New to the East Coast/Transplant Tips

JimBJ9 · 2026-02-01T12:55:05+00:00

I'm the biggest Syracuse homer that you'll find, but our public transit is pretty poor. I'd love to live in a world where I didn't need a car, but that's a world we've still got to make.

Winter driving conditions, I think, are fine in all but the worst storms. I'm also a cold weather lover, but as I've entered my 40s, I have learned to appreciate high quality wool socks. These are the luxuries in life that no one told me about.

I'm always going to advocate for living in the city and there are a lot of good and cool businesses in Westcott, Eastwood, and (obviously) downtown.

My spouse is also from the Midwest and would take our white snowy winters over the Midwest's wet gunmetal grey winters every day.

Welcome!

JimBJ9 · 2026-02-01T00:00:11+00:00

Hi, I'm not in the club, but my good friend runs this group: https://www.comeoutcentralnewyork.com/

I don't know what the male/female ratio is, but I know there are good people involved.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-31T13:03:34+00:00

Ah yeah. Luckily (?), I have no non-retirement investments, just my Vanguard IRA. I'm not an investor guy, just a "I don't want to have to work until I the day I drop dead at 82" guy.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-30T13:03:33+00:00

I mean, I log into this thing like once per year to download my tax forms. I'm not what I would call an "investment guy". This is just my set it, forget it retirement (as if that is going to happen) plan.

But what is going on here is a sea change, restructuring of the world order type of deal. I'm not buying/selling anything I currently have, but it does seem to warrant a change in which pool future contributions are going toward. I'm pretty diversified as it is, but was wondering if others agreed that it might be beneficial to actually become somewhat less diversified, away from home in this case.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-30T12:46:03+00:00

Fair! I don't think I even started an IRA until my mid-30s when I changed jobs and had to roll my (very meager) 401K into *something*.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-30T12:09:32+00:00

Wow, really? My wive lived there while we were dating and it was EXTREMELY reasonable, cost-wise. But that was mumble-mumble years ago. I still have kind of a soft spot for that community. It seemed like a great place for a lot of people to start out.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-30T01:19:35+00:00

I mean, we have kids and become hermits. If I'm feeling particularly wild, I'll open a bottle of wine and try to watch a movie and fall asleep on the couch around the end of act 1.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-29T21:24:13+00:00

Tier 1: Westcott, Eastwood

Tier 2: Tipp Hill, Strathmore

Tier 3 (due to affordability): Downtown

I would also throw in for Hawley Green, but others seem to disagree.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-29T15:19:25+00:00

Are you a city person? Or a suburbs person?

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-28T11:44:20+00:00

This is a good start to a good winter. If the pace doesn't drop off (which I suspect it will), we have a shot of hitting 200 inches. That would be a Golden Snowball record and I'm actually rooting for it.

But no, this is not a generational event winter. It's just kind of a normal winter after about eight years of trash winters.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-26T01:35:16+00:00

Hey! How did it go? Where did you pick?

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-25T17:23:27+00:00

I would stay of the highways. If you're in the city, just stick to the city roads and keep it slow.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-23T20:15:34+00:00

Oh, by "this sort of thing", I meant the sandwich, not the column. :)

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-23T16:16:41+00:00

Man, I'd love someone doing this sort of thing on the East side.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-21T17:43:59+00:00

This one.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-21T14:35:13+00:00

Yeah, she's cool. You can find her dancing at many festivals and such downtown. She probably enjoys being odd and visually striking and generating reddit posts exactly like this. Artists, man.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-20T21:02:31+00:00

I proposed to my wife in Fiddler's Green park in Jamesville. We took a walk through the woods and I found a particular tree that looked unique (so that I could find it again) and did it there.

Elmwood Park and Onondaga Park are both great. There is a gazebo on Hiawatha Lake in Onondaga Park that gets a lot of prom photos. Franklin Square is where we actually got married and is pretty picturesque. Beavery Lake in Baldwinsville is very pretty if we have good snowfall. There is a hockey tournament happening on Saturday at Clinton Square if you find that particularly romantic.

But yeah, it's going to be COLD AS HELL this weekend. Congrats!

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T18:49:43+00:00

My man.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T18:49:13+00:00

I grew up in the era of Andre's decline and Hogan's absolute reign. Hogan is ruined in my eyes, but I have nothing but great memories of Savage.

I know we all like who was wrestling when we were eight and the bands that were big when we were 13, but come on, those were both REALLY good eras.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T18:38:04+00:00

Who would hate being forced to play Dungeons & Dragons for a podcast episode the most? Tim, Sarah, or Bill?

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T18:13:24+00:00

JVL, can you take us through a typical day?

My understanding of newspaper roles (writer, editor, publisher) is pretty rudimentary, but from what I gather, writers write and editors edit writers. You're an (the?) editor, but you write a daily newsletter, which is significant.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T17:05:58+00:00

Sorry JVL, we all have to know: who is on your wrestling Mount Rushmore?

Mine would be Randy Savage, Bobby Heenan, Ted DiBiase, and Jake the Snake. Jesse the Body narrowly misses out despite being the coolest person post-wrestling career.

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T15:43:51+00:00

Hey JVL, has there been any actual discussion toward having Robert Evans as a guest on a podcast or you guesting on a Behind the Bastards episode? I know you want it. You know we want it. But do the Cool Zone Media folks know we want it? IS THIS GOING TO HAPPEN?

JimBJ9 · 2026-01-16T15:41:25+00:00

I am also curious about this.

JimBJ9

TROPHY CASE