The Week’s Recap

I believe it was the longest time both my granddaughters stayed in my house. I think, overall, it was a very good experience, although Anna and I have a long “lessons learned” list.

Two things were completely out of our control: the aftermath of the NASCAR race and the buses’ rerouting, and both our work situations – none of us could take any time off or have a shorter workday. When we plan for next summer, we will choose a different week (or a camp closer to my house).

Flooding

On Friday, I went downstairs to the gym for a workout. I started with the TRX when all of a sudden, I felt something pushing my feet. Increadibly puzzled, I looked down and saw the water coming from the drain! It was not the first time we had water in the gym. In fact, I believe it was the third time after a major remodeling (after a really big flooding!), and all these times, the drain worked properly, and the water would go back almost immediately. It’s just the first time I saw the whole process 🙂

LPI

LPI stands for Linux Professional Institute, and that’s yet another not-for-profit I got involved with. Last Thursday, I participated in my first Board meeting, where I was officially installed as new board member. The meeting was scheduled for two hours, and I was wondering why we need two hours for such a small adgenda. But the actual meeting lasted for two and a half hours!

All discussions were very interesting and informative, and I learned a lot (and next time I will know that it might take that long!) but my Thurday feelings were: OMG! How did I end up here, and how I have to do this for three years!

Board of Directors List

Job Ads Minimize Work-Life Balance

Trending yesterday on LinkedIn. I would agree with the commentators who said that at least these companies are honest; the necessity to work insane hours was always there.

After years of luring talent with promises of flexible schedules and a healthy work-life balance, more employers are now opting for a tough-love approach, The Wall Street Journal notes. Companies like Shopify, McKinsey, and healthcare startup Solace now often go out of their way to stress their long hours and rough pace in job listings. While some applicants appreciate the transparency, one recruiting expert notes that companies are “testing the limits of what they can ask of their employees” in a competitive job market.

Follow the link above to see the discussion.

Nobody Will Notice!

I have a coworker with whom we used to be on the same team, and our desks were once close to each other. In summer, we used to go together to the Sweet Home Gelato place on the Riverwalk. We usually planned to go at least once a week, and used this walk to catch up on life.

When she moved to another floor, it became more difficult to coordinate, but I would still invite her to go, although not that often.

Today was one of our “gelato walk” days. We both got chocolate and blueberry gelato in the waffle cones. Usually, I throw away whatever is left from gelato and the cone right before I leave the Riverwalk, but this time, we were deep in conversation, and I forgot to throw it away, and then, there were no garbage cans on our way for a while. The next thing I noticed was the chocolate dripping over my white pants – the left side was covered with chocolate spots from top to bottom!

My coworker was more upset than I was. I told her that I would wash it off, and that I had a Tide pencil in my backpack, and that most importantly, nobody cares! Actually, this was the most important thing: I knew that nobody would even notice these chocolate spots if I acted as if they were not there. We kept walking back to the office. We met another coworker by the elevators, and chatted a little bit, and I chatted as if there was nothing wrong with my outfit. When I reached my floor, I went to the bathroom, took the pants off, washed the front of the over the sink, and pulled them on. Since my behind didn’t have any chocolate spots, I didn’t have to wash it, so I could still sit on my chair, and nobody would see the wet pants under my desk 🙂

… and that was today’s dinner time story for my granddaughters.

Life Is Getting Better

Today, the bus routes to the Museum Campus have finally resumed, and everyone is much happier and full of energy. I hope that at least two-thirds of the camp will finally be the way Anna and I envisioned.

My work crisis is still in progress, though :), and all the other millions of things which need my attention still need it!

Field Museum Camp

Anna, Nadia, and Kira are in Chicago this week, and the girls are attending the Field Museum Camp. That’s the thing Anna and I were looking forward to for years! Unfortunately, this experience has been affected by NASCAR race! I should have thought about it, but when we made this decision in January, neither me nor Anna connected the dots! The race happened during the Independence day weekend, and on Monday, there was still no access to the Museum Campus. Not only the busses were rerouted, but even the sidewalk was closed, so on Monday, the had a long walk around to get to the camp.

In general, Monday was quite havotic, because they arrived late on Sunday, and Monday morning was packing lunches and snacks, figuring out breakfast, and getting everyone out of the house. In addition, this week is presenting a major work crisis (and in addition I am severely behind on all my non-work professional activities).

Anna comments as a postitive thing that the girls do not fight with each other (I agree), and having fun at the camp, but it’s definitely more stress for Anna than I hoped!

Fort Sheridan

To continue the topic of the beach-going: the best thing about my current location is that the lake (and the beach) are a ten-minute walk away, and I can go there any time I want, and if I only have thirty minutes, I still go. I love that “the lakefront is Rogers Park backyard.” Once again, you can live in a mansion, or you can be unhoused and live in a tent – the lake is for everyone. With all of this being said (and appreciated), sometimes, a “backyard” analogy is a little bit too direct.

As I mentioned, there was hardly any space anywhere around the beach on Friday, and I thought that my vague idea of going to Fort Sheridan on Saturday is not so bad, because I could also swim at the place where swimming is strictly prohibited. I was looking at the train schedule and going back and forth with this idea, and saying to myself that with all of the amont of work-non-work I have, I absolutely can’t afford to waste half a day; and in any case, I have a beach ten minutes away, and I wanted to go for a long bike ride… But I already figure out the only combination of trains both way that would work for me, and even though I went for a long bike ride, the idea was still there. Then I funny thing happened: I thought that I am still deciding, and realized that I am already packing my backpack for a trip!

If was an amazing outing! It was cooler there than in Rogers Park; the water in that part of the lake was also a little bit cooler, and insanely clear… and there were less than ten people as far as I could see!

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Loyola-Leone Beach On July 4

Documenting my attempt to go to the beach yesterday :). In reality, it was even worse because people were barbecuing on every inch of the grass. Also, lifeguards were unusually vigilant, so there was no way to get into the water higher than the waste level 🙂

Biking

I went for long bike rides both yesterday morning and today, while the sunrise is still relatively early, and it’s warm in the morning. Actually, it is so warm that many people try to do their biking/running in the early hours, so by 6 AM, it is already pretty crowded on the Lake Front Trail.

Yesterday: