Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Fixing Everything Broken

After almost two months of unsuccessful attempts to repair my under the sink cabinet, I finally found a person who fixed it and asked for only $20 for this job (I paid $30). The only other person who responded and came to take a look priced it for $75 at a minimum (“if there will be less than one hour work,” otherwise – twice as much). That was a happy moment amidst an otherwise miserable couple of weeks – all my attempts to secure this falling down board looked horrible. Even when nobody except for me could see it – I saw!

There was one more thing I needed to repair – the leaking sink in the first-floor half-bathroom. I didn’t notice for a while that it was leaking. When I realized the problem, there was already a lot of damage. However, the moment I realized it was mid-December when I could not take in anything extra. So I put several layers of the blue shop towels under the leaking pipe and left it until “after the holidays.” 

After the holidays, we had our virus disaster, and we were also finishing the book. It might sound unimaginable that I didn’t have time to repair the leaking pipe or to call somebody to come and fix it, but I was in a situation when I could not get any extra thought into my brain. Those who have been in a crisis situation will hopefully understand. 

When I finally put “fix this leaking pipe” into my weekend schedule, it was already mid -January. First, I tried to tighten the upper ring, but then I realized that the washers were worn out, and it was impossible to tighten it. Then I thought that if I put additional leak-protective tape over it, it will work, but it didn’t. I had to replace the drain and the tailpiece. 

I went to the ACE hardware, and first, pick the wrong part :). I went back, and this time, I picked the right one. Now, if you think about why I spent hours trying to do it myself when I had no time for anything, I can’t give a logical explanation. It’s just something about plumbing that since the kids were kids and lived at home, I believe that I should be able to resolve most of the plumbing issues myself. And through all these years, I was able to do many repairs, replacing many parts of that system. 

After spending hours, I finally connected everything, except for the lift-up rod, which kept sliding down. For some reason, I could not tighten the screw, which would keep it secured to one extra part connecting it to the pivot rode (I have no idea why this extra part was necessary). However, that was not the only problem. When I turned the water on, I realized that it still leaks a little bit.

That became really embarrassing: I spent hours trying to do it myself, and now I would have to call a plumber anyway!

When this handyman whom I asked to fix my under the sink cabinet showed up, I asked him if he was indeed not-do-any-plumbing, as he said when advertising his services. He said that he does not do “new stuff,” but “show me what the problem is.” I said that I am really embarrassed to have this problem, but.. He looked and asked whether I put any plumbing putty before installing the drain and started to explain what the plumbing putty is. I knew that I forgot to put the putty first, but I hoped I could get away without it. I had some plumbing putty, a little bit dried out but still usable. He said that I need to unscrew the ring, lift the drain, and insert a small putty ring. It didn’t work the first time, but then I managed to lift it up and afterward, tightened the ring really-really tight. After all, I was able to do it myself. Almost :))

The Weather And What’s Not

There was so much work at work for this whole week that I wanted to cry. I am reasoning with myself that by no means can I feel unhappy. There are way too many things that make me an exceptionally fortunate person, and I know that many people have real problems, so I should not complain. But I just felt very tired. I look back and do not understand where did the week go.
In the past several days, when I didn’t get a chance to write a single line here, the weather changed multiple times.

There were very snowy days, and I went sledding in the morning a couple of times. One morning, I had to clear my way.

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Reading Sophia Tolstaya Diaries

Some time ago, my friend posted several blog posts about Sophia Tolstaya, Leo Tolstoy’s wife’s Diaries. These posts prompted me to start reading.

It is a massive book; the diaries cover all her marital life, and at first, I wondered why I even started reading it and whether it is worth finishing. I never hesitate to drop the book if it does not feel engaging; that’s why my booklists end up being relatively short.

I had a completely different impression about Tolstoy and Sophia Tolstaya and their family life than my friend did. At some point, I thought that “I already got it,” and there is no reason to keep reading over and over about similar activities day by day, about the visitors, etc. But to my surprise, I found myself drawn to that book, and the more into the book, the more I got interested.

