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Monday, July 11, 2011
Pulp Fantasy Library: The Sword of Shannara
I eventually borrowed a copy from the library and read the whole book, which didn't do much to change my initial impression. Back then, though, being "just like The Lord of the Rings but with different names" wasn't actually a criticism. Indeed, it was probably a point in the book's favor -- which probably explains why it was so wildly successful. Indeed, The Sword of Shannara appeared on the New York Times bestseller list, a remarkable feat back in the 1970s, when paperback fantasy novels weren't the publishing force they've become in the years since, due in no small part to the success of Terry Brooks.
The Sword of Shannara begins by introducing the reader to the half-elven child Shea, who's been raised by the Ohmsford family alongside a foster brother named Flick. Shea's idyllic existence is interrupted by the arrival of Allanon, a druid, who informs him of his heritage, specifically that he is a descendant of the elven king, Jerle Shannara, and thus the rightful wielder of the eponymous Sword of Shannara. Shea must use this magical weapon to fight the Warlock Lord, who threatens the Four Lands with evil. Pursued by Skull Bearers -- former druids turned creatures of darkness -- Shea and Flick flee their home, starting an epic quest that inevitably leads them to the confrontation Allanon described. Along the way, they acquire a number of companions, many of which have obvious analogs among the characters of The Lord of the Rings.
Looking back on The Sword of Shannara, I don't think anyone can deny that it received its greatest inspiration from Tolkien's masterpiece. There are many points of correspondence between The Lord of the Rings and Brooks's debut novel. At the same time, there are also plenty of points of divergence, points that, in my opinion, make The Sword of Shannara "the first D&D novel." By this I mean that, while the origin of this story lies with Tolkien, Brooks took the raw ideas he swiped and went off with them in directions that Tolkien never would have -- but a gamer might. Thus, Allanon is no angelic servitor in mortal guise but rather a druid (and one with a melodramatic backstory at that). Shea, a supposed Frodo analog, is in fact a person of great importance, descended from the wielders of a magical artifact, rather than being a common hobbit. Brooks's Four Lands resound with embellishments like this, the kinds of things that naturally occur when gamers sit around and kibitz about their favorite books and movies and ask each other, "Wouldn't it have been cooler if ..."
That may seem like a criticism, but I don't mean it to be. Certainly I don't count myself a fan of The Sword of Shannara or its sequels and spin-off series. I wasn't particularly impressed with it the first time I read it and time has done little to improve my opinion of it. However, my dislike has little to do with its derivativeness from Tolkien and more to do with my disinterest in the story it tells. I've said it before, but it bears repeating: as a culture, we're often more obsessed with novelty than I think we ought to be. I don't see any shame in recasting an existing story, adding one's own ideas and removing others. The mere fact that Brooks borrowed so much from Tolkien says little about the quality of The Sword of Shannara. From my perspective, I don't begrudge him one whit. There's a certain honesty to good pastiche, an implicit acknowledgment of the debt owed to one's inspiration combined with an admission that what one is producing isn't the original. That's a kind of honesty I could stand to see more of.
53 comments:
I have only read Sword and Elf Stones, but I enjoyed them quite a bit back in high school. At least both books are self contained stories and don't feel the need to drone on for thousands of pages like Wheel of Time (couldn't bring myself to even finish the first book of that derivative crap) or every other series since the '90s.
ReplyDeleteThe thing which always stood out for me with the Shannara stories was the fact that the setting was very clearly meant to be Earth centuries after a nuclear war of some kind left our civilisation (or one very much like it) in ruins.
In fact, that's the only memorable thing about the book for me - I clearly remember the party camping near the ruins of a modern-day city but can't recall anything else that happens in it. It's an interesting background detail which at the time I thought Brooks should have explored more thoroughly. IIRC, he eventually did, but with the effect of retroactively changing it to some sort of magical cataclysm as opposed to a nuclear war, which I thought was the wrong direction to go in - I was hoping he'd go in a science fantasy direction, rather than emphasising the fantasy and downplaying the postnuclear bit.I'm quite a fan of the whole Shannara saga, and have read all the books; one of the things I like best about them is that the world is set in the future of our own world, after a cataclysm that destroys civilisation. The current books are bridging the gap between that world and our own. These are the books I grew up on, and I think I read the first before I ever got around to LotR (which I found too drawn out at the time for my taste).
ReplyDeleteAl-Anon? Seriously? It's bad enough that the title of the series sounds like "Sha-Na-Na". Obviously written in the 70s. Is there a leather-clad horseman named "Lord Fonzarelus"?
I'd love to see a post tracing the convention of "fantasy" names. You could go back at least to Victorian "foreign" nonsense-names, like the ones that populate The Mikado, trace this tradition through REH and other pulp writers' mix of authentic Celtic names with more exotic gibberish (fake Arabic and Chinese, intentionally "alien" Yog-sothothery, etc), climax with Tolkein's painstaking European-historically-grounded invented languages, and then observe how this mix plays out in the second half of the 20th century. I've never been able to pin down exactly how this tradition of vowel-heavy flowery gibberish came to signify "fantasy", but I wish it would go away. Even the White Wolf RPG approach (i.e., recycle actual words in use today by giving them invented fantasy meanings), while ludicrous and sometimes offensive, was a welcome shift from all the Sha-na-na-ing that preceded it.
I'd also be interested in looking at the counter-examples: from what I recall, Le Guinn's Earthsea is better than most on this score.I, too, read this and others in the series in the 80s and I, too, don't remember much about them. I only remember one battle scene, primarily because one of my gaming buddies was so inspired by it that he incorporated something like it into our game. I think Shanarra's lack of staying power in our collective memory says much about its quality...
ReplyDeleteI picked up the book when it first came out. It was the closest thing to D&D at the time. I wasn't that impressed with the book and even rereading it recently I was left with the same impressions. But the cover said D&D and I for my 7th grade book report project I created a board game of the story (based on SPI's War of the Ring). It sounds waaay cooler than it actually was though.
ReplyDelete- AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 11:34 AM
From Wikipedia:
Together with Stephen Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever, The Sword of Shannara ushered in "the era of the big commercial fantasy" and helped to make epic fantasy the leading subgenre of fantasy.
Later in their life, The Sword of Shannara and its subsequent sequels were one of the inspirations for the later versions of Dungeons and Dragons - AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 11:36 AM
I read it age 9--the oversized edition with the Brothers Hildebrandt illos. I read LotR a couple of years later and was stunned at Brooks's audacity. Even an 11 year old child could tell the difference between pastiche and something that was a blatant and colossal heist of Tolkien's original. I admire Brooks's balls and that of his publisher in perpetrating the maneuver. But on literary grounds, I think not. Honesty--bollocks. Unless stealing boldly and unapologetically counts for honesty.
ReplyDelete I remember reading the first few books because my mom actually had them lying around. She was really into Brooks's work for awhile, right around the same time she was really into the Dragonriders of Pern and Katherine Kurtz's The Adept...
Anyway, I read the Shannara books but despite enjoying some parts I never became truly enthusiastic about them. It wasn't the Tolkien angle, because I read Shannara first, but Brooks's writing just wasn't very exciting to me.My first exposure to Shannara was actually via my local newspaper. Back in the late 70s they carried a syndicated comic strip that adapted novels (Shannara was one, Clive Cussler's Raise the Titanic was another I remember). Of course, back then, the local paper also ran a daily Star Wars comic and a daily Conan strip. Things really were different back then.
ReplyDeleteAllanon is no angelic servitor in mortal guise but rather a druid
Although he too dies fighting a subterranean foe only to later return, as I recall.
I didn't read this until only a couple of years ago, as I didn't want to delve into another long fantasy series after already being burned by a few. The only reason I eventually read this one was because it was mentioned in a Tolkien biography as a blatant ripoff, and I wanted to see if the author was over-emphasising the similarities.
I borrowed my father-in-law's old edition, the one pictured at the top of the post, I believe.Interesting bit of publishing trivia: Shannara was Ballantine's (under Lester Del Rey's editorship) re-entry into the fantasy genre after closing down their noble but financially doomed "Adult Fantasy" line that Lin Carter edited. It turns out that people who came to Fantasy via Lord of the Rings weren't actually that interested in the genre's antecedents. They just wanted more of Lord of the Rings. Brook's manuscript showed up at just the right time, and with some smart marketing (art from the brothers Hildebrandt and Book Club sales gave Shannara a big boost) they had a hit. I re-read Shannara not too long ago and it is what it is: Tolkien lite, but with a propulsive narrative that keeps the pages turning. Shannara may seem pedestrian now, (after decades of extruded fantasy product blunting our senses) but at the time it was pretty exciting stuff.
ReplyDeleteFor those griping about literary theft, please read Vladimir Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale". It will be a guaranteed eye-opener in the realm of literary creation.
He basically dissects thousands of Russian folk tales and shows how the entire genre is basically a mad-lib with thirty blanks and fairly limited options of what can go in each one.As a teenager I read (and re-read) The Lord of the Rings and was totally blown away; I thought, "nothing can ever match this."
A couple of years later I read The Sword of Shannara. I found it a decent story, and I assumed Brooks was heavily inspired by LOTR - though I didn't read it as a straight rip-off of Tolkien. My two strongest reactions, however, were 1) thank God there's more fantasy to read now that I've worn out my copies of LOTR and Narnia; and 2) hey, if this guy can write and sell a fantasy novel so can I.
I must admit that in the 35-odd years that followed I haven't actually written a novel, but The Sword of Shannara said to me that it was a task possible for mere mortals as opposed to one reserved for literary demi-gods. I imagine Brook's success inspired a generation of others to try their hand at writing fantasy, and for that I am sincerely grateful.
