Early next year (Feb / March) my wife and I plan to be moving to northern section of I-5 - something between Salem, OR and Everett, WA. We have yet to determine exactly where, but we've visited a few times and greatly want to live there, even if for just a short time.

So! On to my questions.

• It's time to buy new tires and I thought I'd see if there were any tire concerns for the northwest that I should take into account before I replaced my rubber?
• If 'winter' tires are strongly suggested, is it also suggested to have a set of summer tires (and rims)?
• Is a hardtop especially recommended, or is it just nice to have?
• Do cars need to be garaged? What about just a carport?

Non car questions ...

• My wife is an occupational therapist and I am a systems administrator - any suggestions? (:
• We like Vancouver and Olympia - any suggestions for a town?

We look forward to going on drives with you all - I've already been looking at maps and I'm pretty excited (:

 

Welcome to the PacNW.

It's a big stretch between Eugene and Everett!

On the wheel/tire thing... IMO if the S is your daily - I'd have a summer set and an all season or winter set.

HT - if you park your car outside - I'd recommend a HT in the Seattle area.

If not - no need. I wouldn't park my S2000 in just a carport.

I had a friend who was an OT @ Swedish. She liked it there. Sys Admin? I have no idea.

Need more information on what kind of stuff you like before we can recommend a town...

Nightlife? Culture? Alternative lifestyles j/k

And yes - we've got some nice roads around here.

 

It's all good, unless you are one of those artsy jazz musician types. Those guys are enough to put anyone on edge.

 

Hey, my mom is an OT. Cool.

 

Yes, Eugene to Everett is quite a spread (: But we're giving ourselves plenty of options to get "in the region". Really Vancouver and Olympia are tops on our list right now. They're big enough to have the creature comforts we're looking for and small enough to keep from feeling lost in the crowd. They're also close enough to Portland and Seattle to get the big city bonuses, like major airport, etc.

What do we like? Mostly classic outdoor stuff like cycling, hiking, camping, sailing. But plenty of big city stuff like museums, theater (stage more so than screen), concerts, pro sports, and of course driving our S on winding mountain roads

This feels like some kind of singles' advert ... "we enjoy candle light dinners and long walks on the beach", ha!

I think Swedish Medical Center was on my wife's list. But we figured we'd have trouble finding a place near enough by with a yard for our dogs. We have two medium-large dogs that need a good bit of yard to run around in, which poses a bit of a housing concern. While moving is the current goal, not destroying ourselves financially is always a goal (:

Thanks for the car advice - I think I'll buy new summer tires while I'm here and get a set of all season on a new set of rims after we move - save having to haul them all the way up there. And a hard top has been on the list, but I think it can wait until we're there as well. Looks like we definitely want a garage, though. That's one of the things I've missed from our previous house.

 

you do realize that those 2 cities, the couve and olympia are really far apart.

depending on your budget renton is a nice place to be. i grew up there and its being developed but its nice. its out of the way enough that you avoid soem traffic but close enough to get to things promptly.

also id look in issaquah (if you come this far north).

also were you ever on eugenestreetscene.com or what ever that website was???

 

Welcome to you both

 

move to vancouver, shop in portland. no state income tax in WA, no sales tax in OR. best of both worlds.

 

[QUOTE=mwy23,Nov 20 2007, 12:57 PM]move to Vancouver, shop in Portland.

 

The company I work for isn't seeking any System Administrators, however, we are in dire need of skilled network technicians. Requirements are along the lines of basic networking, firewall knowledge, stateful packet inspection, VPN technology, knowledge of popular networking ports and protocols, routing, nat, etc.. Half the work we do is over the web. The other half on the phone. Laid-back group here, with a wide range of skills.

We're in downtown Seattle. PM me, if you'd like to know more.