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Ellis Medicine offers a wide range of medical, surgical and support services at locations throughout the Capital District. To find the care you need, click on the featured service links or use the menu below to find the healthcare services you're interested in learning more about.
Bella Baby brings experienced photographers to the hospital to capture your baby's first photograph in the comfort of your hospital room.
Photos are posted to an online, custom slide-show for you to view shortly after your session- a great way to share with family and friends. Online viewing and ordering is password protected and only available to those with whom you choose to share your password. Photos will be available for 14 days after the photos are taken.
You may view your baby's photos, or get more information, by going to the Bella Baby Website, with your unique password. Photos will be in a slideshow format, and individual pictures can be selected to print in black and white, color, or sepia. Visit the Price List section of the Bella Baby Web site for more information.
All images are a copyright of Bella Baby Photography.
Share news of your baby's arrival with your friends and family through Ellis' online Birth Announcement Album. View the album here to see Bellevue's latest arrivals!
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Main Number 518.382.2000
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Main Number: 518.346.9400
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Main Number 518.579.2800
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Verlingue delivers efficient solutions to protect the activities of Healthcare professionals – both insurance and employee benefits.
Solutions adapted to healthcare establishments
Your needs / Our solutions
Putting in place complementary health insurance and personal protection cover for your employees
Verlingue assists healthcare establishments in complying with their new responsibilities as employers providing customised, efficient solutions: medical expenses, personal protection, management of absenteeism, retirement pensions, personal accident and death/disablement covers.
Support for all your risk exposures
Our expertise includes:
> Advice (risk management, loss prevention, claims handling)
> Insurance distribution (individual healthcare insurance)
> Property insurance (asset and business protection, customised business interruption cover, machinery breakdown, closure by the authorities, loss of practitioners' fee income, destruction of contaminated equipment)
> Liability and sundry covers (medical and medical-social liability, directors and officers liability (D&O), cyber-risks, fraud)
> Other insurances (motor fleet, construction insurance (contractors' all risks (CAR), works damage insurance).

subset: commoncrawl


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From Reuters, regarding today's CITI testimony before congress:
Prince's infamous comment that his bank was "still dancing" even as the subprime crisis worsened came back to haunt him at the commission hearing where he was asked about it. His explanation seemed to boil down to this: it was a race to keep up with competitors who kept loosening lending standards and Citi couldn't afford to drop out.
Prince is too defensive. The correct response was that the government was madly printing money in an attempt to recover from the tech bubble's crash.
In this environment of cheap cash, Bankers must lend or be forced out of business by the actions of the government. The risk was compounded by the governments failure to regulate new financial instruments. And the government failed to regulate them because academic economists has proposed models and equations that promised risk, and many financial luminaries, of which Greenspan was a member, believed that these instruments had indeed reduced risk.
THe problem is this: by printing money the government created a moral hazard, and the government is responsible for the outcome. A banker, with understanding or not, should not be forced into being uncompetitive or into insolvency because the state dumps the commodity we call money on the market. Bankers just protected their organizations from the government's interference in business. Sure they profited from it. Because the only other choice was to go out of business.
If capitalism fails, it fails because of government interference. Markets cannot solve all problems, in particular, they cannot concentrate a large volume of capital on long term projects such as infrastructure. But failures of capitalism are almost universally failures of government to refrain from those acts which cause long term harm for short term good.
We are two years into this crisis and still the blame is on the wrong parties. Bankers are normal people, and few of them have all but the vaguest understanding of the economy. They are largely clerical workers and accountants who move the commodity money around our civilization. For all there terminology, graphs and formulae, for all their statistics and reports, the vast majority have little understanding of the impact of their decisions, the outcomes of their actions, or the limits of our conceptual technology in forecasting such things as risk. If the greatest minds in history have had trouble with such consensus, then why should we think bankers should?
Furthermore, why do we think government is capable of doing any better than bankers?
It's hubris on the part of government. Practicality on the part of bankers. And foolishness all around.
But the people who CAUSED this problem, are the people who have, at least since FDR, but likely since the start of the federal reserve, conspired to destroy our money, and with our money, our cautious behaviors, and with our behaviors our nation.


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CES: Motorola reveals iPad-rival Xoom tablet
Motorola's Xoom boasts more features than the iPad and will run the new version of Google's Android OS.
Motorola today revealed its new Android-based Xoom tablet, which the company hopes will dethrone Apple's iPad in this fast-growing market segment.
The Xoom betters the iPad in some ways--it comes standard with front- and rear-facing cameras, including one that can record in HD, compared with none in the current version of the iPad. It also boasts a larger screen with a higher resolution, supports Adobe Flash, and uses Verizon's network instead of AT&T's.
It will become the first device to run the latest version of Google's Android operating system, known as Honeycomb. The operating system supports multitasking and has been designed explicitly for tablets.
Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this afternoon that the device will be available in stores in the first quarter of 2011 in 3G form. All of the 3G Xooms "are capable" of being upgraded to 4G later this year, he said.
Jha didn't announce how much the device will cost and Motorola ended the event without taking questions from reporters.
This will be "the most competitive product in the marketplace," Jha predicted. (Motorola recently split into two publicly traded companies, Motorola Mobility Holdings and Motorola Solutions.)
The Xoom (pronounced "zoom") will operate on Verizon Wireless' network and be upgradeable to 4G LTE in the second quarter of the year, with units sold thereafter including 4G by default. It was not immediately clear if a Wi-Fi-only version would be available, but the companies' statement appeared to indicate it would not be, and the photos of the tablet show a Verizon logo on the top right corner.
Motorola Xoom - CES (photos)See all photos
Jha showed some videos of the tablet in action but told reporters it was still under development and would not be available for hands-on demonstrations today.
In terms of specifications, the Xoom has a dual-core processor with each core running at 1 GHz, a 1,280x800 resolution (compared with the iPad's 1,024x768), a 10.1-inch 16:10 display (larger than the iPad's 9.7 inches), and supports Google Maps 5.0 with 3D buildings. It can capture 720p video with the rear camera.
Motorola also announced three accessories: a leather case that doubles as a stand, a standard dock for charging and display, and a "speaker HD" dock. The latter includes three USB ports, HDMI output, and built-in speakers. There's also a Bluetooth keyboard, but any should work.
Some of the lingering questions may be answered tomorrow. Verizon's CEO Ivan Seidenberg will be delivering a keynote at 8:30 a.m. PT, and Verizon Wireless will hold a press conference at 1 p.m. PT.
Meanwhile, expect to see other Android-based tablets very soon. Also this afternoon, T-Mobile and LG Mobile Phones announced their G-Slate tablet, which will also run Honeycomb on T-Mobile's HSPDA+ 4G network, and be available in the next few months.
Update 8:45 p.m. PT: CNET TV has posted a six-minute video that shows how the Xoom tablet handles tab-based browsing, Google Maps in 3D, e-book reading through Google's marketplace, and movies. Here's Motorola's Xoom Web site. And here's a CNET first take on the G-Slate tablet including a video.


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In an abundance of caution, Chattanooga Bakery, Inc., maker of MoonPie® and LookOut!™ branded snacks, today announced a voluntary, limited recall of its Peanut Butter Crunch products with "Best By" dates of 02/26/13, 03/25/13, and 04/29/13. No other Chattanooga Bakery / MoonPie / LookOut products are affected by this recall.
The voluntary recall was initiated immediately upon learning that our peanut butter supplier, Sunland, Inc., has recalled product produced from May 1st, 2012 – September 24th, 2012. Sunland has stated that twenty?nine people have reported Salmonella Bredeney PFGE matching illnesses in approximately 18 states. These illnesses were associated with Creamy Salted Valencia Peanut Butter, which was produced by Sunland, Inc.
Salmonella is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Healthy persons infected with Salmonella often experience fever, diarrhea (which may be bloody), nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. In rare circumstances, infection with Salmonella can result in the organism getting into the bloodstream and producing more severe illnesses such as arterial infections (i.e., infected aneurysms), endocarditis and arthritis.
Chattanooga Bakery's Peanut Butter Crunch products (9.6 ounce multipack and 2.4 ounce twin pack) have not been associated with any of the reported illnesses. Regardless, we are taking this precautionary step to protect our customers and their families from any possible risk. Customers who have purchased this item are urged not to eat the product, and to dispose of it or return it to the retailer for a full refund.
For more specific information regarding the Sunland recall, please visit the manufacturer website by viewing the link below: https://www.sunlandinc.com/788/html/pdfs/SunlandRecall.pdf
If you require further information, please contact customer service at (423) 267 ? 3351.


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If people buy from people they like and always remember the way you've made them feel —it's crucial to show prospects and clients how much you appreciate them. But what's the easiest way to do this? There are only so many hours in an advisor's day — how do you make every client feel special – all while moving prospects up the "Appointment Ladder" from "Knows My Name" to "Bought a Policy & Considers Me a Friend?"
EASY! e-Relationship is built on this precise value proposition! Our advisors-turned-marketers created 14 totally unique types of genius emails that automatically reach out to prospects and clients annually! [Use our default dates, or choose your own schedule.]
Saying "Thank You" for a referral [you're sure to LOVE our e-Referral module — "Happy Groundhog Day", Happy Independence Day" along with hundreds of other messages, all have the power to completely change the other person's mood for the better. It just makes sense that e-Relationship's helpful, inviting messages establish and strengthen friendships, even influence and create loyalty.
But e-Relationship jumps 12 steps further than e-Cards and e-Inspirational Messages. Each module works to build your reputation through Validation, Likability and Trust — continually keeping fresh appointments coming your way! In fact, e-RELATIONSHIP USERS EARN, ON AVERAGE, 75% MORE PC's* THAN NON e-RELATIONSHIP USERS – as shown in a 2012 Advisors Sales Survey. Why? Check out our samples now at: http://www.e-relationship.com/samples.
Staying connected through e-Relationship is proven to make you one of the most beloved advisors in your market. On the other hand, missing this key ingredient and forgetting to reach out and touch clients and prospects leaves these buyers feeling taken for granted and unappreciated. You can easily see the damage this can do to client devotion and the building of future bonds.
It's SO easy to type in a single contact or import 1000's from any CRM, Excel, Yahoo, Gmail, Facebook, etc. account. Import them yourself or have our Customer Service team do it for you! Personalized emails are 6 times more likely to get opened than non-personalized emails, and our patented, compliance-approved content employs psychological triggers to gain responses. So, if you aren't already using e-Relationship — how much revenue are you losing? Call us now at 1800-851-8169 and we'll hit the ground running to get your account started today!


