Category: everyday life

Book Writing

I finally stopped procrastinating and started to work on the second edition of our optimization book. Before today, I struggled to update two paragraphs from the intro (and I am still unhappy with how they look, but I pushed myself to move forward with the promise to return to the intro later.

Only after I started I realized how much it bothered me that I was not moving! In my defense, all of mom’s immigration stuff which we dealt with this week, was more than enough to completely abandoned other activities. Hopefully, everything will be over tomorrow, and then I will write a complete report.

Another good thing about today was that I finally went to the beach in the evening and dipped myself into the lake, officially opening the swimming season. The water is cold! The way spring was this year, I think it will take a while for a lake to warm up. It’s still such a joy to be by the body of water, that I can’t complain!

More Family Stuff

Back to last week. Mom’s citizenship test was on Tuesday. I worked in the office for the remaining half-day and then took a train to meet Boris at ORD. On Wednesday, I worked from home, took mom to her physical therapy, taught a class online, and tried to cook as much as possible for the upcoming weekend.

I worked in the office on Thursday and then went with Boris and my neighbor to the CSO concert and to the Classic Encounter with Terri Hemmert before that. The program was amazing, although, to be 100% honest, I almost felt that it was too much with everything else I was doing. I planned this outing at least three months ago, and I thought that on Thursday, there would be no wedding-related activities. But then it turned out that Vlad planned something for close friends, and Anna wanted to go. I was trying to figure out how this could work, then Anna said that John would come and stay with the girls, and then at the end, it was that both John and Anna had work crises, and they decided to drive Friday morning (which was not a good idea having that it was a Memorial Day weekend).

Finally, they arrived, and John took me to the nursery to get the remaining plants for my balcony, and then Nadia, Anna, and I went to do nails, and in the evening, I babysat the girls.

Then, there was a family lunch at Acanto on Saturday, and then Boris and I took Nadia to the Field Museum and then brought her to the “Meet the Grooms,” where Vlad asked me why I do not socialize and do not mingle 🤷🏻‍♀️

On Sunday, we went for a long bike ride, and then I planted everything I had to plant, so the morning was rather quiet. And then there was a wedding which was very loud :). I think, however, that the major reason for me being so tired after these days is not that the music was loud or that I had a full house, but rather the fact that I had to meet a lot of Dylon’s relatives and they are very different family than us.

Oh, and also, somewhere in the middle of that, we completed a couple of house projects!

Two of Vlad’s High School friends spoke at the wedding, and I was happy that at least this speech was not glossy:)
And I found this picture from fifteen years ago!

Status Update

This is an insanely crazy week, with Vlad’s wedding, Boris and Anna’s family in town, tons of activities, and all I said before about mom, and tons of work.

There will be pictures 🙂

Citus Con 2023

Fun gifts from Citus

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

I barely mentioned my participation in that event, partially because it was virtual and partially because it was too close to PG Day Chicago, but I want to say it again – I am glad I participated! Also, I am glad I recorded the video early, and I am very thankful to the organizers because it was the least stressful recording of all I ever had!

And it was such a delight to receive the speaker’s gifts today!

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Mom Passed The Citizenship Test!

Today was the day! I took my mom to 101 W Ida Wells Drive, ad we passed through security which is more strict than in the airports. And I forgot about that and had to throw my scissors into the garbage (same as when I came for my citizenship test fifteen years ago!)

The security guard on the second floor was so helpful and reassuring – I can’t even describe it! Still, we waited for about twenty minutes past my mom’s interview time until we were finally called in.

Mom was very nervous and could not understand many of the questions when they were spoken (even though I was allowed to repeat them to her), but the officer was exceptionally patient and waited. At some point, when my mom said she would better understand it in writing, she printed the questions, and my mom could read them and reply.

It looks like most senior people apply for a medical exemption. I thought my mom would be upset if I asked her doctor for a note that she was unfit to take the test, but apparently, it’s not a big deal for most people.

