The most recent picture that I have of us, with Mt. Shuksan is in the background
Kirk actually graduated from Golden High School, but he took his pictures for our yearbook before he left, bought a yearbook, and was there for signing day. So since we both attended Sky View, I thought I’d post for both of us.
As for me, I always thought that we would end up with at least two kids and I would be a stay at home mom. Boy was I wrong! Our kids are fuzzy… Prancing “Freya” Aphrodite is our 8 year old Shetland sheepdog and “Cleopatra” is our 16 year old cat. We love them dearly. Unfortunately I have recently learned that I’m allergic to cats so Cleopatra will be our last. :-(
After graduating, I met a guy who later went on a mission and then while writing to him I realized that we had almost nothing in common. Kirk and I started going out as friends, which soon turned into more than friends. I moved with his family to California, which I’m told everyone was against, and then two months later Kirk went on his mission to Dallas, TX. I continued to stay at the Williams house and Kirk was sent home about 5-6 months later due to some medical issues. Meanwhile I had hurt my neck in an “on the job” injury and so both of us were injured and unemployed when we married a few months later.
When Kirk’s parent moved to Washington, naturally we followed. (California was way too expensive for two unemployed young people.) We both found jobs soon after we arrived in Bellingham, WA and found our own place. We bought our first house in 1992 and have been there since.
We both started our careers in retail sales selling various things like men's clothing, furniture, appliances, computers, cell phones, sewing machines, and hot tubs. I even took a brief stint as a loan officer for a mortgage broker. I think the only thing I haven’t sold is a vehicle! And NO mine is not for sale! Kirk did sell vehicles for a couple months until the first gulf war killed the business.
Kirk’s real specialty is computers. He started out selling them, and then became an expert in building them. Unfortunately, he has had medical issues and has had to quit having a formal job. It was pretty rough for a while. Some of you are aware that he has had some pretty nasty migraines since he was 8. He was diagnosed with atypical chronic cluster headache our senior year. When we moved to Bellingham, he had a pretty long remission from them. But in June of 93, they came roaring back and stuck around for a year and a half. He had a month and a half remission and then they came back again. During the year and a half, family pretty much dragged him kicking and screaming into applying for Social Security Disability (SSD). His last remission ended about 5 and a half years ago now and frankly I do not know how he deals with so much pain. He would say, “What choice do I have?”
In ‘96, during a remission I believe, Kirk had an idea for a marketing medium for the Internet and we began to build web pages. I picked up a book to learn HTML and that was pretty simple. I hadn’t done any real computer programming since High School so we hired a local company to add the code necessary to complete the database integration work. The company did not deliver the solution as it was specified, so I bought a couple books, learned ASP and T-SQL and we launched the website about 6 months later. The website didn’t really turn out the way we thought it would but it was a good show piece and allowed me to make a full career change.
After the site launched, we were seriously running out of money and up to our eye balls in debt so I went looking for a job. I landed a contract job at Microsoft and worked in a couple different projects. I moved on to free-lancing for a small web design firm and landed a couple other projects big and small.
After completing a three year project, I couldn’t bear the thought of having to look for another project. I joined the staff of a local grocery store chain here in Bellingham, WA. Starting as a .Net developer, I was promoted to Project Manager within four months. Recently I was promoted to Project Management Office (PMO) Director. All developers now report to me. It’s a small team of 2 on-site and 5 off-shore people.
Additionally, I have just been asked and have accepted the appointment of VP Communications for the local PMI (Project Management Institute) chapter. There is a lot of experience behind the local chapter and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to continue to learn from the people involved in the PMI community.
Kirk has continued to have medical problems and is now a house husband. He continues to build all the computers for our small business and helps friends with their computers. At one time we had eight computers in the house with all the different setups that I needed for testing the applications I would build.
Kirk has also been writing a fantasy novel on and off over the years and has 14 chapters for his first book. Those who have had the privileged to read it, REALLY wants him to finish the book because we really want to know what happens next, me included!
I think that probably the important things in our lives are each other. We have been there for each other in good times and bad. I never would have made the career change nor could I have come as far in my new career without Kirk’s urging me and telling me that “You can do it!” even though I thought that I couldn’t possibly.
