#1471, Monday, July 20: 200,000 Syracusans can't be wrong

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Post 1471, Day 201 of 2015
- 1,662 days since I started this blog -

Daily Comment

Why does Syracuse (and the surrounding area) makes a good starting place for my retirement?

Not too long ago (last Winter), I changed my retirement plans. Slightly.

I woke up one crazy-cold Syracuse morning and, without really mulling it over much, decided to delay my plans to expatriate when I retire. Not cancel, but delay - I still think expatriating is the way to go when I fully engage my "Third Age".

But retirement was near (about a year away then), and I was enjoying my life in ways that wouldn't be negatively affected by retirement. In fact, I have every expectation that retirement will enhance my current lifestyle, which is not job-based, but recreation-based.

In fact, the greater Syracuse area is, in many ways, an excellent place to retire. It has a low cost of living, plenty of culture, excellent health care availability/accessibility, and a relatively large retirement-age population. Four months out of the year it has great weather, and, although the weather is truly horrid six months a year, it has never been an inconvenience. The snowiest city in the US knows how to deal with winter weather, and I am lucky enough to have a choice whether or not to go out in the snow - if conditions aren't good (like, its still snowing), I can stay home (and this will not change after retirement).

It still doesn't check all my 'retirement' boxes: You need a car, and there are all those months of snow.

However, the lifestyle I currently enjoy trumps all other retirement considerations, thanks to providing a bit of extra cash income and a solid place in a community that accepts me pretty much as I present myself.

There's also: the no-planning, no extra effort aspect of staying in place. That is hard to quantify.

This all comes up because I had my first visitor in six years that stayed for more than a meal. This gave me the opportunity to show a somewhat unbiased (definitely not positively biased) first-time visitor the things that attract me and keep me there.

Sure, a Winter visit would have made the scenery less attractive and tourism more difficult, if not impossible. But, except for a few hours spent in Finger Lakes Wine Country (definitely a two-season option), everything we did - everything - was reflective of what I do and where I go year-round.

My friend loved it, and wants to come back and see more and do more, as well as revisit the places I took him. Confirmation, I guess - although my coming to this conclusion on my own, and developing my scene here had to have influenced him.

Food and Diet Section

Today's Weight:                   209.4 lbs

Previous Weight (7/16):           208.4 lbs

Day Net Loss/Gain:                + 1.0 lbs

Diet Comment

Thanks to a long-weekend visit from a friend, I ate in restaurants for all my meals from Thursday night to Sunday afternoon. I'm pretty pleased that the result isn't a much greater weight gain. In general, restaurant eating is not healthy. That is one of the reasons I like Core (the local restaurant) so much - the delicious food there is healthy, the selection makes it virtually impossible to eat an unhealthy meal, the ingredients are (for the most part, and wherever possible) local and seasonal. I took my friend there for a meal and he absolutely loved it - almost as much as I do.

Food Log

Breakfast
Protein shake with almond-coconut milk, kefir, kale, large organic egg, whey powder (36g protein), hemp seeds, hemp protein (7g protein), raw organic cacao powder, fermented coconut water, chia gel, moringa leaf powder, cinnamon, celery and stevia-inulin blend.

Lunch
Roast beef and organic kimchee I bought at the Regional Farmers Market.

Dinner
Celery and home-made mayonnaise, Quest bars.

Snack
Quest bars.

Liquid Intake
   Espressos: 3;  Coffee: 24 oz.; Water: 48+ oz.;

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