We needed rain. It was getting pretty dry here (my grad student and I had a hard time digging the soil she needs for setting up her main experiment). And also, the pollen: in the street gutters, where the rain water has collected, there is this yellow-green scum of pollen.

The fact that it lead to the city trash-off being postponed to a week where my head is less explodey is just a benefit. (I had offered it for extra credit, so if it was going, I absolutely positively had to be there).

I GUESS I'm going to go in in a few minutes (have to run by the bank and cash a check as soon as the bank opens: yes, I could have an ATM card but I don't think I should have one; I am disorganized enough that I'd forget to write down withdrawals and wind up screwing up my ability to balance my checkbook easily. Writing a check forces me to remember to keep records). If I do two soil samples today then I can easily finish the remaining ones next week.

It's tempting not to go in, though.