Entry #2: Michigan vs Arizona

Hello again. Having moved out here to Arizona from Michigan about a year and a half ago, I can't help but draw some comparisons between the  Midwest and the Southwest regions of our country. The most obvious difference of course is the weather. By weather, I'm not just talking about warm vs cold, I'm talking about the entire weather picture. Anyone who has grown up and always lived in Southwest should really take a trip to the Midwest in say, February. Make sure you take a friend so that one of you can shovel the snow off the driveway, while the other one is scraping all the ice and snow off of your vehicle before you guys drive down to the corner store for a loaf of bread. I can't say I miss that. I've also noticed a difference in the people. People in both regions share some similarities in terms of politeness, generally friendly, helpful, etc. The only real difference I've noticed out here about the people, is that they seem a little less approachable or should I say more guarded. I'm not sure why. I first noticed that at the fitness center that I go to. When I lived in Michigan and joined a fitness center there, a lot of people, noticing I was a newbie, came by and introduced themselves. Every morning you could observe people smiling, talking and joking with one another. The fitness center I go to out here, it seems like everyone is wearing earbuds and in their own little space. I see a lot of the same people there every morning, and no one is talking to anyone else. On the plus side of this area is honesty. The people here seem to be, for the most part, more honest than from where I'm from. On two separate occasions since moving here, my money clip had somehow fallen out of my pocket. In both cases a person picked it up, caught up with me and returned it. Where I'm from, there's a better chance that someone would "help" the money clip fall out of my pocket. No joke. I've been "helped out" several times in the Midwest region in different States. Another thing I've noticed out here is that apparently, nobody cooks food at home. I have worked all throughout the Midwest as well as the Northeast, and have never seen so many restaurants/fast food places in my life. I get hungry every time I drive down a main street. All those aromas blasting through my car vents, and I'm ready to eat something, even if I just ate! I get a kick out of some the subtle differences that I didn't notice at first. I just recently realized that none of the houses out here have rain gutters and down spouts attached to them. I'm kinda slow sometimes, so at first I thought "Whats up with that?" Then I enjoyed a hardy laugh at my stupidity. "Don't need em dummy." I thought to myself. Another one I got a kick out of occurred last winter here at my doctor's office. It was kinda cool that morning so I wore a hoodie. I walked into the waiting room, took off my hoodie and started looking for the coat rack. Like a dummy I'm walking all around this large waiting room looking for the damn coat rack. Finally one of the receptionists ask me what I was looking for. When I told her she did her best not to breakout laughing. Knowing my background, she said very politely "We don't have one Mark. You're in Arizona now." Of course the other patients in the waiting room did not contain their laughter. I joined in and laughed at myself as well. Other than the things I have already touched on, I haven't noticed too many differences YET. At least not big ones. At this point in time, I definitely have not found anything big enough in a negative way in the state of Arizona that would convince me to move back to Michigan.