Nope, that one won't work, more than a few residents of those two cities would fail the test too.
Dang, I though it was Texans that claimed the biggest and bestest of everything.
Right, California is the main gathering place for freaks.
Maybe because California *isn't* more beautiful than, oh, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Wyoming, Washington state or Alaska, just to name a few.
Which reminds me: "You might be from California if: You think it's better than most the rest of the country."
I agree with Bruce that Southern California (Los Angeles and parts south) is what an awful lot of people think of when the subject of California arises. I know that I do. And I further agree that Northern California is a world apart from the southern part of the state. There is much the same dichotomy in Louisiana. North of Baton Rouge is a totally different place than Southern Louisiana. There is actually some dry ground up near Shreveport. I know there is, because I saw it! (Neither half of Louisiana is habitable during the summer, but that's a different story.)
I was in Southern California (San Diego and Camp Pendleton) for a while before boarding a troop ship and heading for the setting sun. It could very well be that association which causes me to say that I left nothing in California that I want to go back for. But, at the same time, the most beautiful sight I've ever seen is that selfsame California - the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco as seen from the deck of a returning troop ship. And, I'm sure that circumstance affected the beauty in the observation. The point is that most frequently what people find in a place is what they bring with them.
I think that what it boils down to is that "Home" is the prettiest, best, ... , etc. regardless of where it might be physically located. I've been in Wichita, Kansas for about the last 30 years. It is "Home" and, as a result, I'm sort of partial to this area. Oh, no one will ever make any money running an Alpine Ski resort anywhere near here, and some folks might even think that the miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles verge on being monotonous. Yet, there is beauty in the Flint Hills and the Gyp Hills and the "Amber Waves of Grain", and everywhere else, in this state as in all states of the Union. But, you have to open your eyes and look outside yourself to see it.
Next, you got nothing on me, I live in New Jersey, the "original" butt of all state jokes. "Oh, you live in Joisey, what Exit?" Or the environmental jokes "the Meadowlands, yeah, I've seen it, it glows in the dark." I got over it.
As a matter of fact, while NJ is the most densely populated state in the union, has the most Superfund sites per capita, has a section of Middlesex County known as "cancer alley" and has auto insurance rates which would curl your hair, believe it or not it also has native trout streams, farms, and a wonderful rural character (Northwest NJ, Sussex, Warren counties; the Pine Barrens) and some of the nicest beaches around (albeit crowded at times), and I can still drive for two hours and get my rough sawn hardwood from mills in eastern PA for prices equal to or cheaper than what I paid in western North Carolina when I lived in Charlotte.
And, I voluntairly moved back to NJ from Charlotte, which to a lot of folks is the promised land, but I found it stiflingly hot, crowded, expensive (yes, in a relative sense) and gastronomically ethnically challenged (i.e., you can't get a good pizza in the whole of Mecklenberg County).
Still? When I first moved to VA, you couldn't get a decent pizza south of Fort Lee, really, but that was a long time ago (and yes, the Ft. Lee I mean is in NJ: I'm a New Yorker).
Now, the pizza even in central VA is pretty good, some even good (or my taste buds have gone to pot along with the rest of my body). You can't do much in Thai food, or even real Japanese food, but, IMHO, who wants to anyway?
If I weren't too lazy, I'd do a living cost comparison check on Lynchburg, VA and Charlotte, NC. That will definitely show your theory of relativity is true. But I am too lazy.
Not really. Living costs in Charlotte are 114% of what they are in Lynchburg. I'm astounded they're that close.
Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore
Tue, Apr 6, 2004, 12:10am snipped-for-privacy@madbbs.com (Norman=A0D.=A0Crow) says: 'S' funny, I got exactly the same pics from a friend in OZ, claiming they were about an oil pipeline being built from Mozambique to Sasolburg, alongside the National Road to Komatipoort. Who knows?
Huh! I got that from my sister, who got it from a friend.
I looked at the pictures again. The top one, the guy on the right looks like he's wearing a sarong. And, I think that looks more like a croc than a gator, so I'm thinking it might well have been taken in Africa.
The other one looks like rattlers, to me. But, hard to tell.
