paulsam

My life has undergone some big changes in the last couple of years, and I am embracing these new challenges with enthusiasm. After a major life move recently to Portland, OR, I am now in graduate school at PSU, studying for a Master's in Adult Education and Sustainability. I also recently finished certification as an ESL Instructor. I'm a USCG Licensed Skipper and freelance sailing instructor at several locations from Seattle to Portland. For most of the last eighteen years, I had my own consulting business providing energy efficiency evaluations of low-income housing. My travels took me from Nome, AK to Calexico, CA, and east to nearly KS. It was a rewarding, interesting livelihood, and I loved the many small communities I visited and landscapes I was able to enjoy. I am proud of the education I provided to those many people, the resources I helped conserve, and the properties I helped improve. This career gave me a chance to be home much of the time and watch my children grow up . . . that was a gift. However, the Federal Government decided that energy efficiency reviews were no longer a priority, no longer a requirement, and my livelihood was gone with a stroke of the pen. Now, I'm in do-over mode . . . yippee! I have two wonderful children, of whom I'm extremely proud. My daughter, 21, and my son, 17. They are smart, funny and fine people . . . I feel privileged to know them.