Northern Virginia

i thought this was funny.

You Know You're From Northern Virginia If…

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1. Speed limits are just suggestions
2. You take a major highway to school (95, 66,28, etc)
3. You constantly complain about there being nothing to do, even though you are right next to DC
4. You have at least 2 friends who have no idea what their parents do because its "top secret" government work
5. 50% of your senior class plans on going either to Mason, JMU, Tech or UVA
6. When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain
7. You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern" in front of it
8. When you and your friends get bored you all whip out your cell phones and start playing with them
9. Its not actually tailgating unless your bumper is touching the car in front of you.
10. A yellow light means at least 5 more cars can get through.
11. A red light means 2 more can.
12. It takes you 30 minutes to drive 10 miles
13. Your local news is national news
14. If you hear the word "sniper" one more time you're going to slap someone
15. You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for
16. Even if your high school is only a year old, its already overcrowded
17. You have over 500 students in your graduating class
18. Despite the fact that Virginia fought for the south in the Civil War, you are NOT, under ANY circumstances, a "southerner"
19. You are friends with people from at least 2 other high schools
20. You know at least 2 people who drive a mercedes, BMW, Lexus, etc.
21. The cars in the student parking lot are woth 3x those in the teacher parking lot.
22. You are amused by visiting relatives who are actually excited to see Washington DC
23. You are amazed when you go out of town and the people at McDonalds speak english
24. You can cross 4 lanes of traffic in under 30 seconds
25. There are at least 3 malls within 20 minutes of your house
26. There are at least 6 Starbucks within 20 minutes of your house
27. You or someone in your family has a Smart Tag
28. Homework/Extra credit for a class has been to visit a museum in DC
29. When traveling, you have your choice of 3 airports
30. You don't actually like the Redskins/Wizards (except when Jordan was playing)
31. An inch of snow and you miss 3 days of school
32. All the potholes just add a little excitement to your driving experience
33. Stop signs mean slow down a little, but only if you feel like it
34. A rich white kid driving a BMW while blasting rap music is a common occurance
35. You call things "ghetto" even though in most of the rest of the country it'd be high class
36. You or most of your friends have a 3 car garage
37. You don't actually keep your cars in it.
38. When you were driving on the beltway at 2:13am on a Tuesday there was still traffic
39. Crown Victoria = undercover cop
40. A slow driver is someone who isn't going at least 10mph over the speed limit
41. You understand the meaning of "If you don't get it, you don't get it"
42. Subway is a fast food place. The transportation system is known as Metro, and only Metro
43. You've taken a wrong turn somewhere late at night and ended up in a bad part of DC(ex. anacostia)
44. Most of Loudoun County is the "middle of nowhere"
45. They just tore down the old farm house across the street and put 12 new houses in its place
46. The word Hfstival actually means something to you
47. Someone has honked at you because you didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
48. You've honked at someone because they didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
49. Rush hour lasts all day
50. For the cost of your house, you could own a small town in Iowa
51. Helicopters and airplanes flying above your neighborhood is a normal occurance.
52. 9:30 isnt just a time, its a place.
53. If you stay on the same road long enough, it will eventually have 3 new names.
54. You have to dial the area code to call your neighbor
55. You live 5 minutes from at least 2 high schools, but you go to one thats 30 minutes away.
56. You know at least 3 alternate routes to avoid sitting at a stop light.
57. You can't pull up to a 7-11 without seeing at least one cop, and usually there's another cop sitting not too far away.
58. You refer to distances in minutes, not miles.
59. When you put on your turn signal to change lanes, the people next to you speed up.
60. Talking on metro in the morning is prohibited
Here's a couple more,

you pay sales tax when you buy your new car, then again every year after.

you're a school teacher but refer to yourself as an educator.

(and for the hispanic N. Virginians)
a trip to the DMV is a family outing.
How very true

8. When you and your friends get bored you all whip out your cell phones and start playing with them
16. Even if your high school is only a year old, its already overcrowded
58. You refer to distances in minutes, not miles.


These are only the tip of iceburg when it comes to the me first driving attitude I've seen in these parts. i.e. i actually saw someone in a left turn lane peal out and around a car that was stopped in front of them as the light was changing from yellow to red. what is bloody important in one's life then waiting for the light to go through another cycle.

47. Someone has honked at you because you didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
48. You've honked at someone because they didn't peal out the second the light turned green.
"15. You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for"

i've seen list this before..but i don't recall ever seeing a black box at a stoplight..are they the stoplight cameras?
Another one,

You'd rather spend time in a Turkish prison than you would Maryland.
Originally posted by MaLo:
"15. You actually know what the black boxes at stoplights are for"

i've seen list this before..but i don't recall ever seeing a black box at a stoplight..are they the stoplight cameras?
yes, i never told you about my ticket by mail? these are sooo true:
6. When people ask where you're from, you tell them DC because its easier to explain
7. You've never told someone you're from Virginia without putting "northern" in front of it
All joking aside,and hopefully it's not too off topic, lest I get told to fuck off…

But a question for both the Marylanders and NoVA people:

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of living in MD vs. living in VA? (leaving out DC as an option)
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
All joking aside,and hopefully it's not too off topic, lest I get told to fuck off…

But a question for both the Marylanders and NoVA people:

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of living in MD vs. living in VA? (leaving out DC as an option)
FUCK OFF!

