Hello, Portlanders! I am writing to you today to ask for help and advice. I searched in vain for a Portland or Oregon group on Dkos, but there is no search function (very much needed, Kos, please!) for groups, and I know my eyes glazed over a bit when I was going through page after page of groups, so I might have missed it.
Anyway, the fiance and I have been looking at moving to Portland, OR for a while now, but we waited in hopes that the economy might improve. Currently we live in Orlando, FL. We're computer people--he's a programmer, I run a computer training facility. I have done technical work but most of my background is more along the lines of customer service and hospitality management. We have 3 cats, 2 cars, and a two-story townhouse worth of furniture.
We have set a target date of Spring 2012 (April/May). The economy isn't improving but if we putz around Florida hoping for the dream job to land in my lap or for Republicans to get their shit together, we'll never leave this steaming swamp. So, we're going to take a bit of a risk, and just do it.
It's not a total blind jump, you understand. Steven will be able to keep his current job and work remotely from Portland, at least for a time. I will have to find a new job but there is a possibility my current company will be able to help me find work with an affiliate training center out there. I'm not totally worried about the job situation, my mind is currently on other matters.
What I need help with is this: can Portland Kossacks give me an idea on what things cost there? Groceries, gas (I know this fluctuates and can be drastically different by spring, but I just want an idea), other necessities of living. What are some of the better neighborhoods in and around Portland to look at rental properties? Does anyone know what the cost of storage is, as we plan on just renting a small apartment when we first get there, so our townhouse full of crap--assuming we don't just sell the majority of it--will have to go in storage for a while. Does anyone have any good general doctors, eye doctors, OBG/YN (this is particularly important), and veterinarians they can recommend in the Portland area? What's the average cost of electricity and water for 2 people in an apartment?
On the subject of Internet access, Comcast is an absolute deal breaker. We refuse to use Comcrap, because being computer people (and Steven having to work remotely) we need reliable internet that isn't going to be capped by Comcrap's bullshit bandwidth capping policy. We use cloud a great deal, so we're constantly uploading and downloading stuff, especially with his job. We have determined that Verizon FiOS is available just outside of Portland (Beaverton, Fairview, to name a few), so our potential living area is going to be limited to just FiOS-capable areas. Our livelihood is based on the Internet so we can't and won't accept Comcrap as a provider. FiOS is available in these cities in Oregon. Does anyone have any suggestions on which of those towns are better to live in and still have a relatively manageable commute to Portland in case my job is out there?
And for the pootie folks out there, has anyone ever done a cross-country move with cats? Any tips and suggestions for keeping my three furry kids from suffering too much on a 49 hour drive?
I am sure people will ask, why are you moving from Florida? Are you aware of the drastic different in weather? Etc...
Well, the male and I hate hot weather. We were born here and our families are here and neither of us ever really had the chance to leave, although we wanted to. Now that we are together, it's just time to do it, and we LOVE Portland. We love rain, we love mountains, we love seasons, we love cold, we love snow, we love forests, we love the pacific northwest period. It's where we want to go. Personally, I have always hated Florida and I have been trying since about 18 years of age (I am 31) to leave, and some bomb has always dropped to prevent me from doing so. If you believe in fate (I do), perhaps this had to do with the fact that I couldn't leave before meeting the love of my life, Steven, and now that I have and amazingly we agree on wanting desperately to move, it's just time to get it done.
On a personal note, the politics in Florida have always sucked and somehow they are getting worse, and I want out. Florida is a great place to be if you're old, you happen to be an orange, or it is your life's ambition to work for a crappy employer like Walt Disney for minimum wage pay. Since that describes us not at all, we want out, now!
Thanks a lot to anyone who can provide help, suggestions, answers to any of my rambling above, and even job help for me. I've watched the Dkos community help others in the past, and I've offered my help to those looking to come to Florida, so I am hoping to latch into this vast network and make this crazy cross-country move just a tad bit easier on myself, my significant other, and our cats.
Edit: Thanks for all the responses and I'm so embarrassed that I somehow missed the three Oregon groups on Dkos. Derp! There's some good info here... I didn't realize Oregon didn't have sales tax, that's pretty nice!