As you know, I just got back from five days in NYC. While there, I discovered that my friend, Forky, has become jaded and bitter like all New Yorkers. It's true. He barks at people on the street and he even shot a guy for looking at him wrong. My heart cried and my inner child took one more fateful step towards the grave.

See, here's the thing about living in NYC: it's cool. And it sucks. Just like everywhere else.

I moved around a lot growing up and learned that there are good and bad things about living anywhere. Life is better if you appreciate the good about wherever you are and find a way to improve what's wrong with your community. Many people thought that I would experience culture shock moving from NYC to Waco, but I've found them to be flip sides of the same coin. It is often said that NYC is a "great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there." And I think it's fair to say that for most people Waco is a great place to live, but you wouldn't want to visit there. It's all about appreciating the good and mitigating the bad.

But, as I pointed out to Forky in a text message this morning, living in Waco really can be much more pleasant that NYC in some very tangible ways. Just today I stopped at an intersection and a bum pushed his cart in front of my car. We smiled and waved at each other. I can't even tell you how NYC bums and residents greet each other.

So there you go: friendly bums. I'll add it along with central air conditioning as tangible benefits to not living in NYC. More updates on my trip to follow.