Hettie’s Reflections – Blog Posts

Thistlefoot – A Book Review

I do not remember where this recommendation came from, but the description looked intriguing, and I purchased the audiobook. And in the beginning, it sounded awesome: Baba Yaga died in Kyiv and left her House on Chicken Legs to her youngest female descendant 70 years after her death. An attorney finds the descendants in the US, and the House on Chicken Legs arrives in a container, stretches it’s legs to the horror of the witnesses, and the story goes on. Then, there is a mysterious Russian who tries to follow the House, and we are not sure what his evil plans are.
I thought, it would be a great story, but then, the historical inaccuracies start to pile so high, that it was impossible to ignore them, and the story becomes uninteresting. Baba Yaga suddenly becomes a Jewish woman who lives in the pale of settlement. I could live with that, but next, in 1919, there are “Russian soldiers” who are “protecting the tsar”, and simultaneously, there is an October Revolution, Denikintsy, the White Army, the ‘Russian soldiers” defending “the tsar and Fatherland” and the ”government sanctioned pogroms.” Yes, I understand that the book is about historical memory, and keeping history alive and so on, but when the history is so brutalized, it’s difficult to come to terms with “presenving history.”

I felt this reading as a completely wasted time. I still listened to the end, because I couldn’t believe “that’s it.” And there is a good idea at the end, but one paragraoh is a poor justification for a long book.

Uber

I wanted to post it here since it’s not often that you have to say something good about Uber, but today I have something.

I ordered Uber for 5 AM to get to the Milwaukee Intermodal Station, and at about 2/3 of that trip, the driver noticed a pressure in a tire going down. It was going down really fast, but he said he would be able to make it to the station, and he did. Just now, I received a message from Uber:

Hi Henrietta‍,

We received a report indicating that your vehicle experienced a flat tire during a recent trip. We understand this was a frustrating experience. 

While I know it doesn’t totally make up for the inconvenience, we’ve fully refunded this trip which will apply to your original payment method in a few business days. You’ll also receive an updated receipt via email.

We appreciate you handling this challenging situation in the most professional way possible and we know it’s not always easy.

Once this information is received, we’ll be able to assist you further.

Thank you.

And if you think it’s not a big deal, and that’s what I should expect, I can tell you that several years ago, an Uber driver dropped me in the middle of nowhere when he had some car issue, and he didn’t bother to report Uber or send another car to pick me up, and I could even tell where w=exactly I was dropped. And although I complained to Uber, they didn’t refund this trip; the only thing they did was that they marked the driver for not even being matched with me.

So. Thank you, Uber. And I tipped the driver, even though they refunded the fare!

***

Anna’s surgery #2 went well; at least, we are hopeful. For some reason, I thought it would be shorter (it wasn’t), and I thought that I would have time to finish the unfinished parts of my presentations, which I was hoping to finish last weekend (and the one before last).

It didn’t happen either, and although I (sort of) took time off work today, I ended up working and finishing something work-related later in the evening. There is a lot going on with the conference, but the same as with work, this is confidential information, so I can’t rant about what’s going on.

All I can say is that I have many reasons to be upset, but I am not, and I am trying to figure out how I can use my internal resources in the best possible way.

Packing On Short Notice

When you go for a one-da trip, you don’t really need to pack anything. But when you are going for one day and two nights, then all of a sudden, you have to pack a lot!

My trip to Milwaukee was very spontaneous this time. Also, I was mentally preparing for my European trip, and didn’t have a Milwaukee list in my head. And also, I was determined to go without any luggage, just my regular work backpack and a tote (this proved to be a great idea because after the snowfall, the thaw, the rain and freezing again, the streets became unwalkable). On Monday night, I made sure I packed everything except for the toothbrush, which would be packed in the morning. Still, in the morning, I suddenly realized that I forgot my chargers (and since the latest iPhone is charged by USB C, I needed an extra cord!).

I was very proud of myself that I remembered about the chargers, and stuffed them into my backpack. And only after I arrived at the Rogers Park railway station, I suddenly realized that I left my work phone charging! (and without the work phone I won’t be able to work remotely, the work laptop requires two-factor authentication)

I am very thankful to Igor who saved me and brought the phone to my office!

Don’t Trust Amazon!

