Sperling's BestPlaces have identified the most and least stressful U.S. cities in 2003.
The "Sperling Stress Index" is comprised of nine different factors that are associated with stress: unemployment rate, divorce rate, commute time, violent and property crime rates, suicide rate, alcohol consumption, self-reported "poor mental health," and number of cloudy days. (I thought it was just me who got stressed when the sun wasn't out!)
Top 10 Most Stressful Cities
1.Tacoma, WA
2.Miami, FL
3.New Orleans, LA
4.Las Vegas, NV
5.New York, NY
6.Portland-Vancouver, OR-WA
7.Mobile, AL
8.Stockton-Lodi, CA
9.Detroit, MI
10.Dallas, TX
Top 10 Low-Stress Cities
1.Albany-Schenectady, NY
2.Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, PA
3.Orange County, CA
4.Nassau-Suffolk, NY
5.Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN-WI
6.Ann Arbor, MI
7.Omaha, NE-IA
8.Norfolk, VA-Virginia Beach, VA-NC
9.Honolulu, HI
10.Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC
I promise I'm not making this up & including Harrisburg on purpose! I got this from msn.com. In fact, they said Harrisburg has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, low divorce rates, short average commute times, a low overall crime rate & low rates of suicide. The downside? Often cloudy skies & dreary winters.
Dallas on the other hand is just stressful, but at least there's plenty of sun (expect from March- mid May) and we're only in the top 10, not the top 5 :)
Found this on WPVI.com (from Philly):
Elderly Carjacker Fails 3 Times
(Brandywine Hundred-AP) April 23, 2004 ?4 State police say they arrested a 51-year-old Wilmington man after he tried -- and failed -- three times to steal a car.
I don't know about you, but I certainly don't consider 51 elderly & I'm sure all of our parents would agree with me. Someone should be reprimanded for that! Probably some 21 year old intern.
One thing I don't understand: Saddam suppressed the Shiite Muslims for how many years? (A lot I know). Now that we've "freed" them, why the HELL are they conducting suicide bomber attacks against us? We freed their asses, they should at least be a smidge grateful!
Today has been the day from hell! It all started around 1:30 this morning - Molly (my dog) puked 3 times upstairs. I was just about to fall asleep and then had to get up & take care of that. This morning I woke up for work & was totally disoriented. Well, not totally, but I couldn't find anything to wear. I had pants, but no shirt; shirt, but no pants, so I came to work in jeans hoping I wouldn't get sent home (and I didn't thank goodness). I bit my cheek eating breakfast. I bought a can of diet coke which conveniently exploded as soon as it tumbled down from the vending machine.
The only good thing that's happened today: The webmaster of http://www.edkowalczyk.com saw one of the pics I took last week on fansoflive.com & wrote me asking for permission to clean it up & use it on the redesign of the site. I will be getting photographer credit. That just has me so excited! I loved that website and now I get to be part of it!!! :)
Tony wants to know what I said to Ed. I have to confess that I have no earthly idea. I can tell you this:
Tom & I got to the mall & were walking in through Foley's. I had to go to the potty because I was excited. At that point my knees were weak & I felt sick to my stomach with nerves. I kept praying I wouldn't say or do anything stupid (like trip over my own feet & knock the man down). We get outside the store & we're waiting around (we were 30 minutes early). Finally he arrives & sits down to sign autographs. Gosh was I nervous. I can't even explain how nervous I was. The girl in front of me went up & I heard him say "Hi, I'm Ed." I turned to Tom & was like "Duh!". Then a reporter from some stupid little local paper jumped in line in front of me for a short interview (bastard). Finally it was my turn. I know I said something like "Hi. I've really admired the band since I lived in Harrisburg." He said "You're from Harrisburg?" I said "Yes" and that was pretty much it. I asked him to sign my poster & a picture & pose for a picture & he did.
When Tom & I left Tom said why didn't you tell him your name? I said "I didn't? OMG! Now he just knows me as the fat girl from Harrisburg!" Then Tom was talking about Ed's shoes & again, I was like "OMG! I didn't even look at his shoes!" Tom informed me that Ed said "Hi, I'm Ed" after you introduced yourself, which makes some sense.
Anyway, meeting him after the show, I again failed to introduce myself, but I know I told him "great show" and asked if I could have another picture with him, to which he replied "Thank you & Sure".
What a goober I am, but I don't think it's as bad as you, Tony! :) That's probably how I'd be if I ever met Madonna!!
Ok! Pictures from my meeting with Ed (sounds better than autograph signing, doesn't it?) are up!!!! You can find pictures of Ed (without me)
here.
