another nod to the 'vegas

There are usually two standard conversations I have when I meet someone and tell them I'm from Huntsville, AL.

Conversation #1:
Person X - "Where are you from?"
Me - "Huntsville, Alabama"
Person X - Just your regular polite response. Either just a nod, etc. or the latest trend of "but you don't have an accent?"

Conversation #2:
Person X - "Where are you from?"
Me - "Huntsville, Alabama"
Person X - "Huntsville, Alabama! I went there once. I went to Space Camp!"

The funny thing is I never went to Space Camp. I never really had a desire to. I do remember either my junior or senior year of high school going to the Space and Rocket Center as a United Way volunteer with Big Brothers/Big Sisters. It was the first time they let non-camp participants use the simulation equipment. I still feel like I got the most important part of Space Camp... getting to the 1/6 chair (simulates walking on the moon), the multi-access trainer (MAT -- where they strap you in and whirl you in all sort of crazy directions), and finishing the day off with the obligatory block of astronaut ice cream. Yum.

Ahhhhhh... sweet home Alabama. I decided to use my lunch hour to peruse the news on CNN.com. I felt the need to balance out my Express-only news for the week. There were not too many stories on there it seemed and I was surprised that one of the few listed featured none other than Huntsville! Apparently, there was a recent movie filmed there titled Constellation. I had to check IMDB for this one, and there it was. And my Netflix queue goes up by one...

It was a good article though, I thought. It provided info on the movie and even went on to highlight some of the things to do in Huntsville, down to the Jazz Factory (where I finally made it to over Thanksgiving after some high school friends took me on a tour of Huntsville in search of some dive pool halls - good times). It goes on to state "nightlife is anything but dull". Hmmmm. That might be a bit strong, but it's definitely not the back woods. Just the same, you won't see me hightailing it out of DC anytime soon.

Earlier in the year, the Yankee'd sent me another article on Huntsvegas, dubbing it the #1 hot spot of the Sunbelt (apparently defined as South of the 37th parallel). The article sings the praises of the educated level of the residents, a nice contrast to any stereotypes.


I miss Alabamy once again...
(Fashionista, karaoke again soon?? Hah)