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Many people say that fifa 11 cannot surpass its predecessor, fifa 10, however, I believe that it can, and I think that it will become one of xbox top games, and one of PlayStation top games.
As any football and video game fanatic would know, fifa ps3 game brings together the best of new technology and our love of football to create one of xbox top games and one of PlayStation top games.
With the addition of new players, clubs and game modes the fifa ps3 game, is set to outsell its close rival in football games, Pro Evolution Soccer.
The fifa ps3 game recently had a fifa 09 ps3 update. This fifa 09 ps3 update improves the game dramatically. In my view this one of the reasons for the huge success of the game. The fifa 09 ps3 update shows that EA are dedicated to improving the game even after it has been released.
My advice to anyone who is unsure about buying the fifa ps3 game, or fifa 11 on any platform, is to buy it, because its going to be another great game from EA Sports.
GameBattles: The World Leader in Online Video Game Competition – GameBattles is the world leader in online video game competition for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PC, Xbox, PlayStation 2, DS, PSP, PS3, PS2, X360, ladders, tournaments, teams, clans, stats, gamer profiles, forums and more…


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St. Louis ballet dancer found dead in rural Missouri lake
Authorities are investigating the death of a St. Louis ballerina who was found dead in a rural Missouri lake, the state's highway patrol said.
The body of Raffaella Maria Stroik, 23, was found Wednesday more than 100 miles northwest of St. Louis in the Mark Twain Lake.
More than 100 law enforcement officers, volunteers and family members were searching for her in the Mark Twain State Park when a private plane pilot who had joined the search spotted her body in the water, officials said in a statement.
There were no immediate signs of foul play, but the investigation into her death is still ongoing, Missouri Highway Patrol Sgt. Eric Brown told reporters.
An autopsy has been set for Thursday, Brown said.
Stroik was reported missing Tuesday after her vehicle was found unattended near the park's boat ramp parking lot. Authorities believe her vehicle had been there at least since Monday. Brown said investigators don't know why she was in the state park.
She was last seen Monday morning at a Whole Foods Market in the St. Louis suburb of Town and Country, Missouri, officials said.
Stroik had joined the Saint Louis Ballet last year, performing in the company's productions of "Cinderella," "Giselle," "The Nutcracker" and "La Vie."
"She was a wonderful dancer and a beautiful person. We extend our condolences to her family. We are so very sad over the loss of this talented and beautiful spirit," the company said in a statement.
The young dancer was also a ballet teacher at Expressions Academy of Dance in Belleville, Illinois, according to the studio's website.


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Does this make sense to you?
Today I stopped at a fast food restaurant and ordered a salad. I know it might not make sense that I would choose this kind of eating place for a salad but that is not the point here. When asked what I wanted to drink, I asked for a cup of water. The person taking my order said, "Sorry, but we can't give you a cup of water. You have to buy it."
"OK," I said. "How much is it?"
"One dollar." For a cup of water?
"Never mind," I said. "I don't mind paying a few cents for the cup but a dollar for water. I will not drink anything."
I could buy a $1 soft drink and have as many refills as I want. I guess I could drink a gallon so long as I kept filling up my original cup. And if I wanted to, I assume I could share that drink with others and together we could drink gallons. All because I had paid $1 for the first serving.
I suspect that the expectation was that I would buy a soft drink or "upgrade" my water choice and purchase a bottle of water. Increased revenue was probably the goal of this policy. Instead, I resolved that I would eat somewher else enxt time.
There may be something that I am missing here. Perhaps some customers would ask for water if it was free and then go to the self serve fountain and get soft drinks that they had not paid for. There may be other concerns that I do not understand but I think the restaurant management used poor judgment in making the decision to charge for water.
Before I got too far along with my dissatisfaction with the restaurant I started thinking about decisions we make in the church. Often there are unintended consequences to our decisions. Are we conscious of the effect upon the work of the church and the kingdom of God when we establish budgets, employ and assign staff, set policies, design and build facilities, and make many other decisions?
Are we "penny wise and pound foolish"? Do our decisions include or exclude people? Are we generous with our resources or are we hoarding them for ourselves? Does our action reflect the attitude of Christ or is it selfish?
Do we invite people in or keep people out? Are we "winning a battle but losing the war?"
Does the way we "do church" make sense?
Technology and Digital Ministry


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- From: Peristeras, Vassilios <email@example.com>
- Date: Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:55:15 +0100
- To: "Jose M. Alonso" <firstname.lastname@example.com>
- Cc: <firstname.lastname@example.com>
Thanks Jose, I am wondering where the UC9 [1] could be included in the document. I could see it alternatively in: a) What Are the Main Issues with Publishing Open Government Data? As a challenge for annotating data about public services using a common RDFa schema, or b) in the interoperability section either in the How Can Interoperability Be Achieved? Or in the What Are the Main Issues to Achieve Interoperability? sub-sections. If you (or someone else) give me an indication of where to include the idea I could distill the UC description in a small paragraph. Moreover, on the What Are the Main Issues with Using the Web for Participation and Engagement? In the text I read... "yet many social networks have been designed to be "walled gardens", locking people in to their service as much as they possibly can." I would add after that this: "certain initiatives are currently ongoing to create vocabularies that could be used to annotate and thus interlink data locked in different systems. Examples include FOAF which becomes a de facto standard for describing people and SIOC which is currently a W3C submission for annotating discussions on the web." Best regards, Vassilios [1] http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/wiki/Use_Case_9_-_Common_Service_Model -----Original Message----- From: Jose M. Alonso [mailto:firstname.lastname@example.com] Sent: 22 April 2009 20:54 To: Peristeras, Vassilios Cc: email@example.com Subject: plan to finish document and re-charter Group [was: Re: Plain Language use case [was RE: Suggestion for Introduction] Hi Vassilios El 22/04/2009, a las 12:23, Peristeras, Vassilios escribió: > Jose, > > Some question as I am a bit puzzled. > I would expect to see a link to the current version of the document > here > [1]. Is there a reason for not having this available there? It _is_ linked from there. In fact, "Group Note" is the first thing you find under "Current Activities." If you don't see much changes in that version wrt the published draft, you're right. We decided not to implement them until agreed and not before end of period for comments, i.e. April 26. I see "Multi- Channel" is about to be done and I'm eager to add it to the doc. > Moreover, it is not clear to me if and how the use cases we have > drafted > will find their place in the final document. Moreover, what will > happen > to the "pending use cases"? I think existing use cases were basis for discussion and led to the current doc. I'm not sure what will happen to use cases next. I proposed to select and "graduate" some, even have a system more or less in place [2], but discussion was postponed. > More generally, I would highly appreciate a short email wrapping up > where we are and what has to be done during next weeks. It would be > helpful I guess to people that couldn't closely follow all discussions > going on now. Compilation from minutes and latest discussions. * April 26, deadline for comments to the draft. + Group does not expect to publish a new draft but the final document directly * April 29, 13:00Z, Group call. + Review of ISSUES + Resolve easiest ones + Action people to deal with the ones that need more attention + Deadline to solve all: May 5 * May 6, Extra 2-hour Group call, 13:00Z + Resolve pending issues, close all actions * May 9, all changes done, doc finalized + request publication * May 12, publication of final Note * until mid-end June, development of 2nd charter * end of September, first charter extension expires (latest two assuming W3M approves extension, but don't expect any problems) So two _very_ intense weeks coming up. Hope this helps, Jose. [2] http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/UseCases/doc/how-does-it-work > Thanks and Best regards, > Vassilios > [1] http://www.w3.org/2007/eGov/IG/wiki/Main_Page >
Received on Saturday, 25 April 2009 09:57:11 UTC


