Just a Moment of Life

Today, I finally cut my Christmas tree into pieces, which I can now use as firewood. It took me only fifteen minutes, including cutting branches with needles and packing them into a separate paper bag.

I know how funny it sounds, but I am genuinely proud of that fact. Just a couple of years ago, I could not use a saw. They taught me how to use it at Deer Grove Forest preserve; I did not want to be among the group of volunteers who could not use a saw. I tried several times, but at some point, it would stick in the wood. Then finally, Mark showed me a magic trick, and since then, I am capable :). But fifteen minuted is an accomplishment!

I took a tree down four weeks ago, but I didn’t have time to cut it the same weekend (or I thought so). Then it was raining, then it was cold, then snowing, and then I left and was away for two weekends in a row. Today I was running around all morning and all afternoon and got to this tree business only at twenty to five. And I managed to finish before the sunset :).
I took all the wood inside so that it could become dry. And then I started the fire with the last year leftovers, and I also threw a couple of fir tree branches into the fireplace. They make such a loud crackling sound, and they smell good!

One more skill which I recently learned – I learned to start and keep the fire with the natural wood (not the long-running “logs”) so that the fire does not stop before all the wood is burned entirely. And I do not have to watch the fire all the time. I like the real wood better, and also – it does not take four hours.

A fireplace with live flames, a glass of wine, and a piece of cheese make a moment of tranquility. And now back to work:)

Dinner Conversations

At the dinner, we sat together with the local organizers. It became very cold while we were walking around the city, so when we reach the tavern, I announced that they made a Chicagoan getting froze in Cyprus! That was a good conversation starter, for sure :).
Then I started my usual prizing Chicago speech, and that everybody should visit. Along the lines, it came that Vlad is a director of a bar (I even remember the context: we talked about the PG Day). I told the local organizer that Vlad makes cocktails inspired by different cultures and that his Greek cocktail has mustika. The gentleman was impressed and told me that Vlad must know his stuff.

Since I knew that Vlad won’t be asleep yet, I texted him right away. For which Vlad replied: We also have tsiopouro in the same cocktail from Argo!

When I presented this text, the gentleman’s brows start to raise and the jar dropped. He was like: this is so local! How does he know?! Did he travel to Greece? I said – yes, and he loved it.

Then the gentleman looked at me and asked how old is my son, and how many children I have. And I proudly told: three children, one grandchild, and one more on the way! And showed a group picture on the phone. And I said that I am 57, and my birthday was on Sunday, And he was: never tell that! You do not look like it! And I was – that’s precisely why I tell that! And he looked at me again and said emphatically: your husband is so lucky!

At that point, I didn’t have other options except to turn to my left and poke Boris into his elbow :). If people do not know us, they can’t tell, because we have different last names and different countries on our badges:). So it was all quite amusing:)

Igor’s Article and Metra’s Reaction

Last week, Igor’s article about the measures which Metra is going to take to reduce the number of fare evasions, was published in Streetblog Chicago.

I liked the article (and hopefully you will like it, too) but what is more interesting – somebody else enjoyed it as well!

Igor and his editor received an email from the Metrarail representative, who said:

Igor’s article about our fare issues was the most accurate and thorough job of any reporter who wrote about this. We appreciate Streetsblog spending the time and devoting the space to putting everything in context and explaining the pros and cons.

Pretty cool, right?!

Eye Surgery Update

I mentioned back in the fall that I am going to have eye surgery, actually two of them, one for each eye:). Because of that, I’ve first had to switch to the soft contacts, and you might remember my horrible Thanksgiving story. Well, now that I returned from Cyprus, I was ready to switch to glasses. I have to wear them for two weeks before measurements will be taken, and then for one more week until the first surgery.

The problem is that I can’t wear glasses, because my prescription is so high. The whole world looks twisted, and I have constant headaches and nausea.

But there was more to the story. I when to my eye doctor to get the final glass prescription on December 20. I could not do it earlier, because my vision was changing after I switched to soft contacts. It was stable for three weeks by then, and the doctor took the final measurements for glasses.

I have three separate prescriptions. One is for my distant vision (those used to be contacts), the readers, and the glasses for driving and watching movies, presentations, etc. My glasses combine all of them in one. I told the doctor that most likely, I will need two separate glasses because, in my driving glasses, I can’t see the close-up objects. But then it turned out that each pair, even with the cheapest frame, will cost over $500, and I only need these glasses for three weeks.

Since the glasses should have been ready by January 6, I decideded thet I will try them on and see whether I need a separate pair without prisms, or I can manage.

December 6 came, and my glasses didn’t show up. I called the doctor two days later. They told me that the glasses didn’t pass the quality test in the lab and were returned to be fixed. Long story short, it happened three times. I was scared because I was leaving on January 17, and upon my arrival, I had to start wearing glasses immediately.

I was calling the doctor’s office every day; they were calling the lab every day, the lab was apologetic, but still didn’t produce my glasses.

Finally, I had to ask my neighbor Renate to pick up my glasses when they come, which she did. When I returned Sunday night, I could start wearing my glasses, but I had no time to adjust. It felt horrible, as I described above. And it turned out that the only thing I can do comfortably in these glasses is driving :). Moving around the house, doing things, climbing stairs – all of the above is a struggle. And now I have no time to order the second pair – by the time it arrives, I won’t need it.

Two days are done, twenty one more to go.

The Conference Overview and Day One.

The purpose of this trip was not tourism, although we took advantage of being in a new and exciting place. However, the day we arrived (Sunday) it was relatively cold, and also it started raining shortly after our arrival.

