Category: everyday life

CSO Last Night

The concert was absolutely amazing. But let me tell you first, what was before the concert:). The CSO resumed the Classic Encounter series – interactive multimedia presentations by Chicago’s radio DJ, WXRT’s Terri Hemmer. Each time, it is a meeting with one of the CSO musicians who participate in the concert on that night, so they talk both about the music and the instrument, and it is incredibly interesting. Oh, and also, there is wine and finger food, and sweets.

Yesterday, the guest was CSO trumpet John Hagstrom, and he was so cool, and witty, and everything, and the experience was truly amazing, and it definitely helped to feel more connected with the piece!

And the conductor…. I believe it was the first time that I heard ChristianThielemann conducting – I very unique, so passionate, and the orchestra is visibly enojing his leadership. John Hagstrom mentioned that he might be a candidate for replacing maestro Muti who’s last season with CSO we are currently celebrating. We’ll see…

Ohm and Thielemann was conducting Bruckner 8th symphony without the score – can you imagine it?!

And the final note – I went with my neighbor, we didn’t do anything together for a while, and now she is a subscriber, too! I am glad we can do things together.

Chicago PUG is live again!

Hettie D.'s avatarThe World of Data

Today we had the first live meetup after …
You know, I do not even count my two attempts to resume live meetups a year ago. I can’t compare them to the meetup we had today. Today was a blast! It was back to the old days and even better.

Fewer people than I used to have pre-pandemic, but a dozen people showed up, and we had pizza and drinks, and we socialized before the presentation. Several long-lost members came, and even some people who started to attend virtually during the pandemic attended for the first time in person.

I took the risk upon myself and did both hosting and presenting, and it went great! The tech team rehearsed with me three times, making sure there were no glitches and experimenting with different setups until we found the perfect one. I didn’t need to take care of the food and…

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Delegating

Last Saturday was the first time that I asked my cleaning lady to come to do some additional work in my house, and I could not even imagine what a difference in my life it would make!

When I started my new job, I realized I should delegate more things to others – pretty much everything possible. I am a person who does not feel comfortable when my house is not in order by my standards. I have already noticed that I do not have time to finish important things during the weekend because I can’t leave my clothes not ironed.

This delegation was one of the best decisions I recently made! I felt so good being able to focus on my presentation since the early morning and then going to the OHC. Yes, I had to fight the discomfort of letting another person into my fridge and linen closet, but the result was the most rewarding.

Wrapping Up The Weekend

The most important outcome of this weekend was that I finished my presentation for PG Conf EU. That was a huge undertaking: I didn’t realize how much time it would take to build a new example with a sizable data volume when I submitted the proposal. It took me ten times longer to prepare this presentation than I thought it would take.

I challenged myself by announcing that I would deliver a rehearsal of my talk on October 18 at the Chicago PUG meetup. That meant that today was my last day (I am making dinner at the shelter on Monday).

I am glad that I could make this task a priority, but at the same time, I didn’t abandon everything: although for half a day only, Igor and I went to the Open House Chicago. Since both of us were time-constrained, Igor decided to focus on Rogers Park and Evanston (which we never did before).

I was most impressed with the Park Castle Condominiums. They were built in the late 1920s and went bankrupt ten years later.

The indoor swimming pool is astonishing!
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Cultural Activities Continue

I love the CSO at the Movies series, and yesterday, they were performing Milos Forman’s Amadeus. I have seen this movie multiple times and know it very well, maybe not by heart, but very close to that. Still, it felt as if I watched it for the first time. Perhaps, that’s because my friends who went with me didn’t see it before, and I got this fresh vibe from them. Perhaps, I was just happy to see my friends. Whatever it was, I felt very positive, elevated, and not tired, although the concert ended at 10-40 PM.

For the third time this week, I opted to call Uber, and this time, the ride price was utterly insane. I thought for a moment (after all, the Red Line is right there!), but then I knew that I might wait for a train for a good twenty minutes at this time of the day. I decided the additional 35 minutes of sleep was worth 35 bucks :).

A couple of days ago, I received an email from Greenleaf Art Center which said “we would love you to join us.” Since it was signed by the Ukrainian artist from whom I bought a print during the spring fundraiser, I thought that it would be his event. I was not sure whether I can spend more time on anything except for working on my presentation, but at the very last minute, I decided to go.

Turned out, it was an Art fair, and all studious were open, and I didn’t budget enough time to see even a quarter of the artworks…But I stopped at Khmara’s studio, and we talked a lot – about our love for Chicago, about the war, and about “no piece, but only victory.” So after all, I am so glad I went!

(And do I have to say, that I left this Art fair with another two silver rings?!)

