Crime and hot Brazilian chicks. That pretty much sums up the urban experience.

Greenpoint, Brooklyn: crime and hot Polish chicks. Clearly superior.

But life's about tradeoffs.

Damn right. I forgot to mention the dreadful and dreary elements of Capitol Hill. One was the heat. The worst was getting on the Metro each summer morning and being drenched in sweat when I got off the Metro at DuPont Circle only to have to walk another 4 blocks to work!

Also, the apartment was expensive, small, and had a small cockroach problem. Also the gas cap from my pickup truck was ripped off three times in a month before I got a lock for it!

I also got mugged while walking by the Washington Hilton which was weird for multiple reasons.

The one advantage of the apartment building was my next door neighbor who was the Washington Bureau chief for some Brazilian newspaper. He reminded me of a Brazilian Chirstopher Hitchens and could always be counted on for smoke. He was like 50 years old, but had this cadre of beautiful Brazilian women in their early 20s always hanging out. It was brilliant!

I did venture out to the suburbs a few times (and a few times since) and they seem as dreary and dreadful as suburbs everywhere.

There are 'burbs and then there are 'burbs. Where I live, off the Route 1 Corridor near Mount Vernon, it's suburbs in the process of renovation. Strip malls, big parking lots, and your typical sprawl. But Old Town Alexandria and a few places in Maryland are definitely little mini cities, with things designed for foot traffic.

My wife works in Old Town and we'd likely live there but there are essentially no single family homes and even the townhouses are outrageously priced. We're 15 minutes further out and have much more choice and affordability. It makes the daily commute somewhat harder and makes us less likely to venture into DC for evening events. But life's about tradeoffs.

Capitol Hill was pretty mild at the time. Kind of yuppified, but not too bad. Great neighborhood with decent bars and restaurants.

Adams Morgan, at that time wasn't rough at all. Great times were had watching soccer at Brazilian bars and eating Ethiopian food.

The great thing about DC from the single heterosexual man's perspective is that there seemed to be a preponderance of women and gay men, meaning there were a lot of broads in play.

Although one drawback was that my Capitol Hill 'hood seemed to be loaded with gay bars, so it was less fruitful (pardon the pun) for picking up dames. Going to Mr. Henry's for a pint would open you up to all sorts of come-on's. But if you headed to Georgetown, there seemed to be more hetero-type places.

I did venture out to the suburbs a few times (and a few times since) and they seem as dreary and dreadful as suburbs everywhere.