big sisters are cool

I have a great big sister. The biggest. The best. She has proven her love to me with stuff. and cookies. I got a care package from Katy, with cookies, a family picture (sisters plus the puppies), a nice letter, candles, and a pretty fishie. Oh yeah, and some money. Now annie is fat and happy with cookies.
It was fun getting the package, actually - it was too big to fit in my mailbox in my building, so i had a slip saying i could go pick it up or fill out the slip to get permission to leave it. I figured that the post-office is only 1.5 miles away, so I hopped on my bike. It was exciting because it was both rush hour and a rainy day, but i knew i could do it, especially if i stuck to the neighborhood streets that are mostly one-way and have stop signs every block. they are terrible to drive on, but perfect for a chicken biker. the post office is on a busy street, though, so i got to test my biking skills and i did great. the postman was really friendly, i got my package, and had an uneventful ride home (except for the police arresting someone a block from my house, but that also didn't look too exciting, more routine than anything). then i opened my package nice and slowly, with a drink in one hand.

i am planning on going out tonight. really. i didn't go out on tuesday or wednesday (i plead exhaustion), but i really think i might be ready tonight. i'm going to ride the train into the city (i have my Chicago Card Plus, as of today, which means that riding the train is easier and feels even less like i'm spending money - and it saves me some money!) to go to Thunder Comedy Thursday at a bistro. apparently it's well known. we'll see.

i had a big day at work today - my first field day sans boss or anyone besides volunteers. I had 4 of those, all of them middle-aged women. It was sort of fun, although there were a lot of mosquitoes and poison ivy, and the plant we were looking for was nigh impossible to ID - Carex woodii looks like a lot of other Carex, as it turns out. surprise surprise. and also doesn't reproduce that much, and its reproductive structures are what all the keys are based on. and the GPS broke, making it impossible to trace back to last year's sites via technology. so we stuck to wandering through the woods with a compass and a poor map. it was fantastic.
actually, once the volunteers were gone, i had a smashing time crashing through the brush, hopping fences, getting muddy, and finding two previously unmapped populations of this rare species. so i'm satisfied.

time for dinner. Frijoles refritos! con Queso! y Arroz! que delicioso ...

living in a snowglobe

So, the cottonwoods are releasing their cotton. It's a very windy day today, so every time i look out the window it looks like i'm in a snow globe. There are little drifts of cotton around the bases of plants and near car tires. it's pretty cool - except that everyone with allergies is miserable.

I took my bike on the Metra today - exciting, successful, and really makes the trip from the train station to the office very quick. I miss a lot of the plants and the cicada emergence, but i guess it's better this way ...
now i'm going to see how it is the other way. nice and flat, either way.
... hooray for glaciers, i guess.

it's so weird to live with someone that i don't care about and that doesn't care about me. we ask each other about the other's day, but more because we're looking for entertainment and a good story than out of concern for the other's well-being.
a line from fight club comes to mind:

when people think you're dying, they really listen, instead...

                        
-- Instead of just waiting for their turn to speak.

not to be melancholy. just to relate. i'm not dying, so my roomie's not listening. i'd rather be healthy and unheard than dying and listened-to. at least we find each other amusing.

more fuzz, please

this is how severely cuddle-deprived i am:
i decided over the weekend that i need to start volunteering at an animal shelter so that i can pet fuzzy creatures and feel some love. so i found the website for the shelter in Evanston, and i found the page with all of the pictures and descriptions of the dogs and cats they have available. i started crying while i was reading about the puppies and what kind of people they want.
and i watched smallville.

happy anniversary, katy and adam

apparently it is impossible to buy poster frames for a reasonable price or from a reasonable selection in evanston. i've been to 3 or 4 different stores with no success - the last place i was in had the size i wanted, but for $40! i'm not made of money, here. i did make some friends at the custom framing shop, though. i told them i'd be back if i ever felt upscale.

now, tonight, if i'm feeling brave ... i can go to an irish music seisun ... i'm still not sure if i'll go. i hope i will.

finishing the bottle ...

after 2 more glasses, 10 minutes apiece, nothin' but charcoal:kitties!
yay!
cougars, specifically, i'm thinking.

it's amazing what a bottle of Riesling will do ...
3 colors of chalk pastel and charcoal, 20 minutes, only 1 glass of wine.
where's the ice? poor mr. polar bear ...

