Rain rain rain. Cold cold cold. It reminds me of my year in Scotland! Today I walked to and from Lisa's house (about 2 miles each way) and also ran some errands on foot, and my legs ended up *soaked*, even though I was using an umbrella. Does everyone have that problem? Do your legs get wet when you walk around with an umbrella in the rain?

Anyway, I hung out with Lisa as usual, and (because of the rather daunting rain outside) she suggested that we not go out to lunch as we usually do, but instead make some pasta to have with her homemade spaghetti sauce (which she made a couple days ago) and just stay in the warm, dry, comfy apartment. So we did that, and it was very nice. I don't eat homemade meals -- ones made from scratch, with fresh vegetables and such -- very often, so it was quite a luxury. It felt all family-like and nurturing and homey.

We talked about all kinds of stuff, including housecleaning robots. She has a vacuuming robot and a mopping robot, but apparently the mopping bot doesn't work very well. She says she's going to buy another one when they've improved the design a bit. I told her to tell me when they work well, and maybe I'll get one. It would be cool to have a robot clean our bathroom and kitchen floors! And the cats might find it exciting, too!

We also pored over a new book she bought this week: Rebecca Solnit's Infinite City, which is full of interesting themed maps of San Francisco. I'll have to check it out in more detail before my mom and brother come to visit this summer, so that I can find some new ways to entertain them.

I came home in the afternoon to find that I had email from my mom ... and I answered it the very same day! Believe me, this doesn't happen very often. I'm feeling like I deserve some kind of Good Daughter Award. Hurray! I hereby present myself with a virtual trophy to commemorate this act of unlikely heroism.

If the rain lets up tomorrow, Shannon and I are planning to bike to Target for cheap groceries. Otherwise, I mostly plan to stay dry and warm and maybe work on some severely neglected creative projects. Maybe experiment with my new InDesign software! Woo hoo!

I need a rain-related icon. Perhaps I'll make one tonight.