Thunderstorming

When I was a kid my brothers and I used to love going outside right before a heavy rain and making rain gauges in the sandbox. Mostly they consisted of sand piles lined with leaves, which were designed to hold the water thus letting us know how much precipitation had fallen throughout the course of a rainfall. They never worked, even though we tried many variations, but it was fun anyway. Actually, we loved almost every aspect of a thunderstorm, and would often run around (sometimes in raincoats, sometimes not) while the rain pounded down, just for the heck of it or sometimes to make a dam out of sticks and leaves in the street. My parents would often drive us around during thunderstorms so we could see the drainage ditches turn to small rapids, and streets disappear beneath a deluge of brown water.

I don't know if this is why, but I still enjoy a good thunderstorm, and even more if I can drive around during it. Today looks like one of those days when the sky will most likely darken (or fail to lighten at all, as is sometimes the case) during mid-afternoon and punish the earth below with a series of booming explosions while doing its best to drown the inhabitants with a fantastic shower. And there's something about the thunder and rain which still gets me excited (though if Han Solo were here he would no doubt advise me to do otherwise).

Only problem is, we were going to go biking today, which is a little less fun during a good rain. But if not today, then maybe in a day or two we will be able to hit the trails.

On another note entirely, our journey through Star Trek is nearing its end once again. We finished Voyager about, oh...maybe a year or year and a half ago, and have since been going through every episode of Next Generation thanks to the magic of Netflix. Last night we saw the departure of Wesley Crusher in the episode titled "Journey's End," which also brought the Traveler from Season 1. It's nice to see some plotlines being wrapped up as the series reaches its finale (the last episode being one of the best in the show, actually), but I think Wesley's departure could have been handled with a bit more finesse. After all, two episodes this season (three if you count "Sub Rosa") were entirely wasted on ridiculous storylines ("Masks," an exercise in testing audience patience, and "Genesis," little more than a cheap B-grade horror reel), so it was a little disappointing to see young Mr. Crusher exit in a vacuum of elegance. But anyway, it's still awesome to go back through and watch all of the episodes like this. :)