About a year and a half ago, Felicity and I left the Silicon Forest and moved to the Silicon Valley so I could take a job at Yahoo!. In a little over a month, we’ll trade Valley for Forest and return once more to drizzly Portland.
It’s strange: until Portland, I had never lived in one place long enough to think of it as home. I grew up in a military family, moving every few years, from Texas to Illinois to New Mexico to Japan to Texas again and, finally, to Oregon. When I decided to move to California I knew I would miss Portland, but I thought I’d get over it. I was wrong. Once you’ve lived in Portland you belong to it; you can leave, but only physically.
Silicon Valley, by contrast, is not the kind of place I can imagine ever calling home. People don’t so much live in the Valley as exist in it. Apart from the nearby oasis of San Francisco, there’s nothing particularly special about this place. Half a century ago, fate decided this would be the site of a world-changing technological revolution, and so a gravity well was formed that attracted innovation, which attracted money, which attracted more innovation, and so on. The result is a place people go to not because they want to be there, but because they need to be there.
Thankfully, I don’t need to be here anymore. I’m lucky to work for a company that actually cares about my happiness and is progressive enough that they’re willing to let me work remotely if that’s what will make me happy. I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome that is.
Portland, here we come!
Comments
AHEM
It’s as he says, Portland’s like a vast whirlpool from which you will never escape. It rains constantly, and you can’t pump your own gas, and there’s income tax…really, if you’ve never been there, stay away! Save yourselves!
What? I have to compete with the hipster influx for jobs already, I don’t want you starting any new migrations.
Don't forget...
Don’t forget Seasonal Affective Disorder- the “Black Lung” of the Pacific Northwest. And the giant mutant slugs that feed on ironic t-shirts and black plastic glasses-frames. Hipsters, beware…
Now you know how I feel...
I know a lot of people who have, shall we say, ‘ambivalent’ feelings toward my current employer, but this is one thing they got right. When asked six or seven years ago whether I would move to California, I said I’d consider my options if that was a requirement. No one ever mentioned it again.
don't forget...
don’t forget to leave the keys to that wonderful car of yours in my mailbox before you leave the state. thanks, mookie.
cuddle bear!
This will make vists to the US much easier to coordinate, thank you kindly!
who...
… is now going to say awesome during our coffee breaks?
true dat
In t contemplating an as-yet-hypothetical movie to the Central Wash. town of rhymes with “scratchy”, I realized I still think of Portland as the place to which my heart assumes I will return. Sorry, heart. That play was right.
word
I hear you bud. home is home. :) I’m glad you’re happy moving back. And I’m glad you’re sticking it out here. Pleasure working with you here (physically).
Ah, Portland
I’ve visited so many times, and yet, never been at a point where I could pick up and leave the Valley behind. Congrats to you and Felicity on returning “home”! It’s really awesome Y!’s making such a move possible. Are you going to have to come down to SV every now and again, or will this be a 100% deal?
Re: Ah, Portland
I’ll fly down to the Valley for facetime every six weeks or so. I love the Yahoo! campus(es) and culture, so getting to experience it for a week at a time every so often without having to actually live here will be just about perfect.
Santana Row
There is so much to do in San Jose alone, let alone the whole bay area. Ever been to Santana Row?
You are always an hour away from the beach, or a large state park.
You get fired from Yahoo?
Fired? LOL
Ryan is a superstar, Yahoo does not want to lose him.
You know, since moving here in June, it has not rained once. It has not even looked like it’s thought about raining (I don’t count overcast conditions). Also – and this might sound really weird – one thing I have definitely noticed is the lack of…..Squirrels. I have not seen a single squirrel. I saw them all the time in Portland.
Also, I think this was after you left, we had a raccoon living in a tree right outside Peter’s window at the big K. None of that here, although I thought the mountain lion sighting/email that came out yesterday for the Sunnyvale campus was sweet! Yahoo should set traps, spray paint him purple and shave the Yahoo! logo on his side. Think of the advertising mileage they could get out of that guy.
I concur with your sentiments about living here – or rather existing here.
Congratulations on your move.
re: squirrels
I spent a long weekend at home in Oregon recently and I was astonished at the number of squirrels. My friends tell me it was particularly squirrelly, due to prime acorn season and prime oak tree real estate, but it was really shocking. Made me realize why my French exchange student kept on marveling at the numbers of the little dudes.
Congrats
Your news has given me some encouragement as I’ve had similar thoughts about leaving the Valley. I just can’t get past seeing it as a temporary residence.
Will you make a new video documenting your exciting telecommute?
Re: Congrats
Yes. That’s a brilliant idea.
Crazy
You guys are crazy, the Bay Area is the best place to live
I exist
Good luck on your move! While you both live life to it’s fullest in beautiful Portland, I shall simply exist in Silicon Valley.