CD&M embarked yesterday on a Healthy Maine Partnerships road tour. Our first stop: Presque Isle. We would leave Portland at 6:30AM, meet in Freeport, one stop for coffee, two stops for a bathroom break and we would be to Presque Isle in no time. Well, 6 hours according to Bob (our boss). Sounds easy, right? Well the journey proved to be a series of “Did you know’s” and “What are the odd’s?” To paint the picture, there are five of us traveling in a mini-van – Karen Barlow (Account Executive), Krista Nordgren (PR), Judy Kelsh (Account Executive), Bob Cott (Supervisor), and myself.
Let’s note that Judy is 34 weeks pregnant (close to full-term), Krista is not an earlier riser and packed her own pillow, Bob’s suitcase was 1/8 the size of all of ours, and Karen’s car was just detailed because of the amount of dog hair in her car. Which, despite her efforts within the first two minutes Bob, who has a strong sense of smell, complained about.
And we’re off…..
When Karen asked if anyone brought the GPS. Bob said, “Why? Just go straight.” And so we do.
In the car ride, many conversations would begin, like…
Did you know that Judy’s dog, Baxter, is named after Baxter State Park where they don’t even allow dogs?
Did you know that the song “Anything For You” by Gloria Estefan was on when Karen and her high school boyfriend broke up. And that her class song was “Little Red Corvette by Prince. 
Did you know that Bob doesn’t have a uvula (the punching bag in the back of your throat). Apparently when he had is tonsils removed, the doctors accidentally cut it out. Oh, and he can fall asleep in any transportation.
Did you know that Krista has a major crush on an Olympian? (See last post)
Then came our conversation about how dangerous roller coasters were. I disagreed. I said you had a better chance of dying in a plane crash – so naturally, all of us on our iPhones searched it. This sparked a series of random discussions about the odds of things happening. If you wondered, here are the odds:
Odds of bowling a 300 game: 11,500 to 1
Odds of getting a hole in one: 5,000 to 1
Odds of getting canonized: 20,000,000 to 1
Odds of being an astronaut: 13,200,000 to 1
Odds of winning an Olympic medal: 662,000 to 1
Odds of an American speaking Cherokee: 15,000 to 1
Odds that a person between the age of 18 and 29 does NOT read a newspaper regularly: 3 to 1
Odds that an American adult does not want to live to age 120 under any circumstances: 3 to 2
Odds of injury from fireworks: 19,556 to 1
Odds of injury from shaving: 6,585 to 1
Odds of injury from using a chain saw: 4,464 to 1
Odds of injury from mowing the lawn: 3,623 to 1
Odds of fatally slipping in bath or shower: 2,232 to 1
Odds of drowning in a bathtub: 685,000 to 1
Odds of being killed on a 5-mile bus trip: 500,000,000 to 1
Odds of being killed sometime in the next year in any sort of transportation accident: 77 to 1
Odds of being killed in any sort of non-transportation accident: 69 to 1
Odds of being struck by lightning: 576,000 to 1
Odds of being killed by lightning: 2,320,000 to 1
Odds of being murdered: 18,000 to 1
Odds of getting away with murder: 2 to 1
Odds of being the victim of serious crime in your lifetime: 20 to 1
Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1
Odds of being considered possessed by Satan: 7,000 to 1
Odds that a first marriage will survive without separation or divorce for 15 years: 1.3 to 1
Odds that a celebrity marriage will last a lifetime: 3 to 1
Odds of getting hemorrhoids: 25 to 1
Odds of being born a twin in North America: 90 to 1
Odds of being on plane with a drunken pilot: 117 to 1
Odds of winning a straight up on a single number in online roulette: 37 to 1
Odds of being audited by the IRS: 175 to 1
Odds of having your identity stolen: 200 to 1
Odds of dating a millionaire: 215 to 1
Odds of dating a supermodel: 88,000 to 1
Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 220 to 1
Odds of finding out your child is a genius: 250 to 1
Odds of catching a ball at a major league ballgame: 563 to 1
Odds of becoming a pro athlete: 22,000 to 1
Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on first try: 10,000 to 1
Odds of a person in the military winning the Medal of Honor: 11,000 to 1
Odds of winning an Academy Award: 11,500 to 1
Odds of striking it rich on Antiques Roadshow: 60,000 to 1
Odds of getting a royal flush in poker on first five cards dealt: 649,740 to 1
Odds of spotting a UFO today: 3,000,000 to 1
Odds of becoming president: 10,000,000 to 1
Odds of winning the California lottery: 13,000,000 to 1
Odds of becoming a saint: 20,000,000 to 1
Odds of a meteor landing on your house: 182,138,880,000,000 to 1
Chance of an American home having at least one container of ice cream in the freezer: 9 in 10.
