Friends, today was a hurricane day. Those of you familiar with snow know a thing or two about the occasional labor liberation, courtesy of Mother Nature. My employer was in classic form yesterday, closing the office at 3p.m. – after the worst of the weather had passed. At 3 p.m. Monday, the center of Alberto’s circulation (such as it was) had passed our office, which means I got to watch the worst of it (for us) through my office’s wall of windows facing Tampa Bay. Today I sat at home and enjoyed a whole heaping helping of sunshine, on the state dime.

From now on I propose the state employ “The Jim Cantore Rule,” which simply states: “If Jim is doing the weather from your neighborhood, it’s time to let the kids go home.”

Although it was not a shining moment for state government, it all worked out pretty good for me.