By the way, if we're discussing an author "re-writing" LOTR then I don't imagine there's a better example than Dennis L. McKiernan's Iron Tower trilogy. McKiernan's trilogy isn't inspired or informed by LOTR, it is LOTR; the same story retold by a different author. McKiernan isn't the literary genius that Tolkien was, but I have to admit I've always found his Iron Tower trilogy to be a thoroughly enjoyable tale.
McKiernan's next two novels, the The Silver Call duology presented an interesting take on the Dwarves reclaiming Moria (ahem, I mean Kraggen-Cor) a generation after the Great War. Actually, if I remember correctly, McKiernan wrote The Silver Call duology first, as a true sequel to LOTR, and it was only when the Tolkien estate declined to give its publication official sanction that Doubleday asked him to recast the books in his own fantasy world, and write a LOTR-type prequel for them. McKiernan's later Mithgar novels are much more his own work rather than Tolkien-pastiches.I read that very edition of the Sword of Shannara, along with the Elfstones and the Wishsong. Sword and Wishsong were the best and I actually enjoyed them quite a bit. I found them more accessible and more enjoyable than Tolkein's overwrought travelogues. Brooks's later works, however, were not up to even that standard, and I quickly tired of his work, save the first couple books in his other series, starting with Magic Kingdom for Sale: Sold.
I enjoyed the Thomas Covenant novels quite a bit as well, though I remember little enough I should probably go back and reread them. These days I can't read much fantasy. It just doesn't sit with me the way it did when I was younger. I'm either reading science fiction or pulp these days.For me it was the Hildebrandt cover that made it appealing. Their art just had that certain epic "wondrous" quality to it.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a good book, no doubt. But, as James has often pointed out, in the late 1970s, there was really almost nothing else for the nascent fantasy fan . . . especially if you were growing up in the boonies and had to drive nineteen miles over the mountain to get to a Waldenbooks. (The nearest SF/fantasy/gaming specialty shop, The Fat Cat, was two and a half hours away in Binghamton.)
So after you got done with Tolkien's Middle-earth stuff, the Ace Conans, the early Perns, the Barsoom books, the Gor novels, and the Chronicles of Prydain, you weren't left with many choices. Lord Foul's Bane was there, but my ten year old self bounced off a book with a rapist for a protagonist. Shannara and other early knock-offs like Ushurak were kid-friendly and available.
Having said all that, Menion Leah still kicks ass, and Hendel the Dwarf mixed with Hugh Oxhine the Ranger from Ushurak to give me my first AD&D character.I started into this when I was 12... right after finishing LOTR. It was the first book I ever hated to the point of chucking it across the room. It was also the last bit of modern 'Tolkienesque' fiction I ever read... unless you count the first Thomas Covenant book... which I also didn't care for.
ReplyDelete@JBM: Hah, I came here just to mention McKiernan. While Silver Call is essentially just published fan fiction, it's remarkable to think of Iron Tower's twisted legacy. Having to re-write the original because you had already written the sequel? What a road.
I will say that the Iron Tower trilogy, with its militaristic take on Hobbits coming-of-age, glowing magical weapons and clearly defined enemy monsters fit in very nicely with D&D, and my discovering Moldvay Basic. It's a very D&D take on LotR, but its piece-for-piece recreations of LotR (for some reason, the pointless recreation of the battering ram always stuck out for me) just make it hard to take seriously even from the most generous angles.It was fine then and it's fine now, particularly if you accept it as more of an homage to LotR than a sneaky rip-off. I mean, even 10-year old me recognized the parallels. I don't think Brooks thought he was fooling anyone.
Truth be told, I preferred the Wishsong of Shannara because Garret Jax was like a ninja and we LOVED, LOVED, LOVED ninjas.
It's a cheeseburger, not a filet mignon - and that's fine. Sometimes you want a cheeseburger.- AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 7:44 PM
"I don't think Brooks thought he was fooling anyone."
Then you haven't read his impassioned self defense of an afterword that is in one of the later reprints. He is very sensitive about the dismissal of SoS as derivative hackwork at best, and plagiarism lite at worst. - AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 8:07 PM
Sword of Shannara was the worst published fantasy book I had ever read, right up until I came across Stephen Lawhead's earliest-published fantasy novels. (His later ones are often quite good, but the ha-ha-ha hee-hee-hee villain one was not ready for prime time and horribly edited. His first publisher did him a disservice there.)
So yeah, I bite my tongue a lot around Brooks' fans. I don't want to insult their taste, especially since it was usually one of the first adult books they read, but... it's a stinkeroo. - AnonymousJuly 11, 2011 at 8:16 PM
Yeah, until I rewrite At the Mountains of Madness as On the Peaks of Insanity and sell it for a jillion bucks. ;)
ReplyDelete I liked his Landover books (at least the first few before they got a bit grimdark) but was never a big fan of shanara. Even the apocalyptic element didn't feel well included to me. Mind you, I can't say I thought they were horrible, but then I didn't grow up in the era of virtually no fantasy they first came out in.
ReplyDeleteI admit to a soft spot for SoS. Yeah, even my junior-or-pre-teen self realized it was lifted whole-cloth from LoTR but it was the kind of thing I would have written myself if I'd have been able. Come to think of it I remember handing in an English assignment around that time that featured a boy in a post-apocalyptic world facing off against a giant mutated cyborg insect (a scene lifted, from memory, straight from SoS).
So I look on it with some affection, although I couldn't muster any interest past the first trilogy. For some reason I've always been far less forgiving with Donaldson, I'm not sure why.
Maybe it was the Hildebrandt artwork? Or maybe it was that I came to Donaldson a few short years later when I (thought I) knew so much more about the world ;)I loved the Sword of Shannara. I was about 13-14 when I first read it and it left a lasting image.
In fact im playing a dwarf in a game currently and called him Hendel! haha.
Only really read the first trillogy. I kind of lost interest in whichever one it was that involved though I did love the troll and weapons master characters(whose names I cant remember)Talking about "the honesty of a good pastiche" in relation to Terry Brooks -- that's a new one. Brooks was an attorney, and was keenly aware that, due to a loophole caused by the pirated Ace Books edition of The Lord of the Rings, the original version of Tolkien's book was in public domain in the US. He (and his editor, Lester del Rey) knew exactly what they could rip off and get away with.
Lin Carter, among many others, denounced Sword as ""the single most cold-blooded, complete rip-off of another book that I have ever read."- AnonymousJuly 12, 2011 at 12:15 AM
Yeah, I don't know. I've always liked the whole series, and frankly, if you dismiss Brooks as a Tolkien plagiarist wholesale, you haven't got a leg to stand on. Even the first book, as some have pointed out, contain pretty idiosyncratic elements like the Flynn-esque Panamon Creel, or the previously mentioned ruins of a high-rise city, inhabited by a hideous fleshy cyborg monster from before the nukepocalypse. I may have just read LotR poorly, I guess... ;-)
After that, the books pretty rapidly start gaining a character of their own — the high-fantasy may seem stereotypical now, but there genuinely wasn't a lot of it available back then, and I think it was in many ways more innovative than it gets credit for. Notice the third book's protagonists, who have been mutated by their father's over-use of magic in the second book into possessing a pretty weird song-based magic — one sibling can sing illusions, but the other's song makes real things. In the subsequent, much newer series of... series, time and society advance in a reasonably plausible way; wars scar the landscape, and inventions change the technological situation, which is something I don't think I've ever seen in any other fictional universe of any sort.
I think it's far more popular to bash Brooks than he really deserves, especially compared with real, earnest hack writers like McKiernan or, God forbid, Eddings, who wrote the same story four times over something like sixteen volumes. Brooks' stories have far more than that to recommend them, and to be honest, my own main peeve with them is his insistence on continually focusing on the same family, which works pretty harshly on the »fantastic verisimilitude« he expends a great deal of work on building up.
Oh, and by the way: if memory serves, he wrote Sword while still in high school. I don't know about you guys, but for my part, I did not do my least derivative work back then. ;-) I read the first three Shannara books as a high school student, a year or two after reading LOTR. This was probably about the time the Berlin wall came a' tumblin' down.
It's odd, but like LOTR, I read the Shannara books out of order: 2nd, 1st, 3rd - just read what I could get my hands on.
I recall enjoying them at the time, partly because it was like a second dose of LOTR. I tried to reread them about a decade later but couldn't do it.
Here's the thing with fantasy novels Shannara onward - how many times can you save the world from horrible evil with this magic item or that certain special someone before it becomes positively mind numbing?I liked it well enough as a kid, but it didn't wow me. To this day the ending is high on my list of "most anti-climactic final confrontations ever".
I also liked the post-apocalyptic angle. I remember liking the thief character a lot. I also remember that this combined with Dragonlance seemed to usher in the trope of killing off the dwarf.Lin Carter, among many others, denounced Sword as ""the single most cold-blooded, complete rip-off of another book that I have ever read."
Lin Carter hadn't seen nothing yet. Still I think card had it closer to the truth calling it "artistically displeasing" and overly derivative. The book is nowhere near as wholesale a lift as Carter treated it, though that's not speaking to it's quality.
Frank Herbert's comments on it in the same article you list say it best, I think. It clearly owes a lot, but it's not theft.Brooks was an attorney, and was keenly aware that, due to a loophole caused by the pirated Ace Books edition of The Lord of the Rings, the original version of Tolkien's book was in public domain in the US. He (and his editor, Lester del Rey) knew exactly what they could rip off and get away with.
That's interesting. Can you point me toward something online or elsewhere that might help me get up to speed on this, as it's the first time I've heard this angle?Reading this back in the day as a kid the thing the struck me most, aside from it being a Tolkein rip-off, was how small the setting felt, especially for the page count. It felt about the size of any average US state or smaller, while Middle-Earth felt much larger, and thus more interesting, in comparison.
I think the Hildebrant brothers' artwork and the Tolkein but- ad copy sold me on this (that and others my age reading it). At the time they'd done art for the Tolkein calendars so I already liked their art. The post-apoc stuff in SoS was interesting but barely there. I couldn't get into the setting after trying it again recently, though the airships were a nice touch (like the Mystara airship journals). I did like the bridge trilogy between his urban fantasy and the chronologically first Shannara books, The Genesis of Shannara.


