Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

TIME Magazine: How To Get A Real Rest

The funny story is that although the title of that article is the one I mentioned in this post header, the URL reads “how-to-rest-more-effectively,” which sounds like a joke in relation to what this article is about. It says that not everything has to be “effective” and that one should learn just to rest, period.

I am glad that Boris didn’t see this article because he keeps telling me that I should sometimes “do nothing.” To be fare, I “do nothing” when he is around more often than at other times, but then, of course, I have to compensate for that!

I reread this article several times. Fine, rest should be enjoyable. What if the thing I enjoy most is crossing the things off my list? What if I do not feel good if I haven’t done anything meaningful during the day? Would you agree with what this article says?

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: How To Get A Real Rest” →

That’s My Way!

After The Conference

It has been four days since the conference. After a complete relaxation on Saturday, I started to return back to reality, which included going through three hundred non-work emails and dozens of work requests.

A huge portion of my non-work emails was Postgres-related, conferences-related, or otherwise not-really-personal. I am still not through all of them, although I hope that I didn’t miss anything really urgent. Here is what I’ve done so far:

  • Posted the questions for PG Day Chicago feedback
  • Discussed “lessons learned” from the conference day with other organizers
  • Collected feedback from room hosts
  • Emailed several people with whom I talked at the conference and promised to email
  • Scheduled May meetup
  • Published a blog about PG Day Chicago
  • Checked all bills that have accumulated during the past two weeks
  • Paid everything that was due 🙂
  • Emailed the dates when I can volunteer at the Night Ministry
  • Decided on the dates when I can do several shows I want to attend in May and June
  • Figured out most of my May-June schedule
  • Ordered a new dishwasher

The things I still didn’t do and need to do in the next couple of days:

  • Schedule the rest of the conversations I’ve promised to schedule
  • Record a sample video for an online conference where I will present in June
  • Prepare the actual presentation for this conference
  • Submit proposals to three conferences which will be happening this fall and which I want to attend
  • Write two professional blog posts
  • Write a LinkedIn recommendation I’ve promised
  • Find time to meet with three more people with whom I want to meet

Plus, lots of biking (the sunrise is finally early enough!), lots of shows to see, and the full Chicago summer ahead!

Saturday

On Saturday, I allowed myself to have a day of complete relaxation. I know that the description that will follow won’t sound like a relaxation to many people, but it definitely was for me.

For the first time that week, I had breakfast at home with Boris, and we took time, and talked, and I was not running anywhere. Then I took a train to the look to meet one of my peers with whom I wanted to talk but didn’t have time before or during the conference. I gave her a mini-tour of the Loop while we were walking to the CAC building, where her actual tour was about to start.

Then I returned home, and we had lunch. Then, we did a couple of small house projects and headed to the CSO. It was the first time that I booked a pre-concert dinner at the Thomas Club on the 9th floor of the Chicago Symphony Building -and we both loved it! Everything: the view, the ambiance, the food and drinks, and the service was just perfect!

As for the concert, it was something I never heard before! Both the CSO and the Jazz in Lincoln Center Orchestra were on stage, and the performance they gave together was smashing!

Both Shostakovich and Prokofiev’s pieces are more than well-known to us: most of them were often on the radio in the Soviet Union, but their interpretation was so unusual that we could hardly recognize them. Two hours of pure joy 🙂

PG Day Chicago – We Did It!

Hey Chicago – We did it!!!

Happening on May 1

Two Upcoming Events

Conference Setup

Bike Repair

I planned to take my bike for maintenance when Boris was in town even before I got a flat tire last Sunday, and then I had to take care of both. On Saturday, I called the bike shop to check that they were open and started walking in their direction. It would take about 20 minutes because I couldn’t walk fast when I was walking my bike along, and I dreaded the situation. But just when I exited the alley and turned to Jarvis Square, I saw a Curbside Bicycles pop-up – it was so timely, I couldn’t believe I was so lucky!

The repair person said she could change the inner tube, but she kept looking down at my bike and asked: is it all you want to do? I admitted that I needed a full checkup, and I had concerns about the chain as it started to fall off too often. She measured it and said – yes, you need a chain replacement and probably a cassette replacement as well. It was 10-30, and I said that I needed to go somewhere at 3, so she said she would be done by then.

She texted me at 2-30, and I went down to pick up the bike. She gave me a complete description of what she noticed and what she had done, and that the brakes would still be noisy, but there was no technical concern there. She described the thorn she pulled out of my back wheel and how it almost looked like a nail!

The time saving and the level of service were not even close to what I would get otherwise, so I consider this business competition to be won by Curbside Bicycles!

4-day Work Week

I am absolutely sure that the work week has to be shorter than 40 hours. Whether that’s fewer hours in a day or fewer days in a week – I am not so sure. This TIME Magazine article says it’s not always as good as you may think…

Continue reading “4-day Work Week” →

A Moment Of Parental Pride

Raise your children well 🙂