Well, I wouldn't state that as a rule SBY is more expensive than SYR, but overall most of the accommodations I've been a part of or heard of have been that way. SYR is cheap from property values on up, a good house can be bought for not a lot of money, and good apartments or whole houses can be rented for reasonable rates. SBY can be pricier because it is a vacation destination, property values are higher, and everything goes from there. Don't get me wrong, it's not like CHO or worse, LGA, you should make enough money to have a decent place to live with no worries. If you're into living there, it can be a fun place.

The movement, maybe someone else can tell you, but I don't believe it's that senior there now, and a LOT of FOs are leaving from all over the company.

Amount of flying on reserve can also vary greatly from time to place, but for the most part reserves are flying all the time right now, they don't have nearly enough pilots to cover the flying they are committed to do. I believe everyone is flying their butts off right now. Everything is subject to change, of course. The good thing about working every reserve day is the money, it's much more profitable to work every day than sit around and goof off. Goofing off can be more fun, and like you said, it's not bad sitting reserve at home, or at the beach in Ocean City (as long as you can get to the crew room in 75 and have phone coverage, you can be anywhere you like).