Maryland = Crabs

(Too bad I don't eat them though)

As you must know by now (because you made it this far through my web pages), I'm a transplated Michigander in the state of Maryland. I now live in Ellicott City with my two cats, Melyanna and Loreley. Below at the bottom of the page is a map of the state with some of the major cities as well as NASA Goddard Space Flight Center indicated. (Sorry Columbia, you just didn't fit.) To the right is a view of Baltimore's Inner Harbor and a nifty sailboat.

Maryland is a nice little state, but it definitely has its differences from the Midwest. And moving out here cold turkey a few years back (1990 to be exact) made me quickly aware of them. Here are some of the more noticable differences.

• Drivers here are often less than courteous. There seem to be three types of drivers here who cause problems:
1. Those who only see the lane in front of them and absolutely will NOT move over to let you on the expressway or to let you pass. They stay in whatever lane they're in and that's that!
2. Those who are constantly zipping in and out of lanes, tailgating and trying to knock a couple seconds off their commute time (generally unsuccessfully!). I think Maryland is the original "road rage" state.
3. Rubberneckers — those people who have to slow down and turn their heads to gape at even the simplest event on the side of the road, e.g., a police officer giving someone a ticket on the other side of the freeway going in the other direction!


• Maryland doesn't have the mosquitos that Michigan does (unless you go to the Atlantic coast, say near Ocean City). I think it's because there are so many cars in Maryland that the little buggers are squashed in the headlights every night they come out!
• People here are just plain ignorant when it comes to carbonated soft drinks: rather than using the proper term, Pop, they say Soda. I'm on a crusade to change that.
• There are more natural, inland lakes in the county I grew up in (Ionia County) than in the entire state of Maryland. But that's not difficult considering there are No natural inland lakes in the entire state of Maryland.
• When it snows in Maryland, people will abandon their four-wheel drive vehicles on the side of the road and walk home. (Honest, I'm not making that up! It really happens.) In fact, schools will be shut down here at the threat of snow! Where I grew up, the criteria for closing school was if the snow was getting deep enough to reach the axle of a school bus.
• You can buy Crabs by the Bushel in Maryland, and even though you probably can in Michigan, you'd most likely have to take out a second mortgage to do so.

Anyway, that's enough of that. How about a few links of interest for Maryland?

• Maryland's Official Tourism Site.
• University of Maryland - I'm working on a Master's Degree in Engineering at the moment.
• Maryland Electronic Capital, Maryland's online government page.
• A little history of Ellicott City.
• Howard County, Maryland government page.

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This page is maintained by Ryan Simmons, at RyanS@sprynet.com.
This page was last updated in August 2003.