I have to come clean - I have been in an ongoing love-affair with Florida for the last 11 years. Maryland, you're still a solid second, but you just cannot beat an archipelagro. I took some vacation time after deciding that I would try to get down here at least 3 times a year and haven't looked back. Been in Gainesville, seeing old friends who have managed to pull away from their busy schedules to see me...I realize this might get old, my coming back, but I can pretty much self-diagnose myself if I start to see a bout of "JamesBatesism" taking hold (now there's a guy who needs to quit).

Florida is basically a large playpen into which the nation puts its rich college kids and established aging businessmen, sprinkled with a healthy dose of underachievers. It is a place I have figured out completely becuase it doesn't demand the social mangement skills of say, a DC.