Hey, we're drowning here
It rained today. More importantly, it rained last night, all night, with the requisite thunder and lightning and occasional cloudbursts, drenching the Washington area with rapturous abandon. I love falling to sleep with the windows open, the sound of rain and thunder and the semi-regular explosions of light as well as the raw smell of wet air my own private lullaby. Better, when I woke the soaking grayness of the sky blocked out the usual searing sunlight that burns into my eyeballs in the A.M. and causes the temperature of my East-facing apartment to go from comfy-cool to sweltering despite the best efforts of the air conditioning units beneath the windows. The sight of the DC skyline clotted with smudgy low clouds, tumbleweeds of fog and sheets of water, smearing the distinct outlines of monuments and monumental buildings into an almost watercolor-like vista that adds mood and depth. Really, I welcome the rain.
I don't even mind walking in the rain. A few months ago after a near-disastrous experience with my umbrella and a post-near-disaster inspection of the accessory's fragile engineering -- the slender metal ribs that so easily give in to the force of wind, the pathetic threads that hold these ribs, in theory, to the bat-like black cloth, the main pole constantly threatening to snap, the points of the ribs bursting through their bindings and jutting out skeletally, daring to poke eyes and leaving me even more exposed to the elements -- I decided to find something better to shield me from rain. A quick search on Google found me the incredible and not-expensive-at-all Senz umbrella. Seriously, check it out. It looks like the umbrella Batman would use and is built to pass even his likely rigorous use. The beast works as advertised and so it has become almost fun to...