Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Flying Back

I flew back from LA to Chicago last Sunday, on the day of switching to daylight saving time. My original flight was about 11 AM, but then I switched to the first flight of the day so that I won’t spend the whole day on the flight (and I had a show at Theo that evening).

Although that meant I had to be up before 4 AM of DST, it was the right decision – I believe, that’s the only way for an American Airlines flight to be on time :). I was unsure whether the lounge will be open – in ORD, they open the AA lounge at 5-30AM, and even later, at 6 AM, in Helsinki. Maybe they stay open 24X7 at LAX, I don’t know, but at 5:05 AM they were open and breakfast was available – the first normal breakfast, with fruits, that week!

Then, same as on the inbound trip, there was no food on the plane, and by the time I was out of the aircraft, it was already six hours after this breakfast. I still wanted to get home ASAP, because I had chances to bike while the weather was nice, so I didn’t stop in any of the airport cafes, and preceded to the Uber pickup spot.

Judging by the driver’s name, there were high chances he was Muslim, so I said that I apologize of he is fasting, but would it be OK with him if I munch on a bisquit since they didn’t feed us during the flight. He said is was fine, and then he asked me whether I want a date, because it’s the best after you didn’t eat for a while. It was so unexpected tha I said “yes”, and he pulled out a napkin with several gigantic soft dates, and I took one. It tasted heavenly.He proceeded telling me how he was caught during the previous night “missing hour” with not being able to get in time to a cafe opened until 3 AM, because 3 AM happened right after 1 AM, and how he was well prepared on that day (“I also have oranges, if you’d like!”) He definitely made my day!

Just FYI…

… since people ask. I have blogged very little recently compared to my usual activity, not because I am super busy (I am, but not to that extent), but because I do not want to write about three-quarters of the things happening in my life right now.

It should be over at some point. And I am taking a mental health day tomorrow, and I hope to catch up with life and become more human:).

Pasadena

The weather was horrible most of the time, and also, I was busy with multiple work and non-work things and the only time I did some sightseeing was for a couple of hours on Saturday, when I met with my friend Tanya and she took me to see Pasadena Town Hall and American Pacific Museum.It was great to catch up with her, and also, that was the only day when the weather was nice!

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Time Magazine: Balance

I know that the abilityh to balance is a very important indicator of how you are actually aging, and this Time Magazine article talks about it in-depth.

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Hotel Dena

I loved the hotel, all its retro decor, my room, and the gym. The only thing that I strongly disliked was food, breakfast specifically, but I already lamented about it.

Now, some nice pictures.

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A Post Of Food Complaints

As it turned out, American Airlines does not serve food or even have food for purchase on the flight to LA. I was in the lounge before the flight, but it didn’t even occur to me to take an apple on board – I was absolutely sure I could purchase something during the flight. It turned out that the only thing I could purchase was alcohol, chips and almonds!

With the flight delay, and the time it takes to get from LAX to Pasadena, it was 8-30 PM local time when i got to the hotel, so it was already 10-30 PM CT, and I didn’t want to go to the restaurant, all I wanted was to go to bed.

I woke up at 3 AM (5 AM CT), and forced myself to sleep for a little bit more. I didn’t want to switch to PT time because it was for three days only, and Sunday is Daylight Saving Time switch, and my flight is very early, so it didn’t make much sense. However, breakfast at hotel started at 6-30AM, and I needed to survive until that. I grabbed some snacks in the 24 -hour self-service shop on the hotel;s first floor, and there was coffee in the room, but still…

On top of that, the hotel breakfast was mediocre at most. When I see “breakfast included” I assume there will be breakfast buffet, but instead, I was given vouchers for each of the days, and the only thing you could get on this voucher was your choice of eggs (sramble, fried, sunny side) with your choice of toast and coffee or tea. That’t it. I asked for cappuccino, and they said “it was not included.” I said that I could pay for it, they said:OK, and in ten minutes, they brought me regular coffee. 🤷🏻‍♀️

There is no food served at the Expo; the talks start at 10 AM local time, which meant noon for mw, and a lunch break (when you needed to go and find your lunch) was from 1-30 to 2-30 PM! The Starbucks in the building helped,but overall, I don’t know what to say! Let’s just say that the first day, and the whole stay was very food-challening!

If You Ever Lived In Chicago…

I met many new people at the conference, including two people who currently live in Chicago and one who lived in Chicago before. When I said that I live in Chicago, all of them immediately asked the follow-up question: Where in Chicago? To which I proudly replied: Rogers Park.

There is probably nothing to be especially proud of or make a big deal of, but I love how much Chicago neighborhoods define us! I love how many questions are answered by this one reply: I am from Rogers Park, that’s my neighborhood!

And while we are on the topic of Chicago, I shamelessly promoted the city to the international conference participants, so I hope more international speakers will come to us in the future!

Having Fun At SCaLE!

For The First Time!

I have had my Christmas cookies returned to me a couple of times, either from US customs, or because I didn’t provide the recipient’s phone number to call, or, once, because of an address change about which I didn’t know. But there was never anything like that!

I sent a box to Prague (for the first time), and it arrived more or less on time, but then it stuck in the customs clearance and didn’t move. My friend, who was the gift recipient, tried to find out what was happening, but with no luck. It turned out that they sent the box back to me, and it arrived last Saturday.

It so happened that my friend was attending the same conference, and I asked her whether she wanted me to bring the parcel along. I decided to keep it sealed so that we could open the box together and see what have survived.

I could never imagine the picture I saw! Each cookie was unwrapped, and most of them were broken into smaller pieces as if the customs were trying to find something inside. Then, they threw all the wrapping back into the box and sealed it!

I would never believe it if I didn’t see it with my own eyes!

And Flying Again!

This time, to Pasadena for a conference. The American Airlines lounge at Terminal 3 now feels like home – I’ve been there so many times, that I have “my” spot.

The flight was showing on time, and I could not believe it! Still, the boarding was announced, and I hurried to the gate.

Guess what? We all got in, and then the captain announced: in case you didn’t notice, it started to snow, so now we need to go through de-icing, and it’s a long line ahead of us, so will will be here for at least 30 minutes.

It ended up being an hour. Well, I should say – only an hour!