You can find pics of Ed (with me)
here. There are only 3 here & one is my favorite picture twice. The original color version is my favorite (it's the one on the far right). The black & white one is pretty good too though. The one in the middle is the blurry one Tom took. :) In fact, most of the pictures from Solstice turned out yucky, so I'm thinking the light had something to do with it, but the first batch are awesome. :)
So let me update you about my fabulous meeting with Ed. The day was sunny & clear - the perfect day for me to meet the man I've admired for 10 years. :)
Tom & I got to the mall about 40 minutes before Ed was due to show. We waited around. At about 10 minutes to 1:00, there were only about 20 people waiting. I chalk that up to the fact that it was a Wednesday afternoon, I'm sure Ed would draw more people than that. Anyway, the radio station was asking trivia questions to win a $75 gift certificate to the sunglass store that Ed was signing autographs at. They asked "Who sang the 80s hit I Wear My Sunglasses at Night". My hand shot up & I answered "Corey Hart" so I won $75 to the sunglass store! I purchased some very cute Ralph Lauren Sunglasses that were $78. With tax I only paid $10.
Anyway - Ed got there and OMG he looks as beautiful in person as he does on stage & in pictures. I got him to sign my limited edition poster and a picture. I also got my picture taken with him. I was floating on a cloud.
Tom & I then went to Albertson's to get the film developed - I couldn't wait to see the pictures. While they were developing we went to Target to get frames for the autographed pieces.
We picked up the pictures and they came out great. All except the one Tom took - the one of Ed & I. It was blurry :( He was really apologetic. I was confident I could take it somewhere to get it fixed though, so I wasn't too upset.
5:30 rolls around & Tom and I are downtown waiting for Main Street Live to start. Ed was playing an acoustic mini-set. This band called WideAwake (From Austin) was on for an hour. They were pretty bad in the beginning, but got better. They were kind of like Blink 182. I was probably 20 feet from the stage.
Ed comes on & I got some *great* pictures of him onstage. I'll try to scan this weekend. I'm also going to send them to fansoflive.com in case they want to post them. He played I Alone, Runaway, Heaven & Lightning Crashes & then that was it - it was over. Of course I loved every minute of it.
After he left the stage we left (we had no interest in hearing Shawn Colvin). A side street was barricaded & made up the "backstage" area. We waited at the barricades & Ed came over to sign more autographs. I didn't have anything for him to sign so I asked if I could take another picture with him. He said sure. This time I got my friend Rick to take it - no sense risking camera failure at the hands of hubby twice :) .
It was a PERFECT DAY! Thursday at lunch I got those pictures developed & they came out great. The stage pictures are awesome, but I'm happy to report that the pic of Ed & I is AMAZING!!! It's crystal clear, he's smiling, I look like I'm about to bust with happiness. It's by far my favorite picture in the universe. :)
I heard a rumor that Live is going to be playing at the Gypsy Tea Room on May 27th. This is where I saw them in September. It's a small club in downtown Dallas. How exciting!!!!
38 more hours until I get to see Ed!
Does anyone else find it odd that there was a power outage overnight at the
Bellagio in Las Vegas and there was also a power outage at Air Traffic Control at the
Los Angeles Airport this morning?
I'm sure I've watched too many dramas and have worried about terrorism for too long, but it just seems like an odd coincidence to me.
Oh my god. I can't believe I didn't update with this yesterday! I must have been too excited. By now you know that Ed's playing a free show on Wednesday night that I now get to go to since I'm not going to the Philippines until June. WELL, I checked their page yesterday and next Wednesday at 1pm, Ed is going to be at a mall around here signing autographs!!!!!!!!
I finally get to meet the man I've placed on a pedestal all these years! What am I going to wear (the black shirt everyone tells me I look skinny in!)? What am I going to say????????????? I was so excited I couldn't breathe! Dave's giving me tips on how not to look like a totally psychotic dork-fan. Hopefully those lessons will take!
Can one person have too much luck? First you have a famous daughter & now this?
J-Lo's mom is a lucky lady. She has won a $2.4-million jackpot playing the dollar slots in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
According to the Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa, Guadalupe Lopez won the big bucks playing a Wheel of Fortune machine Saturday night.
A casino spokesman denied knowing of any relationship between the jackpot winner and Jennifer Lopez.
But Us Weekly and People magazine report Guadalupe Lopez is J-Lo's mom.
Another thing - what's with large women wearing small tops that their fat hangs out of? We were out on Sunday & saw this large girl wearing a shirt that let her belly hang out. When it did, it rolled down over her pants. A gross sight, for sure, but why? I'm all for people not caring what others think about them - good for you for being confident, but really you just look *bad*.
Holy Goodness this font is LARGE. I don't know how to fix it either. *sigh*
Tom's job search is not going as well as I had hoped. He's applied to about 15 jobs and so far he's gotten call backs on 2. The one for Comcast was filled before he could go in. Now he's been contacted by Verizon, so we'll see how that goes. The longer it takes, the more depressed I get. I have places to go this summer - Atlanta on May 1, Philly July 4, and I'm sure I'd think of other places. It's selfish of me, I know, but I hope he gets something soon.
Ok, I had to take the Tagboard off because it was giving me the red-ass. No matter how small I made the fields, it caused my entire right frame to be placed at the bottom of my page, thus messing up the entire layout.
So for now, if you have something to say, add a comment to a post. I hope you like the new layout.
