I mentioned a nice house in city limits with a short, quick commute downtown to work in an office making almost as much as the house costs per year. Weather plays a factor, true, but I wouldn't want to be living in a shitty apartment in SF when the San Andreas goes off again either. I'm not trying to be a walking tourist board for a city I don't even live in, but describing a 200,000 person city with the best beer in the country, a major hacker convention every year (GrrCon) the yearly ArtPrize exhibits, and a great local music scene as "a desert" or "swampland" is a pretty shitty move on your part.
You seem to have dismissed every single word I said as soon as you read "midwest". That's not very polite, nor is it appropriate for any kind of discussion.