I did not research “things to do” in advance, but I quickly found out that there are not that many tourist attractions in the Limassol itself. Sunrise and sunset are instantaneous, as it usually happens in the south. We entered a hotel in the daylight, and half an hour later, it was already completely dark.

Monday was the first day of the conference, with a very interesting keynote, and my talk was also on Monday.

I described everything related to my talk in my professional blog. At the moment I wish I won’t be talking on the first day! If I had an extra day, I would be able to attract more listeners.

We ended up not leaving the hotel on Monday. There was a whole day of presentations and a welcome reception in the evening (and the weather was bad again!).

I had extremely interesting conversations during reception. Turned out, the next-day keynote speaker was listening to my preentation. I didn’t know at the moment who he was, but he was listening very attentively and asking tons of great questions.

We continued during reception, and were joined by the first-day keynote and the forth-day keynote speakers :). You know how welcome receptions usually go: you mingle with people, not spending much time with one person, but rather trying to meet many. In that case, however, people were so interested in the conversation, that one of them asked me to wait till he will be back with refilled glass, because he didn’t want to miss anything from the story. I consider that to be the biggest possible complement 🙂

A few hotel pictures, so that the story won’t get boring 🙂

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Traveling to Cyprus

My birthday was on Saturday, and I spent most of it in transit. Started it with a birthday breakfast of hot-smoked salmon sandwich on rye bread at the Vantaa airport and then boarded a flight to Frankfurt. That flight and the subsequent flight to Limassol were extremely uneventful, being operated by Lufthansa :).

I didn’t know that we have to cross the border going to Cyprus. Cyprus is an EU member, but not a part of the Schengen agreement. However, they acknowledge Schengen visas, so it works at least one way :).

Upon arrival, we met our driver (we had a prearranged transportation to our hotel) and got into the car. Once again, I didn’t know that Cyprus had left-side traffic, so you have to be super careful. The highway from the airport was one-way, and the reverse route was not visible. Citing my surprise that nobody asked us at the border, how long we are going to stay, Boris joked that that’s because there is no way out anyway :).

This time of the year is off-season on Cyprus, so hotels are dirt-chip, and the first two days it was raining. We won’t do much sightseeing anyway, because it falls dark right after five. But here is the view from our room 🙂

I also managed to get an hour in the gym, hence I have my usual in-the-gym birthday picture:

Office Life

On Thursday, one day before his last day, my leaving DBA brought donuts to the office. It was very touching; I knew that the reason for his departure was entirely personal, and that he enjoyed working in our company. But these donuts were really a final touch to the fact that it was great having him, and he will be missed!

Cooking & Talking: the Magic of Baked Salmon

One more time -I thought I published it on Wednesday; I did not, but do not want to edit the dates now, just imagine, it’s from Wednesday :).

I have lots of things to worry about at the moment: I need to find a replacement for my leaving DBA. I need to complete the end-of-the-year reviews for my team and myself. I worry that my glasses are not ready yet, which can put my surgeries dates in jeopardy. For the next week’s conference, we were asked to shorten our presentation to 18 minutes.

I have a lot of things to worry about, but I am not going to. Because what I am thinking at the moment is the last night’s dinner in the Open Door Shelter.

A Baked Salmon is always a hit, along with mashed potatoes, and when I make baked salmon, I always purchase it myself and bring in to the shelter in the insulated bag.

When I entered the kitchen, it was empty except one girl who never showed interest in cooking with me, and would always make her meal, when I was making dinner with the others.

— Hi, what are we making today? – she asked.

I realized that, like many others, she didn’t want to compete for my attention and approached me only when there was nobody else around. I pretended to be not surprised, and we started peeling potatoes together. Later, other young people arrived and joined us. My most favorite staff was present, which always makes my job easier.

All the easy tasks: lay the foil in the baking sheet, cut the lemons, chop the onions, make it easier for multiple people to feel that they are included in the process. Even now, on my way to work, I am smiling recalling their yesterday’s exchanges:

— Is it ready? Shouldn’t the salmon be darker?

— Shut up, she knows what she is doing! She is a pro!

— Can’t you wait? Do you thin I don’t want a second? But I am waiting. We need to make sure everybody got a piece, and then go for seconds!

As always, there were a couple of people who tried salmon for the first time, and as always, the fish was gone fast, with only aluminum foil left 🙂

Another treat was that the girl who was in the program last year came in to lead a group activity. I was thrilled to see her. Most of the time, I have no idea how it turned for those who graduated from the program. It was a delight to learn that she is attending college and that she is giving back.

We sat and talked about the goals for the new year, about plans and hopes. And then there were hugs and goodbyes, and see you next time.

The staff walked me downstairs and even outside. And as much as I am annoyed when my mother says she will wait till I turn around the corner, it feels different when leaving the ODS.

Chicago PUG January Meetup – Great Start for 2020

I posted that on my professional blog and on LinkedIn last night. Just an hour before the meetup started, I realized that it has been three years! What a journey! I can’t even comprehend how did it happen! From “please help to spread the word” to the “third-largest in the Western Hemisphere.” In three short years! You know – that’s why I believe that when there is a will, there is a way, and there is no limit to what you can achieve.

The World of Data

It has been for three years now, that Bravinat is hosting Chicago PUG meetups. Today we’ve rung in 2020 with two excellent presentations and very productive follow-up discussions.

I want to thank one more time all the user group members who joined us today.

Looking forward to another great year ahead!