A week ago we invited three movers to provide an estimate for moving all of our stuff. We had a hard time figuring out where to start looking for a moving company, since we didn't want to just contact some local guy with a van. We found a list of the largest nationwide moving companies and figured out that we'd need to contact one of their agents to get started. Anyway, they all came out and provided similar estimates. Unfortunately, because we're moving so far and don't have that much stuff, they estimated that it could take as many as 22 days for our stuff to arrive in Seattle. We went with the moving company that provided a reasonable cost estimate and the lowest time estimate. While we may beat our stuff to Seattle by a few days, hopefully we won't have to wait too long. It's good to have this part of the moving process arranged.

Our upcoming road trip is one of the most exciting parts of moving up there. While 6 solid days in a car doesn't sound the most exciting, we're going to try to enjoy the scenery along the way. Right now our plans are tentative, we haven't booked anywhere to stay and our dates aren't firm, but here's the basic route we're going to take:


View Larger Map

Where we'll stay each night of the trip:

1. Albuquerque - We'll try to make good time from the beginning, and since there's not a whole lot in between Dallas and Albuquerque, we think we can make it all the way there in a day. Plus, after this night, things get more interesting. (We're not going to take that stupid route on the map)


2. Grand Canyon - I've never been to the Grand Canyon and it's kind of along the way. So, even though this will be a relatively short day of driving, I'm sure we can find plenty to do around the Grand Canyon that should make it worthwhile to stop.


3. Las Vegas - I've never been there before and am not that interested in making a special trip for it, so the fact that it's basically on the way is convenient. I figure stopping here for a night will be pretty cool. The next morning we'll drive through Death Valley, which should be unique, and it's a good time of year to go, so I'm excited about that.


4. Lake Tahoe - We were going to try to go to Yosemite National Park, but the road we would have to take is closed this time of year, so since we've heard good things about Lake Tahoe, we'll stop there instead. Should be pretty scenic as well.


5. Medford, Oregon - Nothing here, it's just a good stopping point.


6. Seattle!

Overall, I'm pretty excited about seeing all these beautiful places. As it gets closer, I'm sure we'll figure out more things to do along each of these routes and at each of these destinations. Should be pretty cool.

When my wife told me that she was offered the job that she wanted most, you'd think I'd be really excited about it, but I didn't really know how to react. I dunno why, but I just wasn't that excited about it. Since my wife has accepted the job, I've been thinking about all the different things that will be affected by us moving. I've been somewhat excited about it, but also conflicted because of all of the different changes that this will cause. It will be a big change, and it will be fun, but I'll be leaving everyone I've ever known and the area where I've made all of my memories. I'm excited about moving, but it's just a big change, and for some reason I can't jump up and down about it, it just seems kind of bittersweet right now. It will be a great experience, but so many things will change soon that I can't focus on only the good ones. Anyway, it's just kind of interesting that now that it's here, I'm not as excited and happy about it as I thought I might be, considering how long we've been talking about it and planning on it.

Even though it was cloudy and rainy for part of the time we were in Seattle, it was still very pretty. Here are some pictures:

Flying over the city, here's a picture of a floating bridge:

We landed at the airport:

Here's a picture from inside the city.

And here's a picture of the city skyline from across the water.

So, I had 8 interviews in 3 days. 4 in Seattle, 4 in Portland (all squished into one morning I might add). I wasn't too confident I would receive any offers because at my first interview in Seattle, I asked for a certain salary range and they immediately didn't like my suggestion. I thought that I had just messed up my best opportunity. I tried to say I would be flexible and I even came down in my range by quite a bit. I also did not have a list of printed references to give them, so I had to handwrite it right there in front of them. It made me look bad. Unfortunately that was the job I wanted the most. All the rest after the first one were for companies I wasn't nearly as interested in. They were either a really small office, which I've had before and hated, or they just weren't ready for the hiring process. A few didn't even know if the job I was applying for was within the budget for the company.

