I’m a transplant from the LA area. There, I said it. But I moved here not because of a job, but rather I got a job so I could move here. One of the things about Portland that amazes me on a regular basis is just how small this town is and how connected we all are.
I’ve been working downtown for almost 8 years now and I bump into people I know all the time. A couple of weeks ago I went to lunch with a buddy of mine and we bumped into some old coworkers from a previous employer. We weren’t talking on the sidewalk for more than 5 minutes when another fellow walked up that knew everyone else but me! Next thing you know, everyone is catching up and reminiscing about old times.
I like to promote local business as much as I can, and at the very least, I try to always work with local representatives. As such, I often run into people that used to work for so-and-so and now work with so-and-so.
One particularly funny incident came up when we realized that a new vendor we were meeting was someone we actually had a bad experience with when they worked for a different vendor a few years earlier. Only we we all met face to face did it dawn on us! We thought “oh no, it’s that crazy vendor!” and he thought “oh no, it’s those crazy customers!” We worked everything out in the end, but it just goes to show that you just never know who you’re going to run into.
The thing is, this isn’t an occasional thing… it happens all the time to me.
And recently, Twitter has become the way folks in Portland are staying connected. For example, did you know that the Portland Police is on Twitter? Further, the officer that posts is one of the funniest and most informative folks I’ve read on twitter. I’ve never felt such a personal connection to the Police before. It sounds corny, but I’m glad that the Portland Police Bureau is savvy enough to use this new medium to stay connected with us.
Of course, there are many awesome Portland Blogs that help us stay in touch with each other.
The moral of working and living in Portland is clearly “Don’t burn your bridges!” Post a comment and let me know other ways Portland stays connected.
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Just last weekend while attending BarCamp, I ran into someone that I had worked with several years ago, but had not seen in 2-3 years!
Here is just another example from Sarah Gilbert this week:
’so yesterday, at the playground, a woman said, “you’re sarah gilbert!” “yes” (thinking she knew me from my blog). nope. she’s my 2nd cousin.’
http://twitter.com/sarahgilbert/statuses/806550013
I’m always amazed at just how small Portland seems. I run into people from past lives in my neighborhood, downtown near work, at local tech events, and other random places.
After reading the tweets from the PortlandPolice, I think it is a hoax.
I don’t know if Portland Police on Twitter is a hoax, but I asked a question and got a sensible answer.
This post nails Portland - big yet small. I moved here about the same time Rick T. did, from Colorado. I learned early on that burning one’s bridges professionally was a quick path to not working.