Actually, Akasha, I thought you were in my time zone, because when I looked at your profile it said it was the same time there as where I live. So maybe you just hadn't fixed it yet.
I live in Illinois. The Heartland.

If you look, a lot of companies are based somewhere in Illinois. Especially Caterpillar, in Peoria, ten miles from where I live. So, yes, nowhere near Chicago. Three hours, estimated.
Haha, I hate how everyone doesn't care if you're not near Chicago. They're like, oh that's boring. What've we got? Corn. And soybeans.
But I have been to Maryland before. Very different from Illinois, but very nice. And the furthest west I've been is Colorado, which really isn't that far.
So, right now my clock reads: 8:17 PM.