Umbrellas

I admit I have a longstanding love/hate relationship with umbrellas.  

Here is why I love them:  when it there is rain falling straight down and you are in wide open spaces they keep you dry.

Here is why I hate them:

No matter how many you own, one will never be handy where and when you need it.

When the wind blows it is hard to hold them steady over you with one hand.

When the rain comes in at a slant, 2/3rds of your body is getting wet anyway.

Getting into or out of a vehicle with an umbrella is hard.

If you have other things to carry, it's almost impossible to juggle an umbrella too.

If you need to navigate a small passage way (like the chain link gate at work with the three rows of barbed wire on top) the umbrella will never fit.

Small, large, expensive or cheap they all end up with a little broken rib at some point.

So I have abandoned umbrellas.  In the winter I have a wonderful, ugly yellow ski jacket that turns water and keeps everything from the knee up dry.  In summer I just get wet:  who cares!  With the humidity in Texas, I already look a fright anyway.  

With all the advancements mankind has made in the past hundred years, you'd think someone would have come up with something better than an umbrella.  Like a little personal force field app you could activate from you cell phone?   Come on geek squad, get to it!