Chance of dying from any kind of injury during the next year: 1 in 1,820
Chance of dying from intentional self-harm: 1 in 9,380
Chance of dying from an assault: 1 in 16,421
Chance of dying from a car accident: 1 in 18,585
Chance of dying from any kind of fall: 1 in 20,666
Chance of dying from accidental drowning: 1 in 79,065
Chance of dying from exposure to smoke, fire, and flames: 1 in 81,524
Chance of dying in an explosion: 1 in 107,787
Chance that Earth will experience a catastrophic collision with an asteroid in the next 100 years: 1 in 5,000
Chance of dying in such a collision: 1 in 20,000
Chance of dying from exposure to forces of nature (heat, cold, lightning, earthquake, flood): 1 in 225,107
Chance of dying in an airplane accident: 1 in 354,319
Chance of dying from choking on food: 1 in 370,035
Chance of dying in a terrorist attack while visiting a foreign country: 1 in 650,000
Chance of dying in a fireworks accident: 1 in 1,000,000
Chance of dying from overexertion, travel or privation: 1 in 1,428,377
Chance of dying from food poisoning: 1 in 3,000,000
Chance of dying from legal execution: 1 in 3,441,325
Chance of dying from contact with hot tap water: 1 in 5,005,564
Chance of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10,000,000
Chance of dying from ignition or melting of nightwear: 1 in 30,589,556
Chance of dying from being bitten by a dog: 1 in 700,000
Chance of dying from contact with a venomous animal or plant: 1 in 3,441,325
Chance of dying from being bitten or struck by mammals (other than dogs or humans): 1 in 4,235,477
Chance of winning a bingo game where 100 players manage four cards each: 1 in 100
Chance of dying from a mountain lion attack in California: 1 in 32,000,000
Chance of dying from a shark attack: 1 in 300,000,000
Chance of having a stroke: 1 in 6
Chance of dying from heart disease: 1 in 3
Chance of getting arthritis: 1 in 7
Chance of suffering from asthma or allergy diseases: 1 in 6
Chance of getting the flu this year: 1 in 10
Chance of contracting the human version of mad cow disease: 1 in 40,000,000
Chance of dying from SARS in the United States: 1 in 100,000,000
I think the best ODD of the day was:
Your odds of getting to Presque Isle by going straight on 95: 0 in 1
You’ve got it. Anyone traveling north, make sure you take the second to last exit, or you’ll end up in Canada! Little did we know our trip would be extended slightly. With no U-turns available we wound up at border crossing. The Canadian border patrol thought we were a bunch of clowns and laughed at us saying: “It’s fine with me, but good luck getting back into your own country. You are the ones that made the passport rules.”
Judy and I were frantically trying to snap photos because we wanted to document it. We were all doubled over laughing. Who would do this? Only us. Only us with Bob!
We did as the border patrol directed and headed back for the USA. As we approached our border patrol Judy and I were still snapping photos. As we reached our patrol he asked us to provide him with all of our license and passports – UMMM… small problem. We didn’t expect to be going to Canada so none of us had a passport. While I’m still snapping photos, the border patrols specifically looks at Judy and I and says, “Have you taken any photos?”
Our answer, as innocently as we could: “No.”
After running our ID’s through the computer we were finally on our way to Presque Isle. It was certainly an adventure! And we’ve got photos to prove it.
(Oh, and it doesn’t take 6 hours to get to Presque Isle. Even with the Canadian detour it took just under 5 hours.)
Well, the post is really the sweetest on this notable topic. I agree with your conclusions and will eagerly look forward to your upcoming updates. Saying thanks will not just be sufficient, for the great lucidity in your writing. I will immediately grab your rss feed to stay privy of any updates. Fabulous work and much success in your business dealings!
I think this is a great post. One thing that I find the most helpful is number five. Sometimes when I write, I just let the flow of the words and information come out so much that I loose the purpose. It’s only after editing when I realize what I’ve done. There’s defiantly a lot of great tips here I’m going to try to be more aware of.
Thank you for a very clear and helpful post. I am definitely a violator of many of these rules. I often find myself conflicted when writing a blog post because I see myself writing more than people want to read, but I feel that I have to do the subject matter justice by thoroughly covering it. I feel that by following some of these rules I end up cutting out important aspects to the discussion. I guess you have to find a balance.
From beginning to end your post was intense and right on!
Wow… neat information.
great post as usual!