NeilGunton

Thanks! My wife got a job offer here, and we've thought for a while that the place works well "on paper" in several ways, e.g. easy access to Portland, close to Eugene too, easy access to Oregon coast, temperate climate (ok lots of rain, but otherwise no extreme weather), no tsunamis, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no extreme cold, no extreme heat, no wildfires. Ok, we're going to see a really big earthquake at some point when the Cascadia Subduction Zone finally ruptures again, but I think we'll be in better shape here than we would have been in Eureka, which is right near the Mendocino Triple Junction (where the San Andreas meets up with the Mendocino Fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone - one of the most geologically active places in the country, and overdue for an 8+ earthquake). And there is the risk of occasional flooding from the river, but we're not in the flood plain as far as I know. And we have access to all the natural wonders of Oregon, and it's a very bike friendly city, and with the students (always pros and cons with them) we get a town that has a fair amount of culture and amenities. We can drive up to the major urban center easily (90 minutes to Portland on I5 for Chiho's Japanese grocery store). Finding an ok rental house has been hard, but just today we finalized our second attempt (first attempt we thought would be good, but there are, um, some issues with the landlady which I won't go into here). The new house is on Princess, just off Walnut. So there is that busy road very close by, but at least we're not right on it. And the house has some crucial aspects for our two cats: A sliding door in the back (so I can put in one of those patio door inserts with a cat flap to give them access to outside, which they need since they were both adopted as adult strays - they just go nuts if they can't go out) and the back yard, while small, also has ready-made holes in the fences so they can get out and explore (the rear has access to the greenway). So hopefully things are working out - they even gave us 1/2 off on the first two months full rent! Yay, it's been really expensive moving up here so we could use a break. And the server is on its way, so here's hoping things are finally turning around.

Oops, I'm probably writing way too much off-topic stuff here, sorry about that. A lot's been happening and you're getting a kind of brain dump, my apologies.

Neil