Category: everyday life

Weekend Working

I am leaving to ORD in less than 30 minutes, and all my weekend was work – all the things I didn’t have time to finish during the workdays. That’ not like somebody asked me, that’s what I felt I needed to finish, because it was important to show this work to others.

I think I am hopeless like this, and also, I can’t work as fast as I could before.

On Monday, my workday will start at 8-30 AM London time, so my weekend is gone entirely. And most likely, I will need to sleep on the plane, otherwise, I won’t be able to work. I actually feel better than it might seem from that post, because I was able to tight most of the loose ends both at work and otherwise, and I knew I won’t be able to address all of the outstanding things.

My New Year Resolution is not working 🙂

Walking On Ice

That happened on Tuesday. It was a horrible morning, in terms that it started to melt the night before, and then it was sharply cold during the night, and when I left the house, there was ice everywhere. Since I had to go to Milwaukee after work, I still needed to get to the Rogers Park train station, and I didn’t think it would be much better later, so I left my house at the time when I usually leave for work.

Just one fun fact that would be the best characterization of how icy it was. I walk fast, so usually, about 10 minutes into my walk, my Alle Watch asks me: are you doing an outdoor walk workout? Let me know if you want to record it! On Tuesday, it asked me: are you doing an elliptical workout?

😂

Thistlefoot – A Book Review

I do not remember where this recommendation came from, but the description looked intriguing, and I purchased the audiobook. And in the beginning, it sounded awesome: Baba Yaga died in Kyiv and left her House on Chicken Legs to her youngest female descendant 70 years after her death. An attorney finds the descendants in the US, and the House on Chicken Legs arrives in a container, stretches it’s legs to the horror of the witnesses, and the story goes on. Then, there is a mysterious Russian who tries to follow the House, and we are not sure what his evil plans are.
I thought, it would be a great story, but then, the historical inaccuracies start to pile so high, that it was impossible to ignore them, and the story becomes uninteresting. Baba Yaga suddenly becomes a Jewish woman who lives in the pale of settlement. I could live with that, but next, in 1919, there are “Russian soldiers” who are “protecting the tsar”, and simultaneously, there is an October Revolution, Denikintsy, the White Army, the ‘Russian soldiers” defending “the tsar and Fatherland” and the ”government sanctioned pogroms.” Yes, I understand that the book is about historical memory, and keeping history alive and so on, but when the history is so brutalized, it’s difficult to come to terms with “presenving history.”

I felt this reading as a completely wasted time. I still listened to the end, because I couldn’t believe “that’s it.” And there is a good idea at the end, but one paragraoh is a poor justification for a long book.

Uber

I wanted to post it here since it’s not often that you have to say something good about Uber, but today I have something.

I ordered Uber for 5 AM to get to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, and at about 2/3 of that trip, the driver noticed a pressure in a tire going down. It was going down really fast, but he said he would be able to make it to the station, and he did. Just now, I received a message from Uber:

Hi Henrietta‍,

We received a report indicating that your vehicle experienced a flat tire during a recent trip. We understand this was a frustrating experience. 

While I know it doesn’t totally make up for the inconvenience, we’ve fully refunded this trip which will apply to your original payment method in a few business days. You’ll also receive an updated receipt via email.

We appreciate you handling this challenging situation in the most professional way possible and we know it’s not always easy.

Once this information is received, we’ll be able to assist you further.

Thank you.

And if you think it’s not a big deal, and that’s what I should expect, I can tell you that several years ago, an Uber driver dropped me in the middle of nowhere when he had some car issue, and he didn’t bother to report Uber or send another car to pick me up, and I could even tell where w=exactly I was dropped. And although I complained to Uber, they didn’t refund this trip; the only thing they did was that they marked the driver for not even being matched with me.

So. Thank you, Uber. And I tipped the driver, even though they refunded the fare!

***

Anna’s surgery #2 went well; at least, we are hopeful. For some reason, I thought it would be shorter (it wasn’t), and I thought that I would have time to finish the unfinished parts of my presentations, which I was hoping to finish last weekend (and the one before last).

It didn’t happen either, and although I (sort of) took time off work today, I ended up working and finishing something work-related later in the evening. There is a lot going on with the conference, but the same as with work, this is confidential information, so I can’t rant about what’s going on.

All I can say is that I have many reasons to be upset, but I am not, and I am trying to figure out how I can use my internal resources in the best possible way.

