Here we go again...
I’ve gone and stopped blogging and left you all in the dark! Many of you are connected on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and know a lot of my past year. Some of you, however, don’t know many details about some pretty crazy changes in my life since the last time I wrote a blog.
So aside from my profound regret for being off of the blog-tastic side of the internet, I am making a resolution of sorts to keep writing much more present in the life and times of Pete Licata. To swoop you back up into my world, let’s just recap the year of 2013 and proceed from there.
Is there something interesting I should know about?
The last time I wrote a post I was living in Hawaii.
Aloha suckers!
I’m not sure how to break this to you, but I have left paradise for the ridiculously temperamental weather extremes of Kansas City! While I was very embraced and loved there, in many ways I never truly felt like home was in Hawaii for me. I hope that all of my friends back in the Aloha state know that they will always be in my heart!
An aspect of life that I struggled with was missing my family and friends in KC, and ultimately I couldn’t stay away any longer. In November of 2012 I made the move back to Kansas and started searching for jobs.
A coffee job in Kansas?
I spoke with two specialty coffee companies doing business in the KC area for some time, and when all was said and done I chose a position at Parisi Artisan Coffee as the Quality Assurance Manager. It was a position I found appealing and an opportunity that lined up with my goals and interests AND it is based in my own home town of Kansas City! This position basically entails sample roasting, cupping, giving input on production roasts, green coffee purchasing decisions, and a small amount of training. It is a great job with a great company. When I was hired on I also made the decision to compete one last time.
Wait, I thought you were done competing!
And so I was. After my experiences in 2011 getting to WBC and judging during the 2012 season I got a bit of an itch again. Even though I felt accomplished and content with my achievement, the “what if?” question still nagged at me, and after a trip to Korea in November of 2012 I decided to start looking into it and take the chance if the right opportunity presented itself. That is exactly what happened when I started working at Parisi. If you have looked at any of my website I’m sure you know that I have won the WBC at this point, so I hope you aren’t disappointed that I am not going into major details on this post. I actually have a post planned to cover all of that very soon, with a lot of relevance for the aspiring competitor as well.
OK fine I will wait for the next post, but what else have you been doing?
A pretty intense amount of traveling. You can check out where my travels have taken me here. Besides traveling a ton I have still been working at Parisi full time, and working on ideas for new projects. There are endless possibilities in the future and only time will tell what I settle into. For now 2 full time jobs are keeping me plenty occupied. But you know the funny thing?
I still feel like I’m not getting invited to enough events!
Until next time, stay caffeinated my friends
Pete