On family history, parenting, education, social issues and more
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.
Wednesday was the opening day of this exhibit, and I had a member preview ticket. I figured the exhibit wouldn’t be that large, and I could probably go there around my lunchtime. That worked well!
The exhibit was very informative. I was shocked to learn how many birds die every year during migration because the collide with the building glass! The exhibit provides valuable suggestions on what each homeowner can do to make it safer to igratory birds – I will definitely try not to leave the lights on when it’s not necessary!
And a literal “cherry on top” – Fannie May now serves gelato with all their signature creations!
On Wednesdays, I come to work very early to dial for my online personal training session. My personal trainer lives in LA, and that way, I allow him an extra hour of sleep :). I usually clip my access card to my waist when I get off the L-train, so I do not have to look for it when I am by our building. This Wednesday, everything was as usual, except that when I was by our building and reached for the card, I saw that the part connecting the card to the clip was broken, and the card was missing. I walked back, trying to figure out where that could happen, but didn’t see the card. Then I thought that it was rather dumb to look for it – it could fall off at any moment, even after I just left the train.
I texted my trainer that there was a high chance we would have to cancel, and entered the building through the Starbucks door. Our security issued a day pass for me, but it was pretty useless, because I couldn’t even get into elevator with it – they had to bus me up. And then I couldn’t get to the floor, because it was too early and there was nobody to open a door and let me it.
At that very moment, I suddenly remembered (and do not ask me why I didn’t think about it eaelier!) that my access card had an AirTag, and I attached it specifically for situations like that! I think part of the reason why I forgot about it was my continuous sleep deprivation, and another part was that I didn’t realize right away that my access card fall off with the AirTag. I looked at my phone and saw that the last time the card was seen was very close to the office. I ran out to the street, but the tag already moved. I tried to follow it, but the location was impresize, and I found myself going in circles. Finally, I was on the back side of Planned Parenthood building, and then the AirTag stopped issueing signals.
Disappointed, I headed back to the office, cursing myself for not checking the FindMy right away. I thought that this was finally may payoff fo the luck of winning two raffles. I got back into the building; now there were more people inside (I chased the AirTag signal for almost an hour!), so someone opened a door on our floor for me. I went to get breakfast, and saw our receptionist just walking it. I told her that I will need a new access card (which is a big deal, and I would need to pay a fine), and that I will stop by when she is back from her breakfast. I headed back to my desk, and before diving into work, I decided to open my personal email. I saw an email from the WordPress “Contact” page, to which I paid no attention at first (most times, these are people trying to sell something to me), but then decided to open. The email read: Hi, I have your access card!
…yea, it’s good to have a long and unsual name! There was nothing except for the name on the card! So a person who found it, got into trouble of Googling me, not just throwing the card away! She left her number, so I texted her immediately, and she said she would be able to come out of work for a minute, and told me where to find her. When I saw a person in the purple scrubs on the well-known corner, I knew it right away! I asked her: do you work at Planned Parenthood? And she said; yes! And I told her that I am escorting a couple times a week!
When I returned back to the office, nobody could believe me that someone found my card and returned it. One of my co-workers said: you are so lucky! You should try playing the lottery! I laughted: I just did!
At the PG DATA conference, we held a “Sponsor Passport” raffle: attendees could stamp their “passports” at each sponsor table, and those passports were then used as raffle tickets.
In case someone doesn’t know, I am not a lottery person at all, and the only reason I placed my passport in the box was to set a good example for others. I was called to draw, and imagine my surprise when I handed Pat the first passport and he said: Hettie!
I thought it was a joke, but it was not: I won a $100 Amazon gift certificate! Even funnier, two other organizers won the prizes, and then one of our meetup members!
Yesterday, at PG Day Boston, they also had Sponsor Passports, and I participated again, joking about my PG DATA experience. A couple of people who attended both joked about the “staged wins.” You will never believe it, but I won a $100 Amazon gift card again! And again, my name was the first to be drawn.
I became somewhat nervous, thinking that this luck is for no good. How did it turn out? I will tell you tomorrow – too tired now!
My friend and former colleague was in charge of Pg Day Boston; it was the first event in that series, and I promised him I would come. Fortunately, there are plenty of direct flights to Boston from Chicago, but Boston is one hour ahead of us, and to make it a day trip and to get most of the conference, I had to take a 6 AM flight, which meant I had to be up at 3 AM. That was an extreme even for me, but remembering how I stayed in line three weeks ago, I decided to be on the safe side. I even pre-ordered Uber, which I almost never do.
