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In “How’s the economy in your hometown?” in USA Today, the Columbus Metropolitan Area gets a green dot for “Expansion.” The state of Ohio as a whole is  “At Risk” of recession according to the interactive map, so shows up on the US maps as yellow.   The legend on the map shows the green states (and metroplitan areas click on a state and it shows you cities.)

In housing the state was basically flat “Ohio -0.4%” (this is home value) for last year. The article breaks out state economies by tourism, motor vehicle production, exports and agriculture as well as housing. Using motor vehicle production for 2006 Ohio is fourth on the list titled:

“Top 10 states with motor vehicle production as highest percentage of gross state product in 2006″

Neighboring Michigan is of course one of the states shown in red for recession on the interactive map… The USA Today article says the states that were in recession at the beginning of 2008, California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida and Michigan account for 25% of the US total economic output.

Thanks to Allan Young’s Incoherence  for the heads up about the USA Today article.

I am a snow wimp. I have not always been a snow wimp. I grew up in Wisconsin. I lived in Green Bay (hard core Wisconsin) for a few years. I lived in Akron Ohio for a few years… even Akron gets a lot more snow than Columbus… those darn Great Lakes the dot the eastern Mid-West (sometimes referred to as the Great Lakes States) make a big difference when it snows.

Columbus Ohio seldom gets a lot of snow in comparison to areas near the lakes. Whose snow is this? It is NOT ours.

What do you do on a snowy Saturday in Columbus Ohio when it is a level 2 snow emergency? And the surrounding counties are level 3?

Twitter…

former Columbusite Chris Anderson now in the Dayton area about pets in the snow:

chrisanderson @MaureenMcCabe My in laws’ Yorkie Poo is the same way. He loved the 5″ snow last night but is all business today with 10-12″ on the ground.

Tom Royce in Atlanta who went to school at Denison in Central Ohio:

TomRoyce @MaureenMcCabe I spent a few years in Granville, so I remember central Ohio. Sunbathing in the morning, snow in the afternoon.

Carole Cohen in Cleveland (I tried to give back their weather)

Clevecarole @MaureenMcCabe I refuse to take ownership for snow lol. And I live west of the River so not in the snowbelt. Except today we are all in it

Missy Caulk in Ann Arbor MI:

missycaulk @MaureenMcCabe Us too on the snow, who wants to look at houses in the snow? not many and none of our client

My friend Toby in the City of Delaware about us driving to Michigan in the blizzard:

RealtorToby @MaureenMcCabe You don’t want to do that. 23 north of Delaware - at Waldo - will be a disaster. It is bad when we have 1″, what alone 12″

Columbus is NOT on the list.

If you are looking for a job… looking to move from Columbus in search of employment.. (I believe Columbus is a bright spot in employment in the state of Ohio… but it did not make the Forbes.com list com compiled by Moody’s Economy.com for 2008.)

Best US Cities for Jobs…

Lots of Texas cities, Seattle of course, Atlanta, Raleigh… Indianapolis! They’ve got one of those slide shows of the best cities for jobs in the United States.

I heard about the Forbes.com report on Twitter from Stephanie Edwards a real estate agent in the Houston Texas area. Yup Houston is one of the Texas cities on the list of best cities for jobs in 2008.

Relocating for employment? How much is your Central Ohio Home worth?

Columbus gets some special holidays… Yeah Columbus Day is a bigger deal..when your name is Columbus… We have Columbus Days… but the real extra local holidays have to do with Buckeye football.  The Friday before the Michigan Game is a tailgate party.  The third Saturday in November has a holiday feel to it.

You don’t have to be all that big a fan, it’s still a holiday…

I lived in Green Bay a couple of times.  There’s another town that takes football serious.

After Christmas, after New Years Eve and New Years Day… in Columbus we usually have another holiday after the first of the year when the Buckeye’s go to a bowl game…

Not LSU Tigers.. Real tigers, Siberian Tigers… It’s difficult to search the Columbus Dispatch for tiger news because of the sports stories.

Jack Hanna was on ‘Good Morning America’ this morning from Montana. His connection to the Columbus Zoo is still Hanna’s authority to speak for American Zoos, I believe.

Hanna was interviewed along with Adam Roberts of Born Free, about “Should animals be caged? “

In his first response Roberts angered Hanna, Director Emeritus of the Columbus Zoo by lumping zoos in with circuses. Roberts intimated that zoos are not educational.

I think I learned something this fall at the Columbus Zoo about what a small world it is. At an exhibit at the Columbus Zoo… all about conservation …a Zoo employee talked to me… me personally about animal skins that someone was trying to smuggle in through Port Columbus… I can’t remember which animals but I am sure there was a large cat skin… there was a story on the internet Sunday about a Siberian Tiger being beheaded and skinned inside a Chinese Zoo…

Columbus Dispatch from the AP:

“Did fatal tiger escape have human help? Jack Hanna doubts tiger jumped out on its own; San Francisco police open criminal investigation”

I have to admit I did not like zoos as a kid… my favorite part was the train ride… actually until quite recently the zoo was not a place I wanted to spend time. If the Columbus Zoo is an indication zoos are becoming more educational.

Photo courtesy of GeekPhilosopher.com