New Jersey has recently been ranked the 21st best state in the whole country. We're not sure whether we should be happy or not.

I guess "glass half empty" people could turn that right around and tell us that we're also the 29th worst state in the union. But either way, part of all of us is pleasantly surprised that we're not at the bottom of a list for a change.

I guess being happy to rank 21st could be evaluated all day long, but as far as I'm concerned, I'll take it, and I won't be shy to call it a minor victory for the Garden State. At least they're not making fun of us.

The rankings were put together by thrillist.com over the summer, and they said some nice things about New Jersey, including calling South Jersey a "pastoral wonderland", and it also had some kind words for our pizza and cheesesteak.

The review also did a nice job of separating the rest of us from the Jersey Shore characters made famous on reality TV. Thank you for that. For the record, Michigan was named the best state and Florida ranked lowest.

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