There was some crazy rain in New York this morning. I am happy to be working from home since all the trains were delayed or put out of commission thanks to flooding. The four train was even shut down, which I do not recall happening in the five years I used that line. And despite all the rain, it is not a lick cooler.

A bad commute is nothing compared to my friends Jamie and Chris are dealing with. They are moving out of there place because their basement gets flooded with sewage every time it rains. There was five feet of sewage in their basement in the last big rain a few months back. Five feet. Take a moment to think about what five feet of sewage would look like. If I were to stand in that, it would reach my shoulders. Now, think about how one goes about cleaning that up.

I was abruptly awoken early this morning by a disturbingly close lightening strike. Not fun, yet far better than being awoken by, shall we say, the aroma of rain. Reports just in from Jamie say that there is only three feet this time. Only waist high, better than before, yet still pretty hideous. I was over at their house yesterday before the rains, and now I better understand why Jamie looked up at the clouds with such animosity.

Back when I was growing up, our house had a septic tank. When it rained, you could not use the toilet. If you did, your refuse would start to rise up in the toilet, coming after you, and it was a race to stop the flushing mechanism before the water overflowed. You learn quick how to stop a toilet from working in these sort of situations.

After the inside cans were declared out of order, if you ever had to do a number two, we had this backpacker toilet. Imagine a toilet seat with aluminum collapsible legs attached. You would get all suited up in a rain coat and rain pants since it was still raining, get some TP and a poop shovel and you would head out to the woods to do your business. I remember a number times where I was sitting in the woods, getting soaked while doing my business. It wasn't really funny at the time, but looking back I think it is pretty darn amusing.

Ah pooh stories, why must they be so funny?