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Voorn Project Science:

My Ideal Place to Live

 

There are a number of websites out there that can calculate that ideal place for you to live.  These sites take into account qualities important to you, enter in some sort of logarithmic formula, and spit out your Ideal Place to Live.  Factors include climate, culture, city size, jobs, recreation, schools, crime, and more.

 

One site, www.findyourspot.com, was first introduced to me through Cameron Wallace's AIM profile.  His results seemed rather accurate, with his hometown of Tulsa being number 2.  The second site is www.bestplaces.net.  I read about this website in Yahoo Internet Life magazine.  I entered the same information about where I want to live in each site and came up with some starkly different results.

 

Here are some conclusions I reached:

  1. Where I *think* I would like to live doesn't necessarily match up with where I'm *supposed* to live.

  2. FindYourSpot.com takes climate into account much more than BestPlaces.net does.

  3. A "big city" has a loose definition at Find Your Spot.

  4. I really thought Norfolk and Virginia Beach were the same metro area.

Here are the lists that were generated:

 

from Find Your Spot

 

1.  Norfolk, VA

2.  San Diego, CA

3.  Virginia Beach, VA

4.  New York, NY

5.  Long Island, NY

6.  Philadelphia, PA

7.  Richmond, VA

8.  Manhattan, NY

9.  Dallas, TX

10.  Seattle, WA

11.  Tucson, AZ

12.  Tampa, FL

from Best Places

 

1.  San Diego, CA

2.  Boston, MA

3.  Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA

4.  Washington, DC

5.  Pittsburgh, PA

6.  New York, NY

7.  San Francisco, CA

8.  San Jose, CA

9.  Seattle, WA

10.  Oakland, CA

11.  Chicago, IL

12.  Stamford, CT

 

 

Norfolk's and San Diego's skylines

 

So what's it gonna be? Norfolk or San Diego?  Who knows.  Before I visited such a website, I would have ranked the places I'd like to live like this:  San Diego, San Francisco, Boston, NYC Metro area, Austin.  San Diego appeared on both lists, San Francisco only on the second, Boston only on the second, and NYC on both (includes Long Island, Manhattan, and Stamford).  Austin was about number 20 on the list from Find Your Spot.

 

Here's the best part of this page:  YOU tell ME what the results were when you take the test(s).  When you figure it out, email me at i.k.voorn@tcu.edu with your name, hometown, and results from FindYourSpot.com.  Let me know if it's ok if I use your full name in this table below.

 

Got some data...man, this is good data:

Top choices thus far-

Seattle (6); Jacksonville (5); Norfolk (4); Greenville, SC (2); Little Rock (2); Salt Lake City (2); Nashville (2).

 

Closest to hometown:  Jen Kaminske (0 miles...Seattle to Seattle)

2nd closest: Beth Sims (186 miles...Austin to Ft Worth)

Farthest:  Katie Wilson (over the Pacific...Ardmore to Honolulu)

2nd Farthest:  Lauren Englemann (3,077 miles...Boston to Seattle)

 

smallest city:  Michael Poole (Covington, LA, population 8,000)

largest city:  Jacksonville, pop. 735,000

 

