I'm only happy when it rains
You want to hear about my new obsession
I'm riding high upon a deep depression
I'm only happy when it rains

- from "Only Happy When It Rains" by Garbage

The local news has been all about the wind and the rain. I was relatively dry getting on the train. There was minimal wind in downtown San Jose, but the wind in Morgan Hill was anything but calm. It must have been the 46 mph gusts that the weatherman was bragging about. I succeeded in getting completely soaked walking the three hundred feet from the train to my car. The rain was coming down so hard and the wind blowing so hard, the result was sidepour. My umbrella can't handle sidepour and it was begging me to get indoors right away.

I drove the mile to my house purely by rote. The sheets of rain were unrelenting and my windshield wipers could were ineffective against the onslaught of water. I had just put everything up to dry and was preparing for a relaxing evening, in a warm house, when I realized I was supposed to have dinner at my parents' place in San Jose.

I somehow survived the 12 mile journey up Highway 101 and by some miracle, I was able to make it back to my house a couple hours after that. All of this rain has me thinking:

• I really don't like driving in the rain.
• Almost everyone who is a decent driver in normal weather turns into an awful driver in rainy weather.
• Many advances are still needed in the area of tire traction on wet pavement.
• My umbrella sucks, but I only say that here in fear that the umbrella may take offense and just let all of the rain through.
• There were too many good weather days this year. To balance it out, Mother Nature decided to pack 2 months of bad weather into four days.