Category: everyday life

Out Of Practice!

There were sweet potatoes in my CSA delivery last Friday, and that’s always a reason to bake sweet potato pie. On Saturday morning, right after breakfast, I peeled sweet potatoes and put them on the stove to boil. And since my kitchen is far from the living room, I forgot about it and went to Jewel Osco to get a couple of things. It’s a very short trip, but I entirely forgot about potatoes and didn’t even reduce the heat. When I returned, I smelled burn :).

Most of the potatoes were salvageable, but since all the water evaporated, they became salty instead of slightly salty :). Also, the saucepan was ruined. I put some effort into cleaning it, but it was not worth it!

I still wanted to make a sweet potato pie, and I remembered that I have one more large sweet potato from the previous delivery, so I took another saucepan, peeled this potato and put it to boil without any salt, hoping that I could mix the two ,and the mixture will be just slightly salted. Guess what happened? I forgot about it again!!!

Once again (and I didn’t leave the house that time), I only realized what I’d done when I smelled burning coming from the kitchen!!! One more saucepan ruined!

At the end, I made a sweet potatoe pie! And I bought a new saucepad, which matches my kitchen color:)

Conferences

It’s a perfect storm of upcoming events.

  • One of my talks was accepted for the SCaLE conference (first week of March in Pasadena). This one is the easiest – I can reuse my September talk, I just need to refresh my memory regarding the examples, and as usual, I need to advertise it on social media
  • I was invited to give a short talk at the Chicago DevOps Day on March 27. They chose my security talk, but I need to create a “Lighting version” of it, which will be extremely challenging
  • I am (maybe) invited to a financial conference in Chicago on March 27, I will talk with them on Monday and hopefully figure out whether I am doing it or not.
  • I am invited to do a podcast on Data Bene. I am talking with them on Tuesday, and we will decide on a date.
  • My security talk was accepted for PG Day Chicago. The last time I gave it was a year ago, and many things have changed since then, so I need to prepare a new version of it
  • On top of that, I need to address all aspects of the conference itself (a list too long to put here) and even a longer list for DevDay, which will precede it.
  • None of my talks for PgCon.dev were accepted, but the Community Summit proposal to which I was last-minute invited was, and now we have a lot of work ahead!

  • And this has been all along with work and other aspects of life!

What’s Happening At Home

I came back last night, and now I am heading to work. (And I will probably finish this post after my workday). For those wondering why I didn’t mention anything happening at home and whether I’ve shut myself off from all the news, I didn’t. I was closely following the news. I just do not see much point in expressing my outrage without being able to do anything constructive.
When I stopped by my neighbor’s to pick up my mail for the past two weeks, she told me that she opted not to listen to the news for these two weeks, because “she didn’t want to get upset.” That’s not for me either. I need to be informed, and I need to make informed decisions.

During the past two weeks, many not-for-profit organizations where I am a donor or a member sent emails to inform me about the staff cuts and/or program closures. One of the most upsetting was the closing of four clinics of Planned Parenthood in Illinois. These announcements make me think about whether I should re-distribute my donations, which I already planned for that year, but I haven’t made any significant changes yet.

Today was a quarterly meeting of the Howard-Evanston CC Community Board which I am a member, and the agenda looked different from what was emailed to us ten days ago. All of us were focused on the report about the readiness to resist the ICE raids and protect both program participants and staff. I was happy to learn that we have counsel available to interfere with ICE during the raids and a law firm that can provide free services when needed. However, no matter how many times during the meeting the HECC Director repeated that we need to focus on providing services to our clients, it was difficult to focus on the future and to look at it with certainty.

We will try our best, and it feels good to see how many people think that way!

Work-Life Balance

The coworking space I use in Helsinki does not expect anyone to stay later than 6PM. Although the contract says that we can use the space if nobody else needs it, in reality, the cleaners usually start kicking you out closer to 6 PM. Last Friday, however, there was something new!

I went for a short walk outside, about a quarter to four, because it was the first day I could see some sun, and I wanted to catch it before the sunset. The next meeting was not until 4-30 PM. When I returned, I couldn’t open the door to my room, although my magic button was working on all the other doors. In panic, I rushed to reception, and they said: oh, that’s because you already worked for eight hours today! How much time do you need?

