Yesterday I spent some time looking for jobs in the NW. I didn't apply to anything, but I got a better idea of the kinds of jobs I'm interested in and feel more ready to get my resume prepared and start applying for jobs. Getting jobs up there will be a long, difficult process, so starting this week, we're going to devote a night every week toward applying for jobs and getting ready to move up there. By dedicating a night every week, we'll make sure that we are aware of new job postings and apply to every job that might interest us. I think that's the best we can do, if we regularly check the job postings and spend time every week then I think we have plenty of time to get a job up there. I'm excited because by starting this weekly routine, we'll make a lot of progress towards moving and it just makes our move seem even closer and more imminent.

My wife is excited about moving to the Northwest because she's wants to live in a new area and is tired of being here, and I am too. But, I think I may be more excited about moving to the Northwest because when we move up there, we're not going to live in the suburbs anymore. We picked our apartment here because it's close to work and it's close to a park, but over the past few months I've gotten more and more sick of living way out here in the suburbs. I always enjoy going into the city, but I wish I didn't have to drive into the city, I wish that we just lived there. I like spending time in the city, I like the buildings, the architecture, and the history. But, since we're always driving there and don't live there, I don't get to experience the city as much as I'd like because it's more inconvenient to have to drive and park to do stuff there. That's why I can't wait to move to the Northwest because I know that wherever we live, we're going to live in the city, and I'm going to be able to walk places. And, the cities themselves are more pedestrian-friendly than Dallas, so when I go walking, I won't be the only person on the sidewalk. I just can't wait to live in the city and I wish we were moving sooner.

Both of us want to move to the Northwest, but we're not sure which city we'll move to. We both want to live in a fairly large city, so Seattle and Portland seem like the best options. I've heard a lot of good things about Vancouver, British Columbia, too, but we didn't visit there and I don't know much about it. I suppose Vancouver would be a good option, too, but right now Portland and Seattle are the top two options for us.

I think that moving up there will be difficult, since we don't know anybody up there and at least one of us will need to get a job up there before we move. It's hard to find a job, even in a city you live in, so I imagine that it will be pretty challenging to find a job up there. Since either Seattle or Portland would be a nice change from living here, I think we might just move to whichever city offers one of us a job. We'd move to either one partially so that we could move up there sooner and partially because even if we were to have an option, I don't know which city we'd pick. I think I'd pick Portland, but she'd pick Seattle.

We want to move to the Northwest for a number of reasons. We're both tired of this scorching Texas weather, we like the nice parks and natural beauty, and I especially like the vibrant and livable urban areas. But, Portland has more of what I want and Seattle has more of what my wife wants.

I want to live in a dense area, probably downtown, so I want that downtown area to be livable, with places to see and things to do. I don't want to have to drive everywhere, so it's important to me that the city be walkable and have a good public transportation system. I also want a good park system and other attractions.

Both cities have good parks, Seattle probably has more things to do and a more vibrant downtown, but Portland is much easier to get around without a car and has a more livable downtown.

My wife wants to live in a bigger metropolitan area, close to major sports teams and with even more places to go and things to do in the city. She wants to live closer to water and in a more scenic city that's different from where we've lived, and Seattle seems more different from home than Portland.

So, both cities have what we want, but my wife definitely prefers Seattle and Portland just seems to fit me a little better. I don't think we could reconcile our differences and just pick one place that we both want more, so I guess the best thing to do is just stay open to both and see which place we're led to. I'm excited about moving up there, though, regardless of which city.

This is scary. I just went through a job search recently and had a hard time finding anything. Although, this was because I told potential employers that I wouldn't be in the area for long, but still. How do you go about searching for a job out of state? Are you supposed to fly to your future home 5 or 6 times for interviews? It helps if you know someone or can network. It would also help if we knew which city to narrow our search to. Or do we go to whichever city offers us the best deal? There's a contact I know of in Portland, but I prefer to live in Seattle. Part of me thinks we should move up there while we're looking for jobs, even if we haven't found anything yet. It will be so much easier going to interviews and stuff if we're in town. But still, we're financially conscious and don't want to do something that would wipe out what we've saved up so far. I guess the first step is to know what kind of job you're looking for. Something temporary like retail or some administrative assistant type work? Do you go for the whole enchilada? It seems like the best thing for Troy's career would be to try to find something in his current field or whatever field he's interested in. I heard that Boeing is hiring a ton of new people and they probably pay well and have excellent benefits. As for me, I'm not sure. I like finance, but I hate sales. The best kind of position for me would be a behind-the-scenes kind of job, but there aren't that many broker-dealers over there. I don't know where to start. We can't be traveling up there every week for interviews. We have jobs here too. Mine knows there's a big chance I'm leaving and Troy's has no clue. I'd rather not work for a small company, like an individual broker. I just don't like the stress from that kind of environment and I've been there, done that already, and hated it. I want a normal 8:30 to 5 job in the finance field, preferably back office. Is that so hard to find? I found it here, surely it exists in the NW.