CO vs. MI

hola amigos,

in my short time here in 'the centennial state' I have made note of several (sev-eh-ral) differences between my new home and 'the wolverine state'.

for instance, in Colorado u-turns on divided highways are performed freehand at intersections, whereas in Michigan I'm used to the Michigan-U (not to be confused with the University of Michigan, though I did make an academic u-turn during the end of my tenure there which, coincidentally, landed me here). I'm still getting used to this concept and will be glad when I get a vehicle with a better turning radius.

another slight change has been the cuisine, or more accurately the food options local to me. gone are the days of picking up Backroom (mmm...Backroom) or Panch after an evening at the Jug. a few months back I thought all hope of decent burritos was lost when I tried Big City Burrito, an unimaginable disappointment. on Sunday, however, I was introduced to Illegal Pete's, a small local franchise that might give Panchero's a carrera for their pesos. also, I have been very, very lucky to find Sabra hummus at several (joss tryeeton!) local grocerariums.

highway driving can also be a markedly different experience out here. people actually drive under the speed limit, sometimes by 5 mph or so. also, horns are seldom utilized, save for occasionally waking someone from a slumber at a traffic light.

Hillel on campus is also quite a change from what I was used to in Ann Arbor (I'm of course referring to my final year during which I actually went inside of UMHillel). there's just not a lot of Jews out here. Hillel is in a small house and this evening's services were attended by about 75 people in auditorium on campus, and many of those present were community members (though by the end the rabbi hoped we'd all be a kehila kedosha).

feetball. Michigan's team wins in upset fashion whereas Colorado's just makes all of its fans upset. their current records also could not be more contrastative.

cars out here (as in many states) are required to have front and rear license plates. though I normally despise the look of a front plate, I won't mind too much when I get my next vehicle because CO has very cool mountain plate designs.

Colorado has mountains, Michigan hasn't.

feliz año nuevo a mis amigos sefardis y שנה טובה al resto!
el DG

p.s. for those of you who don't read hebrew or spanish, I was just wishing a happy new year to all as tonight is the beginning of Rosh Hashanah and the Jewish year 5767. now why didn't I just say it like that to begin with? because then I wouldn't get the opportunity to use a post-script to explain myself and make this already-too-long post even longer.