the saga continues

[increasinglyhumbled]

I took the hood off for some work I had been doing in the driveway and planned to finalize everything Friday after work. Well Friday afternoon we had a very heavy rainstorm and when I got home it wouldn't start. Engine would crank but not turnover and it made a peculiar thump sound every 2-3 seconds. I had to leave for the weekend and figured when I got back I'd just dry off the plugs, connections and distributor and see what happened. I put the hood on and left and just got back. Well now the brand new battery is dead too. I'm assuming the water shorted something.

Anyways, outside of what I plan on doing, what else should I do? (it's still raining, so I haven't been able to do the other things yet).