abusing the Lord's day

i just put in a 12-hour workday. so much for a day of rest. i drove to Wisconsin this morning, to a place called Lake Lulu, and taught a bunch of plant-freak volunteers how to monitor populations of rare, threatened, or endangered plants. then we actually monitored a population of these:Cypripedium parviflorum, or Yellow Lady's-slipper. A cute little guy - but growing in a poison sumac thicket. yikes.
then i drove home, and had to deal with all the holiday drivers. but i did get to see a car full of teenage boys (who had been harassing me) get pulled over by the cops. sometimes life *is* fair.
now, i am wearing a towel and eating a big bowl of delicious salad.
the only downside is that i wanted to go to a percussion concert at Northwestern this evening, but i got home too late.
another upside: i've now earned myself 2 vacation days (!)

white walls

if anyone (actually reads this and) gets the urge to send me things (besides money), here's a suggestion ... art! the walls here are pretty bare. i guess my roommate is a) somewhat of a minimalist and b) rarely spends time at home when he's not working, sleeping, or staring at the TV. but I like to have nice things on the walls, and i got rid of a lot of my wall decor when i left ithaca because some of it was very ... well ... college.

repressed memories

this morning, while looking in the mirror, i paused to admire my beautiful, lush eyebrows. i had a sudden flash of memory ...
danielle and i are in Borders, downtown on Michigan Ave. We reach the top of the escalator. A woman is stepping onto the down escalator. She looks at me. She turns around and jumps off the escalator and approaches. She says, excuse me. I couldn't help but notice. (She whips out some notecards with pictures of different pencil-thin, sculpted eyebrows) Would you be interested in a free eyebrow-shaping consultation?
I say, no thank you, I like them this way. and walk away.
But I can't help but feel a little self-conscious about my eyebrows.
It's hard to be a nonconformist with so many conformists around. It was a lot easier in Ithaca.

solo saturday on the town

i actually ventured out tonight ... i stayed in Roger's Park (3 stops away on the El) and went to a place that is a wifi-enabled coffeehouse and billiards parlor in one (which makes for an eclectic crowd), that hosts stand-up comedy on Saturday nights. The show was okay - i laughed some of the time, and it was a very intimate atmosphere - only about 10 people in the crowd, and about 6 or 7 performers (only 2 consistently funny ones), most of whom clearly perform together regularly.

all in all, this was a full day, i'd say. a new steed and a taste of the local scene. now off to bed so i can go to work in the morning ... instead of graduation.
i guess i'm sort of sad about that. it's weird to think of so many of my friends being in Ithaca with their families right now, while i'm not even in the same time zone as any of my family. i made my decision a long time ago, though.

new steed!

This is a Scwinn Caliente!
my brand-new bike, bought this morning from a nice man named Robert. Apparently his daughter is lazy and won't go bike riding with him.
I plan to use it to ride to Evanston, and possibly take it on the train to ride from the train station to work.
Next stop: bike shop for helmet and lock and light. I think i'll take the L, instead of riding the bike without a helmet. Although that seems to be the fashion in this city.

the neighborhood

this, the street outside:
many poorly parked cars,
also many trees.











Entrance into work.
Serene, secluded, and calm.
Smelling of flowers

an athair

my dad.

goal for the weekend

I'm going to find me a bicycle. Then I'm going to ride it.
I had a bike ... a nice old bike that used to belong to my grandma. my dad gave it to me, but I left it in Ithaca in Janni's capable hands. I hear it will soon make the trek back to Melrose.
In the meantime, I am going to buy myself another bike. Probably a nice old bike. None of those crazy racing bikes, just one to get around. I'm no athlete.
I've started looking on Craigslist ... I found a bunch of promising-sounding prospects.
I also asked Google about bike shops in the area. I think it would be a nice way to spend a Saturday, wandering the city looking at bikes. And hopefully finding one I like!

Friday afternoon blues

It's only 1:30, and everyone else has already left the office. Or just didn't come in. It's eerily quiet in here ... so I have no qualms about this. I already did my work for the day and have already started on next week's heap. It's so quiet - I guess now is the time to be productive!

