Are you glad you moved to Portland? (Beaverton, Bend: transfer, neighborhoods)

[happypants 3235]

Originally Posted by SETabor

I'm glad I did it. I lived in DC for 7 years and then moved to LA for 2 before coming up here. Moving to LA allowed me to make a lot of adjustments - football on at 10 am on Sunday, watching the whole Oscars telecast before falling asleep, driving a car regularly (I didn't own one in DC), being on the west coast with the ocean to the west instead of the east. But, I love my neighborhood that's an actual neighborhood and I can afford a house and nobody looks askance at my hoopty.

As far as adjustments, the weather is still something I'm adjusting to. I didn't mind the first winter but the second and third hit me hard and harder. By March, I needed sun. I've made a few adjustments including a grow light in my office and it got better. This year, I'm including vitamin D supplements so we'll see how it goes. For me it's not the rain, it's the lack of sunshine. Sure there are sun breaks but if you work in an office, you won't see them. Instead you'll drive to work in the dark and drive home in the dark. You can catch up some on the weekend but it's tough.

Another thing is that travel from Portland to see family is more difficult than I thought it would be. We have to fly to visit most of the family and Portland's not exactly a hub city. Most flights involve a stopover somewhere and the tickets aren't cheap.

Hoopty?

[SETabor]

Let me google that for you

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Everyone has told me that I need to move to the PNW. I have a friend pushing me to check out Bend.
I haven't because of the people I have met. There hasn't been one person from the PNW I have encountered that was truly friendly. It was all very superficial. They seem to say what they need to, whether or not it is the truth.

Some people don't think community is an important factor for a move but it is to many of us. After living all over the country, I have found rural Midwesterners to be very community oriented. Many of my friends and family question why I would want to "live in a boring place that is flat". Simple things like neighbors waving, bringing food over, and basic courtesy makes a huge difference in the quality of life.

Community oriented means different things to different people. My wife and I often get toget her with friends and family each week for food or drinks. I have had a number of random conversations with neighbors because everyone is friendly where I live. I don't wave at all the neighbors when I see them in passing, but that has never been a common trait in the Northwest.

Though I am a strong believer that one should live where they are happiest, and if the Midwest is where you like it the most then that makes sense to want to live there.

[karlsch]

Originally Posted by urbanlife78

Um, libraries are typically not the place one would go for chatting with other people and making lots of noise. Libraries are more for people who are working on projects and being quiet.

Um, everybody knows that about libraries. The person you were replying to was talking about a a crowded bus stop.

[Nell Plotts]

Frankly I rarely chat-it-up with random strangers at bus stops but I always give the bus driver a smile and hello. I do, however, go out of my way to help out of town visitors in my community and on the bus.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by karlsch

Um, everybody knows that about libraries. The person you were replying to was talking about a a crowded bus stop.

The post I commented on he was talking about libraries.

[Metlakatla]

It's really strange. You can sometimes be standing a a crowded bus stop and it's as silent as a library. No one talks or looks at anyone else.

This is the post you commented on. He was talking about bus stops and using libraries as an analogy. There was no need for the cyber eye roll and um....correction. That's all.

[urbanlife78]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

This is the post you commented on. He was talking about bus stops and using libraries as an analogy. There was no need for the cyber eye roll and um....correction. That's all.

You're right, I misread that, my mistake.

[pdxmilw]

Although, man, these days, the library's not such a quiet place anymore.

[almostjay]

Originally Posted by Nell Plotts

Frankly I rarely chat-it-up with random strangers at bus stops but I always give the bus driver a smile and hello. I do, however, go out of my way to help out of town visitors in my community and on the bus.

My wife and I had a very strange, for us, experience when flying out of PDX about a month ago. After boarding the economy parking lot shuttle we were one of 6 couples on the bus. One of the couples started chatting with another about their destination, and shortly thereafter the entire bus was gleefully discussing their travel plans with each other.

It got to the point where they literally looked at my wife and I (I assume we looked pretty uncomfortable) and said "well you're the last ones to share, where are you heading?".

I am all about making eye contact and acknowledging people on the street. I go out of my way to hold doors for people, to wave when I'm let into traffic, and to thank waiters and checkout people and the like. I think little things like that, i.e., recognizing other's humanity, is very important. That said, I didn't like sharing information about where I was going at all. I'm not sure why, because I generally enjoy the greater degree of human to human interaction that happens here (compared to the east coast).

Regarding the question asked by the OP, I couldn't be "gladder". Ask me again in February.