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.

At YUL Airport

It was the first time in several years that I didn’t have a lounge in the airport, and it was completely unexpected! I flew with American Airlines, but somehow, flights to the US are not “international,” and I was in the domestic sector of the airport, and could not access the One World lounge 😂. I had to find another place with a hot breakfast!

Alt Hotel

I wanted to mention again how much I loved the hotel I stayed in Montreal. The room was very spacious and exceptionally well-designed, with a comfortable desk and an additional table, and just plenty of room. Also, they actually didn’t change the towels if you don’t drop them on the floor! Most hotels say they won’t, but end up changing anyway. And I loved the gym.

The only thing I didn’t like was the absence of a normal (not continental) breakfast. At the conference venue, we had fruits(yay!) and pastries, and that was it. I do not mind such breakfast occasionally, but not for the whole week. Unfortunately, although the hotel front desk could make you a cappuccino any time, day or night, or any other caffeinated drinks, the food was just yogurt, eggs, bagels, and croissants.

Exceptionally good croissants, but I wanted some real food :). The breakfast place across the street, although open at 7 AM, didn’t have the kitchen start until 9 AM, so once again – great pastries, but that’s it.

By Thursday, I was ready to walk to a place which potentially had breakfast food, about a 20-25 minute walk from the hotel, but then I remembered that the Women’s breakfast was scheduled for this morning, which I had to attend. I hoped that they would serve something else than at the conference breakfast, but alas!

I gave this hotel the 5-star review, but I was extatic to return to our office breakfasts this week!

Beautiful People

During the conference, I had a chance to catch up with some people whom I do not see very often, and I also met several new amazing people. I was really impressed with the students and recent graduates. All of them were so enthusiastic, so eager to learn new things, ready to participate in all discussions, to volunteer! Truly amazing!

These students from Kenya are so sharp! And so fun to hang out with 🙂

A picture from Women’s Breakfast

Montreal At Dusk

I didn’t see enough of Montreal, but here are some pictures taken on the way back to the hotel from one of many dinners :). I love how the city looks in the twilight.

pgConf.dev

I am very happy with this conference. The last time I attended this event was in 2012, and it was before it was rebranded. It was the first Postgres conference I attended, I hardly knew anybody, and didn’t understand most of the talks (and it felt like everyone was smarter than me!) Just to be clear, there were plenty of talks at this conference that I also couldn’t understand, I am just not afraid to say that

I will post more in my professional blog, but also wanted to wave my hand here – I didn’t disappear, all is good!

Montreal

When I started planning my trip to Montreal, I notified my old friend from Ottawa that I would be in Canada, and she graciously suggested that she come to Montreal to see me. We used to visit each other often, but later things changed, and the last time I saw her in person was in 2016. I planned on coming a day before the start of the conference so that we could have the whole day for ourselves, but later I learned about the Postgres Extensions Day, a day before the opening, so the organizer convinced me to attend. As I mentioned yesterday, I attended for a half-day, and at about noon, my friend messaged me that she had arrived, so I left the event.

We had an amazing time catching up. Since my friend shares my thrust to culture, we could not just “walk around.” After lunch, we went to see the Notre Dame Basilica, and then Chateau Ramezay – a former governor residence, and currently a history museum.

Continue reading “Montreal” →

Pre- conference: Postgres Extensions Day

I didn’t plan to attend, but was convinced by the organizer, and didn’t regret!

First Day In Montreal

The only way to be on time with American Airlines is to take the first morning flight on Sunday! I am saying it for the second time within the past two months! Also, that was the only way to get to the airport from my house in 35 minutes!

Hotel Alt in Montreal:

The conference didn’t even start yet, and I already had so many interesting conversations, and learned about so many additional events which will happen during this week! I regret that I didn’t check all of them out earlier and didn’t sign up for some of the activities. My excuse is that the last couple of months were all bloody fights, and making sure the conference would be a great event, regardless of these fights. I hope that next year will be better, though! At least now I know what to expect and will look for the opportunities.

Languages

I want to record this as a separate post because my mom suddenly remembered that something like that happened at some point and started to tell everyone. I do not remember the episode itself because the conversation happened without me :), but I remember who my mom described it to me many years ago. What she told me back then makes sense, while what she is saying now does not make any sense at all.

I should start with mentioning that my paternal grandmother’s side of the family were polyglots. Living in the pale of settlement, they had to speak four languages to get around, plus Hebrew, just because you should know, plus foreign languages taught in the gymnasium, plus some Greek and Latin. So it was only natural that when I started to talk (which, as I already mentioned, was very early – I recited first nursery rhymes at the age of 14 months), my great-grandmother started to introduce some Yiddish, her first language. She started casually saying to me, “And in Yiddish, this is called so and so.” When my mom overheard that, she said: “Gustava Markovna (my great grandma’s Russified name), let her learn how to speak Russian first!” For which my great grandma replied: “I never expected you to be such an antisemit!” For which my mom got very upset and ran out of the room, and my great ant Fania followed her and tried to console her saying that “nobody meant anything.” My great grandmother never apologized because she was not a type of a person who ever apologies, but the question of Yiddish was never raised again. (And it has nothing to do with my mom teaching me English later)

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.

A Friend Who Is Shorter Than Me

Three years ago, I experienced this effect in full: for two consecutive days, I walked and talked with two friends, both shorter than I was. Something in this situation throws my spine out of balance, and my left side pains return. I didn’t have it that bad for quite a while, although I had less severe cases sometimes when I walked with my mom, and I forgot about it.

Two weeks ago, my pains returned out of nowhere, and it took me a while to figure out that the root cause was the same – for two days, I was engaged in long walks and conversations with a friend who is shorter than me (it’s not easy to be shorter than me, that’s why it does not happen often!)

By now, I know what I need to do to fix the problem, so I asked my doctor to renew my high-dose ibuprofen prescription and went to physical therapy, but I am wondering whether I will ever be able to talk to people who are shorter than me without pain 🙂