driver. Then a new message appeared: I was able to contact the driver, do not worry, your order will be at your place in 10-15 minutes!

Thirty minutes later, I received an automated Amazon message: We are sorry, but your order could not be delivered. Would you like a refund or reschedule? I clicked “reschedule” and selected the last evening slot on Monday when I would definitely be home. After the reorder went through, I saw that it was again placed at my mom’s address!!!

I contacted the customer support chat again. The CR typed: let me see what I can do, and then – sorry, I can’t cancel this order since it was already placed (???!!!), I can issue a refund, and then you can submit a new order. I asked multiple times whether it is possible to stop the order delivery, and they were like” if this address does not existm the driver will return the order,” and I kept saying that the address exists, it’s not the point. Finally, he said: OK, I will take care of that!.

I placed another order and checked that it was place at the correct address. I received it on time, but forty minutes later, I received a message that my other order was out for delivey! I still hoped that it will be “not delivered” or at least they will contact me, but at 10 PM (!!!) my mom called me: I am so sorry for disturbing you, but there are four gigantic packages by my door!

So I had to walk to my mom’s place, take the packages, quietly discard behind her building a half of the produce so that I could bring the rest home, filled in my backpack and walked back, returning home at 10-45.

And, for the record, there is no good way to complaint to Amazon customer service. I tried, but it brings me back to the same chat, and the only thing I can get is a refund, which I already got. But no one will refund me a total of 3.5 hours!

2000 meters to Andriivka

I just watched “2000 meters to Andriivka” at the Siskel Center. I started crying even before the documentary title appeared on the screen. Then I stopped crying because there were no tears left. And then I started to cry again when they showed footage of the funerals. And for all these almost two hours, I felt eternal hatred towards those who started this war and those who allowed it to happen.

Horror. Hopelessness. Sorrow for all these lives gone, especially since Mstyslav Chernov tells us which of the soldiers he filmed were injured and died later. And the way he runs the excerpts from the news coverage from the days of the counter-offense, mentioning that “it didn’t deliver to expectations” or whatever the language was.

To say this documentary is difficult to watch is to say nothing. The official trailer below does not give even a remote impression of it. I don’t know how to keep living life as usual when you know that this actually happened, and that the corpses I saw on the screen were not props, and the captured Russian officer was not an actor.

P.S. If you are in Chicago, there are two more screenings.