[e-mail]'s definitions

Colorado

A state with extreme scerenity, significant sunshine (over 300 days of sunshine a year in Denver) and the best opportunities to enjoy the outdoors. The Rocky Mountains make it the state with the highest average elevation. Denver, its capital and largest city (population 570,000), is called the “Mile High City” because it’s capitol is exactly one mile in elevation. Denver is consistently ranked among the top of America’s “fittest” , “thinnest” , and “most educated” cities. About half of the state’s 5 million residents live in the Greater Denver Metro area. Other important population centers include Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Fort Collins—all of which are located on the eastern edge of the Rocky Mountains. Colorado has extreme variations in climate. People in Denver can get a tan and snow ski in the same day. The enormous flat plains of eastern Colorado get huge thunderstorms in the spring and summer that make for a great lightening show and tornadoes. Colorado is where the song, America the Beautiful was written. “For purple mountains majesty above the fruited plain” describes Colorado to a tee. Beef cattle and wheat are its two largest agricultural products.

I wouldn't mind living in Colorado. It's progressive, has a reasonable cost of living and generally friendly people.

by [e-mail] December 28, 2007

south central

Traditionally, the largest concentration of blacks in Los Angeles, California and the city‘s most economically-depressed area. It has transitioned into a center for Latinos today and are now the area’s largest minority. South Central has been notorious in the media as a haven for violent crime, gangs, drugs and riots (the most recent in 1992 was the worst). Watts is its most well-known neighborhood. South Central Los Angeles is now referred to as “South Los Angeles” and is a loose term that includes all of south Los Angeles, south of The Santa Monica Freeway and downtown and includes independent cities within the region: Compton, Inglewood, Downey and Bellflower. It was depicted in the movie “Boyz n the Hood.

South Central is about the worst place for anybody in any city to live. Ghetto and gangsta at its finest.

by [e-mail] September 12, 2007

Survivor

A reality tv show on CBS, created by Mark Burnett, that debued in the summer of 2000 and features sixteen contestants or “castaways” originally composed of two teams of eight that live in seclusion in a remote part of the world to eat bugs, snakes, dirt, game and scorpions for like a month for a million dollars. Physical competitions are held each week to determine which team will win an award challenge, and then another challenge to determine who will win immunity. The team that doesnt win immunity must vote off a teammate. This also happens after the tribal merge but immunity goes to the individual instead and an individual is then voted out of the game. Midway through the season, the two teams are merged to form a single tribe when the real cut-throat part of the game really begins, where your friend is now your foe. The winner of the $1 million is announced on live television on the last episode.

The show has been filmed in such remote locations as Borneo (the 1st season), the Australian Outback, the Marcaisas, the Amazon, China, Pearl Islands, Panama and Fiji.

Let's be honest, the only way you can appear as a contestant on Survivor, is by being gay (Richard Hatch, the original winner), a model, a freek or incrediblly narcistic like Johnny Fairplay (the most evil Survivor contestant ever). Normal people need not apply.

by [e-mail] April 29, 2008

Scottsdale

A city of superficial attitudes, inflated egos and very narrow minds. The pursuit of materialism, excess, and keeping up with the Jones, is the rule in this Phoenix suburb of 250,000 residents, where people brag about the money they have and show off their car to gain recognition. They think money and materialism, instead of people and experiences, are the most important things in life. It’s a place where people often ignore you if--God forbid--you look only average. You get weird looks from people at the Scottsdale Fashion Square if you are not wearing the latest trendy wardrobe. Known to many locals as Snobbsdale or Snottsdale, its swankiness makes it home to many of the Phoenix area’s most trendy establishments: Nordstrom, Barney’s New York, Gucci and Kenneth Cole. And only in Scottsdale can you find restaurants that serve $70 steaks. Although most Scottsdale people wont admit it, many are probably on the verge of foreclosure, due to excessive credit card debt and ridiculous spending that will soon turn them poor like the rest of us. Gosh, then they wont be able to frequent their numerous golf courses, country clubs and resorts. What’s a rich person gotta do?

Scottsdale thinks its so rich, but is actually only upper middle-class. Heck, it isnt even the richest city in Arizona or Maricopa County. So I have no idea why the people seem so snooty. Despite its perceived affluence, there is probably more loneliness and misery per-capita in Scottsdale than anywhere else.

Scottsdale is named after James Edward Scott and is also nicknamed the West's Most Western Town.

by [e-mail] November 20, 2009

McMansion

An obscenely large home (usually of at least 3,000 square feet) in suburban America that is almost too big for its use; cheaply built from the inside out; require constant maintanence; stacked so close together in cookie cutter housing developments that you can hear your neighbor on the john; owned and occupied by pretentious, superficial people who care more about materialism and perceived status than actual value, and spend 14 hours six days a week working to pay off the over-inflated mortgage and have no time to spend with each other and experience life for what it is meant to be. The owners literally work themselves to death to pay the mortgage, who also probably struggle to pay off their 20 credit cards and SUV, but don’t have any other time to live a normal life and experience what life is all about. Despite their obscene size, they are occupied by mostly an empty nest couple who think they need like 5 bedrooms and a 3-car garage. They are built by mostly greedy developers who cram as many homes they can for profit.

But things are changing for the McMansion. They are being built less frequently and becoming less necessary as the size of the average American household declines, as the populations ages, and as the economy and housing market go to the dogs. Simply put, McMansions will soon be a thing of the past as people lose their jobs, money, life savings and everything else. In my opinion McMansions represent waste, greed, materialism and comformity, and are also probably one of the reasons the third world and even some ‘rich’ countries hate us.

The McMansion is the epitome of waste in America, and is nothing more than a status symbol for many pretentious suburban Americans who work to death trying to pay the mortgage and keep up with the Jones'.

by [e-mail] July 19, 2009

deadbeat dad

One of the lowest forms of life on Earth. An incompetent, milquetoast loser. A father who refuses to be a man and take responsibility for caring for his children. If he’s divorced, he refuses to pay child support. In the meantime, his children and wife become resentful toward him.

The justice system and prosecuting attorneys are right in wanting to incarcerate any deadbeat dad. They should be locked up with the key thrown away until they take responsibility for the children they have brought into this world.

by [e-mail] March 31, 2008

small town

It amazes me of all the silly descriptions of a small town by ignorant people on here. No, I dont live in one, but I did for a while. They are not all the same. Yes, some are poor, but some are also very affluent (Lake Zurich, Illinois for example).

A small town is the anithesis of a big city, which is not necessarily a bad thing. A small town is a community where people are a generally friendly, laid back folk, and where everybody knows almost everybody there. If you stop and ask for directions, the person giving you the directions will probably turn it into a conversation. The community is probably a speed trap, but the police who give you a speeding ticket are often known and called by their first name. You are usually not afraid to unlock your doors (although I wouldn't do it). Most businesses in town are family-owned ma-and-pa stores threatened by the Walmart nearby, which is probably the community's largest employer. The Mayor probably has another job on the side. You also know your'e in a small town because the people raise a stink over a new business coming in, fearing that it will create "traffic congestion." Some small towns can be suburbs or exurbs of a large meropolitan area.

A small town is the total antithesis of a big city, and is not necessarily a bad thing.

by [e-mail] May 14, 2008