I now know where I don't ever want to live.

I just drove down from Pennsylvania to North Carolina for a short workshop on coalescent theory. Throughout Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia, the weather was near perfect: sunny, but just a bit too warm for my taste. Then I reached North Carolina. After driving for about a half an hour I reached some wet pavement and though to myself, "This is odd." I then drove through some of the hardest rain I've ever seen only to emerge 15 minutes later into clear skies and dry pavement. It was as if there was a major rain cloud sitting over a small stretch of highway. When I reached Raleigh, I got out of my car and into the most oppressively humid air I'd ever experienced. After I got to my room and set my things down, I considered going out and exploring the North Carolina State Campus. It was then that I heard multiple pounding claps of thunder followed by a rain storm that has persisted for nearly an hour. Remind me to never move south of the Mason-Dixon line -- I could never survive it.

If I learn anything amazing while I'm down here, I'll try to post on it. Chances are, however, the material is too specialized to be of general interest. Of course, that hasn't stopped me before.