Still, No Gym, But…

Our building gym which was flooded in September looks pretty much the same. It is completely dry, but the carpet is torn, and the lower parts of the walls, the electric outlets, and the heating elements are removed. We were informed that the Association is waiting for the insurance to approve the repairs.

Meanwhile, some of the equipment is moved to the adjacent part of the basement, including the stationary bike. For the first several days, I felt guilty going down to the basement and using the stationary bike in the dark corner surrounded by some random stuff, as if I am committing a crime (or at a minimum, some violation :)). Then, full of guilt, I also started to use some equipment (and I bought two 10 lb weights to use in my apartment, so I can exercise there as well).

Then one day when I mounted on a stationary bike, I noticed that it was set to a different intensity level than I set it . That meant that somebody else was also using it in the dark corner!

And finally, this week, I noticed that the equipment was in use by somebody else as well – I saw different weights and different attachments than the ones I used. That made me smile, because officially everybody is waiting for the gym to be reopen and nobody is using it.

To be honest, I have no idea why we all are so shy of admitting that we use it they way we can :). For me, there is no other exercising option at the moment, and it is too dark in the morning to bike.

Joffrey Ballet

If I won’t return my ticket for the Music of Baroque concert, I would have three concerts in a row (and other cultural events Friday and Saturday :)). Yesterday, I saw “Beyond the borders” performance at Joffrey Ballet.

It consisted of three independent pieces: Vespertine by Liam Scarlett, Colorem by Da Silva, and the remake of Suite Saint-Saëns by Gerald Arpino. The last piece should have been supposedly the best of all three, and judging by the audience reaction, that’s how most patrons felt, but I loved the first two way more, and I am not even sure which of them was the best. These two pieces of choreography as so unusual, so blowing-away, I stared at the stage as if I am hypnotized all the time. Unfortunately, I could not find good pictures of these pieces anywhere on the web, maybe, they will appear later. I still hope that these two photographs from Vespertine give some sense of how it looked!

Once again, there were not that many people in the audience, and I have no idea why – the show is brilliant!

Life Gets On The Way

I can’t catch up with life. I returned a ticket for today’s Baroque concert so that I could catch up on my emails, personal obligations, and to finally finish the example for my bitemporal presentation (there was a bug which I could not figure out).

And life kept getting on my way! Yes, I found a bug, and I found a couple of emails which I forgot to answer, but it’s so little in comparison with what I need to do! And in the middle of me doing all this work, I heard a bang on my door, and my neighbor stormed in with a whole bunch of technical problems (her phone is not working, her facebook is hacked, and more). I do not think I fixed any of that, but at least she walked out being less upset and with some Austrian chocolates.

Oh, and guess what – I found my Bavarian witch, and she’s hanging out on my balcony!

A Family Weekend

My girls were here over the weekend, and this time, nobody got sick (although somebody was coughing), and we did so many things together! We went to the Art Institute, did many art projects at home, drew with colored chalk in the courtyard, and biked!

Nadia stunned me by riding her bike for more than nine miles total! From my house to the Lakefront Trail, almost two more miles to the playground, and then back. I am telling you – an amazing kid!

Anna learned about refugees from me, and she managed to help them in so many ways that I can’t even describe, As I already mentioned, I do not want to talk a lot about this to protect people’s privacy, but just let me tell you – it has become a family project!

I am very sleep-deprived, but I won’t change anything about these past several days!

Refugees

so… I easily could skip this notification from the NextDoor, but I didn’t. And once I saw the situation the people are in, I could neither just walk away, nor drop some donations and check it done.

After one week of doing my best to help (with moderate success), I have a couple of statements to make:

  • It is awesome that we have so many organizations that help refugees
  • It’s ridiculous, that the refugees are not informed about them, and that there is no centralized agency which would direct them to the right resources
  • This whole system of affidavits is wrong, and I do not know how to make it right
  • Last week, I mentioned on this blog that I wonder why none of my Ukrainian friends ever told me that “I do not understand their situation,” and at the same time, most of my friends in Russia tell me that I do not understand their sufferings. Now, I want to make a similar statement. Why a refugee, who was a poll watcher, received multiple threats, had her friends arrested, and finally fleed Russia, why she is saying: Ukrainian refugees do not want to talk to us, I totally understand, after everything we did… and at the same time, people who are currently in Russia are saying: why the whole world is against us, just based on nationality.

Also, I am exceptionally thankful to Anna, who jumped in and spent a good part of her weekend her helping; to Igor who jumped in on the first day and helped in many ways, and to my next door neighbors, who donated not the things which they wanted to get rid of, but the items which were really needed.