Josh grew up in Orange County, California. He graduated high school in 1996 and went to UC San Diego that fall. While there he studied Cognitive Science and served as a House Advisor for 2 years at Muir College. After graduation in the fall of 2000 he moved to the San Jose area to work with a web startup. Following the inevitable layoff and not landing another job, he turned his sights to graduate school. In September 2002 he moved to Columbus, Ohio to attend Ohio State. His Master's Degree program is in Cognitive Engineering; he hopes to graduate this summer and return to the working world once again. Josh likes being outdoors as much as he can, whether it be playing tennis, cycling, or catching a Dodgers game.

Courtney is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, but has lived in all three major metropolitan areas of California. She also graduated from high school in 1996 and UC San Diego in 2000. After graduation she worked for a large consulting firm, but decided to leave after a couple of years to serve her country through the Americorps*VISTA program in Austin, Texas. When her year of service was up she moved to Columbus, Ohio to be with her sweetheart. She loves spending time with her kitty, Ginger, cycling, swimming, doing Pilates, traveling, and of course, being with Josh. She now works at The Ohio State University in a student services building, but is considering a career change in Urban or Event Planning.


How We Met

Courtney was in a large math class of about 300 people her sophomore year and couldn't believe she didn't know anyone. Josh was in the same class, but not knowing anyone was not uncommon to him. Courtney scanned the room for a familiar face, and thought she recognized Josh from her computer programming class, though she didn't know his name at the time. After class one day, she introduced herself, saying "aren't you in my programming class?" We began a study group for our classes and what was to become a lasting friendship.

Because we shared the same major, by our junior year most of our classes were the same. It wasn't until then that we became close friends. From that year on we were pretty much inseparable although completely platonic, much to the disbelief of everyone around us. Courtney was involved in another relationship at the time, and Josh was pursuing other interests. Our close friendship was maintained while Josh studied abroad in England and Courtney studied in Australia. Upon her return and subsequent breakup, Josh was one of Courtney's most steadfast friends.

It wasn't until after graduation that we realized what our friends seemed to think all along: that we had feelings beyond friendship for one another. When this became clear, we decided to take a gamble on the friendship and start dating. Needless to say, it was one of the best decisions either of us has made!