Things I've Noticed

Quick Quote on The Extraordinary

"Familiarity makes the extraordinary merely ordinary."

+ Atul

Undesirable Addresses That Have Nothing to Do with Their Locations

I recently moved to an apartment in the Minneapolis area, (for people new to this blog), and I live on Singletree Lane.  I'm not sure what the significance of this single tree is.  Perhaps it died without ever getting married, or perhaps there was one tree on this street when they built my apartment complex in 2006.  Chances are, it means nothing but it sounded neat to somebody.  And I'm OK with that, but what bothers me is how street names (and addresses) are picked without regard to the fact that people have to live on and conduct business on these roads.  Accordingly, the locations have to be written and spoken thousands of times.

Long addresses, like ones with five digits elude some people because of innumeracy.  Growing up, my address was 28000, but so many people shortchanged us a zero.  Perhaps 28000 seemed too high to people or they just don't know how many zeros are in a thousand.  In that case, it's the people's fault more than the fault of the person who came up with the address numbering system.  But then some people who create subdivisions or developments come up with crazy themes like flowers, or Shakespearean plays and the resulting street names can be downright embarrassing.  As a boy, to have to tell somebody that you live on Azalea Lane is cruel.  Feminine-sounding street names are no picnic either.  Mary Kay Circle is one of my least favorites.  Or why do street names have to be so long?  To fill out a form with a ten letter street name is time-consuming and trying to spell the name over the phone is worse.  Filling out forms can become a "how small can you write" exercise.  Some names are just difficult to spell even if they are short, others can be misinterpreted as one word instead of two.
Then there is the problem of a street name overpromising.  Living on Grand Vista Lane doesn't mean that you have a nice view, (unless you consider the landfill next door to be beautiful). 

I suppose there is no perfect street name, and one could make the case that there are only so many ways you can name a street.  It is important to be somewhat original, but State St. and Main St. are everywhere and nobody seems to mind. So, if you're a real estate developer or a city government official in charge of naming streets, be kind and be sensible.  And to those of you who live with an undesirable address, I sympathize, and I've taken notice on your behalf.

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Salsa

"You can never eat too much salsa."

+ Atul

I've Partially Moved to Minneapolis: Observations and Generalizations

Some of you may be wondering what happened to me.  Well, I just moved in to my apartment here in a suburb of Minneapolis.  It's 1.5 miles from work, nice and big, (although perhaps a bit dark) and since I still own my house in the Detroit area, (with a renter), this will have to do.  95% of my stuff is still at my house in the Detroit area.  Anyway, I've worked about two weeks at my new job and I like it so far, especially with it being a smaller company.  The people are nice there too; I even ate lunch in the cafetaria with our CEO, my VP and another high level person.  That would have never happened at GM or Daimler.  Regarding the job, I have a ways to go to learn my products and processes.

As for the Minneapolis, St. Paul metro area, there a few things that are worth mentioning to give me noticefaction...

- The traffic lights here last annoyingly long, like twice as long as what I'm used to, (and I'm not even exaggerating.)

- The highway system is like a grid with many 2x2 lane highways and short entrance/exit ramps which I'm convinced slow down traffic.  The large interstates are "normal" to me, but speed limits are generally obeyed here, (unlike Motown).

- On a related note, most people are easy-going and not as rushed, (although there are exceptions on the road)

- People are very friendly, but at the same time somewhat stand-offish.  I've heard that it takes a while to crack their shell.  To be fair though, I've befriended some people already at a few social events I attended.

- There is diversity here, but unlike in Chicago, Detroit, or NYC, my uniqueness seems to get noticed.  I don't just blend in, (at least based on my perception).  People have a harder time coming to terms with  my name than in other places I've been.

- People are thinner overall, there are more blondes, and probably more women than Detroit.

- Just like any other state, there are many here who are from here and will never leave here.  I have run into lots of people from Wisconsin and some from Michigan, but hardly any from Ohio.

- There's no tax on clothes in Minnesota.

- The infrastructure is much better taken care of, perhaps because of higher income taxes.  They actually have public transportation and trails and margins for bicycles, (but the mountain biking in Detroit is much more prevalent with longer trails.)

- Weather "rollercoasters" much more here with 50 degrees one day, 6 inches of snow the next and then 45 degrees and sun the next day.

- This metro area is further north and west than I realized.  Chicago is the closest big city and it's 6 1/2 hours away.

- There really are lakes everywhere.

- Many parts of the metro area are beautiful, especially Uptown and the 50th and France district.

- Ethnic food variety in these suburbs isn't the same as it is in Detroit based on my experience so far.

- The Minne-SO-ta accent does exist and I sense it on occasion.

Well, that's my update as I continue to absorb the city by staying as active as possible.

