Category: everyday life

Half-pandemic May

Today, Chicago and the state of Illinois lifted most remaining COVID-19 mitigation-related masking and social distancing requirements and capacity limits. It isn’t quite the end of an era, but it is a step forward.

But when I wrote a decent chunk of this post (on June 7), many of those limits were still in place, and Chicagoland region was caught in an interesting half-way state that had as much to do with people’s attitudes as anything that was formally required.

I’ve been Chicagoland specifically because the United States, for better or for worse, continues to be a patchwork of restrictions, regulations and approaches. For the past 12 months, I’ve been able to sit down in coffee shops in Kenosha (Wisconsin) and Michigan City (Indiana), but not in Chicago and most suburbs. Masking has also varied – as I mentioned before, Kenoshans really didn’t mask much until the fall 2020 surge in cases.

In the past two months, we saw two major developments.

In late April, CDC issued a recommendation stating that people don’t have to wear masks outdoors – though it still recommended that unvaccinated people wear masks in crowded outdoor settings. Then, on May 13, it recommended allowing vaccinated people to go maskless indoors, except in public transit, government buildings, hospitals and some other congregate settings. Illinois and Chicago specifically adjusted their respective regulations accordingly – which meant, in practice, that businesses and public institutions such as libraries could continue requiring everybody to wear masks, if they so chose.

Continue reading “Half-pandemic May” →

My News Of The Week

On Monday, I did something which many people will consider the most stupid thing I could do. An official LinkedIn announcement won’t appear until after the fact, but I wanted to tell my close friends, especially because some of you know it was in the works for a while.

In four weeks, I will leave the company I am with now, and I will start a new position in an even smaller startup. I will work with my former colleague with whom I have wanted to work again for the past ten years. Or rather, we both wanted to work together, and the timing was never right. At some point, I realized that there would never be the right time. His new company is operating for over a year, and if I don’t jump in now, it could very well be “never”.

Now, why is it “stupid”? That’s because I am taking the biggest pay cut I ever have taken, and that’s what “normal” people don’t do. But if I would be in a position to work for him for free, I would.

I am not mentioning people’s names without their explicit consent, but some of my friends know whom I am talking about :). And yes, that’s what I started earlier in the year as a “side job,” which was the most delightful thing, but we quickly realized that what we want to accomplish can’t be accomplished as a part-time job.

So – yet another new life 🙂

To The Beach

On Sunday, I finally made it to the Loyola beach. I need to internalize the fact that the beach is just 10 minutes walk from my house and that I can walk there when I have an hour or even less. I never lived like that and never had that luxury.

The beach was very crowded, but the water was almost ice-cold, and most people were like me: standing with their feet in the water and deciding between “since I already spent time coming here” and “there is the whole summer ahead of us.”

I ended up dipping into the cold water just for a couple of seconds and jumped out, still being very proud of myself:) And then, I laid down on a blanket for a little bit and absorbed the sun, the proximity of the sand, and the sounds of summer around me.

A Fabulous Weekend

It was a wonderful weekend. I feel like I am getting more things done here, and I am not sure why.

No, I didn’t resolve all the issues in my apartment. I still need to fix my ceiling lights/fans, and I am still waiting for the rest of my furniture for the dining room. Also, I need to change my driver’s license and mom’s State ID for new addresses. And I didn’t go to the local library yet and didn’t find a new doctor for my mom or me. 