Mom had to take a real test with randomly selected questions, and she had to answer correctly six questions out of ten, and she did nine, so I am very proud of her! It turned out she studied all the questions, not only the ones I’ve circled. I didn’t know the questions would be selected by a computer, not by a human!

Then she did reading and writing tests, which was easy for her, and then the officer asked her whether she was willing to take an oath of allegiance, and she forgot what the word oath meant. So the officer showed her a tablet with the oath, and she started to read it very slowly, and then for the second time. I was freaking out because that’s what I was freaking out about even earlier – it’s a pretty strong language, but she nodded approvingly to each of the statements since they all would end with “if required by the law.”

So, after all, she passed the test and signed everything, but the story is not over yet! Even though we tried twice, her fingerprints didn’t turn out legible, so now we need to obtain police clearance from all the places she lived (fortunately, only two!) But it looks like it has to be a real paper, and we need to go in person to get it, so I do not expect her to take the oath before August.

Still- it’s amazing!

Long Bike Ride

On Sunday, I went for the first long bike ride of this season: to Buckingham Fountain and back!

Continue reading “Long Bike Ride” →

Lights And Other Home Improvements

I finally have the lights on my balcony! All my neighbors had the lights, and I didn’t – that’s because the people who lived here before stripped off pretty much everything possible and impossible.

I still didn’t fix everything which was broken at the time I moved in, but I am getting closer and closer. I had a list of small repairs for which I tried to hire somebody to fix. That was one more never-ending project. The handyman who fixed the mice holes in my kitchen kept promising to find time and come over but kept pushing the date. Then I remembered that when I was looking for an electrician, somebody called me after I already found an electric company, and they said that they could do other repairs. This person was late the first time when we agreed he’d come over, and then he kept coming too late to start work, not showing up at all, etc. Each time, he apologized profusely and promised it would never happen again.

Somehow, I knew that he was not an imposter but had a problem with being on time. On Friday, he finally came here, if not entirely on time, but early enough to be able to do most of the things I hired him for. I knew he underestimated the amount of time it would take him to put the lights up (it took three times longer than he thought), so I paid him more than he originally asked and told him that we could finish the rest after the holidays.

Among other things, he replaced the lock on the back door, so I do not have a lock that can’t be opened with a key anymore (yes, I had it for two years!). And – he bought and put up the lights on the balcony. I need to replace the rest of the locks so that there would be one key for all, but not until everybody who has keys from my house has a new one. Hopefully, by May 31, everybody will have it! Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have the lights! They are operated by light sensors, so the light can either automatically turn on at dust and turn off at dawn or be on for a specified number of hours after dusk. Also, I have a remote to turn it on and off from the inside.

Not Enough Of The Lake

Rail Cars Reception

On Thursday, Igor and I attended the Annual Rail Car Reception organized by Historic Pullman Foundation. It was a benefit event, and since neither Igor nor I had time to go to Pullman Days this year, I thought I could support Pullman financially and see cool cars simultaneously. So I got two tickets for both of us.

I thought that there would be some programming, but it was literally a reception held in the old cars. It was nice because you could go through three different cars from the late 40s and 50s, but I hoped for more words :).

Also, for some reason, we were almost constantly passed on food (it was mostly finger food, and waiters were walking back and forth with the trays passing us:).

Igor spent a lot of time taking good pictures, but he still didn’t sort them and didn’t share with me, so I will only post the pictures I took

The coolest part was that we could enter all the cabins, and touch everything, and even touch the silverware and menus!

I am not sure I will do it again next year, but it was a very interesting experience!

Muti

On Tuesday, I went to the CSO concert one more time, and this time, it was with my neighbor, and it was a long-awaited concert with Ricardo Muti!

We were sitting in the first row, and we heard and saw everything, and it was so astonishingly, incredibly good! Jessie Montgomery was present in the audience, and she came on stage after her piece was performed, and the audience exploded with applause!

I realized that I didn’t hear Ricardo Muti conducting for a while, and I realized that I had missed this experience. It continues to surprise me that even going to these concerts after long work days does not make me feel tired, but just the opposite!