I think I'm ready to leave Nashville behind. I've got interviews coming up with 3 of the big 4 accounting firms. I've already talked to people from Deloitte and KPMG, and both groups have said that if I'm interested in working somewhere outside of Nashville, they can arrange that. The main factors attracting me to Portland are that it's a nice mid-sized city with decent public transportation and plenty of urban housing with prices that aren't very far out of line with what I'd pay living in downtown or midtown Nashville. Those of you've who live(ed) in Portland or are familiar with the area, what are your thoughts?
Officially, I think I'm supposed to try and discourage people from moving to Portland. You guys take our jobs and drive up real estate prices. But since I have no desire to be an accountant and I'm in Hawaii right now, I'll say that I love Portland. I really, really hope I'll be able to move back there when I wrap things up out here. (In fact my current wallpaper is of the "Made in Portland" sign, looking down Burnside, and my old wallpaper was Mt. Hood over downtown.) The only gripe for me is that it's really, really liberal. But IIRC you lean a little to the left, so you should like it. Great, great town.
I lean a bit to the left and I find it to be too liberal for my tastes. There are a lot of people who have a fundamental disconnect with reality there. However, quality of living is very high, and it could use some people who aren't from the, uh, left coast, no matter what side you fall on politically. If you want city living, there's Portland, but you can also take a look at Hillsboro, Gresham, etc., etc. in terms of suburbs if you don't want to live in the relatively quiet city.
Don't go to Hillsburrito. That said, I love Portland and I miss it very much. The thought of someone not loving it there doesn't make sense to me, but I'm a big fan of rain and cloudy days. I don't know what Kyle is talking about up there but Portland is pretty well known to be a liberal city. Although Oregon did ban gay marriage in its constitution so... I think every major city is going to have it's right and left whackos, but I've only ever lived around Seattle and Portland so I suppose I wouldn't really know.
