Waiting For Rain
9/19/1

I�m waiting for rain. There�s a pretty significant storm pelting Florence, Alabama, right now and I�m hoping it doesn�t sneak off to the north before it hits us.

It�s the tail end of storm water sampling season and I haven�t collected my storm water samples from my weir and I�m about to go on vacation next week.

But you say, �Postwood, why do you collect storm water samples? What care you of surface water which falls from the sky?� Nothing, I care nothing about it. Somehow the Natural Resources department managed to fob off their crap on us. More than likely, after they convinced my former boss�s boss that we needed to do this for them, celebrations ensued and the word sucker was said by all.

It�s traveling around 27 knots, which to you non-nautical people is, for all practical purposes, around 27 mph. Really, it�s more like 30. But close enough for government work, and, hey, that�s what I�m doing.

I brought my Harry Potter book. It�s in my car. As soon as the rain starts I get on my yellow trench coat thingy and put up my rain gauge and collect my first two samples, one in glass for an oil and grease analysis and one in the first of the plastic bottles which will make up the composite sample. I�ll record, every 20 minutes after that, the rainfall amount, the height of water over my weir, and take a sample.

T-boss is all in a fluster since we can�t seem to get enough people to do this. Currently we have it taken care of, but really, the rain seems to be going to the north. I�m watching it pretty closely from The National Weather Service in Birmingham and it�s key that I get in the field before the rain hits. Most of the rain is at the beginning of the storm and my office is about 20 minutes from my sampling point.

And I must get 0.1 inches of rain, at least, while I�m set up. The whole sampling thing takes 3 hours and 20.

I took my car into the dealer and they did an oil change and washed the car up. They must be using milk as window cleaner. It�s just sad when the windows are cleaner when they go in. I walked across the street to Office Max and almost bought a new binder for my organizer/whatever.

When I was in college, I was used to calling a certain nylon briefcase �my bag�. When I got an aluminum briefcase for work, I tended to call it �my bag� but really tried not to. [I�ve finally gotten so I don�t call my office �my room.�] And now I have a daytimer type binder which has all my stuff in it and I try not to call it my briefcase or my bag.

The one I have now is just too big, though I love its ability to hold three 3.5� floppies. However, something that could hold zip disks would be better [if I had a zip drive at home that is].

The guys who changed my oil played with my stereo. Granted the Sony Xplod 650 Whatever is really attractive. I can tell they played with it since it was at a different part of the CD and it was turned on. I turned it off before going into the place.

Rain, rain, come this way. Go away some other day.