Some Christmas Stories

Christmas is usually a time to gather with family and friends. It is rich in old traditions or starting new ones. A few of the employees at GBA shared what they did over Christmas break.

Lea Murray

In the Philippines we celebrate Christmas Season starting in September, we start decorating our tree and wrapping our Christmas gifts as early as September. However, the majority of the Filipinos here in the U.S.A. have a busy lifestyle so we celebrate it on December only, but we have parties almost every weekend. Yes we do like parties!! But we do not forget the reason of this season; it’s the birth of Jesus Christ. Nine days before Christmas we celebrate Simbang Gabi (Christmas Novena) and eat dinner after the mass. On Christmas Eve, each family prepare a dinner Feast, we call it Noche Buena, we open our Christmas presents at 12:00 a.m. and go to Church on Christmas day before we eat lunch.

I have two kinds of Christmas Trees at home; we have the American Christmas Tree and the Filipino Christmas Tree. The Filipino Christmas Tree is in the Kitchen since we always assemble in the kitchen whenever we have get-togethers.

Doug Carpenter

This was an extra special Christmas around the Carpenter household. Not only was it the first official Christmas of the Carpenter household (my wife and I just got married on November 21st of this year), but December 23rd also it marked the 10th birthday of our yorkie, Cappy. So on Christmas Day, my parents joined us at our house for a late breakfast and we unwrapped all of our presents. As you can see in the picture, Cappy couldn’t wait to put on his new stylish outfit and pose for the camera. Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas as well!

Adam Stodola
My mom came down from Nebraska to spend the first Christmas in the new house and there was the requisite amount of eating, drinking, and being Merry.  We took advantage of the warm weather by smoking a brisket on Christmas Eve and then taking it easy the rest of the weekend. Just how I like it…  laid back and stress free… unless of course you consider the beating I took in the card games. That was not stress free. 

All in all, it was a good Christmas… and I hope it was the same for everyone else.

Nathan Johnson
Christmas at the Johnsons was a blast!

We got the party started with baking and decorating cookies for Santa. After we recovered from the sprinkle induced coma, it was over the river and through the woods for dinner and presents at our Great-grandparents house, where we got to have all sorts of fun with our favorite cousins.

With great anticipation and just a couple tears we said goodbye to everyone and headed home where we finally got to sleep, anxious to see what Santa had in store for us.

Christmas morning just couldn’t get here soon enough.

Once it was finally time to open presents the wrapping paper couldn’t come off fast enough. We had so much fun opening all the fun toys and even the clothes, that we decided it would be a good time to head to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson’s for even more presents and a little brunch too.

Since there is no such thing as too much of a good thing, we loaded up and headed to Granny and Poppy Cano’s for a little dinner and just a few more presents.

After such an awesome day, the only way to top it off was cheering our Wildcats onto a big win and tournament championship in Hawaii. Only Daddy made it all the way through the game, but he said it was a great end to an even better weekend.

Happy Retirement, Anne!!

After 26 years with GBA Anne is moving on to the next stage in her life. The first morning of retirement will no doubt be difficult, not for Anne but for the rest of us still working. The chair where she sat each day and wrote many an article will be difficult to fill. She will be missed for many reasons but mostly because her laugh is infectious, her smile contagious, and her heart filled with kindness.

Although it will not be the same around here without Anne, we are very excited for her. It has truly been a privilege to work with Anne and we wish her the very best in retirement.

Sharing Thoughts on Engineering Careers in PE Magazine

In the December 2011 issue of PE magazine, a national publication produced by the National Society of Professional Engineers (NSPE), Anne Schroer was one of 19 Young Engineer Award winners asked questions regarding their thoughts on recruiting and retaining the next generation of engineers. Anne stated that she learned about the profession after taking career quizzes and that she was not aware of the possibility in high school.

The 19 engineers were asked questions on whether they felt engineers were born, made, or both. Anne said she felt engineers were both. “Engineers have a certain way of thinking… but they would probably never become engineers without being introduced to the profession.” And if Anne hadn’t been an engineer? She would have chosen finance!

We’re glad she decided to be an engineer.

Holidays Bring Cheer to Many through the Johnson County Christmas Bureau!

We’re pretty excited when it comes to the holidays and this year is no exception! The Monday after Thanksgiving found the office lit up like KC’s Country Club Plaza…well, maybe not quite like that, but sparkling nonetheless. Staffers decorated their various venues, and Harland Russell went all out with his own personal tree-lighting ceremony on the morning of December 6.