I'm thinking someone just faked it. Probably never know tho. Oh, ye of little faith. LOL I still don't care to life in Florida. Or California.
California is a world apart from the southern part of the
totally different place than Southern Louisiana.
saw it! (Neither half of Louisiana is habitable
boarding a troop ship and heading for the setting
nothing in California that I want to go back for.
California - the Golden Gate Bridge and San
circumstance affected the beauty in the observation.
with them.
etc. regardless of where it might be physically
and, as a result, I'm sort of partial to this area.
here, and some folks might even think that the miles
beauty in the Flint Hills and the Gyp Hills and
the Union. But, you have to open your eyes and
Tom,
Yours is the most intelligent post in this entire thread. You live where you choose to live and, thusly, don't feel compelled to deride others' choices of home. What matters is that your home is the best place for *you*. As a native Midwesterner who has spent the last 19 years in SoCal, I found Bob's original posts to be pretty entertaining. Many of the items about CA are funny because there is some truth to them. But those things don't stop thousands of people from moving here each year, so SoCal must have something to offer in their eyes. Every American is entitled to live where they choose. Those who spend their energy grumbling about how awful it is to live elsewhere probably aren't very secure with their own choice.
Nah, you should keep that soapbox and use it more often.
Well, I've lived in two other states (Ahiyah, Northern Virginia), been to all but Alaska, and I'd say this is still home. I gotta admit, the traffic here in L.A. is getting downright ugly. Causes a feller to become resourceful when picking his way home through the daily gauntlet.
Some of my observations after four decades living here...
Most of California is farms, mountains, hills, deserts, lakes, chapparal and coastline. There are about 8,000 lakes, most of them inaccessible by road. It is home to the largest palm oasis in this hemisphere - I'd bet most people in this state don't even know that. Most of California could be mistaken for Oregon, Mexico, Colorado, Alaska, Nebraska or Nevada, if you wandered outside of L.A. or San Francisco. Matter of fact, there's good reason to believe that Bakersfield is just a chunk of Oklahoma that broke off and popped up a-straddle of state route 99. As much as I loath the traffic in S.F., there isn't a much more picturesque view of a city, as the view of San Francisco from the Marin Headlands. Oh yeah, there's a bridge obstructing the view a little bit.
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's a nice place to visit :).
I guess what I like about "home," is that it's all here, from Hollywood to the ghost towns, from Disneyland to sleepy little beach towns like Encinitas. Why, we even have our own NASCAR track.
I don't mind the stereotypes... I mean, there's a reason some of my friends refer to me as "O'Dude."
Well for one there are no alligators in Southern Africa, crocodiles yes but they do not look like that and there are no rattlers here either. No oil pipeline either. There was talk of a gas line though. Somebody has their wires / facts crossed.
Yeah, I loved the U.P. and MTU, unfortunately I wanted to get a job after I graduated, so I moved back down state. One of the most telling differences between when I lived in SOUTHERN California and in the U.P. is that in the U.P. I *never* locked the door to the house I was living in. I didn't even have a key because we had one key and there will 3 people living there. When we would leave for breaks the last person would lock the door and leave the key on the porch so the first person back could get in. I *never* worried about anything getting stolen either. Hell, when I lived in SOUTHERN California you couldn't go into a gas station for 30 seconds and leave your bike unlocked without the possibility of it getting ripped off.
Yes, I lived in SOUTHERN California but we had plenty vacations to Northern California when I was growing up. I never stayed long enough to get attached to any of the northern areas but I can say that Northern and Southern California are almost like completely different states. So, whenever I think of California, I think of SOUTHERN California because that is where I lived. Even so, I still prefer the Midwest, people just seem to be more laid back. When I moved to Michigan I was amazed by how blue the skies were all the time, how clean the bathrooms were at my High School, and that my High School was surrounded by an orchard and cows even though downtown Grand Rapids was only about 10 miles away. That's what I mean about wall-to-wall cities. In SOUTHERN California you drive from city to city to city with no space in between. On the other hand, in Michigan once you get out of Grand Rapids you have to drive 30 or more miles to get to Cadillac, Holland, or Kalamazoo and those cities aren't even that big.
