So at work, I found out that a core assumption that I made was...well..false...I think I figured out how to fix it...sort of...but I'm not sure until I actually try...whee!

Then, after I left work, and headed out of the metro, and was proceeded to be tailgated (though I was speeding, and I couldn't get over since there was no room in the traffic leaving Des Moines) for miles... I finally got over and passed. And here's what got funny...later when the limit went up to 70 and I increased my speed, I ended up catching up with the person and passing them. So it seems like they're willing to go 15 over when in the metro, but not so much in the country? That doesn't make sense to me.

Travelling up I380 (HOLY GOD THEIR ROADS ARE CRAPPY), I pulled off to a gas station (I think it was the same one that a bunch of wet cribber campers were at when we got downpoured on a few or so years ago) cause I had to go...

Got back on the road and headed north, and the traffic just got slower and slower...finally stopped...I was first complaining about the number of commuters between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids...then it became something else...then...about 30 minutes later, it was more the thought, if I don't see a dead body, I'm gonna have to make one... :-D

Finally got up to the accident. It was a 3 car on the left side of the road (near the interchange of I380 and Highway 30E (I think)). A car was crunched by a pickup, which was in turn hit by another car. I thought this couldn't be it...this is already off the road...maybe a little slow down, but not a stop...

Then on the on ramp up from 30W there was another problem. A semi, towing a large chunk of a pre-fab house had several (maybe 3 or 4) tires that had blown and the trailer looked like it was on the rims...on the interstate ramp...

I got to my parents hung out a bit and headed over to the Mattas.

Nathan was just finishing up with bathing Taylor and Cali and getting them in they're PJs...We played with the girls a bit before Nathan put them to bed...

So he went to check on the basement (since they do have an issue with water coming into the basement). He takes a step down, and comes up withe a wet sock...on the finished, carpeted part of the basement...So it turns out that the water tile that runs through the back of his yard was...well...full, so his sump pump is basically pumping into a place that is already full of water. So...in the unfinished part of the basement he had an inch or two of standing water....

We hooked up his hose from his wet dry vac to the output from the sump pump, then had that feed into another hose, and into another to get it out on to the lawn...which was pretty much already saturated with water...After about an hour or so, parts of his basement were pretty dry, while others were pretty wet...so the basement doesn't really slope towards the drain or the sump pump...and is very uneven (as the water shows)...

Shortly after that I took off to drive home (and going only 4 over, which was a good thing, cause there were cops everywhere on I80).