I told them that I had my things in the room, and I needed at least another hour, or better two, because I work for an American firm, so they gave me a separate one-time pass 🙂

When I told this story to my co-workers at the zoom meeting, they had a good laugh and said that our firm should introduce similar policies!

“When You Do Not Have To Drive”

Two days ago, I stood on the Rogers Park Metra UP-North platform, waiting for the train, and one of the fellow passengers greeted me. It was cold, and the snow just started to fall, sparkling and beautiful. A passenger said: You know, when you do not have to drive, you can enjoy it! It’s beautiful!

The Room Next Door: Pedro Almodovar’s Movie

OMG, it’s just striking! I can’t really say “good”. It’s the wrong word for this movie. Powerful. Painful. Real. Beautiful. I thought it should be great, and I wanted to watch it, but all the showtimes didn’t work, even though Siskel had twenty screenings (literally). I thought I could skip a visit to my mom on Monday and come on Wednesday, and I purchased the ticket, but then I realized that I had previously promised to come to the ODS and finally decided to ask my mom whether she would be OK if I came later. In the end, things worked out. All this was just to say I truly wanted to see this movie, and I was not disappointed.

I almost never went to Siskel Center during the fall because I had too many subscription concerts and shows. Still, in late December/early January, I wanted to catch up and went a couple of times, and one of these times was a complete disappointment/wasted time (The Girl with the Needle). This new Almodovar’s movie, however, was magnificent

***

I managed to finish my training slidesyesterday, and I even did it relatively early in the day. I realized that I needed less than 210 slides because I will have a break in the middle and a quiz at the end. I need to come up with the quiz, and read through the whole thing one more time to make sure there are no stupid typos.

Also (how typical of me!) I realized that I double-scheduled myself for Tuesday and Wednesday (even more for Wednesday), but I must go with that since I made promises. The extra promise I made was for one more pizza-making at the ODS, and since, after almost a year of turbulence, things are finally working there, I am prioritizing these visits.

This week is, in some sense, experimental because I am trying not to stay late and not to rush but still do most of the things I want to.

My mom is still sorting all the presents she received. I showed her all the text messages I received from her party attendees and forwarded to her a lovely email from my two-floors-below neighbor, who admired my mom’s life accomplishments. I think, two days later, she appreciates the party even more 🙂

Mom’s Birthday Celebration

Everything went great, even with all the things I mentioned yesterday, plus today’s problems on the Red Line that made Igor and my mom being 30 minutes late to her party, and some guests as well :). There were a couple of times in the past when my mom got really upset about us not letting her know in advance that somebody was going to visit, that’s why we tried to plan it being a surprise, but not a complete surprise :).

I invited those with whom my mom interacted through all these seven years she has been in the USA, with the hope that she will remember. I was pleasantly surprised that she recognized everyone and addressed everyone by name, even those she hadn’t seen for a long time. About half an hour later, however, she started to ask me again who was who and how she knew them. When I shared this observation with Anna and John, they suggested that she got tired, and they must be right. I am going to focus on the positive side of things 🙂

Everyone whom I asked came, and the food was delicious, and Vanille’s cake was awesome.

Continue reading “Mom’s Birthday Celebration” →

Mom’s Birthday

My mom turned 90 today. We are giving her a “semi-surprise party” tomorrow, and we have already had enough of disasters: Vlad couldn’t come because the earlier snowstorm in DC pushed the training he had to conduct to the weekend; both Anna and I had a work crisis (and Igor was super busy, too). We had to move to another venue two days before the party. Anna forgot the frame for our collective present at home; all the printing is done not at the last minute but one after the last, and so on.

After disassembling my Christmas tree, I realized I needed new boxes for ornaments. I ordered them, and they arrived, but I didn’t have time even to unpack them until today, so i was repacking ornaments when Anna’s family arrived.

BTW the boxes are great, and I feel like I always feel when I replace something old with a newer model – why didn’t I do it earlier?! It’s so much better!

TIME Magazine: Exercising For PR

One more “New Year” Time Magazine article – I always loved the idea of competing with myself rather than with others. Keep reading below!

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: Exercising For PR” →