It's all about control. I can't stand when a car thinks it knows the best time to shift. It doesn't, I do. Maybe I'm going around a corner and don't want a downshift right at that moment to unsettle the suspension (yes, in a minivan). I find with automatics I learn when and how hard to hit the gas to make it shift when I want to anyway, never letting it shift on its own. The only automatic I'll buy is what Mercedes is coming out with, with F1-like paddle shifters so that it acts like a sequential.
With a good automatic you never notice it shift. That's how mine is on my Nissan Frontier. I believe in a hilly enviro you gotta have a stick because that's where the auto gets in trouble. In a flat city, it's just a pain in the butt, and it's a huge hassle in a traffic jam. Not once in a while, but if you're having to deal with traffic regularly you get sick of it and one day you find yourself looking for a new car and you think, I'm getting an automatic. I'm crossing over to the dark side.
To each his own, brother.
I drove an Audi the other day with paddle shifters. Coupled with a transmission design which has two gearsets engaged at any one time (and two clutches), shifting is instant, and the traditional slush-box feel is totally gone. That's the first auto transmission I ever really liked.