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State Highway 1 between Christchurch and Picton was significantly damaged by the magnitude 7.8 Kaikōura Earthquake in November 2016. The North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) is an alliance partnership, set-up to restore the road and rail networks in this area. Several projects undertaken by NCTIR have utilised ground anchors or soil nails in the repair or construction of structural assets, however the design used varied from site to site. This paper will discuss some types of ground anchors and soil nails. It will illustrate how they were used on this project, how corrosion protection was achieved and the design standards which were adopted.
1. Introduction
1.1 North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR)
The damage caused to the road and rail transport infrastructure along the north east coast of the South Island by the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake was unprecedented in New Zealand. North Canterbury Transport Infrastructure Recovery (NCTIR) is an alliance partnership between the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, Fulton Hogan, Downer, HEB Construction and Higgins that was set-up to restore the road and rail networks. More than 1300 people from 100 organisations are part of NCTIR, working to restore the transport corridor along the Kaikōura coastline.
1.2 Typical Applications in NCTIR Structures
Ground anchors and soil nails have been utilised by NCTIR in the design of retaining walls, rock fall mitigation, tunnel repairs and various other uses on and around State Highway 1 and the MNL Railway. This paper will focus predominantly on the use of ground anchors and soil nails for retaining structures supporting State Highway 1 where such uses have included:
- Installing anchors through damaged existing gabion basket walls and kingpost walls to improve stability and/or wall capacity.
- Incorporating anchors into the design of new king post and bored pile walls in order to reduce the embedment required and limit outward displacement under future seismic loading.
- New gabion walls incorporating ground anchors rather than MSE reinforcing in order to minimise the excavation needed during construction.
- Soil nail walls designed to stabilise existing soil slopes and crib walls
- Stabilising steep slopes below new gravity walls with soil nails
2. Design Guidelines
2.1 Standards and Codes
For the NCTIR project the design of assets supporting the state highway has been completed in accordance with NZTA Bridge Manual 3rd Edition, 2016 (Bridge Manual). In addition to this, a Design Philosophy Report for Retaining Structures was prepared by NCTIR and approved by NZTA. Between these two documents, the following list of references specific to the design of ground anchors and soil nails was developed:
- NZTA Bridge Manual 3rd Edition, 2016, Part 6 Site stability, foundations, earthworks and retaining walls
- NCTIR Design Philosophy Report for Retaining Structures on the Existing Road Network 100001-CD- RW-DP-0001[1]
- BS8081:2015 Code of practice for grouted anchors, The British Standards Institution 2017
- BS EN 1537:2013 Execution of special geotechnical works — Ground anchors
- FHWA-IF-99-015 Geotechnical Engineering Circular No. 4 – Ground Anchors and Anchored Systems – June 1999
- FHWA 96-069r Manual for Design and Construction of Soil Nail Walls (which has since been superseded by FHWA-IF-03-017 Geotechnical Engineering Circular No. 7 – Soil Nail Walls)
In addition to the above documents, NCTIR made two applications to the NZ Transport Agency to depart from the Bridge Manual during the design of ground anchors and soil nails. In both cases these were a departure from the approach to corrosion protection required by the Bridge Manual.
2.2 Ground Anchors or Soil Nails
As defined in Table 6.4 of the Bridge Manual, soil-nailed walls are categorised as a mechanically stabilised earth (MSE) wall. Soil-nailed walls comprise concrete and steel insertions knitting together a whole block of soil to form a mass which acts under gravity to remain stable, whereas anchored walls, as defined in the Bridge Manual, are designed to transfer some of the loads on walls to the ground outside the zone of influence of the wall. The NCTIR project used either soil nails or ground anchors at over 30 sites.
2.3 Key Guidance from the Bridge Manual for Ground Anchor Design
The following points summarise the key guidance from the Bridge Manual for ground anchor design:
- Walls that are restrained using anchors are designed to transfer some of the loads on walls to the ground outside the zone of influence of the wall.
- Anchored walls are generally rigid systems, and shall be designed to resist the full ground, groundwater and earthquakes forces on the walls.
- The anchor system shall be designed to ensure a ductile failure of the wall under earthquake overloads.
- Pull-out tests shall be carried out on trial anchors.
- On-site suitability tests shall be carried out accordance with BS EN 1537.
- On-site acceptance tests shall be carried out in accordance with BS EN 1537on all as built ground anchors.
- Long term monitoring and instrumentation should be carried out in accordance with FHWA-RD-97-130 Design manual for permanent ground anchor walls.
2.4 Key Guidance from the Bridge Manual for Soil Nail Design
The following points summarise the key guidance from the Bridge Manual for soil nail design:
- Soil nailing shall be carried out only on drained slopes that are free of groundwater
- Limited controlled block displacement may be allowed in strong earthquakes
- Pull-out tests shall be carried out
- On-site suitability tests shall be carried out on a selected number of production soil nails as per BS EN 1537(49)
- On-site acceptance tests shall be carried out in accordance with BS EN 1537(49) on at least 25% of all as built soil nails.
2.5 Corrosion Protection for Ground Anchors
The Bridge Manual states that all anchor systems shall be corrosion protected to ensure durability over the design working life of the structure. Two classes of protection are specified. Table 6.5 and Figure 6.5 in the Bridge Manual provide a decision making process based on the aggressively of soil, consequences of failure and the cost benefit. Class I includes double corrosion protection by encapsulation of the tendon or bar pre-grouted under factory conditions inside a corrugated plastic sheath. Class II has single corrosion protection such as galvanizing or a fusion bonded epoxy-coating.
2.6 Corrosion Protection for Soil Nails
The Bridge Manual states that soil nail reinforcement shall be subject to the same corrosion protection requirements as ground anchors.
3. Ground Anchor and Soil Nail Systems
3.1 Systems considered at NCTIR
Both ground anchors and soli nails can be considered as a series of structural elements (rods) protruding into the ground. The rods can have various different forms depending on the system adopted. During the design process, various types of ground anchor or soil nailing systems were considered by the NCTIR designers. These included solid bars, hollow core self-drilling bars, fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) bars or direct push anchors. The following sections provide a general description of each of these ground anchor types.
3.2 Solid Bars
Solid bar anchors or nails typically comprise steel bars installed in a drill hole and grouted. These bars can be encapsulated in a grout core which is cast within a plastic sheath to provide Class I corrosion protection. In the case of construction in weak ground where drill holes are at risk of collapse during installation, temporary casing can be provided to keep the drill holes open.
3.3 Hollow Core Self-drilling Bars
Self-drilling anchors do not require a separate process to form the drill hole. A sacrificial drilling head at the tip of the anchor rods forms and governs the diameter of the anchor hole. Grout is pumped through the hollow core of the rods which eventually form the steel reinforcement component of the anchor. If necessary the grout can also be used as a drilling fluid during installation. Self-drilling anchors cannot be encapsulated in a plastic sheath to provide double corrosion protection.
3.4 FRP Bars
Fibre reinforced plastic (FRP) bars are solid and are installed using the same methods as described above for solid steel bars. A key advantage over a steel anchor is that they are significantly lighter. A lighter bar is much safer to handle on site. The other key advantage of FRP bars is that they have better corrosion resistance characteristics when compared to steel and can achieve a 100 year design life without encapsulation or additional treatment. The disadvantage is that the failure mechanism is brittle rather than a ductile plastic failure.
3.5 Direct Push Anchors
Direct push anchors typically have a flat head on the end of a series of steel rods which is rotated at the end of installation to provide a mechanical anchor. There is no grout component to these anchors and they rely on loading of the soil at the end plate to achieve their capacity. Because the anchors are pushed, rather than drilled, they are not suitable for installation in rock. These also cannot be encapsulated in a plastic sheath to provide double corrosion protection, although the specification of more corrosion resistant materials can improve the durability of these anchors. Of the systems presented here, only these direct push anchors are only suitable as ground anchors and not also suitable as soil nails. This is due to the load transfer mechanism.
4. Significant NCTIR Ground Anchor and Soil Nail Sites
4.1 The Sand Pit
4.1.1 Location and Damage
The NCTIR Sand Pit site is located on State Highway 1, just south of the Clarence River. The earthquake damage at this site consists of both fill embankment and cut slope failures along a 700 m long section of 2-lane highway. In the worst damaged area, the embankment failure destroyed the entire width of the south bound lane, as can be seen in Photograph 1. The ground conditions in this location are predominantly dune sand and the main challenges to the project were the confined nature of the site and the short time frame available for design and construction before reopening the highway. A temporary solution, comprising anchored gabion baskets, was designed and constructed to work around these constraints.
Photograph 1: Embankment failure at the Sand Pit, photograph taken January 2017.
4.1.2 The Sand Pit Wall Design
188.8.131.52 Optioneering
The design of this wall relied on the stability of the slope below the wall and analysis showed that the static slope stability factor of safety specified in the Bridge Manual was not easily achieved. It was recognised that design solutions which addressed this instability, in full compliance with the Bridge Manual, may not be achievable with in the NCTIR timeframe. However, to facilitate opening the road by December 2017, a temporary solution could be constructed. This design would have a design life of up to 5 years. In parallel, feasibility and pricing studies for a more long term solution to realign SH1 were carried out. The selected solution presents a lower cost, temporary option with a design life of up to 5 years comprising anchored gabion walls on the outside edge of the road.
188.8.131.52 Solution Overview
The advantage of an anchored solution at the Sand Pit was that it minimised the need to excavate to install a gravity or MSE solution as this would not be possible without closing the adjacent haul road which was essential to enable other critical repair works to the south. The maximum wall height was 6.0 m, and ground anchors were installed through the new gabion baskets.
The ground conditions were of Quaternary Dune Sand. Where ground anchors were installed, this was typically encountered as Sand with minor Silt or trace Gravel increasing in density with depth. Pre-construction anchor tests demonstrated that the ground was typically unstable during drilling and collapsed during open hole drilling before an anchor could be inserted and grouted. To overcome this construction issue, self-drilling (hollow core) anchors installed with a grout flush were specified. As discussed previously, it is not possible for this type of ground anchor to meet the requirements of the Bridge Manual for permanent anchor corrosion protection. A departure from the Bridge Manual was secured because these works were part of a temporary structure with a 2-5 year design life. A departure for reduced design seismic loading for this asset was also obtained because of the short design life.
During design of the Sand Pit ground anchors, a geotechnical ultimate grout to ground bond stress of 90 kPa was adopted. This bond strength was based on sacrificial anchor testing comprising three test anchors each with a bond length of 6.0 m and drill hole diameter of 0.1 m. The anchors failed between 175 kN and 255 kN. Three sacrificial direct push anchors were also installed and tested. Each direct push anchor took just 3 to 4 minutes to install and be ready for testing. The ultimate loads achieved were 66 kN, 81 kN and 90 kN for three different sizes of anchor heads. The extension recorded when loading each anchor was between 280 and 380 mm.
4.1.3 Detailing
The main design details for the gabion basket and selfdrilling anchor wall at the Sand Pit comprised:
- A backing plate installed on each anchor to transfer the load from the gabion to the anchor.
- A wedge shaped bearing plate sat in front of the backing plate to allow anchors to be installed at 15˚ below horizontal.
- The anchor head was wrapped in denso tape to protect it from corrosion.
- A debond sleeve was installed over the hollow core anchor to create the unbounded length. This comprised denso tape and a pvc sleeve.
- A PVC pipe was installed through the gabion basket and 200 mm into the fill behind the wall to protect the anchor in this section where is is most vulnerable to corrosion, water flow and abrasion.
- Anchor nuts were to be hand tightened, rather than having a lock off load applied.
Figure 1 provides further details of the Sand Pit Ground Anchors.
Figure 1: The Sand Pit ground anchor details.
4.1.4 Testing
