Minnesota Likes and Dislikes

I've been here a month and a day, so I thought I'd share my lists of things I like and don't like about life in Minnesota so far.

Don't like: the parking lots. They never have enough in/out places, and I wind up driving around and around (either outside the parking lot trying to get in, or inside the parking lot trying to get out).
Do like: the speed limits. Highways are 60-65, and even residential areas are 30.

Don't like: the scarcity of good coffee. I didn't realize how much of a coffee snob I was until I moved away from the Pacific Northwest.
Do like: the abundance of super shopping. In Rochester, a town of about 100,000 people, we have two Super Targets, two Super Wal*Marts, and a mall. Plus, the Mall of America is only 90 minutes away.

Don't like: the early closing hours. Would you believe Super Target closes at 10:00 p.m.? Ridiculous.
Do like: the elbow room. It's not as crowded here, even though there are three times as many people as in Newberg. And Minneapolis has mostly two-way streets downtown because - gasp - there's room for them.

Don't like: how it was summer one day and fall the next. Where's my transition?
Do like: the thunderstorms. I've never seen so much lightning in my life, as I've seen here in one month.

Don't like: living in the middle of the continent. How am I supposed to know which way is West without the ocean nearby?
Do like: living in the Central Time Zone. No one on the continent is more than two hours away from me. (This one has its cons, though, since all my friends except a couple live outside the Central Time Zone, and it's hard to keep track.)

I have mixed feelings about:
* the accent. It's like a Canadian accent on steroids (to quote my sister).
* the location of the city I live in; there's a lot of stuff here, but you have to go a long way to get anything that's not.
* the whole dressing-up-for-work culture. I kind of liked the dressing-down atmosphere of Portland. Even at my "business casual" jobs, we could usually take our shoes off.

The hardest thing about moving to a new state: not knowing ANYthing. Like who the gubernatorial candidates are (or even when the election is), where to get the best cup of coffee, how far away things are, when to put the trash on the curb, and which street my house is on.

The most fun thing about moving to a new state: not knowing ANYthing. ;-)