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.
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!
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!!!!
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.
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.
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!
This weekend was packed with events. For Christmas, I gave Anna and John the “Hamilton” tickets, and the show was on Saturday evening. Also, I gave a “Penguin Encounter” gift to Nadia, and that experience was on Sunday morning. I planned it in a way that we could fit it all in one trip. In addition, since my mom’s birthday was on January 10, and my birthday is coming next week, we also decided to celebrate both birthdays on Sunday.
Extreme weather (we have had negative temperatures for several days now) altered some details of our plans, but overall, things were great.
Anna and John were really happy with the performance, Kira was cooperative and didn’t throw a tantrum when it was time to go to bed, and we made a bubble bath and read stories. Sunday morning was a little bit hectic because the penguin thing was at 8-30 AM, and we had to be there no later than 8-15, and the weather didn’t call for public transportation.
When John learned what I was giving Nadia for Christmas, he asked whether he could go as well, si we were a party of three. We had to get into the Aquarium through the service entrance because it was before the museum opening, and then we were led to the waiting area. We had to leave all our belongings in the lockers and change into the high rubber boots.
Before we entered the area where we would meet the penguins, we had to step into a disinfection tray. The staff who ran the event told us that we could touch penguins only when the instructor tells us and only the way she shows.
That’s me touching the penguin named Georgia
One of many interesting facts we learned about penguins was that there is no easy way to determine whether it is a male or a female, and the only reliable way is to collect the shell of an egg after the chick hatched and perform a genetic test And if there is not enough material for a genetic test, they have to wait and see whether the penguin would lay an egg. I asked how the pegiguins themselves can figure this out, but apparently the scientists are not sure either.
We all had a great time, and after the experience, we went upstairs to see the exhibits.
The plan was for Anna and Kira to come later and join us at the museum after the show. Since I have a family membership, I didn’t anticipate any problems, the only thing I wanted to double-check was how I could get the extra two people in, when we were already in. And that’s were we found that we had a huge problem.
I didn’t pay attention to the Chicago Free Museum week (because I do not care, I have memberships in most of them), and I should have! It turned out that because of the Free Week, all tickets for Sunday were reserved, and no matter my membership, I couldn’t get more people in! John tried to call Annam but the calls didn’t go through, and we knew that they were already approaching and looking for parking. We decided that I will take Nadia to see more exhibits, and John will keep trying to reach Anna.
Nadia and I went to the Wild Reef, and once again, I forgot that there is no reception downstairs.
After a while, I decided to check on the situation, and then I realised that my messages are not coming through. Meanwhile, an unbelievable thing happened with Anna.
She didn’t know about the ticket situation, so she on crutches, and very cold Kira appeared at the admission, and apparently, the staff didn’t have a heart to send them away. Anna explained that the rest of the family was already in the museum, and that I am a member, and the staff checked with her supervisor and let them in! When Nadia and I emerged from the Wild Reef, we almost immediately ran into the rest of the family! We spent another two hours in the Aquarium, to everybody’s delight.
In the afternoon, we celebrated my mom’s and my birthday at the Italian restaurant close to my home.
Love their ceiling decorations!
They serve pasta in cones, which was very convenient – we ordered six different kinds and shared. Mom was very pleased with the photo album which Anna and I put together, with a big collection of photos pf different generations.
We also gave her several books, and Nadia made a birthday card.
And Anna made this day really special 🙂
And since all of us had MLK Day off, we had a little bit more time together on Monday morning 🙂
I should have purchased more of the Kyiv metro token pins, because apparently they are in high demand, but I hope there will be other opportunities (and I’ve got a Christmas ornament, which will have to wait till next Christmas 🙂 )
Today, my mom turned 89. Also, her follow-up visit happened to be today, just because it’s not easy to find evening appointments so that I won’t need to skip half of my workday. Since her doctor moved to a different office, the whole thing takes more than three hours, including my getting to Mom and getting back from her to my house.
I sent her a birthday email in the morning, saying what I knew would make her happy. I was not lying in this email. She, indeed, does an amazing job living on her own, with all the relativity of this “on her own” and “living independently.” Still, sometimes I forget how old she is – to be honest, we didn’t think she would live that long when she first came to the US.
When we visited the doctor today, she said she hopes to be in such great shape as my mom when she is eighty-nine ). She also asked my mom to tell her what she occupied herself with every day, and my mom gave her a complete list of her activities; she even spoke a little bit of English with the doctor. Speaking of which, they now have a new technology where they can call a translator from the doctor’s office, and not on the phone as it used to be but on a screen mounted on a rolling cart. It looks really cool: a doctor can take it from one room to another and have translators from twenty different languages available instantaneously. Unfortunately (although not surprisingly), my mom couldn’t hear what a translator was saying, so we had to call it off, and I carried out the translator’s duty.
So, the doctor believes my mom is doing great for her age, so I guess I need to accept the fact that what’s going on now is “great for her age.” I am not being sarcastic. I think that I should start to accept the process of my mom’s aging as a reality that nobody can avoid and not be frustrated with any particular incidents. We’ll see how long I will last with this resolution 🙂
If you wonder when I have time to read with everything going on in my life, the answer is that about 70% is listening to audiobooks, and most times, I listen while doing something, whether it is exercising, cooking, folding the laundry, you name it.
The Last Green Valley took me a long time to read, and that was one of the rare occasions when I did a synced reading/listening. I finished it a couple of days ago, and I am still under a very deep impression.
This book is just brilliant! It’s really impressive that somebody who does not have ethnic roots in Ukraine could present this story of struggle and survival with such compassion and understanding. Not a single false note!
The book was one more eye-opener for me – I never viewed these historical events from the perspective of ethnic Germans trying to escape the advancement of the Red Army. Lots of details were completely unknown to me, yet I can see how they fold into the big picture. The whole story sounds completely unbelievable, and it comes as a surprise at the end when you learn that it was based on a true story of a real family. When I hear stories like this, I feel that my own life is completely dull and uneventful. I know I will be thinking about this story for a long time, and possibly I will write more about that book.