As for me, I always thought that we would end up with at least two kids and I would be a stay at home mom. Boy was I wrong! Our kids are fuzzy… Prancing “Freya” Aphrodite is our 8 year old Shetland sheepdog and “Cleopatra” is our 16 year old cat. We love them dearly. Unfortunately I have recently learned that I’m allergic to cats so Cleopatra will be our last. :-(
After graduating, I met a guy who later went on a mission and then while writing to him I realized that we had almost nothing in common. Kirk and I started going out as friends, which soon turned into more than friends. I moved with his family to California, which I’m told everyone was against, and then two months later Kirk went on his mission to Dallas, TX. I continued to stay at the Williams house and Kirk was sent home about 5-6 months later due to some medical issues. Meanwhile I had hurt my neck in an “on the job” injury and so both of us were injured and unemployed when we married a few months later.
When Kirk’s parent moved to Washington, naturally we followed. (California was way too expensive for two unemployed young people.) We both found jobs soon after we arrived in Bellingham, WA and found our own place. We bought our first house in 1992 and have been there since.
We both started our careers in retail sales selling various things like men's clothing, furniture, appliances, computers, cell phones, sewing machines, and hot tubs. I even took a brief stint as a loan officer for a mortgage broker. I think the only thing I haven’t sold is a vehicle! And NO mine is not for sale! Kirk did sell vehicles for a couple months until the first gulf war killed the business.
Kirk’s real specialty is computers. He started out selling them, and then became an expert in building them. Unfortunately, he has had medical issues and has had to quit having a formal job. It was pretty rough for a while. Some of you are aware that he has had some pretty nasty migraines since he was 8. He was diagnosed with atypical chronic cluster headache our senior year. When we moved to Bellingham, he had a pretty long remission from them. But in June of 93, they came roaring back and stuck around for a year and a half. He had a month and a half remission and then they came back again. During the year and a half, family pretty much dragged him kicking and screaming into applying for Social Security Disability (SSD). His last remission ended about 5 and a half years ago now and frankly I do not know how he deals with so much pain. He would say, “What choice do I have?”
In ‘96, during a remission I believe, Kirk had an idea for a marketing medium for the Internet and we began to build web pages. I picked up a book to learn HTML and that was pretty simple. I hadn’t done any real computer programming since High School so we hired a local company to add the code necessary to complete the database integration work. The company did not deliver the solution as it was specified, so I bought a couple books, learned ASP and T-SQL and we launched the website about 6 months later. The website didn’t really turn out the way we thought it would but it was a good show piece and allowed me to make a full career change.
After the site launched, we were seriously running out of money and up to our eye balls in debt so I went looking for a job. I landed a contract job at Microsoft and worked in a couple different projects. I moved on to free-lancing for a small web design firm and landed a couple other projects big and small.
After completing a three year project, I couldn’t bear the thought of having to look for another project. I joined the staff of a local grocery store chain here in Bellingham, WA. Starting as a .Net developer, I was promoted to Project Manager within four months. Recently I was promoted to Project Management Office (PMO) Director. All developers now report to me. It’s a small team of 2 on-site and 5 off-shore people.
Additionally, I have just been asked and have accepted the appointment of VP Communications for the local PMI (Project Management Institute) chapter. There is a lot of experience behind the local chapter and I feel very privileged to have the opportunity to continue to learn from the people involved in the PMI community.
Kirk has continued to have medical problems and is now a house husband. He continues to build all the computers for our small business and helps friends with their computers. At one time we had eight computers in the house with all the different setups that I needed for testing the applications I would build.
Kirk has also been writing a fantasy novel on and off over the years and has 14 chapters for his first book. Those who have had the privileged to read it, REALLY wants him to finish the book because we really want to know what happens next, me included!
I think that probably the important things in our lives are each other. We have been there for each other in good times and bad. I never would have made the career change nor could I have come as far in my new career without Kirk’s urging me and telling me that “You can do it!” even though I thought that I couldn’t possibly.
Cleopatra and Freya cuddling in Kirk's lap