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The Website of Craig L. Adams
Long ago I was a very lost and alienated young man who found hope in the message of Jesus Christ. And, I've been trying to live and spread that hope ever since. I am glad I first heard the message of Christ among people who preached a Wesleyan Holiness message. It was a frustrating and confusing message to me. But, I struggled for years to make sense of it, and I'm glad I did. I'm glad I found Christ among people who believed that God actually changes lives in a deep and real way. And, this explains my lifelong fascination with the Wesleyan Doctrine of Christian Perfection.
This fascination may seem quite strange. I am not a strict or legalistic person. While I think of myself as an evangelical, I'm not even all that conservative anymore. I believe that life in the Spirit is freedom, wholeness, compassion, and hope.
I used to be a United Methodist pastor. I served under appointment in the United Methodist Church from 1975 to 2010. I've served several small United Methodist churches in West Michigan. I am now officially retired. I've been active at various times in Emmaus & Chrysalis, as a camp counselor, in the leadership of the Conference Youth Council, and in Lay Speaker training.
While my family and I have become quite disenchanted with the United Methodist Church in the last several years, you will discover that I'm still a Metho-blogger in spite of myself.
My wife Robin and I were married in the Hersey United Methodist Church on September 1, 1979. We have two children. They are grown now, with lives of their own — which is a good thing. Robin and I are still very much in love and enjoy each other's company. So, in that respect, life is good.
There is a lot more information here than might first appear. And, I am always adding new information, primarily about Wesleyan Theology — but also on the Bible, and on prayer, and other topics, as well.
My intention is for this site to be a rich resource for people who are seeking to explore their faith further. This is an ongoing and growing project, so, check back from time to time.
I'm actually not especially interested in convincing any one of anything. My hope is that you will find something here that is interesting, challenging, encouraging, or thought-provoking.
I have had a long-standing interest in the literature of the Holiness Movement. The text of several books that reflect the views of the Holiness preachers of the nineteenth century are maintained on this web site. This includes a compendium of John Wesley's teachings on the doctrine of Christian Perfection and a 1940 scholarly study of Wesleyan Theology. You may find a listing of the books here by clicking on the banner below:
I maintain a blog drawn from the writings of the nineteenth century American psychologist, author, teacher, poet, pacifist, and spiritual writer, Thomas Cogswell Upham (1799-1872). It can be found by clicking on this banner:
I used to maintain a blog drawn from the writings of the nineteenth century Bible Scholar and Holiness advocate Daniel Steele (1824-1914). It is currently inactive, but the archived posts can still be searched and read. It can be found by clicking on this banner:

subset: commoncrawl


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5 Ways to Stack Bitcoin Sats
The term "stacking sats" has become one of the biggest memes in the Bitcoin (BTC) community in 2019. Not a day goes by where you don't see the hashtag #stackingsats on Crypto Twitter. And, for good reason.
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If you believe that bitcoin will continue to increase in value over time, there are a number of ways you can start stacking sats that do not involve accessing an exchange and clicking the buy button as our list shows. Moreover, should bitcoin really "moon," even a few satoshis could be worth a lot. One satoshi, which represents roughly 0.00000001 BTC, is already worth more than a number of national currencies and if things continue the way they have gone, a satoshi may one day be worth more than a dollar (if dollar still exists by then).


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Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sweet Defeat
I finished 2nd in a time of 6:40:53, about 8 minutes faster than the previous course record. Uli Steidl won the race in a time of 6:33 and change!
Uli ran away with the race coming out of the aid station at mile 39. To that point he and I had run within a few hundred feet of each other the entire way. From about mile 14 on we were separated from the rest of the field. In that 25 mile span from mile 14 to mile 39 we were never more than 10 feet apart. We took turns in the lead and most of the time I felt like we were connected such that we couldn't separate if we wanted to. It felt like we were literally dragging each other down the trail with a 5 foot rope holding us together. We both took the same amount of time at aid stations and we both seemed to be running with the same strengths, that is to say fast on the uphills, fast on the flats, and fast on the downhills. I had assumed that Uli was not that fast on more technical trail, being that most of his racing in the past few years has been on roads. That was definitely the wrong assumption. We ran the technical downhill after PanToll (mile 30) about as fast as one could possible imagine and I couldn't even hear him behind me. He just seemed to hover along a few inches off the ground. For most of the run we hardly talked at all but I felt like we were communicating so much just from sharing the same experience so closely. I felt so focused on moving forward in conjunction with Uli that there almost seemed to be no space in my mind for words. Because of this the times we did speak seemed really significant and almost shocking at times. Simple one sentence statements seemed like profound thesis at the time, because they tended to speak also of the previous 30 minutes of silence. Each word seemed to convey a thousand thoughts. I don't think I have ever felt as tuned in to another runner during a race.
Eventually my body broke down. I made up my mind at around mile 20 that I was going to stay with Uli as long as I could. I wasn't going to fade back slowly to improve my chances of staying strong and thus remain more likely to maintain 2nd place. I was running to win and the only way I was going to be able to do that was staying right there with him. I was not going to let him out of my sight unless I had no physical ability left to keep him there. For several miles (around mile 28-35) I even felt a confidence that I might be able to be the one to pull away from him on one of the difficult climbs in the last 10 miles of the race.
It wasn't meant to be for me though. When my strength began to waver on the climb up out of Muir Beach (mile 39) he was gone out of sight almost immediately. It felt weird to be right there with him for so long and then suddenly he was long gone. I kind of liked the quickness of it all though. I was able to just let him go in my mind and begin to instantly focus on getting my situation corrected. My legs were cramping and I was short on calories. I walked uphill and rubbed my cramping quads, drank lots of fluid, and ate as many calories as I could stomach. Gradually life came back to my physical body and I was able to finish strong.
It would have been nice to win, but it was an absolute honor to share that experience with Uli and I am completely humbled by the race he ran. For 39 miles I was able to push my body to a limit just slightly below collapse. Uli was able to convince his body to stay at that limit for the full 50 miles. I know that my name has been thrown around by some people for Ultrarunning performance of the year (either for HURT, Wasatch, or Mountain Masochist), but Uli's run yesterday was without question a more impressive performance than what I did in any of these races. It was the most impressive running performance I have ever seen in person, replacing what Dave Mackey did at Miwok '08.
It might sound strange but this may have been my most satisfying race of '09. My body failed me before the finish, but my mind dealt with this failure in such a healthy and satisfying way. I had a deeply satisfying and connected experience running with Uli all day. And probably most satisfying of all was that I got to share this race with some of the most important people in my life. I had 8 people that I love dearly there with me at the finish. People that came from all over the continent and made my experience more complete than it ever could have been otherwise.
33 comments:
Great write up. Congratulations on a fantastic year. You have such a positive and gracious outlook as well as amazing ability. You are an example to us all.
- December 6, 2009 at 10:41 AM
- Lucho said...
Best race report ever. You're a bad ass with humility.
- December 6, 2009 at 11:02 AM
This must have been a very special experience. Well earned, and deserved; congratulations!
- December 6, 2009 at 11:49 AM
Uli was the impressive winner yesterday. You've been one all year.
- December 6, 2009 at 12:35 PM
- Derrick said...
Great race and report Geoff. I loved that you laid it out on the line and went after the win with disregard for blowing up and possibly falling out of the money. That is what racing is all about.
Congrats on a great final race of a great year! - December 6, 2009 at 1:00 PM
You are so humble. You have had a wonderful year and should be very happy with what you have accomplished. I am just bummed that I was not there to watch you and share this experience with you. I thought for sure I would be able to follow along as I have done with all your other races, but there was no coverage whatsoever. That really was disappointing.
You truly are an inspiration to a lot of people and I am so proud of you.
I still think that you should consider coming home for Christmas. We all want to give you our personal congratulations!!!
Love you very much
Mom - December 6, 2009 at 1:03 PM
- Michael Alfred said...
Awesome performance! I know a lot of people didn't think you would be there with Uli but that's where I put you pre-race. Thanks for the report.
- December 6, 2009 at 1:07 PM
- Georgia Snail said...
Amazing race report! Your ability to describe the connection between the two of you was very powerful. Thank you!
- December 6, 2009 at 2:30 PM
- Unknown said...
Fantastic recap Geoff! I feel like this duel between you and Uli should be made into a movie or documentary. What you guys did yesterday is every bit as impressive as the great duels in sport...Montana vs Marino, Bird vs Magic, Salazar vs Beard, etc. The only difference is those duels were broadcast to the world. Hardly a peep was heard out of Marin.
Again, congrats on an incredible year of racing & inspiring! You're a great ambassador of running. - December 6, 2009 at 3:50 PM
- Dave Chan said...
Awesome. Thank you for sharing that experience and as everyone has already said, congratulations on an amazing year.
- December 6, 2009 at 4:30 PM
- R. Dane Berry said...
Congrats Geoff. Sounds like a wonderful race, one that captured something close to what competition is supposed to be all about. Thanks for sharing the experience. We'll be there to watch you come over one of those finish lines one of these days... :)
- December 6, 2009 at 4:39 PM
- Tucker Goodrich said...
Sometimes it's an honor to be second.
- December 6, 2009 at 4:52 PM
Geoff - way to put it on the line -- very inspirational -- and your race report was terrific too. Can't wait to follow your upcoming exploits.
- December 6, 2009 at 5:08 PM
congratulations! your running and sharing about it is inspiring. but much kudos to your mom - her post is so sweet, indeed an inspiration to all.
north face's coverage was truly disappointing. - December 6, 2009 at 8:04 PM
- Matt Hart said...
if i had any say in the matter you would win "ultrarunner of the year" hands down.
- December 6, 2009 at 9:16 PM
- saschasdad said...
You know, your report from this year sounds like Uli's from last year and Matt's from the year before. Epic duels between classy competitors - that's what championship racing should be about.
It was great meeting you. - December 6, 2009 at 11:35 PM
- ultrarunner (Brian Philpot) said...
Good Job! Another good race of the year. Bring on 2010!
- December 7, 2009 at 5:04 AM
- Unknown said...
I like Footfeathers' comment.
Great job, Geoff. - December 7, 2009 at 5:25 AM
- Krissy said...
Incredible run and recount here. thanks for sharing your thoughts so quickly! You've had many impressive performances this year and this one is right there. Hope you take some time to recover and rest up.
- December 7, 2009 at 8:44 AM
Nice running, Geoff. Don't worry. WE don't think you're a loser just because you came in second place. Just not a winner. Seriously, impressive running. It's awesome that you can be right in there with amazing runners who are having great races.
Craig and Amity - December 7, 2009 at 9:37 AM
- Speedgoat Karl said...
Way to kill it man, I bow to your greatness! Ulli is unique, one of those guys who can run with anyone.
Here's to hoping you're back in AK, so I don't have to follow your muddy footprints at Chimera.
The only bad thing about running so well this year....next year you have to top it...good luck! :-) - December 7, 2009 at 6:50 PM
- Andrew said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- December 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM
- Andrew said...
Great race and reporting as always Geoff!!!
Love the quote from irunfar's blog from Michael Wardian (5th place finisher) * On Geoff Roes: "When I saw him on the out-and-back, it looked like he was a demon. I swear his eyes like..."
Obviously he doesn't know what it looks like when any of the Roes' are concentrating/focusing on something! ;)
and your Mom is right... you are truly an inspiration to many! - December 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM
- Andrew said...
- This comment has been removed by the author.
- December 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM
- Rudy said...
Impressive, impressive, impressive! You are one inspiring runner.
- December 9, 2009 at 1:23 AM
- Uli Steidl said...
Hi Geoff,
just found your blog...
Loved reading it and get your perspective on the race.
Yes, it was quite the battle between us this year. Very reminiscent of the duel with Matt in 2007. (In 08 Matt had pulled away from me at mile 17 and I never caught up completely).
I think you and I are better matched with our strong and less strong aspects of our running, compared to Matt and I. I don't think there would have been any way Matt would have stayed with us on the Bootleg descent. Btw, glad to hear this was close to your limit as well! Matt likely would have caught up again on the next climb, though.
I have never run this close for so long with anyone else before in a race. We did talk a bit on the descent to Stinson beach, but after that we ran too hard to talk.
I'm looking forward to more epic duels with you next year. Not sure yet if I'll run WR50 this summer to get the CR back from Tony. But for sure we'll meet again a year from now in San Francisco.
If you want to read my write-up...
http://ulisteidl.blogspot.com - December 9, 2009 at 12:27 PM
- Dave Mackey said...
Nice run and write up Geoff..congrats on your running success.
- December 10, 2009 at 7:50 PM
- Rod Bien said...
Geoff, amazing run. Great write up. Congrats on just an amazing year of running. Enjoy the off season.
- December 10, 2009 at 8:30 PM
You guys are amazing! However, I was wondering how you could go stride for stride from Pantoll to Muir Beach (on the ladder?) and through some of those trees where I had to get on my hands and knees to clear.
You barely beat me... by 7 hours... but I think I was the tallest finisher, at 6'6". - December 11, 2009 at 3:34 PM
- Mikael said...
Great race and write up Geoff. Congrats on a fantatstic year of running. Really excited to know more about you!
- December 12, 2009 at 12:22 AM
- Fairbanks said...
Wow. Great words. Thanks for the incite into your race. I just started running ultras this year. Reading about your runs this year definitely has me psyched for my races next year!
Adam - December 12, 2009 at 8:11 PM
Geoff - I was stumbling towards the finish of my first half marathon and was hurting bad. You passed me about one mile from the finish. And after completing 49 miles, you were giving me words of encouragement. You are amazing, very gracious and a class act. Thx
- December 13, 2009 at 3:10 AM
- Thomas Bussiere said...
Great post. Really enjoyed reading your thoughts during the race.
- December 15, 2009 at 8:46 PM


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For weeks now, as Washington slouches toward a New Year's deadline for averting a potentially calamitous combination of automatic tax increases and sharp spending cuts, Barack Obama has insisted that any agreement to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff must include an agreement to raise tax rates on top earners. House Speaker John Boehner, the Republican negotiator charged with cutting a deal with the President, has yet to publicly accede to that demand. But in recent days, Republicans have begun bowing to the reality that the GOP has a weak position in the skirmish over tax rates. Obama campaigned on higher rates for the richest Americans and won. If no pact is forged, rates will rise for all taxpayers — and polls suggest Republicans will bear the bulk of the blame. Which is why a few influential Republicans have suggested that since the party will be forced to cave to Obama's demands on tax rates, it should do so now, and retrench for the battles to come next year, when the GOP will have more leverage.
That doesn't mean Obama and Boehner will be able to prevent the country from toppling over the cliff. As a counterweight to a tax hike that is anathema to his members, Boehner needs to extract concessions from Democrats in the form of cuts to entitlement programs. Obama has expressed willingness to cut a deal that scales back such programs; during the misbegotten talks to craft a far-reaching deficit-reduction plan last summer, he put some $350 billion in cuts to federal health programs over the next decade on the table, so long as they accompanied sizable revenue increases achieved through rate increases or tax reform. The White House has been disciplined about keeping the substance of the President's conversations with Boehner private, but having gone that far once, he is probably prepared to offer something similar again if the other pieces of the puzzle are in place.
(VIDEO: TIME Explains: The Fiscal Cliff)
But many Democrats are loath to agree to entitlement cuts. That's partly because of their ideological convictions, partly because they wield the issue as a perennial political cudgel, and partly because they believe going over the cliff will lock in the tax hikes on the wealthy they sought in the first place. At which point, the thinking goes, the party could introduce a bill to cut taxes for 98% of Americans that Republicans would be hard-pressed not to go along with. "To blame the three programs that we're talking about — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — as the drivers of this deficit is a mistake," Democratic Representative Raul Grijalva said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."
In response to Obama's offer, Boehner has proposed to cut $600 billion from federal health programs over the next 10 years. The substance of those cuts are shrouded. But they could involve some combination of a change to the Medicare eligibility age, means-testing benefits or changes to the way the government calculates inflation, which could result in lower payments to recipients of Social Security.
(MORE: Washington's Lemmings Head for the Fiscal Cliff)
Obama has been tentatively receptive to some of these ideas in the past. And the framework for an agreement between and he and Boehner isn't hard to discern. Obama has asked for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenue, while Boehner countered with $800 billion. The two are a few hundred billion apart on entitlement cuts. The two men could meet somewhere in the middle on both, call it a down payment on the $4 trillion in deficit reduction both seek over the next decade, and agree to hash out the logistics of tax reform next fall, in what would surely be an equally infuriating exercise.
But neither leader rules by fiat, and each has quarrelsome members of his own party bristling about a compromise. Some Republicans are deluded about the damage a failure to forge a deal would inflict, just as they refused to believe warnings about the debt limit last summer. Even Democrats who admit they will need to give ground on entitlements to forge a deal would prefer to cut entitlements in other ways and at lower levels. Between the faction of Democrats resistant to cut for health beneficiaries and the faction of Republicans who believe that the economic turmoil of going over the cliff is worth absorbing for a whack at the deficit, Obama and Boehner may find it tough to muster the votes to thread a deal through Congress. And negotiators are running out of time.


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ARDMORE, Pa. — Even for Phil Mickelson, his path to the top of the leaderboard Thursday in the U.S. Open was unconventional.
He traveled about 2,400 miles in the air and 7,000 yards on the ground. He took a short nap on his private jet from San Diego and another one during a rain delay when he found a secluded corner of the library room in the Merion clubhouse. He carried five wedges but no driver.
Some 17 hours later, Mickelson had a 3-under 67 to match his best opening round in the U.S. Open.
Luke Donald sits at 4-under after 13 holes in the rain-halted competition.
Mickelson returned from his daughter's eighth-grade graduation about 3½ hours before his tee time. He three-putted his first hole for a bogey and didn't give back a shot the rest of the day at Merion, which proved plenty tough.
Because of two rain delays, the first round won't be completed until Friday morning. Mickelson won't have to tee it up again for another 24 hours.
Enough time to fly back to San Diego?
"I don't want to push it, no," Mickelson said with a tired smile.
Tiger Woods faced a tougher road. He appeared to hurt his left hand after trying to gouge out of the deep rough on the opening hole. He grimaced and shook his left wrist again after hitting a 5-wood out of the rough on the fifth hole. He already had three bogeys though five holes before starting to make up ground with a 50-foot birdie putt on the par-4 sixth hole.
Woods, however, failed to take advantage on the short stretch of holes in the middle of the round, and he was shaking his hand again after shots out of the rough on the 10th and twice on the 11th. He was 2-over for his round and had a 4-foot par putt on the 11th when play was stopped for the day.
"I've got a lot of holes to play tomorrow," Woods said. "And, hopefully, I can play a little better than I did today."
Luke Donald was 4-under through 13 holes, making one last birdie before leaving the course. The first round was to resume at 7:15 a.m. Friday, and the forecast called for drier weather for the rest of the week.
Masters champion Adam Scott, playing with Woods and Rory McIlroy, was 3-under through 11 holes, while defending U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson was 2-under through eight holes. McIlroy was 1-under.
Lee Westwood got the full Merion experience. He was 3-under when his approach on the 12th hit the wicker basket — the signature at Merion, replacing traditional flags — and bounced off the green, leading to a double bogey.
For Mickelson, this could be the start of yet another chance to win the major championship he wants so dearly. Or maybe he's setting himself up for more heartache. He already has been a runner-up a record five times in the U.S. Open.
"If I'm able — and I believe I will — if I'm able to ultimately win a U.S. Open, I would say that it's great," Mickelson said. "Because I will have had ... a win and five seconds. But if I never get that win, then it would be a bit heart-breaking."
Nicolas Colsaerts of Belgium, the only other player from the morning wave to break par, picked up birdies on the short seventh and eighth holes for a 69.
Former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel, Tim Clark, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Jerry Kelly were the only others who at least matched par at 70. Clark and Kelly were at 2 under deep in their rounds until running into trouble, which isn't hard to do in the U.S. Open, especially at Merion. Clark took a double bogey-bogey stretch in the middle of his back nine. Kelly was one shot behind Mickelson until a double bogey on the 18th hole.
"It's a lot tougher than they say it is," Schwartzel said.
It doesn't take much — just two holes for Sergio Garcia, who found Merion far more daunting than the few wisecracks from the gallery. Garcia received mostly warm applause, with some barely audible boos from the grandstand when he started his round on No. 11.
It was his first time competing in America since his public spat with Woods took a bad turn when he jokingly said he would have Woods over for dinner during the U.S. Open and serve fried chicken.
"There were a couple here and there," Garcia said about some jeers. "But I felt the people were very nice for the whole day. I think that almost all of them were behind me and that was nice to see."
They saw him hit his tee shot out of bounds on No. 14 right before the first rain delay, leading to double bogey. Then, he hooked his next shot out of bounds and hit a bunker shot over the green on his way to a quadruple-bogey 8 at No. 15. Despite being 6-over on those two holes, he rallied for a 73.
Mickelson, meanwhile, looked as though he could play this golf course in his sleep. And he nearly did.
With two holes remaining, he hit 5-iron into 30 feet on the 237-yard ninth hole and told caddie Jim "Bones" Mackay that he was starting to hit the ball. Despite the constant smiling, Mickelson is intense inside the ropes, and Mackay told him to stop thinking about his swing, his next shot, the course or anything else related to golf during the walk to the green. Lefty rolled in the right-to-left breaking putt for another birdie.
"Being able to tune in and tune out was kind of nice the last hole or two," Mickelson said. "It's been a long day."
The only other time Mickelson opened with a 67 in the U.S. Open was in 1999 at Pinehurst No. 2, and his oldest daughter was part of that story, too. Mickelson carried a pager with him that week because his wife was due with their first child. He finished one shot behind when the late Payne Stewart holed a 15-foot par putt on the last hole, and Amanda was born the next day.
Mickelson was always going to be home before the U.S. Open because Amanda, who turns 14 next week, was chosen to be a featured speaker at her graduation. He left Merion on Monday, a day earlier than planned, when more heavy rain washed out most of the practice round. Besides, Mickelson felt like he knew the course well enough from his scouting trip last week.
"She told me that it's fine. 'Stay, it's the U.S. Open. I know how much you care about it.' And I told her that I want to be there," Mickelson said. "I don't want to miss her speech. I don't want to miss her graduation. She spent nine years at that school. And she's worked very hard and I'm very proud of her."
The ceremony was at 6 p.m. PDT. Mickelson was on the plane two hours later, landing in Philadelphia about 3:30 a.m. He had a few hours of sleep on the plane, and then played five holes before the rain delay. He found a few cushions for a makeshift bed in the clubhouse library.
Despite his four birdies, including a 25-foot putt that fell on its last turn at No. 1, Mickelson saved his round with some crucial pars.
He missed the par-3 third green to the right, in fluffy grass down the hill, and hit a flop shot that landed on the collar and stopped 5 feet from the cup. He caught a break when his tee shot went into the hazard left of the fifth fairway, about a foot away from dropping into the small stream. He got that out, hit wedge to 8 feet and made a difficult right-to-left putt. And on the next hole, he swung hard to generate height and spin out of the bunker, the only way to get the ball close. He made an 8-footer for par.
Mickelson hit 9-iron to 2 feet on the seventh hole for birdie, and holed that 30-foot putt on the ninth.
And then, it was time to rest.
"He had a crazy 24 hours," said Keegan Bradley, playing alongside Mickelson and Steve Stricker. "Sometimes that helps, not thinking about it."
Mickelson in fine form at U.S. Open
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I already shared that I snagged this fabulous stool from a local junk convention...
The style reminded me of great high end styles I have seen at One Kings Lane and West Elm... so much love!
When I purchased it for $20, I had no idea where it would land. I knew it was versatile enough to be popped next to any chair or even in the playroom. Then it dawned on me that it would be the perfect solution to our lower level bathroom dilemma. We needed a stool for the boys at the bathroom sink for hand washing. And this was the oh so perfect size!
But it was in rough shape. And although I sort of loved that, I wanted to clean it up a bit and make it mesh well with the bathroom.
So, I decided to finally give the oh so famous Annie Sloan chalk paint a try! It had the reputation of being able to cover on any surface and is raved about all over blog land. I went with Paris Grey.
I started by painting the underside of the stool, which was really tedious with all of the nooks and crannies... a combination of a regular brush and craft brushes was necessary.
I noticed that the paint seemed to level really nicely. And it was covering really well! YAY! So pretty!
While the stool was drying, I decided to go after my next project.
Some thrifted glass containers found at the ol' Goodwill to the tune of $1.50 total.
Not so pretty now, but a quick wash and some pearly swirled craft paint later.....
And we had fabulously fun storage for the bath!
I looked up painted glass tutorials all over Pinterest, and some said to cure the paint in the oven. I will caution I started to do so, and I had issues with some bubbling {even at super low temps}, so, I pulled them out, touched up the paint and just let it air dry and cure for a week before popping my cotton products inside.
I think they are pretty adorable on the bathroom shelves!
And the new stool lives next to our laundry hamper...
It works wonders as it's intended purpose....
Or, as a bathtub side table for momma!
And a tray I found on clearance from Target, before going on strike, to hold my pretty soaps...
Thanks to a few thrifty finds and a little paint, both the bathroom and I are smiling nice and big!
Anyone else grinning ear to ear over some thrift store finds that are making a great impact in your rooms? Who else loves the painted glass effect?


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Four months after Hurricane Sandy lashed the region, Hudson County is still feeling its impact. But according to County Executive Tom DeGise in his State of the County address delivered before the Board of Freeholders on Feb. 14, the response to the crisis was heroic at times.
"Not to put too fine a point on it, but when you build above the 100-year flood plain and it still leaves you four feet underwater, maybe somebody up there is trying to tell you something," DeGise said. "Perhaps the lesson is not to look for certainty in numbers, but in our shared values."
Expressing gratitude for "the remarkable patience of our residents during Hurricane Sandy and their resilience in its aftermath," DeGise also celebrated the dedication of county employees who worked so tirelessly and so well during the disaster.
He paid tribute to Jack Burns, head of the Hudson County Office of Emergency Management; Harold Demellier, director of the Department of Roads and Public Property; Ben Lopez, director of the Department of Family Services; County Clerk Barbara Netchert; Superintendent of Elections Marie Borace; and the County Board of Elections.
"When you build above the 100-year flood plain and it still leaves you four feet underwater, maybe somebody up there is trying to tell you something." – Tom DeGise
He also paid tribute to now-retired Parks Director Tom McCann and Finance Director Cheryl Fuller for the roles they played in dealing with the disaster.
"One of the benefits of all that time on the job is seeing the connection between the dry actions of government and the results they eventually produce," DeGise said.
Two areas that the county has seen success in dealing with have been recidivism and chronic homelessness, citing the nationally-recognized work of the prisoner re-entry program with Integrity House at the County Jail as a big success.
"Before a single female inmate was helped, we had strenuous debate, complaints from different quarters, and I was called a few names I'd rather not repeat," DeGise said. "And when that was all over, we still had to win funding for the program through one of the toughest competitive grant processes authorized by the U.S. government. Next month HBO will present a documentary about our program, which has dramatically reduced recidivism rates for the women who complete it. It continues to be funded through that highly competitive grant process authorized by the federal government's Second Chance Act, a clear sign that Washington believes our approach works."
According to reports supplied by the county, the program's numbers since 2009 appear to have shown a remarkable success rate at keeping women who go through the program from re-entering jail. Over the last three years, of the 175 individuals sent through the program, only 36 have been rearrested, which is recidivism rate of 21 percent compared historically to 50 percent. Re-arrests are recorded into a statewide system showing individuals that are rearrested anywhere in New Jersey.
The program focuses on women who struggle to get reintegrated into general society. Many do not know how to interact, how to get jobs, or how to set themselves up to keep from failing. Many are still addicted to or are drawn back toward drug use.
"Now we need action in Trenton to increase the program's effectiveness," DeGise said. "The New Jersey State Legislature currently has a bill before it which would allow county jails to be certified as residential drug treatment centers. This is crucial because released drug offenders must go through a program conducted by a licensed treatment center in order to qualify for general assistance funds. If county jails like ours can qualify for that license, then the inmates already going through treatment as part of our program can leave jail and immediately qualify for general assistance. This would provide them with a small amount of cash assistance so they can begin a new life outside prison without resorting to petty crime in order to survive, as so many do."
County made strides against homelessness
"Our county was one of the first in the nation to adopt the 'Housing First' approach to reduce chronic homelessness," DeGise said. "Housing First gets the chronically homeless into housing and then connects them with comprehensive services like medical care and addiction counseling. It is not only more compassionate, it is more cost-effective. But to support Housing First, first you need the housing. Bit by bit we are providing it."
He said the county has invested more than $3 million HOME funds to help build 96 units at the Hoboken YMCA in partnership with MBS Housing Urban Renewal.
"Working with the North Hudson Community Action Council, the City of Union City and the West New York Housing Authority, we will add another 18 units next month," DeGise said. "This project is unique. It is not just affordable but specifically designed to offer priority placement to homeless veterans. It is called Homes for Heroes."
He said these are elements of a 10-year plan to eradicate chronic homelessness.
The county also moved away from renting space for its own operations and purchased buildings as a means of long-term cost control and tailoring space to its own needs.
New Schools of Technology building in Secaucus on hold
In the past, the freeholders had talked of building a new campus for the Schools of Technology – a group of countywide public high schools – in Secaucus, but they were unsure of a funding source.
"While it has long been our hope to see a new campus constructed for the Schools of Technology, it is clear that in the current political and economic climate, the needed state support just isn't going to be there," DeGise said. "So we will have to begin putting money into the existing campus buildings. Shiny and new is great. But restored and improved can work too."
In other areas, the county has managed to move ahead with its support for redevelopment projects in West Hudson, DeGise said. This will include possible final resolution of the 130-acre Koppers Koke site the county was been seeking to sell for redevelopment for decades.
"We see the site as home for new, job-producing light manufacturing, third party logistics and other green re-industrialization efforts," DeGise said.
Also upcoming is the opening the new 32nd Street Walking Bridge spanning Kennedy Boulevard in Union City and North Bergen that will greatly improve pedestrian safety.
"Next year, will see the opening of the county's first public golf course in 80 years," DeGise said. "And also in 2014 we will see the completion of the largest public works project in our County's history, the $52 million replacement of the 14th Street Viaduct in Hoboken.
The completion of the Viaduct will significantly improve the long obsolete connection between Hoboken, Union City and Jersey City. It may also spur more private investment in the area as developers see the bustling new streetscape under the Viaduct that is part of the project."
The county continues to create a site for a new county criminal court house in Jersey City, purchasing properties that will temporarily be used for court house parking and the eventual continuation of Central Avenue into Newark Avenue.
"This should improve traffic flow in the neighborhood. For now, our hope is to address the concerns raised by Chief Assignment Judge Peter Bariso and use these properties to provide long-needed juror parking," DeGise said.
Al Sullivan may be reached at email@example.com.


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Autoruns shows you what programs are configured to run during system bootup or login, and shows you the entries in the order Windows processes them. These programs include ones in your startup folder, Run, RunOnce, and other Registry keys. You can configure Autoruns to show other locations, including Explorer shell extensions, toolbars, browser helper objects, Winlogon notifications, auto-start services, and much more. Autoruns goes way beyond the MSConfig utility bundled with Windows Me and XP.
Autoruns' Hide Signed Microsoft Entries option helps you to zoom in on third-party auto-starting images that have been added to your system and it has support for looking at the auto-starting images configured for other accounts configured on a system. Also included in the download package is a command-line equivalent that can output in CSV format, Autorunsc.
This download includes the exe and command line versions of Autoruns.


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Hiroki Kuroda (10-14, 2.92) vs. Tim Stauffer (8-10, 3.42).
While Clayton Kershaw keeps making his case for the Cy Young, let's not overlook Hiroki Kuroda, who's quietly having his best season as a Dodger. The Dodgers have won four of his past five starts, and he's suddenly in double digits in wins. Does Ned Colletti try to sign Kuroda in 2012? Even if he's running the Cubs?
Sax's note (4:36p): Turns out Orel and I will be going to the game tonight, field level, right behind home plate. Holler if you'd like to grab a beer.
AP photo


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Chris Capuano (11-10, 3.59) vs. Joe Kelly (5-6, 3.51).
No offense, but we're pretty damn good at this no offense thing. And if the Dodgers don't care about advancing runners around that second-base bend thingy back toward home plate, it's hard for fans to rally around this team, too. We haven't scored more than five runs in over two weeks (and we won that game, btw).
The Dodgers have lost seven of our last eight, and we're running out of time to make up that 7.5-game gap with the Giants (I can't even type that without laughing hysterically. And sobbing.). The Cardinals are vying for a playoff spot, while we're looking for someplace safe to hide. So let's throw Capuano out there to the wolves tonight, as he's gone 2-8 since his 9-2 start, and hasn't had a win since August 12. No offense, but I'm expecting...no offense.


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I have noticed football commentators in Britain using the phrase just about when a player is successful as in "He just about made that pass". In AmE just about would mean "close but no cigar".Indeed, for the 'did make it, but only by a small margin' meaning, AmE could just use just: He just made it into the goal. But we might even avoid that, since that could also mean 'a moment ago'. This ambiguity is probably more of a problem in AmE than in BrE because of the differences in past-tense marking. I'd probably say only just in this context, but I'm fairly contaminated by BrE at this point. The Cambridge Dictionary of American Idioms gives only the meaning 'very recently' for only just. The two instances of only just made it in the Corpus of Contemporary American English (COCA) are 'very recently' and the eight in the much smaller British National Corpus all mean 'barely'. I think this has firmly diagnosed my BrE contamination. I'll have to tell my American family to wear protection around me.
I must admit, I'm held back a bit* in my discussion here by a couple of things. First, finding examples of particular meanings of just about is not exactly easy. If you search for the two words in a corpus or on the web, you will find huge numbers of examples, most of them irrelevant--it's just about how common the words are (see what I did there?). So I've had to look for bigger stretches of text, like just about made it, in order to limit the results to useful ones. That means that anything interesting that I didn't think of, I didn't find. Second, we were supposed to (AmE/BrE) move/(BrE) move house this week. We discovered Monday that we were not moving (house) this week, or indeed next week, or indeed this month. So all my books are packed (not the greatest of the current inconveniences!), and therefore I can't consult a couple of things that might have been helpful. I will blog about English (BrE) estate agents/(AmE) real estate agents and the horrors (and vocabulary!) of buying/selling property in England after this nightmare is over.
At any rate, the translation problem in just about isn't just about just. Let's think about about. The (UK) Collins English Dictionary gives us this sense-definition, which is not to be found in the American Heritage Dictionary or Merriam-Webster:
7. used in informal phrases to indicate understatement I've had just about enough of your insults it's about time you stopped
Aha, the famous British understatement. Rather than saying I've had enough, you put an about in to soften the blow. And then a just to soften it more.
But one would say I've had just about enough of your insults in AmE too. In fact, in COCA, there are 35 instances of about had it, including 16 just about had it. There might be a difference in perception here. To my AmE ear, I've just about had it is not an understatement. It means, if things don't change right away, I will have had it, and it's thus used as a warning. Whether BrE ears perceive that particular example as understatement is something that the mouths (or the typing fingers) that share a brain with those ears will have to tell us. At any rate, the UK dictionary did feel the need to mention it as an understatement-marker and the US ones did not, and I think there's something to that.
Ron's example is a much clearer case of understatement. The claim is that the pass was made, but it is stated as if the pass was not quite made in order to communicate that it almost wasn't made.
To give a few more examples, found by Google-searching "just about made it" (plus 'British' and 'American', because I originally searched with the hope that I'd find some dialect commentary):
We just about made it through Christmas. (Temple Audio, Ltd)There are also examples of the (orig. AmE) 'close but no cigar' type on this search and (of course) some that are ambiguous. But the above examples all come from the first page of results, clearly describe events that did happen (rather than ones that almost happened), and are all related (at least) to the UK. (The second is located in the US, but is a music scout who seems particularly Europe-focused, so one can only guess about his nationality or his linguistic contamination level.)
Well, I just about made it to hunt out some British talent for you all this week. I've tried to include more variety this time... (Road Runner Records)
I think you just about made it to the studio in time for your show! (commenter on Simon Mayo's BBC Radio 2 blog)
And on that note, I'm about finished.
* My ubiquitous bits are further evidence of my contamination. And yes, that is a double entendre. But don't think about it too much, please.


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£15 - £30 Barrage Fireworks
These barrages tend to be medium size, have more powder weight, and usually have more shots ranging from approximately 16 - 100 per barrage. In this section, you will find more variety of firing patterns than the smaller barrages and cakes. There is a good mix of small bore and large bore... Read More
- Red Mist By Celtic FireworksSpecial Price £17.49 Regular Price £22.49


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I watched Weather Channel like I have never done in my life. It is usually my Dad's prerogative when he is here and especially if it is winter. But in one week I outdid him. I watched it on the telly, on the laptop, on my iPad, on my phone...you name it and I was watching Weather Channel. And this from me who rarely ever watches television. You will say "House" and I will stare at you blank, you say "Dexter" and I am clueless. Beyond "Friends", "Everybody loves Raymond" and at times "Seinfeld" I don't think I have ever watched any series with so much emotions except of course Barney, Arthur and Dora the Explorer.
If this was India and there was a that thing called TRP, I bet TWC would score huge wins over stuff like "KKKKKKUsum" and "Kyunki Sass Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" and all this without even starting off with a "K".
So anyway we were all pretty excited and prepared for the hurricane maiden Irene this weekend. In its wake, the earthquake earlier in the week seemed like merely a child in diapers.
When I went to the grocery store on Thursday evening and couldn't find a single bunch of yellow banana and then had to snatch away the last gallon of Organic Milk from another equally eager Mother, I kind of had a premonition of the heady days ahead. I called up at least a dozen friends and told them about "bare shelves" and how we could not find a "single thing" at Wegman's when the truth is I notched up a bill of 125 dollars just buying things I might need in an emergency and this included tubs of Haagen-Daz's Dulche de Leche. They in turn regaled me with their stories of stores bereft of bottles of water and such.
The myths just propagated but honestly we couldn't find a single flashlight in any store on Friday and turned out that was the single most important thing we would need.
Saturday, to mark it special and all I decided to make a Bhuni Khichuri. I am not particularly fond of Khichuris and never eager to make them. But D loves Khichuri to bits so for once I decided to put aside my own selfish interest and cook something that he might like. What with the hurricane and all I thought, I better mend my ways and become a better person.
I was armed with two recipes from folks on FaceBook, a sketchy one from the Mater and my own strong desire to add a twist to the Bhuni Khichuri. Bhuni Khichuri or Bhuna Khichuri is the richer version of the plain old Khichuri. It is more of a Pulao in the Khichdi family than a Khichuri. It can have non-vegetarian components like meat, eggs or prawn added to it. The name "Bhuni" or "Bhuna" comes from the step that involves roasting of the moong dal and frying the rice etc. to make this Khichdi.
My own memories of Bhuni Khichuri is more fictional than practical and is strongly grounded in what Buddhadeb Guha insists that "Rijuda"(of Rijudar Sathe Jongole fame) eats along with delicious venison meat(horiner mangsho) during his hunting adventures.
On Saturday however I was also plagued with memories of Bisi Bele Bhath and I wanted a spice component to the Bhuni Khichuri. So from the Masala Vani suggests I omitted Curry Leaves, Sambhar Powder and Coconut, for a Bong touch added Paanch Phoron and made a spice powder. The Spice Powder along with the roasted Moong Dal, the Raisins, the Cashwes and the Ghee made for a suitably rich and delicious Bhuni Khicuri. We had it with some Papad and a spicy Chicken dish. By evening we were all ready for the hurricane and when the power conked off after midnight we went off to bed confident of a better tomorrow.
I just read that Swami Vivekananda who apparently was a very eager and experimental cook was fond of Bhuni Khicuri and made one with scrambled Duck Eggs added to it. This makes the cooking over the weekend all the more worthwhile.
Read more...
Make a Spice Powder
This is totally optional and not generic to traditional Bhuni Khichuri. You can use 1 tbsp of home made Garam Masala instead
Dry Roast
3 Dry red Chili(mine is not very hot, adjust according to taste)
4 green cardamom
4 laung/clove
1 big black cardamom(use only pods for grinding)
2" stick of cinnamon
1/4 tsp of Paanch Phoron
1 tbsp of Corriander seeds or 1 tsp of Corriander Powder
a pinch of Hing
Grind to a fine powder
Dry Roast 1 cup of Yellow Moong Dal till you get a nutty smell and some of the lentil is a light brown in color. Be careful, not to burn the lentils.
Wash 1 cup of Basmati or Gobindobhog rice and keep aside
Roast 2 tbsp of Kaju/Cashew in little oil and keep aside.
In a Pressure Cooker heat 1 tbsp of White Oil OR Ghee
Temper the Oil with
2 small Bay Leaves
2 small green cardamom
2 Clove
1" thin stick of cinnamon (optional, I skipped)
1-2 Dry Red Chili
When the spices sputter, add 2 tbsp of finely chopped onion. Fry the onion till it is brown at the edges
Add 1 heaped tsp of homemade Ginger-Garlic Paste (more Ginger, less Garlic) and fry for a minute.
Puree 1 medium juicy tomato and add to above. Continue frying with sprinkles of water till the tomato is cooked.
Now add 1/2 cup of Peas. I added about 3/4 cup of Frozen Carrots + Peas. You can also add potatoes, cauliflowers etc. Fry for couple more minutes.
Add the roasted Dal followed with the rice. Add 1/4th tsp of turmeric powder + the dry spice powder you made. You can use 1 tbsp of the spice powder you made, if you prefer less spicy.
Add 1-2 tbsp of golden raisins. Now fry everything for 3-4 more minutes.
Add about 4 to 4&1/2 Cup of warm water, salt and about 1/2 tsp of sugar. Mix everything. Add 1 tsp of Ghee. Close the lid of the Pressure cooker and cook for 4 minutes at full pressure. My pressure cooker cooks rice in 3 mins at full pressure, I give a minute extra for the dal.
When you open the lid of the cooker, add a tsp more of Ghee if you want. Add the roasted Kaju/Cashew Nuts. Keep container closed and serve piping hot with Papad, chutney, fried Hilsa, Begun Bhaja or any meat dish. Bhuni Khichuri is supposed to be dry and not runny or liquid-y like the regular Khichuri, you can however adjust to your taste.


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Showing 3 of 3:
Protected: Other TRI chemicals that release fluoride
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
Text of Email to Secretary Burwell & Administrator McCarthy
Dear Secretary Burwell and Administrator McCarthy: As we move into a new year, we believe the time has come for you to work together to establish a process to reach a joint position of HHS and EPA on federal fluoridation jurisdiction. In the email below, Steven Neugeboren, has indicated EPA willingness to participate in this […]
How to Sign up for the HHS/EPA email
The deadline for signing the proposed email is January 4, 2015 at 9 PM PT (12 PM ET). If you want to be a Concerned Citizen signer of the proposed email, then send an email to email@example.com with Your First and Last Names Your city and state (or country if not in the U.S.) Your […]


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The news that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was stopped by Transportation Security Administration screeners this morning at the Nashville airport and delayed for about an hour is whipping around the Web.
He is, after all, not only a senator but also the son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), one of the Republican presidential contenders.
According to Sen. Paul, after a scanner alarm went off he was asked by a TSA screener to step aside for a pat-down. The senator declined because he felt that would be intrusive and unnecessary. He asked instead, Paul just told CNN, to be allowed to go back through the machine. But he was told by TSA staffers that they couldn't allow him to do that.
It took a while to sort things out. The senator missed his flight. Eventually, he was rebooked on another and went back through security — this time walking through a screening machine with no problem. The alarm did not go off.
Which means to him, Sen. Paul told CNN, that the first alarm was likely "part of a random process." In other words, he said, sometimes alarms are set off when they don't need to be as part of TSA's effort to be unpredictable. And that, the senator said, doesn't make him feel any safer.
As for TSA, it has sent reporters messages saying that "this passenger was rebooked on another flight and completed screening without incident."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Plunge into the boroughs of Liberty City from the safety of your own chair.
Using the map
- Use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, or use the controls at the top left of the map.
- Use the categories on the right to determine which items are displayed on the map. Click on the items for relevant information, screenshots and videos.
- To find a specific item, select the appropriate categories and enter a search term into the text field. For example, to show the locations of all the sniper rifle pickups, make sure the Weapons category is selected, and type sniper into the text field.
- To mark a point on the map, click Mark a location and then click on the map in the desired location. Once the point is added, you can drag it across the map, right-click to remove it or double-click to add a description.
- To share the current map view, click Link to current map view and then copy and paste the link into an e-mail, instant message, document or website.


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First Come Flowers has 5 fabulous tips on how to decorate birdcages. |
Carmelina created the most beautiful snowflakes. |
Come and experience a heavenly Nordic Winter at Heaven's Walk |
You must experience this absolutely amazing kitchen renovation at Miss Gracie's House |
You are going to want to run out and find a settee after visiting Shenita's place at Embellishments at SLR |
This is classic blue and white heaven at the Swedish Corner - Down Under |


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He is former governor of Utah and the namesake of a very rich man. His father, a Salt Lake City bazillionaire, owns a chemical company that really blossomed when it created packaging for McDonald's Big Macs. His father also served in the Nixon administration, so Jon Huntsman Jr. lived in Washington as a young boy.
It's no secret that Huntsman grew up in the Mormon Church and served his two-year missionary stint in Taiwan, where he learned to speak Mandarin Chinese and Taiwanese Hokkien. He also did stretches as a civil servant for several presidents, then in 2004 was elected Utah's governor. In 2009, President Obama appointed him ambassador to China.
He rides a Harley-Davidson and likes tacos. He and his wife, Mary Kaye, have seven children, including Asha Bharati, adopted from India, and Gracie Mei, who had been abandoned in a Chinese vegetable market. Three of the Huntsman daughters — Mary Anne, Liddy and Abby — are using Twitter in creative, sometimes edgy ways to promote their father's candidacy.
But here are a few more things you may not know about Jon Huntsman:
1. He was a musical theater prodigy. "I have sung the part of Oliver and Tiny Tim in church," Huntsman wrote in his resume when he was 15 years old and working at Mikado in Salt Lake City. At the Japanese restaurant, Huntsman toiled away as a dishwasher, prep cook and busboy. (Huntsman tweeted that someone scrounged up his curriculum vitae from the mid-1970s.) He also worked as a stonemason in the summer of 1974, was on his school's track and basketball teams, and enjoyed music, singing, tennis, swimming, skiing, motocross and camping.
2. He dropped out of high school — but he did graduate from college. In 1978, Huntsman quit school to play keyboards in the rock band Wizard. Eventually he was able to take classes at the University of Utah "after proving himself academically," according to his campaign website. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He still tickles the ivories occasionally and tweets about his love of Captain Beefheart.
3. He has said he doesn't like campaigning. When President George H.W. Bush was defeated, according to a 1994 Forbes story, many people thought that Huntsman, then U.S. ambassador to Singapore, would go back to Utah and run for Congress. But Huntsman said he wasn't interested. "A commuter lifestyle didn't appeal to me," he told the magazine. "Nor did the campaign process."
4. He is respectful of China. In 1996, Huntsman, then a vice president of his father's multimillion-dollar chemical corporation, gave readers of Plastic News some advice about how to deal with China. "I'm aghast at the number of people who go there without any guidance," Huntsman said. "You need to hear both sides of China, both good and bad, particularly if you don't have a lot of resources. Consultation on the front end will save a lot of dyspepsia on the back end."
5. He once found a flak jacket under his Christmas tree. In 2005, then-Gov. Huntsman and his wife, Mary Kaye, asked the spouses of the Utah National Guard to adorn the Christmas tree in the governor's mansion. Decorations included framed photos of fallen military service members, a pair of boots still sandy from the Iraqi desert, a helmet and a flak jacket. "We could have had Santa Claus," Huntsman told The New York Times. "But to us, this was the most poignant way to celebrate the meaning of Christmas: a time of service, sacrifice and peace."
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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Regions Bank - Trinity
Bank Hours (Lobby)
Mon - Fri: 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sat: 9 a.m.-12 p.m.
Sun: Closed
About Us
Regions Bank has knowledgeable professionals to help you take your next step while providing exceptional customer service and financial guidance. Regions has 351 branches and 543 ATMs throughout FL providing a full range of personal deposits, loans and credit lines, business banking services, insurance*, investment* products and more. You can also take advantage of Regions services without an account, such as check cashing1 and/or Western Union® money transfers. So virtually anywhere you go in FL, we can offer solutions for your financial needs.
With Online Banking and Mobile Banking2 you can access your accounts without visiting a branch or take advantage of many Regions banking services like depositing a check or loading funds onto your reloadable prepaid Regions Now Card using Regions Mobile Deposit2. Make an appointment today to learn more.


text:
Valli & Valli H345 PCY Fusital
Special Price $287.55 Regular Price $355.00
Out of stock
Valli & Valli H345 PCY Fusital
Modern door lever finished in satin or polished chrome. Creative design and superb quality by the Italian hardware manufacturer Valli & Valli. The complete lockset includes the following components:
- Two female door levers Valli & Valli H 345
- Privacy Latch - for use on non-drilled doors with 65mm roses
- Two roses - round or square, 10 mm thickness
- Spindle - specified given the door thickness
- Download lever specification


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"I feel that I have spent half my career with one or another Pelican Shakespeare in my back pocket. Convenience, however, is the least important aspect of the new Pelican Shakespeare series. Here is an elegant and clear text for either the study or the rehearsal room, notes where you need them and the distinguished scholarship of the general editors, Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller who understand that these are plays for performance as well as great texts for contemplation." (Patrick Stewart)
The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series, which has sold more than four million copies, is now completely revised and repackaged.
Each volume features:
* Authoritative, reliable texts
* High quality introductions and notes
* New, more readable trade trim size
* An essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare and essays on Shakespeare's life and the selection of texts


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Recently, I told all of you that I was selected as the first-ever brand ambassador for skincare line First Aid Beauty. And, in my first post, I mentioned that you should stay tuned for some very exciting news from the brand. Well, that day is here! Introducing First Aid Beauty Dual Repair.
Dual Repair is a collection of three products launching exclusively at Sephora stores in January. The focus of all three is on anti-aging -- specifically, to reduce fine lines and wrinkles, make the skin more radiant and improve skin texture. But Lilli Gordon, the founder of First Aid Beauty, really wanted to bring something new and different to the market with this launch. "When your skin barrier gets compromised, it's as though it has little holes punched into it, which means that bad stuff can get in more easily and all of the good stuff that you want to stay in, can't," she told me. "The whole dermal matrix is compromised. Collagen production as a result is reduced, and ironically all of that causes the skin to age faster."
Did you know that in the in the 1940s, prior to World War II, the reported skin sensitivity rates were in the 20-30 percent range for the population? Now, upwards of 70 percent of the population reports having sensitive skin. When skin is sensitive and reactive, it's usually due to a compromised skin barrier. This upward tick of people reporting sensitive skin was what inspired Lilli to create the products in the Dual Repair collection.
Traditional anti aging products bombard the skin with aggressive ingredients that can irritate the skin, especially if you are sensitive, which can actually age the skin with continued use. The "dual" part of the line refers to the blend of both active ingredients that address the signs of aging, such as dull skin, wrinkles and uneven skin tone as well as ingredients that strengthen the skin barrier and reduce skin sensitivity. Dual Repair contains new anti-aging actives that are clinically proven to be effective but safe for even the most sensitive skin. These actives are Astaxanthan (derived from marine micro-algae), SymCalmin (a derivative of oats that reduces inflammation, redness and itching), Argireline (an acetylated hexapeptide that works to reduce wrinkles and redness), Ascorbyl Glucoside (a form of Vitamin C that brightens the skin) and Lana Blue (a blue algae extract that has retinoid-like activity). And, because the skin is fundamentally healthier, the actives' penetration is even more efficient than before.
I'm here to tell you that the line is absolutely fantastic! I've been using all three products for the past few weeks, and my skin looks and feels incredible. So what are these three products, you're probably asking? Well, here they are:
I've been applying all three products in the morning before I leave for work for the past few weeks. And would you believe me if I told you the compliments I've received on my skin have increased tenfold?
Now, here's the most exciting part. FIVE WINNERS have the chance to receive a full set of the new First Aid Beauty Dual Repair Collection BEFORE it hits Sephora stores in January! This collection has a total retail value of $132. Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
This giveaway ends on Friday, January 4 at midnight. FIVE WINNERS will be chosen AT RANDOM on Saturday, January 5. Maximum of FOUR ENTRIES (one for each way listed above). Multiple entries will be disqualified. Giveaway is open to US residents only.


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About SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan, Hudson Yards
Robert E. Citrangola
Owners of SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan, Hudson Yards
Property damage can wreak havoc on both your home and emotions. Thankfully SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan understands the stress and worry that comes with a fire or water damage and the disruption it causes your life and home or business. Our goal is to help minimize the interruption to your life and quickly make it "Like it never even happened."
SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan specializes in the cleanup and restoration of residential and commercial property after a fire, smoke or water damage. SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan can also mitigate mold and mildew from your home or business.
Our staff is Licensed, Insured & highly trained in property damage restoration. From initial and ongoing training at SERVPRO's corporate training facility to regular IICRC-industry certification, rest assured our staff is equipped with the knowledge to restore your property. With a nationwide system of qualified franchises, no damage is too large or too small for SERVPRO of Midtown Manhattan.
If you would like to schedule service for your home or business, please call today!
Serving you since 1967, SERVPRO is the cleaning and restoration brand you know and trust.
Insurance and Payment Information
For a stress free claims process, SERVPRO works with your insurance to help manage the insurance process and paperwork.
We also accept the following credit cards for your convenience:
- ASD - Applied Structural Drying Technician
- CCT - Carpet Cleaning Technician
- ECTP - Employee Certification Training Program
- FSRT - Fire & Smoke Damage Restoration Technician
- IICRC Certified Firm
- OSHA - 30-hour General and/or Construction Industry Training Program
- OSHA - Other Training
- RRRP - Lead-Based Paint Activities and Renovation
- SMT - Stone, Masonry and Ceramic Tile Cleaning Technician
- UFT - Upholstery & Fabric Cleaning Technician
- WRT - Water Damage Restoration Technician
- National Association of Women Business Owners
- New York City Chamber of Commerce
- Red Cross
- RIA Association
- Founder's Gold
- Founder's Silver
- Founder's Silver
- Chairman's Platinum
- Heritage Platinum
- Heritage Silver