I was really depressed about how things had turned out. Every night I went to bed I kept thinking, man, I should have gotten more interviews or I shouldn't have requested such a high salary or how I wished Troy had some interviews. I started thinking about being stuck here for an unknown amount of time past our move-out date of Feb 25 and how it would suck moving to another place in DFW. It would suck to have to go up to SEA/PDX for another round of interviews and even more waiting and more expense.

Well, despite all of that, the first company I interviewed with in Seattle offered me the job today, with a decent salary. I think with the cost of living, the salary doesn't make up the difference in costs between here and there, but it's alright. I think the thing that finally sold me or got them over the fact that I was asking for a lot of money was that my references were awesome. At least, I know my current boss was great. She highly recommended me and couldn't think of a bad thing to say about me, she said. She said she hated to see me go and that they should snatch be up before I was taken by another company. I really appreciated how she did that for me. I don't know what my ex-boss said about me, probably good things though.

So, um, to make a long story short, I'm going to accept the offer tomorrow and ask if I can get any moving assistance. They are located in downtown Seattle and have an awesome few of Puget Sound.

Yay me!

After spending Saturday-Tuesday in Seattle, walking around and exploring the city, I realized how much I like Seattle as well. Since it's a pretty good big city, there are always a lot of people out and there's a lot to do. It seemed like an exciting place to be and I looked forward to many more hours of exploring and enjoying what the city has to offer. Then, we spent Wednesday in Portland, which I had liked more than Seattle. But, this time I realized that Portland didn't have a lot of those same things that I enjoyed when I was in Seattle. Portland, being a small city, lacked the architecture, the foot traffic, and the potential for exploring that Seattle had. Portland did seem to have better natural beauty within the city limits, and it does have better parks, but it just didn't interest me as much this time as it did the last time I visited.

The contrast between Seattle and Portland always reminds me of the contrast between Dallas and Fort Worth, as those are the two cities I'm most familiar with. Even though the cities are very different in a lot of ways, Seattle reminds me of Dallas in size and Portland reminds me of Fort Worth in size. I grew up in Fort Worth and it's a big enough city for most things, but now that I've lived in Dallas, Fort Worth just seems so small. For example, I'd rather have the choice of going to one of Dallas' three independent theaters than have to go to Fort Worth's half a theater. And that's what I like about big cities, there are so many options, you don't have to go to the same places all the time, and there's so much to see and do. As cool as Portland is in a lot of ways, it just seemed that it would get dull to me more quickly. Plus, while a lot of people would just consider Portland to be a cooler place, with its art galleries and counter culture, I'm a mainstream enough person (for better or worse) that I really don't see a reason to consider that kind of stuff very much. Throughout the day in Portland I was almost afraid that I would get what I wished for and I kept trying to convince myself of things I liked about Portland - the light rail, the walkability, the parks (and the cheaper rent rates) - but I still realized that Seattle would be a better place to live in a lot of ways. So, anyway, we'll see how things go, but I think I've changed bandwagons.

We're trying to find somewhere to live in Seattle that isn't too pricey, but it's been hard. Most relatively new places start at over $1000/month, and most places around are too small to have their own website or to be listed in any apartment guides. So, in addition to checking out living options on the lengthy list we brought with us, we've been wandering around, trying to get details on any property that appeals to us, looking for an affordable property in a good area. Craigslist is popular around here, but most apartments won't find out about vacancies until later this month, and it's apparently kind of early to try to find an apartment for late February. Still, we've found a few decent apartments and will check out a few more tomorrow, so I'm sure one of them will work out...unless we move to Portland instead.

This is a very important trip. It's the only trip we're planning before moving and this trip will determine whether we're able to move on schedule. The number one goal is to secure a favorable job offer as a result of this trip. Secondly, we want to find a place to live.

The total number of job interviews scheduled is now at 7 (4 in Seattle and 3 in Portland), with a possibility of another in Seattle. Of course, all of those interviews are my wife's, but I'm pleased with how many interviews we have. With that many interviews, she'll have several chances, so I'll be spending some time every day until the interviews start helping my wife practice her interviewing and getting mentally prepared.

