Bike the Drive 2025

I did Bike the Drive for the fourth time, and for the first time, Boris and I did it together. The total distance we covered was slightly shorter than our Friday ride (36 miles), but it felt much easier!

This year, we had helmet tags in addition to the loops on the handlebars

At the Museum of Science and Industry rest stop

Only after somebody complimented my “jersey” did I realize that Boris and I standing together represent the Ukrainian flag, in addition to the flags I attached to both of my tops. When I realized that, I asked one of the participants to take a picture of both of us.

We didn’t pick up our t-shirts at the start of the ride because they were not unpacked yet, and I decided we would be fine at the main entrance. There was a huge line, but it moved relatively fast, and while Boris stayed in the t-shirt line, I picked both our 30 -mile challenge medals.

Belive it or not, but this t-shirt is size youth medium! Now I know which size to choose 🙂

And one more thing! The apples that we had for snacks at the rest stops were provided by Michigan Apples, and I could tell the difference! I didn’t know until I saw their booth and stopped by, but I knew the apples were different this year!

Ukraine Independence Day Mega March

I didn’t post the photos and videos from the Ukraine Independence Day march because I was very upset about how it was handled this year. Also, everything was happening amid the talks, and what’s not. There was obviously no hope for any positive outcome, but there was still an uncertainty in the air.

I am finally sharing these photos today, on the day of yet another deadly Russian attack.

My overall impression of the August 24 march was that the event was muted in public opinion, even with the “peace” talks being in the news headlines. When I walked to the Jarvis CTA and looked at the people sitting at the cafes, I knew that exactly zero people cared about what day it was and what it meant.

Also, I was unpleasantly surprised to see that the march took place on the State Street rather than Michigan Avenue, and on a sidewalk rather than the street itself (which might be not such a bad idea giving multiple road closures this year, but still).

The crowd was massive, but I believe the overwhelming majority of it were Ukraininas and people of Ukrainian decent. The new chant of this year’s march was “Ukraine is not for sale!”

My overall feelings about the war at the moment are at the rock bottom with pretty much no hope for any acceptable outcome.

Glenwood Art Fest

More pictures from the Glenwood Art Fest, shared by my friends.

And the very last pictures: saying good-bye to our Great Sea:

Grant Park Music Festival

That was the last week of GPMF, and it was one of my favorite pieces (and to be honest, who doesn’t like Carmina Burana?!). I had two subscription tickets and an extra one, so my guests and I went. It was absolutely perfect, not to mention that I had a chance to showcase Chicago night lights! The photos are partially mine, partially my guests.

Yesterday’s Rally

One of my favorite real-life people on Instagram, Matt Kaplan, reported on yesterday’s meeting. Proud of Igor doing his part in this battle!

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Surprisingly, there were some Fox News people, so there was a little bit of coverage there.

Conferences Prep

Lots of people are helping me both for PG DATA and for Prairie Postgres, but I still feel like I am doing “something” related to both non-stop.

We are waiting for our official website to be completed and released to us.

I am building our event in the EventZilla.

I am building the call for papers in Sessionize.

Communicating with the caterer, although another team member did most of the talks.

Approving social media posts and newsletters.

Our regular September meetup is coming.

My talk at Django US.

Recording of my P99 talk.

My September tutorial is still only half-done.

I have houseguests, and I feel like I do not have enough timewith them.

I can keep this list going on forever.

And summer is almost over!

“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 :).