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A quick follow-up on Thursday’s post city-based stereotypes:

I read an article in the paper Friday about a book called Who’s Your City, by Richard Florida. Florida is an “economic geographer,” who has gathered data about common personality traits within certain geographical regions.

According to the article , “Chicago has a strong concentration of extroverts, or people who are ‘outgoing, talkative, gregarious, assertive, enthusiastic and seeking excitement.’ ”

There’s also a interesting bust to NYC, which of course, a Chicago-based newspaper can’t help but make, so I recommend reading the article.

I wonder if the book will be any good. Or have any validity. I may have to pick up a copy.

Don’t you love how every once in awhile, google switches things up and uses a different design for their homepage logo?

Doesn’t it just make your day a little better, and put a smile on your face?

Okay.

Anyway.

Google has a contest called “Doodle 4 Google” where they invite K-12 kids to design a new homepage logo. You can go here to vote!

Here is my favorite from each category:

K-3:

4-6:

7-9:

10-12:

Sorry, I couldn’t come up with anything better for today.

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Today’s Idiom: to lionize a person - to make a big fuss over someone

When I worked at Fuksas Studios in Rome, Fuksas was lionzed whenever he came in. I just tried to stay out of his way.

Have you heard about TSA’s Diamond Self-Select Program? I hadn’t until I saw this picture (from Midway Airport) in the newspaper yesterday.

The program splits TSA checkpoints into three lanes - expert, for business travelers; casual, for less frequent travelers; and family/special assistance, for families, elderly passengers, and passengers who need special help.

The idea is that splitting people into separate lanes, based on their TSA protocol comfort, will speed up inspection times.

I’m super quick in the TSA inspection line. I wear shoes that slip off, skip wearing a belt, and throw my laptop out of its bag at lighting speed.

It seems like I am always behind some slowpoke.

If this program actually works, and they bring it to O’Hare, I’ll be psyched. Can I go through the expert lane though, even though I am not always a “business” traveler?

Has anyone used it yet? They already have it in Denver and Cincinnati.

Now that it’s been mentioned in both the June issue of Glamour and Marie Claire, I have to say something about it.

Open Marriage.

Jenny Block (not to be confused with “Jenny from the Block”) had an affair with a woman three years into her marriage. Instead of divorce, Block and her husband decided to have an open marriage – staying together, but also dating other people. She recently wrote a book about it – Open: Love, Sex, and Life in an Open Marriage.

I don’t think this is completely ludicrous or unreasonable. It may actually solve (or cover up) some issues that married couples have.

But I know this is not for me. And probably never will be.

I’m not possessive and I’m not jealous, but I don’t like to share… my husband anyway!

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Today’s Idiom: Hobson’s choice - no choice at all

We’re given Hobson’s choice when we go out to eat with Steven’s grandma - there is only one restaurant she will go to.

PETA has announced a $1 Million Reward for the first scientist to produce and market in vitro meat.

“In vitro meat production would use animal stem cells that would be placed in a medium to grow and reproduce. The result would mimic flesh and could be cooked and eaten.”

Would you eat it?

PETA’s argument for in vitro meat is that it would stop animal suffering, and lessen the affect that harvesting animals has on our environment. They also added as a disclaimer - “Of course, humans don’t need to eat meat at all… But as many people continue to refuse to kick their meat addictions, PETA is willing to help them gain access to flesh that doesn’t cause suffering and death.”

I think this is a very interesting idea. But besides all the political BS that it incurs, I wonder, would carnivorous humans go for this? If it cost the same, and tasted the same, looked the same…

Would you eat it?

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Today’s Idiom: to go up in smoke - to come to no practical result

My plan to exercise 3 days a week went up in smoke when I kept getting home late from work. But I’m going to figure out a way to work exercise into my schedule. I have to.

My mother called me last night to ask me if I spent any time in Lane Bryant during the day.

Uh… no…? Why…?

Oh.

A gunman killed 5 women and injured 1, in a Lane Bryant in Tinley Park, Illinois. One of the women killed was a store clerk and the others were shoppers.

My mother heard that Tinley Park was a Chicago suburb, and was worried that it might be near where I live. Actually, it’s at least 60 miles from our house.

I heard about the story briefly on the television before she called and hadn’t even thought twice about it. I didn’t stop to think that my mother might hear the story and be worried.

This made me think about how jaded I have become regarding violence and murder. I read about it in the paper every day and don’t think twice about it.

How awful is that? I feel like I am so over-exposed to sensational news stories that when I hear/read a real one, I don’t have a true reaction to it.

The more I think about this story, the more awful I feel about it. I can’t imagine the horror of doing something that is part of your routine - shopping, working, dining - and having something like this happen.

The sad part is that the killer is still on the loose, and even if they do catch him, it won’t bring these people back.

I consider myself a feminist, but I think this is a bit over the top:

(Isn’t the caption under the photo a bit lame? I took this article from the Chicago Sun-Times… I suppose I should just be grateful they included an article about something happening outside of the US!)

Surprise surprise… I am getting tired of hearing/reading about Drew Peterson, his missing wife, his deceased wife, his other two wives, and whether or not he has killed any of them.

In case you are unfamiliar with the story, Drew Peterson is a police sergeant living in a Chicago suburb. His fourth wife - Stacy, younger than him by 30 years - disappeared October 30th and still hasn’t been found. His third wife was found dead in a dry bathtub in 2004. His second wife says he was abusive and told her he could “kill her and make it look like an accident,” but his first wife says “he wasn’t controlling.” He cheated on wives 1-3.

While we were in Aruba I thought about this story and hoped it would be “solved” before we returned, but I only found out that it has gone global. It seems like the media coverage is spinning out of control. It kind of makes me feel sick to read about it everyday.

Everyone seems to have an opinion about it. What’s yours?

Coincidentally, one of my coworkers is from the same Iowa hometown as me. We are not close in age, and didn’t know each other previously, but we still share our “hometown” stories and news (okay, and jokes).

Our recent gossip has been over an article which states that Iowa has one of the nation’s lowest dropout rates in the country, but that Waterloo’s East High School - the high school I went to - has one of the highest in Iowa.

It has been labeled a “dropout factory” - a high school were no more than 60 percent of the students who start as freshman make it to their senior year.

I’m not surprised. I think my freshman class started out with 400+ students and dwindled down to 250 or less by graduation.

Sometimes I think back to high school and wonder why I hated it so much. I was very involved (orchestra, theater, soccer, various other dorky activities) and an overachiever in my classes, but I didn’t like many of my classmates and remember being miserable most of the time.

Then I see statistics like this and remember that most of my classmates wanted to act like punks and harass the teachers, or act like whiny brats and have their mothers call and harass the teachers… or they wanted to harass their fellow students… the point is, not many people took school seriously. I got a sh*tty education and had a sh*tty time.

Hey, at least it’s over, and my two younger siblings made it through. There’s no reason for it to be on my mind anymore.