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The snow doesn't slow down things to that extent... but it's not all going that fast anyway. The snow DOES make everything feel soooo cozy and comforting. I sometimes give in to that overwhelming urge to literally throw myself into deep, soft snow. lol - and a favorite pasttime of mine is bundling up and sitting out on the tree stump when it gets heavy. If it's blizzard-like, I bring out my snowboarding goggles as well. :P It's so silent and crisp/clean-smelling and light and dark at the same time... darkness of the sky but whiteness of the snowflakes (puffs, really haha) coming down. All the hard edges and angles of EVERYTHING are softened under the cover of blanketing snow.
As I've stated before elsewhere on City-Data, I've had a desire to move to upstate New York for quite some time now. First smitten by its entrancing beauty on the way to Niagara Falls back in the late 80's and falling head-over-heels in love with Ithaca in the late 1990's, the thought of one day living in this part of the country was never far from my mind. In 2004, when I was still living in south Florida (yuck), I came pretty durned close to moving up to CNY, when I was still entranced with the farm idea. Practical logic won over with a sensible move to Atlanta, however, where jobs and a much cheaper housing market awaited me in early 2005.
Atlanta, while it looked awfully enticing in 2005 with its booming economy and plentiful cheap housing, hasn't been that great from my perspective in recent years. Ever since I decided to train as a carpenter and go into the residential building trade a couple years ago, the housing depression has only deepened, shutting out all but the most experienced carpenters of steady work. If I want to make a go of it in my new trade, this isn't going to be the place to do it for quite some time. And besides, I really, really hate working in the heat - me likes it cool outside.
You bet, the song of Central New York is calling me loud and clear. Now, more than ever, more so than even in June when I made a visit there in person, it's the place for me to be. Atlanta was just my way out of Florida. CNY is a calling, plain and simple. Earlier this year, I was vacillating between picking Syracuse and Jamestown to relocate, but after visiting both locations in person, and giving it much thought, (and reading the Syracuse thread of course, much thanks to proulxfamily, ckhthankgod and others ) I have decided upon the lovely city of Syracuse.
Might as well make it official here: It is my primary goal to move to Syracuse or within 20 miles thereof by this time next year (Nov 1st, to be exact). And I can't wait!
I'm hearing far too many good things about the city not to wait any longer than I have to, and yeah, while I do have a house I will need to unload prior to moving, the RE market around here appears to have finally have hit bottom, with average home prices increasing by $400 this past month (hey, at least it's not going down...lol). My plan is to "mod" out my current house prior to sale, other houses in this area that have received that treatment have sold for excellent prices, and I hope to do the same using my new carpentry skills, saving a ton of money in the process. This will give me a good introduction to what I wish to do once I relocate to Syracuse, which is to buy cheap homes in need of renovation and rent them out, or resell, whichever makes more sense. With all the new construction projects on the table in that area in the next few years, it's my hope that carpenters and other tradesmen will be in need, and I'll have more work than I can handle. Even as it stands now, we're comparing Atlanta's 11% UE rate (even higher in the building trades), to Syracuse's 7.6% rate (if I'm not mistaken). Compared to here, that's like an economic boom. And to think people used to say that Syracuse had no economic future. WRONG! (just had to put that in there...lol).
And don't get me started on the climate of CNY. To make it short, it's got my name written all over it. Heavy snow in winter, delightfully pleasant summers, the brilliant autumns, and consistent rainfall outside the winter months. Here, our climate is characterized as dry, hot, sunny and monotonous. If I wanted to see 3 weeks of wall-to-wall sunshine, I'd moved to Arizona..lol. The climate factor of CNY is a huge draw for me, now so more than ever, with what little cold and snow we do get down here only serving to whet my appetite for a real winter. And to be able to ride on a one-horse sleigh for real has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time - and to think they really do have things like that up there at Christmastime.
I wish I could be loading up the moving truck tomorrow, but alas, these things take time. At least I'll be done with schooling this December, freeing me up to do some projects for others as well as the house, and perhaps I'll have this house ready for sale as early as late spring or early summer (keeping my fingers crossed on that one). I realize that it may take longer than that, hence setting the goal line at 1 Nov 2011. I'll put up with one more hot winter and another grueling summer, only if I hafta, but that's the limit - I want to be gone from here, and there in Syracuse by the time the snow flies in late '11.
In the meantime, I'll use this thread to post about my progress in making the Big Move over the coming year, as well as any questions and concerns I might come across as I get closer to the move. Others who are thinking / planning to move to Syracuse are welcome to add to this thread as well.
I just wnat to say, that is a very cool and heartfeld thread. I live in Florida, but it is not the paradise it was advertised to be. What a bunch of pinheads. I am here for work purposes, but that is all. In any event, I wish you the very best in your move. Syracuse is an even richer place when people like you move to the area.
The snow doesn't slow down things to that extent... but it's not all going that fast anyway. The snow DOES make everything feel soooo cozy and comforting. I sometimes give in to that overwhelming urge to literally throw myself into deep, soft snow. lol - and a favorite pasttime of mine is bundling up and sitting out on the tree stump when it gets heavy. If it's blizzard-like, I bring out my snowboarding goggles as well. :P It's so silent and crisp/clean-smelling and light and dark at the same time... darkness of the sky but whiteness of the snowflakes (puffs, really haha) coming down. All the hard edges and angles of EVERYTHING are softened under the cover of blanketing snow.
I can't wait for it!
Me neither! When we had that magical 4-inch snow here last Feb, I felt like I was walking in a slice of heaven, and I kept thinking "this is what upstate New York is like all winter long." To me, when it's 38 degrees and dumping down rain and windy, that's just nasty, ugly weather, and that's usually the extent of our "winter weather". When it's 22 degrees outside with a fresh cover of snow on the ground, it feels absolutely delightful. That's why I want to live in a place that has a "real" winter, where you can expect to have good snows each and every winter.
