Since I have nothing better to do...

...on a Sunday morning than guzzle coffee and stare at the computer screen, I suppose it was inevitable that I would stumble across a website that claims to be able to help find my "ideal" location.

Clearly, the questions are geared to people with short attention spans. They don't go into enough detail for the answers to give a true picture of what someone might want in an environment.

How do I know this? I've been in every city/area on this list* at one time or another, lived in one, am living in another (neither of which I want to spend the rest of my life in, let me tell you) and am intimately familiar with a third (which I also think I wouldn't want to live in, even if I could afford it).

Of the remaining seven, two are no-nos right off the bat, two have on occasions actually crossed my mind as potential places to live, and the rest, well, I doubt I would have come up with them on my own.

Somehow, the calculations seem to have missed my desire/need for inexpensive housing (though I thought I emphasized that).

Still, it was an interesting way to use up 15 minutes while the dirty dishes are soaking.

Herewith, my supposed Top Ten places to live, with an added comment or two.

1. San Francisco, CA
Econ.–C, Housing–C, Educ.–A-, Health–A
Crime–C+ Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ Whaaa? I couldn't afford to buy a mailbox in S.F., much less a decent house...and I'm afraid the politics there are a bit (no, make that a hell of a lot) too far to the left for my taste.

2. Boston, MA-NH-ME
Econ.–C+, Housing–C, Educ.–A, Health–A
Crime–B Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ Another head-scratcher. I like the place, but it's not exactly cheap to live there. And they elect Kennedys.

3. Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV
Econ.–C, Housing–C+, Educ.–A, Health–A
Crime–C+ Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ Nuh-uh. Two words: humidity and politics. Fuggeddaboutit.

4. Denver, CO
Econ.–B-, Housing–B-, Educ.–B-, Health–B+
Crime–B- Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ Not sure how this one got on there. I think not.

5. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA
Econ.–B, Housing–C+, Educ.–B-, Health–B+
Crime–C Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ Been there, done that. Not going back.

6. Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
Econ.–C, Housing–C+, Educ.–B, Health–B
Crime–C+ Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+ You gotta be kidding me. This is what I'm trying to get away from!

7. Pittsburgh, PA
Econ.–C, Housing–C+, Educ.–B, Health–A
Crime–A- Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+

8. Minneapolis-St. Paul , MN-WI
Econ.–B, Housing–C+, Educ.–A-, Health–A-
Crime–C+ Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A I've given this one some thought already and, when I'm there later this year, I intend to nose around to see what's what.

9. Baltimore, MD
Econ.–C+, Housing–C, Educ.–B, Health–A
Crime–C- Rec.–A+, Culture–A+, Trans.–A+

10. Wilmington-Newark, DE-MD
Econ.–B+, Housing–B-, Educ.–C+, Health–B-
Crime–B Rec.–A+, Culture–A, Trans.–A-

I think I'm going to have to try the quiz again later to see if I can refine the selections a bit more....



* I was actually given more than 100 choices, but the silliness factor increased dramatically as the list went on.