Where we choose to live can have a huge impact on our juggle. Living in an unfriendly neighborhood, or one where residents move often, can make it harder to find child-care help or other support. On the other hand, settling in a peaceful rural hamlet may seem like a great way to calibrate your juggle - until you realize you can't make a living relying on the slow dial-up Internet access available there.

    A recent survey tackled the question of what bonds us to the places we live, and its findings suggest the quality of our juggle is a more influential factor than economists might think. Given a choice, most people don't care as much about the local economy as they do about the social offerings, physical beauty and openness of a locale, says a recently released survey of about 14,000 people in 26 communities by Gallup and the Knight Foundation.

    Those intangibles - how warm, welcoming and fun a community seems to be - are apparently why people living in Miami tend to like it even more than they did last year. Residents of Minneapolis-St. Paul had an above-average regard for their town even 'B.F. - Before Favre' joined the Vikings, this article reports. Even in hard-pressed Detroit, citizens are liking life a little more than in recent years, perhaps because of better parks, green spaces and recreational opportunities, marked by investments in bike paths.

    In my case, living in the Pacific Northwest is a tradeoff. My town of Portland offers wonderful outdoor-sports access, edgy culture and natural beauty. However, as one who has worked in journalism and publishing all my life, I find many of my career contacts are a continent away, in New York.

    Juggle readers, you have commented in the past on regional differences in the juggle. Dressing everyone, including small kids, for frigid weather complicates the daily routine. And the quirky amenities some of you have cited in your comments - such as the feral pigs and ducks wandering in parts of Hawaii - can lighten one's mood and outlook.

    选择住在哪里，可能会对我们生活的天平产生巨大的影响。住在邻里关系不太好的社区，或者居民经常搬家的社区，你会很难找到托儿服务或者其它帮助。另一方面，安顿在一片宁静的乡间小村，看上去或许是一种很好的平衡的办法，直到你终于意识到，你根本无法依赖那里慢吞吞的上网速度而长期生活下去。

    没有什么地方能和家一样最近的一份调查正是希望揭示到底是哪些因素促使我们选择安家之地，结果发现，生活质量是一个比经济学家想象的可能还要更具影响的因素。这份由盖洛普（Gallup）和Knight Foundation联合对26个社区的大约14,000人进行的调查显示，如果有选择，大多数人更加关心这个地点的社会服务，自然环境，以及开阔程度，而不是当地经济如何。

    这些无形的因素──气候温暖、邻里友好、生活有趣的社区环境──显然是住在迈阿密的居民为何比去年更喜欢住在这里的原因。根据这项调查，即便橄榄球明星Favre'加入本城的维京人队（Vikings）之前，明尼阿波利斯-圣保罗的居民对自己居住地的评价也高于平均水平。就算是压力很大的底特律，当地居民现在也比近年来更加热爱生活，也许原因在于美化的公园、绿色的空间以及丰富多彩的娱乐设施，其标志则是对自行车车道的大力投资。

    我自己呢，选择住在西北太平洋地区则代表一种生活的取舍。我所在的波特兰有极好的户外运动设施，先锋派的文化，还有优美的自然环境。不过，对于一生都在新闻和出版界工作的我，我发现跟我事业有关的诸多联系人都远在大陆彼岸的纽约。

    必须做出取舍的读者们，你们在过去已经对地域的不同发表过很多评论。给包括幼儿在内的所有家人添衣御寒已成了每天的功课。而你们中的一些人在自己的评论中提到的稀奇古怪的好玩事儿──如在夏威夷部分地区晃荡的野猪和鸭子，则会点亮人们的心情和希望。