Here's a New York moment for ya: I'm not sure if this happens anywhere else, except maybe Chicago, the windy city.

Picture this: You're walking east on 16th Street, towards 5th Avenue...and you're about 1/2 way down the block. It's a rainy and windy day and you have an umbrella out and ready. You are getting closer to 5th Avenue and you look up at the people in the intersection. And you notice that there's a very different situation occurring just feet ahead of you. Each person walking up and down 5th avenue is using their umbrella as a shield instead of over their heads. You are getting closer and realize that you must prepare for the hurricane-force winds, but there's not much you can really do except place one hand on the handle and the other reinforcing the inner structure of the umbrella wiring. Within seconds, you pass that last building and the wind hits you like a ton of bricks. You skip a step from the force. And you feel like you are inside one of those wind tunnel machines where the Weather Channel anchors go to see how fast winds need to be before they fall over (or their cheeks blow up with air). You realize that you cannot move and so you stand there with the umbrella shielding you from the wind and rain. You wonder if the umbrella will cave in on you and possibly get stuck, and that sure would be embarrassing. Once you've made it across the intersection and out of the 5th Avenue wind, all of a sudden the air is stagnant and you wonder why the Avenues are so windy?

I cant tell you how many times that has happened to me. On time, I had to grab on to a light pole because I was being blown into the street....it's true!