It's Me, Andrea: The Official State Question of Utah? And other tid-bits of a productive work day.

First I want to say, I DO work at work. However, when the boss is sick, I have a lot of "extra time" at work I try and use productively. By productively I mean checking my email, reading online articles about pornography in its various destructive forms, organizing...er, stuff, texting once in awhile, checking CNN, checking the weather, and posting to my blog. What? Well, I'm trying to continually learn at any rate. That's why I'm mentioning my bordem...er my "down time" today. I was eating a chocolate heart. Yes, it's Valentines Day, and I bought some chocolatey treats yesterday for the occasion - nipped a few into work with me. On the inside of my chocolatey heart wrapper there are little "trivia" questions about this that and the other. Not entirely having to do with Valentines Day or love either(I don't think). One little question, well, I don't recall the question, but it mentioned the Official State Question of New Mexico being "Red or Green?" In New Mexico this question apparently refers to its world famous (love of) chili (again, what does that have to do with Valentines? Spicy Loving? I don't think anyone would eat CHILI on VALENTINES - if you follow me...sniff). Anyway, so I thinks to myself, "Really? There are state questions?" Thus I proceeded to look up "official state question New Mexico" on the Internet; just to make sure my candy wrapper isn't a fibber. If we can't trust candy wrappers, who can we trust? You can see the chaos in it, can't you? So, upon reading through some of the various official state what not's of New Mexico, come to find they do indeed, have an official state question. Well! You've probably guessed where I went next - that's right - what should I eat for lunch? Chili does sound good. But then I thought, What is the official state question for Utah? I MUST know!

I found a few interesting tid-bits along my way towards accomplishing this Quest. That's just how quests go...the tid-bits make up the entire story, not the goal. It's like the "it's the journey, not the destination" saying or something. What would Frodo be without 3 movies of side adventures before he finally gets to Mount Doom? He wouldn't be the Lord of the Rings - that's for damn sure.

THUS, here are some facts about the great state of Utah I didn't know, and I'm sure you didn't know, and mostly - that we'd all like to know...and here we go:

Utah has the youngest population of any State (bunch a whipper snappers!); 59.3% ages 18-64, 32.2% under 18, and 9.4% under 5.
Utah is 270 miles wide and 350 miles long. Eh? Who knew? Noooo one.
Official State Dance: The Square Dance (root-tootin!)
Official State Game: Chess (snoooozer. I'm going to the Square Dance)
Official State Colors: Indigo, Blue and Yellow (Where's the Crimson? Go Utes!)
(This will come as a shock to girls) 49.9% of Utahns are Female, 50.1% are Male (so why in the world is my Ward 3 girls to 1 guy?!?!)
The LDS Church is 60.7% of the State's Population (okay that's not shocking - I just had to send out a holla! for the Church)
Utah is ranked the top state in the nation for Economic Dynamism: "The degree to which state economics are knowledge-based, globalized, entrepreneurial, info tech-driven and innovation-based." (eh? I thought it was interesting...)
In central Utah, coal production accounts for much of the mining activity (Holla! Emery County (hometown folks - come on) Whoop!)
I-70, between Salina and Green River (yes - holla again for E County) is the longest stretch of interstate in the country without any services! So pee before! Truuust me.
The Utah Airport, in 2005, was ranked 1st in on-time departures and 2nd in on-time arrivals in the country (take that Mormon Standard Time!)
Utah granted full voting rights to women in 1870, 26 years before becoming a state (and can we say years ahead of US Constitutional Amendment 19 in 1920); only Wyoming granted women suffrage earlier (pro-gress-ive! Mmm, soup.)
Utah is also one of the only two states in the US to outlaw all forms of gambling.
Utah was the only state in the nation where Democratic candidate Bill Clinton finished behind both George H W Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in 1992 (we could tell he was a sicky...)
Utah is the least populous US state to have a major professional sports league franchise (Go Jazz!)
Utah (as of 2000) ranked first in anti-depressant and narcotic painkiller use (sad...er, clearly).
Jell-O is the official snack food of Utah (we're high class)
Roseanne Barr is from Utah (what the hell?)
Orson Scott Card is from Utah (phew...better)
Butch Cassidy is from Utah (that's hot)
Jewel is a Utahn (a Payson, Utahn)
James Woods is a Utahn (Vernal!!)
And how can we forget that dream-boat - Donny Osmond is a Utahn (but you knew that) What sister?

So that's a pretty good list of things I didn't know about Utah, and things I feel we should all be more familiar with about this great State. Although if you'll notice - there is not an official state question. At least, I couldn't find one. The Sego Lilly is our state flower though. Just...so ya know. ANYWAY - here is what I propose. Internet!!! Lets create the Official State Question for Utah! What question do you think is most asked, or asked about/of, the good people of Utah? One of my top question is: Why Jell-O? or perhaps even better Why (oh why Utah) Roseanne Barr? Maybe something like "Do Mormons really have horns?" Things of this nature. What question defines Utah! YOU...tell me.