Boston Road Trip

I'm driving up to Boston today to see my best friend Chris. Should be fun. I've never been to Boston before.

I've always been interested in urban infrastructure: buildings, roads, transportation systems. I've taken an autistic interest in the differences between subway and el trains from city to major city. I've actually studied this online.

But my two most important considerations are the alien-proofness and tornado-proofness of a given location. Urban areas are usually the only places I feel safe from two of my biggest fears: severe thunderstorms and/or tornadoes and alien abductions.

But some areas are safer than others. For example, after New York I found Chicago to be particularly safe. Chicago may be in the middle of Tornado Alley, but its buildings are big and strong enough to stand up to very high winds. Chicago is also crowded enough to make alien abductions a difficult task.

I don't automatically exclude smaller cities. For instance, I find large swaths of Atlantic City to be both tornado and alien proof. Atlantic City has a 24-hour hubbub (a pain in the neck to aliens) and the casinos are built tough and insulated against rough weather. I would feel safe in the center of the Trop in the event of a tornado warning.

Some places are posi-neg - like Dillon, South Carolina. As a major truck stop area, Dillon seems to have all the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, but I cannot think of one convenient basement or tornado-proof structure anywhere in the vicinity.

Believe it or not, some much larger cities are double-negs. Dallas, Texas come to mind. Dallas has rolling fields in the middle of a major crime-ridden city. Dallas is, by far, the least tornado and alien-proof city I have ever visited. For its size it is a major double-neg.

Although Boston is not New York I am sure Boston is a double-pos.

I'll let you know.