i was born and raised here in the heartland of america and lived in the same house my entire life.  indiana lives up to its reputation of being the home of corn and cows, and all you have to do is drive 10 miles outside the city limits and you're in farm country.  an interesting place to visit maybe, but let me tell you, living there is not always the funnest of times.
 

here we see the bustling metropolis of fort wayne, indiana.  with approximately 205,000 residents, fort wayne ranks as the second largest city in indiana...but don't let that fool you.  you will be hard pressed to find anything exciting to do unless you are under the age of 12 or over the age of 65.  it constantly seems to me that this city is designed for the young and elderly and anyone not fitting into these age categories is out of luck.  this is particularly true for us late teens in college who are too young to (legally) drink and therefore have any hopes of fun cut out.  don't get me wrong, fort wayne is a wonderful place to settle down and raise a family.  it is a pretty safe and friendly place with just about every restaurant you could possibly think of...heck, it's even been hailed as an all-america city twice.  but if you're looking for a more exciting and carefree life, good luck.  nice place to visit, not as much fun to live there.  oh well, i'll attempt to show you what few fun things i do while spending time in fort wayne...
 

man, my neighborhood sure has changed a lot over the years.  i can remember playing with kids down the street everyday when i was a little kid.  we'd go swimming in the lake in our neighborhood, ride bikes, play basketball, etc.  it was your typical fun childhood.  then all of the fun kids started to move away into bigger, better, and richer neighborhoods and were replaced by the drug dealers and dead beats.  today, our neighborhood doesn't have nearly the amount of kids that it used to, and the kids in our neighborhood are more likely to beat you up than agree to play with you.  i used to know all the neighbors that lived around us but now i know only one.  everyone has seemed to move away.  at least my house is still there.  while my house is far from a big place, it is a nice place to live and my parents did a good job of setting it up for me while i was growing up.  many people find it strange that i have lived in the same house my entire life, and while i agree that it is far from the norm, i wouldn't have it any other way.  i've come to grow and love our house over the years and i still enjoy coming home to spend the weekend there sometimes. more pictures coming soon!