Ben & Joanna's Online Journal

Alright, so I know that this post is probably going to come off as sounding like it’s another negative rant against the state of Indiana – If thats the case, I apologize in advance to those of you who might otherwise be offended.

So here goes — I believe it was probably about a year ago that I first was told that Indiana was classified as being the “crossroads” of our country. I wasn’t sure exactly how to interpret that until I started to do a lot of driving here on the freeways. Shortly thereafter, it quickly hit me upside the head.

Truthfully, I can’t believe the sheer number of semi’s on the freeways here in Indiana. It doesn’t matter what time of the day it is, these diesel trucks are friggin’ everywhere. I feel sorry for the daily commuters who average more than 30-45 minutes a day on the freeways here. Undoubtedly, they would have to share a much greater frustration than I experience anytime I’m on the road for an extended amount of time. The really bad part of having so many truckers on the roads here is getting stuck either behind one, or , getting stuck in between a pair. Alternatively , having debris and other random shit flailing at your vehicle isn’t a big treat either.

I’ve noticed that we have quite a few truckers who reside in our neighborhood as well. I certainly don’t have one thing against people who choose to make a living from driving, although, it does incense me somewhat that several of them feel free to drive their 18 wheelers down my street. Most of them park in their driveways, however, there are a few that simply leave their rig on the side of the curb making it impossible for more than one car to drive by that same spot simultaneously. I know, not necessarily a huge deal, but sometimes an annoyance depending upon who’s driving on the opposite end.

As unrealistic as it may sound, I wish that these types of vehicles were only allowed to drive on the road during certain times of the day/night. While I know that this type of thinking may seem a big illogical, a little wishful thinking never hurts.

/rant

Gen Talk

The old Cliché of ‘Time flies when you’re having fun‘ should really be stated as, ‘Time flies regardless of whether your having fun or not…period!

It’s now going on two years since I moved my family from Arizona all the way across the country to Indianapolis. I won’t bore you with my life’s drudgeries but I will say that this chapter in my life has certainly seen its highs and lows.

When I first got here, I was constantly poised with the question, “Why on earth did you move here?” For the sake of brevity, I normally just responded by stating that I just wanted a change in my life. Actually, there were several reasons why my wife and I decided to leave Arizona; I will discuss these reasons in detail a little bit later on in this post.

From a state to state comparison, I wanted to quickly discuss some of the differences that I’ve come across since I’ve been here. The items that I’m about to discuss are simply my own personal observations of what I’ve either witnessed as strange and/or very disparate between Arizona and Indiana.

Firstly, medical establishments - The metropolitan area of Indianapolis is absolutely peppered with these types of facilities. Every corner stands some type of hospital, medical plaza and/or practitioner’s office. I can’t help but lose count on the sheer number of medical associations throughout this area.

Secondly, cigarettes. Holy shit, I am not lying to you when I say this. Everybody including their dog smokes in this city. When I first moved here, I thought perhaps it was just an amazing coincidence that everywhere I went, people were lightning up. I made a comment one night to my sister (who also lives here with her awesome husband and one child) regarding these peculiar observations of mine. I asked the question, “Is it just me or does everyone here smoke?” I was instantly and bounteously supported in my own thoughts of thinking.

Thirdly, the weather. Okay, I understand that the mid-west weather is probably a little harder to predict than the weather we had back in the Southwest, but, c’mon. The weather forecasts we have here are in a nutshell, unbelievably inaccurate. I’m not talking just a little off, I’m spouting dead wrong. (I’m looking straight at you Mr. Weatherman Brian Wilkes!) I will say this however; the summers here in Indiana, albeit a tad on the humid side at times, are much more enjoyable than the ones back in Phoenix. The winters here are the exact opposite, although, I will add that they aren’t ‘that’ bad! I’ll try and talk more in depth about the winters here in a later post.

Fourthly, (Is that even a word?) Chinese Food. Good God, do we really need to have a Chinese Buffet on every corner? No really, I’m being serious. Why is there so many damn Chinese restaurants here? The funny thing about the whole situation is that most of them are always busy. I guess that pretty much answers my own question, however, I will quickly interject my opinion and state that most of them serve up somewhat questionable grub. There are a few that we frequent from time to time that we’ve determined as ‘acceptable,’ however, the vast majority of these places are pretty shitty.

Lastly, and this is certainly not the fault of the state of Indiana but I sure do miss the hell out of good Mexican food. I guess I always took for granted all the superb hole in the wall hot spots that served up mouthwatering chimmy’s. I’ve visited only a handful of Mexican restaurants here (mostly because they’re a real rarity in Indiana) but they all fail miserably in comparison to what we had back ‘home.’ I’ve convinced myself that if I either want good Mexican food (Jack in the Box and/or In and Out) that I’ll have to make a trip back to Arizona cause it just ain’t happening here.
View Larger Map

Family