The First Blog

It’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile—to start Jim and Katie’s blog. We’re always on the go and busy working, so we want our family, especially those that are far away, to have a way to see what we are up to.
Currently, we live in Orlando very close to downtown (we can see the skyline from our street) and work in downtown too. I’ve been working at Parsons Brinckerhoff (www.pbworld.com) for just over 4 years now (where did the time go?) and have grown as an engineer and as a project manager. I started managing projects from day one when they gave me a water conservation project to handle. It was funny because there was no PB labor just subcontractors. And the subcontractor was none other than my old employer from college (different office location though). I was fortunate to manage projects from the get go because other firms make their junior engineers wait years before giving them work to manage. I recently wrapped up the Orange County Population and Flow (i.e. water and wastewater) Projections project. Now I’m working on proposals for Orange County’s Water Conservation Master Plan (which we hope to be not only the best in the state, but nationally recognized) and a revised Population and Flow Projections. Five years ago we projected that growth in Central Florida would be off the charts, and as we all know now the housing market made an about face and the growth nearly halted. It’s good for utilities because they have more time to plan for infrastructure upgrades at water and wastewater plants, but a little bad for us because the projects get delayed. I also teach Spinning classes at our gym (www.metro247fitness.com) on Mondays at 12:15pm and Tuesdays at 6am. I love it!!! It’s so different than my engineering job plus I get to stay in shape. I really enjoy my “regulars” that come to my classes every week. It’s loud, sweaty, in a room filled with black lights and bicycles—you couldn’t be more different than my fluorescent light cubicle.
Jim has had a few jobs over the same four years I’ve been with PB. He finished law school and passed the bar in 2006. From there it was off to the Orange County Public Defender’s office. Not the work Jim really wanted, but he loved working with the defendants and listening to their stories. Like the woman who was accused of stealing Robitussin at the Wal-Mart. She had sick kids at home and couldn’t afford it—desperate times call for desperate measures. Jim stayed on for a few months at the PD’s office, but never really got along with upper management, so he switched sides and went to the State Attorney’s office. What a difference! The caseload was much bigger and Jim was in the courtroom nearly every day and completed a few dozen jury trials. I was able to see him in one trial questioning a witness. Let me tell you that trials you see on TV are not like the ones in real life. I was the only person in the “audience,” and it wasn’t nearly as glamorous. Jim did very well at the State’s office, but with pay cuts and no upward mobility, it was time to move on. Jim was hired by the Ticket Clinic (www.theticketclinic.com/) and started January 2009. A great job with better benefits and upward mobility. Jim works with all sorts of traffic cases—moving violations, license violations, DUIs, etc.
So that’s our work where we spend a lot of our time, but what do we do for fun? As I alluded to earlier, we love to go to the gym. Weights, spinning, yoga, we like it all. We especially like to get our bikes out and ride the Cady Way Trail here in Central Florida. The trail starts so close to our house that we don’t have to take a car to get there (crossing SR 50 and going around Fashion Square Mall has its challenges, but it’s worth it). We can bike into Seminole County north of here. The nice thing about Florida is that it’s generally flat, which makes biking a little easier. We very much enjoy being social and seeing our friends on the weekend. It seems like someone is always throwing a party or going out. The lawyer crowd usually meets for happy hour somewhere downtown on Friday after work. Great for Jim to discuss all things law, a little boring for me. Jim knows that when my eyes start to glaze over because I lost count of how many times I heard the word “adjudication”, that it’s time to change the subject—how ‘bout the Magic?
We also love to spend time at home with our lovely and well-behaved [sic] dogs. Mr. Goofy and Josie are our little misfits. We adopted them through Florida Boxer Rescue (www.flbr.org) and couldn’t be happier. Such personalities they have! Mr. Goofy is “the dude” (not because the rug really brought the room together) but because he eats, he sleeps, and does nothing. Josie is “the diva” because she is a me-me-me type of girl. She pushes her way past everyone to get noticed and is in your face all the time. She just wants lovin’. She has a lot of energy for a four year old dog!
We live in a house in a wonderful neighborhood (or gay-borhood as we like to call it). We have amazing neighbors that watch our house while we are away and help us out when we need it. If you know anything about us, then you know we bought our house at just about the worst time to buy a house. (Hindsight is always 20/20.) What are we to do? The house values have dropped so much, but we’re stuck with a ridiculous mortgage. You live, you learn, and you keep making those payments J It is a wonderful home with a large open living area, fenced in backyard, and a beautiful oak tree out front (I had to fight the City not to take it down!).
I hope to update the blog weekly with goings-on. Next week we’ll be in Vegas so I’ll post some pics and let y’all know what that was like.