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About The Vaccination

All this vaccination thing in the Northwest Suburban Cook County is so disorganized! I knew for several weeks that my mom is in the priority group 1b and will become eligible starting on January 25. The date was approaching, and nobody knew anything! All the officials were like, “please be patient!” And I am fine being patient, but I wondered why there couldn’t be a normal wait line like they have in Finland. 

There was literally no information at first. Then, the Tribune published the URL where everybody was supposed to register “to receive updates.” In Lake County, everybody could see their number in line, and even in Chicago, it seemed easier to find a slot. 

I messaged mom’s doctor in Access to Care, and they replied that they do not provide the vaccination yet and that I should try to sign up mom with Cook County. I did and received a UUID with which I could theoretically sign her up, but in both vaccination centers, all slots were full. At the alternative providers, the situation was the same. 

Also, they had endless lists of Walgreens, Jewel Oscos, and Walmarts, which would have the vaccine, but once again, “all slots full.” And what I do not understand is why they can’t have some centralized place to sign up for all Oscos or all Walgreens. Instead, you have to try to sign up with each store individually, only to find out that there are no slots available.

On Sunday, mom received an email from the NW Suburban Cook County Health Department that they have more doses and people can sign up. My understanding is that they sent this message to everybody who signed up to be in line, without any priorities. Because when mom forwarded this email to me, and I tried to sign her up, there were once again no slots available. 

In the city, the situation seems better, but you need to have a city zip code. Vlad, Igor, and I discussed whether we could pretend that mom lives with one of them :).

All of a sudden, today at midday, I received a message that Access To Care started to vaccinate and that mom can sign up. Which I immediately did, signing her for next Monday afternoon – the first appointment available. 

Now, I am cautiously optimistic, but I will believe it when I see it!

Just Saying

I think that there is something fundamentally wrong in the situation when the first weekend I am not writing a book, I spent eight hours doing work from work (like work, which I didn’t have time to do on Thursday and Friday and which I won’t have time for on Monday. And which still has to be done.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

A great alternative to the stuffed peppers I’ve been making all my life!

Hettie D.'s avatarHealthy Cooking - Hettie's Way

When I saw this recipe, I immediately remembered how many years ago I used to make stuffed peppers. We stuffed them with the mix of rice and ground beef, and I stopped making them because I stopped liking the rice.

But when I saw this recipe with quinoa, I immediately thought that I could substitute rice with buckwheat, which I am already doing in many recipes.

I made three smaller peppers with buckwheat, ground chicken and onions, and two larger green peppers with mushrooms and finely sliced bell peppers of different colors.

And I steamed them for about 30 min. And they turned to bee soooo yummy!

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Galernaya 57: My Childhood House

I do not have any pictures of the apartment I lived in for the first twenty-one years of my life. But about ten years ago, my old friend, who still lives in Saint Petersburg, went there and took several pictures outside my former house. If I wrote the family history properly from the very beginning, I would tell about this building in its portion related to the 1920s. That’s when my family first moved in there. But since I am writing in random order, this post is here:)

We lived in one of the oldest city districts. As it was very frequent in Saint-Petersburg, the house had a rectangular shape with a courtyard inside. One of the facades faced one street, and the opposite facade faced the parallel street. The other two sides were inseparably close to the houses on the right and the left.

The house we lived in was built at the beginning of the 19th century by the Italian architect Giacomo Quarengi for the Anglican mission. The Chuch wing was facing the English Embankment, and the opposite wing was facing Galernaya street. The street was named this way because of the Galley Shipyard located at its west end. The shipyard was there since the city was founded. It is still there even now, although the ships which are built there are not galleys anymore. The word galera means galley in Russian.

Here is the street view. The first one is in the direction of the shipyard, and the second – in the direction of the Alexander’s Garden:

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Multiple Reasons To Be Upset

Over the past seven months, I was praising Metra commuters for wearing masks and keeping the distance. 

However, tonight, on my ride back home, two middle-aged guys in the car were sitting in front of each other with no masks talking and drinking beer. I didn’t realize they were mask-less until I got up to exit. When I saw it, I told them: guys, you should wear masks on the train! It’s a requirement! They ignored, and the next passenger leaving the car said something about assholes, referring to them. Again, they didn’t care, and it was really upsetting. 

