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| A vision unfolds... |  |
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In January 2003 it was just Jim -- sitting in his old desk, tasked with the challenge of opening a regional BASES office in Germany. What a difference a year makes. Today, they have furniture, a coffee machine, 9 employees (and are still hiring), and clients calling us expressing an interest in what we do. The journey has not been without its bumps and bruises, but is has been immensely satisfying despite the extra efforts needed to get things off the ground. 2004 will be a year to soldify the foundation of the business so that they can expand without the growing pains (or Kinderkrankheiten auf Deutsch) of rapid expansion. On a pesonal note, Jim would say the job has been extremely demanding, but probably the most satisfying experience he has ever had. Kirsten has been wonderful with her patience and support, and as the experience of the Hamburg BASES employees grows, things should (hopefully) stabilize a little bit more. Jim is lucky to be a part of a company that is having such great success and already looks forward to spending a long time at BASES in the years to come.
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Kirsten Became a Webmaster |
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Kirsten managed to get even busier in 2003 than she had been in 2002. Her biggest responsibilities were to the American Women's Club, where she took over as webmaster for the AWCH website, did the layout and design for the 100-page American Women's Club publication Bloom Where You're Planted and its companion 128-page cookbook, and was the layout editor for two issues of the monthly magazine Currents. She also got press accreditation for the Berlin Film Festival using Currents and fellow Hamburg English language tourist publication Top Info as her publications, attended the 10-day festival, and (together with fellow AWCH attendee Mary Wienke) published a 20-page review magazine about the experience (to see excerpts, click here). To read her film reviews from 2003, click here. Kirsten continues to be active in the Hamburg Toastmasters club, where she achieved CTM (Competent Toastmaster) status in late 2002 and CL (Competent Leader) status in mid-2003. She also competed in a speech contest in Spring 2003 and got second place in both the club and area (northern Germany) contests. Finally, Kirsten continued to work toward a Certificate in Graphic and Web Design at the online school Sessions.edu, finishing classes in Dreamweaver, Information Design, and Web Design in 2003 (to see her final Web Design I project -- a full business website -- click here). She has also started work on her first "real world" website, a site for Dad Greco's California Waste Associates business. |
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