A couple of weeks ago, when I had to change a light bulb in the hallway ceiling light fixture, I realized that even my tallest ladder was not tall enough for that. I give myself credit for not pushing this task to “sometime later” but making myself do it “now.” Still, it as a stunt. I had to move the ladder closer to the wall and touch the wall with one hand while standing on the ladder landing. And to be honest, I needed both hands because I had to unscrew this thing in order to change the light bulb.

I have a very lightweight ladder which Boris and I bought in ACE Hardware shortly after we moved to Rogers Park, and I love it. But having the ceilings as high as mine, this ladder is not high enough. When last time an electrician came to fix my ceiling fan remote, I asked him to let me measure his ladder, and it turned out I needed two more steps (or two more feet).

First, I tasked Boris with finding a ladder that would be comparable to what we have now, just taller. The ladder I have now weights 6 lb., which is a record light, and I was hoping to find something around 10-12 lb. Boris researched it for a while but didn’t find anything. Then I researched and I couldn’t find it either. Then, I looked at “best recommendations,” and the vote came for a ladder that was 18 lb. Boris said: no way, and then took another look at Amazon and found the ladder, which was said to be either 9.5 lb (in the description) or 14.5 lb (in the product specs). I ordered that one, and it arrived, and… it weights 17.7 lb!!!!

Two conclusions:

1 – The “best recommendation” looks reasonable

2 – Never trust Amazon. With anything!

TIME Magazine: Less Social Media?

To be clear, the question mark is mine, not TIME’s. This is one of many new-year-resolution-related articles called “How to reset your relationships with social media?”

I keep wondering why people want to use social media less – I feel like I am not doing enough of it because I do not have enough time. Often (and this article is not an exception), the author would emphasize “meeting with people” and “communicating in person” instead of on social media. In my case, however, the only people with whom I communicate on social media are people whom I know in real life but who either live too far from me or have challenging schedules. This way or the other, it is not easy to regularly communicate in person, and I want to know what they are up to. I often feel that my very real friends are upset when I do not pay attention to their lives. And it’s not just “them,” I would love to be informed about what’s up with them. As for professional social media, it’s even more important. Firstly, I also know many of these people in person, and secondly, in my profession, it is vitally important to stay on top of what are the new things others are doing. I always feel like I am missing out on important professional updates (until somebody pings me explicitly).

Anyway, here is the article (and I am trying to do almost all the opposite of what they suggest!)

Continue reading “TIME Magazine: Less Social Media?” →

What They Say

I saw this video clip in my friend’s blog, and I agree with her that more people should see it. It has English subtitles, which I can confirm is accurate. I wish I could say it’s a fake, but it isn’t.

My Lake, My Love!

I didn’t take pictures of Lake Michigan last weekend, although the view was spectacular: The lake was so much warmer than the air that it was steaming like a giant cup of hot tea.

I saw it from the car window when we were heading to the Aquarium, and I couldn’t take a good picture then, and I couldn’t make myself get out of the house one extra time. Yesterday, it was already much warmer, so I went to say hello to the lake.

January 19

I didn’t feel birthday-ly on January 19, but not because I was upset or miserable or whatever. It was just that I met with the family on Sunday, and we talked about my past year, how I feel about it, and what I am looking forward to. And my actual birthday was just a date. There were two goals I had for January 19: to do some things that I love doing and to go to bed at 10:30. The latter one didn’t happen again, but I keep trying.

So the day was just Friday, the way I like it. I worked out in the gym

Went to work, had time to have breakfast in peace and quiet, and talked to Boris before work started.

Continue reading “January 19” →

Vlad’s Travels

Vlad was in Japan for a work trip, and we hardly heard from him. A couple of times, somebody would pass a link, or he would post on Instagram a clip from news coverage, a photo of the newspaper page, or an article link – all in Japanese! I sent some links to my friend in Japan (Anna asked suspiciously whether my friend actually speaks Japanese😂). I was unsure whether my friend would be interested, but I sent the link anyway. She reacted enthusiastically but without much detail. When I sent her one more Instagram post, and she reacted enthusiastically again, I finally asked her whether she could tell me what it was all about. She was happy to fill me in and said she sort of forgot I could not understand it!😀

Here is this post, and Vlad is on the fifth and on the last photo: