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 ...