A summer weekend when Lena comes to Chicago is always special. We have some favorite activities that we do each time, and we always try something new. Here is a short summary of all our activities.
Lena arrived on Friday evening. It was not super late, and we tentatively planned to go to Jarvis Beach and even went there, but the wind was cold, and we didn’t feel like getting into the water (and even more so – getting out), so we just sat there and talked, and then went home.
On Saturday, I went for an early bike ride by myself, and Lena just walked to the lake.
A part of me catching up with life was attending four shows in three days, each of them initially planned to attend with different people
Friday evening was a Matchmaker at the Above the Law theater. I went with my mom because so far, that has been one of the few places that she liked, and that was so close to her home. I am unsure what she was unhappy with this time. I suspect that that’s because it was “too late,” although I do not know what she expected. She stayed silent all the time during the show and on our way home, and didn’t talk about it the next day.
I loved it! Absolutely amazing acting! My first impression was that they changed the plot significantly, but then I reread the original script and realized that it mostly remained untouched.
The acting was impeccable (as always), so it was an enjoyable evening regardless.
On Saturday, I had two events at the Joffrey Ballet, and since the Red Line still has the weekend closures, I spent a lot of time commuting 🙂 The first one was a subscriber appreciation event in the morning: a light brunch and an open rehearsal. I had attended one of these events previously, so this time, the reason to attend was to take my friend Y. with me. I didn’t have a chance to see her for several months, and asked for her understanding; she was patiently waiting. The first time I had the opportunity to take her out was that one; it was her first time, and she really enjoyed it (although I suspect she enjoyed seeing me the most :)). Unfortunately, she had to leave earlier because she misread my message about the event duration, but she loved what she saw.
I can’t be in Helsinki without meeting with my friend Natasha! I was so thankful that, even though she now works full-time, she still found time to stop by my coworking space after work, and we sat and talked for almost two hours! (And yes, I love that we could do it in the same space, and it was OK with everyone)
Natasha brought me a bag of Ukrainian sweets: there is a new store operated by Ukrainian refugees, and they ship directly from Ukraine. She was happy to support their business, and the sweets taste great (and it’s a terrific idea to mix all varieties in one bag – I can barely find two of the same kind!).
(I might still bring some of them home, althought I can’t guarantee :))
I had an overnight flight from LA, and it was also a day of switching to DST, which resulted in a 3-hour time change. With the flight lasting less than four hours, I slept so little that my Apple watch didn’t even scream at me, but made a sad face: bad nights happen!
Also, I didn’t realize that the CTA was doing something on the Red Line Lake station, so when I exited the Blue Line at Washington, and walked to the Red Line, I found everything closed and a CTA worker explaining to me that I needed to return to the Blue Line exit, get out to the street and walk to Wabash where the Red Line was rerouted for a day. And if I knew, I could just get off at the previous stop and transfer! Another 30 min without breakfast 😂
Finally, I got home, ate breakfast at 9:30 AM, started laundry, talked to Boris, visited my Mom, and went for a short bike ride. Yea, I know!!! But that was not it!
I had a ticket to the Drowsy Chaperone at Theo that night, and I was going to go there with my friend MaryAnn, so there was no question of not going.
Don’t take me wrong, I liked the show, it was something very unexpected, and very well done, but MaryAnn was crazy about the show, and kept telling me how much she liked it. And I was happy that she was happy 🙂
Unfortunately (and as always!), they do not have any pictures and videos from the show yet, because it was just a preview weekend, but I will update this post later!
As I’ve mentioned many times, I love it when Lena visits me because we like the same things, and I can have a perfect weekend with her, engaging in all my favorite activities.
I always try to make her feel a little bit “on holiday” when she visits me, and she does the same when I visit her. That said, I cooked her favorite dishes, made tiramisu, and showed her some hidden treasures in Rogers Park. She also went on early morning walks and explored the neighborhood (as seen in the pictures below)
At the Chicago border
We talked for hours. We didn’t solve all world’s problems, but we definitely registered consensus over them:). Also, with Lena’s blessings, I aquired one more orchid:
When I planned my trip to Prague, I thought I would be able to take extra days off for an “unpaid conference,” but in 2026, the PTO tracking changed, and as a result, I no longer received “unpaid conference time.” I am still going to contest it, because I still took my work computer with me, and I still did quite a bit of work while there.
