Thanks for the tips, everyone. Sounds like there's a strong preference for center. Never thought about the left side thing...makes sense through. To be clear, it's the left side when facing the front of the aircraft yes (I.e. The left when you are sitting down, like D seat)?

Interesting, because on my typical narrow body flights, I usually select the set of seats on the far side of the aircraft (i.e., D side), because I find when they assign seats at the gate, they tend to do it from front and start on A side (and by habit a bit because on some UAX flights, have to sit on that side when traveling with the infant). That's also a reason why I tend to go towards the back of E+ vs. first available row that is emptier - because they are less likely to be filled last minute if the plane isn't full.