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jamiej1731
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Name: Jamie
Birthday: 12/2/1977
Gender: Male
Interests: God, my wife,Sports, Notre Dame, mentoring young men, my family, business
Expertise: nothing yet.
Occupation: Accounting/Finance
Industry: Business
Message: message meEmail: email me
AIM:  jamiej1731
Member Since:
10/9/2003
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| It has been a long time again since I have posted anything on this site. These past several weeks have gone by really fast. On July 29th, 2008 we welcomed our beautiful daughter, Kailee Michelle Jarman into the world. You can see pictures through my wife's company blog, www.kimberlyjarman.net. It has been so much fun experiencing our daughters first 7 weeks of life. She is so precious. I have been a lot more active on facebook lately. A good part of this is because facebook as an application for my phone, Blackberry curve, which allows me to easily update throughout the day. College football is now in its third week of games. Notre Dame is now 2-0, after beating San Diego St. and University of Michigan. ND played much better than the first 3/4 of last year in both of this year's games. However, in the game against San Diego St., though they moved the ball offensively, they still repeated shot themselves in the foot by having turnovers. However, their overall play was much more confident, agressive, and impressive than last year. Against Michigan, they showed that the offense will be decent and will likely imporve over the coarse of the season. Against a tough Michigan defense, they ran for almost 4 yards a carry and were able to pass at will, until the rain started pouring down. They also showed that they will not make a habit of committing turnovers, other than the QB still makes a handful of throws that he should not. Yet, his arm looks healthy and much better than last year. The wide receivers are all a bunch of studs and the O line has done a good job protecting the QB. The running game will look good against many of the remaining opponents, especially if they start limiting their delayed handoffs and just attack the defense. Notre Dame plays a much ligheter schedule than normal and in fact will not play a ranked team other than USC at the end of the season. I want to see them have a similar performance against MSU and Purdue, before I will feel good about this team. Yet, I am certain they have turned the corner. All the Weis haters out there should have been more vocal last year. After a good year this year, he will have some of the heat taken from him and will be here for several more years. I am pretty sure the Michigan players will have footballs duct taped to their hands for the coming week. Hopefully though, Michigan will fix their issues and will have a good big ten schedule, culminating with a win against Ohio State. It was wonderful seeing them get their tails handed to them against USC. Hopefully the voters will drop them in the polls to 15-20, so that even if they win out, they will not have another, unwarranted, chance to play in the national championship game. | | |
| It has been a long time since I have been on my xanga account. I have been getting emails daily from xanga that gives everyone's updates to me.
It has been a busy last few months. I finished my busy season at work. The company took everyone and their spouses to Las Vegas for the weekend after the tax deadline. We watched the beatles Love show and had a great time.
At the end of May, I had all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed. About 5 days later, I got into a car accident and totalled my mustang. I am now driving a 2006 Nizzan Altima 2.5 S Special edition. It has a moonroof, has 4 doors, and gets much better mileage than the mustang. It should work out good for our growing family.
I have been very fortunate to be able to go to every doctor's appointment that Kim has had during this pregnancy. Everything has gone really well. Kailee's due date is tomorrow, July 26th. Last monday, after coming home from our doctor's appointment, as we were going into the garage, Kim slipped on a rain puddle and fell onto her knees, then to her hands. her Stomach hit the ground, I helped her up, but she was hurting pretty bad. She I got her back into the car and we went to the hospital. We spent the next 6 hours or so there, getting tests ran and having Kim and Kailee monitored. It ended up that Kailee was fine, the insides were all fine, but Kim had pulled a muscle in her pelvic area. Since then, Kim has healed up pretty good.
We had our last doctor's appointment yesterday. Kim is only dilated to around a 2. So, there is still sometime to go before her body is ready. However, the doctor scheduled with the hospital for her to be induced Wednesday July 30th at 9pm, if she has not gone into labor yet.
We are praying that she would go into labor this weekend. Either way, I am getting very excited to meet my daughter. What an adventure God is about to embark us on. I am feeling for my wife and everything she is about to go through. I hope that she can enjoy the experience as much as is possible. | | |
| It has been a while. I am in my 3rd week of my new job! Things are going good. They have definitely loaded me up with work. I am starting an audit tomorrow. I was told yesterday by my manager that I was #1, of around 50 people, in billable hours last week. So, I am working hard and making a good impression.
Kim is now 19 weeks along in her pregnancy. 2 weeks ago we got to go to the doctors again. The baby is doing good and is very healthy. We were able to tell the baby's gender as well. We could see her yawning and kicking in the ultrasound. It was amazing. Yes, I did just refer to the baby as a her! The doctor told us that we are having a girl!
Is it too early to already begin saving to pay for a wedding?
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| In our small group, we are going through the book James. Last Monday, we finished the first chapter. In it, James talks about us considering it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, because the testing of your faith develops perserverence. It goes on to say that perseverance must finish its work so that we may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. A little further down it says that blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. Then it says that every good and perfect gift is from above and then says that we should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.