Testing of the Sand Pit ground anchors was completed in accordance with the recommendations that are published in FHWA-IF-99-015 Geotechnical Engineering Circular No. 4 – Ground Anchors and Anchored Systems. During construction 5% of the anchors were performance tested and the remaining 95% were loaded for proof testing. The results are summarised in Table 1.
Photograph 2 shows the Sand Pit retaining wall during November 2017 when construction of this structure was approximately 80% complete.
Table 1: Summary of anchor test results at the Sand Pit
Photograph 2: Anchored gabion retaining wall at the Sand Pit during construction.
4.2 Wall 375
4.2.1 Wall Location and Damage
Wall 375 is located in the Hundalees, approximately 30 km south of Kaikōura. Many of the NZTA retaining wall assets in this area were badly damaged during 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake. Some walls rotated and settled, while others completely collapsed. At this particular location a significant portion of the slope supporting the road shoulder failed which left the north bound lane constrained and the location subject to a 30 km/h speed restriction. Subsequent to the Kaikōura Earthquake, heavy rainfall and concentrated stormwater flow caused further damage. Ultimately the road geometric design at this location called for a raised road level and improved stormwater drainage. Each of these factors compounded to drive the need to construct a new retaining wall at this location. Photograph 3 shows the Wall 375 site a few weeks after the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake.
Photograph 3: Shoulder failure at the site of Wall 375.
4.2.2 Wall 375 Design
The NCTIR design for Wall 375 comprised a gabion basket wall atop a soil nailed slope. The geometry of the site meant that a soil nail slope alone could not recreate the new road height that was required for the geometric design and therefore additional gabion baskets were required to allow the shoulder to be built up. Analysis indicated that the steep slope below the proposed baskets did not provide sufficient bearing support and soil nails were designed and installed to provide a stable formation. The total height of both the gabion basket and soil nail structures is approximately 6.0 m.
The ground conditions through the Hundalees area typically comprise of Gravel fill underlain by Loess Colluvium over firm to extremely weak Mudstone of the Pahau Terrane. Sacrificial testing was undertaken in both Colluvium and Mudstone.
In Colluvium, with N60 of typically between 6 and 20, two tests were undertaken and both achieved a load of 400 kN. These tests had to be terminated before failure due to the test load reaching 80% of the bar capacity. Two further tests in Mudstone, with N60 > 50, failed at 300 and 325 kN. All of these tests had a bond length of 2 m and a drill hole diameter of 100 mm. Based on failure at 300 kN, a conservative ultimate grout ground bond strength of 480 kPa was adopted in design for both ground types in the Hundalees. A factor of 3 was applied to this value in design.
Figure 2: SlopeW output of the pseudo-static analysis of Wall 375.
The analysis of the gabion basket wall atop a soil nailed slope included a slope stability model analysed using SlopeW from GeoStudio 2016 under static and pseudo-static conditions. An extract from the analysis including a peak ground acceleration of 0.4g is shown in Figure 2.
Figure 3 provides a cross section and details of the structure which has been constructed at the site of Wall 375.
The construction sequence for Wall 375 was as follows:
1. Clear all vegetation and loose material from the slope
2. Install the soil nails inn a top down sequence and position the drainage strips and reinforcing mesh
3. Shotcrete the slope face followed by installation of the nail heads
4. Apply a final coat of shotcrete to cover the nail heads
5. Excavate for and construct the gabion basket wall section
6. Place backfill behind the gabion baskets
7. Construct road pavement, barriers, stormwater and other associated elements
Figure 3: Typical cross section through Wall 375 and details.
4.2.3 Wall 375 Detailing
As shown in Figure 4, the design details for Wall 375 include:
- Three rows of 7 m long soil nails constructed using hollow core anchors on a diamond pattern spaced at 1.0 m vertically and 2.0 m horizontally.
- A 100 mm diameter grouted drill hole. A small amount of Shotcrete was also used to completely fill the top of the drill hole and ensure complete coverage of the bar.
- A 250 mm minimum thickness of shotcrete facing reinforced with steel mesh. Such shotcrete was applied to the upper slope face and wrapped over the top of the slope to minimise water ingress (see Figure 3).
- Geocomposite drainage strips behind the shotcrete connect to pvc weepholes at 2.0 m centres to address the risk of excess pore water pressure developing behind the shotcrete facing.
- A soil nail head detail comprising horizontal and vertical bearing bars, a trimmer bar to form a mechanical connection between the reinforcing mesh in the Shotcrete face and the nail, L-bars to reinforce the final face Shotcrete, an anchor plate, a domed base plate and nuts to match the anchor bar.
Figure 4: Soil nail head and shotcrete detail for Wall 375.
4.2.4 Wall 375 Soil Nail Testing
Testing of the Wall 375 soil nails was completed in accordance with the recommendations published in FHWA-IF-03-017 Geotechnical Engineering Circular No. 7 – Soil Nail Walls. 10% of production nails in each row were to be subjected to proof testing with a design test load of 180 kN. This meant a total of 2 production nails were tested. They both satisfactorily supported the maximum test load of 270kN which is 150% of the design test load. This indicates that a bond strength of greater than 106 kPa was achieved. Photograph 4 shows the first row of soil nails for Wall 375 immediately after installation.
Photograph 4: Photograph taken May 2018 showing the first row of nails at Wall 375 immediately after installation.
4.3 Wall 433
4.3.1 Wall 433 Location and Damage
Wall 433 is an example of an existing retaining wall in the Hundalees area which was damaged by the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake. It comprised a steel kingpost wall with timber lagging. The steel posts generally settled and/or displaced out of alignment with some movement at the base of the retained height evident. Due to the rake of the wall, it is not clear if any outward rotation of the wall occurred as a result of the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake. Photograph 5 shows the damaged wall.
Photograph 5: Damage to Wall 433 due to the 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake, photograph taken early 2017.
4.3 Wall 433 Design
To completely remove and rebuild Wall 433 would require significant excavation and back fill works to be undertaken. This would have been expensive and require a road closure during construction. It was therefore judged by the NCTIR Design Team that the optimum solution comprised a retrofit of the existing wall with ground anchors. Such ground anchors were designed to prevent any future rotation of the existing wall and improve the overall stability of the wall. In the design calculations, a minimal embedment of the kingposts was assumed due to the uncertainty around the as-built structure. The maximum retained height of the wall was 2.0m. Figure 5 shows an elevation of Wall 433 at the location of the retrofit ground anchors and walers.
Separate sacrificial anchor tests were not undertaken for this site because of the proximity to other sites where tests had already been undertaken in the Hundalees. The bond strength value presented in the previous section for Wall 375 was adopted for wall 433 as well.
For comparison, direct push anchors were installed and tested at the same sites as previously discussed. In colluvium the direct push anchor failed at 312 kN and 329 kN in Mudstone. Installation of the direct push anchor in Mudstone was possible by predrilling a pilot hole. While the direct push anchors had sufficient capacity, the anchor head dimensions needed to achieve this capacity were considered to be too large to easily install through the existing wall and therefore self-drilling anchors were specified here.
Figure 5: Extract from the construction drawings for Wall 433.
4.3.3 Wall 433 Detailing
The key components of the repair works design comprised:
- The single staggered row of hollow core ground anchors had a horizontal spacing of 1.5 m to match the exiting post spacing.
- Ground anchors had a bonded length of 3.0 m and an unbonded free length of 3.0 m.
- The ground anchors were staggered vertically to allow space for the whalers to overlap fully over each pair of kingposts.
- Whalers, comprising galvanised back to back PFCs, were designed to transfer the load from the existing posts to the ground anchors. The PFCs had stiffener plates added and backing plates provided at each anchor head.
- Custom packing wedges were provided between the posts and the whalers had to be used to ensure uniform load transfer due to the uneven post alignment. This is also why whalers were only ever designed to span across two posts.
- In addition to the backing plates, the anchor heads were also provided with a wedge bearing plate to accommodate the angle of the anchors.
- All anchor heads were wrapped in two layers of denso tape to protect them from corrosion.
- A debond sleeve was installed over the hollow core anchor to create an unbounded free length of 3.0 m. This debond section also comprised denso tape and a pvc sleeve. It extended through the whaler to provide protection to the otherwise exposed section of new ground anchor.
- Anchor nuts were to be hand tightened, rather than having a lock off load applied.
Figure 6 shows further detail of the ground anchor head detail that was constructed at Wall 433. Photograph 6 shows Wall 433 during construction of the NCTIR ground anchor retrofit works.
Figure 6: Plan of the whaler and anchor head details for Wall 433.
4.3.4 Wall 433 Ground Anchor Testing
Testing of the Wall 433 ground anchors was completed in accordance with the recommendations published in FHWA-IF-99-015 Geotechnical Engineering Circular No. 4 – Ground Anchors and Anchored Systems. During construction one anchor of the 12 installed was performance tested and the remainder were proof tested. All ground anchors satisfactorily supported the maximum test load of 153 kN. This indicates that a bond strength of greater than 160 kPa was achieved. Creep testing recorded displacements of up to 0.65 mm between minute 1 and minute 10 of the test.
Photograph 6: Photograph of Wall 433 before anchor heads were installed, taken May 2018.
5. Testing Summary
Table 2 and Table 3 summarise the sacrificial testing discussed in this paper. Table 2 presents results undertaken on hollow core ground anchors, while Table 3 presents results from direct push anchor tests.
Table 2: Anchor test results from testing of hollow core ground anchors
Table 3: Anchor test results from testing of direct push ground anchors
6. Conclusions
In each of the case studies presented in this paper, hollow core self-drilling type ground anchors or soil nails were constructed. These were found to be significantly faster to install than the alternative solid bar solution given the collapsing ground conditions encountered on all three of the sites. Hollow core anchors do not provide Class I corrosion protection as required in the Bridge Manual for permanent structures. In these particular situations, departures were granted by NZTA to allow the use of hollow core anchors. In each case the size of the hollow core bar specified was greater than required. This was in order to give the desired capacity at the end of 100 year design life assuming a loss of material through corrosion over time. In the disaster recovery environment, the advantages afforded by speed of construction was significant and hollow core bars proved much faster to install than solid bars in the conditions encountered.
Direct push anchors were considered and tested during design. In Loess colluvium and very weak Mudstone, the capacity of the anchor was similar to drilled anchors. However in sand the capacity was much lower. Direct push anchors were very fast to install and test, but significant deformation of the anchor has to occur in order to engage the soil to provide a reaction load.
One of the key debates throughout the design process was classifying whether retaining wall assets were to have soil nails or anchors. Construction, installation and detailing often looked similar, but the two systems differed in terms of assumed behaviour during the life of the asset, the design analysis and the testing requirements.
Much attention was given during the NCTIR project to detailing for corrosion protection. The most vulnerable section of the anchors and nails is assessed in many published references and by the NCTIR Design Team as being just behind the head. This area is more likely to be exposed to air and water attack, which in many cases was exacerbated by the presence of salt. This section of the anchors and nails may also be subject to changing loads or twisting as the wall facing and components could displace in the future. These issues were addressed in a number of ways as detailed in the case studies presented in this paper, including continuing the debond sleeve to the back of the nuts, wrapping vulnerable elements in denso tape, providing pvc sleeves and encapsulating soil nail heads in Shotcrete.
The testing regimes recommended by the FHWA for ground anchors and soil nails are very different. Typically all ground anchors are subject to some level of as-built testing, whereas only up to 25% of soil nails may be tested. This is assessed by the author as a reflection of the different levels of criticality of any given bar in each system.
NCTIR initially operated in an environment where much of State Highway 1 was closed. This meant that passing traffic volumes were low or absent and closing the road was relatively easy. Once the road reopened to the public immediately prior to Christmas 2017, it became much more difficult to form large excavations which impacted the road and enable the construction of gravity or MSE walls. In this restricted post December 2017 environment, installing ground anchors or soil nails was preferred over excavation.
A cost comparison of the two methods was undertaken and construction costs were found to be comparable. However, with due consideration of the whole life cost, ancho