The list is endless, but still, I had a fabulous time this weekend. Of course, it helped that we now have summer Fridays, so the weekend started at 2 PM on Friday. Here is what I did this weekend (in addition to the regular errands list)

  • I biked to Northwestern twice. The first time, I messed up a couple of times, and the second time was a charm.
  • I went to do my nails. I didn’t like the place that much, so I will continue to explore what else is around, but at least I have my mani-pedi, which were overdue.
  • I went escorting for the first time since February
  • After escorting, I took my mom to the Art Institute to see the Monet exhibit and a couple of other exhibits which will close within the next week
  •  I biked to the Glenwood Sunday Market (and bought tons of awesome stuff). I was not sure from their website whether they allow bikes on the market, and put a new bike lock in my backpack. But fortunately, they allow the bikes in, which helped to plan my purchases realistically :). I liked his market so much better than the Evanston market! I think I will be going there most of Sundays.
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  • I made sorrel soup (perfect for the hot weather)
  • Also, I made a rhubarb tart
  • I had mom and one of my friends over for coffee
  • And I went to the beach and even dipped myself into the cold water of Lake Michigan (I will show the pictures in a separate post).

And with all that, I even caught up on some work, these boring parts with paperwork, which you tend to push away beyond all the deadlines.

It feels so much as the life I want to ive!

I Learned Something New!

My neighbor not just helped me to fix my bike, but he tough me how to do it myself!

DO=on’t I have the best neighbors ever?!

Overcoming Technical Difficulties:)

Remember my ecobee story and how I fixed it? In addition to the ecobee itself, I had six room sensors, which I disconnected from my previous ecobee in my old house.

I thought they would automatically connect to the new device, but I was wrong – nothing happened when I brought them closer to the ecobee. The website suggested removing batteries for two minutes and try again, but that didn’t help.

The only tooms sensor, which I had and which was not used before, connected to the ecobee immediately.

I was at a loss and was ready to through away all these six sensors, but then I decided to use “the last resort” and contacted an ecobee customer service. They told me to do the following:

  • to put the batteries into my devices wrong side up
  • to pull the ecobee off the wall, wait for two minutes, and plug it back again
  • one by one, take each of the room sensors, turn the battery right side up while staying about 3 feet away from the ecobee, and then it will suggest pairing the sensors.

I know how ridiculous it sounds – but it worked!

On The CTA

Life both without the car and attachment to the Metra train schedule is so liberating! Especially since I live the house early enough to hit the rush hour schedule with not-so-crowded trains.

June is the first month when I ordered the CTA monthly instead of Metra monthly (and the first time I have CTA monthly). Since I already had one CTA pay-as-you-go pass on my app, I wondered how they will live together and whether there would be any confusion. I thought I would examine the situation o May 31.
However, it turned out that the monthly pass showed up on May 26 (since I didn’t have a previous monthly). I did not know about that and thought I still have my pay-as-you-go in use and was using it for Anna. it turned out that the app was applying my monthly for the first passenger and then deducting the pay-as-you-go for the subsequent ones. That was a pleasant surprise, and it solves the problem of how I will be taking my out-of-town guests around 🙂

Biking

Biking along the lake in the morning is one of the best things at my new place. On Saturday, I took a longer bike ride on the Lakefront trial.

I didn’t realize how close I was to the Lincoln Park, otherwise I would make it there!

Continue reading “Biking” →

Love My Neighbors! Am I In a Bubble?

I talked to the couple from the house next to mine about my future garden. They suggested we come and look at my balcony and draft a plan. While we were busy doing that, a neighbor from the unit next to mone walked out. He said he is going to get a new faucet from Lowe’s 

— Not from Home Depot?

— No! No more Home Depot! Do you know how much they donated to Trump’s campaign?

No more questions asked. That’s my neighbors. Offering to look at my bike and to teach me some basic repairs. Asking whether I need something from Morse Market because they are going. Planning my garden. Neighbors who traveled the world. Neighbors who have more books in their homes I ever saw. Celebrating their child’s first birthday at the courtyard and offering cupcakes to all neighbors. Neighbors with all the right signs in their windows.

They say that in the suburbs, you live in a bubble. I feel like I like in a bubble right now :), and soon, I might forget that the rest of the world is not so perfect …

That’s What Happens…

When you walk to the Morse Market because you need a lemon to bake salmon. In fifteen minutes, you walk out with $49 worth of groceries 🙂