what are the odds?

This weekend Blake and I had a surprising amount of census fun browsing around this website. After a bit of digging, we came to some interesting conclusions. First, though, a few figures:

Approximate Populations of...

United States of America: 300 million

State of Utah: 2.5 million
City of Provo, Utah: 105,400

State of Indiana: 6.3 million
City of Muncie, Indiana: 66,500

State of New York: 19.3 million
New York City: 8 million
Borough of Brooklyn: 2.5 million

So a little mental computing will tell you that, according to these numbers, the odds were remarkably in our favor that we'd one day live in Brooklyn. I mean, look at this: one in every 120 people in the U.S. lives in Brooklyn (71 square miles); one in every 120 people in the U.S. lives in the entire state of Utah (81,100 square miles). There are 2,600 people per square mile in Provo; there are 34,900 people per square mile in Brooklyn. And in two square miles of Brooklyn, you could fit the entire population of Muncie.

Suddenly makes it seem not so unique that we happened to end up living in Brooklyn, doesn't it? In fact, you might say it's almost cooler to say we've lived in both Provo and Muncie. Almost.

And speaking of odds, what do you think the chances are of us getting hopelessly lost on a Saturday excursion in Manhattan (pop. 1.5 million)? Judging by the way our most recent Saturday went, I'd say those odds are pretty high.

I'd heard through the grapevine that the Little Red Lighthouse of The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge fame was giving a rare free tour Saturday at 1:00. All we had to do was meet at the lighthouse and we'd be in on the fun. I've always enjoyed a good lighthouse tour, especially those with historical and/or literary significance, so we packed our bags, hopped on the train, and headed north to banks of the Hudson River and the base of the George Washington Bridge. Our excursion started out well enough. We got off the train at 181st Street and headed due west towards the bridge. But little did we realize that there would be a tangle of freeways separating us from the lighthouse. Supposedly there was a footpath that would take us either over or under that high-speed, jumbled mess, but for the life of us, we couldn't find it. After walking countless blocks against the strong winds whipping up off the water, we decided that it probably just wasn't meant to be. So we turned inland from our walk along Riverside Drive and opted for a Milky Way hot chocolate from Dunkin' Donuts instead. If any of you have ever been to the Little Red Lighthouse and can tell us how to get a view closer than the one we snapped a photograph of, we'd love to know because eventually we'd like to give this outing a second chance.