Well there is the Texas thread so not to feel left out...

First a few facts.

Ode to New Jersey - Some bragging, and not-so-braggable facts about NJ

New Jersey is a peninsula.

Highlands, New Jersey has the highest elevation along the entire eastern seaboard, from Maine to Florida.

New Jersey is the only state where all of its counties are classified as metropolitan areas.

New Jersey has more race horses than Kentucky.

New Jersey has more Cubans in Union City (1 sq. mi.) than Havana, Cuba.

New Jersey has the largest Asian-Indian community in the country.

New Jersey has the most dense system of highways and railroads in the US.

New Jersey has the highest cost of living.

New Jersey has the highest cost of auto insurance.

New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the nation.

New Jersey has the most diners in the world and is sometimes referred to as the Diner Capital of the World.

New Jersey is home to the original Taylor Ham or Pork Roll.

Home to the less mysterious, but the best, Italian hot dogs and Italian sausage w/peppers and onions.

North Jersey has the most shopping malls in one area in the world, with seven major shopping malls in a 25 square mile radius.

New Jersey has some of the most unique attractions like the Windmill, and Lucy the Elephant

New Jersey is home to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

The Passaic River was the site of the first submarine ride by inventor John P. Holland.

New Jersey has 50+ resort cities & towns, some of the nations' most famous: Asbury Park, Wildwood, Atlantic City, Seaside Heights, Long Branch &Cape May.

New Jersey has the most stringent testing along our coastline for Water Quality Control than any other seaboard state in the entire country.

Keansburg NJ actually patrols its waters for drug smuggling from Colombia

New Jersey is a leading technology & industrial state and is the largest chemical producing state in the nation when you include pharmaceuticals.

Jersey tomatoes are known the world over as being the best you can buy.

New Jersey is the world leader in blueberry and cranberry production
(and here you thought Massachusetts?)

Here's to New Jersey - the toast of the country! In 1642, the first brewery in America opened in Hoboken.

New Jersey rocks! The famous Les Paul invented the first solid body electric guitar in Mahwah in 1940.

New Jersey is a major seaport state with the largest seaport in the US, located in Elizabeth. Nearly 80% of what our nation imports comes through Elizabeth Seaport first.

New Jersey is home to one of the nation's busiest airports at Newark Liberty International.

George Washington slept here. Several important Revolutionary War battles were fought on New Jersey soil, led by General George Washington.

The light bulb, phonograph (record player) and motion picture projector, were invented by Thomas Edison in his Menlo Park, NJ laboratory.

We also boast the first town ever lit by incandescent bulbs.

The first seaplane was built in Keyport, NJ.

The first airmail (to Chicago) was started from Keyport, NJ.

The first phonograph records were made in Camden, NJ.

New Jersey is home to the Miss America Pageant held in Atlantic City.

The game Monopoly, played all over the world, named the streets on their playing board after the actual streets in Atlantic City.

And, Atlantic City has the longest boardwalk in the world.

New Jersey has the largest petroleum containment area outside of the Middle East countries.

The first Indian reservation was in New Jersey, in the Watchung Mountains.

New Jersey has the tallest water-tower in the world. (Union, NJ!!!)

New Jersey had the first Medical Center, in Jersey City.

The Pulaski SkyWay, from Jersey City to Newark, was the first skyway highway.

NJ built the first tunnel under a river, the Hudson. (Holland Tunnel).

The first baseball game was played in Hoboken, NJ, which is also the birthplace of Frank Sinatra.

The first intercollegiate football game was played in New Brunswick in 1889. (Rutgers College played Princeton.)

The first drive-in movie theater was opened in Camden, NJ, (but they're all gone now!)

New Jersey is home to both of "NEW YORK'S " ProFootball Teams!

The first radio station and broadcast was in Paterson, NJ.

The first FM radio broadcast was made from Alpine, NJ, by Maj.Thomas Armstrong.

All New Jersey natives: Sal Martorano, Jack Nicholson, Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Jason Alexander, Queen Latifa, Susan Sarandon, Connie Francis, Shaq, Judy Blume, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton (now you KNEW these two had to be from the same state!), Joan Robertson, Ken Kross, Dionne Warwick, Sarah Vaughn, Budd Abbott, Lou Costello, Alan Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Marilynn McCoo, Flip Wilson, Whitney Houston, Eddie Money,Linda McElroy, Eileen Donnely, Grover Cleveland, Woodrow Wilson, Walt Whitman, Jerry Lewis, Tom Cruise, Richard Wojewodzki, Joyce Kilmer, Bruce Willis, Caesar Romero, Lauryn Hill, Ice-T, Nick Adams, Nathan Lane, Sandra Dee, Danny DeVito, Richard Conti, Joe Pesci,Joe Piscopo, Robert Blake,John Forsyth, Meryl Streep, Loretta Swit, Norman Lloyd, Paul Simon,Jerry Herman, Gordon McRae,Kevin Spacey, John Travolta, Phyllis Newman, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Eva Marie Saint, Elisabeth Shue, Zebulon Pike, James Fennimore Cooper, Admiral Wm.Halsey,Jr., Dave Thomas(Wendy's), William Carlos Williams, Ray Liotta, Robert Wuhl, Bob Reyers, Paul Robeson, Ernie Kovacs, Joseph Macchia and of course.........Frank Albert Sinatra and "Uncle Floyd" Vivino.

