By the numbers

Today's blog is my homage to "Harper's Index." This recurring feature in Harper's Magazine contains topical, funny, arcane, whimsical, revealing statistics. (Each stat isn't all of these adjectives at once, of course.) For example, from the January 2009 issue: "Number of box cutters taken from U.S. airline passengers since January 2002: 105,075." Why on earth would you travel with a carry-on box cutter? Planning on opening your UPS packages on board?

Now that I've lived in New England for more than six months, here's my Gena's Index. The theme? Austin/Boston.

Average number of days with highs over 90 degrees (per year):
Austin: 94
Boston: 0

Average number of days with lows under 32 degrees (per year):
Austin: 0
Boston: 102

Average number of miles driven per month (by me):
Austin: 2,000
Boston: 650

Length of mortgage in years:
Austin: 15
Boston: 30

Monthly mortgage payment:
Austin: x
Boston: 1.77x

Average number of times that breakfast tacos were consumed (per half year):
Austin: 23
Boston: 3

Average number of times that bagels were consumed (per half year):
Austin: 9
Boston: 22

Number of times that margaritas were consumed (per half year):
Austin: unknown due to number of margaritas consumed
Boston: 3

Historical data provided by The Weather Channel. Any counting mistakes are mine.