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Market Analysis Summary
QuickReturns will target Web-based retailers ("e-tailers"), paper-based catalog vendors, and click-and-mortar retailers in the business-to-consumer space. Through the late 1990s, the e-tailer segment experienced spectacular growth that is expected to continue over the next five years as new users come onto the Internet and existing users increase their frequency of online shopping. In 1999, 39 million U.S. consumers averaged 13 purchases on the Internet, spending a total of $20.3 billion. Of that, 57.4% was from purchases of small or medium sized products, QuickReturns' target market.
4.1 Market Segmentation
The customer segments QuickReturns targets–catalog merchants, e-tailers, and click-and-mortar stores–are expected to produce 170 million returns this year and 370 million by 2003. These projections are considered conservative, as the rate of e-returns is projected to reach parity with return rates of brick & mortar stores, which currently are twice as high.
Assuming a $42 average product price and an average of 2.5 products per order, 480 million products were ordered online in 1999, representing a 400% increase from a year earlier. The rapid pace of online sales growth is expected to continue as 2003 e-commerce revenues top $144 billion from 3.5 billion online purchases.
Catalog merchants
QuickReturns will also aggressively target consumer catalog merchants, a sector whose 1999 sales was nearly three times as great as those of B2C e-commerce. From the returns standpoint, catalog merchants represent an attractive market since many have return rates higher than those of e-tailers. For instance, BMG Direct, a direct marketer of pre-recorded music, processes 40,000 returns daily, requiring a staff of 140 people to inspect products and credit customers' accounts. Largely due to the adoption of Internet sales, the mail-order catalog industry is projected to grow only moderately in coming years, but will continue to represent a sizeable distribution channel.
Click-and-mortar stores
Virtual retailers face a growing competitive threat from brick-and-mortar retailers, which are increasingly pursuing online (click-and-mortar) strategies. Such retailers can use their physical infrastructure as a returns channel for goods purchased online, giving them leverage over pure-play e-tailers. But with the growth of their catalog and website businesses, many traditional brick-and-mortar retailers will face a similar returns problem as their virtual counterparts: not all of their Internet and catalog customers will have access to physical locations to return merchandise. Companies such as J. Crew and Nordstrom have relatively few store locations, leaving the majority of their Web and catalog customers without a place to return goods. Such click-and-mortar retailers therefore would benefit from partnerships with QuickReturns.
The chart and table below summarize the total market potential for e-returns market in the U.S.
|Market Analysis
|Year 1
|Year 2
|Year 3
|Year 4
|Year 5
|Potential Customers
|Catalog merchants
|Click-and-mortar merchants
4.2 Target Market Segment Strategy
Recent surveys reveal that 89% of consumers say return policies influence their decision to shop online, and 67% consider potential return hassles to be a barrier to online shopping. As a result, pure-play e-tailers and catalog merchants are at a significant disadvantage to brick-and-mortar and click-and-mortar retailers that allow customers to return purchases made online to their physical store locations. Moreover, 30% of e-tailers have identified returns handling as their biggest logistical challenge going forward, demonstrating a substantial need for an outsourced solution provider.
Return rates in QuickReturns' target markets described above are projected to increase until they reach parity with brick-and-mortar return rates, due to the following three factors:
- Many shoppers refuse to use the Internet to shop–-especially when purchasing gifts-–because of the difficulty and expense involved with returning merchandise. Such shoppers will be more likely to shop online if a convenient and cost-effective way to return becomes available.
- Online shoppers currently avoid goods, such as clothing, which are more likely to be returned. If an easier returns method becomes available, shoppers will be more likely to purchase such products, thereby driving up the average e-return rate.
- Women tend to return more merchandise than men. Currently, women represent only 39% of the U.S. online shopper population, but this is quickly changing. In 2000, for the first time, more women will use the Internet than men.
QuickReturns has excluded large products (e.g., furniture, bicycles, tires) from the market estimate because they will not be accepted at QuickReturns locations; they take up an unacceptable amount of floor space, are difficult to handle, and are generally aesthetically displeasing in a store environment. Instead, QuickReturns will target retailers selling common products with higher-than-average return rates. These retailers are particularly disadvantaged now because consumers are reluctant to buy products with high return rates since returns are so difficult to carry out. The categories that are best suited to QuickReturns are clothing, shoes, and toys because their value is highly subjective, they are vulnerable to changing tastes, and they are often purchased as gifts for others (who may value them differently). Moreover, such products are easy for QuickReturns clerks to inspect because problems with the merchandise are more easily identifiable and the clerks are more likely to be familiar with the products. Within the group of retailers selling these product types, QuickReturns will pursue those most focused on customer service and satisfaction.
A second segment of desirable retailers includes those selling specialty gifts, consumer electronics, books, music, videos, computer hardware and software, sporting goods, and health and beauty supplies. Although their return rates are not quite as high, these categories comprise 37.6% of e-commerce revenues, and thus generate a large number of returns.
Initially, QuickReturns will approach mid-size retailers that can act as beta test partners. These partners will work closely with QuickReturns for a limited time to optimize operational processes, technology integration, and reporting requirements. In return, QuickReturns will provide its services free of charge for one year from integration.
After the QuickReturns model has been proven by beta test partners, larger catalog merchants (e.g., Lands' End, L.L. Bean) will be more likely to sign up for the QuickReturns service. At this time, QuickReturns will aggressively market its services to the market leaders of each product category.
Finally, QuickReturns will seek partnerships with shopping marketplaces such as Yahoo! Shops, Shopnow.com, Z-Shops, and Shopping.com. These sites provide Web hosting, commerce tools, and product search functionality for micro e-tailers, aggregating thousands of online shops into one entity. Partnerships between QuickReturns and aggregators will bring the benefits of QuickReturns partnership to more specialized retailers, who otherwise would be too small for QuickReturns to serve. Aggregators will enable thousands of individual merchants to gain access to QuickReturns with a single system integration, saving time and money. QuickReturns' ability to tailor shipping destinations to individual product SKUs will assure that products will be returned to the right merchant. For billing purposes, all processing fees will be paid directly by the shopping aggregators, who will pass along the charges to the appropriate micro e-tailers.
4.2.1 Market Needs
Market needs of e-tailers and catalog merchants are very similar in regards to the reverse logistics associated with product returns. Surveys have shown that 89% of consumers say return policies influence their decision to shop online, and 67% consider potential return hassles to be a barrier to online shopping. By eliminating such a barrier retailers can satisfy their needs in:
- Providing better customer service,
- Increasing customer retention rates,
- Increasing new customer acquisition,
- Converting product returns into exchanges, and
- Focusing on their core competencies.
4.3 Service Business Analysis
Despite the boom in the Internet shopping, reverse logistic business associated with such purchases has been overlooked by industry participants. This creates a strong barrier for the next step in Internet and catalog shopping. Currently, this market is not well defined. The few companies that try to get established in this market have very different backgrounds (shipping carriers, parcel depots, express deliverers, to name a few) and have very different financial and marketing resources.
4.3.1 Competition and Buying Patterns
A number of competitors, both established and start-up, have announced intentions to capture share in the growing product returns market. However, none are pursuing the business model used by QuickReturns. While the market for returns processing has largely been overlooked, competition is expected to increase significantly as retailers concentrate on fulfillment, back-end operations and customer service as sources of competitive advantage. Competitive threats may arise from other start-ups operating in secrecy and from incumbents in related industries such as parcel delivery carriers, parcel depots, residential delivery services, and brick-and-mortar retailing. However, the same attributes that make many of these firms formidable competitors also make them attractive partners, enabling QuickReturns to "co-opt" potential competitors.
To date, no company has established itself as a dominant player in the reverse logistics market for e-tailers or catalog merchants. Each of the competing returns programs discussed below is either still in the planning phase or has just recently begun operations. At this point, first-mover status has not been claimed in a growing market that will be capable of handling multiple players. Competitors can be grouped into four categories: parcel depots, shipping carriers, reverse logistics handlers, and same-day deliverers (see table below).
|Competitor Type
|Parcel Depots
|Mailboxes, Etc.
|Shipping Carriers
|UPS, FedEx, U.S. Postal Service
|Reverse Logistics
|Genco, The Return Exchange
|Same-day Delivery
|Kozmo.com, Sameday.com, WebVan.com
4.3.2 Main Competitors
United Parcel Service (UPS)
UPS handles 55% of the e-commerce delivery market, delivering 12 million packages daily through an integrated network of air and ground delivery. Services include early-morning, same-day, and next-day air delivery. The Worldwide Logistics unit provides supply chain management, warehousing, and other services relating to order fulfillment. UPS also plans to test stand-alone retail outlets to further its reach in the residential market. However, to avoid backlash from parcel depots, the company is proceeding cautiously; only two locations have been announced thus far.
UPS offers two types of returns services. The Call Tag service allows consumers or retailers to request a UPS Ground driver to retrieve packages from customers' homes at a cost of $4.50 per package. The Return Service allows retailers to include a return label which the customer can use to call and request a UPS home return pickup. The cost is the same as the Call Tag service, except the service is automatically billed to the retailer. While these services are convenient for some customers, they generally require the sender to be at the specified location for the pickup. The pickup time window can span eight business days, making the service inconvenient for working families and single households. The services also lack other benefits provided by QuickReturns, such as instant refunds, product inspections, free shipping (for consumers), flexible shipping destinations based on reason for return, and ability to exchange merchandise.
UPS also offers a service called eLogistics, targeting small and medium size businesses that wish to outsource portions of their operations. For retailers, UPS handles warehousing, order picking and packing, shipping, customer service, and returns handling. On the latter point, UPS Ground drivers pick up products at customers' homes and deliver them to UPS warehouses, where they are inspected, processed, refurbished, and restocked. While this service may have some cost saving benefits to retailers, it is just as inconvenient to consumers as the Call Tag service. Moreover, it does not allow for the flexibility of the QuickReturns system: products must be shipped back to the central UPS warehouse, regardless of the reason for return.
With these services, UPS provides an alternative to QuickReturns, but its target market is not consumers and merchants seeking physical locations to receive product returns. Nonetheless, UPS must be considered a serious competitor due to its large size and market clout with e-tailers and catalog merchants.
U.S. Postal Service (USPS)
Handling 32% of e-tailer shipments, the U.S. Postal Service is the second largest shipper of products ordered online. The USPS has an extremely strong geographic presence through its 38,000 post offices nationwide and mail delivery services. The Postal Service recently launched an advertising blitz for its new Returns@Ease program, which lets customers print pre-addressed shipping labels from their home printers, and affix them to boxes which can be dropped off at local post offices or left for mail carriers. Retailers enrolling in this program can establish advance-deposit accounts with their postmasters.
While the USPS plans to become more entrepreneurial with new initiatives like the Returns@Ease program, these services are still provided out of traditional post offices, which continue to suffer from long lines, uneven customer service, and poor reputations. As a result, the Postal Service has struggled to sign up retailers for its returns program. As returns are not a core business for the USPS, there is no indication that the Postal Service will attempt to move further backward along the returns supply chain to provide more value-added services.
Federal Express (FedEx)
FedEx Corporation currently offers retailers a program called Net Returns, which enables them to electronically order home pickups for their customers. FedEx drivers print return shipping labels from handheld devices, and shipping and service charges are billed to retailers. The service adds little value beyond the standard call tag pickup that has been available for years.
FedEx currently controls just 10% of the e-commerce delivery market. Most of its annual revenues of $17 billion come from overnight air deliveries. FedEx is making an attempt to expand its FedEx Ground Service (formerly Roadway Package System [RPS]), but it reaches fewer than 50% of American households. Moreover, FedEx has experienced great difficulty integrating its ground and air services, resulting in operating margins that are less than half those of UPS. FedEx's operational problems and its failure to capitalize on e-commerce has led its share price to fall over 30% in the past year alone.
FedEx has few retail locations for customers to drop off returns, limiting its potential to be a direct threat to QuickReturns. However, it recently signed a deal with Kinko's in which FedEx employees will operate pack and ship centers in selected Kinko's stores. No plans have been announced to accept product returns at these locations.
Mailboxes, Etc. (MBE)
Mailboxes, Etc. is the world's largest franchiser of postal/shipping services. Its franchised stores (more than 3,300 in the U.S. and another 700 internationally) offer packaging, parcel shipping, 24-hour mailbox access, copying, printing, faxing, paging, office supplies, and other related postal and business products and services. Its customers are small and home-based businesses and general consumers. MBE has system-wide sales of about $1.5 billion and handles over 100 million customer transactions annually, although the corporation itself only retains revenues of approximately $72 million and EBITDA of $20 million. MBE currently has e-commerce relationships with companies including eBay, iShip, and boxLot.com.
MBE is in the process of wiring its franchise locations to the Internet using Hughes Network Systems satellite connections. The company plans to link store cash registers to the corporate computer system and to e-commerce partners. Through this integration, MBE employees will electronically generate RMA numbers and shipping labels for customers. However, in its current form, MBE's e-returns program is expected to offer limited value to e-tailers and consumers. Consumers will neither receive instant refunds nor be able to exchange products; retailers will not be allowed to provide inspection criteria for product inspections, limiting their ability to separate appropriate from inappropriate returns (see table below).
MBE may have certain early advantages in the e-returns space. First, the company's large distribution network provides access to consumers without having to sign additional distribution partnerships. Second, MBE has an established brand name and mindshare of consumers, some of whom already use MBE to ship returned merchandise. Third, it has already begun work on its e-returns program.
Comparison of Business Models, QuickReturns and Mailboxes, Etc.
|Mail Boxes, Etc.
|Access customer order information
|Free shipping
|Instant refund
|Product exchange option
|Product inspection
|Shipping address based on reason for return
|Product liquidation service
Nonetheless, MBE has not been successful in executing on its returns program. The program is already six months behind schedule, and franchisee interviews indicate the program now may be delayed until Winter, 2000. One barrier to the program's success has been coordinating 3,300 independently owned franchise locations. Franchisee awareness of the company's e-commerce initiative varies widely, with some franchisees reporting they are completely unaware of the program. Moreover, franchise relations have soured in the past two months, as 200 franchisees have joined together to create an independent franchise association for franchisees to protest MBE corporate policies and capital outlay requirements. The group expects to have 800 franchisees signed by the end of 2000.
Compounding the organizational issues facing MBE, parent company US Office Products has, over the past two years, undergone continual restructurings and has seen its stock plunge to a point where the company is being threatened with de-listing by NASDAQ. In March 2000, US Office Products announced its intention to sell off the entire Mailboxes, Etc. unit. Over the next several months, corporate restructuring issues may well distract management from focusing on new initiatives.
When MBE does launch its returns program, growth will be constrained by the number of e-tailers that can be integrated into the MBE network. Moreover, e-tailers using MBE's service likely will be confined to MBE locations, since MBE will have little incentive to form outside distribution partnerships, which would direct traffic away from its locations.
The Return Exchange
The Return Exchange (TRE) is a Santa Ana-based start-up that plans to offer a suite of reverse logistics services to e-tailers. It is currently in beta testing with approximately ten e-tailers, but already has begun to advertise its services in industry trade journals. It offers three primary services:
- Returns management software
- Regional return centers to manage reverse logistics
- Online B2C auction to liquidate returned merchandise that cannot be resold as new.
TRE's software program, called Verify, allows retailers to automate the providing of RMA numbers to customers seeking to return merchandise. Verify is linked to each e-tailer's database, where it confirms order records and identifies the customer making the return. It then checks the customer against The Return Exchange's own proprietary database which stores individual customer purchase and return histories across retailers signed up with TRE. Using intelligent algorithms, the software can deny return requests from individuals with histories of frequent returns. At the other extreme, customers with long order histories and low return rates may be considered premium customers and receive instant refunds, even before they return the merchandise to the e-tailers.
While TRE claims its customer return rating feature reduces fraud and facilitates customer relationship management, the company recently has come under fire for violating shoppers' privacy. JunkBusters, a privacy-advocacy organization, has charged that TRE's database could "lead to fear of individual redlining," as customers are discriminated against because of their past behaviors. Indeed, the Industry Standard conjectured that retailers who use TRE may face a backlash from their customers. The article concludes that, "choosy retailers can only hope their own dealings with The Return Exchange won't one day reflect poorly on them."
While TRE's process of receiving and processing returns may be of some benefit to e-tailers, it does very little for their customers. Customers must register their intention to return at the e-tailer's website, and only "premium" customers are eligible to receive instant refunds. In addition, sending returned goods through TRE's regional warehouses increases the time it takes to resell a product and results in unnecessary shipping costs. A recent Forrester Research report criticized this model, stating, "getting product back into inventory often means the difference between gaining and losing a sale. The Return Exchange currently adds a step to the process." By contrast, QuickReturns customers will drop off products with no advance notice, and all customers will be eligible to receive instant refunds because QuickReturns agents will take possession of the returned merchandise before the refund is authorized. Moreover, QuickReturns will process returns before they are shipped, allowing merchandise to be sent to the proper destination with no intermediate step.
The third service TRE offers is liquidation or auction of returned products that cannot be resold as new. Such products are posted on an internal site, www.finalcallauction.com, and external sites, such as eBay. This type of service creates opportunities for e-tailers to salvage value from products that otherwise would be destroyed. QuickReturns will offer a similar service to its retailer partners soon after its initial launch, most likely in partnership with a returned merchandise auction service such as ClickReturns.
Pittsburgh-based Genco Distribution System is the largest of the traditional logistics providers, with services including contract distribution, order fulfillment, freight forwarding, warehousing, call centers, merchandise liquidation. Revenues from these services in 1999 were estimated to be $200 million. The company has traditionally focused on large, established brick-and-mortar retailers and manufacturers, including Wal-Mart, Kmart, Macy's, Sears, Target, and HomeBase. Genco has announced intentions to pursue the online returns market. While it is a competitor, indications are that Genco management continues to focus on large, established retailers rather than start-up e-tailers and catalog merchants. Moreover, its lack of physical locations to serve consumers make it more of a potential partner than a competitor to QuickReturns.
Residential Delivery Services
Home delivery services, such as WebVan, Peapod, HomeGrocer, Streamline.com, Kozmo, and Sameday.com (formerly Shipper.com) deliver groceries and other products to residences. These companies are beginning to extend their services to include pickups of their own returned items. For example, WebVan customers can call to request a return pickup, and receive instant credit refunds at pickup. HomeGrocer offers free pickup of returned items with refunds processed in three days. Streamline.com picks up outgoing packages, holiday shipping, and catalog returns. Kozmo picks up returned videos from homes for a $1 fee. These home deliverers later could develop relationships with retailers to pick up returned merchandise. However, most of these delivery services are not nationwide, limiting their usefulness to retailers who have national distribution. Moreover, the delivery companies are currently focused on expanding their geographic networks rather than adding new services (e.g., systems integration with retailers) outside of their core competencies.


