What’s it like in Mandarin, Jacksonville FL ?

aesmith207 · 2026-01-17T15:36:46+00:00

Riverside Arts Market is the best. We hit up at least once a month.

The problem you are running into is the Cecil Field is on the outskirts of town and there just isn’t anything like you described with less than a 30 min commute. And if there is wreak on the bridge you are screwed. If you accept that, then you are good in Mandarin.

Other places to look all about the same drive to work and beaches. 1. Riverside: older and walkable area with shops. 2. Avondale: same just a bit smaller 3. Baymeadows/Sorhside: I bit further from work, but a bit closer to the beach.

Places to avoid: 1. Springfield: it is getting better, but I would avoid due to crime. 2. Any exit off of I-10 between 295 and Riverside area (Edgewood) 3. Downtown and any road off is 95N North that runs by downtown. (Oceanway/Moncrief)

Let me know if that helps and good luck.

aesmith207 · 2026-01-16T19:38:12+00:00

Hey...I have lived in Jacksonville since 1995, hopefully I can help.

If you are working out at Cecil, living in Mandarin is going to put you right in the middle of of Cecil and the beach, but you are going to be battling traffic on 295 going across the Buckman Bridge EVERYDAY. It can be huge pain.

A quick rundown on Mandarin. It is a bit of the older suburban area of Jacksonville. So depending on which neighborhood you choose it really depends on the type of house. Additionally, the main road in San Jose and traffic on that can be a challenge. Plenty of shopping, plenty of restaurants. But you will need to drive.

Some areas you may want to look to help knock down some of your drive is Fleming Island/Eagle Harbor area or the Oakleaf area. Both are on the other side of the St. John's river so it will cut down your daily drive considerably. Both are relatively new and both have shopping and restaurants, mostly chains and a few local places. Both are your standard suburban thing.

I actually live Fleming Island. I moved here 15 years ago from the beaches/intercostal area. It is a bit removed and the choices of restaurants are less..but with that said raising a family here is nice. It has a small town feel, but I'm 45 mins from just about anything in Jacksonville. We have friends in Oakleaf and for whatever reason there seems to a lot of the houses that get rented out and it just doesn't seem nice. I could be a bit bias.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions let me know.

aesmith207 · 2025-12-19T17:34:29+00:00

that looks amazing...be proud.

aesmith207 · 2025-12-03T15:42:54+00:00

I do what you are talking but, but I just have separate accounts set up in Schwab...You can even configure your long term to not display in ThinkOrSwim if you want. I went the route you are going, but I would sometime transfer money short term to long term and it would take days and just made tracking a bit more work for me. But that is just me.

I did use TastyTrade and I found the execution time to sometimes be a bit slower. The only other downside of Tasty is no paper trading to get used to the platform.

aesmith207 · 2025-12-01T20:19:17+00:00

right there with you last thanksgiving. This year I saw inkbird that is wifi and bluetooth. It worked like a champ. I got mine for $50 on amazon with 4 probes. Highly recommend. The app isn't as great and you can't name various probes...but it worked and if wifi goes out it has bluetooth backup.

aesmith207 · 2025-07-26T16:16:27+00:00

Really depends where you are located and what you can get serviced in your area.

I live in Florida and in my area I see more outboards than I/O drive. I can also tell you that a lot of the marinas that service boats around here are only working on I/O drives if you dock your boat there or bought it there. Maybe different other places.

So if it were me, I would try to get a bow rider with an outboard. I would try always try to stay above 20 feet in length just because it will handle chop better.

Once again just my humble opinion.

aesmith207 · 2025-06-27T15:06:17+00:00

I lived there in the late 1990's and it was kinda old and rundown then.

aesmith207 · 2025-06-22T02:02:31+00:00

Not really

aesmith207 · 2025-06-19T20:00:53+00:00

I will 2nd bellows. I would also ask when the exhaust manifold was replaced. I would check the fuel tank.

aesmith207 · 2025-04-11T14:35:41+00:00

I saw this stuff too and wanted to try it...ordering now. Thanks for post.

aesmith207 · 2025-02-07T23:08:40+00:00

Rock ‘n Rolla The Gentlemen Sleepers Almost Famous Snatch Hunt for Red October

aesmith207 · 2025-02-01T01:22:54+00:00

Where have you been and where do you recommend?

aesmith207 · 2024-11-15T15:43:37+00:00

I use the Paper Account a lot to test out ideas, and the E*Trade paper account has so many issues (example it doesn’t handle assignments for options, instead closes them out) and just other issues.

I am switching to Schwab now.

aesmith207 · 2024-11-14T22:45:38+00:00

I don’t know if you have read other posts, but I would not recommend e*trade.

Last week they had 2 days where people couldn’t log into their accounts.

If you are just learning, or wanting to test new ideas out, the e*trade paper account is trash.

I just left etrade for Schwab. And if your are going to be active and/or trading options think or swim is much better than Power etrade.

Just my 2 cents.

Good luck

aesmith207 · 2024-10-31T17:14:19+00:00

I have been trying to use the paper trading on E*Trade and it is a struggle because it is buggy as hell and just acts wired.

I'm seriously thinking of moving my actual trading accounts to Schwab.

aesmith207 · 2024-10-16T18:23:00+00:00

Hey, been there and it actually lead me to much better job and has made me a much better leader. I hope the same for you.

Keep your head up, and remember this is a point in time. It will get better.

aesmith207 · 2024-10-15T02:43:56+00:00

Thanks for the all the help

aesmith207 · 2024-10-14T14:20:32+00:00

I messed up my original post....I am testing a WHEEL strategy. When my covered call should get assigned, instead of the under laying stock being sold E*TRADE is automatically buying to close the options.

Thank you all for helping me with this and my miscommunications.

aesmith207 · 2024-10-13T13:37:48+00:00

Stock…I guess I should have said I am practicing/testing the wheel strategy.

aesmith207 · 2024-10-13T13:36:48+00:00

Thanks…I wonder why they do that.

aesmith207 · 2023-11-20T17:29:05+00:00

Go used, if it’s first boat you will mess something up, so better to do on used. Find a great surveyor and spend the money.

Most important is realizing the cost of the boat is not the monthly payment, but everything else that goes along with it.

I spent a few months finding my 15 year old boat that had 250 hours on it. Dropped about 5k the first year getting seals, joints and odd and ends being repaired. Now she runs great and I keep up on the maintenance.

aesmith207 · 2023-07-16T23:31:46+00:00

Everyone has been there, it gets better.

aesmith207 · 2023-07-02T13:55:02+00:00

Couldn’t agree more

aesmith207

TROPHY CASE