(sorry, couldn't resist) :D
Here's another one:

One out of every eight cars in Northern Virginia has a personalized license plate.
for the people that i know that live in md, the bus system is more expansive and runs longer hours. outside of metrobuses that run thru the counties, the rideon for mo county runs much longer than the nova buses, i think called dash?

good, safe real estate seems to be cheaper too, esp in pg county (fort washington, temple hills, oxon hill, bowie, mt rainier, etc, not all of pg county mind you, nor mo. county which is way overpriced except wheaton). whereas affordable real estate (all for purchase, not renting), pushes nova far out into prince william county thesedays.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
All joking aside,and hopefully it's not too off topic, lest I get told to fuck off…

But a question for both the Marylanders and NoVA people:

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of living in MD vs. living in VA? (leaving out DC as an option)
Originally posted by lily1:
for the people that i know that live in md, the bus system is more expansive and runs longer hours. outside of metrobuses that run thru the counties, the rideon for mo county runs much longer than the nova buses, i think called dash?

good, safe real estate seems to be cheaper too, esp in pg county (fort washington, temple hills, oxon hill, bowie, mt rainier, etc, not all of pg county mind you, nor mo. county which is way overpriced except wheaton). whereas affordable real estate (all for purchase, not renting), pushes nova far out into prince william county thesedays.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
All joking aside,and hopefully it's not too off topic, lest I get told to fuck off…

But a question for both the Marylanders and NoVA people:

What do you see as the advantages/disadvantages of living in MD vs. living in VA? (leaving out DC as an option)
That's cause PG county is scary. It is the area around here I feel the most out of place. Like people are wondering what the hell i'm doin there. I avoid it at all costs.
Originally posted by helicon1:
Here's another one:

One out of every eight cars in Northern Virginia has a personalized license plate.
As opposed to California, where only one out of eight cars does not have a personalized license plate.
parts of it are…i outlined some decent areas, and also neglected to include greenbelt, esp old greenbelt and university park…

Originally posted by redsock:
That's cause PG county is scary. It is the area around here I feel the most out of place. Like people are wondering what the hell i'm doin there. I avoid it at all costs.
Originally posted by redsock:
That's cause PG county is scary.
cause of all the "colored people"?
What about Laurel? Are there nice parts of Laurel?

Originally posted by lily1:
parts of it are…i outlined some decent areas, and also neglected to include greenbelt, esp old greenbelt and university park…

Originally posted by redsock:
That's cause PG county is scary. It is the area around here I feel the most out of place. Like people are wondering what the hell i'm doin there. I avoid it at all costs.
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
[QB] What about Laurel? Are there nice parts of Laurel?



Laurel is basically Legoland..it's too fabricated if you know what I mean. There's one intersection near the racetrack where the diner is that's real, but the rest of it is legoland…….same as Columbia really.
Originally posted by sonickteam2:
Originally posted by redsock:
That's cause PG county is scary.
cause of all the "colored people"?
No, that would mean DC is scary. It's just the ominous feeling I get. Like I keep hearing a Scooby-Doo villain saying "Get-Out!" I get that feeling in certain parts of Northern Virginia too. Hell I get that feeling at some Dim Sum restaurants…has nothing to do with PG county being mostly black. Just me being tall white and goofy, I stand out. normally I don't care….but PG is different. I just don't belong…
I think I know what you mean…

"Legoland" is not such a bad thing to me…given that I'm in DC five days a week anyway, I get my share of non-Legoland.

Basically, I think we're looking for somewhere wear we can afford a single family house, have a decent size yard, have decent schools for our future kid, and be within reasonable driving distance to the Metro/MARC/VRE station. Don't mind a further out suburb (e.g Centreville, Manassas) if it means affording a nicer house with a yard.

I think we favor VA (puts us closer to the mountains), but also looking at MD possibilities. Laurel seems like a better choice than Columbia, because the commute would be shorter.

Originally posted by mankie:
Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
[QB] What about Laurel? Are there nice parts of Laurel?



Laurel is basically Legoland..it's too fabricated if you know what I mean. There's one intersection near the racetrack where the diner is that's real, but the rest of it is legoland…….same as Columbia really.
I used to live in Savage, MD. That wasn't bad at all. It's between Laurel and Columbia, near the intersection of Rt. 1 and 32. There's a MARC station about a mile away. Very easy access to 95. It's nicer than Laurel, not as sterile as Columbia, but you're only a few minutes from both.

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Basically, I think we're looking for somewhere wear we can afford a single family house, have a decent size yard, have decent schools for our future kid, and be within reasonable driving distance to the Metro/MARC/VRE station. Don't mind a further out suburb (e.g Centreville, Manassas) if it means affording a nicer house with a yard.

I think we favor VA (puts us closer to the mountains), but also looking at MD possibilities. Laurel seems like a better choice than Columbia, because the commute would be shorter.

being a nomadic pennsylvanian, i find the hate between marylanders and virginians hillarious