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About APEXCH
APEXCH is a management consulting firm specialized in Cerner® Millennium implementation & staff recruiting. We deliver application, integration, consulting, and IT management solutions that enable healthcare facilities and institutions to maximize the potential of their information systems to achieve their clinical & financial objectives as well as customer satisfaction. We offer a broad set of IT services for the entire set of Millennium clinical and financial applications.
The staff at APEXCH have years of extensive experiences implementing variety of large and small scale Cerner® suites of projects in many hospitals across the United States. We are Cerner® Educated Professionals and highly experienced recruiters which makes us the best fit for your staffing needs. We only strive for perfect fit and therefore we will make sure to understand precisely your business needs and type of persons you seek to join your organization.
If you are looking for implementing your Cerner® project, enhance and improve your existing EMR, or looking for candidates with highly qualified Cerner® specialists then you have come to the right place.
|About CEO
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Since the dawn primeval,
Glenn Buttkus
Posted over at dVerse Poets Pub
I love how you meander through the "green life" including the return to the green womb, until the end with the cold dead march of the soldiers. GREAT POEM, GLENN.
There is a lot here Glenn, I wonder if there will be a peaceful glen left after the clanking of armor. I am sure the cockroaches will survive and the butterflies will die.
Green is the antithesis of black bloody war. It means life, you're right.
was not sure at first which of the Laurie Lee prose pieces you had chosen as but evidently the first one "I had never been so close to grass before. It towered above me and all around me, each blade tattooed with tiger-skins of sunlight...."
Thank you for participating in the prompt - you have taken it to a supreme level of imaginings - hard hitting and didactic at times yet painted with that calming softness that green brings.
Your words are full of beauty and power Glenn.
I like the idea of green sun and green heart. Green is serene and I'm happy to live where there's plenty of green goodness growing!
Oh that last stanza letting the darkness of war pass in favor of the green... love it.
This is a powerful call, specially with the last 2 stanzas. The green of mother nature trumpts everything else.
Yo dude. What a mind trip! A green-hued helluva write Glenn. Full of super images!
Children know...we spent hours lying in the fields looking up at the sky. A powerful anthem for peace.
I love the way that last stanza feels like reality pinching its way to the surface.
Bold and searing, with evocative images that last!


