We're number 13!

This kid is not going to sugar-coat it. I have always suffered from Triskaidekaphobia. I will never keep thirteen dollars in my wallet. If I have change of 13 cents, I will discard a penny. I will never end reading a book for the night on a page ending in thirteen or the thirteenth chapter.

So I did not meet today's news with much glee. Indianapolis--until today the 12th largest city in the US--now has fallen to the most unlucky of numbers: 13. Damn Jacksonville, the city that never ends, passed the Circle City based on new census numbers. Jacksonville's population has increased to 794,555 while our very own Indy increased to 785,597. But the Southern cities' populations have increased at a much faster rate than the rest of the country. For example, my roommate claims that on NPR today they reported Phoenix had a population of 100,000. Today it stands at over a million and half.

So what does a man with this affliction supposed to do when he resides and works in the 13th city in the US? I guess I will have to pack up and live in central Indiana's strip mall hell: Carmel. At the rate they are absorbing property around it, Carmel should find itself in the top ten in the country soon enough. I figure once Carmel picks up Madison County, Delaware County and Ft. Wayne they will give Jacksonville a run for their money.