Category: everyday life

About Mom

Several new developments with mom. First, in February, I submitted an application for her citizenship. That was as long and tiring a process as you can imagine, and because of all the other things I had to do, it took me several weekends to complete all of the paperwork and to get the required documents from mom.

Originally they said it would be a nineteen-month-long process, but then they suddenly sent us the fingerprint appointment and said it would be a total waiting time of nine months. That sounded much better, only that the date for fort fingerprints was scheduled for one of the days of my European trip, and in addition, Igor could not take time off work on that day.

Fortunately, Anna was a savior: she came to Chicago and took mom for that appointment, But three days later, they sent us another notice telling us that the fingerprints could not be processed and we needed to come one more time. This one more time ended up being a Good Friday, which was very disappointing since I have it off once in a lifetime! But what can I do?!

We managed to get through several of mom’s medical appointments, including tuning her hearing aid (Igor took her there while I was away). The timeline in short: call the doctor’s office, schedule a tele-visit (mom has to be present, so I had to take time off work and come to mom’s place). Getting the referral, scheduling the audiologist, taking mom there. Scheduling her ear cleaning, taking her to that appointment, looking for the audiologist referral to the audio lab (finally found it), and taking mom there. And lots of calls in between.

She is still complaining about her left wrist, and now she is saying that she never said she did not want an x-ray, and I am making it up. I started by requesting a referral for occupational therapy. Mom’d doctor said that she would try to request the home visits and if not, then “we’ll see.” When I looked at the referral, I saw that there was no provider name or phone listed, so I had to call to find out (waiting, leaving a callback number, they call when I was in the meeting, etc.). They looked for the information, then gave me the name of the place, and then we got disconnected. I did not want to wait on hold again, so I googled the place, called, and left a message. Nobody called back, so the day later, I called again and asked to connect to the reception. They found the mom’s referral but told me that since she is on Medicaid, not Medicare, the house visits are not covered. They said they do not do office visits, which was a pity since this office was very close to mom’s house.

I had to request another referral, which meant another office visit. Fortunately (?) I had to take her to the doctor anyway because she needed the ear cleaning, so we saved one visit. I finally had the name of the place and the phone number, but the next available appointment was in four weeks (I accepted it), and it was very far from where we leave. I am contemplating ditching Medicaid and asking what would places close to where I live charge uninsured people.

Also, in the middle of my trip, mom started to email me that I was hiding from her where I was, and because of that, she had no idea.

PG Day Paris 2023

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

I know that these days, people do not blog about the event three days after, but I think it is still better to blog about a great event than not.

On Thursday, I attended PG Day Paris for the second time; it was the first time I presented there. Also, this year, it was a two-day event, with a training session on day one and two tracks on day two. And also, one track was all-female :).

My personal milestones it was my first presentation of something I developed while being with DRW and the first time I came back from the conferences not with just “I learned some interesting things,” but with “I learned something new which will be useful for us, and I want to implement it right now!”

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Backfilling: A Walk To The Lighthouse

I am on my way to Helsinki from Paris, and tomorrow, I will fly back to Chicago. There are 400+ photos in my picture gallery, and I know that the moment I am back in Chicago, other things will take priority. That’s why I will try to show more while I am still en route.

Going back to my first day in Dublin, I discovered that the air temperature felt different than in Chicago, and what I thought of as late spring weather was anything but. The first day was the warmest, even with the strong winds from the sea.

Continue reading “Backfilling: A Walk To The Lighthouse” →

What’s Going On In Chicago

That was the counter-protest I blogged about last week.

Unfortunately, this website is not showing in the EU, so I had to go to the VPN to see it. For those who are in the US, here is a link:

https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/chicago-anti-war-groups-rally-20-years-after-iraq-invasion

And copying the whole thing here so that my friends outside the US could see it as well.

Anti-war coalition rallies 20 years after Iraq invasion: ‘Fund the people’s needs, not the war machine’

ANSWER Coalition

An anti-war coalition rallies outside of the Wrigley Building in downtown Chicago. The group said the United States should be trying to lead peace negotiations between Ukraine and Russia — not sending military aid to Ukraine. Photo credit Brandon Ison

 By Brandon Ison

WBBM Newsradio 780 AM & 105.9 FM

2 hours ago

CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — With temperatures in the teens and an added chill from the breeze, dozens of people from several local anti-war groups gathered in front of the Wrigley Building Saturday.

https://omny.fm/shows/wbbmam-on-demand/answer-coalition-holds-anti-war-protest-20-years-a/embed?style=cover&size=square

“They say, ‘More war;’ we say, ‘No war,’” protesters chanted.

The Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER) Coalition was formed in the days after the 9/11 attacks and initiated an anti-war movement in the months leading up to March 18, 2003. Twenty years later, Emil Mitchell was among the speakers representing the ANSWER Coalition in Chicago.

“There’s a war machine out there, and we all know it’s funded with trillions of dollars, but here at the ANSWER Coalition, all of our groups, we are building a peace machine that will end war for good,” he said. “It will take all of us.”

The rally was one of several nationwide demonstrations marking the 20th anniversary of the Iraq War invasion.

Mitchell said the U.S. government claims there’s not enough money for schools, healthcare, housing, wages, or climate change.

Anti-war protesters

“They say, ‘More war;’ we say, ‘No war,’” protesters chanted outside of the Wrigley Building on Saturday. Photo credit Brandon Ison

“Yet they find almost $1 trillion for war every war,” he said. “That’s why we demand that they must fund the people’s needs — not the war machine.”

To Mitchell, and others at the anti-war demonstration, this would include a stop to military aid in Ukraine. A counterpoint on Saturday came from someone who may seem like an unlikely source: Anastasia Voronova, a Russian who came to the United States four years ago to study.

Voronova told WBBM that it’s not safe for her to return to Russia with her firm held belief in support of Ukraine’s sovereignty. She was part of a two-person counterprotest to the anti-war rally, Russian-born Igor Studenkov joining her. He said the situation in Ukraine would be much worse without global support.

Pro-Ukrainian protesters

Igor Studenkov (L) and Anastasia Voronova showed up to counterprotest Saturday’s anti-war rally. Studenkov said lasting peace in Ukraine will be impossible without Russian troops leaving the country, detained Ukrainians being freed and a trial for those accused of war crimes. Photo credit Brandon Ison

“Ukraine is being invaded, and it needs help,” he said. “The sooner they can get help, the sooner this war can be over, the sooner Ukrainian cities can stop being bombed, and the sooner — hopefully — that all the people who had to flee will be able to go home.”

Studenkov said Mitchell’s groups should direct their anger at Russian president Vladimir Putin, and he added that Ukraine should receive all the help it can get.

“We believe that any lasting peace in Ukraine is impossible without Russian troops getting out of Ukraine, without all of the detained Ukrainian civilians being freed, without all the people accused of war crimes being tried before an international tribunal,” Studenkov said.

And About “That” Oscar

Regarding the “Navalny” documentary receiving Oscar – I want to scream! I don’t understand how people can’t understand! And I do not know what to say.

Now, when I am in Europe again, when I hear and feel the worries of the residents of Finland, and when I worry about the situation at the front (and my only hope is that there is something we do not know going on and that something is better than what we see), I understand it even less.

I said it multiple times, and I can repeat it again: knowing enough about Putin, I do not like this Navalny situation at all. Through the years, I learned that the only opposition we see is the opposition Putin allows to be seen. And based on that observation, I do not like this whole Navalny case. I might be paranoid or whatever you say, but I strongly feel that Navalny is a “backup plan.” Even if it is not, having Navalny won’t be any better than having Putin, and one more time, I don’t understand why people don’t understand…

Also, having all this stupid “calls for peace,” and calls for “stop funding the war,” I feel even worse about it.

Friday Night

On Friday, I had a night out with my friend who is moving from Chicago to Boston. By the time I return from my trip, she will be already in the process; that’s why we had our little farewell on Friday.

We had dinner at Forte and then watched 1776 in the CIBC Theater, and it was a perfect Friday night!
I have not been to Forte since it reopened after remodeling and was renamed Forte from Tesori. They went to a smaller selection than the previous menu, but everything was of excellent quality. Also, they serve Vanille desserts, and I forgot about it until I saw it!

The show was great! I love this musical, and this production has an additional twist – all male parts are sung by women, and this is done in such a compelling way that ten minutes into the show, you forget about it and focus on what’s going on on stage.

It was a wonderful night indeed!

I wanted to say that it was the first good night of the week, but I immediately corrected myself because I had other good things this week, like dinner in the youth shelter and Chicago PUG. And a very fun recording of my talk. I don’t know what to make out of this week. I am sitting in the Field Lounge of American Arilines (yes, after an hour wasted last night, I checked-in at the airport with no problem, checked-in my luggage, and had some time to sit in the lounge). The food here is really awesome, so I decided, I will skip dinner on the plane and eat here. So yet another time – something stressful and then something good.

