I just got back from Portland where I took Lullabot’s advanced drupal development course. Not only did the class take me to a wild new level of Drupalhood, but I was blown away by how great a city Portland is. It made me feel the intense masochism of the act of living in Philadelphia. Every detail was greeting me with unexpected good things, as opposed to Philly where every detail is just another slap in the face. Free fast wireless in their airport. Spotless trains coming every five minutes and asking you to pay on the honor system. I met more friendly people there in 5 days than in a year in Philly. It made me realize I’ve been living in Windows and cursing at computers in general, and then suddenly had that Mac moment where you realize all the anger is in vain.
I also had a great time catching up with my old friend Emily over beers, and meeting a lot of smart Drupal people and the Lullabots themselves. If I ever finish sorting through the mountain of email my clients sent me while I was gone, I will have a great time using my new Lullabot skills.
Also, I saw a real wild beaver swimming right next to a real submarine. In Philly all we have in the river is ‘Ride the Ducks’. I definitely need to move.
Comments
Anonymous on January 27, 2008 - 7:32am
I’ve also been to Portland for a visit and found it to be a nice place, except that it is always raining. So of course the people are friendly there. My theory is: the worse the location/weather is, the friendlier the people. The converse is also true. Population density also plays a role. The higher the density, the grumpier people get. So if a location or weather is nice, lots of people move there, making everyone grumpy. It’s hard to find a nice place with nice weather and frinedly people. You have to decide what is most important to you.
One of my blog posts covers this quality of life issue. Check out http://www.doingbizabroad.com/quality-of-life/