Wrap up and the future for Greg...

Sorry for the absence on my blog, I've been a bit slack about it lately.  For those of you that have not heard I've wrapped up my 9 month North American Road trip a few weeks ago an have been staying in Greenville, SC to pack up my things, visit some friends and prepared for my move.  No I;m at home in Windsor for the holidays.  I have decided to relocate to Portland, OR.  I will leave Dec 27th from Windsor and start driving west, my things have already been shipped out and will meet me there in the new year.

 

You're probably asking a few questions, and I will attempt to briefly answer them below:

 

Why Portland?

Well why not?  I have been living the Southeast since Nov 2000.  It's been great, I have had great time here, met some great people, finished an MBA, married, divorced, owned a couple houses, travelled and had a very good life.  However I'm ready for change.  I want to live somewhere where I can ski more, climb big mountains, and more.  I want to live in a bigger, more progressive, more liberal city.  The south east as many of you know if super conservative, Portland is not.  Portland is a medium sized city (700,000), compared to Greenville county with about 350,000.  I've visited many, many cities and seriously considered many of them as places I would live (Denver, Seattle, San Francisco, Fort Collins, CO; Boulder, CO; Missoula MT; Spokane, WA; Boise, ID) all made the shortlist.  In the end though it's the quirky vibe, eco-friendly, open minded people of Portland that won me over.  I'm looking forward to living downtown, biking everywhere, and skiing in all my free time.  I recently joined the mountaineering club and I am taking a class with them starting in January.  These are things you just can't do in lots of other places.

 

What will you do for a job?

I'm hoping to get FTF Automation LLC going again when I arrive in Portland, meaning I will continue to do Automation Engineering and Consulting on a contract basis.  When I arrive I am taking a Wilderness First Responder Class for 2 weeks, then a 2 week bike mechanics.  I'm just doing both of these classes for personal growth, trust me no career change at this time, I'm still having too much fun doing engineering.  So I've already started to make a list of potential clients in the Portland area like Intel, Nike, Boeing (in Seattle just 2 hrs away) and slew of other smaller companies that might be able to use my services.  I'll start looking for work sometime in February after I'm well settled.  During the past 9 month while travelling I would receive calls or emails from people looking for controls support, primarily in the South East.  So I'm hoping it won't be hard to find work in the North West once I relocate.  So if you are familiar with anyone in the NW looking for controls engineers let me know!

 

Can I come visit?

Of course!  I plan on living very close to the MAX lines (Portland's light rail system which is connected directly to the airport).  I want to live right near the downtown area, likely in the NW or SW part of the city.  I'm planning to get a 2 bedroom apartment so I can have plenty of room for guests.  So book your flights and come on out!  It's about a 4 hr flight from Detroit.  You won't need a car when you’re here, I plan on getting a couple of extra bikes, so guests can experience Portland by bike.  Come for the skiing, the mountains, the breweries (there are 30 micro breweries in the city limits, more than any other city in the US), the great weather in the summer, the ocean and windsurfing on the hood river!   I'm planning to do a half Ironman triathlon July 8th, this will be my first long distance tri, so come out and cheer me on!

 

What about the weather?

Yes it's true Portland does get it's share of rain and cold in the winters.  Cold I'm fine with, actually looking forward to the cooler summers, and still relatively mild winters.  It rarely snows in the city and does drop below freezing for very long.  The rain and grey skies maybe be a bit of bummer, but I hope to get plenty of sunshine in the mountains when I'm there skiing.  In fact I've already bought a season pass to the Meadows ski area!  Of course nothing is permanent, if I move there and after a year or two don't like it I'll go elsewhere.