Recharging Time

It was quite a week! There were some very positive things, but also some extremely annoying things, and lots of stress at work and otherwise. I started my workday yesterday really early, even earlier than usual, and was hoping to be done earlier as well, but instead, I had to work miracles for several hours, and then I stayed at my mom’s place for the switch to a new internet service provider, which also ran way later than I planned, so Friday night ended up not being a beginning of the weekend either! Today, I resolved not to look at anything work-related and to give myself a break from all my other queued activities and just recharge.

I might regret the latter part tomorrow, but today I feel great :). I started with a really long (33 miles) bike ride. The weather was perfect for biking (although it looked like I wasn’t the only one thinking that way), and even before 6 AM, it was pretty crowded on the Lake Front Trail.

Then I made breakfast and had a piece of cream cheese rhubarb pie, which I baked last night, and then headed to the closest beach (to maximize the time by the water). The water was just warm enough to be pleasant, and then I lay on the sand and listened to the waves, and there was nothing in the world except for the Lake and me 🙂

Today’s Positivities

Mom’s internet was finally fixed! I am exceptionally thankful to Igor, who was able to come and be present during the technician’s visit. I am still switching my mom to another internet provider because I don’t want another poor customer service experience, but at least she has internet and is happy.
I attended the first Chicago GNU/Linux meetup, and it was 2.5 hours of infinite positive emotions! Interested and enthusiastic people, great conversations, lots of new plans and new connections, and a great feeling that I am doing something good and making a positive impact.

Visiting Palatine

On Sunday, I made a trip to Palatine, which I had planned for a while. I wanted to see at least some of my friends, especially my old neighbors who never visited me at my new place and are unlikely to ever visit due to multiple health issues. I was ready to take public transportation when one of my friends I wanted to visit offered to drive me both ways. At first, I wanted to say, ” No, thank you”, but then I realized that this would give us almost two extra hours of talking/catching up, and also that she could visit my mom, who is always happy to speak Russian with someone, so I enthusiastically agreed.

It’s interesting how familiar my old place still feels. I loved visiting and noticing both what stayed the same and what changed: new businesses, new names on old establishments, new construction, and new green patches. Looking at an almost sterile environment, with no garbage in sight, with perfectly manicured lawns everywhere I looked and impeccable landscaping, I was thinking about whether I would want to observe this site day after day, after day. I know I liked it when I lived in Palatine; I loved seeing this picture-perfect everywhere I looked, and at some point, I thought all of America was like that :). I also realized I haven’t been that far inland in a while, and I forgot how humid and stuffy the air can get!

I also wanted to visit Deer Grove Forest Preserve, which, as I keep saying, is the only thing I really miss after moving to Rogers Park. My friend, who is a steward in Deer Grove, took me there for a walk at the end of our visit, and it was great to see the prairie in full bloom and lots of restoration being done.

The best part of the day, however, was talking to my friends. All of them have very different backgrounds, different perspectives, and are in different places in their lives. Still, all of them are near and dear to me. I told the story of “what had happened with me during the last year” three times and got different reactions, different questions, and heard three different stories in return. And all three were very deep and meaningful conversations, not me merely nodding or reassuring someone that their life is not over :). Love my friends 🥰

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Mom’s Internet

Mom’s internet has not been working since last Sunday (August 9), and I have already spent close to ten hours on the phone with tech support. The worst part is that each time you have to go through an AI agent that tries to send you back to troubleshooting, and you can’t explain that this’s your tenth call about the same issue and that you’ve already done all the troubleshooting. On Friday, a technician finally came to my mom’s house, but even there, he was unable to identify a problem and said that he would pass the call to another technician and that someone would call me later, but no one called, and I had to start the process all over again. My mom has a hotspot on her phone, but it was a project to teach her to enable it and to reconnect after she walks away from the computer.

On Saturday, I gave up and called another internet provider (the one I have my service with) and asked them for a new line for her. Unfortunately, they can only come on August 21. I still have a second appointment with her current provider on Wednesday, but I can’t spend that much time away from work, as there are more things I will need to address in the near future. The reason I am not canceling it is that I want my mom to get at least “some” internet sooner, and also, if for whatever reason, the Friday appointment would be delayed (things happen!), I want to have at least a temporary solution.

I could not imagine it is even possible to deliver such poor customer service! I wanted to cry on Friday night when I got off my last call with a human – it lasted 40 minutes, including all the wait time, and there was no satisfactory resolution of our issue. I left them a “zero” review the next day. 😂

Taxes

When I lost all hope. IRS finally got back to me, and not only did they get back, but they also informed me that my tax returns were approved. And not only that, but they also corrected my mistake (I forgot to submit the information about my last year’s estimates because I was not paying them in 2026 anymore), and they paid me back more than I originally submitted, and even added interest because they paid me several months later!

Unbelievable! Although I guess that’s how it should be!

A Very Eventful Day And Bats Monitoring

Yesterday was one of the record days in terms of the number of times the weather changed, and how much it took to an extreme. I had a nice early morning bike ride before work, then, it was a tornado warning during the day. Fortunately, it didn’t touch Rogers Park, but in the office, we were instructed to shelter in place, and it continued for 45 minutes. The rain was pouring, and it was very windy, and it was hard to believe it will get better any time soon.