Yesterday, when I talked to Mom, I found out that she forgot that I gave her Kindle for her birthday, and she even forgot what the Kindle is. Fortunately, she found it, and I took it home to copy a book she wanted to read. After work, I stopped by her place to return her Kindle and make sure she knows how to use it. We practiced several times, and she just emailed me, “thank you for your gift.” I am very tired and upset each time I talk to her, and I do not understand why. It does not take a lot to listen to her for half an hour, and I do not understand why it.

Also, it’s a lot of work at work! And I mean just urgent work, which needs to be done, I am very sorry that people need to wait for days for me to do small things, but I can’t squizz more in my days than I do now.

And a vaccine. The disorganization is above and beyond anything I saw before. With Mom being eligible, I still can’t sign her up. I know that I need to start taking her to places because otherwise, her brain will die. But now, that vaccine is so close; you do not want to expose her till she is vaccinated… 

Also, one of the very important Postgres people emailed me about our “not enough” licenses on our data sources in the postgres_air database, and I spent the rest of the evening (after mom) putting these licenses together. 

Why is it that objectively, I am on the peak of everything, but subjectively I feel really exhausted? 

Sledding

I love it:). Love sledding, always loved it. And there is a big sledding hill right by my house, We used to go there with the kids, even when me kids were young adults :). But for some reason, I can’t make myself going sledding when I am by myself, and there are parents with kids on the hill. I feel embarrassed, and I do not know why.

I was anticipating today’s snow. Since going to the office is optional, I planned ahead to work from home. And early in the morning, at 7-45, to be exact, I took my sleds from the basement, put my snow pants on and left the house form the back door:). It’s the shortest way to the sledding hill, not like I didn’t want my neighbors to see me:).

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Are They Really Afraid Of Black People?

Last week, during my zoom birthday lunch, I mentioned that there are way too many coyotes wandering around Palatine these days, and how I saw a full-grown coyote on the bike path, and he was not afraid of people. I mentioned that people are concerned that coyotes attack dogs and that I agree there are too many of them around.

Vlad suddenly said very sharply: good! If people are afraid of coyotes, they might decide that coyotes are more dangerous than black people and decide to move to the city.

I was like: Vlad, what are you talking about?! People are not afraid of blacks! Vlad: they do! They just do not say it! Look, people are saying they are afraid to get on the CTA, and if you ask them why they would be: I am afraid of people on the CTA. And if you keep pressing, it would be – they are afraid of blacks. I tried to protest, but then all of them (my kids, I mean) told me that I am an exception, and all other people who live in the burbs think differently.

I told them that I do not think I am an exception and that more of my co-workers live in the city than in the burbs. But in the next several days following this conversation, I had several encounters that proved Vlad’s point.

One of my younger co-workers reacted at the Sanders on the CTA mem on Slack and said that “he has not been on CTA since March, and is not looking forward to it”. And I chose not to ask why. Which I probably should. Then, when I talked with my neighbor, she told me about her granddaughter who will teach in the city and is going to live in the city, and she (my neighbor) thinks it’s not safe. I shook my head, and she asked: you disagree? But it’s not safe! Give it some time for things to settle down.

And the next day, there was a conversation with my other younger co-worker about renting in Chicago, with the same question: is this neighborhood safe?

I tried to answer in detail, explaining that “safe” is a rather relative term, and you should know how to operate in each neighborhood, and giving lots of examples. And do not take me wrong, I agree that young people moving to the city should do their homework and research the neighborhoods’ specifics, safety, and everything. But … I do not even know how to describe it, but sometimes I can hear that these young people were instructed by adults who know nothing about the city except that it is “unsafe.” And I hate when people come to Chicago (not now but in normal times) “just for work,” and do not know anything except for the way to their office, and never try to explore anything else. Because everything outside the Loop is “unsafe.”

Not like I can do anything with this situation. But I feel very sad and annoyed with it…