+ Atul

 

Spoken Language Accents and Their Cultural Implications

Accents… We all have them.  Well, some of us don’t.  Or at least many of us think we don’t even though we do.  It’s interesting how even when a language is shared, our various cultures alter it or are influenced by other languages.  Letters get ignored, sounds changed, and although not always spoken to reflect it, words have their spellings changed.  We accept that other people talk funny, but the sociological implications are broad.  Accents tell people a lot about who you are, where you came from, perhaps where you were educated and perhaps how long you’ve been in a country.  Even though these effects are multiplied many times over throughout the world, I’ll focus on accents people have with English here in the U.S. because I don’t understand what goes on in other countries.

From what I’ve read, “news English” or normal English is what is spoken somewhere in Pennsylvania.  I always thought it was Cleveland English, but I guess us calling Coke “pop” disqualifies us from that distinction.  Even the late Peter Jennings, a Canadian, spoke perfect standard American English.  Maybe that’s why people liked to watch him.  If he had used his Canadian accent, with words like “aboot” instead of “about”, he would have never made it so far.  He is just one example of how much an accent can affect your life.  People with British accents seem intelligent to us Americans even if the person may be as dumb as a proverbial rock.  Most of us can’t tell the difference between different British accents, so we lump them together.   When it comes to Southern accents, the reverse is true. 

I would venture to say that most people subtract points from the first impression intelligence test for people with Southern or Texas accents, even if the person is a genius.  Accents for people from other non-English speaking countries are generally made fun of.  But we should be happy that the person speaks English to begin with.  It makes communicating a whole lot easier and chances are, we probably don’t know their language very well. People with Indian language, Chinese language, or Spanish influenced accents are often ridiculed.  I don’t know why, but for some reason, it’s funny when an accent is exaggerated.  Back when I took improv comedy classes at Second City Detroit, the bit I did which got the most laughs was my Indian accented character.  People were dying of laughter which I appreciated but didn’t totally get.  Then I thought I was just perpetuating stereotypes and ridiculing people who share my culture.  So, I don’t do the Indian accent very often, and I don’t think I will on a stage.  Doing so reduces the respect people with that accent get.  It doesn’t help in the job market or in the dating world. I can imitate a generic Indian accent, even though that varies by region of India since they speak many languages there.  That made me notice why people have accents.  It stems from the person’s native language. 

All languages don’t use all human-possible alphabetic sounds.  Trying to learn a language that uses sounds which are new to you leads to not speaking it very well.  There are no short ‘i’, or short ‘a’ sounds in many of the northern Indian languages, and there are no ‘kh’ (versus ‘k’), and no ‘una’ sounds in English, so I have a tough time speaking Gujarati properly.  It’s what you grew up learning that matters although multilingual kids are probably more adept at picking up new languages later in life.  Some people think what matters is your genetics.  I doubt it makes much difference, but what if our voice boxes are genetically predisposed to being better at the languages our ancestors have spoken?  Maybe this influenced language development. As an Indian American, I can’t remember all the times that I’ve been told that I don’t “sound Indian.”  Some of the more ignorant ones assume that brown skin leads to an Indian accent.  (But then, these are some of the same people who call me “O’toole, as if I were Irish.)  I am O’toole only on St. Patrick’s Day. 

+ Atul

Quick Quote on Time

"Time is the one dimension in which you always know the direction you're headed."

+ Atul

I'm Moving to Minneapolis!

Before you read about it in the newspaper, I'd like to announce that the home office, (and the writer), of "Things I've Noticed" are moving to somewhere in the Minneapolis metro area.  I know it's hard to believe that after almost 14 years of this car guy living in the Motor City, I'll actually be leaving.  Even though it will be nice to remain in the great Midwest, I'll also have to accept that I'll be moving further from my family in the Cleveland area.  It was a tough decision, but I felt as though it was time to make a move in my career.  I have to get more out of my University of Michigan MBA and all those years of experience that I've managed to string together.  I'll be doing product management work for a smaller company whose name I won't mention.  I'm excited to be going to a new town that's in better shape economically, but it's sad leaving the Detroit area which I have grown to love.  It's depressing how hard our local economy has been hit.  Let's all just buy cars from the Big Three and help turn this town around.  Anyway, I've heard that Minneapolis is a fun town with some beautiful areas (and lots of blonds which isn't a bad thing).  I don't mind snow, but the extreme cold will take a bit of getting used to.  I will be buying a nice warm coat as soon as I get there.  I heard there's no sales tax on clothes there.

In addition to leaving the aspects of the Detroit area that I like, (such as areas like Birmingham, Royal Oak, Ferndale, Ann Arbor, great ethnic food in the suburbs, being in the heart of the auto industry), I'll also be leaving friends, coworkers, and soccer and volleyball teammates that I've played with for years.  It's all starting to sink in.  I don't really know anybody in Minneapolis, but some of my friends have already introduced me to people there.  It will be time to get used to new roads, new grocery stores, local culture, drivers, news broadcasts, and new friends.  It seems like a big deal to me because I haven't moved much in my lifetime, but to others, it's no big deal.  Anyway, if any of my subscribers are from Minneapolis, drop me a line.

Now it's time to get to looking for apartments on line.  Prime candidates for apartment locations are St. Louis Park, and Hopkins.

+ Atul