We were hit with torrential inch-an-hour rain again today, and it's still coming down, though a bit lighter. No shelf paper was obtained this evening. Shelf paper was not worth the side trip required, nor is it fun to shop in very air-conditioned Target while soaked to the skin. It'll keep.

A rant on driving in the rain. If you are afraid to do it, don't move to Florida. Just don't. It rains very hard here. A lot and often. Never mind the tropical storms and hurricanes, normal afternoon rain scares people.

Today was a somewhat heavier than average rush hour rain, but we usually get late afternoon rain at this time of year. Here's how you drive in it: You put on your seatbelt, headlights and windshield wipers and you just freaking drive. You select a speed that doesn't create a huge wake in the flooded streets (huge is loosely defined as "a wake higher than the roof of your car")and doesn't push your visibility limits, and you drive. You keep a safe distance from the car in front of you, and you drive. Turn up the radio because you can't hear it inside the waterfall. Just drive. Drive carefully, but drive. You will not get home if you don't.

What you do NOT EVER EVER DO is attempt to pull over where there is no shoulder on the road, or worse, stop in the middle of the street to indulge your panic attack. The driver behind you can't see any better than you can and will smash your ass. You are safer if you keep moving. If insanely heavy rain frightens you, you moved to the wrong state. Go home.

If everybody would just drive cautiously and keep moving there would be fewer accidents. Tonight some moron kept trying to pull over, panicked by a little thing like not being able to see past the hood of the car. Piffle. First this moron tried to pull over where there was no shoulder, nearly creating an accident, then it (gender unknown) crept along at like, 2 miles an hour until finding a parking lot to pull off. The rain fell at that volume for another hour and a half, so I'm wondering if this driver is still sitting there. If it needs to sell the house and flee back to New Jersey I know a Realtor.

So tonight I came home in the downpour full of the strange urge to cast on something from Weekend Knitting. The obscene yarn stash contains a lot of bits of Cascade 220 and Patons Classic Wool, leftovers from the felting binge of this time last year. I was intrigued by the striped zippered felted pouch. It looks like something I'd use. So I have two felting projects on needles right now - the chocolate mocha Constant Companion is on the home stretch, and I've just started this bright little stripey number. Shawls continue, but shawls are reaching the crawl stage, where rows are so long, one row is enough of an investment per day. And I realized that if I want a nice Everyday Cardigan for myself when the cold weather hits, the time to get it started is rapidly approaching. I'm thinking of the v-neck Top-Downer from the Patons pattern, in, coincidentally, Patons Classic wool in olive. That has major potential in my wardrobe. So I'll crank down the A/C and work with wool so I have things to wear when I need them. Not like LAST year....

Of course "it would work" assumes I will be able to replenish a decent wardrobe. One afternoon this weekend must be devoted to the mall. Seriously. I need to identify the patron saint of shopping and petition her (you know it's a her) to put in a word for me. I have no clothes. I wear the same things all the time. It's a uniform without any flashy medals. It's disgusting.

I'm still on the fence about sending my resume to the Cushy Downtown Firm - it has definite advantages but a few drawbacks, and my current boss is determined to yank me from the bowels of quasi-secretarial purgatory to keep me, so I think maybe I should give them a chance to come up with a solution. They are sincere, and I am firm in that we need to retool my position or I'm outta here. We'll see how it works out. I like the people, I like the short commute, I of course love working with Boss, and the job really has potential. I don't want to abandon it too quickly. If the fix doesn't work, I can start making phone calls. I know a lot of lawyers with names outside high-rent buildings. Getting another job doesn't concern me. Getting another job I enjoy does. I'm taking it slowly, but if I have to jump ship I'll do it.