We've also been doing a lot of research into finding places to live up there. We've compiled a spreadsheet of all the apartments within our price range located within areas that we may want to live. This weekend, we'll be exploring the neighborhoods in Seattle and then touring apartments that interest us, with the intent of selecting an apartment that we would want to live in and mailing in our completed application after we return to Texas.

I want to make sure we use our time well while we're there. We'll have some time left over in addition to interviewing and looking for apartments, and as long as we meet our top two goals, I figure we'll spend the rest of our time getting to know the cities. This is an exciting time.

Because we notified the apartment complex that we'd be gone by then. So, now we have a date to work towards. That gives us like 65 days until we need to be gone, and I think it's do-able. It's exciting, we're getting closer and closer.

In addition to job interviewing on our trip, we'll also be touring apartments. We'll be renting a car in Seattle this time, so we'll be able to get around more easily. Last time we went, I didn't really see many places that really looked livable, so this time we'll be touring different areas and looking at apartments within the areas that appeal to us. Unfortunately, most of the apartments in Seattle are a couple hundred dollars more than the ones in Portland, but I'm sure we can find something in a good area for a decent price. We probably won't have time to do much apartment searching in Portland, but I'll try to have everything lined up so that we can check out a few places. Ideally we'll be able to choose an apartment that we like the most in each city so that when we get a job offer, we won't have to go back up there to find a place to live and can just mail the application form in. Our trip is less than a month away, how exciting.

Last night we spent about 2-3 hours booking our flight, hotel, and car in Seattle and Portland. We initially were only going to Seattle, but then we decided we should also go to Portland and try to get interivews there too so we could increase our chances of getting a job. This is an expensive trip and we'd rather only have to do it once and get a job on the first try.

Anyway, we're leaving Saturday, January 5 at 8:00 am and get to Seattle at 10:30. We'll spend a few days there looking for apartments and interviewing and then take the Amtrak south to Portland Tuesday evening. Then we spend Wednesday in Portland and our flight out is at 2:45. We'll get back to Dallas around 8:30 pm.

I'm excited and really happy that everything is booked. We got some pretty good deals on airfare and hotel.

I read an article about a study of the most walkable cities in the country. The study ranked the most walkable cities in the country per capita. Dallas was ranked 25 of 30 and Portland was 5 of 30. Seattle was right behind Portland at 6 of 30. I'm really excited about living in a walkable area and this study just reinforces my desire to move to Portland (or Seattle).

We've been looking at airfare rates this week and right now we're thinking of booking airfare, hotel, and rental car together, and the cheapest we've found for that with decent flight times is around $1,200. But, that doesn't consider that we might go to Portland as well, so our trip might cost a little more. We probably should book our trip sometime within the next week or so, if at all possible, but I haven't asked for the time off of work yet and I'll be out of the office next week. Maybe we should just book it anyway, I dunno, hopefully rates don't go up too precipitously and we can find a cheap deal pretty soon.

Ok, so I apply to this job that sounds like what I want at a company that is medium sized (about 100 employees). I applied the Monday before Thanksgiving and the lady was out of the office. So I debated on whether to call them back this week or not. I decided on Wednesday that it would be too early to call since there was a holiday in there and stuff. But then yesterday, I got an email from them saying they were interested and wanted to meet in person! I was afraid they would want to meet in December, which is a bad month for my husband to get off work. He's busy like every possible time we could go during the week and then the airfare gets to be outrageous because of Christmas. I didn't especially want to go up there by myself, so I suggested early January and they accepted! So, I guess we're going up there the weekend of January 5 and my interview is on either the 7th or the 8th, whichever I want.

I'm so excited!!!!!!!!