Also, remembering that there was no food on my flight to Vancouver, and that the lounge does not open before 5 AM, I decided to upgrade to First Class. I arrived at the airport on time; the priority boarding didn’t reopen, so I stayed in the line with others, but chose a shorter line this time. Then, I waited for 25 min for the lounge to open. I got a cappuccino, a small yogurt cup, and a small cup of chai pudding, thinking I would have a proper breakfast on the plane, but they didn’t have any food, even in first class! There were drinks and some snacks, like crunchy bars, and that was it. Oh, well. First World problems:)
The conference took place on the 6th floor of the Boston Museum of Science. The great thing about it is that it is very close to the Logan Airport. Since my flight was ahead of schedule, and the ride was less than 15 minutes, I only missed a small part of the keynote. The most difficult part of the whole day was staying awake, alert, and social while being up since 3 AM. I mostly succeeded :). I had several great conversations, made some meaningful comments, and reconnected with several of my former EDB colleagues. I probably could have stayed for the whole social hour after the conference and been on time for my flight, but I chose to spend this extra hour in the airport lounge and have a proper meal. Even though it was rush hour, it still took 15 min to get to the airport (most of the way it was an underground tunnel). No lines at security, great food in the lounge, free in-flight internet (now the norm with AA), early arrival, and a quick taxi ride home (I know by now that taxi is faster on tbd way back, and not that expensive).
I spent zero time in Boston, as expected. I am thinking – it’s sort of funny how you can actually go for a day to Boston with no luggage, no packing; just a regular backpack I take to work. I am not sure whether it was a justified spending of time and money yet, but we’ll see. I mostly went to support Tom, but he appears to be fine anyway. There was enough EBD people, which made up for the lack of external audience, and overall, he is just more relaxed about the whole thing than I :). Besides, he won’t be doing these conferences anymore; there is a new team coming next year.
Anyway, I guess it was good that I went. The event was different from mine, and it’s OK.
Received it several days ago; that’s how it should be! I especially like the beach bus service 🙂
Happy Summer,
As the weather heats up and summer gets into full swing, we wanted to make sure you know about some improvements and changes that are coming to routes you tap onto regularly.
#124 Navy Pier: Last trip is at 11:55 PM on weekdays and Sundays, and midnight on Saturdays from 5/23/26 (Memorial Day weekend) through Labor Day, 9/7/2026.
#130 Museum Campus: No need to hassle with parking. Enjoy cultural and park activities by taking the #130 to the Adler Planetarium, Northerly Island, Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, and Soldier Field.
June 7th through mid-August, daily beach service will operate directly to the lakefront and Chicago’s beaches on the following bus routes: [Weekend/holiday service will continue until Labor Day]
We had to replace several speakers because they either didn’t get visas or required sponsorship for their travel. While the latter one was no one fault, the visa situation was extremely annoying. People applied for visas way in advance, and they should not have wait for many months. I am still mad that it happened!
Additionally, there were several mini -calamities, like there were three speakers who forgot to register, and there was one speaker who’s flight was delayed multiple times, so he ended up arriving to the venue nine minutes before his talk! Our head of the CfP Committee was pacing the hallway with the phone in her hand watching for the speaker’s messages. I ran up to the registration desk and checked him in, so that he could have his badge ready. He made it!
I should also mention that our keynote was at risk until days before the event, but this was also happily resolved.
That’s not about the conference. Today, I took my mom to the doctor’s check-up. It’s difficult to find the time when I can take her to the doctor, because she has become very inflexible and does everything very slow, so I have to navigate to secure appointment at the time when she only minimally alters here schedule. Today, our appointment was at 2 PM, and we were there at 1:40, as they always ask, and the doctor saw her only at 3:10! And he didn’t even apologize!
My mom often critisizes doctors for no good reason, but this time, her critiques were completely justified. I was especially mad that he literally didn’t say sorry he was late! He should know what it takes for a 91- y.o. to sit and wait for 1.5 hours!
It’s not much I can do regarding the doctor change, since she is on Medicaid, but I never had anything like that before, no matter what’s the patient’s status, and I am really upset!
Yesterday, I was still meeting with the conference participants, but now I am done, and my French friend who stayed with me during the conference left yesterday afternoon.
Boris and I had 24 hours to ourselves, without any urgent tasks, without answering emails or Telegram messages, without printing additional badges or directional arrows, without replying to sponsors or updating volunteers’ schedules.
We went for a very long bike ride (almost 40 miles) and had a huge breakfast at Lea’s, so I joked that by 9:30 AM, we both burned and consumed all the calories for today :).
There is still a lot of work to close the books for the conference, including all sorts of feedback collection.
I finally feel sleepy. I thought I would sleep for nine hours after the conference, but it’s only today that I feel like going to bed early. Also, I was pushing aside so many “normal” things that I do not know where to start with getting back on track!
I know, I know… I know that people do not click the links, especially if this link leads you to several hundred pictures. I know, I know…
Still, I can’t select just a couple of pictures; I can’t even select a dozen or two. I love them all! I just went through the “everything”, which is around 900 photos, and painfully selected just about 300, and that’s the link I am posting here.
I am smiling, going through the photos. Although this time around, I was able to listen to some sessions, it was still a drop in the sea, and it brings me incredible joy to see an engaged audience at each session, everyone listening and asking questions; a great hallway track. Love seeing new faces, love seeing interest and curiosity!
Looks like we are rolling! I had tons of positive feedback about the conference; there were many great talks, and it looks like there were no major hiccups (although we will know next week!)
Hettie's Reflections 