It's not fair!
One of the big parts of my job is looking at rankings of states and cities to create marketing pieces for the state of Iowa. It is one of my favorite parts of the job and I find myself seeking out other rankings in my free time.
So I found one just recently that really interested me. Central Connecticut State University produces a list of the Most Literate Cities in the country. The school uses six factors to create the ranking: booksellers per 10,000 population, education level, periodical publishers, newspaper circulation, libraries (holdings, number, govt spending...), and Internet resources. Since my goal is to live in a highly educated city, this ranking is right up my alley.
Here is the issue. Two of the cities on the list are cities that I should be living in. Minneapolis and St. Paul have made the list for the last 10 years (the number of years the ranking has been done). These two cities consistantly rank at the top for affordability and education. I have a large number of friends in The Cities and truly love the atmosphere. Of course there is a catch, there is always a catch. The snow and the winter would be terrible for me. I'm not a fan of cold and winter and snow. And they tend (note I say tend) to be worse than we are in terms of total inches and number of storms.
So it's not fair. I originally wanted to move to the cities but the older I get the more I resist the winters. I've blatently said that this is the furthest north I plan to go. But we have friends in The Cities who try to convince us to move up. I know that this is just more fodder for them. I keep planning to go south one of these years. Perhaps Atlanta. It made the list.
For those of you interested, here are the rest of the Top 10 for 2009.
1. Seattle, WA
2. Washington DC
3. Minneapolis, MN
4. Pittsburgh, PA
5. Atlanta, GA
6. Portland, OR
7. St. Paul, MN
8. Boston, MA
9. Cinncinati, OH
10. Denver, CO
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4 comments:
Minneapolis and St. Paul are the best cities on the list! Winter in MN is a lot better than winter in Omaha. I swear that is true!!
I do love the Cities. And I trust you on the winter thing. Perhaps I have to give it more thought.
Although I was kind of hoping on being done with winter after Jeff got finished with school. :-)
Fred and I are getting more and more fed up with the Winters. Starting to actively HATE them now. HATE HATE HATE.
But I'm old enough to where a job search is starting to become unfeasible, so we'll probably stay here in the Twin Cities. Unless some rich relative sets us up for life, then we're gone, baby.
I always prefer the lottery plan myself. :-) But seriously I can understand how you could go from a mild dislike to a hate. It's a really tough time of year. My rule is that I only complain about one season and for me, winter is it.
I wouldn't discount finding a job down south. If nothing else, it never hurts to look (and dream).
By the way, love the new image.
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