Urbanplanner - I went to Ft Lauderdale for work purposes back in the day, as an urban planner....lol. I eventually got disillusioned with the how local government operated coupled with a nasty boss and got out of the "biz" just before 2000, and struck out on my own as a house inspector, but that presented its own set of problems as well, as I soon found out. You're right, Florida isn't the paradise it's cracked up to be, although the same could be said for the entire Southeast, in my opinion at least.
Me neither! When we had that magical 4-inch snow here last Feb, I felt like I was walking in a slice of heaven, and I kept thinking "this is what upstate New York is like all winter long." To me, when it's 38 degrees and dumping down rain and windy, that's just nasty, ugly weather, and that's usually the extent of our "winter weather". When it's 22 degrees outside with a fresh cover of snow on the ground, it feels absolutely delightful. That's why I want to live in a place that has a "real" winter, where you can expect to have good snows each and every winter.
Urbanplanner - I went to Ft Lauderdale for work purposes back in the day, as an urban planner....lol. I eventually got disillusioned with the how local government operated coupled with a nasty boss and got out of the "biz" just before 2000, and struck out on my own as a house inspector, but that presented its own set of problems as well, as I soon found out. You're right, Florida isn't the paradise it's cracked up to be, although the same could be said for the entire Southeast, in my opinion at least.
Can't ya tell I'm ready to move?
You worked in Broward County? Talk about disfunctional government, yeash! One of the worst County governments around, not to mention the City of Fort Lauderdale. The concept of true urban planning is alien to Broward, or to Florida in general (with a few exceptions, i.e. Sarasota). I think they are finally getting their act together, but the damage is done.
The snow doesn't slow down things to that extent... but it's not all going that fast anyway. The snow DOES make everything feel soooo cozy and comforting. I sometimes give in to that overwhelming urge to literally throw myself into deep, soft snow. lol - and a favorite pasttime of mine is bundling up and sitting out on the tree stump when it gets heavy. If it's blizzard-like, I bring out my snowboarding goggles as well. :P It's so silent and crisp/clean-smelling and light and dark at the same time... darkness of the sky but whiteness of the snowflakes (puffs, really haha) coming down. All the hard edges and angles of EVERYTHING are softened under the cover of blanketing snow.
I can't wait for it!
Well that's the other reason I'm looking to move there :-) Slower general pace of life. Friendly people.
You worked in Broward County? Talk about disfunctional government, yeash! One of the worst County governments around, not to mention the City of Fort Lauderdale. The concept of true urban planning is alien to Broward, or to Florida in general (with a few exceptions, i.e. Sarasota). I think they are finally getting their act together, but the damage is done.
Yep, I sure did, right through the 90's development boom.
Yeah, it wasn't just the county being damaged by insane development, the psychological scars of me working there took a long, long time to heal, unfortunately.
Rather not delve into the unpleasantness of my past, but rest assured, I'm extremely happy to be fulfilling one of my life's passions, which is carpentry, and being able to work *for myself*, being able to take pride in my own work and making others happy with my efforts.
Now that I've got the career thing finally sorted out, I just need to "seek my way home", as stated in the title of this thread. At least now, it's no longer a matter of "if", but a matter of "when", and the first word that comes to mind is "soon."
Hey there, when you get here you should consider hiring a seasonal plow guy. Lots of people shovel their own driveways, but plow guys are plentiful and reasonably priced (since everyone and their brother has a snowplow on their truck). I shoveled my own driveway for a long time, but in a bad winter that can get really old fast.
You will learn to drive in snow like a true Syracusan! (driving in snow is a life skill that most Americans never master.)
Our plow guy came with the house! I was planning on using a snowblower on our 200 ft drive, but my wife was strongly against it. I never spoke with the plow guy, he just showed up at 3 am after the first snow, and bills me by the month. Well worth the money, costs about $400 per year. I actually shovel less here than I did back on Long Island, which gets about 1/6 the amount of snow.
Hey there, when you get here you should consider hiring a seasonal plow guy. Lots of people shovel their own driveways, but plow guys are plentiful and reasonably priced (since everyone and their brother has a snowplow on their truck). I shoveled my own driveway for a long time, but in a bad winter that can get really old fast.
You will learn to drive in snow like a true Syracusan! (driving in snow is a life skill that most Americans never master.)
Yeah, doing this (hiring a plow guy) will keep everyone off my back who keeps saying "you'll hate shoveling snow all winter"...LOL.
As far as driving in snow is concerned, I learned how to drive in the deep snows that NC got back in the 80's - I had a 4WD Isuzu which did great in the snow, and I even played taxi for my mother's nursing friends during a couple of heavy snowstorms - never got stuck or ran into trouble, etc, and this is driving on unplowed roads, too. So driving in snow certainly isn't a big concern of mine, especially in a place like Syracuse that's great about keeping the streets plowed anyhow.
A question about the CNY winters - does the snow usually lay on the ground pretty constantly during the Dec-Feb period, or is it typical to see bare ground from time to time during the winter? Looking at the weather records, I see that it can get as high as 70 degrees in January - I guess that's more of a freak event, huh? Hopefully the first winter or two up there will be cold, snowy ones, as it'd be a bit of a let down if I have to endure 70-degree weather in the middle of a Syracuse winter...lol.
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Earlier this year, I was vacillating between picking Syracuse and Jamestown to relocate, but after visiting both locations in person, and giving it much thought, (and reading the Syracuse thread of course, much thanks to proulxfamily, ckhthankgod and others 
) I have decided upon the lovely city of Syracuse. 
