Presumption/Fact

I recently moved to Pennsylvania a little over a year ago. Previous to this I had lived in Texas my entire life. During my time in Pennsylvania I have learned several things that I doubt I would have ever learned if I had stayed in Texas for the duration of my days.

Presumption- Growing up in Texas I assumed that there was something magical about snow. A couple of somethings actually. The first thing was that, if you were lucky, you might get snow fall once a year. Secondly, I assumed that there was something that caused snow to immediately start melting the moment it made contact with the ground. Sometimes, if it snowed hard enough, and long enough, the snow would build up faster than it could melt and you might have snow on the ground, at least until it stopped snowing and physics was able to take over and melt all the snow.

Truth- If I had stayed in Texas I might have never realized that there is no limit to the amount of times it can snow in a winter, or that snow melting is actually dependent on the temperature, it has nothing to do with snow being in contact with the ground.

Presumption- I had also assumed that snow most resembled mud, just a little colder.

Fact- Snow can take many forms, but in it’s purest form it bears far more resemblance to sand than mud.

Presumption- In my experience snow falls, like most other things, straight down.

Fact- I am assuming thanks to its likeness to sand it can float it’s way to earth, or flat out blow around like sand.

Presumption- I remember Northerners mocking us Southerners over our winter driving.

Fact- Northerners are spoiled. Yes, it does snow far more in places up North than it does in the south, but this is offset by a couple of factors. The first one being it snows up North, it doesn’t ice like it tends to do down south. The second factor is that up North people are prepared for it, there are plows standing by to clear the roads then put salt down to prevent them from icing over.

Presumption- You can be a good winter driver.

Fact- When there is snow or ice on the ground your vehicle is in danger of losing traction. There is no amount of “talent” that offsets this fact. Yes, there are ways to regain control traction faster, but the bottom line is if it comes to that you have already lost traction, and therefor are not a very “talented” driver. The only thing you can do to “improve” your driving in wintry conditions is to slow down. This, however, does not make a better driver, it only means you have half a brain in your head.

Presumption- I assumed Blue Bell Ice Cream was common place across all the civilized world. I mean, what else makes a place civilized?

Fact- There is only a small portion of us humans who really know the truth, when it comes to ice cream, there is Blue Bell, and everything else.

Presumption- I thought the only income tax people had to pay was Federal.

Fact- There are some places in the world where Federal income tax is only the tip of the iceberg. Some places charge you state and local income taxes on top of sales tax and all the other ridiculous taxes you are expected to pay. I would suggest staying away from these places, it’s your money, keep it.

Presumption- Growing up I was always aware of a singular truth, Texas is the best place on earth. However, I also figured that most non-Texans were jealous of the fact that they lived somewhere that was not Texas

Fact- True, some people are jealous, and some try and pretend like they don’t know that Texas is the best. Yet, there are some, mostly those that have either visited or lived for a time in Texas, who wholly embrace Texas and all it’s splendor. Meeting one of these people always makes me day.

Presumption- Having spent 23 plus years in Texas, I had grown accustom to intersections consisting of two roads meeting at a 90 degree angle.

Fact- Especially here up North, this is not always the case. Sometimes, there will be 3 sometimes 4 or 5 roads will intersect at the some point, or at points too close to be separate intersections. Now, this might sound tricky, but trust me, as tricky as the theory might be, the real world application is much worse. See, just because a road enters an intersection does not mean this road continues on past the intersection, and if it does, there is no guarantee that the road will be traveling the same direction it was before it entered the intersection. Now, as tricky as figuring out which road you want to select from the plethora of options some intersections give you, that quandary pales in comparison to sorting out which traffic light you should be paying attention to. If this paragraph confused you, good luck navigating one of these intersections. I attempted to find an illustration to, well, illustrate this fact, but I don’t think modern geometry has created the shapes needed to properly represent what I am talking about.

Presumption- The further North you get, aka, the further away from Mexico you get, the worse the Mexican food gets.

Fact- yes, and the food decreases exponentially in relation to the miles you are away from Mexico. If you are fortunate enough to be in area of the country with good Mexican/Tex-Mex food, enjoy it. If you have never been in an area of the country with good Mexican/Tex-Mex, you should get in a car, drive to an area of the country where they have good Mexican/Tex-Mex and eat your fill…While you’re there it would be worth your while to see if the town you are eating in has Blue Bell Ice Cream, if this is the case you might as well start submitting your resume and looking at real estate, because you won’t want to leave.
These are just a couple of the nuggets of wisdom I have discovered from living in two parts of the country. If you have any I did not include, feel free to include them. Or, if you have only lived one place your life, and you have something you think might be a presumption but aren’t sure, feel free to post that as well, and I will see if I can debunk or confirm it for you.