Man, you need to chill and be thankful you don't come from a state that folks actually make fun of like West Virginia (my beloved home state) or Arkansas, etc. (it'a all "relative" ya know - that's a joke, son).
Your car rust's out... Snow Tires... After a fishing trip, people say "You caught a what? [Marlin, Yellowtail, Rooster, Ect.] After a morning of snow boarding, people don't say, "Let's go surfing or ride go our dirt bikes" When your dog runs off, you can still see him after three days. When the tallest thing in the state is a hill 2000 +/- ft and the locals call it Mount so and so. When the locals call a 20 minute backup the worst traffic they have seen in months. When the locals say "Head for the cellar! - A twister is approaching!" When the locals refer to hail in sizes larger than a pea, hail nets, ect. When the woodworker has his shop in the cellar, basement or talks about how best to heat it. When the weatherman says 90% humity and 90 today and the rest of the week.
And the list just keeps getting longer...
Dave
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snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com (Patrick Olguin) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:
Well, Paddy, you got that right. When the great grandparents came to California in the fifties (that would be the 1850's), many of the locals still spoke Spanish. Heck, in Mendocino County, there were still folks around speaking Russian. (Ever been to Fort Ross, above Jenner?)
My ancestors came from Nova Scotia, from Western Pennsylvania, from Denmark and from Germany. To the small towns and pretty places to try to make a living, doing whatever they could. It was no easier to make a living in the dairy business, or the lumber trade, or as a blacksmith here, then, than anywhere else. But at least, to misquote Garrison Kiellor, here Mother Nature doesn't make a serious attempt to kill you three or four times a year.
Trying to find the balance between large enough for economic commerce, and small enough for elbow room is an ongoing challenge. We've moved away twice. We're back. Our kids are starting families. We don't want to be too far from the grandkids. We've seen that before. As much as grandparents spoil grandchildren, the converse is also true. Nothing charges my batteries quite as well as a hug from the 'grandson in perpetual motion'.
Home really is where the heart is.
So everyone come and visit! Spend a nickle or two. Take plenty of pictures! Gawk at the locals. As you can see, there's all kinds here!
And it's a joke that sent Gov. Weasel into fits a couple weeks ago when it turned up on Abercrombie & Fitch T shirts. He screamed so loud about it, that the wind from the publicity sold tht printing out before A&F could even respond about whether or not they'd pull the offending clothing from the shelves. The store in Charleston (Capital of WV for the great unwashed out there) sold out before any others.
West Virginians can take a joke even if their governor can't.
And that's from someone who would one helluva lot rather be someplace else, and soon!
Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore
Jimmy Carville (sp?) says that Pennsyltucky is, "Pittsburgh in the West, Philadelphia in the East, and Alabama in between. I've never been in the great state of Alabama, but I believe I know what Mr. Carville was trying to say.
The people from the middle of my state don't think that Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are really part of Pennsylvania.
A lot of folks associate New York State with New York City and that's just plain wrong.
I've hunted and fished in places in New York State that look like the forest primeval. Same holds true for Pennsyltucky.
It's fun to break balls about States and such, but the real truth is about the difference between the urban/suburban environment and what goes on out in the sticks - which are often only a few miles away from the megalopolis stuff.
My guess is that I have more in common with a guy from a rural section of whatever State he's from than I do with the urban denizens of my own area.
Thomas J. Watson-Cabinetmaker (ret) Real Email is: tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet Website:
Right on the money as always Tom. I live in NY, but just about as far as you can get from the "Rotten Apple" and still be in the same state. Jamestown is approx. 40-45K population(maybe less by now). I can drive
I've always tried to explain to Virginians that NY had most of its people in the areas you name, leaving huge empty tracts for the rest of the 17 million. What is it, roughly 14 million in the areas of huge population, 6 million acres for the Adirondack Preserve, and on and on. IIRC, the Adirondack Preserve is the largest of its kind in the world.
The only problems noted with mid-state and true upstate NY are the still fairly high sales tax, and the fairly high state tax are still in place. Everything else is like real life.
Charlie Self "It is not strange... to mistake change for progress." Millard Fillmore
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