gotshoo?

A while back there was a blog post from a nondescript blogger that was leaving ‘Stinkfield’ for good. They had lived in Abe’s town for three years and their final words was that it was one of the biggest pits in the universe.

I guess they hadn’t checked out the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum.

I was taken back by their post. For the first time ever, I was offended by someone talking badly about my town. I’ve only lived here my whole life and for the majority of it I would have told you living here sucked too, but in recent years it’s grown on me. I’ve got a great job, my house is more than affordable, and it takes me less than ten minutes to get to work.

Now the segue.

Those local cable access heroes Just Two Guys are considering doing a documentary based on a staggering online poll from the SJ-R where 96% of pollees rather live somewhere other than ‘Stinkfield.’ Before they start filming their doing their own poll to get a better idea of what people think of Springfield.

I’ll just go ahead and publicly answer mine:

Many people say there is nothing to do in Springfield. Do you agree with this statement? Please explain your answer.

There’s stuff to do, you just have to look a little harder in Springfield.

The music scene is a hit or miss. Most weekends all you can find in town are local cover bands or karaoke joints. But I’ve managed to see The Avett Brothers, BB King, John Prine, The Ditty Bops, Alkaline Trio, Mu330 and plenty of unknown punk bands, all in town.

Don’t expect to see a Dave Mathews Band or Poison, unless the State Fair happens to book the act, but they usually slip under the radar.

The bar scene. I have my favorite place, but the number of bars downtown has to have tripled in the last ten years. I heard someone say once that Springfield had one of the highest bar per capita ratios in the country. Don’t know if that’s true or not but they’re plenty of neighborhood bars scattered throughout the city.

The Arts. Last weekend was the annual art fair, and in the summer the Muni is a great showcase of local talent.

Random things you could do in Springfield (or neighboring communities): Rock Climbing in Rochester, play pool at Mowie’s Cue, really good Mountain biking at Site M (okay, a 45 min drive), fishing at Lake Springfield, Frisbee golf at Lincoln Park.

A common complaint about Springfield is that there is a serious lack of shopping. Do you agree or disagree? Again, please offer an explanation to support your answer.

I’ve got Best Buy, Ace, and Old Navy. Covered head to toe.

Is Springfield headed in the right direction? (yes or no)

Yes. But could someone add some hills please.

In your opinion, has Springfield gotten better in the last 10-20 years or has it gotten worse? Please explain your answer with some examples.

I am going to be optimistic here. I remember when Lincolnshire was just a cornfield and the Olive Garden was the newest chain restaurant.

In the last 20 years, downtown has improved tremendously, there’s a skate park and two bike trails.

There’s probably a slew of other things, but those stick out.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you live? Why?

Fort Collins, Co. It’s beautiful, Fat Tire beer, and I don’t think I could ever get tired of looking at mountains.

Why do you choose to live in Springfield? Give as many examples as necessary.

It’s affordable.

My commute is under 7 minutes.

1 1/2hrs from St. Louis, 3 hrs from Chicago.

How would you describe the people of Springfield? Please use as many adjectives as possible.

Corny, Abraham Lincoln-y, flat, relaxed, Midwestern.

What is your opinion of the job situation in Springfield?

Business is good in the IT field. When I first graduated entry level IT jobs were few and far between and a lot of state jobs were in limbo, but looking through the classifieds lately, things look good.

Answer your own poll at:
http://just-two-guys.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-j2g-project.html