After traveling to the midwest section of the country recently, you realize that where you grow up kind of shapes who you become. I mean, it's not everything, but it certainly plays a role culture wise.

Growing up in the Boston area, you sort of become proud of the unique little things that were included in your childhood.

SO, HERE IS ANOTHER 5 DEAD GIVEAWAYS YOU GREW UP IN THE BOSTON AREA...

1. YOU MOST CERTAINLY PLAYED WIFFLE BALL AS A KID, OR EVEN BETTER, AS AN ADULT

If you're a baseball fan, this game as kid is AWESOME. You mean, I can make the baseball move like a professional pitcher? In my mid-twenties as the Red Sox make their historic comeback, I played fast pitch Wiffle Ball with my buddies almost daily after work. I had a nasty sinker.

2. YOU KNOW PIZZERIA REGINA

I remember my first trip to Polcari's in Saugus, man that place was awesome and this delicious greasy, salty pizza. I loved it then and I love it now. Apparently there is a Polcari's in Woburn. The original Pizzeria Regina is in Boston's North End.

3. THE STATIES

I'm sure other states have their own nickname for their state police, but in Boston and Massachusetts, they're "staties", just ask Mark Wahlberg's character Sgt. Dignam from "The Departed".

4. YOU HATED BEANS AND HOT DOGS AS A KID

Maybe it was just in my house, but "beans and hot dogs" was a weekly supper. I remember my father eating the chunk of fat off the top after opening the can. Boston is known for baked beans, but they were gross as a child. Hot dogs of course were and are still amazing.

5. YOU REMEMBER THE ELEVATED CENTRAL ARTERY

The "Big Dig" was complete by 2003 and part of that decades long project was the removal of the 93 deck system, where it could no longer sustain the amount of daily traffic. Ironically, by the time the "big dig" was complete, it was already "outdated" in terms of alleviating the problem it was supposed to solve.