Differences

Moving from one place to another will you will obviously see many differences. There are some major differences between ND and MA. Here are a few I've observed.

First and most obvious is location. The differences may be different than what you are going to expect me to say. Of course there is the big metro area of Boston and of course the presence of an ocean. That's not what makes it so different. When I lived in Fargo, I lived right off 32nd Ave S. Right behind Essentia, formerly Inovis. I had a gas station and a grocery store within walking distance. There is a strip mall connected to the grocery store that included a liquor store, a pizza hut, a dry cleaners along with a few other essential and non essential businesses. If the grocery store did not have a good weekly flyer, I had 2 other grocery stores within 2 miles of my apartment. It took me about 5 minutes to get to the local mall. Five minutes in the other direction took me to a brand new Walmart.

Here.... in Marlborough, MA... it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to get anywhere. Fifteen minutes to get to the gas station. There is a grocery story right by the gas station. There is a Marshalls right next the grocery store. Not much else in that area. Oh... a McDonalds is near by too. If you drive about 5 to 7 minutes down the road, you will find a shitty Walmart. There is a Uno's Pizzeria, Ruby Tuesdays, a couple local restaurants and a movie theater on the way to the shitty Walmart. If you head the other direction, you can find the local shopping mall. It's a nice shopping mall with all the basics (as long as there is a Macy's, I'm fine). This is about a good 15 to 20 minute drive away. Around the mall there is an Olive Garden and a steakhouse.

My point being, I moved to the middle of nowhere!


Second difference... Grocery shopping. Prices are very similar on most items. If you are looking for prepacked, non perishable items it is almost cheaper. I purchased 4 boxes of Cheerio's today for a total of $8. Not bad. Soda, or POP, as I like to call it, is usually on sale at one of the five grocery stores (all at least 15 minutes away). The only thing with pop cans is you have to pay a $0.05 deposit per can. As long as you bring the cans back, you get your deposit back. Moving out here has forced me to be more green (not with all the driving around I'm doing though!)!

Meat, however, is a different story!! Meat is so expensive!! Hamburger, on sale is $3.50 a pound!! I'm praying Sam's Club will have one of the big tubes of hamburger for cheaper. I have been obsessed with the tv show "Extreme Couponing". I might need to take that up just to be able to buy meat!!

The last thing I'm going to talk about is something that has been on my mind for a good part of the day today. Hurricanes! Hurricane Irene is scheduled to show up Monday. I was not aware this was an option. I knew that the weather would be different here. I was expecting things to much more mild due to the large body of water to my right. I was not expecting a tropical cyclone to make it's way this far north.

When I heard that they named it Irene, I thought it was a good omen. You see, my Dad's Mother's name is Irene. She is one of the women who I loved the most in the world. My dear Grandma shares her name with a storm that is supposed to produce winds at a minimum of 74 miles per hour. Wikipedia helps me define a hurricane as "... a system with sustained winds of at least...74 miles per hour. ... A cyclone of this intensity tends to develop an eye, an area of relative calm at the center of circulation. The eye is often visible in satellite images as a small, circular, cloud-free spot. Surrounding the eye is the eyewall, an area about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) to 80 kilometres (50 mi) wide in which the strongest thunderstorms and winds circulate around the storm's center. Maximum sustained winds in the strongest tropical cyclones have been estimated at about ...195 miles per hour.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tropical_cyclone#Hurricane_or_typhoon)

This is telling me that I fit into the 80 kilometres that produce the strongest thunderstorms. I went grocery shopping today. I will probably head back to the grocery store tomorrow. I guess I know how to prepare for a blizzard. I will prepare in a similar fashion.


I am positive I will find a lot more differences. I am looking forward to discovering more about my community, especially the people.