Packing On Short Notice

When you go for a one-da trip, you don’t really need to pack anything. But when you are going for one day and two nights, then all of a sudden, you have to pack a lot!

My trip to Milwaukee was very spontaneous this time. Also, I was mentally preparing for my European trip, and didn’t have a Milwaukee list in my head. And also, I was determined to go without any luggage, just my regular work backpack and a tote (this proved to be a great idea because after the snowfall, the thaw, the rain and freezing again, the streets became unwalkable). On Monday night, I made sure I packed everything except for the toothbrush, which would be packed in the morning. Still, in the morning, I suddenly realized that I forgot my chargers (and since the latest iPhone is charged by USB C, I needed an extra cord!).

I was very proud of myself that I remembered about the chargers, and stuffed them into my backpack. And only after I arrived at the Rogers Park railway station, I suddenly realized that I left my work phone charging! (and without the work phone I won’t be able to work remotely, the work laptop requires two-factor authentication)

I am very thankful to Igor who saved me and brought the phone to my office!

Don’t Trust Amazon!

A couple of weeks ago, when I had to change a light bulb in the hallway ceiling light fixture, I realized that even my tallest ladder was not tall enough for that. I give myself credit for not pushing this task to “sometime later” but making myself do it “now.” Still, it as a stunt. I had to move the ladder closer to the wall and touch the wall with one hand while standing on the ladder landing. And to be honest, I needed both hands because I had to unscrew this thing in order to change the light bulb.

I have a very lightweight ladder which Boris and I bought in ACE Hardware shortly after we moved to Rogers Park, and I love it. But having the ceilings as high as mine, this ladder is not high enough. When last time an electrician came to fix my ceiling fan remote, I asked him to let me measure his ladder, and it turned out I needed two more steps (or two more feet).

First, I tasked Boris with finding a ladder that would be comparable to what we have now, just taller. The ladder I have now weights 6 lb., which is a record light, and I was hoping to find something around 10-12 lb. Boris researched it for a while but didn’t find anything. Then I researched and I couldn’t find it either. Then, I looked at “best recommendations,” and the vote came for a ladder that was 18 lb. Boris said: no way, and then took another look at Amazon and found the ladder, which was said to be either 9.5 lb (in the description) or 14.5 lb (in the product specs). I ordered that one, and it arrived, and… it weights 17.7 lb!!!!

Two conclusions:

1 – The “best recommendation” looks reasonable

2 – Never trust Amazon. With anything!

My Lake, My Love!

I didn’t take pictures of Lake Michigan last weekend, although the view was spectacular: The lake was so much warmer than the air that it was steaming like a giant cup of hot tea.

I saw it from the car window when we were heading to the Aquarium, and I couldn’t take a good picture then, and I couldn’t make myself get out of the house one extra time. Yesterday, it was already much warmer, so I went to say hello to the lake.

January 19

I didn’t feel birthday-ly on January 19, but not because I was upset or miserable or whatever. It was just that I met with the family on Sunday, and we talked about my past year, how I feel about it, and what I am looking forward to. And my actual birthday was just a date. There were two goals I had for January 19: to do some things that I love doing and to go to bed at 10:30. The latter one didn’t happen again, but I keep trying.

So the day was just Friday, the way I like it. I worked out in the gym

Went to work, had time to have breakfast in peace and quiet, and talked to Boris before work started.

Continue reading “January 19” →

***

We had several really cold days, and then several just cold days, and we will have several more. On Tuesday, when I called my mom in the evening, she told me that her thermometer in the kitchen showed 10C, which is about 50F. It could not be possible unless there was an actual heating problem, so I told her that if that was the case, she needed to find the heating device in her closet immediately. Otherwise, I will drop everything and come to her. Then I thought again that it was impossible, because the day before it was not hot, but pretty normal in her apartment. So I asked her where both of her thermometers were located, and it turned out that both were close to the window. I asked her to move them in the middle of the room and call me in 30 minutes. When she didn’t call me in 45, I called her again, and she said that she was just writing an email to me, and that when she placed thermometers at her computer desk and at her kitchen table, they both showed around 19.5C, which is about 67F, so quite livable.

Why she was talking about 10C, I am not sure, but I will leave it there. I am trying to remember what the doctor said: at this age, she can do whatever she wants!