But as for Monday, it was a legit working day. I didn’t go to co-working because I had to leave for the airport before 3 PM, and I still wanted to have some time with Boris. I worked from 7:30 AM to 2:30 PM, with only a break for a 30-min walk, and then we headed to the airport, where I kept doing things from the lounge, and still did one work meeting from the hotel, and still dialed in to work a couple of times on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Aside from that, the whole trip to Prague was uneventful in a good way and very productive. The hotel where I stayed (Vienna House Diplomat) was much better than the one I stayed at last year, in all aspects. The room was better, and the gym was on-site and very well equipped. The reception told me that there was an extra charge of 10 euros per visit, but it was totally worth it. The gym had everything, was way more spacious than the one at my Helsinki coworking space, and opened at 6 AM (actually, even a little bit earlier than that!)
The area by the hotel cafe
This time, I knew what the venue looked like, so I didn’t spend time wandering around the University campus. There were no technical issues with my workshop; the class was full, people listened, reacted, and thanked me many times.
Also, this time, I didn’t have to leave on the same day, so I could stay for the speaker’s dinner and for two-thirds of the talks on Wednesday. I met with everyone I planned to meet, had some unplanned meetings, and all conversations were very productive. I hope that I secured a couple of new sponsors for PG DATA 2026.
My friend Gulcin promised a birthday cake for my belated birthday celebration, and brought a box of delicious pastries! Everyone who was there tried at least a little bit 🙂
People still can’t believe that I turned 63. Gulcin asked me what the secret of my youthfulness is, and as usual, I responded that the secret is that I always do what I want to do, and never do the things I don’t want to do :). She and another person who was there even posted about it on LinkedIn, which was funny.
I brought cookies for those people who didn’t want to rely on the mercy of the Postal Service
Also, the Lighting talks organizer convinced me to submit a lighting talk, so I gave a five-minute into to my new project, and used this opportunity to advertise PG DATA.
Overall, despite many problems I currently have at work and with many of my non-work activities, my mood is significantly better than before the conference.
Speakers and volunteers photo
I am finishing this post on my flight to London, and for some reason, my Google Photos is not available. I will add more photos from the hotel when I am on another provider 🙂
On Saturday, I met with my friend Natasha and her daughter (and my goddaughter) Sonia, and Natasha suggested we go to Tapiola, a 1950s project of integrating urban development with nature. I have never been there, and for Natasha, that’s the place she lived when she was a kid, and she wanted to show it to me.
Once again, it might have been better if it weren’t so cold, but it was still very interesting. Retrospectively, I should have taken more pictures!
Used audio and video materials sale in the local libraryAn outdoor pianoThere is a small but really interesting toy museum in Tapiola, but unfortunately, we could not find descriptions in any language, so we often had to guess what period the toys belonged to.
We ended our field trip with a visit to the cafe that makes the biggest cinnamon buns one can imagine:
Natasha and I shared one bun but even a half was of a size of two regular buns!
During the past week, two more gifts arrived by mail. The first one was presumably the last Christmas gift from one of my German friends:
The reason I didn’t post it right away was that I forgot to take a picture of the cookies, and then I kept forgetting, and the cookies kept disappearing :). I still have some left back home, but now I am traveling, and I thought it was not fair to wait till February :).
And on Friday, just a couple of hours before I headed to the airport, I received a package from my friend Lena form Ann Arbor:
And I am sure you guessed which one was my favorite: a kolacki ornament!
My friend from Kenya was in the US over the holidays, visiting her friends in Pittsburgh. I mailed her cookies to her friends’ address, and she mailed me the gift she brought from Kenya. It was a really bright spot in my challenging week.
I don’t know why New Zealand is the closest place to Chicago in the whole world, but my New Zealand Christmas present always arrives first, without fail!
Hettie's Reflections 