Now for some Driving rules.

For those of us who live in Jersey or who may be driving through, it's
important to review the Jersey Driving Rules.

1. Turn signals will give away your next move. A real Jersey driver never
uses them.

2. Under no circumstances should you leave a safe distance between you and
the car in front of you, or the space will be filled in by somebody else
putting you in an even more dangerous situation.

3. Crossing two or more lanes in a single lane-change is considered going
with the flow.

4. The faster you drive through a red light, the smaller the chance you
have of getting hit.

5. Never, ever come to a complete stop at a stop sign. No one expects it
and it will inevitably result in you being rear-ended. If you want your
insurance company to pay for a new rear bumper, come to a complete stop at
all stop signs.

6. A right lane construction closure is just a game to see how many people
can cut in line by passing you on to right as you sit in the left lane
waiting for the same jerks to squeeze their way back in before hitting the
orange construction barrels.

7. Never get in the way of an older car that needs extensive bodywork.
Jersey is a no-fault insurance state and the other guy doesn't have
anything to lose.

8. Braking is to be done as hard and late as possible to ensure that your
ABS kicks in, giving a nice, relaxing foot massage as the brake
pedalpulsates. For those of you without ABS, it's a chance to stretch
yourlegs.

9. Never pass on the left when you can pass on the right. It's a good way to
scare people entering the highway.

10. Speed limits are arbitrary figures, given only as suggestions and are
apparently not enforceable in Jersey during rush hour.

11. Just because you're in the left lane and have no room to speed up or
move over doesn't mean that a Jersey driver flashing his high beams behind
you doesn't think he can go faster in your spot.

12. Please remember that there is no such thing as a shortcut during
rush-hour traffic in Jersey.

13. Always slow down and rubberneck when you see an accident or even
someone changing a tire.

14. Learn to swerve abruptly. Jersey is the home of high-speed slalom
driving thanks to the State Highway Department, which puts potholes in key
locations to test drivers' reflexes and keep them on their toes.

15. It is traditional in Jersey to honk your horn at cars that don't move
the instant the light changes.

16. Never take a green light at face value. Always look right and left
before proceeding.

17. Remember that the goal of every Jersey driver is to get there first,
by whatever means necessary.

and finally



You know your from New Jersey when....



1. You've been seriously injured at Action Park.

2. You don't think of citrus when people mention "The Oranges".

3. You know that it's called Great Adventure, not Six Flags.

4. You've ordered a hard roll with butter for breakfast.

5. You've known the way to Seaside Heights since you were seven.

6. You've eaten at a diner, when you were stoned or drunk, at 3 a.m.

7. You remember that the "Two Guys" were from Harrison.

8. You know that the state isn't one big oil refinery.

9. At least three people in your family still love Bruce Springsteen

and you know what town Jon Bon Jovi is from.

10. You know what a "jug handle" is.

11. You know that a WaWa is a convenience store.

12. You know that the state isn't all farmland.

13. You know that there are no "beaches" in New Jersey - there's "The

Shore", and you know that the road to the shore is "The Parkway", not

he "Garden State Highway".

14. You know that "Piney" isn't referring to a tree.

15. Even your school cafeteria made good Italian subs. And you call it

a "Sub" not a "submarine sandwich" or worse yet, a "hoagie" or a "hero".

16. You remember the song from the Palisades Park commercials.

17. You know how to properly negotiate a Circle.

18. You knew that the last question had to do with driving.

19. You know that this is the only "New..." state that doesn't require

"New" to identify it (like, try...Mexico, ...York, ...Hampshire -

doesn't work, does it?)

20. You only go to New York City for day trips, and you only call it

"The City".

21. You know that a "White Castle" is the name of BOTH a fast food chain

AND a fast food sandwich.

22. You consider a corned beef sandwich with lettuce and mayo a

sacrilege.

23. In the 80's, you wore your hair REALLY high.

24. You don't think "What exit" is very funny.

25. You know that the first "strip shopping center" in the country is Route 22.

26. You know that people from 609 area code are "a little different".

27. You know that no respectable New Jerseyan goes to Princeton - that's

for out-of-staters.

28. The Jets-Giants game has started fights at your school or local bar.

29. You live within 20 minutes of at least three different malls.

30. You can see the Manhattan skyline from some part of your town.

31. You refer to all highways and interstates by their numbers.

32. Every year, you had a least one kid in your class named Tony.

33. You know where every "clip" shown in the Sopranos opening credits is.

34. You've gotten on the wrong highway trying to get out of the Willowbrook

Mall.

35. You've been to at least one mall in Paramus.

36. You know that people from North Jersey go to Seaside Heights, and

people from South Jersey go to Wildwood. It can't be the other way around.

37. You were not raised in New Jersey. You were raised in either North

Jersey, Central Jersey or South Jersey.

38. You don't consider Newark or Camden to actually be part of the state.

39. You remember the stores Korvette's, Rickel's, Channel, Bamburger's

and Orbach's.

40. You've eaten a Boardwalk cheesteak with vinegar fries.

41. You start planning for Memorial Day weekend in February. Andfinally...

42. You've never pumped your own gas.

. . . . so, they were making out and things were getting really hot and heavy. She breathed playfully: "Quick, kiss me where it stinks", so he took her to New Jersey.

(sorry, couldn't resist)