You truly appreciate Oakland by traveling a bit and seeing what else is out there.  This week, my business dealings took me to Troy, New York.  I was meeting people at a great school called RPI, and certainly can’t argue with the interesting things percolating there.  However I was so pleased to touch down at our airport tonight.

Now I feel compelled to share these “Top Ten Reasons” why I’m glad to return from upstate New York.  It didn’t exactly rock my world, at least in the dead of winter.  Drum roll, please…

1. It’s ten degrees out, with sleet and snow – and you must be bundled up. (No problem here.)
2. When you walk around the old city and buildings, everything’s for rent. (Well, it’s not the same.)
3. The nearby Hudson River has PCB problems, scheduled for remediation. (The Bay is healthier.)
4. The world is either white, gray, brown or black, with a couple red buildings. (We have color.)
5. Everything feels unchanging and settled, in its post-industrial glory. (Hey, we’re much younger.)
6. Did you ever read Richard Russo? (Folks from NY don’t sound like us.)
   
7. There’s not a lot of restaurants in downtown Troy. (We do have places to eat.)
   
8. There’s nothing much happening off-campus. (It’s really dead.)
   
9. Troy’s countryside is plunged into mid-winter. (Winter, what’s that?)
   
10. The downtown has no people during the day. (People are in DTO.)
    

When the urge strikes you to rant about Oakland, try to appreciate the things that we really have – bird in the hand and all.