When we got married a few months ago, I wanted to make sure that we established a healthy lifestyle within the first few months of being together because I knew that the habits we started would be hard to break. I think that we're living a pretty sustainable lifestyle so far, but when we move to the Northwest, we'll have a similar opportunity to start good habits. Here are a few things that I'd like to establish within the first two months once we move up there:

• Get involved with a church - We go to a church here on occasion, but I'd like to find a church home where we can not only attend regularly but also get involved in other ways to grow spiritually, help others, and meet people.


• Eat healthily - It can be hard to eat healthily here in Texas, where fried food, barbecue brisket, Tex-Mex, and hamburgers are so common. We should be able to eat healthier in the Northwest without much effort and I'm looking forward to that.


• Regular physical activity - There are a lot of outdoor activities available in the Northwest and I plan to enjoy them. I don't expect to become a serious hiker, but I'd like to hike, rollerblade, and find other ways to get exercise and enjoy the outdoors on a regular basis.


• Read - I like to read but haven't done it much lately. Citizens of Portland and Seattle read a lot and I'm looking forward to starting a habit of reading, partially to help me fit in but more because I'd like to read more often.


• Make friends and hang out with them - We don't know anyone in the Northwest, but I don't want things to stay that way once we move there. We don't make friends quickly by nature, but moving out of state should get us outside of our comfort zone and force us to be more outgoing so that we can get to know people and have people to spend time with. I'm not sure how exactly we'll accomplish this, but it's pretty important that we do.

Not much is new. My wife is doing a good job of finding and applying to individual companies in Seattle. She applied to an opportunity last night that sounded pretty good, so hopefully we'll get some responses soon, either from that one or from another company she's going to contact. After we each finish applying to companies individually we're going to start contacting recruiters directly. We've been working on this several hours every week - more than just one weeknight per week - and I'm excited about the progress we're making now. Of course the only result that matters is getting a job offer that we'll accept, but if we can keep up this pace I'm optimistic about the next couple months.

When my wife and I started a blog a few months ago, I knew it would serve as a good way for us to express our thoughts and feelings about our upcoming move and as a first-hand historical source for us to look back to of all the things surrounding our move. I also expected that we'd get some feedback along the way. In another blog I have, sometimes random people would stop by and comment, and with the relatively-more-interesting topic of this blog, I was looking forward to the occasional anonymous visitor here, who would answer some of our questions, challenge some of our reasons, and offer support. So far, though, the only feedback has been from one of the few people we told about the blog. Anyway, I hope some people will run across this blog sometime soon and start commenting.

Damn it, now I'm the one that likes my job. I really wish I didn't like it so much. The people here are just the nicest, friendliest people I've ever worked with and my boss is so awesome. She's funny and understanding and tries to be your friend. I know she thinks very highly of me and would like for me to stay. She has offered me a chance to get into a much better paying position here if I'm interested. She keeps asking about our move and if we've decided or not. I never know what to say to her.

If only this job could be relocated to Seattle. I just know I'm going to miss the people here and her job offer makes it even harder to make myself move. I know we have to, but I just wish I didn't have this heartache and I just wish we could have moved earlier this past summer, when we were initially thinking about moving.

Well, I have my first phone interview today with a company called Sharebuilder. It's not for a specific position available right at this moment, but they may have openings in a few months. I don't know what to expect really. It'll be good practice.

I'm also going to send my resume to this one company I found that is very similar to where I work now. I'm hoping to get in the operations area of any type of financial firm. I like working with new accounts and IRAs.

There one other company I've been trying to contact, but haven't have much luck so far. As it gets closer and closer I'm just going to have to start applying to anything I find. At some point I will get desperate enough to accept almost any financial-oriented job, as long as the hours aren't ridiculous. I wouldn't be happy working more than 45 hours a week. The main goal is to get up there, and so far we aren't doing that good of a job. I'm having more luck than Troy, but it still isn't much better.

We've changed out the old, canned look of this blog for a look that we feel better reflects our mental image of the Northwest and some of the things we're looking forward to seeing when we move there. The pictures show various facets of the Northwest, including the natural beauty, and the cities of Seattle and Portland. Anyway, we may make more changes later, but for now we should probably focus on how we're going to get up there.