Sure meet up.

You have a job lined up? Where is it at? If you know where you are working it should have a significant impact on where you want to live. It's a good public transport city and biking is very viable. Living downtown and owning a car is a big hassle. Living too far from your work with out a car burns up a lot of transport time if you don't have a car. If you do have a car depending on the when and where of what you are up to where you live can be a big hassle.

I really think east side or north Portland are the better neighborhoods. The city is laid out in four quarters with which side of the river you are on determining if you are in the West (downtown) or East side. There is also a "fifth" quadrant which is called north Portland which is on the east side of the river but the river takes a little jog down below it so it's above the west part of the city.

The North/South divide is a street called Burnside. So when people talk about where they live they say NE, SE or North and it's really specific.

The street numbers increase from the river out.

Almost all the inner East side neighborhoods have some charm and things to do and places to shop and what not. My personal opinion is to not live further than 49th on the east side or in shallow North Portland.

I live in pretty deep into North Portland because it's where I could afford a house, it's not bad but I'd have preferred to live a little closer in.

So fill me in as to job and transportation and maybe I'll have a bit more to say.