Then, suddenly, things started to clear up, and by 4 PM, there were no traces of it. I was hoping I could go to the beach right after I get home, but for some reason, the beach alert ws not removed. The red flag was up, and a lifeguard was marching around the pier. I was extremely disappointed, but decided to repeat the attempt at 7 PM. The problem was that I also wanted to attend the Bat Monitoring event, which was scheduled for 7:30, so I had very little time. Still, I decided that something is better than mothing, and I didn’t regret it! Just half on hour was plenty to be thankful to the lake and the happy fact that I live so close to it!

The Bat Monitoring was another super-interesting thing. The presentation took place at the Loyola fieldhouse. Liza Lehrer, Assistant Director of the Urban Wildlife Institute at Lincoln Park Zoo, gave an overview of the Urban Wildlife Institute’s bat research program and its key findings. I learned a lot! For start, I didn’t know we have bats right here, in Chicago! I didn’t know that they migrate, like birds, and that some of them hybernate in winter! And I didn’t know they are closer to humans than rodents.

The most exiting part was a live demo! It turned out, that there is a special equipment one can use to detect and record the bats that are flying around us! Also, there is a program which can autoamtically decode the sounds and identify the species, and also record the place were recording was made. The Lincoln Park Zoo people had two of these sets, and we had an opportunity to see them in action! It was surreal – I never ever thought that there are bats, and so many, right there, by the beach, where I walk almost every day.

If it wouldn’t be so late, I would stay longer!

Fort Sheridan And One More Thunderstorm

Since the time I first learned about Fort Sheriday Forest preserve, I try to visit it a couple times a year, and at least once in summer. I didn’t have a chance to go there this summer yet, and I wanted to make sure I sivit it before summer ends. Even in July, I knew I will have very few options, and this Sunday was “one before last one.’ Usually, I listed to my gut feeling very careflly, gaging whether I should or should not do something, but this time, I was not sure. I felt like I am trying to squizz in too many things, and the weather was not ideal, but then I thought that if I would give in and not go, I will regret it, so I decided to go even though I knew it will be a very short visit,

The prairie exceeded my expectations :). Because of so many rains we had this summer, it was in bloom like I never saw it! I walked on the trail with a smile on my face, and was quitely saying hello to all my wild friends.

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Kira In Chicago

This weekend, we finally had Kira’s special Chicago adventure. Since February, when she was sick on the day we were supposed to have a pottery class together, I promised her a solo stay with me, but it took us more than six months to schedule. It was the first time that she visited me without anyone else, including Nadia, and we had a great time!

She made a huge developmental leap and is now so mature, so interesting to talk with, such a loving and helpful person, that I can only admire Anna’s parental skills; she is a way better parent than I was! I see her in both girls, and although Nadia and Kira are very different people, I see that they took the best from both parents.

We had breakfast on my balcony, went to the beach early in the morning, visited my mom, and then headed to the Field Museum, where Kira planned to stay until closing :).

She changed her mind only when I suggested getting a gelato flower at Amorino, where, fortunately, the wait was not 45 minutes, but only 20!

Before we headed to the beach, I asked Kira whether she could try to make the guest room look like it was when she came, and she honestly exceeded my expectations!

And another thing which really touched me was how patient and kind she was with my mom. Initially, I thought my mom could meet us at the beach in the morning, but later I realized we would be there before she normally gets out for a walk, so I removed our meeting from her calendar. Then, as Kira and I were already heading out for the Field Museum, I saw an email from my mom asking whether she should wait for my call or head to the beach. I realized that the only option we had was to stop by on our way, so I called her to let her know we were coming.

Then I explained to Kira that my mom wanted to see her very much, and that she often forgets things, but she remembered that I wanted to see her. And I told Kira that if I lived for another thirty years, I might also become very forgetful, and I argued with Kira that she never told me this and that. She laughed at this perspective, didn’t complain that we didn’t go to the museum right away, and was very kind and respectful to my mom. And I was very thankful for that!

Dishwasher Cleaning

I have had this dishwasher for more than two years. At some point, I noticed the cleaning quality had declined, and dishes not placed in the middle had residue. I even purchased an extra year of insurance because I was afraid I would need to call for a major repair. I read the instructions at the time it was installed, and I thought that I had been doing all the cleaning that was necessary, but it turned out I was wrong.

A week ago, I decided to read all of the instructions one more time, and it turned out I never cleaned the parts that could potentially be clogged – and they were, indeed!

I finally took the racks out, turned them upside down, and cleaned all the small holes that were clogged! Why I can’t read instructions – don’t ask 😂

The Notebook Musical

There was a book, and there was a movie, and there was a musical. They met. They fell in love. Life circumstances separated them. They found each other ten years later to stay together forever. Then she developed dementia. And he moved to the nursing home to be close to her, although she couldn’t recognize him anymore and didn’t know who he was. He reads to her “a book” – a notebook with the story of their lives, in hopes that she will remember and return to him.

Most of the Broadway productions are great, and this one was no exception. Also, in addition to great music, a live orchestra, and beautiful voices, the acting was… one of those moments when everything is so real and so recognizable that it’s heartbreaking. Of course, the story touches on the topics that are constantly on my mind, but it’s not like I couldn’t watch it because of some similarities to real life. It just went along with my thinking…

Three pairs of actors play the main characters in three different stages of their lives.