Last Thursday, 2/07/08, at about 4:30 PM, one of the 4 partners at my firm buzzed my office phone and asked if I would join him in the small conference room. When I walked in, our human resources lady was in there and the partner proceeded to shut the door. After sitting down, he went on to tell me that they have decided to let me go. He waited for me to let this sink in, while I was waiting for him to tell me the real reason he brought me in. He went on to say that the know that I don''t really want to be doing Audit type work and that they agreed to move me into doing all tax work; that they know longer believe they want to employee people that do not want to do both and that they decided it would be best if our working relationship ended, effective immediately following the meeting. I took my time in responding, actually sensing that God was there, and the 1st chapter of James scrolling through my mind. I asked him if there was something I did to bring this about and he said that no, things were fine, its just that since I only do tax work and not audit, they would not like to have me there. I then thanked him for allowing me to work and learn during my time there and went back to my office to clean out my belongings. I did not even get to talk with co-workers to say bye. I did however stop in at my manager/ mentor's office. He told me that the partners came to this decision without his knowledge and he was told that it was in fact taking place. He told me he would gladly be a reference as to my work ethic, technical skills, and character. On my drive home, the partner sent out an email to the firm saying that effective the end of the day, I was no longer a member of the firm. Co-workers began calling to ask what happened. Other than the partners, no one had seen this coming. I had been given good reviews, quality raises, got along great with everyone, and treated our clients with respect. The firm is now experiencing shattered morale, as everyone is thinking about if this could happen to them.
It is pretty much unheard of to be fired at this time of the year in our profession. As a result, I am a red flag to most potential employers. I began making calls to firms about open positions the following day. I began talking to people that would be references for me. I was able to send my resume to several place and secured a few interviews, with others still in the works. All the while, we began praying that God would use the circumstances to deepen our faith in him. I did have pure joy, from the moment I walked into the small conference room. I also went to meet some co-workers for a wine tasting party, that we had planned a couple of weeks prior. They were all glad that I came and were real supportive of me. None of them could figure out what happened and were very anger about the decision.
This week, I had interviews with a firm in Phoenix, Price Kong and Co. They are a well respected firm and about 16 miles from mile house, not that bad of a drive. The last place was 11 miles away. The interview went great, I met with the HR guy, one of the tax managers, the audit manager, and briefly the audit partner. What I began to notice, was they were very interested in me and were going out of their way to sell me on the firm. At the same time, they were really trying to make sense of the decision the prior firm made in firing me. They went on to share that something like this would never happen at their place. The managers agreed that there is no way that a decision would be made like this without their partners discussing it with the managers. He said that the managers would then simply not allow a good employee to be treated this way. It was evident that they really believed in me and that we all clicked. When it was over, they wanted me to provide them with a list of references they could contact regarding me and specifically my tax manager and some co-workers from the last place. After they did their due diligence, they contacted me saying that, based on meeting with me and discussing it with my references, it is very evident that what the partners did was wrong. They believe what happened was they decided they wanted to cut some costs and that they were not as busy as they had anticipated. They believe that the partners decided to hire several new employees with much less experience then me, with smaller salaries, and then would choose to get rid of me. It just happened to become complete in February. So, they totally understood what happened, without me bad mouthing the prior firm. In fact, I got along great with everyone, including the partners. Their decision was a complete shock to me and the rest of the firm. In fact, co-workers have told me that they are seriously thinking about leaving after the busy season, because they no longer want to work for partners that would do something like this.
Price Kong expressed that they are extremely sorry that people in our industry would do something like this. They stated that they don't have a problem getting work or new clients, they just need to find more qualified employees to be able to gain more clients. They committed to me that they will do everything to help me have a successful career and that they really want me as a part of the PK family. With my background in auditing, they really wanted me to come on board, and want me to be someone who can bridge the gap between a tax professional who does not understand the Auditing process and the Audit professional who does not understand the tax compliance process. Also, while they have a big need for my level of experience in the tax department, they have a big need on the audit side, temporarily. One of their main auditors just went on medical leave for the next 6 weeks. They do not wish to hire someone to take the place and then be an extra when the person comes back. But they need his job to be covered. So, they felt, with my audit experience and their guidance, I could immediately jump in and potentially be a hero to the firm and help meet this need. I would also do the tax work for the audits I am on. Then in 6 weeks, they would move me to the tax side. They wanted me to know that the audit work would be temporary but would greatly help them out and they would be committed to me growing in the firm through the tax side. When they called me with their offer, it was for a good deal more than my base pay at the last place! The insurance kicks in in 30 days, our doctors are covered! So basically, I am being moved to a place were I can better help out my firm, can grow my skills and career, get an increased income, and have people that seem to really believe in me.
I will start this new job on Monday. We had been praying that God would make this happen during this first week being unemployed, that it would be a good firm that believed in me, would not be much more of a commute, and that my income would increase. God did all of that and then some! | | |
| We have been thinking about it for a couple of months now as our 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee keeps going into the shop for different repairs. Our first thought was to buy a used vehicle, like we have always done. However, we decided to see what the prices were on a new Grand Cherokee and on the slightly bigger Commander. We also wanted to see if there were better warranties on new vehicles compared to used ones. We were able to get a bigger reduction in the sticker price, a good good offer for our Grand Cherokee, an amazing warranty (upgrade from what they normally come with), put some down and ended up buying a 2008 Jeep Commander. It will be mostly driven by Kim and most of the time for work purposes. Also, a new SUV is a much better tax deduction for a business. Since it will be a company asset, it made since to buy new instead of used this time. Also the upgraded warranty covers parts and labor on everything (except wipers, hoses, brakes and rotors, and tires) for failur due to defects and from wear and tear for the life of the vehicle, as long as we are still the owners. Additionally, it pays for all of the scheduled maintenance and oil and filter changes for the first three years. It will also provide a free rental anytime we put the vehicle in for service. So, we should be able to drive it until it dies! As for my vehicle, 1999 Mustang, it is holding up nicely. It is almost completely paid off. I am torn because I love it, but also know that it will be incredibly inconvenient when we have the baby. So, we are thinking of selling it and buying a used vehicle that has four doors, gets decent gas mileage and will not require us to make any payments. | | |
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