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We aim to generate memories. We merge the digital and physical worlds to create unique and magical frictionless experiences. We help our clients understand their guests to create the right experience to make them feel special.
With an omnichannel data-driven approach, our phygital guest experiences offer different ways to interact with brands during their entire journey. We bring all our Digital Studios together, and through marketing and discovery, bookings, eCommerce, and loyalty programs, we significantly improve guest experience.
By offering the right data at the right time, we help our clients create an accurate platform to support business operations and engage with their employees. Through an integrated legacy system, a simplified user experience, and AI automation solutions for repetitive manual processes, we help employees focus on creating new experiences and connections with their guests. With our expertise in Cultural Hacking, we also help our clients to keep their workforce engaged, recognized, and working in a fun, innovative environment.
What is your digital readiness score?
An online, high-level assessment to understand the maturity of your company's digital sales and marketing strategy and implementation.
Success Story
Creating a smart venue on the high seas: how Royal Caribbean is using technology to create once in a lifetime guest experiences


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One of the biggest challenges with my current position is that there is a lack of buy-in for Agile. My company has decided that Agile is a good thing and is working toward introducing it to all developers. Agile really does not lend itself well to a top-down implementation. Given values of self-organization, shared concerns, and organic process, it feels wrong to force feed it to developers.
The team I work on gradually built up its current set of practices as a team. Things were introduced gradually and we learned quickly that small, incremental change was more effective than unilateral, sometimes arbitrary directives. We spent a lot of time working with the stakeholders in our company to explain what we were doing, why we were doing it and getting them involved in the process. We were not always successful our first time, but we managed to evolve as a team and to make things work successfully.
In contrast, top-down directives move very slowly through a company. It is much easier for a small group of developers to say "Let's do a quick standup meeting every morning" than it is for a C?O to say "Here is Scrum. Learn this and use it." Top-down directives start out vague and expect the Org Chart to figure out what is meant by the directive, to create a plan, and to implement it.
This is a non-starter in my eyes. If you ask an established PMP/Waterfall/Big Design Up Front person for a project plan to implement a new process, you are going to get exactly what they are used to giving you. They are going to spend a lot of time and energy designing a plan for a bunch of processes that may or may not work. The plan very well could be the best plan ever and completely work, but are you willing to bet your whole company on it?
One of the biggest problems I've seen with this approach is that there are not solid relationships established between different aspects of the company. If your sales, customer service, and professional services teams are not on the same page as your developers in terms of incremental release, product ownership, transparency, and tight feedback loops, you will have difficulties.
One of the advantages of already working with an agile mindset is that I believe that by "embracing change" I can help overcome these problems. I don't mind the fear in a salesperson's eyes when I ask if I can speak directly to a customer. I look forward to learning what it means to "capitalize" a software product as an asset. I enjoy listening to customer service people explain their problems to me and finding ways to help them out. This is what I do as a software developer.
At the end of the day, I'm glad that the company has decided that the way I'm already doing are things that should be considered best practices. I am thankful they are finally catching up.


