I've considered and rejected a bunch of college programs that I might get some use from, and don't seem worth the time and expense.  I can keep doing container work without one.  This one, though, is short and targeted enough that I could see it giving me useful knowledge and certification, and fitting into what I want to do: general contracting, basically the construction project manager.

PCC offers the 2-year degree.  I have about a year's worth of community college general studies under my belt, so I might be able to make this happen in a reasonable timeframe.

Not that you were using your analog-broadcast TV with rabbit ears right down to the wire, but chances are you or someone you know is getting rid of an old TV set about now.  Or maybe a big computer monitor. 

If you live in Oregon, you can do it for free.  The fishtank idea always seemed cool but I don't have any neat-looking console TVs.

From the beginning, I wanted to make my container home movable.  Besides the efficiencies of prefab and reuse, a livable railcar is totally my style.  Unfortunately, it isn't generally legal to live in anything with wheels inside the boundary of Portland.   Building code does have provisions for manufactured homes, though, including land that isn't a mobile home park.  The zone I'm building in qualifies.

So what are the rules specific to manufatured homes?  Pretty few, actually:

It's a combo commuter cup and vacuum bottle (Thermos).   I thought it would be neat if the little cap on a big insulated bottle was larger, and was useful on its own.  The solution: take the lid off a commuter mug, and screw the mug down in place of the cap of a bigger bottle.  I  bet some of them out there would actually fit unmodified.

Now I just wish they made them with glass on the inside instead of plastic.

The popularity of Nalgene bottles has risen and fallen on the sustainability wave.  Sure, reusable containers for water are cheaper and more responsible than buying bottled water.  Then people started realizing that the plastics come from fossil fuels (oops), and they contain polymers that might be toxic, like BPA.  OK, then people started buying metal bottles for their water.  Careful with that one: don't get aluminum.  Same problem as plastics, with high-impact extraction of the material, it's not renewable, and it may be toxic enough to contribute to alzheimer's.  Easy answer: use stainless steel.  If you don't know if your bottle is aluminum or steel, find out or get a new one.

Based on more analysis and brainstorming, I came to like the look and efficiency of a design by HyBrid Seattle, their c640h model.   Besides being attractive and livable, it would save a lot of time and solve the engineering challenges for us.  My contractor talked to them today and was encouraged by their willingness to work on it, without treating it like a complete prefab.  The idea would be for them to prep the containers and ship them to the site, and we'd be ready to drop them on a foundation with plans to finish the build.

We're sending them some more details on the site and goals, and we'll go from there.  The roof and upper story will be part of the discussion next.  It shouldn't be long before I have a cost estimate, now that we've removed a lot of the unknown factors.  I'm expecting to do some more permit research, but it looks like this will get us most of the way toward breaking ground.

At PSU, people are studying traffic patterns and the connected systems to find ways to develop better transporation infrastructure for our needs in the future.  The Intelligent Transportation Systems Laboratory collects data and performs analysis to discover options to improve the way we get around.

Portland's Metro regional oversight is looking for help deciding what mass transit corridors to develop over the next few decades.  The map is pretty daunting, but I'm planning to get my hands dirty and draw up what makes sense to me for this city.  I like our light rail system, and the new green line is part of the reason I'm considering building my first container home in Lents.

The container house project is now in my court.  I have to choose what every fixture and surface is made from.  Doing so is a lot of research and deciding, and even more complicated when you're goal is to be as green as reasonably practical.  I'm getting it narrowed down, and should have most of it picked out soon.

For the floors and possibly the countertops, I'm leaning towards concrete.  The bedroom might be reclaimed wood.  I have some crazy ideas for graywater use, so it will be a genuine experiment in those systems.   I still don't know what materials will form my highly-insulated walls, but my designers and contractor will help with that.