A few tips on the bike:
- Keep it in good condition. Not only does it last longer, but also run much smoother.
- Puncture resistant tire are a great invention.
- Lube that chain.
- A bell can be usefull
- Lights and reflectors!

A mountain bike isn;t the best in my opinion, unless your roads are really bad. As a bike commuter my self, my bike is a dedicated 'citybike'. Relatively heavy, but now maintenance and practical:
- Good fenders to keep you clean.
- Enclosed chain, keep the chain and you clean. Also prevents you from damaging pants in the cogs.
- Relatively thin tires (compared to a mtb that is), which rolls easily.
- Fixed lights front and back
- Cargo carrier at the back.
- I have a 3 speed internal hub gears. Which is low maintenance and inexpensive.

I have one of the older Chromoly frame MB's, not super light but comfortable. For years I road on 2.1" CitySlickers, which worked well on rough road, cobblestones, potholes and bike paths. Skinny tires would not have done as well. These days I've got 1.5" WTB Slickasaurus tires which are good for 1.5" tires but for off pavement a bit more surface contact would be better. Reviews aren't great, lots of flats mentioned. For off pavement I need something better.

I'm eyeing the Serfas Drifter City Tire which comes in both 1.5 and 2.0 inch widths. Looks like a good tire for the road with its high smooth center but also capable of handling rough. I will probably go back to the 2.0" width, very versatile.

Another option is the Continental Travel Contact Tire, smooth center which can also handle varied conditions. Lots of good options.

As the California seemingly coming out of the drought, I think, this wonder looks more attractive at its steep price: http://real-self-defense.com/unbreakable-telescopic-umbrella-u-212/

gotta love a good umbrella. I was on my way home from the Pentagon dreading the walk from the Metro home, but while walking through the concourse to the subway I saw a beautiful full size (not one of the compact briefcase models) umbrella. I'm not usually a spontaneous buyer, but I grabbed that umbrella. Very nice and 26 years later it is still my go-to 'brella when the rain comes down hard. Lately it's been riding in the truck.

Get a good one and take care of it.

Quite an item - very attractive except for the price! My experience has been that riding on streets, sharing the puddles with car traffic, is that water splashed by vehicles is the biggest source of moisture, so an umbrella is almost irrelevant. For me, the biggest rain issue was keeping my glasses clear enough to allow safe navigtion. What worked fairly well was a brim on the helmet or cap. Even then, I might stop every ten miles or so to clean my glasses.

I have found that 37/38mm tires are quite versatile, working well on both pavement and on hard packed soil/gravel. It all depends on the surface of your bike path.

The ultimate frame for commuting is some sort or another of touring frame (mine is a Surly Long Haul Trucker) - stable and serene. But frankly, any frame will get the job done. Getting the right tires is super important.

Yep, my current large folding umbrella will be 15 years old soon. Got it for $90 back then, it's required just minor repairs a couple of times so far, so definitely that's a long term investment. The only thing stopping me - I can recall maybe 10 days of really demanding daytime raining annually on average for the past 16 years (except for 2004, when it was raining for a month in a row here)...

That's the condensation-caused fogging I guess? Now days you can opt for an anti-fogging permanent film for your high-end glasses (at least I recall such a technology was invented around 2010 already). Also I saw some DIY solutions a while ago as well, being researching the ways to prevent diving mask fogging, similar solutions were applicable for an ordinary glasses (since then I've got this mask: http://www.tribord.co.uk/easybreath-surface-snorkelling-mask-blue-id_8304664 where it's been resolved in even better way)

Hmm,... perhaps, that mask might help to figure a simple anti-fogging technique for glass wearers - you can try to form an air-tight "half-mask" under your glasses and over the nose/mouth with your palms, and then inhale, so the colder air "wash" the lenses from inside coming from the top and sides - that's exactly what that snorkeling mask is doing, but it's also diverting the exhaled air downward and out to the water... In fact I'm using a very similar technique with my telescope eyepieces for ages: if fogged, I'm simply surrounding the eye side lens with my hands, leaving a small gap between fingers for air intake right over it, and inhale through the top of that tube several times. The warmth of your hands also helps to prevent repeating fogging for a little while.

Back to the subject, in my at the office GHB I'm keeping a pair of swimming goggles - for a haz-mat/smoke protection improvising (plus, we have the Ocean withing the walking reach). However for a glasses wearer you might need to invest into some dioptric inserts to use them comfortably. On other hand, that would make an indestructible spare pair of glasses for you as well. If I would wear glasses, I'd just scavenge some old pair for lenses and make such an inserts myself with the Dremel and some epoxy glue. Also you can order such swimming glasses having your glasses prescription on hands (just google "prescription swim goggles"; avoid expensive options, as you need a pair just for emergencies, not for an everyday use, so cheaper options, without the astigmatism correction and other precise features, would suffice).

Yeah, I like the Surly LHT a lot, great road bike. Mine is a (1990?) Scott Mountain Racer, which looks like a Chromoly road bike set up with MB parts and capable of mounting 2"+ tires. I liked it because of the Old Town Alexandria streets and paved/gravel bike paths. With the right tires the bike will go anywhere.
Speaking of which, I really like the tires mentioned above, both mention puncture resistance in the first line of their descriptions. I hate fixing flats on the road. Seriously thinking about taking my rims down to REI and having 2" Serfas Drifter City tires mounted.

No fogging, just raindrops on the lenses (and occasional road spatter)...Although it was my practice to drive when it was raining, one gets caught every now and then.

That's probably a good idea for me too, wildman. Just have to find right right someone.