Forbes.com--"America's Safest Cities"=buncha crapola

Now, you know that I love my hometown of Chicago, but this survey is horribly skewed and shameful. Traffic fatalities in Chicago were ranked 9; in Nashville, 37. I drove the autobahn in Germany and was still scared to take the Dan Ryan after I returned home. The only complaint I have about Nashville drivers is that they don't seem to know what a turn signal is, nor do some here understand the concept of pulling forward in a left-hand turning lane once the green arrow is gone. But I must say that since moving here two years ago I have become a less hurried driver, and in turn, grip the wheel in a more leisurely manner and yell fewer obscenities into the air.


Forbes.com--America's Safest Cities

"To determine our list of America's safest cities, we looked at the country's 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas across four categories of danger. We considered violent crime rates from the FBI's 2008 uniform crime report; 2008 workplace death rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics; 2008 traffic death rates from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration; and natural disaster risk, using rankings from green living site SustainLane.com. "

1 Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington, MN-WI
2 Milwaukee-Waukesha-West Allis, WI
3 Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, OR-WA
4 Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, MA-NH
4 Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA
6 Providence-New Bedford-Fall River, RI-MA
7 San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA
8 New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-PA
9 Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN
10 Cleveland-Elyria-Mentor, OH
10 Denver-Aurora, CO
12 Detroit-Warren-Livonia, MI
13 San Diego-Carlsbad-San Marcos, CA
14 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ
15 Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL-IN-WI
15 Austin-Round Rock, TX
15 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX
18 Pittsburgh, PA
19 Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana, CA
20 Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV
21 Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD
22 San Antonio, TX
23 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA
24 Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville, CA
25 San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont, CA
26 Baltimore-Towson, MD
27 Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News, VA-NC
28 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL
29 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV
29 Columbus, OH
31 Charlotte-Gastonia-Concord, NC-SC
32 Kansas City, MO-KS
32 Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA
34 St. Louis, MO-IL
35 Orlando-Kissimmee, FL
36 Indianapolis-Carmel, IN
37 Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro-Franklin, TN
38 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX
39 Jacksonville, FL
40 Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Pompano Beach, FL

she's an oxymoron

My husband told me about a woman that came into a store with a bottle of prescription pills. The name on the bottle was scratched off.

She was caught stealing a $180 DVD player, a 20 oz. bottle of Crush, and Joel Osteen's audiobook "Your Best Life Now: 7 Steps to Living at Your Full Potential."

You have to give her just a little credit for trying.

Driving

Today the Williamson County Clerk chipped away at a little more of my identity. With Illinois license plates expiring July 31st, I was faced with the dilemma of whether I should pay my home state $78 and break the law just so that I can have my speed-limits-are-merely-guidelines driving justified by my association with the north, or be a good citizen of the state of Tennessee and try to blend in. Considering that I was stopped by "the law" the other day for cruising through my small town at 48 m.p.h. in a 30, I felt it best to comply.

But I will not go quietly. I am still clinging to my Illinois driver's license, even though you are supposed to obtain one from Tennessee if you live here more than a month. So as long as I set the cruise control at 30 when I spot the greeting "Welcome to our Town" on a faded wooden sign, I should be able to slide on through with nary a glance from the authorities.

My in-laws warned me that everyone is so nice here in the south--almost absurdly friendly. But it is good to know that government employees are the same no matter where you go, especially those associated with motor vehicles.