Thanks to our very generous GBA elves, gifts began to appear under Christmas trees in the lobbies as well. This year our gifts were earmarked for the Johnson County Christmas Bureau (JCCB), a non-profit, non-denominational agency created to provide the county’s low income families with everything from groceries and personal care items to clothes, books, and gifts for all ages. We delivered our gifts today!

While Johnson County has a reputation for affluence, the level of poverty has risen in these economic times and with it the number of families seeking assistance. The JCCB helps meet their needs with a Holiday Shop that serves more than 3,200 families, (more than 11,000 individuals) each year. Many are working families trying to make ends meet; more than 82 percent are women and children. And more than 600 nursing home residents are also served by the program. This year’s Holiday Shop is open through December 10, so if you act quickly you may still have time to donate!

If not now, however, then consider getting involved next year - you’ll feel the excitement too!

Happy holidays and best wishes for peace and prosperity in the New Year from all of us at GBA!

The Citizens of Olathe Are the Winners as City and GBA Are Recognized by ACEC Kansas with a ‘City Public Improvement Award’ for the South Cedar Creek Sewer Improvements



The ACEC Kansas “City Public Improvement Awards” recognize engineering projects for their benefit to the citizens of a community, so when this year’s award in the “50,000 and above” population category went to the City of Olathe and GBA for the South Cedar Creek Sewer Improvements, the citizens of Olathe were the real winners!

We'll be there, along with representatives from the City, when the awards are handed out at the Kansas Association of City/County Management’s Annual Conference in Topeka on December 1. The improvements provide sewer service to developing areas that will support the BNSF Railroad’s Intermodal Development in southwest Johnson County.

The new gravity sewer, forcemain, and a submersible pumping station are not only functional, but also sustainable and funded by a special sanitary sewer benefit district. The latter means that the citizens of Olathe will receive the long-term benefits of additional property tax income without incurring capital debt. Equally important is the environmentally sound method by which the project was planned, designed, and constructed.

The City and Johnson County have plans for a recreational trail along the stream that lies within the improvement corridor. As a result, special care was given to providing sustainable solutions, from alignment selection to reduce loss of large-diameter hardwood trees to minimizing the visual impact of the project along the stream corridor by alternating construction clearing limits on each side of the project centerline, and restoring the stream bank using bio-engineering techniques. Stream crossing locations were also carefully selected to minimize interceptor disruption by high velocities/scour.

The Lights Are Bright on Kansas City’s Broadway Bridge, Recognized by AIA Kansas City with a 2011 Design Excellence Award!

Mike Sinclair Photographer

We’re pleased that the Broadway Bridge over I-670 in downtown Kansas City has been recognized by AIA Kansas City with a 2011 Design Excellence Award in the Merit Awards category! This standout bridge replaces a deteriorating structure to provide better vehicular and pedestrian access between Kansas City’s ever changing Central Business District and a vibrant area to the south that includes the new Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts and the Crossroads Arts District.

The bridge supports the effort to encourage walkability in the City by providing wider sidewalks, ADA accessibility, and improved crosswalk signalization. But what really caught the AIA’s eye was the focus on the pedestrian experience. GBA, the engineer on the project, brought in el dorado inc. to focus on architectural and artistic enhancements to the bridge. The result? A pedestrian railing that employs a three-layered system of galvanized mesh that, combined with color and light, adds eye-catching appeal to this prominent public improvement! What’s more, portions of the pedestrian barrier contain two-inch thick yellow acrylic panels that buffer noise from the vehicles traveling below and create a visual experience that changes throughout the day!   Congratulations to all involved!

MoDOT Partners with UMKC to Provide Students, Including GBA’s Chris Farney, with Hands-On Experience! Ribbon Cutting Celebrates Partnership!

 In early 2010, MoDOT partnered with the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) to give engineering students an opportunity to receive hands-on experience while creating designs to improve traffic operations at intersections along Missouri Route 50. Chris Farney, an engineering intern who joined GBA’s Highways/Streets Group in May, was one of those students!

Chris, a Kansas City area native, earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from UMKC in 2010 and completed his M.S. degree, also in civil engineering, at UMKC this year. He also has a B.A. degree in psychology from the University of Kansas!

Chris Farney

According to Chris, the first semester involved a study with findings and recommendations presented to MoDOT. During the second semester, designs were completed and submitted for review. “It really helped prepare me for my work here at GBA,” Chris said. “MoDOT actually used some of our ideas and design work in the final design. It was really cool getting to see something that I helped design actually built!”

A ribbon cutting yesterday celebrated the partnership and the safety enhancements that resulted from it. The $2.5 million project enhances traffic operations and improves safety at seven intersections, providing smoother, wider pavement and additional lighting at all intersections. New turn lanes and acceleration lanes were added at some of the busier intersections.