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On a homestead, costs matter, especially recurring costs. Things like property tax, insurance, and energy utilization can have significant impact on the cashflow of your homestead.
Spending some time to ensure that your energy utilization is efficient is not only a good cash saving exercise but is also good for the earth. And as a homesteader, that should be very important to you.
What follows are five ways to reduce your energy bill.
Inventory everything that uses power
This is step one to decreasing your energy utilization. Go around your house and make a list of every device that consumes power. Chances are, many of the devices will have their power consumption rates listed on the device, or on its power supply. Note this information! You need to know how many amps a particular device will draw.
Big power utilization is often seen with the dryer, washer, refrigerator freezer, and heating, if you are using electric heat. All of these devices should have power information listed. For items that do not have power consumption listed, or items that are only used sporadically, you could use something like a "Kill-A-Watt" to get an accurate measure of how much energy a particular device is using.
Your energy inventory will tell you where your big energy users are: address them! For some devices, simply unplugging them when not in use will save power. Other devices will need to be replaced. While that twenty year old fridge probably still works great, it's probably killing you in terms of energy utilization.
Evaluate Your Heating
If you are heating with electricity, you're in for a world of hurt, as electric heat tends to use a lot of electricity. Depending on your climate, it may be worth investigating something called a "heat pump". This is a very efficient device that heats and cools electrically, based on temperature differential. The long and the short of it is that they work great between -25 Celcius and +25 Celcius. If your temperatures are in these ranges, odds are a heat pump will be significantly cheaper to heat with when compared to traditional electric heat.
If you are truly interested in reducing your energy consumption, say for a solar deployment, you may have to look at an alternative method of heating. Wood stoves are very popular among the homesteaders, and provide a reliable, relatively cheap way to heat your home. Propane and natural gas are also options, and depending on where you live, may be cheaper than electricity.
Ditch the big screen television
Everyone else is dropping cable, so, why don't you do so as well? Big televisions and fancy amplifiers tend to use a fair bit of electricity. Although they are much better than past equipment, even the energy efficient large screen TV's use a fair bit of electricity. If you do decide to keep them, try and limit their use to an hour or two per day. There is so little on television worth watching, that should be more than enough!
Take A Good Look At Your Freezer & Refrigerator
Do you remember your parents scolding you for leaving the fridge open too long? Well, this was for good reason, as the longer you keep the door open, the warmer the fridge gets. When you close the door, the refrigerator must re-cool: this costs electricity. Same deal for the freezer. So, limit the amount of time you spend gazing at your food.
Additionally, both refrigerators and freezers operate most efficiently when they are jammed full of food. It costs more to cool an empty freezer than a full one, so try and keep your cooling devices full of food.
It's All About the Little habits
There are all sorts of little habits we can change that, taken together, will impact our energy bills. Turn off the lights when you leave a room. Turn off your devices (and unplug them!) when you are not using them. Use a hand tool when an electrical tool is not necessary.
Also, when evaluating the purchase of anything new, take a look at its power consumption! Computers are a great example here, as the difference between a power efficient computer and a non efficient computer are significant! My laptops run at 30 watts, for example, whereas a gaming rig might use ten or twenty times that. Although you need enough computer for the job, a lot of us buy fairly powerful rigs without even considering how much power they use. Although this is wonderful from a computing perspective, it's not so great when you are trying to keep your power use down.
Electricity costs are going up everywhere, seemingly, so a little time spent on reducing your energy bill will not only help you today, but in the future, to an even greater extent. There are all kinds of ways you can reduce your utilization. The only question is, how far do you want to go?


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The Simpsons is quite possibly the most successful television series in history, and one of the very few that have managed to combine a dizzying level of commercial success with an equally high degree of critical acclaim. The show has attracted superlatives throughout its run: as noted by wikipedia,
it is the longest-running American sitcom, the longest-running American animated program, and […] the longest-running American primetime, scripted television series.
But these are mere statistics when set next to the quality of its writers, animators, and voice actors. The Simpsons has shown itself to be a breeding ground for the some of the most talented people working in screen: its past roster features Conan O'Brien, John Swartzwelder, Brad Bird, George Meyer, Harry Shearer, Dan Castellaneta, and many many more. Its list of guest stars, meanwhile, is even more forbidding.
The show itself evolves around a yellow, middle-class American family who live in the apparently stateless town of Springfield. The Simpsons upholds this venerated sitcom setup while parodying it at the same time, by means of elegantly complex visual, referential, linguistic, and character-based humor.
Worthy extra resources on The Simpsons can be found all over, but highlights include: Chris Turner's book Planet Simpson, a dedicated wiki, a site discussing the concept of "Zombie Simpsons", the current iteration of the old alt.tv.simpsons site, a bunch of podcasts, and a roundtable discussion between Conan O'Brien and four other writers from the glorious early days:
The 29th season) began airing in September 2016.


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Daily Devotion for October 22, 2011
Lord's Prayer
Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Prayer for the Morning
Oh Lord, most heavenly Father, Almighty and everlasting God, who has safely brought me to the beginning of this day; I give you thanks for my creation, preservation, and all the blessings of my life. Grant that this day I fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger; but that all my doings, being governed by your will, may be righteous in your sight. Through Christ our Lord, I pray.
Prayer for Grace and Strength
Lord God, I pray that you will fill my heart with the blessing of your Holy Spirit. Grant me this day the strength to be temperate in all things, diligent in my duties, and patient under my afflictions. Direct me in all my ways. Give me grace to be just and upright in all my dealings; quiet and peaceable; full of compassion; and ready to do good to all people, according to my abilities and opportunities. For the sake of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Community of Prayer
Heavenly Lord, I know I am not alone saying these prayers or reading your Word this morning, but many people unknown to me, from all stations of life, have joined together in this brief moment of devotion. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be among the community of all who pray in the name of Christ this morning, and remain among us always.
Think of the day ahead in terms of God with you, and visualize health, strength, guidance, purity, calm confidence, and victory as the gifts of His presence.(Additional prayers may be found at Prayers for All Occasions.)
"Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light."
~ Helen Keller
Romans 6:12-14 (ESV)
Grace Expressed in Righteousness
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Notes on the Scripture
We see what happens to people who do not believe in God. Sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, their lives are given over to baseness. In our society, we have a shared morality, but it didn't come from the minds of men; it came from centuries of slow growth in a society where people were ruled by Christ.
Moral atheists do not understand where their morals came from. In Roman times, murder was not inherently wrong, because human life was not thought to have intrinsic value. There is no natural law proscribing the killing of another human being. Atheists who believe that murder is immoral do not understand that their belief came from God; and because they do not understand the origins of their morality, they do not understand that the secularization of morality must ultimately destroy it.
Without God, there is no morality. It has no anchor. In the Jews, it lived in the law; and in Christians, it lives in grace. We are dead to sin; as Paul previously showed, we died to sin when we were baptized.
If we have God's grace, then, why would we offer our bodies to Satan? We know that we will sin sometimes, because death to sin comes from grace, not from a spotless life. Grace is forgiveness of sin, not its total absence. But this does not mean we should give ourselves over to it.
Much the contrary. Once we are given God's grace, it is up to us to lead our lives as if we were the children of Christ. How can we preach God's righteousness if we do not show it in our own lives? How can we plead Christian values if we do not live them ourselves?


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Marta Kawecka
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I'm sure we've mostly all had those knocks on our door, and, when it opens, we greet someone whom would like to Get Us to Believe and offers free literature. Yes. See…that is certainly one way to try to educate about Jesus and, that He's coming. And…very soon…and, we'll live an eternal life…and, our eternal life starts now…because He's coming very soon…
Sound familiar? I applaud these folks. They go out of there way, "taking chances", and, for what? To try and really help those that just really may need that specific education…the Golden education, in my opinion.
But, I'm not going to be one that goes from house to house trying to spread the Good Word. And, that's o.k. Because, spreading the Good Word can easily be done through conversation and witnessing others' successes, and, then, make the connection between the two.
For instance, if you're having small talk, you know, the kind of conversations that go from one topic to another and you really enjoy all of the topics discussed, and, you hear such beautiful stories about people and their lives…including those you're talking to…
And, you know what, they all share something in common, they all choose to be kind, loyal, hospitable, loving, unselfish. So…having great character is linked to rewards, accomplishments, successes in all areas of our lives?
So, now, let's imagine having similar conversations but, throw in some people, or, a person, that is a grouch, a "negative Nancy", dark. This person may not ever contribute to the conversation, but, they're present, and, they just may very well be listening, and, too, making connections.
It could be that during these conversations that he/she chooses to link these connections to believing in something magical (positive energy a.k.a. karma that we want/God/Jesus/Papa).
The same goes for people we don't know, those that we never get a chance to talk to, but, get the chance to witness. When we compare those that are healthy, beautiful and kind, whom are all reaping the rewards because of their giving, loving nature to those that are full of hate and greed, well, again, and, take a look at their lives and, how they've turned out (thus far, hopefully). What kind of life do we want to live? Our one life.
So, here's to sharing our blessings and hoping for the best,
I have been brainstorming a lot and, am so excited to share this information with you! I am almost able to start establishing a more regular routine, now, that we'll be settled for a while. Thank you for your patience.
The biggest work a Christian can do is to find his friend and introduce him to Jesus Christ.
Acts 8:26 – 40


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A Galion man faces $2 million bond after being arrested Thursday on three felony charges after a six-month online child solicitation investigation.
And prosecutors say he will most likely face many more charges as part of the investigation.
Marcus Williams, 35, of the 600 block of East Church Street, was in Crawford County Municipal Court Friday for his arraignment.
Williams was arrested after a raid Thursday morning by agents from the Bureau of Criminal Investigations (BCI) and the FBI Task Force.
Williams was charged with importuning, a fourth-degree felony and possession of criminal tools and disseminating materials harmful to juveniles, both fifth-degree felonies.
"As of now, we have no reason to believe any local children were involved," said James Ciotti, a special agent with BCI. "But we're early in the investigation."
"We are asking for him to be held without bond due to the severity and amount of evidence which was found," Crawford County Prosecutor Matt Crall said. "BCI is continuing to investigate and there will most likely be many more additional charges come out of their investigation. They may come from my office or from the federal level. I can't speak for them, but that is one of the things we are waiting to find out from our end as well."
Williams is currently being held in Crawford County Jail.