Name Hometown FindYourSpot.com Comment
Ian Voorn Long Beach, CA Norfolk, VA Mid-Atlantic? perfect for an old boy Republican!
Eric Anton Coppell, TX Memphis, TN funny, we just visited there not too long ago.
Meredith Baker Brenham, TX Myrtle Beach, SC she says she's not a golfer
Camille Banda Baytown, TX Seattle, WA she & Jen are living together in the lesbian commune
Jared Bares Highland Village, TX Nashville, TN I gave up on Nashville a long time ago.
Adam Bartel Chicago, IL St. Paul, MN first on the cold Midwestern plains
David Bellinger Tulsa, OK Salt Lake City, UT Salt Lake...I don't know much
Christal Boyd Lewisville, TX New Orleans, LA now going to Wake Forest in NC
Nick Breaux Baton Rouge, LA Tampa, FL he's a crazy Cajun, but no Lousianan cities showed up
Allisa Brill Baytown, TX Albany, NY she must like the snow...her boy's headed to CO
Mary Chester Flower Mound, TX Tampa, FL fun in the sun
Billy Coffin El Paso, TX Charleston, SC Old South
Elizabeth Cook Houston, TX Wichita, KS Elizabeth wasn't happy with her result
Kellen Correia Oklahoma City, OK Charlotte, NC hometown of OKC was choice # 2
Ben Crenshaw Memphis, TN Jacksonville, FL Jacksonville's another popular place...
Amber Crume Seguin, TX Greenville, SC small towns...they're all the same
John-Mark Day St. Joseph, MO Carlisle, PA I don't know where that is.
Mike Dietz Eagle River, WI Sheboygan, WI top 2 were Wisconsin, typical for this guy
Lauren Englemann Stoughton, MA Seattle, WA no New England cities for this girl
Kristy Gaul Houston, TX Little Rock, AR her # 2 was Vegas, there's a stark difference
Erin Gaulke Houston, TX Jacksonville, FL currently the most popular choice, with 4
Sarah Gibbs Houston, TX Norfolk, VA another for Norfolk....my city is getting popular
Leanna Gilles Midland, TX Greenville, SC I guess anything is better than West Texas.
Geoff Godley Cleveland, OH Long Island, NY only player to get same on both quizzes
Stacey Grant Houston, TX Norfolk, VA that's it, i'm moving
Dustin Gray Katy, TX Portland, OR we span both coasts at the Cockrell House
Dan Grimes Lewisville, TX Jacksonville, FL Not what I would have figured.
Lisa Greene Highland Village, TX Little Rock, AR she goes to UofF, but supposed to live in Ark?
Rob Harvey Oil City, PA Brownsville, TX I just don't picture Rob in the near-Mexico region
Scott Hatter Katy, TX Grand Junction, CO must be a skiier
Jane Houser Austin, TX Orlando, FL but she loves her hometown so much
Jen Kaminske Seattle, WA Seattle, WA the only one to get her hometown!
Sheena Kenady Austin, TX Birmingham, AL just perfect.
Ben Kizer Omaha, NE Seattle, WA Seattle's getting crowded
Genna Leal Crowley, TX Seattle, WA quickly gaining ground with 6
Matt Looloian Overland Park, KS Norfolk, VA welcome to Ian & Matt's Norfolk bachelor pad
Andrew Lund Portland, OR Jacksonville, FL this city has some sort of charm
Jose Marroquin Corpus Christi, TX Jacksonville, FL another...
Case Martinec Fort Worth, TX Norfolk, VA there goes the neighborhood
Kristin Matthews Highland Village, TX Cincinnati, OH she's lived everywhere, even overseas, why not Cincy?
Brian McCleery Arlington, TX Austin, TX Austin?  But Brian's an Aggie!!
Ashley Menzies Aledo, TX Hampton, VA I've heard of Hampton, but not sure what's there.
Amber Morse Las Vegas, NV El Paso, TX Vegas? El Paso? she likes the sun
Amber Nix Sulphur Springs, TX Lewiston, ME where?
Joe Orbock Highland Village, TX Salt Lake City, UT he's half Hispanic, they can't live in the snow!
Chris O'Connor Phoenix, AZ Seattle, WA his comment:  "I hate the rain"
Gabe Perez Colleyville, TX Champaign-Urbana, IL home of Univ of Illinois, and add one Mexican
Michael Poole Southlake, TX Covington, LA He can shack up with Kalli in those unknown LA cities
Beth Raby Flower Mound, TX Eugene, OR she goes to school in Portland, good selection
Tara Robertson Keller, TX Rochester, NY again, i know nothing
Alison Ross Topeka, KS Baltimore, MD she says it's because she likes museums
Matt Saenz Corpus Christi, TX Carlsbad, NM first from New Mexico!
Tim Savage Duncanville, TX Fort Collins, CO his grandmother lives there!
Mike Schruba Fort Worth, TX Helena, MT way out on the tundra!
Ashley Schwab Springfield, MO St. George, UT again, where?
Heather Shaw Omaha, NE Enid, OK I can't believe it's Heather's destiny to live in Okie
Bobby Sheehy Waco, TX Jacksonville, FL ANOTHER for Jacksonville...I don't get it.  Now has 5.
Beth Sims Austin, TX Fort Worth, TX home of TCU...what are the odds?
Kalli Tope Houston, TX Alexandria, LA must be down in the bayou
Matt Turner San Antonio, TX Tulsa, OK anywhere he goes, it's bound to be happy
Adrienne Voorn Long Beach, CA New Orleans, LA Long Beach was her # 2!  Way to go SoCal
Whitney Walker Coppell, TX Tampa, FL well, she likes to swim
Cameron Wallace Tulsa, OK Nashville, TN his hometown Tulsa was choice # 2
Jonathan Williams Arlington, TX Denver, CO i think he likes to ski
Katie Wilson Ardmore, OK Honolulu, HI the first outside the contiguous 48
Steve Witt Fort Worth, TX Tulsa, OK Tulsa also with some sort of charm
Laura Zielewski Flower Mound, TX Sacramento, CA she majored in Spanish or something

 

 

Conclusions...well, you can see I scrapped the second quiz.  Out of the people who took it, over half resulted in San Francisco, and the rest were only composed of three cities:  Boston, Long Island, San Diego.  The results weren't exciting and not everyone takes both quizzes.  Let it be known though, that my roommate Geoff scored Long Island, NY on both quizzes, being the first to get the same results on both.

 

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