Still Catching Up

Several things took way longer than they should have, including waiting for the eye doctor for 45 minutes (!) (and she didn’t even apologize). Also, on Friday, I was pulled into a couple of meetings where my presence was not needed, and lastly, I spent over an hour in attempts to check in only to figure out I couldn’t and will have to do it in the airport.

Packing took longer than I planned (and I am not done yet, and I am afraid to look at the clock, especially having that we are switching to Daylight saving time)!

The good part is that my eye is pretty much healed, and I will resume wearing contacts in a week, maybe even earlier.

Going to have four hours of sleep now and will go back to packing!

Please Write To Your Legislators To Support Ukraine

I am so glad that there are people who are organizing the writing of these letters! We need it. Please consider signing and sending: Letter to protect Ukraine

Catching Up

Today first time after Sunday, my eye does not hurt, and I am trying to catch up for the lost time. I am still not sure when and if I will be able to wear contacts, so my head still hurts, but at least the eye is (almost) fine. I still feel it, but it is so much better, and I am so eager to do everything I could not do in the past several days!

Unfortunately, this week was going to be busy even without the vision crisis, and also – I am leaving Sunday night, so I am still horrified by the amount of work I need to do before I leave. And at the same time, I am terribly sorry that I am missing the whole European Film Festival – there were so many movies I wanted to watch, and I watched zero!

I am very well aware of how a person’s brain works, so I know that if I got to see zero, the festival would be lower in my list of priorities than other things… but I am still sad.

On the positive side, I finally made it to ODS, and we had a “make your own pizza” dinner, and it was a lot of fun. Almost all of the youth participated, and we all laughed and joked. I talked to several newcomers, and one boy who had been there for a while was really happy that I remembered his name. Some pizzas turned out very well, some – not so much, but nobody went hungry!

On Wednesday, I hosted Chicago PUG and not only hosted but also presented. I rehearsed a talk which I will be giving in Paris in two weeks. There were very few RSVPs, and I worried that nobody would come, but that was one of these rare cases when pretty much everybody showed up! All the pizza was gone – it almost never happens!

My talk was very well received, and I got a lot of helpful comments, so I am going to make some changes to the presentation. Overall, both Tuesday and Wednesday were great. I was so miserable with my eye, and the fact that I was surrounded by people, and people liked what I was doing, made me feel tons better.

Finally, today I made a recording for Citus Con. I didn’t want to submit anything to this conference because I knew I won’t have time, but the organizers asked me and told me that they would place me on the on-demand trek and that they would record me when I have time. And then, out of three talks I submitted, they selected the one which was completely unprepared! So I had to work on that one, in addition to my talk for Paris (and my reserve talk!)

Still, I didn’t want to cancel, because I knew that this would be a great opportunity to promote my new talk and new ideas, so I made time :). The talk was recorded by the organizers, and they will do the edits and everything. It went really well (I rehearsed it three times because the timeslots were shorter than usual – 25 min – and I wanted to make sure everything would fit. There were lots of technical difficulties during the recording, but after everything was resolved I was able to present well enough so that there was no need for re-recording. I feel pretty good about this, as well as the fact that the organizers loved my talk so much. And about me comfortable presenting i glasses – I might need to do the same in Paris!

Updates

As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, I started to experience pain in my right eye. That happened Sunday night, pretty much out of nowhere. I thought it would get back to normal soon, but it was not getting better, so on Tuesday, I when to the doctor (“any doctor available”). They told me a lot of horror stories about my eye and how it’s an emergency situation and wrote a prescription for two kinds of drops.

I am not going to comment on all these horrors because 1) I didn’t listen well since I was shocked 2) I am going to see the same doctor on Friday, and we’ll see. Now (Wednesday evening) it feels better than yesterday (finally), so I hope it will be even better by Friday.

Two things bother me in the current situation. First, my eye hurt so much in the past two days that I had trouble working on my computer so I fell behind again after I almost caught up on Sunday. Second, I have to wear glasses (God knows for how long), and I can’t see right, and my head hurts all the time. I thought that my prescription was not updated, but it turned out I updated the glasses last summer. It’s just that I am not used to glasses.

I know that is minor in comparison with serious problems other people have, and things are not bad in general, and I know that no timing is right for health issues. Still, I keep lamenting about what an inconvenient time that it all happened!