Some early things I’ve noticed while living in spacious Carmel, IN.
People are crazy friendly here. I’m sure there are rude people somewhere, but I’ve yet to run across one. Of course, after the a-holes at the moving and cable companies we had to deal with in our first week of residence, pretty much anyone who does their job seems agreeable to you.
The time is completely screwed up. You know the old joke: Indiana: a time zone for every life style. (Of course, that’s not accurate since northwest Indiana moves their clocks with Chicago, and portions of southern Indiana change their clocks with Kentucky and/or Ohio. But for the masses throughout Indiana, they’ve never had to learn that tricky memory device, spring forward, fall back.) I’m still not sure why they don’t change here. It’s not like Arizona, where it’s 182 in the summer and that extra hour of dark at night is a blessing. All I know is the sun comes up at 5:15 in the morning, and it makes it damn near impossible to sleep in. We didn’t have blinds or drapes in our bedroom until last week and at exactly 6:02 AM, these retina-burning rays of sun hit me. It was impossible to avoid them. Even putting two pillows over my head didn’t work. Then the sun goes down at 8:15. Very odd for someone who spent most of his summers growing up in Western Kansas where the sun doesn’t set until almost 10:00.
Indianapolis TV stations operate on the East Coast prime time schedule. That means Friends is on at 8:00. ER at 10:00. Local news at 11:00. Tough to adjust to, but when I lived in California I operated under that schedule, so I can adjust. What’s weird is the fact the when the rest of the country moves their clocks, Indiana suddenly becomes the last place in the world to know about anything that’s not live. Example: in May, for the big Friends finale, the show aired at 8:00 Indianapolis time. Which is 9:00 in New York, so the show had been on an hour earlier. But, since prime time starts at 7:00 in the Central time zone, people in Kansas City had already seen the episode as well. But then during the winter, we’re watching shows at the same time as people in both New York and Kansas City. Makes sense, no? So if you really want to mess with me, find a show I’m following religiously, wait for the cliff hanger in May, then call me and ruin it before I get a chance to watch. Not the end of the world, I know, but something that I can harp on for awhile.
One final note on time in Indiana. We got a flyer from our state representative yesterday. You know those fluff pieces they mail to everyone in their district to try to prove they’ve accomplished something and deserve your vote next time around? Our state rep devoted a full third of his accomplishment page to blasting the other members of the house who kept Daylight Savings Time from passing in this year’s session. He even said their heads were in the sand, which I kind of liked. He pretty much seemed to be a party-line tool from what else he wrote, but if he comes trolling through our neighborhood for votes, I may corner him and exact some promises about DST in return for my vote. I’m telling you, my way to the top in this state is getting DST passed, then starting a company that consults with both companies and private citizens on how to turn their clocks forward and back.
Other than that, life is good. Is everyone really going to be here in just over a week?