Mini Rooves...I mean, Roofs.
Since today is raining cats and dogs over here in New York, I thought I'd talk about the one tool we use to fight against rain- the umbrella. I have some issues with the umbrella. Of course, I don't want to generalize and say I have issues with ALL umbrellas for each has its own unique qualities, but there is a trend in the manufacturing of these umbrellas that I have to question.
The purpose of the umbrella, and this is a universal truth about umbrellas, is that their main purpose in life is to act as a shelter, a mini-roof if you will, to protect our noggins from whatever Mother Nature decides to throw our way, most notably rain. Now as technology would have it, everything must become smaller, more compact, and ultra lightweight. As far as umbrellas go, they've become smaller, more compact, and ultra lightweight as well. Amy has this super cute umbrella that when folded up, is no bigger than half a video tape (if you can imagine that). But when you open it, the thing is barely big enough to cover my shoulders. Should rain fall at any sort of angle, anything below the shoulders will get wet, rendering the umbrella useless. This is where things go wrong with the umbrella. Nowadays, most umbrellas are not even big enough to withstand the rain it was made to withstand! Sure your head is dry, but the rest of your clothes from the shoulder down is soaked. Is that worth it? Sometimes I wonder why I even bother carrying around my flimsy umbrella. I think it's time I invest in one of those old-school big umbrellas with the hook handle. You've seen them on the street, it looks like an awning on a stick making it's way above all the little umbrellas who look up at it in awe. Sure it's huge, but the person under it is so dry. Isn't that what counts?
I'd talk about umbrella walking etiquitte (the act of dodging other umbrellas on a sidewalk full of umbrellas), but I'll leave that to Sam.
Another thing that gets me is this new rage in umbrellas called the Automatic Umbrella. While older versions of the umbrella had a button that if pressed would open it, these Automatic ones you can press the button to open and to close it...automatically. The problem I have with it is that if you press the button to close it (collapse the arms), you can't just press the button again to reopen it. You actually have to "reload" the umbrella again to reopen it with the button. And by reloading I mean pulling the umbrella all the way back unit it clicks again. I know it's a small detail but reloading an umbrella can get annoying. When I went seaerching for a new umbrella, I couldn't find any Manual umbrellas! What ever happened to the days of just pushing it to open, and pressing that metal lip to close it?
Other:
Because of the rain, I got into work an hour and 45 minutes late. That's a personal record.
I flooded my basement the other day because my dad's paint supplies blocked the drain of the washing machine dump-off sink. Carpet was soaked so my dad and I hung it outside to dry in the sun. Left it out there over night not thinking that it was going to rain today. Boy were we wrong.
posted by pierre 10:57 AM
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