I took the train in to work this morning - the Metra, as it's called here. Fantastic! It's double-decker, and I rode on top! sooooo cool.... i haven't been on one of those since Germany!
The train line runs parallel to Green Bay Rd, which is the bulk of my commute, for a lot of the time I'm on it, and it was so nice to look over and watch the cars and not have to worry about getting rear-ended, or cut off, or being late because of too many stoplights. I just sat there reading Edward Abbey (Desert Solitaire ... again) and watching my fellow commuters. There are always so many fascinating people on the train.

I think that I will go outside and look for the plants I'll be monitoring here next week. The deal is, we find a population of a rare, threatened, or endangered plant and then map the population and observe the habitat, associated species, invasive species threatening the population, and other threats to the population. Then we talk to the land manager and find out what they have been doing to the land. Then we put all the info in a database. Lather, rinse, repeat. There are now 6 years worth of data (this is #7), so we still have a couple more years to go before we can say anything really significant about population trends etc. A population viability analysis requires a long data set to actually mean anything.
Anyway, the plant i'm looking at next week is called Pretty sedge (among other things) and looks like this:
Carex woodii, if you're a nerd. Kind of a cutie. I'm excited because it grows in the woods, not on the prairie, and I like any excuse to hang out with trees.

This is the guy I saw yesterday:

Trillium erectum. Here, called Ill-scented trillium. Not a nice name for such an awesome flower.
Anyway. I will stop nerding out about plants. I'll resist.
Instead, I will go look at them!

what a letdown

Where are my horny cicadas? This so-called 'plague' so far is limited to a few sad kids wandering around looking for each other.

i want thousands! i want tree decimation and the crunch of bugs underfoot! but no ... i'll have to wait 17 more years and see if they can do better then.

i blame development. i hate to think how many pupating cicadas were dug up over the last 17 years.

Location: Chicago. Destination: Dreamland

I decided that blogging might be an efficient way to keep people updated since I am far from home and only sporadically reachable by phone. my cell phone has decided that it hates cities, and refuses to keep its signal. Sorry for losing you, Jan. and dad. and Katy. etc. So, if you've called and I haven't called back, that is probably why.

Soooo, the update on life in Chicago:
in brief ...

1. work is fine. anyone who is interesting in what i do: www.plantsofconcern.org. work is interesting, challenging, but it will get easier, i think. The people i work with are very friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. i spent a day out on the prairie already, and i'm learning that 'prairie' means 'flat, flat, too sunny, and really windy.' i am already learning some valuable lessons about interacting with volunteers, planning, and ecology. i accompanied my boss out into the field today to confirm the 3rd sighting of Trillium erectum in northern Illinois - very exciting for all involved (i didn't tell my boss that that's one of the more common (for a trillium!) species in NYS.

2. living situation is a-okay. i see my roommate rarely, as i am usually in bed by the time he gets home, and i am long gone to work by the time he gets up. he is cool. though, from what i've seen. my apartment is very nice, with wood floors and lots of space for 2 people. it's weird to have a tv - it keeps stealing my time!!


this is the ol' bedroom in the morning light. nothing on the walls yet. sheer laziness, i suppose.

3. the neighborhood i live in is fun. mostly because it's so different from what i'm used to. i live in an apartment building on a tree-lined street, 1 block from Lake Michigan (Loyola Park), 1/2 a block from 2 different coffee houses, 1/2 a block from the elevated train, and a few blocks from the real train. Also, 2 blocks from a big Mexican neighborhood. Apparently Mexican men like white girls! maybe all girls ... but they sure are vocal in their appreciation. There is a great produce store a block away, where i bought apricots for 99 cents a pound - and they're good, too! $1 for 20 limes! man, this stuff is crazy.

i have yet to really get to know the area. Danielle and i hung out downtown for a day (at the aquarium, then on the Miracle Mile, checking out the shops and eating Deep Dish pizza).

and i've spent a couple of evenings checking out my neighborhood (Roger's Park), and i explored Evanston, the next town up, this afternoon. I'm still adjusting to living like an adult, what with all the fending for myself. Tomorrow morning I check out the mass transit commute - otherwise i have to drive 30 miles a day when gas costs $3.80 a gallon. That's right, kids. Chicago tops the nation in gas prices. aren't we lucky!

In any case, tomorrow I'm going back to Evanston to check out ... the cell phone store! to see if they can help me with what seems to be a chronically ill phone. good-bye, paycheck. i hate depending on a cell phone! if this helps, everyone can expect a phone call over the weekend.

with love and snuggles from the (currently, very) windy city