Josh Shear

I've been a big proponent of living in the city of Syracuse, and often looked somewhat cross-eyed at people who did a lot of work in the city but lived in the suburbs.

And then, after five years and some change within the city limits, I moved into the Village of East Syracuse.

The move, actually, fulfilled a lot of the goals I used to write about in terms of living in the city – being able to walk to everything I need, being close to work.

And, in fact, when I asked about six weeks ago over Twitter and Facebook what a village is, pretty much everybody said a place that has everything one needs within its borders.

For those of you who loved my last place, you'll be a combination of disappointed and charmed by the new place. It's much smaller, which I think scores on both sides of that coin (much less room for gatherings, but it's not a five-minute walk to change conversations). There are no mysterious hallways, no surprise steps. There's a door on the bedroom (score!).

Within an eight-block walk, I have:

- Two diners
- A restaurant
- A sports pub
- Two pizza places
- Chinese take-out
- A market
- Two convenience stores
- A donut shop
- A bakery
- A park with tennis and basketball courts
- A library
- A thrift store
- Doggy day care
- Barber shops and salons
- Shoe repair
- A jewelry store
- Auto repair

And that's not counting the commercial strip just over the railroad tracks, which I pretty much never visit. It has a Subway, a Dunkin Donuts (that's right, the donut shop mentioned above is a local one), a Wal-Mart, a BJ's, a Staples (OK, sometimes I need a Staples run).

I've been to a couple of the businesses two or three times, and the proprietors have recognized me.

I'm looking forward to riding my bike the 1.3 miles to work on a daily basis, not like the twice-a-summer I was able to pull in my last place, since it was seven miles each way.

The piano in the photo, by the way, is well-traveled. It will be tuned this weekend, and I'll finally get to sit down and play it for the first time in a long (long) time.

I'm happy to be settling in here.