How To Know If You're A Region Rat (aka live in Northwest Indiana)
This is a little something for all of us from Northwest Indiana. This is NOT meant to offend anyone. I'm from Northwest Indiana and I think this is hilarious. No offense to anyone. I love it here as much as you. If you're from there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, here's your lesson on life in Northwest Indiana. So here's the top 48 ways to tell if you're a region rat (live in Northwest Indiana).
48. Oil tanks are more common than trees in your neighborhood.
47. You don't know anything about farming...at least not legal farming.
46. When you need to run out to the store, you go to Jewel.
45. You call the interstate the "tollroad."
44. You know what good pizza tastes like, and it's not Papa John's.
43. Running red lights is normal.
42. Midway is not an island, it's an airport.
41. You know the night sky is not black, it's orange!
40. You know roads are just a place for trains to park across (especially where I live).
39. Only a true region rat can tell which town they are in at any given time.
38. You love Kohl's (the store).
37. You measure distance in minutes instead of miles.
36. You understand what the "lake-effect" is.
35. You don't pronounce the "s" in Illinois and you get aggravated when people do.
34. "What's a sheriff?"
33. School isn't canceled unless there is at least 20 feet of snow on the ground.
32. You know more about what's going on in Illinois than Indiana.
31. You don't drink soda, you drink pop.
30. You don't consider pigs as being domestic pets.
29. Your favorite holiday movie is "A Christmas Story."
28. You can see downtown Chicago from your neighborhood, yet it takes an hour to get there.
27. You think bridges were invented to cross railroad tracks, not rivers.
26. You like White Castle.
25. Your bumper is rusted from road salt.
24. You know that country music sucks.
23. Sometimes you forget that Indiana has a football team.
22. You don't "cruise the strip."
21. You are skilled at lane changing and know that "all 5 lanes on I-80 were MEANT to be used!"
20. You can appreciate the humor of Mancow.
19. You know that beaches exist in places other than Florida and California.
18. You always keep at least $5 in change in your car for tolls.
17. You think all amusement parks are called "Great America."
16. You know that not all passenger trains are powered by steam.
15. Your neighborhood is a proposed third airport.
14. You know better than to light a match within 5 miles of the Little Calumet River.
13. What the hell is a Hardee's?
12. You're not really a Hoosier.
11. Even though you go to school three hours away, you still can't help but watch WGN news on cable every night.
10. You have motion sensor lights on your garage and house, but don't lock the doors of either of them.
9. You leave your car running in the parking lot at the store.
8. You end sentences with unnecessary prepositions ("Where is my coat at?" or "I want to go with!")
7. You forget we even have a county fair.
6. Who needs a county fair anyway when there is August Fest?
5. There is only one LAKE, everything else is a pond.
4. Everyone else at the gas station is from Illinois.
3. The "northern lights" are the flames from Amoco's refinery.
2. You think anything south of US-30 is Southern Indiana.
1. 588-2300-EMPIIIIIIIIIIRE!